War

"From the moment we are born to the moment we draw our final breaths, we fuel the war machine of the Accord. You speak of peace? I know it well. Peace is the morning after last night's assault when one counts dead friends and gathers hate for the counterattack." -- Champion Begrenar Ortol, Marshal of the Eastern Plain

Lore

The world of Lithmeria is a world divided. Fuelled by the irreconcilable differences of the western Sovereignty and the eastern Accord, war ravages two continents almost unceasingly. The people of Teladir and Aspalaria, especially those living closest to the war-ravaged coasts live their lives knowing that an enemy fleet could be just over the horizon. This mentality has persisted long enough to become ingrained in the very psyches of Lithmerians. Every productive action lends itself to the eventual victory of their homeland. Every mistake makes defeat that much more likely.

For all their mutual loathing, the leaders of the Sovereignty and the Accord understand that indefinite total war is unsustainable. Thus, except in unique cases, the regular armies of both are content primarily to defend their own territories while searching for weakness in the resolve and preparation of their foes. Thus, the world is generally spared mass engagements between thousands of troops in favour of small, brutal skirmishes over points of strategic importance.

It is said that wars are won by gold, tactics and soldiers in that order. In truth, gold alone cannot come close to securing all that is needed for the waging of warfare. Crops and livestock must be secured, ore must be mined, stone quarried and wood harvested for even a single soldier to be fed, trained, equipped and deployed. Seeing no way to secure final victory in the short term, both the Sovereignty and the Accord have taken a long-term view. Just as many merciless battles are fought over the resources needed by the vast armies and fleets of Lithmeria as over the fortresses and ports that guard strategic locations.

It cannot be said whether final victory is attainable by either side. The Sovereignty and Accord can both call on the vast reserves of entire continents. Yet one thing is certain. Neither side is prepared to live in a world where the other is allowed to thrive unopposed. The rivers have run red with blood already, but the future will see them choked with the dead.

"The Accord are little more than lawless beasts. They are savages wearing the guises of men and dancing a hideous facsimile of true civilization. Like a plague of beasts whose rutting has gotten out of hand they must be culled and brought under the control of a steady hand. We are the clenched fist of the Aspalarian Sovereignty. We will see it done." -- Speech given by Towerguard Lamaria Ahriel before the battle of the Crimson Sky

Explanation

The war system is at its heart a network of nodes that overlays the entire world. Every node of the war is a village, fortress, or other strategic location. Each node is connected to other neighboring nodes by a "supply line". To capture any node you must first have secured a supply line leading from one of your faction's capital cities to a neighboring node.

Each node has its own capture method. Villages are captured by getting people into specific capture rooms and holding the room against the enemy. The more of the village's capture points currently in the hands of your faction the more progress each individual standing on a point makes towards helping to capture the village. Coastal Villages and strategic points are captured in a similar method, but with ships in the ocean about their port instead of players in specific rooms. The more ships you can keep in the region of the port, while keeping the enemy's ships out of it the faster you will capture the port. Fortresses are captured by storming the gate, bypassing the defenses, and slaying the powerful general who commands the Fortress. Winning over a fortress will require a focused effort from both PKers and experinced Bashers to take out the boss mob while fending off the defenders. Strategic points are captured by a variety of unique methods ranging from control points like villages to various unique "minigames." How each point is captured is left for you to discover.

If the supply line to a node (or nodes) from a capital city should be interrupted those locations will become "cut off". Cut off nodes still belong to the faction that controls them when they are cut off but additional soldiers can not be sent to those locations until a supply line is re-established.

"Were our ideological, political and cultural differences erased tomorrow, we would still owe them a thousand years of bloodshed for the misery they've caused us." -- Anonymous