Yamatian Invasion

Yamatian Invasion
Date 1001–1003 AE Location Worldwide Result Yamato Empire and Clergy of Mardük victory
Combatants
Yamato Empire Clergy of Mardük Clergy of Nergal	Kingdom of Aison Kingdom of Libaterra Kingdom of Maar Sul Confederacy of Remon Kingdom of Scundia
Commanders
Masamori Hyuga Distreyd Thanadar XII Zarnagon Yoshimuriko	Byron Kagawest Shyla Locken Remy Aurelac † Provisional Government †

The Yamatian Invasion refers to the time between the years 1001–1003 AE in the Third Age when the Yamatians suddenly attacked their neighbouring countries and conquered them with help from the Clergy of Mardük and the Clergy of Nergal. The first nation to fall was Libaterra, and soon other nations followed. Invading Aison took the longest time, but the Yamatians eventually succeeded in securing its heartlands as well.

However, the Yamatians' victory would be short-lived, because from year 1003 AE onward they would face a new threat that rose from Remon: a growing army of humans, elves and dwarves united under the banner of the Grand Alliance. The conflict between the Yamato Empire and the Grand Alliance would escalate and begin a new, devastating world-wide war which became known as the Great War.

Background

See: Unification of Yamato

After a power struggle with Emperor Takeshi Ofuchi, Shogun Masamori Hyuga emerged victorious in his coup and began a campaign to unite the clans of Yamato under his rule in 1000 AE. He formed alliances with various nobles and even the Clergy of Mardük and the Clergy of Nergal and defeated those who did not surrender peacefully. The unification not only grew the Shogun's army but also made it more cohesive and deadlier. The magical aid of the dark clerics helped him achieve his goals quickly.

The Yamatians wasted no time setting up the next stage of their grand plan: a world under the yoke of Yamato Empire. To this end they sent various dark clerics to sow the seeds of discord in the neighbouring kingdoms. Remon had the conflict between elves and humans, Libaterra had the civil war, Maar Sul had political machinations, Scundia was generally clueless, and in Aison the clerics backed up an attempted coup against King Byron Kagawest. With this groundwork done, Yamato weakened its neighbouring nations internally, which would make future invasions much easier against their now disorganized enemies.

Conflict

High Cleric Distreyd Thanadar XII managed to secure a shard of the ancient magical blade Krystallopyr and leeched its powers to increase his already considerable magic to tremendous levels. He used his magic to cast a plague of nightmares on the entire continent of Libaterra, the nation closest to Yamato, thus weakening its people. The Shogun sent his navy and army to Libaterra immediately, and thanks to Distreyd's magic and the empire's blitzkrieg warfare, they conquered most of the continent relatively quickly from the weakened victors of the recent Libaterran civil war.

Yamatians wasted no time after the Libaterran campaign. As soon as they had set up a puppet government and left a sizable force to secure the remote corners of Libaterra, their main army moved to Maar Sul, Scundia and Remon next. Their blitzkrieg tactics,combined with Distreyd's Krystallopyr powers, worked once again, catching the internally weakened nations with their pants down. Distreyd's power kept growing at this time, and he began to influence the once strong Shogun who was mysteriously growing weaker every passing month. Unbewknonst to most people, Distreyd had deliberately poisoned the Shogun in order to subtly turn him into a puppet ruler while real power would lie behind the throne in the hands of Distreyd and his dark clergy.

The invaders faced their hardest challenge in Aison. The Aisonians had realized in time what was going on and began to fortify their defenses. However, even that didn't stop the armies of Yamato. They used a clever tactic to fool Aisonians into thinking that they were attacking their coastal towns. While Aisonians were occupied at the coast, most of the Yamatian fleet boldly sailed to Myridia, the very capital of Aison, using the main river. The Yamatians put themselves in great danger but thanks to their dark allies they pulled it off and reached the unsuspecting capital in mere days.

Thus began the First Battle of Myridia as Yamatian forces led by Admiral Yasuo Fukuda and dark clerics Zarnagon and Richelieu attacked the city. Despite the Aisonians' heroic struggle, the magic and brute force of the combined force of the Yamato Empire and the Clergy of Mardük, along with some help from the Clergy of Nergal, was simply too much, and so King Byron Kagawest and his followers had to flee from the city as the Yamatians quickly took over the once mighty Aisonian capital.

In the following months Yamato secured a foothold in the Aisonian Heartlands, quickly taking over most of its major cities. Only the Magestar, Roost, Storvakor and Tel'Elee seemed impenetrable but that didn't matter to Distreyd XII that much: he now effectively ruled most of the known world.

Aftermath

See: Great War

Drunk with power, the dark clerics of Mardük betrayed the clerics of Nergal, with whom they had had an uneasy alliance from the beginning, thus driving the clerics of Nergal to eventually side with the rebel forces who opposed the occupiers. When the Shogun fell more and more ill, Distreyd XII, savouring his victory, stopped being cautious and announced himself as the de facto leader of both Yamato and the Clergy of Mardük, claiming to be the authority appointed by the Shogun himself.

Distreyd's bold act angered the Yamatian officers who didn't want to see a dark cleric lead their mighty empire. Power struggles began and took place in the shadows as dark clerics and Yamatian officers tried to gain more power and discredit each other with murders and political backstabbings happening all the time. This division would have grave consequences in the future but the squabbling factions within the empire were too short-sighted to realize it.

Although Yamato had taken over the world, it hadn't managed to squash various rebel factions that bided their time in the shadows. The rebels couldn't overthrow the Yamatian conquerors outright because the Yamatians, despite weakened by inner struggles, had sheer numbers and magic on their side. The rebels also couldn't agree on tactics and lacked a charismatic leader to unite their factions under one banner, and thus they remained divided. It took the arrival of the paladin Marcus Sarillius to tip the scale: he formed the Grand Alliance in Remon and began to unite various factions under one banner to drive the Yamatians out. Thus began the Great War.

See also

• Distreyd Thanadar XII
• Great War
• Masamori Hyuga
• Krystallopyr
• Unification of Yamato