This war would prove to be the least devastating in the long list of wars that the Nissimus took part in. The majority of the battles took place within the forests nearby and over the plateaus above the Grim Haunt. The cause of the war was the grudge that the second city held for the first. The disagreement that had caused the separation had never been properly attended to and hard feelings had festered from argument. This war would last about two standard years and in this time there would be a number of fantastic technological advancements in the hope of defeating their enemies.
The second city was the one to begin aggression by attacking the first. While that first encounter was devastating it wasn’t as effective as the Nissimus had hoped. There were a large number of causalities in that first conflict, most of them belonging to the first city. With the sudden onset of war, the city recalled all people from the outposts. No longer concerned with the Kaipo, the men were needed to fight their new enemies. The extra man power was just what was needed to begin an offensive which would push back the other city’s troops. In fact, their advance appeared to be overly effective, they believed that they would make it all the way to their enemy’s very home. This would not be as their push was halted within the forests near the second city.
Almost the entire war would be fought over a few meters of land in the belief that it would eventually lead to an advantage. The first city suffered abysmal losses after their forces stopped a forward advance. The city leaders would not be moved on their position of opposition to the other city’s leaders. Both sides set up ineffective negotiations though neither side much cared for the possibility of a peaceful outcome. Even so, the first city was having difficulty fighting an enemy with a little more efficient weaponry. They had to find some way of obtaining an advantage. To this end they experimented with different forms of weaponry and eventually came to an interesting conclusion.
They had metal pellets filled with the explosive powder and fired from larger rifles. These would turn out to be very useful in the forest where one shot could level a tree and anyone hiding behind it. The downside was that these were incredibly bulky and tended to require more time to reload than the regular rifles. This was made less a problem by having soldiers with these mortars as they were called on the plateau. The soldiers in the forest would fire flares approximately above the enemy’s position and the rockets would be fired towards the ground under the flares. This resulted in incredible shift in power. The first city suddenly was wiping out enemy troops before those troops could reach the battlefield.
The second city had to somehow counter this; they had a small population and had until now been able to work with the soldiers they had. Now though, their people were being killed faster than they could be replaced. They decided to try making armor and machines that could protect their men from enemy fire. Their first invention was metal plated armor, though they quickly learned that the disadvantage to this was that the metal slowed their people down considerably, which left them open to attack on weak spots. In order to combat this very apparent problem, they worked on making primitive machines that would help move the armor quicker. Springs helped with running, though it did cause unevenness in gaits and some of their men weren’t strong enough to bend the springs properly, rendering them unable to move. The next thing they tried was replacing the springs with pumps, the proved to be ineffective and didn’t change anything.
They found themselves losing a war and so far the only people to have definite chances of survival were those strong enough to carry around the heavy armors, who were too few in number to be able to turn the war. And even the quarter inch think metal plates would protect the wearer from the mortars lethal blasts. They decided that what would have to be done was somehow remove the mortars or capture them. The latter was preferable as it would allow their men to have an incredible advantage over their enemies. To this end, a number of their soldiers were sent out to take the mortars.
These soldiers had an incredibly difficult job, though less lethal than their brothers fighting within the forest. They had to first find a path up the slopes to get to the plateau. It took them a couple days to decide where to attempt climbing and from there another day or so to make their way carefully up the slope. From there, the soldiers left a marker and began their trek towards the enemy mortars. They weren’t seen by the enemies until they were within firing range. A number of the enemies were killed before a single mortar blast killed them. This did not stop the mortars from continuing their barrage; however it slowed their responses and cause the first city to recall some troops and send them up the plateau to defend the now vulnerable mortars.
The second city sent another larger wave of soldiers to hopefully deal with the mortars. These soldiers were told to take the mortars or destroy them if they couldn’t hold them. The enemy was also told to destroy them if they couldn’t keep the valuable weapons. Neither side wanted the other to have them, yet at the same time they both desperately needed them to really turn the tide of the war. Thus, two small armies faced off on the plateau. Both sides were almost equally matched, one had armor that made them resistant to the rifles in use while the other had mortars that killed everything. The mortars had limited use in this battle though as the two sides were far too close for the not completely accurate mortars, so the first city ordered the mortars to begin bombarding the entire enemy position in the forest below, hoping to end the war before they lost too much ground.
The forest battles till this point had been generally bloody and ineffective. So much damage was being done to the trees in the area that soon a line began to appear where the no man’s land was. Actual confrontations were occurring fewer times; however this was mostly because so far no night attacks had been staged. Night side had put too much thought into attacking while it was dark because of the lack of visibility for both sides. When the order came in for saturation bombarding, the first city’s people moved away from their defenses so as not to be caught in the blasts. The second city’s men found out too late why their enemy was retreating. They began a real retreat after the first five explosions occurred. This would prove to be the most effective attack to date as the first city suffered no forest losses and their enemy lost about a quarter of their men. The first city’s army would then proceed to follow their enemy hoping to finish them off. However, the second city’s soldiers had been prepared for such an attack. They had deep holes dug into the ground to protect men from the blasts. When they heard the enemy soldiers passing above them they came up and attacked with full fury to avenge their fallen. That battle was mutually painful. The second’s troops could push their enemy back beyond their own line. The open area was once more the no man’s land.
The armies above, on the plateau, built trenches in which to take cover from one another’s shots. At a mere three meters from one another attacks were common, though never very effective. The soldiers on both sides had difficulty fighting at such a close range, as it was whoever happened to have their rifle aimed in the right place at the right time who often won. Even so, the second city’s soldiers slowly pushed forward and held their ground. While their charges were very dangerous and cost a number of men they were able to capture the enemy trench and force them to flee. From the enemy trench it was only a mere twenty meters to the mortars and as the first city’s soldiers had not expected to be routed they hadn’t built many defenses in place in case of that event.
The second city’s soldiers found the last run easier than anything up to this point. They had their armored men push forward and the others fired from the enemy trenches. They had the enemy now; however the first city’s men obey orders and began to sabotage the mortars quickly before running away. This left the second city with the plateau and some now ruined mortars. This would seem to be a less than ideal trade for all the men’s lives it had cost, but the scientists in the second city disagreed as they were able to get a basic idea of the mortars and were able to construct their own version. During their attempt to create a mortar the forest battles continued, both sides losing many men.
While the second city worked on mortars, the first stayed focused on protection for their troops. They had found the second city’s concept of metal armor to be an interesting, if less than satisfactory, answer. They decided that they would need a more sophisticated method of safeguarding their troops. They took the concept of armor, but they didn’t want to weigh down their own men with the heavy materials. Instead they first made the metal plates cover a frame made of wood that the soldiers would move into place to act as cover. This cover was a nice addition to their army, however it had a very similar downside to the armor in that it stilled slowed their troops down. Their men couldn’t respond fast enough to changes in the battle. To the end of negating this effect as much as possible they attempted to create a system of winches, pulleys, and wheels to make the cover move on its own. This allowed their men to not be burdened with moving the large pieces of metal around. Unfortunately, these mobile covers were slow and only went in a single direction. This wasn’t a problem when they were covering ground, but when they came upon some obstruction, such as a tree, the device would have to be moved. That was a very dangerous inconvenience. This led to the city’s next technological boon. They turned their attention to full and efficient mechanization of these devices.
At first this created cover that would move and could be controlled by a small wheel that would turn an axle within the frame that would make the cover’s wheels turn in either direction. This made the problem of moving the cover a little less apparent, though it couldn’t turn very quickly and required a soldier to be behind it to operate the wheel. This was an effective solution for most of the battles. For a time the first city was able to drive back the second’s soldiers.
The second city decided to make their version of the mortars more portable, so much so that their men could carry and fire them without having to set them up. They made a gun that launched a similar shell to the mortars, but they also added a propulsion system that burned slower. This new launcher, as they called it, was much easier to aim than the mortars and proved to be very effective on the armored covers that the enemy was beginning to use. The rockets would explode on contact, turning the protective cover into molten metal that would be thrown away from the blast’s overwhelming power. In most cases, the soldier behind the cover would be burned, if not torn to pieces by the flying metal.
This new weapon presented a problem to the first city. Unlike their mortars, the launchers didn’t require the altitude of the cliffs in order to be effectively used. Their covers were rendered obsolete and their soldiers were dying at every fight. They lost ground on a near daily basis, and the times that they didn’t the soldier losses were unacceptable. They had to figure out a way of countering this new weapon. While their scientists continued working on making the covers more automatic, the leaders repositioned troops to the plateau. They sent more mortars up there as well as extra troops to try and find the other city.
The losses had been horrible for both sides, and the residents were beginning to tire of the continual fighting. The war didn’t seem to have an end in sight and that didn’t help the people’s resolve. It became more difficult for the government to find willing people to join the fighting force. The second city instituted a drafting program and this solved that issue for the time being. The people in that city were more willing to accept being sent if it appeared relatively random. The first city in the meantime had some of its veteran soldiers return from the battlefield to tell civilians what was happening. This caused some more people to join willingly.
The soldiers that had been sent by the first city across the plateau found the second city. Instead of attacking however they attempted to negotiate a ceasefire. As they were soldiers with experience in the field, they were able to share what was happening in disturbing detail. The leaders of the second city had initially expected either an attack or defection. When neither occurred they found it interesting what the men were suggesting. They decided to deliberate on what to do before coming to a hasty solution. They feared that the first city was attempting some sort of trick, though their scouts reported that there were no other forces in the region. They kept their soldiers from moving forward, instead telling them to defend their position.
The first city in the meantime wondered what had happened to their troops, thinking that some ambush had ended that group. They decided not to send more forces in that direction in case of ambushes. Instead they sent more men to the frontline. They also continued working on the armored covers. At this time another technological breakthrough occurred on their side. They figure how to use metal wiring to conduct a phenomenon known as electricity. They had recently been experimenting with the strange force, but only now figured how to use it for a useful purpose. By putting a motor that relied on the winding of a winch into the covers, they were able to make them much faster and more maneuverable. They also made small holes into the cover so that their men could shoot through the cover without having to stand up out of the cover. This gave their men even more protection.
The only good thing happening for the second city at the time was the capture of the enemy covers and the continual use of launchers to their advantage. The covers were effective except when used against the launchers of mortars. Thus their use was limited to the forest battles, but even there they caused such an advantage to whichever side used them. Even so, the battles proved to be ineffective for the second city’s troops as they were avoiding going on the offensive. They kept losing ground, slowly but steadily. At the rate of loss they had they wouldn’t have lasted more than a month until they reached the city.
This however, would never occur. Quick thinking leaders of the second city decided to go through with a ceasefire and peace. The few leaders who weren’t certain on this were left out of the negotiations, an ‘accident’ due to the timing of the talks, almost midnight. The guest soldiers were thankful for the hospitality and the willingness to negotiate. They left feeling better than when they had arrived. Their travel took about two days before they reached the first city with their message.
Needless to say, the first city’s rulers were surprised that the soldiers were alive and had returned. They listened to the soldiers intently. They were even more surprised with the fact that the second city was willing to work towards peace. They had seen the second city as filled with barbarians. Now though, they decided that it was time to end the war. However, a few of the rulers wanted to show what the scientists had been working on. They wanted to use it in the last battle to intimidate the enemy so that they wouldn’t try to fight again.
On the last day of fighting, a massive machine was brought to the battle. It was a few meters high and almost doubly so long. The machine was covered in protective metal armor and had a few rifles built to fire automatically at targets. They had built a rudimentary targeting computer that would pick out soldiers and open fire on them. The droid was strong enough to knock over most of the trees in its way and it whipped out a large number of enemy soldiers. It would have done even more damage had the second city’s soldiers not used their own new weaponry. Their scientists had focused on making the launchers more effective. That was just what was accomplished. The new launchers were built with a propulsion system that used a liquid they called oil as the ignition rather than the powder that they had been using. This made the rockets fired go more in a direct line, rather than having a somewhat random path. They also packed more explosives into the chamber which made the blasts more powerful.
[SIZE=11pt]The massive droid was damaged beyond repair by a dozen of these rockets. That put an end to first city’s hope of intimidating the second city and also ended the war on a bad foot. The second city questioned its vie for peace and was uncertain as to whether they were safe. They continued working on military upgrades in the just fear that the first city would attack. Both sides acted similarly, both fearing an aggressive strike from the other but not willing to work it out. Thus ended the First Civil War approximately a local year and a half after it had begun.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]
