Three-Day War

the Three-Day War
Basic Information
Type	Civil Conflict / Founding War
Date	IY 723 (February 16–18)
Location	Wendigo Continent
Parties
Outcome
Casualties	Unrecorded

Overview

The Three-Day War was an armed conflict fought on the Wendigo Continent from February 16 to 18, IY 723, thirteen months after the Mana Cataclysm brought down the Yalta Empire. When a faction claiming to be the empire's rightful heirs arrived to seize the continent's mineral wealth, the region's mining labourers took up pick and shovel under Walter Chandler and drove them out after three days of fighting. Chandler was crowned on February 19, the day after the fighting ended, in recognition of his victory, and Levantia was founded under his rule.

Background

Demand for mana and magic stones rose sharply with the emergence of the Academy of Magic, and mineral veins across the former empire were developed in turn. Among these, the Wendigo Continent was developed earliest and most extensively, owing to both its proximity to the mainland and the exceptional richness of its deposits. It remained, however, an outlying settlement rather than a seat of power — the empire exercised little direct administration over the territory, content so long as shipments arrived and payment was made.

Outbreak

The Cataclysm brought this distant arrangement to a halt overnight. With no capital to place orders and no treasury to issue payment, the mines fell idle, and the labourers were left with little to do but wait.

Into this vacuum came a tide of displaced people. In the thirteen months following the Cataclysm, refugees of the First Dark Age drifted steadily onto the continent — and among them came those who declared themselves nobles of the fallen empire. To such claimants, Wendigo's balance of agriculture, mining, and industry made it an ideal foothold. Banding together under the banner of imperial succession, they moved to seize the continent's mines and wealth for themselves.

Walter Chandler, a labourer well regarded among his peers, answered the threat by rallying miners armed with picks and shovels into a line of resistance.

Course of the War

Three days of fierce fighting followed, from February 16 to 18. Chandler's force had neither standing arms nor formal training — only their tools, and the desperation of men defending the land they had built. Edmund Sterling, then head of the continent's managerial class, is recorded as having lent the resistance his full support from behind the lines. By the third day, February 18, the invading faction had been driven from the continent entirely.

Aftermath

Chandler, carried by the overwhelming support of the miners and the backing of Sterling, ascended to the throne on February 19 and founded Levantia. The Sterling family retained ownership of the continent's mana stone mining and refining industry, which subsequently became known abroad under the name of the Zirconia Foundation. From this arrangement emerged Levantia's dual structure of power — governance under House Chandler, industry under the Zirconia Foundation.

Historiographical Dispute

Some scholars have questioned the true scale of the invading faction. No record survives to confirm their origin or identity, and the swiftness of the power-sharing arrangement that followed the victory has been cited as grounds for suspicion. No evidence has ever substantiated these doubts, however, and the Three-Day War remains part of the official historical record.