T'krang Keyrityi: Keyrit's Gambit

The Conflict

Prelude

After the Great Eastern Uprising, three major powers dominated central Wouraiya. The Wlitowa Authority in the south and the Keyrit Daskalarchy in the middle were joined together in the centuries-old Doyog Pact. Neither faction had expanded its borders since the conquest of the Tuhran Empire when the pact was formed. Keyrit was preoccupied with developing Tuhra's former colonies, and Wlitowa struggled with keeping the Tuhran populace in line. Meanwhile, the T'kakou rose to make an empire of its own, unifying Yatkaugo and making excursions into Yatkaugo's sister continent Retrougo, declaring themselves to be the Ugo-yt Empire.

This troubled the members of the Doyog Pact greatly. Ugo-yt was not in any position to fight them yet but soon could be in a position to overtake them both. By annexing both sister-continents. Ugo-yt could make aggressive moves into the jungles of Unterritory, or the deserts of Yukur. Ugo-yt's expansion would wrap around Keyrit and Wlitowa, giving the burgeoning empire a perfect opportunity to invade wherever it desired. While Keyrit and the T'kakou shared bonds of ancestry, Keyrit was convinced that Ugo-yt's aggression must be checked. Convincing Wlitowa to throw in its support, it readied its army for an invasion of Yatkaugo.

Deployment

In order to avoid detection and interception by Ugo-yt vessels, Keyrit moved its armies through its own mountainous terrain. Because of the lack of development in the area, the journey was harder and slower than embarking its fleet and travelling around its own coastline. It crossed the narrow strait between the Yatwerai and Orayi Seas into the heartland of southern Yatkaugo, right outside the doors of Rgo Ugo.

The water lanes between Wlitowa and Yatkaugo were much wider and so less guarded than those between Keyrit and Yatkaugo. Wlitowa sent its troops across the Orayi Sea and landed unimpeded on the coastline, albeit much farther from any Ugo-yt settlements. It traveled along the coastline to meet up with its Keyrit allies.

The standing Ugo-yt forces, on the other hand, were quite busy conquering small coalitions of tribes in Retrougo. By the time word reached them about the joint invasion, their two largest cities were already under siege. Thankfully for the defenders, both cities had capable commanders and robust conscription policies. Their forces were still outnumbered and outmatched, but they were more than ready to hold off the invaders until reinforcements arrived. Ugo-yt's standing army left a skeleton crew to guard its fresh Retrougan gains and immediately embarked to defend its homeland.

Battlefield

The distance between the two besieged cities of Rgo Ugo and Rakouriyo was sizable, much too large for a single army under one command to maintain under normal circumstances. However, the two cities were confident in their own self-sufficiencies and did not bother to reach out to each other. Because the Ugo-yt standing army was away, the invasion force could transfer resources and information between the two sieges with impunity.

On the seas, Keyrit had blocked off the strait over which the army crossed with the full force of its navy, which stretched from the tip of its continent to the Rakouriyo ports.

Conditions

When Keyrit sent Wlitowa its invitation to participate in its war, it claimed "Okog terai otagor ongeya ta'aiyi," meaning, "We stand ready to receive your arrival." This is a standard phrase in Keyrit missives, meaning "We look forward to when we see you next." This phrase is not used in Wlitowan writing, so they took it literally. The Wlitowans therefore assumed that Wlitowa would only need to send its soldiers, and that Keyrit would provide the food, water, and lodging. As a result, Keyrit found itself needing to support twice as large of an army as it had planned for, all while conducting two sieges. Yatkaugo famously cannot grow enough crops to constitute farming, which meant that the Doyog Pact could not obtain more food from the countryside. Keyrit's and Wlitowa's transports were sent away to gather additional supplies for the campaign from various provinces of the Daskalarchy, cutting off its own army's escape in the instance of interception and defeat.

The Engagement

Avoiding the Keyrit blockade, the Ugo-yt standing army finally reached the shores of Yatkaugo just above Rakouriyo. With only half of their army presence and a significant morale dampener, the Keyrit and Wlitowan forces abandoned the siege of Rakouriyo and headed south to the point of their original disembarkation. The Doyog forces at Rgo Ugo learned of this from their runners and abandoned their own siege without even seeing their new enemy. The worst had come, and now there were no transports available to take the Keyrit army back home. Panicked, the joint commander ordered a line of soldiers to surround the army, comprised of alternating battalions of tingk-kro and oitagter. They would protect the army proper if the transports arrived in time.

When the Ugo-yt army arrived at the site of the battle, the commander saw transports in the distance. He knew that he would only have a few hours' chance to annihilate the invaders before they could escape. Under that pressure, he ordered his troops to charge the enemy indiscriminately. This led to a very poor matchups. Some of the more nimble infantry were thrown against the literal walls brought by the Oitagter. Meanwhile, the heavy infantry were kept at pike's distance from the tingk-kro. Ugo-yt was unable to break through, and the commander called his forces back to regroup and hastily restrategize. While Keyrit and Wlitowa did not inflict great numbers of casualties, their intention at this stage of battle was only to survive. When the Keyrit commander saw the Ugo-yt forces retreating, though, he brought his army out from his defensive line to give chase. The retreat soon turned into a rout, from which the commander could not collect his forces for a day. A day bought the retreating invasion time to breathe but was by no means a luxurious amount.

In order to make room for the troops, most of the transports' newly-arrived supplies were left on the shore. Captain Kegit Ngoryo was left behind to explain to the Ugo-yt that this was "oangti karve." Literally translating to "incident produce," its more proper anglicization is "apology chocolate." The Ugo-yt Empire did not immediately respond to the Daskalarchy regarding this event. However, because such produce was not found on Yatkaugo, and since it had an expiration date, the supplies were seized and distributed.

Outcome

The Ugo-yt were successful in defending their homeland, but Keyrit and Wlitowa inspired the tribes of Retrougo to fight for their independence and national survival. They assaulted the garrison that was left behind, creating what could be considered a second front. The Ugo-yt Empire took its army and moved back across its sovereign waters to fight the new insurrection.

The liberated cities were left to their own devices. Rakouriyo was the first to send an emissary to its neighbor city; Rgo Ugo was quick to respond. In a hostile wasteland environment like Yatkaugo, the food shortage was still a problem, the cities would still be besieged merely from supply and demand. It took the efforts of all the citizens to collect enough food to supply the population in propagation, but both cities held firm to their commitments. Both would live for centuries, thanks to the efforts of that generation. Indirectly, they may have saved the Empire.

Aftermath

On paper, and so the Ugo-yt citizens believed, the Empire's soldiers were fresh off the backs of both defensive and aggressive victories. In actuality, the soldiers were heavily fatigued from weeks of marching and sailing on the open seas. This excuse would be partly to blame when the Ugo-yt Empire suffered a humiliating defeat in southern Retrougo in the infamous Hunt for the Peat Burners. They grasped their imperial ambitions in Retrougo before it slipped through their fingers. While it ended in defeat, Keyrit's Gambit was almost a complete success. While the Ugo-yt leaders had talked about a chance to take revenge on Keyrit for this slight, they formally accepted Keyrit's "oangti karve" in a letter to the Daskalarchy.

Historical Significance

Legacy

The Keyrit-Welokyi of Keyrit and the T'kakou of Ugo-yt had viewed each other as two competitive siblings, since they originated from the same protoculture. There were often conversations about uniting the two peoples under a single banner, though no steps were taken to that end. Even when they were so close to each other in proximity, citizens of both countries didn't suspect (and certainly didn't hope) that the two would actually come to a full-scale war. Even the Gambit was not expected to be an all-out war, just a brief reminder of which nation was superior.

After Keyrit's Gambit, though, both sides were forced to look at their relationship with more sobriety. They were sibling nations, sure, but they were also significant actors on the world stage. They had chosen mutually exclusive allies and interests, and they would inevitably act on those interests. From then on, both sides operated under the expectation of a war of aggression from the other side.

In Literature

Because of the shared heritage and similar language between the two primary combatants, a wealth of memoirs was shared between both sides of the channel after the war. The memoirs of the Doyog joint commander, later titled Oangti Karve, was published in both languages. The commander was surprisingly harsh on himself, blaming his lack of foresight for the food shortages and for the lack of preparation. He claimed he resigned, though the Keyrit military says that he retired. Regardless, his memoirs detail his travels across Yatkaugo, Retrougo, Keyrit, and Unterritory, looking both for penance and enlightenment. His book concludes with a call for extended peace between the two original combatants, and that "ekoi tyoai tura, oakar", that they should strive for glory together. Doubtless his words fell on dear ears, but the two nations would incidentally remain at peace until his death.

Keyrit's military was predominantly career soldiers; most soldiers weren't there to stay a few years and move on to higher callings. As a direct consequence, the memoirs and journals from Keyrit that documented the event were numerous, but the ones that were well-written could be counted on one hand. The most famous journal was from one Oyido Otagor. It conveyed a sentiment of boredom and of simmering (though ultimately not explosive) disgruntlement. Otagor was deployed outside Rgo Ugo, which saw no combat whatsoever. He details a shouted but pleasant conversation with a well-educated glassblower who was conscripted to defend the entrance. This could have been construed as an admission of treason in one of Wouraiya's most well-published books. Even still, Otagor was too hot to touch in the public sphere. Whether it was this shield or otherwise apathy, no action was taken against him.

Because his memoirs were so successful, Oyido authored a work of fiction in the same setting. As explained in the introduction, the book focuses on an alternate history in which Rgo Ugo was invaded and captured, but it includes real-life characters from his previous book and from the "vague, unreliable recesses of his memories." His alternate war had a lot more action and moments of valor, revealing and detailing the author's desire for glorious combat rather than whatever slog he had been forced to undergo.

Because the participation of the Ugo-yt standing army was brief and relatively successful, the literature from their side was much more bombastic and propagandistic. The vile Keyrit (not the entire nation, just the few rogue warmongers that had infiltrated the military) had stabbed the T'kakou people when and where they were most vulnerable. The standing army, a sea away from their destination, pushed themselves forward through sheer will, and Keyrit's invasion melted away before their might. One such story was of the hero Dugoro, a man whose great strength had no batter and could only be matched by his wisdom and humility. He was born in the highlands of Yatkaugo, in a T'kakou tribe on the periphery. When he was an infant, he threw off the rock placed on him! The boat that carried him fell behind, so he got out and pushed his transport forward just by swimming! When he met the enemy, he tore the shield of the oitagter in twain! If only his comrades were strong enough to finish the righteous task they were given.

The besieged Ugo-yt cities had more involvement in the conflict. Even so, it was the first and nearly the only conflict that involved the two cities since their formation. They never had a military reputation, but the conflict gave each town a strong sense of local pride. The two cities proclaimed the day of their liberation as a local holiday. The two holidays, Vare (for Rakouriyo) and Vogo (for Rgo Ugo) were about a week apart; they weren't officially recognized by the Ugo-yt Empire but were still held as festival days nationwide every year. During this period, a plethora of local ballads and poems spring forth from the local talent. None of them reached international or even national aplomb, but collectively they add to the vibrant celebration.

Conflict Type

War, Theatre

Battlefield Type

Land

Start Date

221

Ending Date

223

Conflict Result

Stalemate

Location

Yatkaugo: Dead West