War of the Flowers
The War of the Flowers was a conflict between the Fire Nation and some of the eastern Spirit Valley Tribes. The war had a variety of causes, namely the tribes' land containing a great deal of sunflowers which are considered holy in the Fire Nation's state religion, the Church of Fire; the practise of the tribes' Cult of the Moon being starkly opposed to the Church; and the killings of some Fire Nation soldiers near the border of the Othii tribe.
The war ended in a decisive Fire Nation victory, with three of the four tribes in the region being vassalised or colonised, the Carnii and Othii suffering enormous population loss, and one tribe, the Senerii, being wiped out entirely. The conflict coincided with the Karkken Crisis, mostly remaining separate from the motions of the war until an assassination attempt on the Firelord's life.
| War of the Flowers | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The destruction of Senerii forces at the Battle of Four Armies. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kaerii |
 Carnii | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
 Runelord the Hermit |
Local Carnii warlords | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
5,000 Kaerii |
20,000 Carnii | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
1,000 Kaerii |
15,000 Carnii | ||||||
Context
Spirit Valley tribes migrated into the area following the events of the Great Exile. The tribes relevant to this war were entirely of the Eastern branch, with four settling near the Fire Nation - the Othii, the Carnii, the Kaerii, and the Senerii. The Carnii and the Othii had a direct land border with the Fire Nation, but neither seemed aware of it due to the geography of each border. The Othii-Fire border was a mountain range, and the Carnii's a wide river.
The Fire Nation had a presence near what would be tribal lands long before their arrival, with the town of Askhamn being their main outpost in the area. Traders in this area were aware of the Othii presence long before it came to the attention of the monarchy or the local garrison, as they smuggled rare goods and metals to the Othii in exchange for furs and sunflowers. This period would end with the reports of strange men appearing near Fire Nation garrisons. An expedition of 20 soldiers to explore this region was commissioned, ending in violence and the death of one Fire Nation soldier. This event led to outcry in the Fire Nation and the monarchy's interest in the region began at this time. The Firelord's first order was to send out spies to investigate the lay of the land before he ordered the mobilization of the Fire Nation's army. The Firelord decided to lead this army in person, appointing Snigelsekret to act as his regent in Fenixholm until his return. This decision led to a wave of press interest in the Fire Nation, which managed to reach the Othii high command. The Othii assembled a large host led by tribal leaders and sought to meet the enemy.
Outbreak of hostilities
The Fire Nation army had a highly challenging frontier to cross, with high mountains and a river. This naturally strong defensive position would make it difficult for the Othii to dislodge them, but similarly difficult for the Fire Nation to access the plains below. Finding a small valley within the mountains, the Fire Nation army established its camp there. The Othii force responded by laying siege, hoping to deny them supplies and stall for time until the other tribes might join the war. The Othii don't appear to have been aware of the large numbers of firebenders in the Fire Nation army, as they used wooden palisades for their fortifications.
Battle of Mount Alweglim
At night, the Firelord ordered a breakout. Setting the palisades alight, large fires broke out in the Othii camp. This sent the Othii into a disarray, with many waking up without putting on their armor, which the Fire Nation force cut down as they stood. Some Othii on the outskirts of the camp were able to escape in good order, but they no longer had the force to contain the Fire Nation to the mountains. Fire Nation forces crossed into the plains as the Blaze Bulletin heralded this great victory. The mountain, known as Thynia to the Othii, was renamed Mount Alweglim in honour of the Firelord. This battle would be known as "the Battle of Mount Alweglim".
Tribal reactions
While this battle had been a massive strategic and tactical victory over the Othii, the Fire Nation had inadvertently terrified all other tribes into action by attacking with magical powers during a full moon. The Othii army now fled south, aware that their numerical inferiority made defending a wide open plain impractical. Beginning a march over mountains, they remained out of sight from the Fire Nation forces for a great deal of time as they hiked towards their capital. During this time, emissaries were sent to the powerful Senerii and Carnii tribes. The Senerii, eager to exploit this new power in the region, sent two emissaries north to Fenixholm to propose an alliance. These were erroneously fired upon by the paranoid gatesmen. The two emissaries fled at this sight, with one being captured by the Fire Nation patrols sent out by Snigelsekret, but the other escaping capture. The Senerii leader, Arkala, interpreted this action as requiring a blood payment to settle. Firelord Alweglim, unaware of what had happened in Fenixholm, refused this demand. Due to the enormous size of the Senerii host, they would not be seen for some time.
With victory at Mount Alweglim, the Fire Nation now had access to the plains. Rather than attempting to occupy the entirety of the plains, the Firelord decided upon a strategy of marching directly south towards the Othii capital in order to end the war as quickly as possible. As part of this, an airship was summoned from the Fire Nation, spotting what appeared to be a tribal army near the Fire Nation border. The Baron of Even Newer Mexico was permitted to deviate from this strategy, heading east instead to handle this force.
The Baron's Burn
The Even Newer Mexican force headed east, encountering one Othii village obstructing the route to Carnii territory. It was at this gate that the Fire Nation first learned of the tribe's moon-based religion, and their belief that the Church of Fire was a force of evil. As a result, the village refused to surrender and was promptly put to the torch. This event was reported by the Gale Gazette, an Air Nation newspaper, to the condemnation of the Even Newer Mexican government.
Midway through reorganising the force to march into Carnii territory, the Mexican troops noticed the presence of the Senerii army in the distance. Without any evidence to explain what this force was, the Baron instead committed to continuing the reorganisation.
Battle of the Four Armies
Around this time, the main Fire Nation host arrived at a river, the only natural obstacle between them and the Othii capital. It was here that they met the Othii army once again. Despite their losses at Mount Alweglim, the Othii force had managed to rally many new soldiers. With their defensive position on the other side of the river, and with the Fire Nation force split as the Baron's Burn headed north, the two armies were in a stalemate. It was at this point that emissaries of the Kaerii tribe arrived at the Fire Nation camp. The Kaerii had been coerced into vassalage of the Senerii in the past, who now called them into the war. The Kaerii, believing such a war to be hopeless and having already suffered greatly during the Exile, now approached the Fire Nation for protection. To argue for their usefulness, these emissaries persuaded the Firelord that they could outflank the Othii by a surprise attack to the south. The Firelord agreed to this, and began the crossing despite the disadvantage.
The Othii withdrew from the river line, despite its strength as a defensive line, almost immediately after Fire Nation troops began to cross. This was because of the Kaerii assault on the capital. Fire Nation and Kaerii troops moved south and began an urban war to take the town, moving house by house, street by street. It was at this time that the Senerii force was sighted to the north. At 60,000 men, this force vastly outnumbered the Fire Nation host. Now on the wrong side of the river, the smaller Fire Nation army was trapped between the river, the Othii, the Senerii, and the mountains. Facing a catastrophic defeat, the Firelord urgently sent a messenger north to the Baron, urging him to flee south at once. This messenger was spotted and shot by Senerii archers en route, leading his bag to fall off and the message to be lost. Despite this, the horse did arrive at the Baron's camp, who believed something to be wrong and headed south anyway.
Even Newer Mexican forces encountered the Senerii to the Senerii's north, who immediately charged their position. The legions were highly disciplined, but they were incredibly outnumbered and suffered enormous losses. Alweglim made the decision at this point to leave only a token force at the Othii capital, with the Kaerii taking over command here, and march the majority of his force north. The Fire Nation was still outnumbered, but they could yet outflank the Senerii. The Senerii leader, Arkala, believed otherwise and intended to overrun the Mexicans before Alweglim could arrive, and thus ordered the seizure of a hill in between his and Alweglim's force. Fire Nation troops soon began fighting for the hill, while the Mexicans to the north fought for their lives.
With the outbreak of hostilities on the hill, Arkala was alerted to the threat to the south. Redirecting most of his troops south, he sought to use his numerically superior force to overwhelm the disorganised Fire Nation forces. This came too late, as Alweglim established his command on the newly secured hill. Ordering a counter-charge, the sight of the royal standard was noticed by Mexican troops who celebrated the arrival of the Fire Nation and fought back harder than before. During this time, the sheer quantity of fire being used set light to parts of the plains. Arkala had planned to retreat and form a new army in the Senerii heartland, but was now trapped by a wall of fire to his east and the joint Fire Nation forces to his north and south. Surrender negotiations began.
The Great Fire
With battle still raging, Arkala arrived at the Fire Nation's camp on the hill, where both the Baron and Alweglim were, under the white flag. He requested that his army be allowed to peacefully leave, and a commitment for the Church of Fire to be forbidden from proselytizing in Senerii lands, in exchange for the vassalage of the Senerii and the end of the Senerii-Kaerii conflict. The Baron, bloodied from the massive casualties the Senerii had inflicted on his troops, advised that the Senerii be killed to the last man and Arkala's head be mounted on a standard, but ultimately only requested that one Senerii may be killed in exchange for each fallen Mexican soldier. Alweglim began a brief conversation with Arkala on the tribe's cult of the moon, which persuaded the Firelord that the fundamentally opposed values of their two faiths would undermine any possible vassalage agreement.
The Fire Nation response was that the Senerii must either agree to conversion and be resettled in the land of the other tribes; agree to leave the area and never return; or die. Arkala would be imprisoned for life at Fenixholm. Refusing to see his power base compromised by either option, Arkala chose to fight to the end. It was at this point that Runelord, an advisor to the Firelord, suggested that the encircled Senerii force could be burned in one grand human sacrifice. Battle resumed for a few hours while the royal firebenders began their incantations and preparations for this event, as the Mexicans received their blood debt. On the completion of this, the Senerii force was burned alive in one single wave of fire. 60,000 died, and the Senerii tribe was effectively wiped out.
Reactions after the Great Fire
During the Great Fire, the Othii capital surrendered to the Kaerii forces. Kaerii generals, holding the Othii leadership captive, arrived at the hill where the Firelord's camp was based, to present their surrender where both witnessed the Great Fire taking place. Seeing this terrifying display, both immediately agreed to full vassalage and conversion.
With this victory, the main objective of the war had been achieved as the Othii were fully subdued, and the Kaerii and Senerii were no longer a threat. The only force remaining was the Carnii. Runelord and the Baron were left half of the army and tasked with dealing with that invasion force once again. Alweglim headed north with the remainder to organise burials, establish the new vassals, and see Fenixholm again. During this trip, he began to learn the Othii language from the hostage child of an Othii nobleman.
At Mount Alweglim, the Firelord gave a speech in memory of the soldiers who had died there. As he ended this speech, an arrow was fired from the crowd which struck him in the back. Dangerously close to death, Runelord was recalled to oversee the Firelord's protection and coordinate his medical recovery at Askhamn while the Baron continued the conflict. The news of the assassination attempt spread rapidly, with the Blaze Bulletin reporting on both it and the Battle of the Four Armies simultaneously.
Runelord's administration of Alweglim's recovery proved highly industrious. He obtained healers from the Water Tribe and a great deal of supplies, sent on the HWAS Ark, from the Air Nation, as well as correspondence with Snigelsekret concerning the ongoing political crisis at Fenixholm. It was here that it became clear that the assassination attempt had been ordered by House Karkken. Alweglim would eventually recover, much to the relief of the Nation. Presented with the hitman that had fired at him, he ordered his interrogation which, when corroborated with Snigel's own interrogations at Fenixholm, fully exposed the details of the Karkken plot.
Alweglim would return to Fenixholm and was rewarded with a triumph. Othii riches and their captured leaders were paraded through the capital, which would be topped off with the execution of the Karkken leaders by Alweglim himself. Runelord was granted a sizeable area of land in the north of the Fire Nation, which he used to establish the House Rune and begin construction on a new city.
In commemoration of the many Fire Nation soldiers who never returned home, Snigelsekret commissioned the construction of an arch to their memory at Fenixholm.
Carnii campaign
The Baron continued the war to the south and faced a great deal of adversity in this time. Due to the Great Fire, Carnii leadership refused to meet the Fire Nation forces in open battle and resorted to guerrilla warfare instead. Establishing a fort on the outskirts of the densely forested Carnii territory, the Baron's force began raiding in response, destroying village food stores and enslaving the population. As this became increasingly difficult as towns and villages adapted to the Fire Nation strategy, mass burnings began in order to clear the woodland. This inflicted enormous casualties on the fleeing Carnii who had to flee south to their capital. Upon reaching this capital, the Baron intended to continue the inferno until a pleas for surrender came out. Highly overpopulated due to the refugees, and with all farms desrtoyed, the Carnii saw no choice but to surrender, converting to the Church and becoming vasslas of the Firelord. The Baron accepted this offer. A small band of mutineers blamed the Carnii, lumping them with all other tribes as mere pagans, for the attempt on the Firelord's life and defected, enslaving a small camp of woman and children. Due to this interfering with the agreement of vassalage and the attempts to restore the now devastated Carnii territory, the Baron had these men crucified upon their capture.