Lexicon/LacePaperWar

Lace and Paper War

As described by The Stalwart Wasteland Prince in a missive to Chejop Kejak:

The Lace and Paper war was initiated between the Bitter Flower Empire and the Namarath Principality in the waning days of the Solar Deliberative.

Official documents of the period record the increase of import taxes in the Bitter Flower Empire, nominally protective tarrifs against the import of fine laces and other tailored products from the Namarath Principality. The Namarathian leader Quicksilver Scribe inevitably retaliated by lowering the amount of kravelt being exported to the Bitter Flower Empire, and raising the taxes on the importation of fruits and lumber products from the same.

Less-official documents ... borrowed ... from the Forbidding Manse of Ivy suggest that the initial tax pressure exercised by the Bitter Flower Empire was an attempt to strong-arm the Namarathians into trading their smithing secrets for kravelt to the Empire. The resultant battles with taxation continued until, apparently, a Dragon-Blooded spy was caught in the Principality, attempting to pilfer the previously mentioned trade secrets. Under questionable circumstances, he revealed that he hailed from the Bitter Flower Empire, at which point the Principality immediately ceased all trade and diplomatic communication with the Empire.

The war would have ended abruptly with the closing of the Zhang Zhe Way connecting the two nations, save that Seven Hymns Princess, Twilight-caste and one of the queens of the Bitter Flower Empire, enacted a great sorcerous incantation to bar the use of the Manse-Bulwark in closing the Zhang Zhe Way.

Armies marched across the bridge for days in each direction, meeting in tiny confrontations that would push forward or back a mile or three, and then cease hostilities for the night. The battles continued endlessly for years, with little progress being made by other side. They employed massive amounts of Dragon-Blooded, and numerous Amalgams and Lunars. Soul Bells were the weapons of choice, for which the Lace and Paper War would become infamous.

Seven Hymns Princess eventually created her own group of the Justicars of the Risen Sun. These enhanced troops succeeded in sweeping the bridge, and nearing its touch-down point in the Namarath Principality. It was there that Grassblade cast her greatest sorcery, which would result in the destruction of the Way, the Principality, and all the combatants there that day. That day would go down in history as the Battle of Quickening Vines.

See Also:

• Treaty of Bells
• Zhang Zhe Way
• The Bitter Flower Empire
• The Namarath Principality
• Kravelt
• The Battle of Quickening Vines
• Grassblade
• The Manse-Bulwark
• Justicars of the Risen Sun

• Other L Entries

-- Miedvied