Battle of the Coral Fields
History of the Conflict
The Battle of the Coral Fields occurred three centuries ago between the Tribe of the Deep and the Tribe of the Reds.
At the time, the Selkes' nations had just become aware of a disease that affected their shapeshifting abilities. The Change was becoming widespread not only in the Tribe of the Reds where it first became known but a few cases had sprung within the rest of the four tribes.
The Deep Selkes are a deeply religious community, and when the 'plague' appeared among the tribe people, they turned to their gods for answers.
The Deep Selkes worship a more severe and darker version of the Selke pantheon. The Deep Selkes' gods are more of the 'fire and brimstone' variety, and it was not long before Holy Men began to preach for a violent solution to the spread of the disease.
Galvanised by their Shamen—notably Vela A Moodwan, the Dark Divine —the Deep Council was swayed into invading the Tribe of the Reds. The crusade against the Reds was presented to the community as divine retribution for the Reds's sins of arrogance and impious living, which, surely, was at the root of the evil taking hold in their society.
The Chieftain, Faro A Bollo, was the council leader then. They were a devout follower of Greyswarm, the Selkes' god of Death and the Beyond and did not see anything wrong in sending enemies to the tender embrace of their god.
Faro's religious counsellor was none other than the Dark Divine, and within a year, preparations for the military coup were complete. Many Deep Selkes believed in their council's god-given power and signed up to swim from the darker caves of their ancestral homes to their neighbour's higher coral plains.
The Coral Campaign
The Deep Selke's military campaign only lasted three months and did not have the result they intended. The first month seemed to favour their victory as the Blue Fin's regiments and shapeshifting Mage contingents swept through the lower coral plateau easily accessible through the Darian Abyss.
Despite spirited resistance, the Reds' small agricultural settlements were surprised and easily overcome. The Red Selkes were rounded up, and everyone, including pregnant Selkes and young pups, was taken a week away outside the Brechin Ridge's borders, left to the harsh elements of the open ocean to fend for themselves.
The Deep Selkes believed they could reverse 'the Change' by banishing all infected tribesmen from the Brechin Ridge, including the whole of the Reds they saw as impure for bringing about the Plague.
Many Reds died in the first few weeks of battles, but they also perished in the inhospitable waters of the The Shimmering Seas.
However, when the Deep Selkes tried to push their advance to the higher coral plains of the Red's territories, they found more than they bargained for.
The Reds are traditionally a martial people. Their society values, above all, hunters and warriors. Their Blue Fin Lancers and Battlemage are unparalleled in the Brechin Ridge. The Deep Selkes met their match as the Reds regrouped and mounted a series of offensive strikes.
Guerilla tactics were employed in the shade of the tall, red coral trees, and the Reds' better knowledge of the terrain ultimately won out. It took only the Reds a few weeks to set the Deep Selkes on a retreat all the way back to the Darian Abyss.
A decisive battle took place around the second most important settlement of the Reef: Carinia. There, the Deep Selkes made a last stand before bowing out to the superior might of the Reds. The invaders never made it to the fabled, red city of Walandir, the capital city of the Red Tribe.
The then-Red Chieftain, Baloowen A Galatar, was so enraged that they relentlessly pursued the invaders into the Darian Abyss, well beyond the Reds' lands. In a blind rage, they and their guard of elite warriors, the the Blue Fyrd, followed the retreating Deep Selkes' army into the labyrinthine tunnels of the Abyss and were never seen again.
Despite this tragic loss, it was a decisive victory for the Tribe of the Reds. On the other hand, the Deep Selke's Crusade had important consequences for Selkes' nations and would influence not only societal and political changes but set in motion future historical events.
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