The preceding decades in Ujiteru
On the First Night, in the six hundredth year since the unification of the Ujiteru isles, the Shogun set his gaze towards newly discovered lands in the east.
Armies are raised and drilled as Ujiteru marshals its strength and the authorities stoke the populace's growing paranoia.
Preparations complete, the convenient sack of an Ujiteru village by raiders of unknown origin leads Ujiteru's Shogun to officially declare war on the "savages" of the sunrise lands.
The preceding decades in Ardrah
Meanwhile, across the sea in the Ijọba Ardrah, Ghezo Ilexonu, young Crown Prince of the Ijọba, bides his time, spinning a silent web as he works to undo centuries of imperial Ardrahn decline.
At the height of the wet season, Ganngnihessou, Ahosu of the Ijọba, dies in his sleep under suspicious circumstances as his son disappears from the capital of Ile.
As the high nobility of Ardrah confers in Ile on whether to sanction the next Ahosu, as has been its uncontested right over the past centuries of Ardrahn decline, Ghezo emerges from the jungle with the larger part of the Ardrahn army. Marching through doors thrown open by his loyalists, Ghezo captures and publicly executes the cream of Ardrah's loyalty before spending the next season bathing Ardrah in the blood of those nobles who rise in rebellion.
As the ashes of civil war settle, Ghezo Ilexonu declares himself first Alaafin of a reborn Ardrah.
Whirlwind assault
Eighty thousand men sail forth with a vast fleet of half a thousand junks, led by Shogun Isao Ujiteru himself.
Ujiteru soldiers land on another continent for the first time in the nation's history, taking the city of Orisha by storm.
Phrai falls in short order, unprepared for attacks from across the western sea, its defences weakened by centuries of Ardrahn decadence and decline.
Stories begin to spread, speaking of a tide of unstoppable demons from across the western sea, calling on gods great and small for mercy. Their pleas go unanswered.
Bypassing the fortress of Stormwind, Ujiterian troops capture Hailsunike from the Khodarian Oligarchy, forging onwards with their whirlwind invasion.
Hundreds of thousands of Ardrahn troops begin to gather and Stormwind is fortified as the Alaafin lays his plans and prepares the field.
Popular unrest begins to spread in Ujiteru.
At the height of the war
As the full force of Ujiteru's armies descend on the legendary island citadel, the Siege of Stormwind begins. Over a night of carnage, as the streets of the fortress-city run red with blood, the Ujiterian soldiers are made to bleed for the first time. Mauled, they retreat and blockade the island.