Aloutian-Ophidian Wars

Throughout the 561-year history of both these countries, they have been at war eleven times, though at the start of the Merchants books (Year 561), they’ve been at peace for almost a century. The twelfth war is brewing, and will be the subject of the Terran series.

Year 10-34: First War, The Attempted Conquest. Aloutia tried to conquer Ophidia as part of its continuous expansion. Ended in an Ophidian victory as the Aloutians learned the hard way that trying to send an army through portals is not a good idea.

Year 122-145: Second War, The Liberation of Castle Xathenessi. The Ophidians captured nearly every parcel of land in the Xathenessi Shroomery and enslaved non-women Xathenes, which the Ophidians defined as Xathenes who produce spores. Ended as an Aloutian victory and the Xathenes promised to forevermore ally with Aloutia and give them exclusive trade rights to all fungus. Also saw the initiation of the first merchants of dance with St. Pristis fighting for the Aloutians.

Year 190-194: Third War, War for King Siltha of Zenithine. An Ophidian noblewoman, Hifiko Hisuishin, hired several merchants of dance and Lord Selfishness to create a portal into the bedchamber of King Siltha of Zenithine and transport him to Ophidia. Aloutian propaganda claimed she was madly in love and kidnapped him out of lust. She may have been in lust with him, as it’s well-documented that Hisuishin often had sex with Siltha, including having three children with him during the time he was imprisoned. However, she also did it as a political power move. Ophidia had just finished a civil war over a similar matter in which one noblewoman waged a war just because she wanted to have sex with another noblewoman’s slave. The official Ophidian side of this story is that Hisuishin kidnapped Siltha to goad Aloutia into attacking Ophidia because she wanted the Ophidians to remember ‘who the real enemy was.’ She also wanted to use both this war and the civil war to pass new laws protecting property rights (making it illegal for a woman to use her army to force another woman into ‘lending’ her slave). Due to the recent civil war, Ophidia’s army was weak and an Aloutian victory was almost assured. Ophidia surrendered within four years, scared the Aloutians would take territory and resources if they kept conquering. In the peace treaty, they promised to return ‘the King of Zenithine’ but Hifiko killed Siltha and gave them her firstborn child (a son, then about three years old, who as Siltha’s firstborn was also his heir.) The child was taken back to Zenithine, but the country switched to a republic soon after. Some people believe it was simply time for them to do away with the monarchy, but other suggest it was because the child was half-Orochijin and just looking at him reminded the Zenithine court of their failure.

Year 205-217: Fourth War, War for Munil. Wishing to press their advantage after the last war, and thinking the Ophidians were still weak, the Aloutians led a series of raids into Ophidia using abandoned Mujin ruins as waypoints. They were assisted by the ascension of the Demon Lord of Hatred, Glitterpink, who was a cloud of pink glitter and who hated the Ophidians with a fierce passion. They could create portals similar to Lord Selfishness. They could be summoned by performing a ritual involving the killing of an Ophidian woman. They allied themself to Aloutia in hopes of killing many Ophidians. However, the Ophidians were much more skilled at navigating the Mu jungle and had Demon Lord allies of their own including Lord Selfishness, who would create portals of her own into the ruins used by Aloutian soldiers. Prince Hira of Cruelty and her subordinates also fought for the Ophidians and singlehandedly won many decisive battles. This war was overall an Ophidian victory.

Year 232-254: Fifth War, Rise of the Two Kiras. Named after two Dragon generals in each army. Kira Kiriyama (Aloutia) and Kira Ketsuken (Ophidia) had both been born in Thuban, Kari’s Island, Cosmo, and knew each other when they were younger. Ophidia started this war to get land and slaves. Aloutia won by inciting a massive slave revolt forcing the Ophidian army back home to crush the rebellion.

Year 270-277: Sixth War, War of Ketsuken’s Revenge. Annoyed by how ignobly she’d lost the previous war, Kira Ketsuken of Ophidia launched this war specifically to humiliate Kira Kiriyama of Aloutia. Considered an Ophidian victory because they took a significant amount of land in Cosmo, but Ketsuken did not get her revenge on Kiriyama like she’d wanted. During the peace agreement, the Aloutians were able to demand that Ophidia never declare war for ‘personal grudges’ ever again. The war ruined Aloutia’s economy and they entered a period known as the Age of Greed where a few very wealthy individuals exploited the working poor.

Year 300: Seventh War, The Phantos Massacre. Another war initiated by General Ketsuken, this time after she massacred a significant population of Poltergeists who’d been running a slave-liberating operation for decades. Ketsuken knew this would draw the Aloutians into a conflict, which was what she wanted all along. She still had a grudge against Kiriyama and wanted an excuse to fight her, even though the other Heads of Orochi would not break the peace treaty agreement signed at the end of the previous war. The Aloutians came to the defense of the Poltergeists, but this war was widely unpopular due to the stressful economic situation in Aloutia at the time. The Emperor ordered all available soldiers to march to the frontlines, and that included guards for the noble houses and wealthy elites. The citizens and working class rose up to slaughter their unguarded oppressors. Ophidian victory as Aloutia had to retreat to deal with the rebellion known as the Greed Wars.

Year 307-310: Eighth War, Battle of the Two Kiras. The climax of the Ketsuken-Kiriyama rivalry. In the year 305, Kira Ketsuken had attempted a war with the Makai and lost horribly. Aloutia hoped to finish off Ophidia for good and free all slaves. Kira Kiriyama slew Kira Ketsuken and, for a while, it seemed Aloutia would be victorious. However, numerous Demon Lords (including some who had just been at war with Ophidia) came to Ophidia’s aid, explaining how they were using the misery in Ophidia as fuel. Moreover, now that the Greed Wars were over in Aloutia, they had less fuel from there. The Demon Lords threatened to fight Aloutia if they destroyed Ophidia. The Emperor agreed to a peace treaty, as he wanted to focus on domestic issues and building up his country after the major changes initiated during the Greed Wars. The day he signed the peace treaty happened to be the same day Cherish (later known as Cherish the Monster) hatched in Ophidia. Kiriyama retired from her position as general a month later and retired to Kari’s Island where she lived the rest of her life in peace.

Year 351-368: Ninth War, Eliara’s War, the Women’s War. Ophidian-initiated war for land and slaves. Not too spectacular, other than for the fact that Aloutia’s Imperial Advisor, Eliara Amygdala-Pavo, treated the war like her own personal chess game. She would experiment with different species, troop formations, strategies, weapons and armor, etc. for purely intellectual purposes. At the time, Aloutia had Eliara as an advisor, Mira as Chancellor, and three of its four generals were also women. Some called it the Women’s War because the highest commanders on both sides of the conflict were all women. This was also around the time conspiracy theories about “Emperor Ivan not being real” were peddled, with one rumor being that Eliara and/or Mira were the real Emperors, that they also controlled Ophidia, and that this war was a game between the two. Although there was no evidence to support it, and in fact it was seen as a stupid conspiracy theory in its time, Eliara and Mira’s personalities did nothing to help matters, given that they frequently saw serious political and martial matters as a game. No victor. Ophidia did acquire land and slaves, but not as much as they’d hoped.

Year 390-395: Tenth War, the Candy War. Initially started by Ophidia as a push into Cosmo to acquire land and slaves. Aloutia cut off all trade, including trade of chocolate, sugar, and coffee. Ophidian noblewomen pressured their government to surrender so they would have their luxury goods again. Aloutian victory. Several noblewomen later financed efforts to establish these crops in Ophidia so this embarrassment would never happen again.

Year 435-470: Eleventh War, War for the Dominion. Started when Ophidia once again tried to take land and slaves in Cosmo, but this time with the assistance of as many Demon Lords as they could ally. The Aloutians likewise summoned as many Demon Lords as they could convince to join their side. The war was mostly fought by demons, against other demons, but is still considered one of the Aloutian-Ophidian wars. It came to an end when the one of the vassal kings in Aloutia, King Phoebus of Phoenia (who was also a Mind Godblood), summoned Demon King Susan, Demon Prince Domio, and hired every merchant of dance in Aloutia. Phoebus, Susan, Domio, and all the merchants of dance fought a vicious battle, slaying so many Ophidians and demons that neither country would dare attack Aloutia for the foreseeable future.