Mutulo-Reze Wars

Mutulo-Reze Wars
Part of War of the Exiles
Rezeses armors as used during the Wars
Date 1671 to 1686 Location Mutul Sante Reze
Belligerents
Mutul	Sante Reze
Commanders and leaders
Janab Pacaal Walijaj Chan K'awiil
Strength
150,000 in total	Template:Country data Reze 60,000 in total
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

The Mutul - Reze Wars, also sometime known as the Ucayare Wars or the Wars of the Exiled Houses are a serie of conflicts that opposed the Mutul and the Noble Houses of Sante Reze, then forced in a de-facto exile by the Trade Cartel.

The reasons behind the wars are numerous. Since 1502, the Aristocracy of Sante Reze had been dominated by the high bourgeoisie of the coastal cities. While at first they still controlled vast swath of lands in the interior and owned many plantations and exploitations that made the wealth of the country, by the second half of the 16th century they started to loose control of their own lands, seized by Cartel officials through various legal and financial means. Slowly but surely, the Aristocratic landowners were forced further and further westward, far away from the country’s political centers.

By the early second half of the 17th century, expeditions led by exploitants of the Noble Houses had finally come through the Ucayare forest and reached the mountains known as Nojwitz that marks the southern border of the Mutul, as well as the central mountain range marking the separation between Western and Eastern Oxidentale. They explored these mountains in hope of finding gold and other precious minerals, and established new plantations in the valleys and the areas of the Ucayare they had deforested alongside the main rivers.they used to export their products.

The first real war between the Mutul and the “Noble Houses” was preceded by years of small scales conflicts as the exact border of the Divine Kingdom were unclear and poorly defended. The K’uhul Ajaw claimed ownership over most of the Nojwitz’ plateaus and valleys,a sovereignty not recognized by the Houses. In 1671, the Mutul attacked the Houses establishments west of the T’ekot Pass, helped by the insurrection of many Ucayara tribes. The war ended with a truce and the construction of new fortresses to control the T’ekot Pass and other important crossing points into Western Oxidentale.

The second war began with surprise attacks by the Noble Houses against Mutuleses positions in Nojwitz. They managed to seize some forts and take control of various passes and valleys. The rest of the war was made by the Mutuleses trying to reclaim their strongholds, with the notable exception of one expedition by a Reze aristocrat deeper in the Mutul-controlled plateaus.

The Third Mutulo-Reze war started in 1684 when the K’uhul Ajaw B’alijaj Chan K’awiil ordered expeditions against the Noble Houses, crossing the T’ekot Pass and attacking the Rezeses possessions in the Ucayare forest, while also besieging forts in the Nojwitz still held by the Houses.

The Fourth War is generally called the “Subterfuge War” or the “False War”, as it lasted only a few months with no casualty, as its true aim was to hide the existence of the recently signed pact between the Noble Houses and the K’uhul Ajaw and notably the travel of the all the Houses’ children, sent away to K’alak Muul as hostages and guarantees for the Pact.

Thus the Pact marked the end of the fightings between the Mutul and the Rezeses Houses. It led to the official alliance between the K’uhul Ajaw and the Noble League that would rise against the Trade Cartel in 1699, thus moving their interests away from the Mutul and the Ucayare. The Pact also officialized the border between Sante Reze and the Divine Kingdom, largely to the advantage of the later who now owned the quasi-totality of the Nojwitz Mountain Range and was recognized its sovereignty over the lands west of the T’ekot Pass. In exchange for all of this, the Mutul agreed to support the Noble Houses in their conflict against the Trade Cartel, sending ressources, weapons, and even men, through the Ucayare Forest, bypassing entirely the Cartel’s control over sea lanes. Thus, the Pact marked the start of a long period of friendly relations between the Mutul and the Noble Republic, lasting to this day.

Prelude

The Ucayare Far-West during the 17th century. In red : the area recently explored and claimed by the Noble Houses. In Yellow, their old base of power in the Middle Bassin. In green, areas under effective Mutulese control

Following the minor wars and conflicts between the Ucayara tribes and the Noble Houses, the latter had been mostly free to push further westward their expansion. Their goal was to reach the Central Mountains and find the gold and iron mines said to be there, to exploit it both for their own profit but also in preparation of a future uprising against the Cartel, as a rebellion against the Republic was already in their mind.In the 1660s, they reached these mountains and started various mines and exploitations at the foot of the mountains. But since the economy of the Noble House relied on their expansion and clearance of new lands, the younger members of the Houses continued past these mountains to start their own exploitations. It’s this crossing that alerted the Mutul. Diplomatic missions were sent to get the Rezeses to recognize the sovereignty of the K’uhul Ajaw over these lands, to no avail, thus setting up the situation for the first war.

The Wars

First War (1671 - 1673 )

Control of the waterways is how the Noble Houses managed their quick expansion through the Ucayare regions

The casus belli for the first War was the call for help sent by the Ucayare Chieftain Awa Yavi to the K’uhul Ajaw Janab Pakal in 1670 after he had been chased from his lands by Rezeses expeditions. In 1671, a Mutulese expeditionary force followed the Kannoj River southward and reached the most westward plantations of the Rezeses the same year. Quickly, these outposts were overrun and destroyed, resulting in the Rezeses having to flee back to the east of the Central Mountains, while being harassed by the Mutuleses forces and their Ucayare allies.

After this first battle, the Noble Houses formed a common front against the aggressor, and sent troops to stop the Mutuleses who had already crossed the T’ekot Pass. What followed was a year and a half of fighting, with multiple large scale battle but also long periods of skirmishes between the Mutuleses and the Rezeses, but also between the Rezeses and the Ucayare whom the war incited them to resume their own revolt against the “easterners”. But despite great successes against the unprepared Houses, the Mutul decided to not go further eastward out of consideration for their supply lines and their slowly dwindling numbers, both because of the battles and the diseases. They returned west of the Central Mountains, but not before securing the T’ekot Pass by building a fort there, manned by a small core of permanent troops helped by Ucayare auxilliaries trained and equipped the Mutulese way. A truce was officially signed between the Mutulese general and the Noble Houses, putting the war on hold.

Second War ( 1676 - 1680)

The border regions of the Nojwitz Mountains is where most of the battles of the second war took place

After the first Mutulo-Reze war, the Divine Kingdom had not only began to fortify the T’ekot Pass, but also the Nojwitz Mountains. In the opinion of the Noble Houses’ Leagues, this was a threat to their future, slowly choking them by denying them to continue their economic model of expanding westward so their descendants always had enough lands for them. Rather than wait for a possible crisis, they decided to take matters in their own hands and organized expeditionary forces and small armies ready to strike against the Mutuleses. In 1676, they broke the truce and after hard-fought battles in the first valleys of Nojwitz, the Rezeses started to besiege Mutuleses forts.

One of the most remembered episode of the war was that one of the Rezeses army managed to pass through the frontline and enter deep in Mutuleses territories, ravaging the highlands and plateaus of Nojwitz. This expedition was a quick succession of raids against Mutuleses settlements and towns, as well as skirmishes against troops sent to stop the Rezeses. It managed to successfully hold off the Divine Kingdom’s men long enough to allow a number of forts and strategic checkpoints to fall to the Houses, even if it was ultimately defeated in 1678. The last years of the wars saw the Rezeses holding on their newly acquired ground and trying to push back Mutuelses reinforcements. Some valleys were claimed backs, others were definitively lost, but ultimately both side signed a new truce recognizing the statu quo.