Dead Sheep War

The Dead Sheep War, as Undead call it, was a war between Undead Cities and Doujatar Kingdom. The casus belli was the death of a Doujatar sheep, but the real underlying reason was the inclusion of Undead Cities in the New World Treaty. It lasted ten days in July of the year 1891.

The Conflict

Prelude

In the year 1856 many organizations signed the New World Treaty, sealing the beginning of a new political balance where the Cosmos Wayfarers had more power to fight the Abyss along the signatories countries. Among them were the Undead Cities, a civilised country of towns inhabited by the undead, whose origin is still unclear.
The Moon Church had always condemned undead as demonic abominations and their presence at the negotiation table was disturbing, but they couldn't do anything at the moment.
After the signing, the relationship between them did not improve: on one hand, people began realising the undead did not move from their cities and the Doujatar Kingdom had almost always waged war against them out of hate; on the other hand, political friction rose since the Church was looking for a reason to declare again war against them and "cleanse the world from their existence".
The Kingdom moved the army to the northern borders, using as an excuse the common border with the Dark Lands. Doujin riders, mages, chosen soldiers and the regular army were gathered close to the Undead Cities, waiting for a reason to deploy.
Finally, in the year 1891, they found the most unusual casus belli in Nys history.
On July, 11th, a shepherd was herding their flock in the field near the border, but, in the evening, when they counted the sheep, one was missing. The next day they went looking for it in the wild and, following the tracks, find it dead in the woods marking the border between Undead Cities and the Doujatar Kingdom. The shepherd reported to the authorities the undead purposedly killed one of their sheep and on July 13th the declaration of war became effective.

Battlefield

The whole Doujatar army, including doujin riders and mages, were deployed. The tactic was to lay siege to Sertonos, the nearest city and destroy it.
Undead patiently waited for the Doujatar army, prepare battlements on the walls and a surprise tool that would help them later.
The army was ready on July, 20th. They saw a tall tower in the city but ignored it.

The Engagement

On the morning of July 21st, the army moved, launching four flying doujin to rain fletchers on defenders from the sky to demoralise them and disrupt their organization. From the tower in the city an array of ballistae darts flew against the Doujin, injuring three of them. The fourth turned its back to the tower after the first array, never arriving within reach.
Since the sky assault failed, the general sent a hammerhead douji to break through the front door. As soon as it was close enough, the defenders began pouring boiling oil from a trap door above the gate and the beast refused to continue.
Since the douji-based approach failed completely, mages began collecting energy to wreck walls and gates with a single powerful magical attack. The defenders brought on their surprise tool, a magical unknown artefact capable of shielding from magical energies absorbing them. As soon as the mages let the magical energy free, the defenders dropped the device from the trap door. The attack broke the magical item in thousands of pieces charging it with way too much energy, but the walls and gate did not suffer enough damage for the army to break through. Another magical attack could do the trick, but the mages used all their energies for the first and need to wait a day before trying again.
Not wanting to waste time, attackers tried to climb the walls with ladders, but were welcomed by a rain of arrows and retreated.
The general decided to wait until the next day. A single magical attack would have destroyed the gate and the numerical advantage would have given them the victory.
Somehow, the next morning the Doujatar army woke up to see their camp overrun by Undead. Every single sentry fell asleep, letting the enemy enter the camp undisturbed. They did not kill anyone, since it was unfair, they said.
On the next day, peace was signed.

Outcome

Doujatar miserably loose the war. Undead asked nothing from the attackers but to declare wolves killed the sheep and undead authorities could do nothing to prevent it.
Nobody died in the conflict, except the sheep, and only a few Doujatar soldiers were injured, plus the three doujin.

Historical Significance

Legacy

Different was the moral damage among the troops and the kingdom. Doujatar authorities and officers said there was evidence of outside help to the defenders, probably from the Wayfarers. True or not, the defeat was harsh and people began considering the war against the undead a waste of time and resources.
After the war, the relationship between people and undead relaxed greatly, with condemnation from the Moon Church, until a rogue undead killed a Doujatar citizen in the street of Krylas, the holy city capital of the kingdom. The event restored the previous consideration people had of the undead, allowing the Church to prepare another war.
However, the humiliation suffered in the war left a vulnerable image for the kingdom. In the Free Lands influence dropped, making the unification of free cities much more likely in the future: how could they rely on such a country for protection against the mighty Empire?
[The spoiler tag contains the truth, unknown to Doujatar.]

Show spoiler

They did not know and did not have any evidence, but it was true.
Within the tower, there were ballistae, many of them, but doujin fly fast and are hard to hit effectively: Wayfarers gave defenders a magical device capable of almost perfect aiming at a living target. They decided to hurt the doujin without killing them.
Also, the other device was from the Wayfarers. It could absorb enough energy to withstand a single hit from Doujatar mages, but it was enough because among the defenders there were three wayfarers. They used their magic to put all the sentries to sleep at once.

Conflict Type

War

Start Date

1891-Jul-13

Ending Date

1891-Jul-23

Conflict Result

Doujatar humiliation