War of the Liberators

Two giants fight all to see who gets to protect their scraps from the hyenas afterward.

— Karlata the Mourner, Ikonai Liberator (3-91 SA)

Many had hoped that war would be a thing of the past once mankind had thrown off Uranon's yoke. But that hope was quickly dashed once the Liberators, those men and women that had bled to free humanity, began to fight over the scraps of the very empire they had destroyed.

Storm on the Horizon

The years following the fall of the Eternal Empire proved even more chaotic than those spent in rebellion. People that had endured a thousand years of harsh control suddenly found themselves free to do whatever they wanted. And those that had cast it down quickly tried to build their own domains.
Faron's death in 50 SA robbed the victorious rebellion of its leader and the continent quickly collapsed into chaos. It also meant that the Liberators, leaders of the rebellion and warlords, now had no one to reign them in. Armies rampaged across the land and it was only the intervention of Kyros the Great in 65 SA that managed to calm things down. Under his protective hand, much of the world was reorganised.
But many thought Kyros' measures to be nothing more than a thinly veiled grasp for power. And among them, Tarathon the Red was by far the most prominent. Equal to Kyros in both standing and power, he took insult at being excluded from the great reshuffling. By 73 SA, it became apparent that he had no intention of following the law laid down by Kyros, and war seemed all but certain.

Struggle of Giants

Unlike the struggles of previous decades, this war was not going to be a collection of skirmishes or clash of small warbands. Both Kyros and Tarathon controlled vast domains and had amassed tens of thousands of soldiers.
Same went for the goals of the war. Not land or riches stood at its centre, but the very fate of the new world order. Whoever would emerge triumphant from this battle was set to dominate the fate of Uranon for centuries to come.

Thurkani Hegemony

Kyros the Great

~ 150.000 Soldiers

Protect the Faronite Reformation.

Heavy.

Factions

Leaders

Total Strength

Goal


Casualties

White Banner Dominion

Tarathon the Red

~ 205.000 Soldiers

Usurp the High Kingdom. Destroy Kyros' realm.

Near Total.

It was clear from the start that the goal of the war would be the Heartlands and the city of Faranon. The former is the most fertile stretch of land under heaven and the later the political and spiritual heart of the new world order. That said city was nominally held by Faron's successors, the High Kings of Faranon, was of no great importance.
Neither Kyros nor Tarathon intended to attack the other's domains. While passes existed in the mountains between the lands of Thurkani in the west and Ikonai to the northeast, they made for poor battlefields and a war of attrition up among the peaks of the Red Wall was not something either wished to commit to.
The great siege camp of Malakan was to be ignored. Although much had changed since the days of Faron, hatred for the Eternal Empire still burned hotly, and few would ever have entertained the notion of risking the siege for personal gain. So it was that the greatest army in the world would not take any part in the fighting that followed.

Bloody River

Kyros decided early on to try and block his enemy from even moving south. Tarathon's domain was framed in the south by the great river Theira and only a few large bridges allowed crossing. For the first year of the war, fighting was concentrated around these crossings. Every time the Scarlet Boar would send his heavy Ikonai hoplites across the Theira, they would face imediate harrassment by light Thurkani cavalry and eventually be forced to withdraw. In mid-73 SA, the two warlords would fight across a single bridge for over three weeks and make the waters below run red in blood.

Burning a path to Salvation

by Faraz Shanyar

With the stalemate seemingly set to continue for some time, Kyros counted himself satisfied. Although his own losses were considerable he had managed to keep his enemy bottled in. Behind the front line his agents had spent the year increasing his influence among minor warlords, building outposts and securing cities. Indeed, by early 74 SA it appeared that Kyros' hold over the Heartland was stronger than ever.
Tarathon was not willing to lie down, however. In a move often cited as pure insanity, he personally led his main army on a journey across the eastern half the world. He braved the poisoned storms of the Blight, the icy peaks of the Iron Wall and half a hundred hostile warlords only to emerge in the southern Heartlands over six months later. His army now stood only a week from the city of Faranon, and nearly a thousand kilometres behind Kyros' lines.
His army, both outnumbered and outgunned, rampaged across the land. All Kyros had built over years came crashing down with weeks. Whoever opposed him was burned at the stake, a punishment once only served for servants of the empire, but those who bowed would find employ with the Scarlet Boar. Tens of thousands joined him and by late-74 SA, his army had grown larger than that of Kyros.

Usurpation

Said man could only watch in horror as events played out further south. Frozen with indecision, he made no move to counter the increasing power of the Ikonai warlord, leaving most of the burden on what few lieutenants of his remained there.

Redgrass Field

As Tarathon's army neared Faranon, it was suddenly opposed by the forces of the High Kingdom. Garlan II. had decided that he would rather fight than see his land and crown be the toys of other powers. And fight he did. At Redgrass Field, his army was annihilated and with it any hope for the High Kingdom to be more than a illusion of power

A New High King

With the High King dead and his army gone, nothing kept Tarathon from his price. He stormed the city, let his army plunder and butcher as they pleased. And he himself sat upon the Hero's throne and took the crown of the High Kingdom for himself. For he was to be ruler of the known world, an emperor in the image of eternity.

Scarlet Terror

Faranon was not the only city that faced his wrath. Many region still held true to Kyros and his generals did their best to oppose the new High King. Tarathon responded by painting much of the south red with blood. Full accounts do no exist, but dozens of cities and fortresses, and over a hundred villages are said to have been burned by his forces.

Desperate Resistance

by Ivan Laliashvili

Not all went well for the new High King, however. His terror bread resentment and while Kyros himself did not act, his lieutenants did. Opposition mounted on all fronts and Tarathon's army was slowy torn down as battles raged all across the southern Heartlands.
In early 75 SA, he decided to finish off the ailing Kyros. He marched on Kyrisia, a settlement that had not only been founded by Kyros himself, but also controlled the main pass west. Had it fallen there would have been no route of retreat for Kyros. Caught between the Theira and Tarathon his army would have been annihilated.
But a desperate last stand by Ernac Windrider saw the Scarlet Boar's army beaten. The usurper himself is said to have been wounded in the fighting. Ernac had saved his masters life and reign, but had paid for it with his life. A sacrifice that seems to have shaken Kyros from his paralysis.

Deathmatch near Kurupedion

Bloodied but intact, Tharaton's army would swing north again. Wherever the High King sought to regroup back home or responded to increasing unrest back home is unclear. He sought to cross the river Theira again. This time far in the west near the Minoan Sea and the city of Kurupedion. It was here that Kyros caught up with him. Kurupedion was by far the largest battle of the war. Nearly four-hundred thousand men and women are said to have fought down in the shade of its walls.

by Victor Rossi

Three long days did the killing last. Storms of arrows reigned down upon clashing phalanxes. Thurkani horsemen danced with Ishana Cataphracts while Ruriki hillmen broke their bronze axes upon the shields of Iskendrian shieldbearers. People from all corners of the world, once united in their rebellion against the empire, now killed each other in a mad frenzy. All in the hollow name of ambition.
But eventually, the heavy horse of Kyros' guard broke through Tarathon's lines and reached the High King's position. The mad boar was slain and his army broke.

A New World Order

Tarathon's domain broke apart within days of his death. His hold over the Heartlands collapsed and the Ikonai homeland would fall into an age of city-states that lasts to this day. Kyros had won. And throughout the last decade of his life, there was not a single man willing to defy his will. But something seemed to have broken inside of him for Kyros retreated back into the windswept reaches of his old home never to return. His edicts still flowed though and did much to restore the pre-war order. A new High King was chosen, borders redrawn, and the very laws that had laid the groundwork for this conflict were confirmed. And so it was from liberated blood that the modern world emerged.

It is his age that we still live in. Kyros may have died two centuries ago, but his spirit lives on in every facette of our world.

— Vitrek IV., High King of Faranon (283-318 SA)

Part of
Rise of the New World
Duration
Years 73 - 75 of the Storm Age.
Location
Most of the Heartlands and Western Provinces.
Result
Victory for Kyros the Great. Death of Tarathon the Red. Faronite Reformation secured.
Important Battles
Battle of the Redgrass Field
Battle of Kurupedion

by K.D

Kyros is no different. He too was made to seek absolute power. Only he knows the value of patience.

— Garlan II., High King of Faranon (30-74 SA)

White Banner Dominion
Among the larger powers to emerge after the fall of the empire, the White Banner Dominion was a coalition of warlords, tribes and city-states mainly centered on the person of Tarathon the Red and his Ikonai people. At its height, it covered most of the Heartlands but never even approached a stable realm. The Scarlet Boar himself did not care about problems like succession and after his death, his sons and daughters did much to tear apart their father's realm. To this day, the Ikonai remain a divided people.

Thurkani Hegemony
In stark contrast, the realm of Kyros quickly emerged as a durable entity. Centered on his own ethnic group, the Thurkani, the Hegemony combined the sedentary practices of Uranians and other peoples with their own nomadic and pastoral lifestyle. Out in the dry steppes west of the Red Wall, he build the foundation for a unique realm that while not free of conflict between its different parts has remained the arguably most stable of the great powers that were created by the Liberators.

by Rocío Espín Piñar

King without Power
Originally intended as the highest secular authority in post-imperial Uranon, the High Kingdom of Faranon would never amount to more than a dream and a title. Created to give the coalition of warlords Faron had led before his death some sort of organisation, it proved powerless to stop the chaos unfolding after his death. None of the men wearing the title of High King would ever even approach the power and influence of their progenitor.
Few even within its own borders were willing to follow the High King's word and Garlan II.'s ill-fated attempt to oppose Tarathon in 74 SA ensured that the High Kingdom would remain an impotent entity. Following the death of Kendric III. the Flayed Man in 281 SA, the throne remained vacant. Today its vassals, collectively known as Heartland Kingdoms, are independent realms in all but name.

I am sorry...

— Last Words of Kyros the Great

Broken Man
Kyros emerged as the victor of the conflict, but felt himself like one of the defeated. Wherever it was the loss of life, his own part in the disaster, the death of so many of his old companions or something else that broke his spirit none can say. Fact is only that he never again emerged from his estates deep within the western steppes and that much of his time thereafter was spent securing lasting peace for his people. No Thurkani child should ever again have to pay for their ruler's follies.

The Final Tally
While comparatively short, the War of the Liberators caused much devastation across Uranon. Scholars estimate that perhaps up to a million people perished through war and famine. Much of the Heartlands remained lifeless for decades thereafter.

by Joseph Meehan