The War of the Wand was a large scale military conflcit between
The Kingdom of Madagar and
The Kingdom of Astland. It was ultimately a conflict to determine whether strangeness should be industrialized en masse due to its existential hazards.
It ultimately ended with no clear victor on November 20th, 1734, when the 5 Astlandian Kings were assassinated at the same time that Madagan capital
Caaxmore was upheaved and suspended in the air by a
glittersurge
Due to the immediate restructure of the Astland government, no official peace treaty was signed.
The Conflict
Prelude
As the production of glitterarms ramped up, concerns regarding their safety w frequently brought up. As Madagan culture is highly focused on magic and strangness, they produced more glitterarms than everyone else combined. This scared their neighbors over at Astland, as they thought they were preparing for war. Astland requested that they lower production, which led Madagar to suspect they were planning for war, and subsequently increased production. In fear, Astland increased their production of glitterarms despite the hazards.
Violence finally broke out when a Madagan caravan carrying multiple sacred artifacts was ambushed and destroyed while crossing the Astlandian border. The artifacts were not weapons and, by some accounts, not even strange or magical, and had great cultural significance to the Madagar people.
While both sides used glitterarms, Madagar used them significantly more. Astland soldiers made a point of attacking the glitterarms held by Madagar soldiers in hopes of damaging them with the resulting glittersurges. Astland soldiers would often wear heavy armor that standard glitterarms could not pierce. Melee weapons were also common.
Madagar had armies of almost entirely strange weaponry and armor. Specialized glitterarms were able to manipulate the environment which would provide a huge advantage. Large walls of energy were often utilized.
While gunpowder production has not yet taken off in
Lemuria at this point, firearms collected from other continents proved very useful in piercing the walls of Madagan troops.
The assassination of all 5 Kings of Astland caused an immediate power vaccum. All but one king had an heir, one was too young to rule and the others couldn't decide what to do next. The Five regions of Astland split up, as nobles fought each other for power.
The effective destruction of their capital city made Madagar realize that they are, in fact, tampering with forces too unpredictable and dangerous
An estimated 15 million total lives were lost in the war.
Astland eventually stabilized after one of the four remaining kings assassinated the others and ruled over the Astlands as a single monarch.
Madagan culture grew away from praising magic or strangeness as a good thing, and learned to respect and fear it. Glitterarm production was reduced greatly.
Historical Significance
Caaxmore was eventually rebuilt, and utilized its new floating landscape to create an upper and lower Caaxmore.
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