The Alshamic Crusades

Military action

At the time, the border between Kinnea and Kitesh encompassed the tributaries of the Daji, the great life-giving river that flows through Kinnea. Kinnea itself was a wilderness of territory claimed by only bandits and hardened desert wanderers. It was the frontier for conquest. The goal of the crusades was to conquer the territory around Mt. Duniaji. The mountain's peak is considered the holiest place in the Alshamic faith, as it was there Kitesh, the founder of the Kiteshi Empire, was believed to have spoken to Alsham and recieved his blessing.   With the entirety of the mountain within Kitesh's borders, it was believed that the empire would enter a new era of enlightenment.   These lofty ambitions were halted when numerous Commonwealth and Trinnaran settlements were discovered in the Daj'ka Pass. According to Kiteshi religious scholars, building settlements so close to a holy site was considered an insult to the faith, as the mountain was to be kept clean of all civilization. Priests of Alsham handed down a divine edict to scorch the settlements with sunfire.   The crusaders gave a warning to the townspeople to leave before the burning of their homes, but under the bold leadership of their local Angelicist chaplains, the villagers refused and took up arms. The slaughter of the townsfolk started a conflict between the Kiteshi Empire and the Commonwealth that began as a territory dispute but eventually lead into a full-throated religious war.   The war lasted for approximately 50 years, with great losses on both sides.   According to Angelicist scholars, the Alshamic crusaders were barbarous, brutal and uncivilized. To Alshamic scholars, the Angelicist knights used underhanded tactics and were brutal as they pushed into Kiteshi territory, pillaging, burning and raping villages within the M'ganu Brush.   Here, the accounts of battles that took place become distorted of any semblance of truth and turn into pure propaganda. Commonwealth historians claim that the villages near Daj'ka Pass had been established long before the Kiteshi Empire held any claim to the land they were on. Kiteshi scholars despute this, claiming that the land around Mt. Duniaji had always been the empire's by divine right.   In the end, the Commonwealth were victorious in holding the border within the Daj'ka Pass. A treaty was signed between the two empires. The Commonwealth would be allowed to keep Kinnea, and in return, the Kiteshi Empire would be allowed to keep Mt. Duniaji within their borders.   Though the two empires are no longer actively at war, its soreness still lingers, and religious leaders of both Angelicist and Alshamic persuasion still quarrel over the land around Daj'ka Pass to this day.