Grasslands

The Grasslands is a geographical region containing a great number of sovereign local tribes, each with their own customs and policies. The Grassland stretches from the western fringes of the Dunan Republic to the borders of the Zexen Confederacy near the western coast of the Northern Continent. The Grassland also borders Camaro and the various tribes and nations of the Nameless Lands to the north, the Tinto Republic in the south, as well as the Holy Kingdom of Harmonia to the north-east, which also occupies a significant amount of territory in the region.

407-417: Resisting Harmonia Influence
In the past, the Grasslands extended roughly from western Dunan to the ocean far to the west. However, at some unspecified point in the mid-300's, the Holy Kingdom of Harmonia launched an invasion of the region, gained large amounts of territory with ease thanks to a superior, organised military and plunging much of the region under Harmonian rule.

However, in 407, a man known only as the Flame Champion appeared in the region. Leading a group known as the Fire Bringer, the group attacked Harmonian convoys in the region, beginning a period of guerilla warfare against their Harmonian occupiers. The war escalated over the following decade, with many clans joining the fight, the first to do so being the Duck Clan, until 417 when the Flame Champion offered himself up to Harmonia in exchange for the release of 5,000 Grassland prisoners. While this secured the prisoners freedom it also led to a drop in momentum for the Fire Bringer, allowing Harmonia to begin a brutal counter-attack, reconquering lost territories and plunging the spirits of the people of the Grasslands as they suffered under further persecution from the Harmonian rulers.

420-422: Relations With Zexen
In the midst of all this, 420 saw a large area of the Grasslands split off to form the Zexen Confederacy along the western coast of the region. The fledgling nation paid for Grassland military aid to ensure safe trade as well as protection from foreign powers until a formal military could be established in the region. This would seem to suggest that the more westward tribes in the region were able to avoid occupation from Harmonia despite their alliance with the Fire Bringer.

This agreement, however, did not take long to sour. With the completion of Brass Castle on the Grasslands border in 422, Zexen no longer needed to rely on Grasslands military aid. This would mark the beginning of Zexen's increasingly autocratic attitude towards the region.

421-425: War With Holy Harmonia
A year prior to the completion of Brass Castle, 421, however, saw the rescue of the Flame Champion from Harmonian territory by the Fire Bringer. This daring rescue provided a great boost to the Grassland forces which had allied in the face of Harmonian invasion and the war flared up once again to the point of full-scale traditional warfare. The two armies clashed with each other numerous times over the next four years, with the technically superior Harmonian military struggling to overcome the zealous Grassland troops.

This led to a full-scale Harmonian invasion of the region in 425 with the moving of the Harmonian Army across the border. The sheer numerical superiority of the Harmonian Army now threatened to overwhelm the relatively small Grassland allied troops. However, the final battle of this, the original Fire Bringer War, saw the Flame Champion's True Fire Rune go out of control, decimating both armies with an enormous explosion. Unsure of the nature of this explosion and whether it was intended or not, Harmonia agreed to a secret non-aggression pact that would be valid for the next fifty years. Grassland territories under occupation at the time of the treaty were not released under these terms thus relegating such locations as the Carna Clan (modern-day Le Buque) to the position of Harmonian vassal states with its citizens only granted third-class status in Harmonian society.

440-460: Involvement in the Dunan Region
With peace with Harmonia secured for the foreseeable future, the tribes of the Grasslands focused on their own individual problems. Those tribes which lay to the west became engaged with the army of the Zexen Confederacy over a number of disputes ranging for the Grassland taxation of trade routes to border skirmishes. Meanwhile, the Karaya Clan's lands were the target of attempted seizure by the Jowston City-States of Greenhill and Matilda, a dispute which resulted in the assassination of the Karaya Clan Chief, Kianu, and the ascension of his daughter Lucia to the position. The two City-States seem to have made some gains in territory as a result but it also seems that the strength of Lucia as Clan Chief lessened the losses somewhat and made further gains impossible for the City-States.

This loss of territory led to a souring of relations between the clan and Jowston, leading the Karaya to take the unusual step of allying with the Kingdom of Highland in 460 in the midst of the Dunan Unification War. The Karaya participated in the war in exchange for the return of their territory should Highland eventually win the war. While Highland were eventually defeated, the Karaya stayed loyal to their allies to the end, with their forces even making the long journey to L'Renouille (modern-day Higheast Province) in order to defend the country. This loyalty did not stop the clan chief, Lucia, from accepting a Dunan Republic investigation into the incident several years prior which led to reimbursement for the crimes against the Karaya.

465: Engaging the Tinto Republic
While the end of the Dunan Unification War saw the formation of the Dunan Republic it also saw the establishment of the Tinto Republic, a nation which as a City-State had engaged in frequent skirmishes in the southern Grasslands region. Now a fully fledged nation, 465 saw Tinto lead a full-scale invasion into the region to realise its age-old ambition of gaining valuable land for crops and living space. The Karaya, Lizard and Duck clans all responded to the call for aid and the two armies clashed several times throughout the course of the war. It seems that the war itself eventually petered out with Tinto making some significant land gains.