History Spotlight: The Third Demon War

Today we focus on possibly my most developed time period in Xhelian history, and one of the latest. This is none other than the Third Demon War, the last and bloodiest conflict during the Phycosian Age of Bloodshed. Often referred to as "The Great War" or "The Continent War", this is the largest and bloodiest conflict in the history of Phycos.

Above: The Battle of Sector 28, a sky fortress battle between the Sirh Empire and Tyrant Legion

This war actually began near the end of a war already in progress. Since the year SC 2525, the recent truce between the Sirh Empire of the west and the Phycosian Confederation of the east fell apart once again, and the seemingly unending conflict between the two, referred to as the "Black and White Conflict", returned with a fury. The Black and White Conflict has endured for almost two centuries, and entire generations came and went under either banner. It was only natural that, after so much conflict, the masses started to grow disillusioned with either faction.

Both factions gained a darker face by this time. The ancient Confederation continued its ruthless, intolerant rule, viewing itself as superior beings to all those who would not submit to its rule, with its own religion of absolute loyalty to its immortal king. The younger Empire, on the other hand, once opened its arms to all walks of life, even those persecuted by the Confederation. In time, however, it proved its own cruelty to its enemies and its own people, being extremely ruthless to any perceived as traitors, its leaders not above sacrificing the lives of its soldiers and people for small goals. With these two powers in control of most of the continent, it was inevitable that rebellions would begin throughout the land. This state of affairs had been present long before SC 2525, and both the Confederation and Empire had been fighting rebellion and civil unrest for decades.

Above: A sky fortress battle between the Sirh Empire and Phycosian Confederation

Seeing this, the alliance of far-western nations known as the Galevostus Demonarchy saw its chance to conquer its long-time enemy once and for all. Having lost the First and Second Demon Wars, the Demonarchy realized that a mass invasion was no longer viable. As such, the Demonarch pooled its resources into infiltrating Phycosian society in the decades leading up to the war, funding those who would fight either faction and causing unrest of their own, while concealing their identities and motives the whole time. If they could cause society to slowly tear itself apart, then it would make it that much easier to pave the way for the Demonarchy's true invasion.

Above: The ten "wings" of the Phycosian Legion

Thus, unrest grew and more and more started to separate from the Empire and Confederation. First groups of people, but soon, entire nations started to break away. In time, ten of these nations came together to secretly form the "Commonwealth of Ten". Unknowingly funded by the Demonarchy, they developed a plan to dethrone both the Confederation and Empire once and for all, and return the continent to the people. The Ten began constructing a continental military force intended to liberate the continent, which they came to call the Phycosian Legion. With their manpower resources low, the Ten recruited any they could find, including inexperienced idealists, deserters of either army, criminals, neutral soldiers, mercenaries, outcasts, and even the undead.

Above: Political map of Phycos at the start of the Third Demon War

On SC 2535, the Ten unleashed the Legion upon the continent, launching surprise attacks on imperial and confederate holdings across the land. Gaining the initiative, the Legion took back many provinces, and countless more surrendered or defected to them, seeing them as saviors. In no time, the Confederation and Empire found themselves severely weakened. The Third Demon War had begun in earnest.



As the decade dragged on with its bloody course, the Ten's decision to openly recruit anyone into their legion soon became their downfall. Most of the ten wings of the Phycosian Legion came into the power of ruthless and bloodthirsty "wing lords" who took rampaged across the continent sacking cities and brutalizing conquered nations. The Ten quickly lost control of the Legion, and in no time, the various leaders of the Ten were replaced by those loyal to the wing lords. The Commonwealth of Ten became nothing but a name, and only the Legion was left. The most notorious of the wings of the Legion, the Blood Tyrants, became so infamous and feared for its deeds that it soon came to represent the Legion itself. The people soon called the legion by a new name - the Tyrant Legion.

Above: An average-sized imperial sky fortress. All three factions used large numbers of fortresses like these throughout the war.

By the last half of the war, the Legion held most of Phycos. Seeing no other alternative, the Empire and Confederation put aside its centuries-old conflict and formed an alliance to stop the Legion once and for all. Joined by those who defected from the Legion, this new force started to take back territory in pieces and seemed to stop the relentless advance of the Legion. However, as the final years of the war came, it became apparent that the Legion's resources and power became too vast to contend with. Unleashing sky fortresses armed with mass-destruction weapons all over the continent, the Legion intended to put an end to all resistance. The Empire and Confederation made one last ditch attempt to defeat the Legion by assassinating its leader, a plan that succeeded and seemed to throw the Legion into disarray.

Above: A picture of the 10 wing lords of the Legion, and their conflicting egoes.

However, this proved to be the ultimate downfall of the continent. No longer restrained by a centralized power, the wing lords of the Tyrant Legion ran amok and tore the continent apart unchecked. The continent faced its end in those following months. The broken survivors of the Empire and Confederation went into hiding as the wing lords divided the continent among themselves. When all of their enemies fled or died, the massive egoes of the wing lords clashed, and they started to make war upon each other. So ended the Third Demon War, and so began the Third Phycosian Dark Age.

Above: Political map of Phycos during the Third Dark Age, now divided among the wing lords.

I like this time period so much because this war demonstrates the pinnacle of Phycosian technology and society. During this war, battles were fought EVERYWHERE. They were fought in the skies with fleets of sky fortresses, deep underwater with equally colossal fleets of submarines and sea fortresses, on ground with a vast array of land weapons and mechs, under the ground, and possibly even in space (...maybe). Two of my major storylines are based here - Serian's story, which happens during the war, and Reclamation of Phycos which happens in the dark age that follows. No matter how much Xhelia changed over the years, it seems this conflict was always present. Of course, I haven't drawn anything from it recently, but hopefully that will change.