The Island War(s)

    In the archipelagic region central to the Interitus 3 universe, a war was fought long ago (four decades before the series begins). It was a war meant to end all wars--one which would forever establish the hierarchy in the region. Those who fought in the war believed they were fighting for peace. This war involved the following archipelagos: Port of Dorhill, Bellona, The Brimstone Isles, the Cinder Islands, Cape Kearhill, The Elswell Islands, the Stilhed Mountains, and Polyantra. When Cape Kearhill and the Elswell Islands won the war, the terms of their victory included a marginal transfer of food and resources from the losing archipelagos.

    But as time passed, the people of Kearhill and Elswell found themselves cold and hungry. Their desolate islands could not sustain their people, even with the shipments of food from other archipelagos. With some instigation from an outside faction, these two archipelagos broke out in a civil war which lasted four years. The winning faction immediately prepared for war with the surrounding archipelagos, though the government of the Stilhed Mountains chose to join their entente. Some believed they chose this for self-preservation while others thought they merely wanted a piece of the spoils, but in any case, all three archipelagos conscripted commoners into the war effort. 

    Bellona, a once-proud island nation, had suffered an unrelated disaster in between the old island war and the new one. A large portion of its population became seafaring pirates after the disaster, making interarchipelagic travel dangerous. The damage was so catastrophic that the Elswell Islands and their allies did not bother to attack Bellona, as they had nothing to gain. They focused their attack on the other archipelagos instead. Polyantra had been a relatively isolated archipelago, so they were the first to fall. Polyantra was conquered by a woman named Jacqueline Atheria, who allegedly led a legion of powered soldiers. This took place six years before the series starts.

    As the war raged on, the Elswell Islands and their allies decimated the pirates, arbitrarily making the oceans safer. They quickly conquered many lone islands and scored a bloody defeat over the Port of Dorhill archipelago. The Brimstone Isles evaded defeat in name only, but they signed an armistice which allowed the victors to occupy their islands and demand exorbitant transfers of food and resources. This took place about two years before the series starts. Since then, the Brimstone Isles allowed Elswell to occupy their ports and take any amount of food, even from private farmers and fishers. 

    While the Cinder Islands were never officially defeated in the island war, owing in part to their unusual geography (thousands of tiny volcanic islets), they suffered from internal strife that mirrored a civil war of their own. Furthermore, the Elswell Islands and their allies managed to infiltrate many islets and positions of power. Many consider the Cinder Islands to be at least partially under the victors' control, but they are the only archipelago to never sign a peace treaty with the entente.

    With the war officially over, the Elswell Islands and Cape Kearhill keep occupying forces on the other islands. They state that these soldiers are their to keep the peace and oversee reconstruction, but every island reports that they have seen occupying soldiers with people of unrecognized allegiance. Almost every archipelago guards their ports and harbors adamantly so as to keep out invaders, though in many archipelagos, it is actually the occupying forces doing this.

    Even after the island war, rumors persist of soldiers using supernatural powers to overcome their enemies. In addition, many people have become aware of an unknown faction working with the occupying forces. Most archipelagos are still reeling from extreme loss of human life, particularly on Brimstone Three and Dorhill Two. The fighting was so bloody that some report seeing enemies "kill the dead" just to make sure. Mass graves cover the archipelagos, where unnamed bodies from both sides are buried underground.