War of Ispolinian Independence

The War of Ispolinian Independence also known as the Goralic Civil War was a 6 year conflict lasting from 885 to 901 between the Goralic Empire under Josip IX and supporters of the Ispolinian nobleman Mikhail of the Tyrvavič house which was descendant from the house of Lavski, through the daughter of Antjon I, Elena of Ispolin. Mikhail sought to usurp the throne of Ispolin from the Svetossiyan emperor and eventually succeeding after the death of Josip IX during the siege of Plywerduta.

Causes of the war
The war was built up to by a period of misfortune for the empire and a loss of faith in the ruling government by many of the Ispolinian nobles. This was mainly due to a recent famine across southern Ispolin and Svetossiya which left many peasants and labourers dead and threw the economy into turmoil, which the government attempted to solve using a Trade Tax focused on the straits of Ispolin, angering many burghers and nobility in the region. Furthermore the religious difference between Svetossiya and Ispolin due to the Gregorian schism created a further rift between the emperor and his subjects. A recent earthquake in Perelojka also briefly diminished government authority and led to a year long period of lawlessness in which the Emperor had to grant greater autonomy to local lords before the government could be moved to Alekandrov and re-centralised. The emperor Aleksandr VI also increased the privilege of Svetossiyans over other groups in the empire in order to 'assimilate' the populace, and as a result upset the delicate balance of power between the ethnic groups that his predecessors had kept together for decades.

Start of the war
In 883 Emperor Aleksandr VI died unexpectedly and left his inexperienced 18 year old son Josip IX in charge. There had originally been hope for the young ruler to undo the misdeeds of his father, however he continued to enforce laws that elevated Svetossiyan nobles above others and this pushed Ispolinians to their breaking point. Leading noble houses gathered in Tsarevo where they named Josip IX a pretender and demanded that Ispolin be released under the distantly related Mikhail Tyrvavič.

Initial battles
Josip IX refused to give up his throne and amassed a 17,000 strong army which marched on Tsarevo within 2 and a half months. The Ispolinian nobles responded by raising their own army of 11,000 and meeting the enemy 3 weeks alter at the Battle of Zelpavo in which the Imperial Army emerged victorious despite heavy casualties. Following the battle the Imperial army pursued the Ispolinians to the North-West, where they rebels won at Pertava Castle and gave themselves enough time to set sail for Tsarevo and link up with a larger force that had amassed there. However, they were intercepted and defeated by the imperial navy and only 1,300 of the 6,4000 men who set sail ever reached Tsarevo.

The Siege of Tsarevo
From then on little fighting took place until 887. The rebels consolidated their power in Tsarevo but were unable to raise or equip any more men than the standing 7,000, whilst the Emperor had raised 11,000 men altogether. 1,000 were sent to subjugate the south of Ispolin, whilst the remaining men were due to attack and besiege Tsarevo to crush the uprising once and for all. However, the siege of Tsarevo proved lengthy and difficult and the imperial army was unable to breach the defences of Tsarevo. The Emperor and his men perched up outside the city in an attempt to starve it out. In this time Ispolinian forces across the straits in the East were consolidating and preparing to aid the forces in Tsarevo.

Tyrvopol Rebels
To the great help of Ispolin it was at this time that the Dukoj of Tyrvopol declared his independence shortly after the death of his predecessor. Tyrvopol had also been affected by the oppressive assimilation laws which elevated Svetossiyan citizens and nobility, and undermined the Tyrvopolite church based which greatly angered its people. Seeing the opportunity, Tyrvopol rebelled and raised 9,000 men for war, with a further 1,300 men from the imperial army defecting to his side. Inicially Tyrvopol swore loyalty to the old Ispolin-Tyrvopolite union but as months went on Tyrvopol declared their Dukoj their king and for the first time Tyrvopol an independent Kingdom. The following month, the King of Tyrvopol and the King of Ispolin entered an alliance against the Goralic Empire, and Fertuga had announced its support of the rebels and 4,000 men set sail to join the war. Vizzetia also decided to aid their old Ispolinian allies, though it was more likely they helped to destabilise Goralia.

The Imperial army then engaged the rebels one again at Neverosin and was defeated, yet dealt heavy casualties to the enemy. Upon retreat they famously fought off 10,000 Ispolinian foot soldiers with only 1,000 Imperial horsemen in the Battle of Kiroreka and gave the Emperor enough time to evade capture.

The Battle of Cernorov
At the start of 889 the war was a stalemate. Both sides had had losses and victories, and no clear end in sight. The Emperor's army was preparing to march on Tyrvopol after another 11,000 men were raised in the north and linked up with the remaining 11,000. Ispolin and Tyrvopol combined had 12,000 men and with the combined help of Fertuga's 4,000 and 3,000 Vizzetian mercenaries now had 19,000 men available. The two armies met at Cernorov Forest near the Svetossiyan-Ispolinian border and began the bloodiest, largest battle seen by the Goralic Isles. After days of fighting, it ended in a crushing defeat for the Imperial army as the enemy marched on to besiege the strategic castle of Plywreduta on the way to Aleksandrov.

The final battle
During the Siege of Plywreduta the imperial army arrvied to end the siege and for a while looked like they would win. However, Emperor Josip was killed by an enemy arrow to the eye during the battle and killed, leaving his 5 year old son to inherit the throne. Seeing the hopelessness of the situation, the young Emperor's regent surrendered to the Ispolinians and Tyrvopolians just two weeks later.

The Treaty of the Three Crowns
Months after the final engagement at Plywerduta the rulers of the three kingdoms would meet to discuss the terms of their peace which previously was more of a trust based truce than a binding treaty. Over the course of the war Tyrvopol slowly grew resentful of the Ispolinians and felt stronger together with their Fertugan allies. The same occurred in Ispolin which felt stronger with their Vizzetian support. However in a mutual treaty Fertuga and Vizzetia decided to cut their support to the two countries, either to further weaken them to promote infighting for their own profit or purely because the war was dragging on and neither country wanted to continue spending large sums on foreign wars.

Now without their allies Tyrvopol and Ispolin wanted to sign peace more than anything. All three countries were left devastated by the war with crop fields destroyed and civil unrest brewing in all regions. So in a historical treaties the newly crowned rulers of the three kingdoms met. The now 6 year old Andrey XI and his regent Strabor of Urolo, the self proclaimed king of Tyrvopol, Dimivij IV and lastly the much loved Mikhail III of Ispolin. The men discussed how the kingdoms shall be run from now on and all agreed to recognise each others kingdoms as legitimate. The treaty was ended with a symbolic exchanging of blades. The swords of Ispolin and Tyrvopol were given to the king of Svetossiya who in return offered the ancestral crowns of the two kingdoms.

Legacy and Aftermath
The treaty ending the war failed to address the Svetossiyan claims to both thrones, and it would be this small fact that would result in the period to come, a period of further war and death between Svetossiya and Ispolin. King Andrey XI would use this to his advantage claiming his regent had no right to trade away his rightful crowns and would attempt to reclaim them with blood.

The empire's defeat marked the end of the Goralic Golden Age and of the Goralic Empire as a whole. It began a period known in Svetossiya as the Great Stagnation, in which few wars were won, the economy was poor and nation unstable. It would last until the last Jerekol king of Svetossiya and would end with the House of Leonetta coming to the throne, although some argue that Svetossiya was not restored to its former glory until the reign of Rujenkov.