History of Tavari-Banian Relations

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The history of Tavari-Acronian relations begins in the late 15th century with the rise of Akronism in what was then the Kingdom of Tavaris.

War of Foundation/Tavari Civil War

The exact date of what the Acronians call the War of Foundation and what the Tavari call the Tavari Civil War is uncertain and variously dated between 1470 and 1485. Most historians have generally settled on minor skirmishes in the late 1470s and the emergence of major hostilities sometime between 1480 and 1485. On the one side was the emergent faction of Akronists (called Akronians, now spelled "Acronians") who gradually formed themselves into a state, and on the other were the Tavari chiefdoms united under the King. Contemporary Tavari accounts refer to the conflict as the "cultist uprising," and modern Tavari historians tend to refer to it as the Tavari Civil War. The Akronist forces moved southward and eastward over time, gradually assuming control over chiefdoms as they went.

In 1499, Acronian forces reached the island off the southern coast where the King of the Tavari held his base of power. They prepared for a siege, but the King of the Tavari - named Zaram - ordered his troops to surrender. He gave an order for those loyal him to leave the country, and then appeared before Davras, who was leader of the Acronian forces, and offered his life in exchange for the safe departure of the Tavari loyalists. Davras agreed, with the Tavari loyalists departing unharmed after Zaram's surrender and death on June 10th of 1499.

Siege of Anarís

The territory of Metrati Anar, an archipelago in the eastern Pacific, was established as the personal property of the King of Tavaris in 1350. The primary settlement was the city of Anarís. In 1500, Acronian troops arrived at the island and seized it from Tavari holdouts, who held that because the territory had been the personal property of the King, it was not part of the Tavari state and had not been surrendered. The territory remains disputed to this day.

First Tavari-Acronian War

In response to threatening actions by Acronian naval vessels to Tavari merchant ships, Tavaris launches an effort to re-take Metrati Anar. Their effort fails, but an Acronian counter-attack on Good Harbor is repelled. The war ends with the status quo ante bellum. The war took place from 1617 to 1618.

Second War

The Acronian Navy sinks a Tavari merchant ship, believing it to be a Tavari warship. Naval battles occur for several weeks, but Acronis eventually agrees to compensate the families of the victims and the war stops. The war took place from May to October of 1624.

Third War

A plague breaks out in Tavaris in 1645. A rumor breaks out that it was brought to the country by Acronian spies, as there had been an outbreak of disease in eastern Acronis in 1641. Believing the rumors to be true, Tavaris launches an invasion of King’s Island in 1645. Tavaris initially seizes the eastern half of the island and holds off three waves of Acronian attempts to reclaim it. However, Tavari attacks on East Harbor are rebuffed, and eventually an Acronian naval blockade prevents resupply to the Tavari on King’s Island long enough for them to surrender in 1651. Later historical research indicates that the plagues in Acronis and Tavaris were the same disease, but allegations of intentional spread by Acronian agents remain unproven.

Fourth War

In 1668, Acronis establishes a colony on the Gondwanan mainland, Emerald Coast, in areas that had once been part of Ni-Rao but had since been abandoned. The territory, while on the other side of the mountains, is immediately to the south of Tavaris (as New Rania had not yet been founded.) Tavaris sees this as an escalation and launches an attack on the colony in 1670. The Fourth War is fought primarily in the colony. In 1676, Ni-Rao joins the war on the side of the Tavari. While Acronian forces fight two fronts, the Tavari burn East Harbor on Avnatra in 1677.

Citing a national emergency, the King of Acronis imposes a “national impressment” in which every able-bodied adult is conscripted into the military. Acronian forces cede on the southern front to Ni-Rao, Acronis focuses on defending Avnatra primarily, and secondarily its largest cities in the colony. Acronis has an advantage in ship-building capacity and is able to bolster its troops in the colony gradually. It also had a significant edge in weapons manufacturing, whereas Tavaris had since gone into debt to fund the war.

In 1680, the Tavari are expelled from Avnatra. Free to focus on the colony, Acronis ramps-up troops in the area to push back Ni-Rao. Ni-Rao, technologically outmatched now that they face the full force of Acronis, immediately agrees to restore the status quo ante bellum. The Acronians begin to attack Tavari holdings in the Emerald Coast and push them out as well. In 1683, Acronis launches an assault on Good Harbor. Good Harbor’s defenses fail and, faced with the now-massive Acronian war effort focused entirely on their small territory, Tavaris surrenders and agrees to pay war reparations to Acronis.

Fifth War

In 1711, Tavaris declares bankruptcy due to Acronian war debt and ceases payment. However, the Acronian economy is also weak, as the bubble made by the massive economic effort for the Fourth War (and its own war debt) had since collapsed. Acronis begins to seize Tavari vessels to use their cargo as payment. This enrages the Tavari population. Tensions break out into war in 1712. The war is slow and primarily naval, as both countries struggle to afford the war. Eventually, Acronis agrees to waive the rest of the war debt in exchange for a one-time Tavari payment of 100,000 Nashdat (approx. 12.1 million SHD today), and the war ends in 1714.

The “Sunshine Years”

The era between 1877 and 1900 are popularly called the Sunshine Years, which refers to a significant warming of relations between the two countries. While they do not establish embassies (instead exchanging technically lower-ranked “ministers” beginning in 1877) they begin to cooperate. Certain international accords are established, especially in cultural areas, as both countries acknowledge that they descend from the same culture.

In 1900, a nationalist government was elected in Tavaris as a reaction to the years of improved relations with Acronis that Tavari nationalists had opposed. Tavaris withdrew its minister from Acronis in 1900 and formed a closer relationship with neighboring Bana, which had elected a nationalist government in 1898.

The Great War

Acronis declared neutrality in the Great War when it began in 1904. However, Acronis had long maintained a closer relationship with the Morst than with Asendavia, as it was easier to trade across water with Morst colony Lunaria than it was across the land border with Asendavian territory Vultuca, which was largely wilderness and dense jungle. In 1908, Morst ships launched an attack on Asendavian ships after circling behind them through Acronian-controlled waters. While Acronis issued a formal statement of warning to Morstaybishlia regarding the incident, the Asendavians held this as an Acronian renunciation of neutrality and declared war on Acronis in 1908. This brought Acronis into the war on the side of Morstopackia.

In contrast to Acronis, Tavaris and Bana had enjoyed a somewhat warmer relationship with Asendavia. The nationalist governments in both countries decide to support the Asendavians in the war and join a month later. However, Tavari participation in the war was largely a pretext for an effort to re-take Metrati Anar. Tavaris seizes the islands in 1908. While the Great War officially ends in 1917, Acronis and Tavaris remain at war until 1919, when Acronis re-takes Metrati Anar.

Banian Civil War

In 1939, a Communist coup overthrows the Nationalist Banian government that, by then, had significantly altered the constitution to entrench their own power. The Banian Civil War breaks out. In 1940, Banian nationalist ships fire at Acronian naval ships and merchant vessels after erroneous reports that the Acronians are planning to support the Communists. Acronian troops seize the ports of Lanu and Bana and enforce a cease-fire in the cities for the duration of the war. Acronian efforts to reach out to and coordinate a response with Tavaris, Bana’s closest ally, leads to the establishment of formal relations.

Modern Era

From 1941, for the first time, Tavaris and Acronis exchange ambassadors and establish embassies. This is the warmest period of relations since the end of the Sunshine Years.

In 1969, there is a diplomatic dispute over Acronian military flights near Tavari airspace. Tavaris would later pass a law forbidding Acronian military and civil aircraft from coming within one-quarter of a nautical mile of the Tavari border, to be enforced by military action. Acronis refuses to comply, saying Tavaris does not have the authority to police airspace that is international territory. Tavaris backs down from using military force to police the law, but terminates formal relations in 1970. There is little diplomatic communication between the two countries until 2012, when the countries decide to establish "informal formal" back-channels of communication through the Asilican embassies in each country.

In 2020, there is a minor diplomatic dispute between Tavaris and Acronis regarding the discovery of a proto-Tavari burial site near Royal Acronian Armed Forces command center Joint Defense Facility Two. An agreement known as the Joint Executive Agreement on the Repatriation of Cultural Heritage had been signed in 1894 during the Sunshine Years which stated that Acronis would admit Tavari archaeologists into the country to examine and repatriate any items of archaeological significance. However, Acronis initially resisted allowing the Tavari so close to the most secure facility in the country. It eventually relented after The Matron issued an Edict to order the civil government to comply with the treaty. While the King overruled the Edict as unconstitutional, the civil government agreed to admit the Tavari regardless.

Later in 2020, the Good Harbor Agreement is ratified and Bana and New Rania join the Tavari Union, whose government is significantly reformed. After the Agreement, the Union joins the Alliance of Northwest Gondwana and re-establishes formal relations with Acronis, partially in response to the burial site controversy and partially upon the encouragement of newly-elected King of the Tavari Union Arik Rao.