Dark Berry Islands Civil War

Dark Berry Islands Civil War
Date 1 IV 1699 AN – present Location Dark Berry Islands, Keltia Status Ongoing
Belligerents
Sofians Federal Republic DBI Armed Forces DBI Police Council of Women Pro-Sofian militia Support:  Hurmu  Lac Glacei  The Hexarchy	Oswinians Free Keltian Republic DBI Youth Coxley Crew Pro-Oswinian militia Vanic terrorists in West Karnak
Commanders and leaders
Sofia Fasthey	Oswin Fasthey

The Dark Berry Islands civil war is an ongoing conflict surrounding the leadership of the Dark Berry Islands. Following the independence of the Dark Berry Islands in 1688, a number of domestic issues which had left an ineffective and unpopular leadership allowed for a coup by a political dissident, who began a brutal authoritarian campaign to install himself as the leader of the country and to install an authoritarian and paternalistic government centred around a cult-of-personality. Despite gaining control of the majority of land in the country, the establishment of a rival functioning government, set up by the sister of tyrant, and intervention by neighbouring countries, namely Hurmu, Lac Glacei and the Hexarchy on her behalf, swung the tide of the war, and eventually the installation of a new democratic regime on the islands and the end of the authoritarian tyranny.

The seven year conflict saw numerous deaths and human rights abuses and sent scores of refugees to neighbouring countries and saw much of the infrastructure of the islands destroyed.

Background

A map of the Dark Berry Islands, produced prior to the war. The part of the Keltian mainland depicted was the location of the so-called Free Keltian Republic, set up and founded by Oswin Fasthey and the Coxley Crew.

The formal independence and global recognition of the Dark Berry Islands in 1688 had been largely a cause championed by the islands' youth, who viewed formal international recognition as a prerequisite for participating in the global economy and bringing material wealth, development and job opportunities to the islands. Whilst this was initially resisted by the islands legislature, increasing calls from activists, and sensing the possibility of the islands' youth emigrating, the island elders elected Nicholas Featherford as President of the islands and formulated their independence.

A major issue of the time had been the increasing radicalisation of some youth activist groups, particularly in the DBI Youth, which had gained notoriety in the years leading up to independence for their attacks on the island council, frequently pelting members with food, as well as forming road blocks in order to try and disrupt movements. However, following the islands' independence, the activities of these groups began to die down.

There was however, a myth, that had been leftover from the independence. Oswin Fasthey, an activist belonging to the DBI Youth, who had murdered his father and beaten his younger sister, had gone on the run from the authorities, fleeing to Keltia in 1686. Over the following decade, he had begun to found a colony, known in some circles as the Free Keltian Republic, which became a safe haven for the more radical of the DBI Youth's following. Although at the time it was thought he had died in a storm whilst trying to escape on boat, it was later revealed that he had been aided by a wing of the DBI Youth, known as the Coxley Crew, who, subsequently had managed to gain political influence in the DBI government. By 1696, Oswin's Free Keltian Republic had become public knowledge, and the DBI government was doing little to prevent the activities of it, despite offers from The Hexarchy.

As a result, Oswin was able to conduct raids into the Green in order to collect, weapons, ammunition and recruits, as he and the Coxley Crew, who were frustrated by the stalemate of the DBI government and resented the "old boys club" feel of the parliamentarians, began to plot a coup.

1699 Coup d'état

Prior to the 1699 elections, which were due to be held in on 24.V.1699, the ruling Independence Party had begun to distance themselves from Oswin's activities, and had campaigned on a promise of shutting down Oswin's colony, which had started to garner a reputation as a haven for criminals. Despite the DBI Youth retaining popularity amongst the young. The island's elders came out in force, and the Independence Party won 61.4% of the total vote, gaining all but one seat on the Island Council. They had also cut back on young candidates, and upon the result of the election results being announced, the DBI Youth issued an ultimatum to Featherford telling him to leave the Free Keltian Republic alone and to grant Oswin amnesty, or leave office. Whilst originally Featherford said he would be willing to come to a compromise with the rebels, talks broke down, and after he gave a speech on the final day of the fifth month, in which he declared that "we must take all necessary steps to shut down the Free Keltian Republic", The DBI Youth revolted.

On 1.IV.1699, boats and ships came from the Free Keltian Republic to Mountainview Bay, with some 1,500 volunteers on 1,000 vessels, carrying plenty of ammunition and weapons, and met up with 5,000 DBI Youth supporters in the harbour of the city, which they overran, allowing the vessels to dock easily and unload. A fire fight broke out between police and the group, who led by Oswin, adopted the name 'Oswinians' to refer to themselves, but the Oswinians were once again able to outnumber and resist the police, who retreated towards the parliament building, there, despite their best efforts, the police and security were overwhelmed easily, and the Oswinians were able to break in. Here, Oswin led all five members of the Island Council to the main chamber, and forced the in house Television company to air a live broadcast to the nation. In this broadcast, Fasthey conducted a show trial, listing all the supposed crimes of the island council members, before declaring that they must be executed, with each member lined up directly infront of the television camera and shot in the side of the head by Fasthey himself. Subsequently, Fasthey coronated himself as the "King" of the "Imperial Realm of the Glorious Dark Berry Islands".

Outbreak of the War

The fall of the Federal Republic brought about chaos, as the Oswinians made rapid gains in Mountainview Bay. Despite the DBI Youth's apparent popularity in the election, many islanders were willing to support Oswin, both out of a fear of being executed but also out of frustration for what had been a bureaucratic regime prior. During the march through the North Island, however, some members of the DBI Youth engaged in torture and rape of local women. With reports of these being suppressed, Sofia Fasthey, the younger sister of Oswin, began publishing her old diary entries detailing the abuse she had suffered at the hands of her elder brother, and, despite initially resisting, agreed to try and start a counter-revolutionary force that would try and stop her brother's movement from taking over the islands.

Whilst the government in Mountainview Bay had been toppled, many of armed forces and the police, along with several government officials, continued fighting the Oswinians, They had particular support on the South Island, and set up a provisional capital in Grapeseed.

Siege of South Island (1699–1701)

With the government setting up in Grapeseed and aiming to rebuild from there, the Oswinians were given a major chance of taking over North Island, which they did, rapidly. The first village to be taken, Peak-of-the-Gods, was the village in which both Oswin and Sofia had grown up in, and when the Oswinians turned up to take it over, they were met with little resistance. Sofia was placed under house arrest, with soldiers stationed around the perimeter of her farm to prevent her escape, and the Oswinians were able to march through the rest of North Island without much opposition, with many locals knowing that they did not possess any means of resistance. As such, the Oswinians were able to establish effective governance over North Island very quickly, including taking over tax collection to fund their war effort.

However, the focus on the North Island had allowed the federal government to build up on the South Island. However, the young population outside, especially those outside of Grapeseed, were not entirely satisfied with the federal government, and although not wishing to be ruled by the Oswinians, were reluctant to be recruited for the war effort.

The apathy effectively led to the South Island to become something of a sitting duck. Although the DBI were able to recruit enough to deter an immediate invasion, the island was put under a blockade, preventing anyone from leaving or arriving in the island. This quickly drained resources, as the South Island was reluctant on imports for many things, including medicines. Although food was still available, water started to become more scarce, and by the end of 1699, the Oswinians, who had managed to salvage some old military jets abandoned on the North Island, become to infrequently bomb supply lines and fields in the North.

The aim from the Oswinians was not to kill those in the South, though of course this was still sometimes an unintended consequence of their actions, but instead to prove the incapability of the DBI government in order to quickly allow for the Oswinains to gain support for a future invasion. However, this never really happened, and in 1701, the South Island was invaded. In much the same way that they had moved in the initial coup two years earlier, the Oswinians were able to break into the Grapeseed parliament, this time being careful to appear much less brutish and arresting members of the government (although they were all later killed in a more private location at a later date).

Oswinian Control and International Intervention (1701–1705)

Following the establishment of Oswinian control, the DBI government set up a government of exile, that was set up in Ergo Sum in Lac Glacei, albeit not affiliated with the Lac Glacei government itself. The Oswinians began establishing control and the South Island and incorporated their brutal techniques on those suspected of collaborating with the old government. The government in exile still managed to conduct the international business of the DBI government, however on the grounds things were ruled by the Oswinians. They cancelled the Apollonian Express ferry operations to Ergo Sum, and instead subjugated their citizens under an increasingly paranoid dictatorship, led personally by Oswin Fasthey.

Fasthey ordered all companies to be placed under his personal direction, often with the responsibility of running which delegated out to a friend that Oswin viewed as trustworthy, allowing himself to become very wealthy. In addition, Fasthey saw an opportunity by exporting wine to the instable regions of the Hexarchy, before selling them on to the international market as if they were made there, effectively circumventing any possible international sanctions to ensure a continued revenue stream.

The four years that followed saw a dark rule over the Hexarchy, with political prisoners often subject to brutal beatings and torture, and saw the Dark Berry Islands turn into a police state. Whilst some resistance fighters remained, they often camped out in the uninhabited interiors of the islands, and engaged in guerrilla conflict with the Oswinians, who easily had more fire power.

However, despite initial fears, there was no international outcry. Whilst Lac Glacei and Hurmu were unhappy with the emergence of Oswinian hegemony on the islands, neither were in a position to do much about it. The Arboric Civil War and the Barikalus–Hurmu war saw Hurmu otherwise occupied, whilst Lac Glacei's internal democratic process was holding up any potential chance of intervention in the Dark Berry Islands, especially as their government was only willing to assist the federal government, rather than any particular rebel group.

The Return of Sofia (1704–1705)

Sofia Fasthey, the younger sister of Oswin, became the leader of the resistance against her brother following her release from prison in 1704.

In the village of Peaks-of-the-Gods, Sofia Fasthey, the sister of Oswin, whom he had abused when he was younger, Now 26, she had remained largely isolated and cut-off from the rest of society, but as her brother's reign of terror swept through the islands, she became somewhat romanticised by many across the Dark Berry Islands as a figure of hope and stoic resilience. Despite initial resistance, Sofia agreed to try and help the movement against her brother, initially sending him letters beginning in 1703 to try and convince him to cool down his rule and allow for democratic elections, however he refused, and in 1704, she was arrested and placed in a cell in Mountainview Bay. During her three month stay in prison, she was repeatedly tortured and raped by guards.

Following her release from prison, Sofia was able to commandeer a boat out of the Dark Berry Islands, and sailed to Keltia with a group of four other women, all of whom she had met in prison and had been sentenced on questionable political grounds. Sofia, alongside Elizabeth Georgina Giannoulis, Alexis Jakes, Florence Townley and Ember Whitethorne travelled on and old fishing vessel to Karnak in the Hexarchy, where they were able to contact the government in exile and arrange transport onto Lac Glacei. When the women arrived in Ergo Sum, however, they found an ineffective government, that was lacking hope and had all but resigned to losing the war.

But these women had not given up their hope. They picketed the government for change, and in the first month of 1705, when the government in exile decided to hold fresh elections, Sofia ran for office, with her new part The Sofian List, of which the other four women were all members of. Sofia campaigned amongst the eligible electorate, the DBI diaspore in Lac Glacei and Hurmu, as well as special polls conducted by Hurmudan peacekeepers in Grapeseed. And of the five positions (President and four councillors), all five women were elected with significant margins.

Now, in the eyes of the world, Sofia was the legitimate ruler of the Dark Berry Islands.

One of the first actions taken by Sofia was to re-construct the nation's political system, which had long been a gripe of the younger population of the Dark Berry Islands. She decided to reform the council into two, an executive made up of her and her fellow elected Sofian Listers, whom were formally re-constituted as the Council of Women, and collectively given presidential powers in order to provide a direct, democratic and effective leadership of the islands, as well as lower parliament, which would be introduced following the conclusion of the war, when free and fair elections could take place.

The Council of Women was also noteworthy for being comprised entirely of young women, all of whom were in their early-to-mid twenties, contrasting heavily with the previous government, which had been criticised for being too elderly and out of touch, whilst also contrasting heavily with the Oswinians, who were trying to build up Oswin as a paternal figure and implement a "natural order" based on patriarchal social system. This dual contrasting dynamic not only served to confirm a real departure from the established political order in the Dark Berry Islands, but it also presented many islanders with a real and palpable alternative to the Oswinians that was actually willing to stand up to Oswin and the authoritarian values espoused by him and his supporters.

News of this election had reached Oswin, who's disdain for his younger sister had grown. He publicly labelled her a traitor, and barred her from stepping back onto the islands. He now knew his sister, who retained much popularity on the islands themselves, would pose a major risk to his rule of the islands, and feared that she seeked revenge for the way that he had treated her in the past. As such, he mobilised his supporters to defend their lands, knowing that a storm was coming.

International Intervention (1705–)

Sofia's first step as the leader of the DBI was to mobilise an international force to assist in the defence of the Dark Berry Islands. She travelled first to Vesüha to meet with senior Hurmudan official to try and secure a military intervention and build up foreign trust. In her meetings, she expressed a desire for a long term peace in the Dark Berry Islands, and that following the successful re-introduction of government rule, that the DBI would work towards increased economic integration with its neighbours. After that, she visited both Lac Glacei and the Hexarchy to try and gain assistance from those respective governments too.

Sofia's trips ultimately proved successful. Lac Glacei offered conditional support for the re-taking of the islands whilst the Hurmu Peace Corps dispatched a limited expeditionary force to conduct a reconnaissance of Grapeseed, and to retake it for the Federal Government if the local circumstances, as assessed by the force commander, were deemed to be favourable. The Hurmudan Expeditionary Force comprised of the following assets:

• 23rd Fleet Landing Regiment (x1,200 marines)
• 30th Offshore Patrol Regiment (x3 Napoleon-class cutters, delivering the landing force)
• x5 squadron strength detachments of peacekeepers from the signals, supply, engineers, medical services, and maintenance specialisms (x600 personnel).

These Hurmudan weapons were also accompanied by expertise from the Hurmu Peace Corps, who offered to train Dark Berry Islander volunteers in an attempt to build up a fighting force.

Battle of Grapeseed

On 18.V.1705, in the early hours of the morning, the Dark Berry Island forces, accompanied by the Hurmu Peace Corps force and some infantry from Lac Glacei, launched a naval blockade of the South Island. Two infantry units were sent to land south of the village of Besham, and the other to an unnamed spot halfway between Grapeseed and Lithlingham to attempt to block the roads leading into the city. Due to the early hour, the Oswinian forces were not yet in position, and the Sofians were quickly able to cut off key supply lines into the city of Grapeseed. Once these supply lines were cut, more infantry landed, both at the original landing points, but this time also in the villages of Ascott and Merryvale, with the Sofian forces quickly able to take control of those villages, as they were welcomed by the locals and neither village had a resident Oswinian official. From here, the forces were able to start building up tanks and armoured vehicles. The naval blockade was hit at by fire at sunrise from the city of Grapeseed, but with Oswinian forces suddenly finding themselves cut off, the Sofian forces began attacking the city from the north and the east. Oswinians first attempted to avoid firing within the city by launching rockets at the advancing enemy, but, as most of the forces were located in Mountainview Bay, after Oswin had predicted that city would be attacked first, those rockets proved ineffective, and given the lack of range of the Mountainview Bay-based rockets, the Oswinians were forced to move their troops stationed in the city into combat, opening fire on the Sofian forces on the outskirts of the city.

What the Oswinians were able to do quickly was garner a quick aerial bombardment. They targeted bombs over the northern suburbs of the city, resulting in both Sofian and civilian casualties.

One thing that the Oswinians were not capable of predicting though was the almost immediate fall of civilian morale. The residents of Grapeseed had been much resistant to the Oswinian rule and immediately following the siege of the city, many resident joined the side of the Sofians. Offering shelter to the soldiers and allowing them to sneak through the city under the cover of civilians allowed the Sofians to make quick gains throughout the city, and commandeer many tanks and military hardware, as they could surround their enemy without them even noticing before it was too late. Whilst many Oswinians did not let up their fight, within a week the city fell, and the Sofians were able to move the provisional government in exile back to Grapeseed. Additionally, following the capture, Grapeseed's airfields were handed over for the use of the Hurmu Peace Corps, who were able to institute a no fly area over the South Island. Whilst the Oswinians only had the most limited aerial force anyway, this no fly zone effectively saw them lose control of the entire South Island, with Hurmudan, Lac Glacei and Sofian forces easily able to take control of the rest of the island, as Oswinian forces retreated to the North Island.

Following the liberation of Grapeseed, the 12th Port and Maritime Regiment of the HPC deployed a volunteer contingent to oversee the repair of the port and the delivery of weapons, munitions, and other supplies including food, oil, and lubricants, to support the Federal forces.

Assault on North Island

Sofian soldiers during the assault on the village of Essingham.

Following the liberation of the South Island, the Dark Berry Islands took their chance to muster up more of their forces. They also began a campaign of distributing subversive literature on the North Island to try and encourage those still remaining on North Island to take up the Sofian cause. However, the Oswinians cracked down hard, often going to great lengths to find and destroy such literature, and often interrogating those who found it. They also stepped up their campaign against anti-Oswinians, throwing them into prison and torturing anyone who they felt sympathised with the Sofian cause. Some Sofian sympathisers fled to the South Island, and in the final month of 1705, Hurmu extended their no fly zone to include the North Island.

In early 1706, the assault of North Island began. Sofian forces, who had recruited heavily following their conquest of South Island, began their invasion from the South, whilst Hurmudan and Lac Glacei naval forces began to circle the island to prevent any re-supplies reaching North Island. Whilst the Oswinians held a base on mainland Keltia, that was also starting to reach meltdown. Some terrorists who were operating in West Karnak had begun to infiltrate the Oswinian bases there in order to fight their own battles against the Hexarchy, and as such there was an increasing fear amongst the Oswinians that the Hexarchy, who were already helping out the Sofians with non-lethal aid, might intervene and try and seize the land from them.

Landing attempts took place in those initial months in Harbourvale and Dots-on-the-Channel. Both landing sites were met with heavy resistance from the Oswinian forces, who were able to shell approaching landing vessels, and were able to force retreats from the few beach assaults that did take place. However, despite these initial failures, it increasingly became obvious to the Sofians that the Oswinians were running low on both supplies and ammunition. On 12.IV.1706, a decoy invasion by Sofian forces was launched on the village of Magenta, located on the eastern shore of North Island. This decoy invasion contained a sizeable number of Sofian forces, and was assisted by Hurmudan airstrikes on military targets in the area. This prolonged invasion managed to secure coastal areas close to Magenta, and forced the Oswinians to relocate their heavier ammunition away from the south of the island towards the east coast. In doing so, they left the southern villages open to easy attack, and on 16.IV.1706, Sofian, Hurmudan and Lac Glacei forces begun a full scale invasion from the south of the island, taking the villages of Harbourvale, Dots-on-the-Channel and Wrestley within that very day, and securing the roads between them and to the village of Ascophosynus Gardens within two days. The southern and south-western coasts of North Island were easily secured within a week, all whilst the attack on Magenta was kept up.

Not only had the Oswinians lost control over vast swathes of the southern portion of the island, but they had also suffered heavy losses in Magenta, The Sofians were welcomed like heroes in the southern villages, and were able to recruit massively from these areas. In addition, several Oswinian soldiers defected, surrendering their weapons and intelligence to the Sofian cause.

Despite the heavy losses in the south, Oswin refused to concede the south of the island. He knew that the villages of Coxley and Coxley Bay, which had been used throughout the civil war as ports to connect up to the supply base in the Free Keltian Republic, and were home to the Coxley Crew, the group of Oswinian loyalists who had previously helped ferry Oswin back and forth between the Dark Berry Islands and Keltia in days gone by before the Oswinian takeover of the islands.

With the Oswinians bedded into Coxley, it was decided that the best bet of attack for the Sofians would be to sever the supply line between Coxley and Mountainview Bay, and as such, they tasked themselves with securing the roads between the two and linking up Magenta with the gains they had made in the south of the island. As such, a batallion of troops marched northwards from Magenta to secure the villages of Hillsbank and Hinley, starting on 5.V.1706, with these two villages and the roads linking them secured within 10 days of intense fighting. Meanwhile, forces from the island's south headed down the road to secure the Forgotten Hamlet, before an attack was made on Lowiston, which was secured by the end of the month. From here, troops from the south and forces that had invaded Magenta met up, and launched an assault on the villages of Essingham and Norton. Here they finally encountered heavy resistance, especially on the roads leading into the village, as the Oswinians tried to hold on to a mountain bypass that they could use to supply Coxley, but intense guerrilla fighting forced them to retreat into Coxley, once again aided by targeted Hurmudan air strikes.

Battle of Coxley

On 2.VII.1706, Hurmudan and Dark Berrian air forces began aerial bombardment against Oswinian military targets close to Coxley. With Sofian forces camped outside the villages, Hurmudan naval forces once again a beach assault to try and capture the villages with a three-pronged attack. However, unlike previous villages, where a sizeable pro-Sofian populace helped drive out the Oswinians, in both Coxley and Coxley Bay, the majority of people were decidedly pro-Oswinians, and as such the Oswinian forces were much more resilient and willing to fight than they had been in defending some of the other villages. Furthermore, those based in Mountainview Bay had managed to secure some fighter jets from militia groups fighting in the Hexarchy, and as such were now able to combat the Sofian and Hurmudan forces in the air. In response to the attacks on targets in Coxley, the Oswinians began a bombing campaign of the recently captured villages of Essingham and Norton, as well as bombing the roads leading north out of Hinley and Hillsbank.

Whilst the Sofians and their international allies had always been careful to try and minimise civilian casualties, the indiscriminate nature of the Oswinian bombings really shocked many across the Dark Berry Islands. Whilst they had been known for their reign of terror, even Oswin's most ardent supporters were now starting to question his suitability to govern, and it was increasingly speculated by many across the islands that he was losing his mind. On 12.VII.1706, Sofia made a public plea with her brother to stop the bombings, calling for him to come round the negotiating table, and to try and rebuild their country and their relationship together. However, Oswin issued no reply, and the bombs continued to fall upon the North Island.

Further trouble was seemingly brewing as a result of Oswin's contacts in Keltia. The Oswinians there had began to ally themselves with Vanic terrorist groups in West Karnak, and had caught the attention of the government of the Hexarchy, who were fighting these groups in order to try and establish some level of control over that area. The Hexarchy, who the previous year had launched Operation Enduring Resolve against these groups, and whom had already encountered trouble with rogue members of the DBI Youth in West Karnak, had already established a buffer zone with the Free Keltian Republic's eastern border as a way of preventing any possible spill over from the Dark Berry Island's civil war onto their territory. However, with the Oswinians now beginning to ally themselves with these Vanic groups in West Karnak, suddenly the Hexarchy had become much more interested in becoming involved.

On 22.VII.1706, Sofia Fasthey managed to gain support of Karnak and the Hexarchy in a meeting with Praetor Gilgamesh II and Karnak Pschent Sozer V in Abyd'os. Karnak agreed to help fight the Oswinians in Keltia and the Hexarchy to engage militarily in capturing Coxley and Mountainview Bay, in exchange for Dark Berrian support in West Karnak and the gifting of the territory of the Free Keltian Republic to the Hexarchy, with the three leaders signing an unofficial memoriam of understanding as a way to solidify their arrangements.

International reaction

•  Lac Glacei: Lac Glacei, a close trading partner of the DBI, decried the outbreak of civil war within the isles and called for both sides to seek arbitration. The Grand Duchy has stated that it will not recognize the FKR as a legitimate government and that the Federalists in Grapeseed are the only legitimate authority. Nonetheless, the Grand Duke has offered to provide a neutral ground for mediation should both sides choose to seek non-violent remediation. The legislature has also authorized humanitarian relief to be sent to those civilian communities affected by the conflict.
•  Hurmu: The government of Hurmu, concerned by the destabilising potential of the Oswinian uprising, offered the deployment of a regiment of HPC peacekeepers to support the remnant Federal government of the DBI in Grapeseed. This deployment was moved forward in 1705 AN as the position of the Federal Government collapsed on the southern isle. Following the recapture of Grapeseed, the HPC expanded its mission to include air policing and logistical support for the Federal cause.
•  Hexarchy: The government of The Hexarchy, following a terrorist attack in Amarna (a city in Karnak), vowed to severely punish the offenders and secure the nation's western frontier against belligerent neighbors. Additionally citing regional economic and physical security, the country launched Operation Enduring Resolve in Summer 1705 AN, meant (among other things) to pacify regions along The Hexarchy's borders that otherwise posed a threat to civilians within MCS-recognized territories belonging to the nation.