Ralgon Reconquista

Ralgon Reconquista Second Cibolan Reconquista Valora-Ralgon-Imperial Federation confrontations
Date 1690 AN - 1717 AN Location Western Cibola, Northern Cibola Status Imperial Federation victory in 1717 AN
Belligerents
Ralgon	Vanic resistance Batavian resistance Undead forces in Cibola Native resistance

The Ralgon Reconquista, otherwise known as the Second Cibola Reconquista, is an attempt by the Holy Ralgon Empire to regain control over its former territories in Northern Cibola and liberate the former territories of its now-dissolved Barbarian allies in the western portion of the continent. The idea gained significant traction following Ralgon successes on the mainland, as well as a full recuperation of military assets from the disasters of five years earlier following the Ralgon Civil War. Furthermore, the Ralgon government realized that the recently liberated ancient capital of Jingdao, Zijincheng, stood in complete isolation from the coastlines or, simply put, from any allies whatsoever. After tense negotiations and divisions in the army, a two-pronged campaign was launched by the Ralgon Emperor Shiro, now 17 years into his reign, and eager to mark 20 years on the throne on a high note.

The ultimate goal of the endeavor was the conquest (or, in the case of Bassarid-held territory, peaceful repatriation) of all lands formerly occupied by the Ralgon Empire, as well as the former territories of the Barbarian Republic, in the name of liberating and protecting allies with its own forces, following Barbary's sudden collapse. While pundits argue that the country is putting a significant portion of its power at risk (along with what remaining colonies and territories it still has left), Central Command has argued that this move is precisely what is needed to keep the Empire from slowly collapsing into oblivion.

The expedition was launched with the annexation of Nova Victoria, an area barely months before under the sovereignty of the Barbarian Republic. Following its sudden collapse, the Ralgons used forces stationed there under prior agreements to swiftly annex the city and save it from the chaos gripping the rest of Cibola's western mainland.

The region was fully conquered by 1695 AN, but the Holy Ralgon Empire had strained its political system to a breaking point, triggering the Ralgon War of Succession in 1705 AN in the aftermath of broken promises by the Senate. The resulting conflict between the pro-Senate and pro-Imperial forces saw an Imperial victory, with the Holy Ralgon Empire reorganizing into the Imperial Federation, with the Senate fleeing to northern Cibola and successfully establishing a fragile splinter state in Valora. The latter was eventually annexed into the now much-larger Imperial Federation in 1717 AN, with the Conquest of Valora finally bringing the 30-year endeavor to restore order to northern Cibola to a climactic close.

Timeline of Notable Battles, Sieges, & Events

1689

Following the 1685 Crisis and its attendant losses, the Ralgon government had elected to forego territorial expansion and yield sovereignty of Nova Victoria to its allies in the south. Following the sudden collapse of the Barbarian Republic earlier that year, it was all the Ralgons could do to retain a presence in the area until their reinforcements arrived. Without a motive or need to yield the city to its allies, Ralgon authorities swiftly moved to permanently annex the city using forces already stationed there, to boost domestic morale and prove that their efforts remained within the realm of possibility.

By the close of 1689, it became clear that Nova Victoria was just the beginning, and it could be used as a base of operations to liberate other territories. With the sudden appearance of Byalia to the western seas, the Ralgons saw little other choice but to focus their efforts entirely on the Reconquista efforts, while their Adrestian counterparts focused on potential expansions to the former Nijima territory far to the west.

While expeditions to Arvid and its coastal (and island) environs were planned, these were put on hold until 1690 due to Adrestian activities elsewhere.

1690

Southern Front

After initial troop deployments to reclaim Yixing and Nova Victoria, 1690 opened to several quiet months, mostly filled with troop movements and consolidations in the region.

Nova Victoria quickly rebounded following Ralgon occupation, with the formation of a University in the area along with the rehabilitation of the city's large port complex just a sign of the times that the city was trending in a very strong direction. Skirmishes near the border with random enemy elements were still commonplace, but casualties were universally light for the Ralgon sides, with the enemy consisting almost entirely of lightly armed or unarmed, slow-moving undead.

Yixing was a different matter. Organizing supply routes by land was a challenge for the Ralgonese forces stationed in the city's outlying regions. Although they had none of the dangerous fauna of the mainland to contend with, the numbers of undead this deep into the interior were much higher than they were near the coast. While the Army encountered no organized resistance, the number of small-group encounters was, nonetheless, very large. Were the enemy organized, control of the city might have proved tenuous. As such, troops assigned to control of the supply route were doubled, and the Army began shipping artillery so that the road itself could be reasonably fortified against undead incursions, as well as from raids against their convoys by well-equipped anarchists from formerly civilized areas.

Northern Front

The Ralgonese troops fared, ironically, much worse close to home than they did on the mainland. No strategic gains were recorded in late 1689 or the first half of 1690, despite heavy fighting against the native fauna that had stayed on the island after overrunning the island in 1685. A massive drive was organized to invade the former Nixtorm region by summer, but plans were delayed due to lack of war material needed for such a heavily armed expedition. Instead, the Emperor Shiro ordered a halt to the expedition while the armories in Glacier City and St. Mara caught up to the exponential increase in armaments the Ralgons were producing for the war effort. As such, the invasion was planned to begin as soon as the eighth month of that year.

Adrestia

The Adrestians themselves contributed only supplies to the Cibolan reconquest efforts. Instead of taking an aggressive stance like the Ralgons were doing, the Adrestians were content to continue consolidating their own growing navy and economy at home. Occupation of new territories was much farther down on their list of priorities, with the Old Forest Ruins still derelict following an order from the current Prince (Masamune I) to preserve the old city before incoming settlers had a chance to destroy the old infrastructure to make way for residential and luxury districts. Instead, he deliberately ordered the Pioneer Corps (the Adrestian equivalent of a forward-deployed military) to survey the areas north of the Ruins and find some place else that his people could build a concentrated industrial complex on, with such things being largely restricted to the point where either the Outlying Isles were the only current option.

An expedition to Nijima was sent in the interim, but failure was declared upon arrival by the Mission Commander, due to Constancian presence in the region. Instead, offers of amity towards the new settlers of Nijima were made before the Adrestian forces moved on. They also arrived at Dromosker Island, but were disappointed to see the area already hotly contested by a considerable air and land force dispatched by The Hexarchy early in the previous year. While giving battle was possible, the Mission Commander knew that securing the island permananently would be an impossibility due to the hostile natives. Additionally, the lack of equipment ready to deal with not one, but three fully-grown dragons in the area gave the islanders clear air superiority. Deciding that the casualties were not worth possessing this island, the Expedition moved on. Exploring the outlying Skerries would begin in earnest by the sixth month of 1690.

1691

1691 was mostly a quiet year, mostly characterized by troop movements across all fronts.

1692

Once again a quiet year, it was mostly characterized by troop movements in Ralgon and a massive naval asset buildup in Adrestia, who by now were ready to assist their mother country in taking back various coastal regions by bombardment. This, however, would not begin in earnest until later the following year.

1693

Southern Front

1693 opened with an explosion of activity near Yixing. With the military situation having stabilized the year before, local Ralgonese garrisons moved north to fully secure the roads between Yixing and Nova Victoria. Having an active, greatly-enlarged port and a secure highway south meant that fresh military assets could effortlessly penetrate deep inland, thus saving the city from falling prey to the uncivilized peoples having taken up residence in the surrounding regions.

Liberation of Dragon's Reach

The northern front began with a much more quiet environment than previous years. However, vast military buildup near St. Mara meant that Ralgonese commanders could aggressively push west and reconquer former Zamma without much resistance from the now-independent corporatocracies that had moved in following a sudden Bassarid withdrawal from the region. As the military situation could not reconcile with taking back the West, Ralgon commanders had no choice but to watch as the former territory of Duro was occupied by a third party. While diplomats were sent in an effort to save the territory, the country was in no position to hold a meaningful discussion on the matter. Thus, the Emperor ordered his forces to concentrate on liberating Zamma and the surrounding region.

The top of the year was characterized by troop movements into Dragon's Reach, and the region was occupied without much contest, as the local governments there welcomed a stable regime taking power again. No major battles took place during the rest of the year in the west, with the hostile dragons and natives themselves having long been destroyed through attrition during the previous two years of near-constant bombardment of the region, along with ceaseless troop movement and buildup out of the country's most stable regions.

However, the failure of the country to keep its island free of third parties with little other connection to the country was a mortal blow to the government's ability to keep what was left of the population's confidence. The success of the expedition was nearly countered entirely by these events, and the country's sheer inability to make progress on the front during this time was a triple blow that nearly sent Ralgon itself into oblivion. As a result of this latest domestic disaster, it also lost support of the military, which otherwise kept the remains of the Senate intact since the country's string of nationally shameful disasters since 1685.

With their now-massive, economically powerful, and well-endowed "colony" of Adrestia casting its own ever-spreading shadows across the country's colonies, it was clear to all that the government could not continue to exist short of the Emperor and the most proactive elements of his court. It was also clear that, in the event of a near-inevitable government collapse, Adrestia would not hesitate to break away and form its own state -- which would lead the country into a death spiral. As such, a palace coup occurred in the late months of 1693 AN in the Emperor's name... and with it went much of the bureaucracy that had, until this point, been nigh-impossible to replace through other means.

It was precisely at this time that the city of Zamma was reoccupied by Ralgonese forces, control over the region of Dragon's Reach restored after years of relative anarchy, and the southern coast secured against a now-empty frontier to their north.

Adrestia

Late 1693 was marked by the arrival of a group of six long-ranged battleships and a very large escorting fleet from that country. Instead of docking in the Ralgon mainland as expected, however, they instead chose to headquarter themselves in Nova Victoria due to anti-Adrestia sentiment in both Stormhold and Glacier City. The city's ideal location at the south side of Drag'os was also a reason for the fleet's decision to place themselves at this territory as well. Eventually, however, tensions thawed as Adrestian marine personnel joined the Ralgonese forces in securing the Cibola coast as far east as Sanaman Cibola, and as far west as Byalia. Overall, there was very little resistance in this regard.

In Adrestia itself, close to zero resistance outside of internal political pressure was met as the Adrestian government took advantage of a power vacuum in the region to push their expansion north. To free real estate from the pressures of rapid population growth and strict zoning laws in the country's mainland (especially outside of metropolitan areas to enhance natural conservation), there was little choice but to find new, nearby land to colonize, settle, and/or relocate immigrants coming in from Ralgon or other far-flung places.

Following the failure of Ralgonese troops to effectively resettle Nixtorm, Adrestia instead took matters into its own hands and resettled its people on islands gifted to the country by the Arbor Emirate upon its sudden evacuation from the region.

Summary of Major Battles and Events

Date	Location	Attacker	Defendant	Summary	Result
1689	Nova Victoria	Ralgon Barbarian Remnants Batavian Remnants	Vanic resistance Batavian Resistance	Ralgon troops stationed in Nova Victoria act against local anarchists to save the city from collapse.	City annexed in late 1689.
1689	Yixing	Ralgon	Local undead forces	Ralgonese troops arrive at Yixing on New Year's and liberate the city with minimal resistance.	Ralgon annexation of Yixing in 1690's.
1693	former Nixtorm	Ralgon	Native resistance Local hostile fauna	Liberation of former Nixtormer territory north of Glacier City; incorporated into a revamped Mashiro province	Ralgon re-occupation of an expanded Mashiro in 1694 and 1695.
1694	New Ralgon	Ralgon	Vanic resistance Batavian Resistance Local undead forces	Battle of the Ralgon Sea, which (ironically) took place chiefly as a naval bombardment. Adrestian and Ralgonese troops bombard a long section of the coast and storm strategic beachheads as far east as Sanaman Cibola. While the beach is securely held and subsequently fortified, there is still enough sign of undead activity to warrant aggressive measures to secure the area. Due to the region's extremely sparse population outside the coastal zone and the Yixing metro area, hard control remains tenuous outside of what military bases the army could construct, the largest of these being Fort Medina, not far from Sanaman occupied territory.	Organization of New Ralgon with the port of Nova Victoria serving as the regional capital, with military headquarters inland remaining at Yixing.
1694	Far WesternDrag'os	Ralgon	Native resistance Local hostile fauna
	North Adrestia	Adrestia