The Alexandrite war

The Alexandrite was was an armed conflict between the Council of Tards led by Sulla against the kingdom of Laurelorn who had the support of the Council of the Horselords. The war was fought for ownership of the Alexandrite stone, a piece of jewelry that was part of the Tard crown jewels collection.

The Jewels
In the aftermath of the Tard civil war Gabianus and his followers fled the Council of Tards, taking the entire collection of crown jewels with them. The crown jewels were a symbol of power in the Tard monarchy and its symbolic meaning gave the owner of the jewels legitimacy over the people. 'He who has the jewels has the Tards' is an often used expression regarding the meaning of these jewels. Especially the Alexandrite stone was the beacon of Tard power. Sulla seeking to give legitimacy to his newly established leadership, thus, had much at stake in finding and taking the jewels. He feared his lowly heritage (Sulla was a commoner) would be a stain on his right to rule, whereas his greatest rival Labienus, head of half of the Silver Guard, was of noble birth.

Gabianus' capture
Gabianus had fled the Tards in year Zero and he had travelled around a bit, trying to figure out what to do from here on. The loss had a severe impact on his sanity and he would occasionally suffer psychotic attacks. These stopped during the summer of year Zero when he decided to take back his kingdom with foreign aid. The old monarch and his entourage arrived in Laurelorn a week later. Before they entered the city they buried most of the jewels and kept many of their men within the city, in case something went wrong. The audience with the king, Orion I, went poorly, Gabianus asked to stay in Laurelorn whilst building an army to take back his position and in exchange he would give the king the crown jewels. The king of Laurelorn was not swayed and gave orders to kill the envoy, seize the jewels and imprison Gabianus. The king also sent a message to Sulla telling him he had killed the traitors as a token of friendship. A few days later Gabianus escaped but the spark of war was lighted.

Sulla's response
Sulla was not amused by Laurelorn killing Tards, even though they had been his enemies. What he disliked even more was the jewels being in Laurelorn's possession, this was humiliating and thus Sulla demanded Laurelorn give back the jewels, at the same time he dispatched an army to march towards Laurelorn. If the king refused Sulla would take the jewels by force. Orion remained calm and gave back most of the jewels, with the exception of the Alexandrite stone. He also asked if he could keep a gem of every kind as he collected gems. Sulla responded by revealing his army on the border and accusing the Laurelorn king of greed. This insulted him as he had reached his hand in friendship and now an army stands on his border, Sulla's hypocrisy knew no bounds in Orion's eyes and he mobilized his military, Kithband, to defend the forest, ignoring Sulla. War was now inevitable.

Strategies
Kithband knew that attacking the more experienced and heavily armoured Tard forces in open battle without superior numbers would be suicide and thus they decided to adapt a guerilla strategy. Every step the Sulla made would be costly as Kithband forces, often organised in groups of no more than 20 men, would harass the enemy where-ever they could, using the treeline as cover, often attacking from the safe heights of the woods. Initially this strategy was very effective as it slowed down the Tard army who were forced to march in battle order or face Kithband steel. Sulla then decided to burn down his way to the capital of Laurelorn (being named Laurelorn), every inch of trees would be put to the torch in an offensive scorched earth tactic aimed at robbing Kithband of both means and morale to continue fighting. Although slow it was effective and Kithband forces stopped harassing the Tard forces for a while.

Horselord arrival and road to Laurelorn
The balance of power shifted when Gekke I arrived with a horde of hardened warriors from the steppe. He had made his way towards Orion's court for a state visit where his wife Ariel would announce she was pregnant of child. This mounted force immediately went to destroy the Tard supply lines and once again forced the Tards to slow down their advance. Gekke I did not wish to risk open battle though as his horde alone was not strong enough to fight a whole army. 2 weeks this continued as both sides got worn down. A small skirmish was fought between forces from the steppe and Tard forces where Horselord forces overran Sulla's position only to be relieved by his very own Silver Guard. After the 2 weeks the Tard forces where at the gates of Laurelorn and Kithband decided to make a final stand. If Laurelorn was taken the Tards could claim the gems, march back home, and claim victory. Kithband commander Chiron commandeered the army in front of Sulla's army, beginning the battle of Laurelorn.

Battle of Laurelorn
Chiron decided to take a defensive stance, using the forest to break Tard troops in isolated groups and then destroying them in detail. Sulla did the exact opposite, seeking to win a quick victory and use this success to storm straight towards the capital. Unbeknownst to Sulla, Kithband and Gekke had made contact and Gekke's forces were marching towards the battle. Chiron now adapted an even more defensive tactic of layered retreat, fighting small scale battles. Sulla was a more experienced commander, having fought in the Tard civil war and being known as an aggressive leader. This skill resulted in him catching the Kithband army and Chiron had no choice but to commit. Kithband was in no way able to repel the attack and quickly succumbed to the Tard army, especially the elite Silver Guard. Chiron heroically took part in the fighting when a part of his army was surrounded and killed. Surviving Kithband forces retreated, they would have been scattered were it not for Gekke's forces arriving on the battlefield at that moment. He took command of the army and surrounded Sulla's forces, who took on a defensive stand which would be nearly impossible to break within the forests of Laurelorn. It was at this moment the battle became a stalemate and Gekke I, together with Chiron who negotiated on Orion's behalf, and Sulla started negotiating.

The Peace of the Stones
On the battlefield negotiations were opened as both sides wished to end the conflict. Gekke and Chiron argued that since Sulla was stuck in the forest he had lost and that surrender would be the best option for him. Sulla claimed that since he had defeated Kithband and Gekke's army was not able to break his lines he had won the battle and demanded concessions. Gekke followed by stating that he would harass any Tard leaving the safety of the defensive line until the Tard army had starved to death, to which Sulla replied that he would raid the countryside and burn it all down. The two continued bickering and negotiations broke down for a few hours. It was only when Orion himself arrived that negotiations continued. Orion, being an old and wise ruler, knew that the Tards would not budge and that they would deal enormous amounts of damage to his country and people. Instead he asked what the Tards were willing to give in exchange for the jewels. This change in topic (previously it had been about who had won the battle) opened a lot of options and eventually the two sides came to an agreement, named the Peace of the Stones. In it stood that Orion would gift the jewels back and that the Tards would give 50% of their share in profits from tariffs in the Salamander strait for 10 seasons, predicted to be worth 500 talents. The Tard army would retreat after and peace would be achieved, ending the short lived Alexandrite War.

Outcome and Significance
Sulla would be the greatest winner in this war as he did not only bring back the crown jewels to his country, completing the collection that Gabianus had brought with him when he fled the country (The other gems were given back by the people of Trinsulae who had assassinated Gabianus and confiscated his possessions). This brought Sulla immense prestige and popularity in his country. Internationally he would gain prestige as well as he had fought not one but two great powers and came out not beaten, proving the world that the Council of Tards was a force to be reckoned with. The friendship with Trinsulae was a direct consequence of this war.

Gekke I had proven that even with a small force he could tip the scale of conflict and that his strong family ties could drag him into a war, even if not directly involved. The conflict had no effect on the earlier established Salamander Strait deal between Sulla and Gekke and thus he had only gained from the war. On top of that he had found out that his wife was pregnant with child and the future of his dynasty secured.

The peace would allow Laurelorn to recover from the devastation of the war, the relatively short period of fighting meant that recovery was quick and many trees were planted to replace the burned down parts of the forest. But all in all Laurelorn would suffer the most from this war. It's armies had fought a brilliant guerilla campaign and played the defensive part perfectly but in the face of Tard aggression they had to give in. The compensations gained from the Tards did help Laurelorn to save some face, this was mostly due to the experience and negotiation skills of Orion I.