Dragon War
The Dragon War was a massive conflict between the powerful states of Gigimiee and Grenyl over ownership of a dragon sleeping under Anticerum. The war ended in victory for Gigimiee, with the dragon successfully protected from all attacks at the time of the end of the war, but due to underhanded meta-gaming the dragon was ultimately slain anyways.
Background
Early settlement of Anticerum revealed the presence of a sleeping dragon in the recesses of a generated mine located close by. After plummeting haplessly into the dragon pit bcfoss and the other Gigimieans chose to ignore it.
As time passed, Anticerum (bcfoss) and Monteverde (jusipat) asserted themselves as the main powers pushing for a unified Gigimiee, while Krania (kjolt947) and Fabia (fabix1) took on a more parochial stance.
When Skager (flufyking) announced his plans to slay the dragon beneath Anticerum, it was bcfoss and jusipat who rallied the other duchies to its defense.
Battle of the Rat Lake
Gigimiean intercepted a force of Skagers and Grenylians (flufyking and Wikaros) at a small lake in north-western Fabia. Both sides were reluctant to fight, and when it became apparent that the lesser Gigimiean duchies were about to fold to flufykings demands, bcfoss ordered a charge shouting "Just fu- just fucking kill them!"
The battle took place along the northern and southern shores of the lake, as well as within it, and the Gigimieans soon lost the advantage despite greater numbers. bcfoss was cornered in the lake and slain by flufyking, while jusipat and kjolt947 were slain by Wikaros. It is theorized that the use of axes by the invading force was a deciding factor in their victory.
Notably, Fabia did not actually join the Gigimiean charge, instead choosing to maintain a neutral stance. Nevertheless, fabix1's pet rat was trampled and drowned in the lake during the chaotic melee.
kjolt947 managed to reinforce before the battle ended, but was promptly slain again. Nifelheim (zack) commented on the battle saying "This isn't a war. It's a genocide".
Retreat and Consolidation
In the wake of the Gigimieans' staggering defeat at the western border, Grenylian forces pushed unopposed into central Gigimiee. flufyking set off to conquer the pregenerated Cyclops Dome to the south, but nobel617 remained in central Gigimiee and was temporarily trapped by kjolt947(?) before escaping and retreating westward.
bcfoss met up with kjolt947 near the Anticerum farming hamlet of Caseia and distributed newly-forged iron armor. Afterwards the two met up with jprik, who had managed to slay nobel617. In the meantime, the Grenylians consolidated their forces and swung around the western coast towards Anticerum and the Dragon Mine. The Gigimieans set guards along the coastline; any attempted landings were immediately contested and rebuffed.
Battle of Anticerum
While patrolling the coast in order to ward off Grenylian raids, kjolt947 was intercepted by nobel617 in a small thicket to the north of Anticerum. Fighting was intense but at the last moment bcfoss reinforced from the east, managing to avenge kjolt947 seconds after his death.
Coastal Skirmishes
Some attempts were made by the Gigimieans to oppose the Grenylians at sea and possibly eradicate the threat entirely, but technical difficulties and an unfortunately timed dolphin-blessing ruined any chances of beating flufyking at sea. Nearly all sea battles invariably ended in severe losses for Gigimiee and none for flufyking. The one exception was when fabix1 feigned defection in order to get close to flufyking in order to assassinate him; the plot failed but flufyking was wounded and had to retreat*. It was at this point that Fabia finally took overt military action against the Grenylians, shifting the numbers to 2:1 in Gigimiees favor. Grenyl attempted no more landings after this point and a ceasefire was agreed upon shortly thereafter.
Island Bases
With the odds increasingly against them, the Skager-Grenylian forces fortified an island to the west of Gigimiee in hopes of continuing the war, albeit at a lower intensity. Confident in the Gigimiean defense, jprik countered by fortifying an island close to Grenyl. A formal peace was negotiated before fighting could erupt again.
Aftermath
Gigimiean iron supplies, which enjoyed a comfortable surplus before the war, were severely depleted in the immediate aftermath.
Gigimiee, a loose connection of effectively independent polities in the days preceding the war, was united by the conflict against a foreign invader. A parliament building was eventually appended to the Temple of the Locus Krani.
Slaying of the Dragon
One ingame week after the end of hostilities flufyking and Wikaros launched a cowardly incursion into the Dragon Mine, hinging on a technicality in the server rules wherein a faction could be attacked so long as 50% of it's player population was online. fabix1 detected the Grenylians closing in on the Dragon Mine and notified bcfoss, then attempted to stop them and was slain. The dragon was killed and the Pit looted.
Notes
- Fabia and Skager maintained cordial relations even after the assassination attempt, and on at least one occasion fabix1 was allowed to retrieved his belongings after being slain by flufyking, a privilege that was not extended to the other Gigimiean duchies.