Difference between revisions of "Shadow War"

Latest revision as of 15:34, 8 October 2007

relvardarrel This article deals with Shadow War as it relates to NationStates. For more general information, see the Wikipedia article on this subject.

The Shadow War was a war fought in Knootoss between the South Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the GDODAD. The Dominion (GDODAD) invaded on behalf of Dick Tator when he claimed to be the legitimate leader of Knootoss after an election where he became the biggest party. SATO forces intervened on behalf of the old government and drove off the Dominion until a peace agreement was reached and the old government returned.

Origins of the conflict

Eventful elections

The crisis in the elections escalated when the charismatic far-rightwinger Dick Tator won a surprise victory for the leadership of the Conservative Party, until then the moderate junior partner in the government coalition. He steered the party towards a radical course. The liberal Prime Minister Vogels also had to contend with a smear campaign against his character when his affair with Tim de Boer was widely exploited by his conservative opponents. This is not thought to have influenced the campaign a great deal however, as the socially libertarian Knootians did not mind the affair a great deal.

Anti-elvish sentiments and anti-government populism struck a more popular chord with disenchanted voters. During the campaign, Elvish state-secretary Aikanáro Arcamenel was assasinated by brownshirts thought to be loyal to Tator. After the election his grave was desecrated.

Tator won the largest bloc of seats in the national election and demanded the right to be named Prime Minister. The elections were a crushing defeat for Prime Minister Vogels' Social Liberal Party, which subsequently entered talks with the resurgent Greens and others in an attempt to put together a grand coalition with enough strength to keep Tator out.

The streets of Knootian cities were in chaos as tensions rise over the government crisis. Rampaging mobs of brownshirts loyal to Dick Tator attacked civilians. A number of foreign powers were already poised for military intervention on one side or the other and speculation was rife as to international reaction should Tator succeed in taking power. Tanah Burung announced that relations would be cancelled if Tator were to be named Prime Minister, and some of Knootoss' allies offered support to the liberal SLP.

Endless Islands sends fleet.

Events in and around parliament

A few days after the election there was an inauguration of the newly elected parliament. The Binnenhof was surounded by a mob of brownshirts demanding "Full powers -- or else! We want Tator-- or fire and murder!" and shouting slogans against elves and the old government. Dick Tator himself, who arrived heavily guarded with the conservatives, swore an alternative vow to the one traditionally used to inaugurate new MPs. Instead he swore to destroy enemies of Knootoss and loyalty to Tator personally, in addition to the nation. In the meantime Prime Minister Vogels was consulting his KDF generals and had issued an order to declare martial law.

What followed was a speech wherein Tator announced his intention for Knootoss to join the Dominion (GDODAD) which was met with heavy protests from SLP and KGP. After the speech, he collapsed - his water poisoned by foreign intelligence agencies. He stumbled outside the main entrance of the parliament buildings and was shot multiple times by an unknown (Endless Islands) sniper. With martial law declared, the army and foreign forces had already joined police in pushing back the mob. When Tator's body was discovered by the crowds they went beserk, overrunning multinational policing cordons and storming the parliament itself.

Valinon Emergency Response Teams and similar Sunset teams were deployed to evacuate the parlementarians and the government from the building. This offer was initially refused by Vogels out of loyalty to his nation. But in the general assembly hall Black Hand guards (who had originally been ordered to guard Tator) disguised as journalists on the public tribune took parliament and the government hostage. They allowed all but the party leaders and members of government to leave.

Government in exile in Lavenrunz.

Angstian plottings

Unknown to the public, this conflict had been sparked by manipulations of the Knootian elections, executed by various nations on both sides, including Der Angst.

Althena and co.

In the background, the shooting was clearly heard, yet confusion was total. Only one man had an idea what had happened. The second man in the conservative party, Montgomery Burns, folded his hands together playing his fingertips against each other. Only one thing went through his mind: “excellent”

As stock dropped. Knootian Holdings Consortium (KHC) Ltd. , half owned by Der Angst and half by the Commonwealth of Endless Islands.

Dyelli Beybi intervention

Dyelli Beybi meanwhile had sent several ships to the DDR, supposedly to evacuate a diplomat. Later these ships were said to be performing military excersises in international waters. Acces to the nation was refused as KDF forces had already picked up a dropship from The Silver Turtle and had raised its military alert level. Upon the refusal the 8th through 17th fleets of the Dyelli Beybi navy were deployed to Knootoss (unbenownst to the Knootians) to 'clear a path'.

Dyelli Beybi sent a formal request for a passenger liner to pick him up with the threat to declare war if this was refused. The plane was given permission to land on Schiphol

As the situation in The Hague escalated they sent a message refusing to "tolerate this ceaseless agression from SATO warmongers." and demaning to land a small force and extract all Dyelli Beybian citizens endangered by the brownshirts. This threat was challenged by the Endless Islands navy.

Start of hostilities

A TST dropship landed near the Knootian town of Scheveningen with the objective of securing parliament. The Knootian ministry of Defence deemed it likely that they would attempt to disrupt the inauguration ceremony. Vogels had at that point given orders for the military to deploy all over Knootoss in case there was internal support for the intruders. An entire division around The Hague was is mobilised to intercept any troops the dropship would carry, and eurofighters were scrambled from Balmora airbase.

TST disguised some of its soldiers as hippies who supposedly had an appointment with Dick Tator so as to be able to approach him. The rules almost worked, but was disturbed by 30 Thelasi dropships approaching on the same route as the original TST gravships. Thelas had launched these gravships to aid Dominion efforts but had failed to coordinate this with TST who were unpleasantly surprised by the Thelasi deployment. The government of Thelas offered aid to the Republic to restore order, but their motives were challenged by many. As Thelas was a member of the Dominion, the offer was rejected out of hand.

Airfields all over Knootoss now scrambled and the Knootian Defence Force sent an official call for aid from SATO as they felt this was a full-scale invasion. The Thelasi were questioning of the SATO involvement, believing that the assassination of Tator had been ordered by SATO forces and threatened to 'annex Knootoss to force regime change'. Many SATO nations quickly answered the Knootian call for aid, honouring the terms of the alliance by deploying forces to the nation.

War

On behalf of SATO, Angstian, EOTED, Lavenrunzian, and Syskeyian forces were deployed in Knootoss, whose forces were lead by General de Kaste. Other Knootian allies fighting were Valinon, Sunset and Clangerland. They fought against forces deployed from Whispering Voices, Dyelli Beybi, and Fasta Benj with reasonable success.

A notable naval battle was fought in the North Sea between a massive Whispering Voices fleet and single EOTED wet-naval Battlegroup, ending in the destruction of the EOTED Battlegroup, the deployment of a large EOTED air group to suppress the Whispering Forces fleet, and the loss of several thousand lives. The battle was technically inconclusive, as hostilities ended before a true conclusion; although EOTED suffered greater losses than did Whispering Voices, possibly due to the failure of other SATO nations with naval assets in the area to deploy to the area rapidly enough.

The Silver Turtle and Thelasi forces landed in The Hague, caputuring most of the city before being repelled. Later in the war, SATO engaged forces of The Brotherhood of Nod that landed near Hoek van Holland after the allied fleet was unable to prevent their landing.

The Knootian centre of government, the city of The Hague, was shelled during this war by Dyelli Beybi. Der Angst retalliated by bombing Dyelli Beybi and the Federated Klatchian Coast.

Whispering Voices forces perhaps performed best of all those deployed, and proved an unpredictable, difficult force to be reckoned with. Thirty thousand SATO lives - all of which were from the EOTED - were lost in a single aerial bombardment when a Whispering Forces aerial taskforce breached SATO air superiority over The Hague and bombed a recently assumed EOTED position.

Conflict resolution

The conflict ended in a peace settlement negotiated by The Vortex Corporation and Tarasovka where the GDODAD withdrew in exchange for an artificial island off the coast of Knootoss, which was used as a military base disguised as an attraction park. The base was dismantled upon the expiring of the deadline fixed in the Peace Treaty.

A minor incident developed when both Thelas and Valinon refused to honor the treaty after not having been included in the peace negotiations. Neither nation was in either the GDODAD nor the SATO alliances (Thelas had left GDODAD as a result of internal struggles). The situation was resolved by pressure from both the GDODAD and SATO: probably the only thing the two alliances could agree on was their wish to end the war.

External links

• The archived thread