The Era of Conquest
It is during the Melkartite Wars that the Elven army first earned its reputation for unshakeable resolve in the face of any seeming disastrous setback and its avalanche-like ability to slowly but surely build up unstoppable forward momentum on the battlefield until final victory was achieved.
With the unification of the whole of Natalis into the Kingdom of Natalis, the Elves first came into contact with the peoples of the Sea’s Edge and the lands of the future Kingdom of Gallicantu with whom they now found themselves sharing borders.
A complicated network of alliances established by the Kingdom of Natalis with various tribes ensured that the Kingdom was dragged into inter-tribal rivalries and wars. At times, the Kingdom was able to function as a peacemaker — if only by threat of force. Frequently, however, the Kingdom intervened militarily on behalf of its tribal allies on the Sea’s Edge, often as a pretext for a land grab, conquering the enemy tribe, establishing a military colony on the newly-conquered land and incorporating it into the Kingdom.
The growing patchwork of Elven territory on the Sea’s Edge soon put the Elves into competition with the older Melkartite colonies founded across the Sea’s Edge by intrepid colonists and traders from coasts of the southern continent of Arena.
Known to Realmgard’s historians as the Melkartite Wars, the ensuing decades-long conflicts are among the most famous of the Realmgardian Elves’ many campaigns, consisting of several of their most decisive victories, along with several of its most crushing defeats.
It is during the Melkartite Wars that the Elven army first earned its reputation for unshakeable resolve in the face of any seeming disastrous setback and its avalanche-like ability to slowly but surely build up unstoppable forward momentum on the battlefield until final victory was achieved.
Although the Elven army earned its reputation during the wars of this period, its tactics would continue to develop, with the army adopting its best-known equipment and organisation in the centuries following this initial wave of expansion.
Though the power of the Melkartites was greatly diminished and much territory on the Sea’s Edge was lost to the Elves, the Melkartite heartland on the Wandering Coast was left untouched and the remaining territory in Realmgard was allowed to retain independence, in exchange for solemn oaths of friendship with the Kingdom of Natalis, though some influential Natalians continued to call for the total conquest of the Melkartites.
Notably, the eventual consummation of the incorporation of Melkart into the Elven Empire would be accomplished peacefully and through diplomacy.
This period of near-continuous warfare also demonstrated the Elves’ ability to manage wars on multiple fronts. While deploying the bulk of its armies in the west against the Melkartites, the Kingdom of Natalis was faced with a sudden incursion from the east as the barbarian tribes of Gallicantu, opportunistically launching a massive raid into Natalis.
Despite rapid initial victories and penetration into Natalian territory, once the Elves were able to muster and deploy an army, the advances of the barbarians were blunted and their armies were driven out of Natalis entirely.
A punitive expedition followed and the Gallicantien borderlands were conquered and incorporated into the Kingdom of Natalis, though the complete conquest of Gallicantu was kept for the future.
By now, the Kingdom of Natalis had established itself as a true empire in all but name, ruling over a territory that stretched from coast and coast and incorporated many different cultures and languages, uniting much of southern Realmgard for the first time in history and beginning a unification that would last for centuries.
The next project facing the Kingdom’s rulers would be the foundation of a capital city worthy of the might of the Elves.
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