The Great War

[Professor Wednesday Haptasnytrir]

The Great War

The Kingdoms of Mantle in Solitas, Mistral in Anima, as well as Vacuo and Vale in Sanus rose as the four major powers shaping much of Remnant. Notable events in the century leading up to the Great War was Mantle’s abolishment of the arts and repression of self-expression within its territories and allies to an extent as well as its alliance with the Kingdom of Mistral. Territory disputes over the islands and eastern coast of the Sanus continent is accepted as the inciting series of events to the coming war. While the instigator remains a topic of scholarly debate, the settlers of both nations ultimately engaged in a riot amidst rising tensions leading to battles on both Sanus and Anima. Mistral’s alliance with its northern neighbor of Solitas saw Mantle quickly join in the escalation of hostilities where the Great War would then begin in earnest.

Valean customs and immigration policies around this time followed a predictable pattern of discrimination against their opposition, finding rabid support among proponents that had initially spoken out against Mistral’s colonization efforts. It is worth noting that the King of Vale had chosen to share the lands with Mistral against the desires of its citizens. Advocating cooperation between nations to allay the rising tensions may have been his intent, but anything specific can only be guessed at and is assumption, rather than fact.

Vacuo in the west adopted a neutral stance in the beginning stages of the war as an act of preservation. Both Mantle and Mistral had established presences within the kingdom’s territory years prior and maintained political and economic ties to the region. Vacuo’s rich resources had placed it as the world’s premiere exporter of Dust and offered natural barriers against extremes, a combination that made it both ideal as a trade partner and enticing for exploitation. Its neutrality would soon shift as the demands of the war had Mantle and Mistral impose more and more heavily to fund their efforts until the possibility of Vacuo facing invasion by the two once Vale had fallen forced it to join the war. The Kingdom of Vale now had an ally in Vacuo against the Kingdoms of Mistral and Mantle.

War reached across all corners of Remnant, if not through direct combat as seen in the territories of Sanus and Anima, then indirectly through a decade of food and Dust rationing. The desire to see an end to the war accelerated the advancement of technologies and, in turn, raised the scale of the conflict to new heights that devasted the land. Settlements across the map have been lost and the Grimm incursion that swept through has ensured they have never been reclaimed. Vacuo undoubtedly suffered the worst of it as Mistral and Mantle launched a targeted campaign to capture its vast stores of Dust for themselves while simultaneously preventing Vale from receiving fresh supplies from their allies. A majority of their forces were invested in the attack and very nearly succeeded. This battle marked the height of the Great War as well as its conclusion when the King of Vale personally led his armies alongside Vacuo’s and utterly destroy the invading force. Mantle’s inexperience in desert combat coupled with the violent weather patterns of Vacuo are believed to be the deciding factors that put the advantage on the side of Vale and Vacuo.

Following the end of hostilities, a period of de-escalation was observed among many of the kingdoms and their successors. The most controversial is the Kingdom of Vale’s complete disbandment of their standing army. At the time, the king’s decree was vehemently opposed with all but his closest allies rallying against such an extreme measure following the most disastrous war to date. The king remained unmoved by any arguments fielded against his motion despite the advantages the conclusion of the war brought over all other nations. His shocking decree was only surpassed by his abdication of the throne.

All four kingdoms met on neutral ground at the island of Vytal where the Vytal Peace Accord was signed, officially signifying the end of the Great War. The current state of the world could not be more skewed with Mantle and Mistral both militarily crippled from the disastrous campaign and Vacuo ravaged by irreversible damage to its environment and kingdom. Vale sat as the strongest kingdom coming out of the war and the potential for a global hegemony was easily within reach when Mantle and Mistral were readily capitulating to its rule. The King of Vale had decided against this action and instead pursued a policy reflecting his earlier aim for cooperation, although there is a clear targeting of certain policies that Vale had admonished the opposing kingdoms for. Territories were redistributed that addressed the land lost to the Grimm as well as redrawing the borders of each kingdom, governments were restructured which included the King of Vale’s abdication along with most royalty in a ruling capacity, and finally, slavery was abolished across Remnant with the Faunus earning equal rights for their contributions to the war and were given the island of Menagerie as compensation for their previous mistreatment.

Above all, one of the most impactful institutions that the King of Vale instated in the other kingdoms were the Huntsmen Academies where warriors would be trained to fight against Grimm and whose allegiance were free from any one kingdom. The king’s most trusted followers were placed in charge of running these schools which included the best Vale had to offer from his personal honor guard, distinguished members of the now disbanded army, and various mercenaries and adventurers that had gained attention in the war.