The Ura Civil War

The Ura Civil War is a historic event that took place near the end of the Second Age. It was fought between the rebelling Nationalists and the Southern Alliance Loyalists. At the time it was the largest conflict the planet of Dawn had ever seen, with over 76,000 combatants and almost 15,000 casualties. It began as a protest to rising food prices in the Sapphire Isles but quickly escalated into the Autumn Revolution and then a full scale rebellion against the Southern Alliance. Other key causes of the war were the opposition to the prosperity of the Ura upper classes, an underlying racism and xenophobia towards the Orcs and an equal rights movement from minority races such as humans and elves.

The war raged for over four years with first the Nationalists gaining ground and almost completely pushing their enemies out of the Amola Peninsula and then the arrival of the Alliance Air Fleet allowing the Loyalists to push the rebels back. The war saw many famous battles including The Siege of Rhunai and The Air Battle over Madrin. The Nationalist Government officially surrendered in the Winter of the fourth year. The resulting 'Treaty of Tenra' lead to the dissolution of The Alliance and the formation of the Southern Republic.

Background
It was a time of peace and prosperity for the Southern Alliance when trouble started. While the Ura peasantry lived their lives dependent on the success of international trade, the nobility got richer and richer. Many Ura believed that this was the fault of the Taranis, paying off the aristocrats in order to get a bigger stake in the Alliance. There was also rumblings from humans and elves, who wanted more power in multicultural nation. In the mid Second Age things started coming to a head with the First Ice Dragon War. The dragon: Mint, fought the Forest Spirits and the Hobbits. Fears of Mint caused a Global trade collapse and food prices in the Republic, particularly in the Sapphire Isles, went through the roof. Seeing the austerity of the nobility before them and distrusting their Orc allies, many Ura took to the streets to protest. But tensions rose after Political Activist: Patik Oran started leading the crowds in rallies against the Alliance. On the 15th of Cevwin, guards started to crack down on protesters and the protests then turned violent. Two days later, the Alliance forces were driven out of Ramoodash; the largest town in the Isles and Patik Oran formed the Nationalist Goverment. This day came to be known as the Autumn Revolution.

Nationalist Offensive
The Nationalist were small in number and unorganised at first and the Alliance won a number of early victories. But with every defeat, The Nationalist only seemed to get stronger. Early the next year, a number of commanders and battalions swapped sides to fight with their countrymen, this included Colonel Suzin Pattella. Also, Oran signed a deal with human and elf militias, under Llanfern noble; Davvid Llewyn, which helped to solidify the Nationalist cause. That Summer, the army crossed to the mainland and with the main body of the Alliance forces in the east, defending against Mint, won a string of victories, culminating in the epic Loyalist defeat at Pudra. Orcish General William McGannis, at this point retreated his forces to the capital, daring the Nationalist to come and take it.

Loyalist Counterattack
27000 men sieged Rhunai and its 8000 defenders, hoping for a quick victory. But the Loyalists did not allow that to happen. Though they eventually took the city, it took 4 months and the lives of more than half of their forces. The Nationalist push had been halted and soon, the Alliance forces arrived to strike back. For a while, the two sides were at stalemate, pushing back and forth. But then the Alliance Air Fleet dealt the Nationalists a crushing defeat at Madrin. Soon it was the Loyalists winning all the victories and in the Spring of the final year, the Alliance dealt the final blow by retaking Rhunai in the space of three days with minimal losses.

Impacts
By winter the war was all but over. The Alliance victorious, Patik Oran fled to the Free Shires, and Llewyn and Patella in peace talks with the provisional government. What would come out of the peace talks was nothing short of revolutionary. The Alliance that had stood for a thousand years was dissolved in favour of a fairer and more encompassing Republic. In this new nation, Ura, elves, Orcs and humans of all classes would have equal power and rights.

Unfortunately, this wasn't all. After the war was truly over, Orcish politician: Tenrin Harris raised suspicions that the Königratzfell Reich had been secretly supplying the Nationalists with weapons and funding. Later that week, he was accidentally killed in a freak accident involving a pit of poisonous snakes. This of course raised suspicians further and tensions began to rise between the two powerful nations, eventually leading to the events of The Age of Heroes.