Protectorate Wars: Difference between revisions
| Revision as of 22:05, 28 October 2026 Tallowmere (talk | contribs) (Linked [[Salt Coast]]) | Revision as of 03:11, 29 October 2026 Archivist of Osdore (talk | contribs) (Linked [[Port Ysa]]) | ||
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| The '''Protectorate Wars''' (2035 to 2041) were a series of campaigns by the [[Ulmarkan Empire]] that brought a stretch of the north-eastern coast of [[Rendorlin]] and three outlying islands under Ulmarkan rule. They were fought by an empire that needed shipyards, grain land and a harbour on the far side of the northern ocean, against the coastal states and the [[Veyari]], the people who had lived on the [[Salt Coast]] for two thousand years. About 240,000 people died; about 150,000 of them were Veyari civilians, most of them in the [[Salt Coast Clearances]] of 2037 to 2039.[1][2] The [[Unified Orylian Pact]] did not intervene. The Ulmarkan state calls the wars "the Settlement"; the Veyari call them "the Emptying". | The '''Protectorate Wars''' (2035 to 2041) were a series of campaigns by the [[Ulmarkan Empire]] that brought a stretch of the north-eastern coast of [[Rendorlin]] and three outlying islands under Ulmarkan rule. They were fought by an empire that needed shipyards, grain land and a harbour on the far side of the northern ocean, against the coastal states and the [[Veyari]], the people who had lived on the [[Salt Coast]] for two thousand years. About 240,000 people died; about 150,000 of them were Veyari civilians, most of them in the [[Salt Coast Clearances]] of 2037 to 2039.[1][2] The [[Unified Orylian Pact]] did not intervene. The Ulmarkan state calls the wars "the Settlement"; the Veyari call them "the Emptying". | ||
| ⋯ | |||
| The Arena Law of 2034 made the project popular: veterans of the empire's bouts were promised homesteads, and every settler family that wrestled into the Outer Circle's register was granted a hundred acres.[1] | The Arena Law of 2034 made the project popular: veterans of the empire's bouts were promised homesteads, and every settler family that wrestled into the Outer Circle's register was granted a hundred acres.[1] | ||
| − | == The campaigns ==
War was declared in the spring of 2035 on the pretext of a border incident at the port of Ysa. The Ulmarkan navy took the coast in a single season. The land campaigns followed under Marshal [[Hjalmar Sorn]], who was given command because he had never lost a bout and who is reported to have said that he "did not intend to start with a draw". The coastal states' militias were beaten in the field in 2036 and in the siege of | + | == The campaigns == War was declared in the spring of 2035 on the pretext of a border incident at the port of Ysa. The Ulmarkan navy took the coast in a single season. The land campaigns followed under Marshal [[Hjalmar Sorn]], who was given command because he had never lost a bout and who is reported to have said that he "did not intend to start with a draw". The coastal states' militias were beaten in the field in 2036 and in the siege of [[Port Ysa]] in 2037. Resistance after that was the work of the Veyari themselves, who knew the marshes.[2] |
| Sorn's answer was the [[Salt Coast Clearances]]. By the end of 2039 the interior was cleared, and the remaining campaigns, until the last surrender in 2041, were fought for the three islands.[2] | Sorn's answer was the [[Salt Coast Clearances]]. By the end of 2039 the interior was cleared, and the remaining campaigns, until the last surrender in 2041, were fought for the three islands.[2] | ||
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| == Aftermath == The wars ended with the Ulmarkan occupation of the coast and the creation of the [[Ulmarkan Protectorates]]. The requisitioning of grain for the army, and the settlement of Ulmarkan homesteaders on cleared Veyari land, contributed to the [[2043 Ulmarkan Famine]], which killed millions, most of them in the Protectorates. The Hand Trials and the empire's later sanctions followed. The ██████████████████████████ survives, and in 2058 it published its Second Settlement Plan, which named new coasts.[1][3] | == Aftermath == The wars ended with the Ulmarkan occupation of the coast and the creation of the [[Ulmarkan Protectorates]]. The requisitioning of grain for the army, and the settlement of Ulmarkan homesteaders on cleared Veyari land, contributed to the [[2043 Ulmarkan Famine]], which killed millions, most of them in the Protectorates. The Hand Trials and the empire's later sanctions followed. The ██████████████████████████ survives, and in 2058 it published its Second Settlement Plan, which named new coasts.[1][3] | ||
| Protectorate Wars | |
|---|---|
 The Ulmarkan landing at Port Ysa, 2035, from a contemporary engraving | |
| Date | 2035 to 2041 |
| Location | North-eastern coast of Rendorlin and three outlying islands |
| Result | Ulmarkan occupation; creation of the Ulmarkan Protectorates |
| Combatants | Ulmarkan Empire; the coastal states and the Veyari militias |
| Commanders | ███████ Hesk; Marshal Hjalmar Sorn |
| Casualties | About 240,000 dead, of whom some 150,000 were Veyari civilians |
The Protectorate Wars (2035 to 2041) were a series of campaigns by the Ulmarkan Empire that brought a stretch of the north-eastern coast of Rendorlin and three outlying islands under Ulmarkan rule. They were fought by an empire that needed shipyards, grain land and a harbour on the far side of the northern ocean, against the coastal states and the Veyari, the people who had lived on the Salt Coast for two thousand years. About 240,000 people died; about 150,000 of them were Veyari civilians, most of them in the Salt Coast Clearances of 2037 to 2039.[1][2] The Unified Orylian Pact did not intervene. The Ulmarkan state calls the wars "the Settlement"; the Veyari call them "the Emptying".
Background
[edit]Ulmarka is a cold island of 58 million people, and by 2031 its grain, its timber and its drydocks could not feed the navy that the Brotherhood of the Oil had promised the clans. After the Night of the Oil and the proclamation of the empire in 2032, ███████ Hesk set up the ██████████████████████████ to find land. The Office's first report, in 2033, named the Salt Coast, forty days' sail south-west, with its marshes, its harbours and an empty-looking interior that its surveyors described as "held, not used".[1]
The Arena Law of 2034 made the project popular: veterans of the empire's bouts were promised homesteads, and every settler family that wrestled into the Outer Circle's register was granted a hundred acres.[1]
The campaigns
[edit]War was declared in the spring of 2035 on the pretext of a border incident at the port of Ysa. The Ulmarkan navy took the coast in a single season. The land campaigns followed under Marshal Hjalmar Sorn, who was given command because he had never lost a bout and who is reported to have said that he "did not intend to start with a draw". The coastal states' militias were beaten in the field in 2036 and in the siege of Port Ysa in 2037. Resistance after that was the work of the Veyari themselves, who knew the marshes.[2]
Sorn's answer was the Salt Coast Clearances. By the end of 2039 the interior was cleared, and the remaining campaigns, until the last surrender in 2041, were fought for the three islands.[2]
The Clearances
[edit]The killing of the Veyari was not a by-product of the war. It was ordered, by the Decree of Open Ground, which Sorn issued in 2037 and which Hesk confirmed, and its terms were that no settlement in the marshes was to be left standing, occupied or capable of feeding a militia. About 150,000 Veyari were killed in the following two years, in burnings, drownings and executions, and as many again were driven into the Protectorates' camps. The worst single event was the Dunmarrow Massacre of November 2038. The Empire's army called the work "clearing the ring".[2][3]
International response
[edit]The Unified Orylian Pact debated the matter eleven times and did not act. Its members' reasons ranged from the empire's nuclear arsenal to the grain they bought from it. The Concord's inquiry, led by the commissioner Aurel Tessaly, reached the coast only in 2046, five years after the last surrender, and found the first mass graves. Its report called the Clearances "a destruction in whole or in part of a people" and the Ulmarkan government denied it.[3]
Aftermath
[edit]The wars ended with the Ulmarkan occupation of the coast and the creation of the Ulmarkan Protectorates. The requisitioning of grain for the army, and the settlement of Ulmarkan homesteaders on cleared Veyari land, contributed to the 2043 Ulmarkan Famine, which killed millions, most of them in the Protectorates. The Hand Trials and the empire's later sanctions followed. The ██████████████████████████ survives, and in 2058 it published its Second Settlement Plan, which named new coasts.[1][3]
See also
- Ulmarkan Empire
- Ulmarkan Protectorates
- Veyari
- Salt Coast Clearances
- ███████ Hesk
- Hjalmar Sorn
- Rendorlin
- Ndokonde Bridge Collapse