Ralgon Civil War
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This article or section is a work in progress. The information below may be incomplete, outdated, or subject to change. |
| Ralgon Civil War | ||||||||||
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| Part of Ralgon Reconquista | ||||||||||
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| Belligerents | ||||||||||
 The Holy Ralgon Empire
| Dragon-riding aboriginal tribes from the Western interior Elder dragons and their broods from the interior (sentient or otherwise) Support: |  The HexarchyFormed from the Eventide Islands Colony and various supporting allies.
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| Sympathizing natives, mercenaries, and related forces fighting for various parties were also present as third (or fourth) parties throughout the war. | ||||||||||
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| Casualties and losses | ||||||||||
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The Ralgon Civil War took place from 1683 to 1685 AN in the Holy Ralgon Empire and its periphery territories, and led to the Destruction of Drag'os, an event in which conflict between the natives, imperialist, and rebel factions led to disturbing the island's most violent elder dragons enough to destroy most of the island's cities and infrastructure, and/or trigger mass panic and a series of mass migrations from those places.
Prelude (1680-82)
The war was triggered during the great expansions and conquests into the remainder of the Island of Dragos by the Ralgon military. While considerable progress was made after the Second Great Atomic Bombardment (in which the eastern half of the Great Swamp was nuked and its giant insect population all but destroyed), headway into the Western Badlands met with extreme resistance from the local fauna. After first contact was made with an ancient race of dragon tamers in the mountains, a mix of respect and hatred formed between both Ralgons and Natives. This made fighting the wild dragons more difficult and complicated, as the conventional option of nuking the mountains was now out of the question due to conflicting ethical concerns.
During the same period, economic strain was beginning to very much be felt in the country's powerful economic center of Drag'nor, which was heavily financing these conquests -- with increasingly little financial gain due to the costs of advancements. Bribing some native tribes and fighting others added two additional fronts to an already costly war effort. Although training soldiers and sending them off was a usual (and low) cost per person, gathering sufficiently advanced equipment to combat the increasingly hostile dragons grew to strain the country's coffers.
The sheer effort required to build the Erazm Bridge brought a critical amount of strain to the vast metropolis of Glacier City itself, another of the country's two major economic and cultural centers. By late 1682, the addition of vast lands to the rest of the island, while helping greatly alleviate the country's population control issues, proved to be little helped to the economically strained people of the country's massive urban centers. The central government, eager to add "Liberator of Drag'os" to their titles, merely traded one set of problems with another. The destruction of the bridge during the Jindaoese-Alriggian War only served as a breaking point for the Scarterran upper echelon's morale.
Outbreak of Total War (Early 1683)
(War with natives --> Dragon attack --> Drag'nor and Nixtorm leave --> Adrestia moves --> Front line stabilizes near the coast)
The Western Theater (1683-84)
The Keltian Theater (1684-85)
Formation of The Hexarchy (1685)
The Destruction of Drag'os (1686)
Mass Exodus & Near-Collapse of the Empire
Aftermath
The conflict's catastrophic aftermath led to the country's massive reduction, the departure of most of the country's cultural and military elite, most of its upper class, almost half of its massive population, and the western natives along with their dragons. While the country was used to population losses and shocks, it had never lost land on this scale.
As traumatizing for the people as this series of unfortunate events was, it proved to be a defining moment in the country's history, as a unified national identity was finally restored to the remaining people of Drag'os. While the massive loss of land in 1685 was indeed egregious at best, the Emperor barely managed to save the country from complete collapse, as a moment of brilliant leadership stopped incoming enemy forces of all sorts to be held off at the southern coasts of the island.
However, the Emperor's popularity hit an all-time low as he authorized the transfer of lands to the far west of the island to the Bassarid Empire in a last-ditch effort to save his citizens there, as well. Ultimately, though, it proved to be the best decision available, as a strong ally to the west meant that a brand-new stable front was opened to keep the supremely dangerous enemy in the west (the elder dragons) at bay while the country could finally regroup from the single most demoralizing experience it had ever suffered since its foundation centuries before.
The Holy Ralgon Empire also nearly fractured completely due to these events. It was only through impressive diplomacy on the Ralgonese government's part (along with close family connections) that kept the now-powerful Adrestia in the imperial fold. Such a loss would have not only crippled the empire, but may have led to its demise altogether. As for their colonies in Keltia, their attempt to recover these ended in some of the worst military disasters in Ralgonese Navy history. The resulting country's existence is primarily Adrestia's responsibility, and continues to be a thorn in the side when it comes to reintegration talks between the two countries.
