Grellain War of Sovereignty

The Grellain War of Sovereignty was a war that took place in 843 PSE, between the Free Republic of Grellain and the nation of Masia. It lasted for four years, with Grellain ultimately emerging victorious.

Causes
As Grellain grew in economic power, tension began to rise between the upstart country and its powerful neighbor to the north. One of the main points of contention was the steady stream of escaped debt slaves and other fugitives who fled from Masia to Grellain. Intensely contemptful of the institution of debt slavery and Masia's brutal justice system, Grellain refused all attempts at an extradition treaty, to the roaring approval of its ruby population, who made up most of the fugitive slaves.

Finally, Masia delivered an ultimatum: either cooperate with attempts to extradite fugitives back to them, or they would send their own military to retrieve them. Grellain flatly refused. According to popular report, the Grellain senate did not even let Masia's messenger finish reading the ultimatum before she was laughed out of the room.

In the summer of 843 PSE, Masia sent small squads of slave-catchers into Grellain to track down and arrest fugitives. Almost immediately, these squads were ambushed and killed by ruby militia groups all throughout Grellain. Masia took this as an act of war and began their invasion.

Fighting
Fighting an established power like Masia was an uphill battle. Grellain barely had a government at the time, let alone a standing army. What they did have was passionate rebels, inhospitable desert terrain, and Rideen's largest cache of ancient magical artifacts. Grellain's citizens responded to the invasion with a campaign of brutal guerilla warfare. Minutemen sprung up out of major cities at a moment's notice. Decentralized bands of untrained soldiers armed with ancient arcane weapons set up ambushes in the desert for deadly hit and run attacks.

Despite superior numbers, training, and logistics, Masia was taking much heavier losses fighting Grellain on its home turf. Even as they captured major cities, occupying them against a hostile populace with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of magical ordnance was impossible.

Finally, after four years of heavy losses and little progress, Masia halted the invasion. United by common purpose, Grellain had prevailed and proved itself sovereign for all of Rideen to see.