[Inarai]

This is not a peaceful world – war is common, between struggles over resources, battles over artifacts and schemata for research, to Illudian campaigns for dominion, battle is a permanent fixture.

The Ornessi-Kariduin Conflict

Every now and again, tensions between these two nations boil over. Most recently there was a war about twelve years ago, when as usual one city (Ornessa, this time) started accusing the other of stealing technology. Their demands for reparations grew extreme, and negotiations broke down. The war started with an attack on a Kariduin cruiser. Taking place mostly in Kariduia, it was about this time that two countries began to develop special techniques and units for urban combat. The fighting was brutal, but mercifully brief, with Kariduia using a newly discovered technology to force Ornessa to back down after eight months – the Brassborn. Legions of unflinching, tireless soldiers broke the Ornessi line and forced their troops to retreat. Understanding they couldn’t beat this new influx of troops with what they had on the ground, and with the Kariduin troops reclaiming the ports that had been lost in a surprise attack, there was no way to get new forces in. Most that didn’t find their own way out were flown back to Ornessa as part of the first Brass Treaty, which ended the war. Ornessa began working tirelessly to replicate the technology.

Illudia attacks Kariduia and Ornessa

Hoping to take advantage of what seemed to be a weakened state, the Crystal Empire attempted to invade, 6 months after the Brass Treaty was signed. A colossal Illudian Grand Carrier moved into the region, flanked by 2 dreadnoughts, and launched simultaneous attacks on the 2 cities. They weren’t quite expecting the unified response, however, and clearly weren’t prepared for new tactics and technologies, including the Brassborn. To most military historians, this is viewed as Illudia’s most comical attempt at conquest. There wasn’t a lot of desire amongst the three for war for a while after.

The Brass War

As the technology for creating Brassborn spread, the trading centre of Kell-Hannorn began to construct more and more creation forges. The Brassborn from these forges were often sold as slave labour or similar, however, they also seemed to surface more and more on the city guard. Kell forges were accused of selling lesser quality Brassborn, but it came to be known that they were in fact simply reserving their best output for the city guard and army. This came to be known at about the same time that Kell-Hannorn’s militaristic ambition became known – which is to say, rather suddenly about 10 years ago. The fighting was incredibly brutal, with technologies and magic never seen before or since being used by the otherwise outnumbered aggressor. Because of this formidable advantage, the war went on for about 4 years before a mass allied assault by Kariduia, Ornessa, Illudia, Ardam, and Kour on the Kell-Hannorn mainland seemed to be forcing it to a close. It was then that an incredibly bright light began to build up at the Regent’s Palace, becoming brighter and brighter quite rapidly. Just as allied forces breached the palace’s main chamber, and relayed back some sort of message through magic, a massive blast of magical energy burst forth, enveloping the island and shredding many of the surrounding ships. Those on the ground who were able to react quickly enough and dive for some kind of cover mostly survived, but just barely. Many who took the full force of the blast were destroyed outright, but others who were closer became something... Else - some sort of abomination. Brassborn farther than a mile out from the palace were all that were left standing, and under the direction of a particular Brassborn named Balor began a harrowing rescue operation, barely containing the abominations while getting the survivors to safety. Many Brassborn were presumed killed, and left behind.

In recognition of their service and sacrifice, the Brassborn were awarded freedom by the second Brass Treaty, signed in the aftermath of what came to be known as the Skyscarring for the “scar” it has left on the sky. Experimentation on this Scar is forbidden, as the energies are believed too dangerous to be controlled. Since this happened, the cities are so busy licking their wounds and rebuilding that they haven’t even turned their thoughts to warfare.