"War is never a single action, a situation born in a vacuum. It is the culmination of hundreds, even thousands of smaller events, bound together so tightly that by the time the final one causes it to break, there was no chance of them ever being unbound save for the inevitable cut of battle."

The Cold War between the Kulawanti Empire and the Pact of Lupah Sug did not turn hot overnight.

Since the armistace that ended conflict between the Empire and the Pact after the death of Sajja the Great, both sides had gone to great lengths to oppose the other without getting into direct conflict, and therefore violating the terms of the treaty. It started economically, as both sides rapidly imposed embargoes on the other. The embargo initiated by the Empires of Kulawanti and Darawan had been far more effective, however, leaving the Pact without access to ample materials for bronze weaponry and access to the rich food stores of Java. To counteract this, many former Pact sailors turned to piracy, independently raiding trading ships along the Golden Voyage and its ancillary routes in Southern Doebi. This drove up the demand for Kulawanti and Darawan mercenary vessels, who found a lucrative business in protecting merchant ships along these routes.

Eventually, this conflict expanded into acts of espionage and sabotage. Kulawanti Bun-yi agents were quite active in destroying Pact weapon forges, taking out high-ranking political and military personnel, and informing the Empire of plans that the Pact would be enacting. The Pact, in turn, formed its own espionage service, and conflict between agents of the two groups were legendary in status.

But the greatest escalation came with the proxy wars in Sulawesi. The island had, from the earliest memories of those in Southeast Asia, been split between three different kingdoms, one to the north, one to the southeast, and one to the southwest. It was a well-tested balance, that kept the island free from foreign invasion through constant military preparedness, but also kept it from internal cohesion. As one kingdom would grow too powerful, the other two would join to cut it back down to size.

That is, until the Pact got involved.

After a number of secret meetings and dialogues, the Kingdom of North Sulawesi suddenly became bolstered by Pact soldiers, weapons, ships, and supplies, and in a surprise attack invaded Southeast Sulawesi from three different points. Quickly overwhelmed, the King surrendered, and was summarily killed alongside his entire family. The king of North Sulawesi immediately proclaimed himself the true ruler of all of Sulawesi, and began amassing his now considerable force along the border of Southwest Sulawesi, now just South Sulawesi.

The King of South Sulawesi would not let himself face the same fate as his fellow king in Southeast Sulawesi, and immediately reached out to Kulawanti for support. The Emperor realized how dangerous a united Sulawesi would be as a member of the Pact, and pledged to defend the Kingdom. And so, over the next week, Kulawanti soldiers, weapons, supplies, and ships made their way to Sulawesi, prepared for battle.

The Pact was initially wary of direct conflict with the Empire, unsure how it would affect the armistice, but Kulawanti did not wait for them to decide, and opened with a major offensive on the valuable trade city of Palu, in the center of Sulawesi. Imperial ships blockaded the harbor as hundreds of men flowed into the city, unopposed by the walls surrounding it thanks to the strategic sabotage of its main doorway the previous night. The Pact was taken aback by the unexpected brazenness of the Empire, and was initially pushed out of the city.

They did not stay down forever, though, and quickly regrouped to push through the Imperial lines south of Palu, looking to surround it and starve them out. Fighting continued along this line, but supplies continued flowing into Palu, bolstered by the Kulawanti navy. Eventually, it seemed as if the North Sulawesi line was thinning, and many believed that a breakthrough would be imminent.

Then disaster struck.

Under the cover of darkness, a massive fleet of Pact ships made their way towards the Kulawanti fleet docked just off the coast of Palu, and set many of them ablaze. Bolstered by this signal, a mass of North Sulawesi troops surged forwards, pushing at the Imperial line with renewed vigor. More men were sent for from the Kulawanti mainland, but mere days after they joined the fray outside Palu, word arrived in Kuching in the form of a bloodied Bun-yi agent. The line had thinned in Sulawesi, because Davao and Sandakan had quietly withdrawn their troops and moved them to the border in northern Doebi. And now that the army on Doebi was thinner than ever, with its troops supporting the effort in Sulawesi and half its navy in flames, they had shredded the armistice.

The Pact was invading from the north.

Map of the political situation of Southeast Asia at the onset of the Second Pact-Kulawanti War