Ozeros War

Ozeros War
Sahb warriors during the Ozeros war
Date 1670–1677 Location Bemiritra Fahran Kembesa Result Failure of the Third Holy War for Bemiritra Barriset remains under Mutulese control Signature of the Treaty of Samosata End of the 'Iifae Imamates The Nalmorian Archipelago is ceded to the Yajawil of Barriset
Belligerents
Mutulese Ochran Pulau Keramat Ankat	'Iifae Imamates Vardana Fahran Kembesa
Commanders and leaders
Setiaji of N'nhivan	Jaamac I Abdallah ibn Hafsun Ibn al-Ahmar Gidoni XVI †

The Ozeros War was a seven year long conflict that pitted the Divine Kingdom against the Iifae Imamates, Vardana, and Fahran in order to determine who would control Barriset and the flux of trade circulating through the Ozeros Sea.

Prelude

In 1661, the Yajawil of Barriset was officialy proclaimed after a five year long counter-insurgency against the self-proclaimed Second Caliphate of Barriset. This conflict saw great changes in the region, with 'Iifae insurgents fleeing the island for the continent where they established imamates economically dependent on piracy. This brought further instability to a region already plagued with feudal conflicts.

At first too busy trying to secure their new place, the 'Iifae weren't able to plan their reconquest of Barriset. Once they did manage to gain short-term peace with their neighbors, the Imams sent delegations to various local powers, such as Vardana, Kembesa or Fahran, to gain their support against the Mutuleses. the Vardanians notably were already concerned by the "newcomers" hoarding Ochranese goods, changing the direction of the trade flux represented by the Maritime Jade Road, competing with their own merchants. In 1667, the Artavazd Monarchs entered a secret military alliance with the Imamates against the Mutuleses, made confident by the promises of an upcoming insurection in Barriset that would open them the gates of the island and allow them to push the Mutuleses away from the Ozeros.

Start of the conflict

The Imamates were often portuary city-states

Since the Second Holy War, sympathy for the Second Caliphate toned down but never entirely left the Iifae population. Imam-priests continued to secretly roam the land, living either in the wild or secretly hosted by sympathizers. They were referred to as "sorcerers" or "witches" by the Mutuleses authorities in opposition to the official Iifae clergy they supported and were publicly sacrificed to Mesfin-Chak when caught, alongside proven sympathizers or people who attended their illegal ceremonies. This witch-Hunt limited the capacity of insurgent societies to form, but couldn't destroy them entirely.

It's on these networks that the Imam-Priests relied when organization their "Third Holy War". The support of Vardana guaranteed, they organized their pirate fleets as well as they could through religious fervor. This did not go unoticed from the Ba'atz Yajaw, the Mutulese governor of Barriset, who made his own plans for a preventive "anti-piracy campaign" on the Tuluran Coast. Iifae agents informed the Imam-priests of it, and the latter decided they could not risk waiting any longer for the Monsoon. Leadership of the gathered troops was finally given to Jao Avotra who proclaimed himself to be the Mahdi ready to liberate the Iifae.

Using heavier-than-usual rains as a sign, the Imam-priests announced the beginning of the Third Holy War in the middle of the dry season, before the Mutuleses could start their anti-piracy campaign. Through their spy networks, the Imam-priests alerted the Insurgent societies in Barriset, whom began the long awaited revolt.

The War

Barriset Insurgency

Prayer scrolls were used by insurgents to recognize each others.

Quickly, many villages entered the Insurgency. The Insurgents had no meaningful supply of weapons nor any organization to speak off beyond following the Imam-priests and other traditional community leaders, but the movement was carried out by a profound religious fervor. They hunted down "Pagans" and "Sympathizers", killing Iifae priests that were part of the official clergy. Sympathizers fled either to the cities, which remained mostly bastions of the Yajawil once the initial attempts at riots were crushed, or to villages and plantations that were loyal to the Divine Kingdom. There, they also organized themselves into militias, where armed slaved and refugees fought side by side under the command of the landowners and local administrators. The backbone of these militias remained the local law-enforcers. Despite all of this, they remained cut off from one another and from the seats of power of the Yajawil by the Insurgents.

From this point onward, the Insurgency divided itself into two large "army" : one moved inland to besiege the plantations, while the second one decided to march on the capital. The Siege of Barriset City was quickly broken when besiegers, tired of waiting for an assault their "officers" knew they were not prepared for, abandoned the siege to pillage the countryside. Sensing their weakness, the B'aatz Yajaw led a sortie against the Iifae, breaking the siege and pushing them deeper inland.

Iifae-B'aatz naval engagements

Meanwhile, the pirates made their move. Because the Monsoon was not yet there, they didn't had to pursue trading vessels and moved directly against Barriset' ports where the B'aatz fleet was waiting. Their surprise attack damaged the fleet and the infrastructures, but was ultimately fend off.

Despite the ongoing insurgency, the Mutulese fleet was given the order to move out against the Imamates and the pirate navy. A serie of undecisive naval engagements ended up playing against the Iifae, whom lost control of the Sea after weeks of conflict. They were ultimately pushed back and pursued into their harbors by the Mutuleses.

Vardanian Intervention

Mutulese defense of Barriset City against a Vardanian fleet.

As though it appeared the Third Holy War had failed, the Vardanian fleet, alerted in time and benefiting from the last week of northern winds before the monsoon, arrived in Barriset. An emissary officially announced Vardania declaration of war and posed an ultimatum to the Yajaw which was promptly refused. Soon after, the hostility began.

The Mutuleses had to defend in quick succession a number of raids and assaults on their ports and coastal fortresses. Contact with the Barriseti insurgents was complicated by the monsoon storms, but after weeks of struggle the Vardanian managed to establish a bridgehead to the north of the island. But once again, poor climatic conditions and complications in the communications led to this opportunity not being properly exploited and the Vardanians being repelled from the island.

the Vardanian Admiral preferred to blockade the island, and wait for the end of the Monsoon, the rainy season being already well advanced, to resume fighting. He and parts of the Vardanian fleet sheltered in the Imamates, while the ships deployed for the naval blockade were regularly changed to keep the crew fresh, and Iifae pirates roamed the Ozeros to stop Mutuleses ships trying to break the blockade.

Fahrani Intervention

Despite holding a sympathetic attitude towards the 'Iifae insurgents, the Eidrusid Caliph al-Mu'tamid had been hesitant to intervene openly on their behalf prior to the uprising. Two rebellions, one led by Ibn Sahl in as-Souhr beginning in 1663 and another instigated by his cousin Uways ibn Ali from 1667 to 1669, had drawn his attention to internal matters, forestalling any concerted effort to support the 'Iifae Imamates. Additionally, al-Mu'tamid had spent years brokering a peace settlement with Tulura and was reluctant to compromise the newfound security of his western borders.

At the onset of the war, al-Mu'tamid was on pilgrimage to Nutum Inyaru along with the majority of his household and court. When news of the instability reached him, the Caliph, claiming to have experienced a divine vision, hastened to return to Haqara, ordering Kharija ibn Qabus, his Grand Vizier, to make clandestine preparations for a naval invasion of Barriset. The Caliph's youngest son Abdallah ibn Hafsun and his trusted admiral Ibn al-Ahmar were given command of thirty nine ships in the belief that a fleet this size would be sufficient to drive the Mutulese out of the Ozeros.

Battle of B'atzakab

As the monsoon went by, the Insurgents re-organized around the "First Holy Army", now equipped with Vardanian and stolen equipments, and placed under the authority of a Qaffa. This army managed to defeat the Mutuleses militias a number of time, and threatened to finally defeat the inland Sympathizers, and then march on Barriset City.

A relief army sent by the B'aatz Yajaw managed to go through the insurgents line and reinforce the besieged locations. A small column managed to return back to Barriset City with the civilians unable to bear arms in toe. This greatly boosted the morale of the sympathizers and, slowly, the Insurgency was forced to return to guerilla tactics against the Mutuleses, who spent the rest of the rainy season -and the rest of the war ultimately- pushing them out of the villages and settlements, sometime not hesitating to completely wipe out a village if it was a proven base of the "Second Caliphate".

Mutulese Reinforcement

It's in the very last week of the Monsoon that the Mutulese Reinforcements, as ordered by the Kahei Yajaw, arrived in the Ozeros Sea after they gathered and departed from the Solusteris Isles. It was an heteroclit force, with large Djong protected by fleet of smaller vessels, such as Junks or Kora kora and other outrigger designs from the Vespanian Ocean or Oxidentale. Military units gathered for the occasion included mercenaries from Tsurushima and East-Ochran, soldiers from Pulau Keramat, and Maori auxiliaries. Because of the time constraint, almost no soldier and very few officers of this expedition were of Mutulese origin, most coming from Pulau Keramat.

Naval battles between the Vardanians and the Mutuleses ended with the Relief Fleet managing to reach Barriset City. The following dry season was characterized by many small-scale battles and skirmishes between the two forces, waiting for an opening. Further Vardanian reinforcements arrived to strengthen the Ozeros Fleet, which prepared a large scale invasion of Barriset, planned to take place just before the Monsoon while the winds still allowed for it. But weather constraints and never-ending raids by Mutuleses privateers forced the Vardanian Admiralty to cancel the plan.

Aftermath and consequences

The Treaty of Samosata concluded peace between Vardana and the Mutul, leaving the latter and their Sahb allies all the leeway needed to finish off the Iifae Imamates, but it also had profound consequences over trades in the Ozeros.

Before the War, there was a real conflict between the "Western Flux" and "Eastern Flux" of trades, both competing for the same goods which were then sent on opposite ends of the globe, virtually making them inaccessible for the other trade road. Vardana's commercial interests were thus immediately threatened by the Mutuleses growing presence, which was greatly limiting their access to tradeable goods from Scipia and Ochran by limiting to land routes. To resolve this conflict and prevent future wars, the diplomats responsible for the redaction of the treaty included a serie of provisions aimed at creating, in the Mutulese terminology, an "Ozeros Circuit". These include the free access to Vardanans ports by boats flying the Nuk Nahob colors and with certified paperworks, reduced tariffs on a serie of naval related services, and minimal taxation on Mutuleses traders, either selling or buying in Vardana. Another claude of the treaty also ensured that the Mutuleses Traders would arrive in Vardana at least once every Monsoon.

These double guarantees made Vardana an important stop for the Oxidentaleses traders and in pure Mutulese fashion, the protection, reglementation, and control of this new trade road was left to the B'aatz Yajaw whom started selling the charters needed for the Nuk Nahob to fully enjoy the provisions of the Treaty. This measure was meant to refill its coffers after they had been emptied by the War's expenses.

The war also had profound effects on modern day Tulura. With the Imamates destroyed, the Iifae were either enslaved as war captives by the Mutuleses or pushed eastward to less hospitable areas by the Sahb. In the aftermath of the Nine Star Wars, the Sahb Warlords and the B'aatz Yajaw diplomats met multiple times and signed various multilateral treaties that divided the Tuluran Coast among the victorious tribes. The Mutuleses were allowed three settlements, of which they themselves chose the locations, to trade more directly with their new commercial partners. These settlements became trade ports where the B'aatz Yajaw exerced full authority, and once again placed tariffs on the papers required for the right to sell and buy Tuluran goods in an attempt to balance his finances.