The Godless War

The Godless War was a 50-year conflict between the kingdoms of Elondria and Karos. Sparked partly by the previously neutral border city of Affeton becoming a member of Elondrian’s vassal-cities, the religious war saw the full might of Karos descend upon Elondria, under the orders of King Oleg Vayne in an attempt to convert the “godless heathens” of the atheist kingdom to the Karosian god Velios.

Due to the relative bottleneck provided by the landmass, a constant stand-off was held barely ten miles from Affeton, with both armies dug in for years at a time. The sheer numbers involved crippled the economies of both nations, as well as driving out the inhabitants of all nearby villages meaning food had to be delivered in heavily guarded supply chains to both armies. As such, much of the war centred on small raiding parties attempting to disrupt these supply chains or pillage towns deeper into enemy territory.

The largest battles of the war served to more or less bookend the 50 year span. In 1094PD, upon discovering that a brute force land-based approach was proving unsuccessful, King Vayne ordered a secret armada of warships to assault Elorem directly. Though the capital withstood the attack, large swathes of the city were razed and several thousand men died on both sides. King Vayne’s flagship – The Hand of Velios – was infamously set adrift along the northern Karosian coast three days later, stripped of its weapons and sails and with the bodies of the four Admirals in charge of the attack tied to the mast.

By 1142PD - the final year of the war – supplies and military numbers were wearing thin on both sides. In a desperate effort to swing the war in their favour, Oleg’s son and newly crowned King Dakrus Vayne ordered a full push into Affeton. The city, being renowned for its near-impenetrable walls and skilled tactician of a leader in Duke Estin Hightower stood firm for two entire months of assault, costing the lives of well over ten thousand Karosians as well as two thousand combined Elondrian military and citizens. Affeton was half controlled by the Karosian military, with Duke Hightower and several of his highest ranking advisors slain when letters arrived in the hands of the young Kings Dakrus Vayne and Jarett Thaenos, demanding that the war end immediately, or else the wrath of all five remaining nations of Pangaea would come down upon them.

In a parley held in the summer of 1142PD, both Kings acquiesced to the demands of the five Kings of Poilles, Karodbesk, Bouvillon, Santia and Ehrsbachia. King Vayne recalled his troops from Affeton, and a fragile peace was formed between the two nations.