Yurtstead War

The Yurtstead War (also known as the Riverford War among Danzilonans) took place on the days of September 6 and 7, 2014 over a territorial dispute between the Grundeswald-aligned Kingdom of Gensokyo and the Danzilonan Federation city-state of Riverford in Civcraft 2.0. It pitted the forces of the Holy Krautchan Empire and allied Carsonites against the semi-state sponsored but ultimately autonomous Danzilonan Security Force, which made it their duty to defend Riverford's land claims. The actual federal government of the DZF, however, did not want the conflict in the first place, seeking to denounce the DSF and bring a swift end to the fighting.

In an attempt to seize currently unused Riverford land for its own development, leaders from Gensokyo and the HKE built an empty neighbourhood within the borders of Riverford, which they called Yurtstead for the many yurts that they had built to occupy the area, prompting the military response from the DSF and sparking the conflict.

Though the DSF succeeded in defending Riverford's claims and securing Yurtstead, the conflict ended on September 7th with the DZF federal government ceding the land to Gensokyo and subsequently collapsing a week later. The war was largely the culmination of tensions between Grundeswald and New Danzilona that began forming several months prior.

The Founding of New Detroit and the Kingdom of Gensokyo
At the beginning of the month of June, 2014, the town of New Detroit was established by its Autocrat, Screenname. The small town quickly grew outward and annexed the neighbouring town of Jericho on August 2nd. As expansion north, south and west was impossible, the city-state looked eastward across what it named the River Sanzu as a potential area for settlement. As it began expanding to the east, it joined the Kingdom of Grundeswald as a state.

New Detroit was given Istanbul (the future capital of ISIS) and Grundeswegian Gardizona to administer in an effort to decentralise Grundeswald's territories in the region. The collective territories of Istanbul, Grundeswegian Gardizona and New Detroit were organised as West Grundeswald for a brief period, until the name was changed to Gensokyo.

Gensokyo was elevated above the other states of Grundeswald and was declared the Kingdom of Gensokyo by mid-August. The arrangement guaranteed that Grundeswald and Gensokyo would be in perpetual personal union, but Gensokyo would have absolute control over its domestic affairs and significant say in foreign affairs. Satisfied with its position, the Gensokyojin government began its expansion to the East.

Early History of Riverford
About a month after New Detroit was founded, sometime in mid July, 2014, the town of Riverford was declared nearby by its founder, Seargent_Pepper. Though the beginnings of Riverford are not well documented, Pepper recounts getting into territorial disputes with other newfriend towns in the vicinity, most notably Syngrad and Vend, which he promptly routed out of the area using his ties to New Danzilona as support. After securing the area, Pepper went on to claim all of the land between Riverford and the current borders of New Detroit, as well as the Gensokyojin town of Jericho. Screenname protested these claims, and Pepper responded uncompromisingly, but did agree to cede any of his claimed land if he wasn't using it by January 1, 2015. Screenname agreed to this proposal, but remained very unsatisfied. Around this time, Riverford officially joined the Danzilonan Federation, with Pepper running for foreign representative of the federation for the month of August.

Yurtstead
Pepper went away on vacation for a week, and Gensokyojin and Grundeswegian citizens rushed to take advantage of his absence. In an effort to solidify their claims across the river, Yurtstead was constructed and fake names were put on the buildings there in order to inflate the population statistics. Screenname hoped that, upon Pepper's return, Riverford would drop or modify their claims, creating a more favorable situation for Gensokyo. Unfortunately, this had the opposite effect, and as Pepper returned so too did his threats. He demanded that Gensokyo demolish Yurtstead or he would do it himself. Screenname was tired of what she perceived as bullying, and informed Pepper that Gensokyo was supported by Grundeswald. Pepper, in turn, said Riverford would be supported by the Danzilonan Federation. On September 6, 2014, citizens from the Holy Krautchan Empire and the Danzilonan Security Force, a loose militia organized by TheTrackball, made their way to the Yurtstead, and a staredown ensued.

First Skirmish
As Prussians and Grundeswegians erected a wall and built more yurts, the Danzilonan Security Force, lead by TheTrackball, gave a 24-hour notice before they would start attacking the HKE forces. This quickly became five minutes, then 60 seconds, before either time span had actually elapsed. As second 0 ticked on the imaginary clock, DSF forces attacked the unprepared HKE builders. The occasion was a decisive DSF victory, although no Prussians or Grundeswegians were pearled.

IIC Travel Advisory
The International Infrastructure Consortium immediately issued a Travel Advisory, warning players to avoid all travel to the immediate and surrounding disputed land claims due to reports of innocent bystanders being attacked without justification. As such, travel in the area became more sparse after the advisory was issued, backed by comparing the daily averages of the IIC Jenkins project. The IIC assisted Ad Astra Corporation trading missions, and other independent merchants in and out of the area, but refused to partake in peacekeeping operations.

Second Skirmish
Volunteers from Carson arrived to assist the Prussians in particular. The battle-hardened volunteers managed at first to repel the DSF, and push them all the way back to Riverford. While the Carsonites appeared to have the upper hand, the DSF forces successfully organised a counter-attack and forced the Carsonites north into the abandoned settlement of Holy Tree. Outnumbered and wounded, the volunteer militia retreated away from Riverford and a ceasefire was declared.

Ceasefire
Delegates from the nearby town of Mount Augusta (CivClassic 2.0) brokered a ceasefire between the HKE and the DSF, the terms of which stating that neither side was to commit any act of violence nor were they to grief the Yurtstead. The DSF interpreted this as meaning no one was to build anything, so the ceasefire was effectively broken within minutes of its implementation.

Third Skirmish
Confusion over the terms of the ceasefire lead the DSF to once again deliver an ultimatum to the HKE forces in Riverford. When they refused to vacate the premises, the greatly outnumbered Reichsvolk were routed.

This battle was due to multiple acts of miscommunication. The HKE forces were under the impression that the ceasefire did not prohibit building, merely griefing, the definition of which is, of course, up to interpretation. In fact, many of the people present at the third skirmish had thought the issue of the border had been solved by a map proposal made by Seargent_Pepper himself.

Fourth Skirmish
In a desperate attempt to solve the conflict militarily, two of the volunteers who had fought before launched a counter-attack against a force nearly eight times their size. It ended with a retreat after a few minutes of fighting with no casualties.

Peace Declared
After a day of fighting, in the evening of September 7, 2014, the president of the Danzilonan Federation, AMBeaudry529, brokered a final peace between Pepper and Screenname. The peace settlement involved the ceding of much of Riverford's western land claim in exchange for 40 diamonds from Gensokyo. Riverford, being represented by the DZF, was adamant that they wanted the NPC villages in the disputed territory. The Grundeswegian delegation agreed, stating that New Detroit had absolutely no use for them at all. To the South of the forest biome was a large area of desert that Gensokyo also desired. The Danzilonan delegation put forward the notion that a Danzilonan presence in that particular area actually predated a Gensokyan one, to which the Grundeswegian delegation agreed. The DSF and HKE, now unable to justify their fighting, ceased doing so.

The Collapse of the Federal Government
The leaders of the DSF, feeling upset and betrayed by their denunciation from their fellow Danzilonans, planned to leave NDZ and form a new town that the DZF did not have control over. Unable to stop them from doing so otherwise, the President and Vice President of the DZF, as well as two private citizens involved with the short-lived Phoenix Guard, announced their departure from the city. Without a President or Vice President, this left no executive control over the federation, the authority of which subsequently collapsed. Authority in the city was given to a temporary emergency council to fill the power vacuum, which expired about a month later as stability returned to NDZ, and the federation returned to pre-federal government politics. The splintering of the Danzilonan public into the pro- and anti-war camps and subsequent departure of federal government officials had long lasting effects, and they solidified the end of the boom in activity NDZ had been experiencing since the end of their conflict over Melonwood in February, 2014. Though some citizens would ultimately return by the following year, NDZ would never again reach pre-war levels of population. The populace that did remain, however, formed stronger social ties with each other and eventually founded Nova Danzilona in Civcraft 3.0.

Abandonment of Riverford
Soon after the Yurtstead War, Seargent_Pepper went inactive and was never seen again. A month later, it was revealed that Pepper was actually an alt of one of the founders of NDZ who previously claimed he was quitting, Gant2000. In his absence, he named NDZ citizens axwin34 and NerdChops as diarchs of Riverford. After a couple months, however, Riverford fell into inactivity again as the diarchs focused on other matters, and Riverford was annexed as a territory of NDZ on January 1, 2015.

January 1st Attempted Gensokyojin Takeover of Riverford
As tensions waned and the Yurtstead grew quiet, both sides unceremoniously agreed after hasty negotiations to declare a recognised border that satisfied both parties. Screenname was dissatisfied with the amount of desert Gensokyo received, but was promptly told to deal with it. However, claiming to be acting in accordance with the original deal she agreed upon with Pepper, Screenname attempted a full takeover of Riverford on January 1, 2015, building a tank across the river from Riverford's city center. With no HKE fighters to reinforce her, Screenname failed the takeover alone and was pearled by the DSF. NDZ deemed her seizure of Riverford to be illegal and illegitimate, handing over her pearl to Mt. Augusta for her to be tried for an unrelated conflict. After Mt. Augusta found her not guilty, her pearl was handed back to NDZ foreign representatives, who freed her after she agreed to not attempt to forcibly take Riverford land again. Over the following several months, Screenname made legitimate negotiations with NDZ for more land, who democratically decided to give much of it to her, resulting in the borders seen at the end of Civcraft 2.0.