This was a very large war that took over three days of successive moderation, totaling 10 hours of war order reading and rolls. I apologize if I keep this very brief or if I don't elaborate on a whole bunch, nevertheless this was a very fun war to moderate. Just... keep the 9 participant wars to a minimum going forward :P

At the start of the conflict, the Taotsi ready themselves for war. Scouts ride out and successfully (19) spot the locations of the Kelgoi armies and rally points, and are able to navigate through enemy terrain without issue. Both the Kelgoi and the Taotsi (both 20) are able to mobilize troops in expedient manners, and both reach the Po River in a standoff just as before. Local Taotsi welcome the returning Taotsi army (18), and throw off the Kelgoi clans and local leaders in favor of a restoration of their old ways and customs.

Taotsi fleet moves to try and blockade the Kelgoi (4), but is unable to successfully do so (13). Their second fleet sets up a defensive perimeter along their west coast (8). Defenses are erected, but not well (5).

Haraac take to raiding the Taotsi fleet at this point (19), and crash through, raiding the coasts and hitting them hard (15). Taotsi garrison is unable to meet the raiders in time (8), and instead in a panic call for reinforcements from the Po River front (3). These reinforcements arrive, as the Taotsi fear a full invasion from the Haraac is imminent due to the severity of the raids.

However, the Haraac do not invade. They instead focus on the defensive, and thanks to their naturally defensive position in [Corsica] and [Sardinia], are more than ready for any invaders (24!). Their outlying islands and positions in the east, near Greece, are likewise well defended (19).

Farther south in [Italy], the Lituura are preparing for invasions on their own homefront. In [Apulia] and [Calabria], defenses are erected up and down the two respective minor peninsulas, to decent effect (13). The navy is assembled, and the bulk of it is assembled in the sea to the west of them, where they would lay in wait to strike out against potential invaders as a single unit rather than as a screen or blockade. However, this plan relies on scouting vessels seeing any enemies, and the scouts turn out to be woefully incompetent or hampered by weather (1). The southern fleet, which is comprised of only a smaller portion of the navy, sees far more success (18) in raiding Bagaroki shipping and screening for any incoming invaders.

With these actions taken, the defenders and minor parties have made their first testing incursions. Now the true invasions will begin.

It's back to square one for the Kelgoi. To make matters worse, in the west, their Blue Army was cut off from the rest of their forces in the East when the Taotsi took the Po River (20), and the Taotsi know exactly where they are. The Taotsi, however, elect to hold the river (13); the last time they galavanted off west to try and take on an army of the Kelgoi, it turned out to be a distraction. The Kelgoi, however, never really intended this to be a distraction. They intended it to be an invasion of the Guamoirans. Being cut off from supplies, they elect to take matters into their own hands and get fresh supplies by raiding the Guamoirans, looting everything up to [Nice] and then sacking that for even more provisions. Unfortunately, the Guamoirans had their own plans in [Nice]. More on this later.

Including the Blue Army, the Kelgoi have split themselves into four armies: Blue in the West on the border with the Guamoirans, Green in the East along the coast of [Venice] to prevent a naval invasion, Purple in the southeast led by Lugovirax of Vikentos as the main invasion force, and Red at the center of the Po River led by Kadergarax of Arillikos. The objective is simple yet grand: the complete control of the Taotsi lands and a mass invasion. Red will serve as a diversion, trying to split the Taotsi forces and move along the west of the Taotsi lands, while the Purple Army will attempt to take on the bulk of their remaining forces in the east.

At the start of their advance, the Red Army doesn't even send scouts (1), whereas the Purple Army is well aware of the enemy presence due to their scouts (15). Due to a lack of any real infrastructure or administrative technologies on the part of the Kelgoi at the onset of the war, the Purple Army is unable to send word of this revelation to the Red Army prior to their advance. They don't know that the Taotsi have already reached the river, and are thus walking into a trap!

The Taotsi try to set up an ambush, but fail spectacularly (1 3, critical failure) while the Red Army plows through their disorganized forces (20-2, critical success). You will see this become a pattern throughout the conflict. Taotsi morale wavers (9), while the Red Army is very, very eager to teach the Taotsi just how exactly to wage war (19). What they lack in administrative technologies, the Kelgoi forces have a domineering presence with their technological superiority in military technology. They effectively surround the would-be ambushers (23 vs 5), cause deep losses in their forces (29 vs 15), and rout the whole western front south due to the barbarity of their onslaught (30 critical success vs 10).

Taotsi forces in the east are aware of this defeat (9), and rather than keep position, elect to withdraw into the mountains to try and give the western front time to recoup without keeping an overextended line. Taotsi morale is at an all-time low (1 3, critical failure), as it looks as if the Kelgoi simply can't be beaten, whereas the Red Army is still riding their high from the last battle (19 5). Red Army forces continue to give chase to the Taotsi forces in the west (13 8), hunting them down as they melt before them (2-5). The whole line begins to fall apart as they run all the way back to Salusia ([Rome]). Garrisoned forces there stop an outright dissolution of the Toutsi army, and begin to prepare for defenses.

The Purple Army, having marched all along the eastern coast, now turn inward towards Salusia. Garrisoned forces have prepared very good defenses (18), and rallied the morale to an extent (4), while the Purple Army comes to the front bored out of their mind, having not seen a single thing other than towns and villages that immediately gave up (6). Defenses hold in the first charge (15 8) as the Kelgoi decide to ride to the attack (7 5). Stalemate follows after the initial charge (15vs14, 13vs12), but are finally broken as the Toutsi repel them from the walls (18 8). The Purple Army is instead the one to rout this time (1)! The main Toutsi force abandons Salusia (6) as they give chase (17), while the Purple Army outpaces their pursuers all the way back to the Kelgoi's land at [Mantua].

While the main Toutsi force has given in to its sense of revenge and abandoned their capital, trying to take this opportunity to defeat at least one of the Kelgoi's armies, the Red Army approaches from the northwest. The city, however, is left without food (1) as the main army left with their provisions, and their defenses were damaged in the earlier battle (6). A Lituuro-Toutsi force comes from the south, trying to help Salusia in sallying forth (7 4), but is absolutely wrecked in the initial charge (20 10, critical success). The Red Army is having none of it today (15 10), and continues the assault against the Toutsi who barely hold their own (16 4). The initial shock wears off for a moment as a near stalemate ensues (23 vs 25), only for it all to come unraveled as the Red Army pierces the city's defenses and begins sacking the capital (13 vs 26).

Going to speed this up and stop listing numbers because Jesus Christ is this a long ass post; if you want to see the full documented outcome of each individual movement, it's in #modrolls on the discord.

Meanwhile, in the south, the Bagaroki have begun their invasion of Lituura. Their navy comes against the southern Lituuran navy and only suffers minor casualties, as the southern army isn't able to reach the western army in time and the scouts there are still terrible at scouting. Bagaroki forces are able to land in [Apulia], where they immediately meet resistance from the local Lituuran defenses. Their forces are triumphant through use of imported war elephants from North Africa, which tear through the front and cause havoc in their back lines. The whole force routs to the west, where the [Calabrian] force has established defenses as well. They hold here for a time, before being overcome by the sheer size of the Bagaroki army and its army. Goes a little something like this.

The whole army begins to crumble in the face of the three-claim-strong army, but the elephants in the Bagaroki forces break loose and cause problems for their own forces. The Bagaroki grind to a halt after a critfailed mobility / organization check, allowing the Lituurans to go with their last-ditch attempt at survival: mass migration to [Albania]. With a critsuccess on their attempts to both organize and secure safe passage through the waters between [Italy] and [Albania] since the Kelgoi didn't advance beyond the blockade, and since the Bagaroki only focused on southern landings. The entirety of the nobility and royal family, as well as their riches and those they care about, and the remainder of the military, pass over to Albania without issue. This then leaves the entirety of the mainland Lituura to be occupied without issue by the Bagaroki, who are content with their win and take the remainder of their turn securing and administering the area.

Which then returns us to the Kelgoi. Both sides maintained that they wished to continue the conflict, and so new orders were given for the existing armies. The Purple Army maintained themselves in [Mantua], and were able to break through the lines of the Taotsi who had chased them there, as the Taotsi were disorganized due to having been basically four armies ad-hoc merged into one. Purple army replenishes itself, while runners from the main force are deployed southeast to levy a new force. The expeditionary force that helped but routed from [Rome] earlier also marches northeast, and combines with this force to put it on parity with the Red Army. This force marches west to link up with the main force (as it, too, marches southwest, with the Purple Army following at the same pace). The Red Army wants more blood, so marches north to see why the Purple Army hasn't met with them yet.

This culminates in a spectacular blunder simply based on pacing and timing. The newly levied force from the east arrives first, with the main Taotsi force arriving second, with the Purple and Red Armies arriving roughly at the same time to sandwich the forces between the two of them. This leads to more of the same from beforehand: the Taotsi spectacularly failing the initial defense, drawing to a stalemate for two rounds, and then the Red Army crit-successing followed by the Purple Army also crit-successing to completely destroy the Taotsi forces. Taotsi lands roll high for resistance against the Kelgoi, but there's simply not enough warriors, men, or supplies to go around to fund for an active military engagement - resistance will have to come through some other means, just as the local chiefs begin squabbling over their new-found gains and the Red and Purple army argue among themselves as to who should be attributed the actual victory. Red Army argues - rightfully so - that they did all the actual victories, while the Purple Army argues that the final blow to the Taotsi was them, as they were the ones to crit-success and pierce the Taotsi's interior lines, as well as force the Taotsi to move away from Salusia [Rome] and practically handed the Red Army their victory.

While all of this is going on, the Blue Army has finally gotten to [Nice], rampaging and pillaging all the while, only to reach [Nice] and find that a fully assembled Guamoiran-Imitxeak army intent on aiding the remaining Lituuro-Taotsi forces (or liberating them if there weren't any left) was waiting for them. This army marches out to meet the Blue Army, and charges headlong into battle, initially seeing a wonderful crit success only to find themselves rolling very low for the remainder of the battle, inflicting heavy losses on the Blue Army but not seeing victory. Eventually, this 'relief force' is driven back into Nice, which is then sieged and with all the remaining forces killed in the subsequent siege.

Blue Army forces don't really have time to lick their wounds, though. Darnajo, the leader of the Blue Army, is intent on trying to conquer as much of the Guamoirans as possible before the Bagaroki get here - if they can conquer them first, then they can take the lands before the Bagaroki have a chance to, while still fulfilling their obligations to the Empire as an ally of sorts. With this, they press north. However, the Guamoiran locals won't have any of it - a crit success on local resistance, as well as their local organization yeilds a formidable force of ad-hoc defenders against the Blue Army. They remain undetected by the Blue Army as they set up an ambush, and take yet another high rolling charge against the Blue Army after they spring their ambush, only to roll low and then tie up in successive rolls after this.

With the dramatically tying rolls just as the deciding part of the battle was coming into motion, it came down to a duel between the two champions of the respective forces. Moirana of Malach and Darnajo of the Kelgoi met face to face among the whole of the battle as war waged about them. Everything seemed to rest on their own struggles. Moirana took to the field with stoic seriousness, hell-bent on victory, while Darnajo was simply taken aback. A woman warrior? Really? How could such a - His thought could not be finished as Moirana pierced his heart with her spear, and impaled him to the ground with the force of her blow. She severed his head with his own weapon, and took it with her.

Moirana takes the field and assumes control of the general public uprising against the invaders. Guamoirans didn't really perceive this as the grand war that was now waging on their very doorstep - they thought they would only be acting as a tertiary participant, simply lending a hand for a price or a favor. Now their very existence was threatened. With the Blue Army routed, there was no guarantee that they wouldn't be back. So Moirana chased after them, even all the way back to the Kelgoi's own lands. When finally catching up with the Blue Army, she beat them again, this time with the remaining forces surrendering in an attempt to actually join forces with her, saying that she was the embodiment of the godess of Victory and Battle - or at least that's as far as Moirana understood it. But she would have none of it. These were men who invaded her lands, and she would see them gone forevermore. The whole force was slaughtered on the spot, even those who had surrendered. Only a few remained to tell feverish tales of her battle here. Darnajo's head was left on spear, planted firmly in the center of the battlefield. Moirana then leaves back for her own homeland.

Only to find even more war. In the southwest, Bagaroki forces have landed en masse, and the Guamoiran-Imitxeak navy has been dashed to pieces with their arrival. Raiding forces that had previously been assembled in the area were quickly defeated, leaving only Moirana's ad-hoc army available to defend. Without much time to raise any further troops, and with only the weapons they could personally scrounge up or pick apart from the remnants of the Blue Army, they set about a strategy of secrecy and small but numerous strikes against their supply trains and detached forces. This sees significant success, as the army sets out to besiege local settlements only to find that much needed supplies are not reaching them, meaning that they cannot wait out and besiege any of the cities they come across.

This presents them with a dilemma: allow for the raids to continue and chance an actual siege, or abandon their strike at the settlements in favor of weeding out this problem in their supply lines. They chose for the latter, trying to root out Moirana, to little avail. They split the army, trying to cover more ground, only to have one of the detachments find Moirana by chance but is defeated by her party and either killed or otherwise prevented from returning with news to the main force. Moirana's strikes grow ever more serious as the army runs ever closer to running out of rations. In their anger - perhaps also hubris and/or desperation - they decided to commit the whole of their force against an attack on Malach, the capital of the Guamoirans. This attack fails, however, as Moirana had established a garrison there and shored up defenses. Earthen ramps and ladders were unable to get past the walls, and the force was driven from the city without additional provisions.

Lost in a foreign land, their elephants of no use to them in a siege like this and only slowing them down, the army sets upon their own animals to sustain themselves, only worsening the problem by slowing their progress due to a lack of horses, elephants, and pack animals. Moirana lets them begin a march to the south, and after a week without provisions, she sets upon them in their weakened state and defeats the army after another successful ambush by drawing the entirety of her forces and the garrison from Malach in a winner-take-all battle to determine the final act of the war. Moirana sees victory, and the remaining and diminished Bagaroki army retreats from their shores.

Oh, and the Nowptaos looked at the Haraac's defenses for about five seconds and said 'Nah, we'd like to live'. Thus ends the war.

RESULTS

• Toutsi completely occupied by Kelgoi
• All Italian Lituuran lands occupied by Bagaroki
• Guamoirans use first use of Fabian strategy, in-game probably "Moiranan/Moiranian Strategy"
• Bagaroki suffer defeat at the hands of the Guamoirans, causing a setback in their planned 2nd and 3rd phases