Pultria Crisis

The Pultria Crisis was a major geopolitical crisis caused by the expansionist policies of Pultria and the First Icesteel Empire. It began when Pultria declared war on Synbio on June 28th, and ended with the Battle of Petroselinum.

The Lost Wood Incident and Synbio's Dissolution
On June 28 at 12:55 AM CST, Gwen127 from the town of Lost Wind in Synbio posted a photo of graves created for the "victims of slavery" of Pultria that died under King chickenprism's rule. However, because neither Gwen nor chickenprism clarified that the "slaves" were actually chickens, the other leaders of Alathra believed that the slaves were other players, causing a public outrage against chickenprism. As the day wore on, accusations flew with chickenprism charging Gwen127 with intentionally slandering Pultria and even sending death threats, though none of these claims were substantiated.

Nonetheless, these tensions came to a head when chickenprism declared war on Lost Wind at 1:15 AM CST. However, in order to deny Pultria of a war, at 4:23 PM CST, Gwen127 decided to disband Lost Wind, and with ConacoGaming and NaaMannnn's help, disbanded the nation of Synbio altogether to join the FCA, which was allied with Pultria at the time. Furious, King chickenprism marched to Lost Wind At 9:15 PM CST to demand that the FCA hand over the town. In order to deter chickenprism, Prime Minister spiceymonkey1349 led a detachment of Uhovian knights to Lost Wind while CoolGummyBear of Redwood set up an outpost to deny chickenprism access to the town's supplies. After a lengthy standoff between spiceymonkey1349 and chickenprism, the FCA's Chancellor Cody29797 arrived and entered into a private conference with King chickenprism.

There, the two parties reached a compromise: King chickenprism would give up his claim of Lost Wind in exchange for being allowed to build an outpost on a nearby hill to the south. Cody would likewise build an outpost near Savage Crow, the capital of Pultria. While this compromise helped to avoid open conflict, the stage was set for a clash between the two nations.

Icesteel's Petroselinum Problem
On June 29, Emperor AlphaSpade of the First Icesteel Empire declared his intent to annex the island nation of Petroselinum in order to extend his empire to the western coast of Koganon. Initially, King chickenprism threatened to "eradicate the Icesteel Empire with the force of a thousand suns" for laying claim to Petroselinum. Fearing Pultria's intervention, AlphaSpade attempted to negotiate a non-aggression pact with Pultria, which King chickenprism bluntly refused. Ultimately, AlphaSpade agreed to give up his title as Emperor and to join Pultria in exchange for help with conquering Petroselinum. In addition, chickenprism managed to secure the spoken support of several nobles from Ashina, most notably King Ripesack and Grandpa_Boob of Lothridge, who he had lived with before his time in Pultria. However, Lord megadolon, the newly-crowned Lord of Iceburg, was not consulted about this merge or Ashina's involvement.

When megadolon learned of AlphaSpade and chickenprism's plans, he angrily resigned and left Icesteel along with a handful of Iceburg residents to form the town of Brittania Bay, soon declaring war on Icesteel and Pultria. The once-mighty Icesteel Empire was now fragmented and vassalized, now relying on Pultria and Ashina to help realize its conquest.

Vasya's Declaration
Inevitably, Pultria and Icesteel's advances on the continent of Koganon drew the ire of the anti-colonialist leader of Kogongu, Vasya. On June 30th, the normally pacifistic leader threatened to declare war on the expansionist nations, stating: "The Kogongi people are not violent, it is true. But we have been moved to violence."

Emperor AlphaSpade countered Vasya by pointing out her recent annexation of Bal Duran, a sacred mountain to the northwest of Kais Kogong. Vasya responded by rationalizing that the annexation of a nearby area was vastly different from Pultria "crossing the world in order to expand their borders." After this searing indictment, even Grandpa_Boob, an outspoken supporter of Pultria and Icesteel, admitted, "Vasya_ out here spitting bars."

Soon, the mesa city-state of New Reno followed suit and declared war on Pultria, pledging to support Kogongu as well as Brittania Bay.

The FCA's Ultimatum
Up to this point, the FCA was torn between supporting Pultria and Petroselinum. On one hand, the FCA wished to support Petroselinum's autonomy as it had with Lost Wind and Synbio. On the other hand however, the FCA was still allied with Pultria, and risked damaging its reputation by breaking its alliance with Pultria to defend Petroselinum. After much deliberation, at 3:18 PM on June 30, Chancellor Cody29797 issued an ultimatum to Pultria: cease its expansion or have the FCA break its alliance and declare war.

Icesteel's Betrayal
Seeing the mounting opposition against himself and chickenprism, AlphaSpade decided to break away from Pultria on June 30th and re-found the Icesteel Empire, joining the other nations in defending Petroselinum. In a remarkable twist of irony, the man who had first proposed to conquer Petroselinum now vowed to protect it. Thus, Pultria was left to face the FCA, Kogongu, and New Reno alone.

Chickenprism's Response
At 6:41 PM, chickenprism gave his response to the FCA in a rousing speech, mockingly promising to cease hostilities and to pay reparations to the FCA and Kogongu. He then denounced what he called the "intimidation tactics" of the FCA and Kogongu, stating, "I refuse to bargain with either The FCA or Kogongu. If they wish to get involved with the affairs of my nation, they will soon find out the consequences. I will take on both nations in this war if it comes down to it." Alathra was now unquestionably headed towards war.

Soon after chickenprism's response, Fare-Sesso declared war on Pultria, setting the stage for a massive battle between both sides.

Chickenprism's Leverage
At some point before the battle began, chickenprism managed to obtain the original copies of several significant historical documents from the Library of Kais Kogong, including The Fire Synod by Vasya, The Tale of MTA by LordMonkey1, and the Slavongrad-Ashina Treaty. While he claimed that a spy from Kogongu gave him the books, Vasya asserted that the books were stolen while a section of the library was unclaimed. Regardless of how the books were acquired, chickenprism now had several invaluable hostages that he could use to bargain with the other nations.

Battle Plans
For the upcoming battle, Chancellor Cody29797 was placed in charge of organizing the defense of Petroselinum. He decided to place the majority of the 11 FCA troops under his command along with the rest of the alliance at the southern side of the island, where a large ice floe would enable an easy crossing for chickenprism's forces. Covered by the thick spruce trees dotting the coastline, the alliance archers could pepper the attackers with arrows while facing little retaliation. The reserve troops would remain in the center of the island, ready to respond in case chickenprism decided to launch a surprise attack from another angle. Cody's overall strategy going in to the fight was to end the war as quickly as possible by driving off chickenprism's forces and then laying siege on Savage Crow until chickenprism surrendered.

With only 4 troops at his disposal, King chickenprism understood that victory would come not with a direct triumph over the alliance but rather by turning its members against each other. Though chickenprism did not know Cody's plan to siege Savage Crow, he understood that Kogongu would take offense to the FCA displaying needless violence or appearing to try to conquer Pultria. Thus, he was prepared to use this point to drive a wedge between the alliance members. Surprisingly, chickenprism decided not to use the books as leverage during the battle, instead saving them for the negotiations after the battle.

The Battle Begins
On July 1 at around 1:50 PM CST, the two armies met at the ford between Petroselinum and Koganon. Before the battle began, there were reports of FCA troops firing at Pultria, violating the strict deadline agreed upon by both sides. Nonetheless, the battle still began as planned at 2:00 PM CST.

On the north side of the ford, the alliance forces were able to take cover behind the thick spruce trees which dotted the coastline and fire on the attackers without much retaliation. On the other hand, the attacking Pultria troops were forced to advance across an open snowy plain as well as the large ice floe in the river, leaving them exposed to enemy fire.

After braving the alliance's unforgiving arrows up to the middle of the ford, the Pultria forces constructed a makeshift cover wall upon the ice floe, giving their archers an opportunity to fire back at the alliance's troops. However, after a few minutes of exchanging fire, the alliance stormed Pultria's barricade in a charge led by Hargreevs of Kogongu, who killed chickenprism in the ensuing assault. Pultria's forces were quickly killed or routed back to Savage Crow, where Chancellor Cody29797 laid siege.