Cyrdian Conquests
The Cyrdian Conquests were a series of wars in which the Cyrdian Empire fought and conquered its neighboring countries until it controlled a large part of the continent of Yiaroth.
Abrax
Before Emperor Cyrdin's coup, the Cyrdian Empire was a nation known as Ospia. Ospia and its neighboring kingdom, Abrax, had up until recently been united. Therefore, when Cyrdia sent a request to Abrax to reunite, Abrax agreed, hoping to avoid a costly war. At the time, Cyrdia's army was not exceptional, but with the added power of Abrax, it became that much more powerful. This was a calculated move by Cydin.
Gucharia
A long-time, bitter rival of Ospia, Gucharia had no chance of joining the empire peacefully, and their conflict seemed inevitable. While Cyrdia had a slight military advantage, the Gucharians' defensive position made the war a roughly even fight. Cyrdin was a clever strategist, however, and he used the advantage he did have to full effect. Though the war was costly, the Cyrdian forces made near-constant progress into Gucharia by concentrating strength on key positions. A great many civilian uprisings, large and small, had to be put down in occupied territories. As a result, by the time the last of Gucharia was fully conquered, few of the native Gucharians remained. Ambitious Cyrdians raced to claim this land, and so people of Gucharian descent became the minority in their own homeland.
Craoca
The rolling foothills of Craoca could have made for a defensible landscape, had they been controlled by an organized people, but it had always been a fractured region inhabited by small groups without much in common. As a matter of fact, "Craoca" was only used to refer to the entire region by outsiders. The groups that lived there each had names for their specific territories. As a result, when the large, disciplined Cyrdian Army marched into the region, most of the inhabitants had no choice but to accept their rule. Some chose to fight, but were defeated handily.
Foshia
A nation highly skilled in the use of magic, Foshia was of personal interest to Emperor Cyrdin. The war with them, however, made very little progress, but the Foshites soon realized that Cyrdia's magical knowledge was as useful to them as theirs was to Cyrdia. They agreed to join the Empire in exchange for a guarantee of safety and relative self-sufficiency.
Iaclyae
Despite the Iaclyns' relatively friendly relations with Cyrdia, they refused outright to be annexed, and fought against the much more powerful nation regardless of the odds. Many of them died in this conflict, with comparatively few casualties for Cyrdia. Once they were occupied, however, they stopped resisting, and many left their ancestral homes, never to return.
Stribia
A small, weak nation by the time Cyrdia arrived, Stribia willingly joined the empire for protection from their neighboring enemies.
Ogri
A disorganized group of local communities with a common culture, Ogri fared better than the people of the Craoca plains, due mostly to their sheer determination to keep fighting. Still under active occupation until the empire fell, many continued to rebel.
Kafria
A wealthy trading kingdom, Kafria joined the empire for a multitude of internal and external reasons. Their shipbuilding prowess inspired Cyrdia to start building up a navy.
Upriel
The warlike nation of Upriel, well known for their domestication of wyverns, fought competently against Cyrdia's forces and inflicted the most significant losses since Foshia's conquest, but the empire simply had too many resources, and Upriel was placed under harsh occupation.
Phodr
Protected by the god of the same name, the nation of Phodr long frustrated Emperor Cyrdin's ambitions, but when his penultimate creation, the android Ulem, was able to assassinate Phodr, the Cyrdian Army quickly defeated the inexperienced country's military.
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