Azozian-Reckoner Wars
| Azozian-Reckoner War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Reckoner Wars | |||||||
 The fall of Fashnoq during the initial Reckoner invasion of the Mouri | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
|
Kingdom of Bangui (1104-1126) |
| ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Reckoner |
Shuadna’al Tezculum | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| High | High | ||||||
| ~3-7 million civilian deaths | |||||||
The Azozian-Reckoner Wars were a series of conflicts between the Reckoner Empire and the Azozian nations during the 11th century and the early 12th century. The conflict begin in the year 1042, when the Reckoner Empire invaded the Mouri Empire, directly leading to the collapse of the Mouri Empire around the year 1055. The Mouri Empire was followed by the Derigi Empire, however, this Azozian empire would also be short-lived and plagued by conflict with the Reckoner Empire and other nations.
The Reckoner invasion of the Mouri began during a period of instability and strife for the Azozians. Since the year 946 the Mouri Empire had been ruled by the Ligerians of the Kingdom of Neum, whose religious and cultural differences contributed to a century of civil wars and rebellions within the Mouri Empire. Additionally, the Mouri Empire sought to control the Ankum of Edom through diplomatic marriage throughout this period, which spread Azozian resources thin. The Ligerian religion, which arose from a syncreticism of Yannian and Azozian mythology, polarized the population of the empire; the politically dominant Ligerians called for the destruction of the city of Azoz, through supernatural of man-made means, while orthodox Ulmians, who constituted the largest religious group in the empire, included many who called for the eradication of the Ligerians from Neum. Following the death of Emperor Nascemun Yagulonus in 1039, a civil war began over his succession, as two factions vied for control over his son, Mizrecul'etemuc, and later for the throne itself. The Emperor Yumanalun arose as one claimant, as the son of Berena’al Rasletemuc, the late emperor's sister, and Teumecudi, official regent and descendant of Liger, while Anka Shuadna’al Tezculum of Edom, Yumanalun's aunt, arose as another. These parties came to represent the pro-Yannian Neum versus the pro-Edomite Azoz, splitting the nation in two at the time of the Reckoner's invasion.
The recently established Reckoner Empire was unknown to the Azozians in the north at the time of the invasion, with the attack coming as a complete surprise. The mystery of the south and the foreign culture of the Reckoner led to the invasion being viewed in a supernatural context, with the Reckoner himself being viewed in contemporary accounts as perhaps a vengeful deity or divine punishment. The timeliness of the invasion during the nation's religious and ideological split contributed to the Reckoner being viewed as part of this battle as well; Ligerians viewed the Reckoner as the divine instrument sent to destroy Azoz, and later as a supplementary instrument of divine punishment after the rejection of later emperor Treeman, while Ulmians viewed the Reckoner as a sign of the end times foretold by the Apocalypse of Prackyob. This view was aided by the exotic nature of the Reckoner religion, which relied entirely on chance, statistics, and mathematics to plan the empire's course of action.
In the first phase of the war the southern region of the Mouri Empire was conquered by the Reckoner, with the city of Fashnoq being destroyed completely after a coin toss. Despite overwhelming victory, the Reckoner accepted the offer of a ten year truce just as easily, in what is known as "Prackyob's Peace", after First Citizen Prackyob. Soon after the war began, Shuadna’al Tezculum died of natural causes, but the civil war continued under her daughter Telephama, who was crowned Emperor of the Mouri in the city of Medan. During the final phase of the civil war the city of Azoz itself would be leveled, however, Yumanalun would ultimately be die or be defeated in the process. Around the year 1055, Treeman was also crowned emperor, which is often viewed as the official end of the Mouri Empire and the beginning of the Derigi Empire. The civil war officially ended in 1063, with Treeman and Telephama marrying and serving as the first co-monarchs of the new empire.
When hostilities resumed against the Reckoner in 1090, Prackyob ordered a massive invasion of the south to retake Fashnoq, however this ultimately failed, and the Azozians suffered the greatest defeat in their history up to that point. Over 50,000 Azozians would be killed in the Battle of Farrae alone, with the campaign as a whole resulting in countless losses for the Derigi Empire. This defeat led to the "Time of Troubles" for the Azozians, with the Reckoner conquering Bangui and creating a puppet kingdom there, conquering Iouneosas and reaching the Gabatrian Sea in the northeast, and sacking Azoz itself in 1096. Prackyob would be violently ousted soon after his campaign in the south, while generals such as Darien, who was responsible for the successful 1092 naval raid against Reckoner forces in the south, becoming the de facto military rulers of the Azozians. Although the Ankum of Edom also faced invasion from the Reckoner, placing Edom on the side of Azoz, after the mysterious death of Telephama in 1077 and Lanemara in 1097, relations between the two realms broke down. This was spearheaded by the Edomite noble Grecanun, whose unsuccessful duel with Treeman led to his ousting from Azoz. Grecanun's anti-Azozian and anti-Treeman sentiment led to the an Edomite coup, in which Lanemara's preferred heir, her adopted daughter Larasca'al Benul (a granddaughter of Liger), was assassinated, while Grecanun's grandmother Descara was appointed governor and co-monarch in Edom. This would plant the seeds for a second civil war, this time splitting the Derigi between Edomites and Azozians,
In 1111 the Reckoner died, and his empire began to collapse soon after. The Derigi Empire would reconquer Azoz province by 1100, and the Reckoner puppet Kingdom of Bangui would collapse by 1126. However, the Derigi Empire would not be able to restore the old empire from prior to the Reckoner invasion. The western provinces broke off from Azoz permanently, becoming breakaway nations known as the Kingdom of Garania and the Uriel Republic. The Ankum of Edom would become severed from the Derigi Empire, with both nations fighting the remnants of the Reckoner and each other throughout the early decades of the 12th century. The Syresian Republic invaded the Kingdom of Neum in 1063, establishing a new puppet there loyal to Syres, which broke the personal union between Neum and Azoz. Syres would also conquer Iouneosas from the Reckoner Empire in 1120, taking advantage of the weakened state the region was left in after years of conflict. Having been inreparably weakened by the wars with the Reckoner, the Derigi Empire would ultimately be largely conquered by the Syresian Republic following the Reckoner Empire's withdraw.