Entente-Laconia War

The Entente-Laconia War is a war waged by the military alliance of The Entente against the nation of Laconia and its allies the Latvian Soccer Dogs.

Background
The Latvian Soccer Dogs (aka LSD) were an organization consisting of the nations of New Sovia, Adina, Nudist Beach, and Unitas, along with about a dozen individuals from various nations. On 7 September 2019, less than a week after the announcement of the new association, Soccer Dog fortifications in the Nudist Beach region of the southwest quadrant of the map were targeted by Entente and SATO forces, driven by a belief that this new association was simply a front for a new raiding crew. The primary evidence for this assault was out-of-context screenshots taken by a leaker in the Soccer Dogs' discord, apparently showing a plan to build a vault and then raid the city-state of Icenia, well known to be disliked by many Soccer Dogs. While LSD denied these accusations, by West Isle members own admission LSD had pledged possible support to an insurrection aimed at gaining West Isle independence from Icenia, though this remains a contested topic. , While the Icenian government publicly stated that it did not consider these threats to be serious, World Police still maintained their ground.

In the face of a hopelessly asymmetric war, the less militaristic of the Soccer Dog nations publicly pulled out of the group; importantly, Adina quit the association. Nudist Beach was completely flattened, and the leader of Unitas was prisonpearled by Hjaltland. The citizens of New Sovia buried their valuables and evacuated their city, many of them fleeing to the friendly arms of Laconia, being given shelter in the megafortress Mt. Doom.

Battle at Hotel California
Immediately following the 7 September attack on Hotel California, the leader of LSD, ashnwill, turned himself in to the Entente to avoid wasting time fighting an internet LEGO war and quit the server. He gave his friend FRESH_candy (a leader of Laconia) reinforcement-bypass permissions to the Hotel California vault pyramid, in order to make sure his fortune didn't go to waste. A few weeks later, on 28 September, Laconia decided the tensions had calmed enough to venture over to the vault site in Nudist Beach and attempt to tear down the vault pyramid. Intending to transport thousands of diamonds back home on a trek of 10km, a force of 13 men was brought to ensure the safe transport of the materials. There was no immediate response from Entente or others, which was expected given that it would be one less vault pyramid they didn't care for. However, on the way back, a joint contingent of Mir and Entente forces chased the Laconians, having waited for reinforcements. 6 Laconians were pearled, leading to a loss of ~700 diamonds. All of the Soccer Dogs in the Laconian force survived, except for Topher3001 who was exilepearled (but later freed by mistake). One Laconian leader, Tofee_Dodger, was also pearled.

Diplomacy breaks down
In the wake of this action, attempts were made by Laconia to contact Entente leadership and diplomatically resolve the incident. Entente offered no olive branch, and mostly had a policy of radio silence.

Attack on Mt. Doom


The war began in full swing on 5 October, when a force of 18 Entente fighters laid siege to Laconia's capital, Mt. Doom, with the stated aim of pearling Pirater, a Soccer Dog. Due to the recent loss of 6 fighters, one leader of Laconia being on vacation irl at the time, and the unexpectedness of the attack shortly after Laconia's attempts to find diplomatic common ground, only 4 fighters were immediately available to defend Mt. Doom, leading many to believe that this would be the end of Laconia's 2.5 year (to date) history on CivClassic. Despite this, the Entente forces were repelled in their original attack tunnel, a 5km show of wealth made of iron-reinforced obsidian, stretching all the way back to Hjaltland. They tried again with another attack bridge and were once again repelled.

In the aftermath of the attack, the Entente's attack tunnel was captured and disabled by Laconia, who began mustering forces to resist.

Counter-offensive against Hjaltland


Late on the night of 17 October, a Laconian force of 15 fighters built a skybridge to Hjaltland's south pole megavault, known as Eternity, intending to disable it and prevent it being used as a staging location for attacks, given its proximity to Mt. Doom. They broke bastions undetected almost all the way to the center of the vault. Upon reaching a satisfactory point, they dropped to bedrock and began griefing with massive quantities of reinforced obsidian, being roughly 5,000 iron reinforced obsidian, and 10,000 stone reinforced obsidian. The Entente was unable to respond due to the suddenness of the attack and the odd hours, and the Laconian force finished their mission and returned to Mt. Doom completely unopposed.

This was a loss for the World Police, and a stark reminder that they are not untouchable.

Various other actions have been taken, such as the griefing of the "Colossus" trench - a derelict formerly-Channer town - in Hjaltland.

No serious Entente reprisal has occurred at the time of writing (5 November).