The First Syntax War

<infobox theme="conflict"> <group layout="horizontal"> <label>Previous</label> <label>Concurrent</label> <label>Next</label> </group> <title source="name"><default>The First Syntax War</default></title> <image source="image"/> <label>Beginning</label> <label>End</label> <label>Place:</label> <label>Outcome:</label> <group layout="horizontal"> <header>Combatants</header> </group> <group layout="horizontal"> <header>Commanders</header> </group> <label>Battles</label> </infobox>

The Syntax Wars were the wars between thedude, master of degrammarisation, and the Knights of the Olde Speech, masters of the Olde Speech and defenders of grammar, and the Militiregnumian Kingdoms.

Summary

The First Syntax War (also known as Grammar War) began when thedude invaded Morcia, Militiregnum in his attempt to hide from the Nexus Force, but also increase his power in order to be able to strike against it again. It was concluded with the Battle of the Skyfalls in Elepharia, during the annual event of the cancellation of the effects of the planet's gravity near the equator, as a result of a moon passing too closely to the surface.

The Main War

During the first month after the arrival of thedude, there were mostly just skirmishes between little parts of each army (thedude's and the Morcian army). During that time, there were only two major battles that occured in the plains of Morcia, both resulting in the defeat of the Morcian army, facing heavy losses, too. Thus, King Matthias ordered a mobilisation, being in need of more soldiers. Meanwhile, the Paradox Rogues, who were a big part of thedude's army, pillaged any villages they passed by, causing a massive wave of refugees to head for Orlan, Morcia's capital, for protection.

At the end of that month, a third battle occured, the Siege of Evereed. Lord Vladek, Matthias's old enemy, having aligned himself with thedude, advised thedude that if if he captured Evereed, he'd put a lot of pressure on Matthias. Evereed was taken in a week, placing Matthias in a very bad position. Needing a solution and having also just found that his daughter, Lady Jonna, has gone missing, he decides to get help. In the yellow pages, he finds a relatively cheap band of mercenaries, the Knights of the Olde Speech, and sends a messenger pigeon to them in order to hire them.

After taking Evereed, the combined army of Paradox Rogues and Vladek's knights headed for Orlan and Matthias's castle. However, before they got there, the Knights of the Olde Speech arrived. With their leading skills and knowledge of the ways of war, the Knights manage to claim victory for Morcia at the first attack and repel the Paradox Rogues.

Sir Thingguy II, founder of KotOS, was sent to find the Princess. Indeed he located her in the Lost Plains and persuaded her to come back (for she had run away). However, while returning to Matthias's castle and after a brief meeting with Sir Talmid and Sir Legoboy on their way to meet Sir Lukas and Sir Seton, who were leading a battalion of soldiers to the Fire Hills (also known as Athelas Mountains, also known as Scary Mountains), they were attacked by Barney the Dinosaur and captured.

The rest of the Knights, together with their soldiers, fought their way to the Fire Hills and set ablaze the Fire Beacons that were meant to notify the Aquilones of Morcia's need. However, the Aquilones never came, as Councilman Accipitris had allied with thedude, persuaded the Aquilone King that if Morcia fell, it would be in the interests of Aquila. Indeed, later he even convinced the King to aid thedude with his own army.

The Knights were ambushed while descending the Athelas Mountains and Sir Talmid was captured as well. While the two Founders of KotOS and the Princess were at the hands of thedude, Sir Lukas, the third Founder and the rest of the Knights managed to repel thedude's army into the forest Mawr. At that time, through messenger pigeon correspondence Talmid instructed Luke to recruit more Knights of the Olde Speech (to add to the total number of 5). Another battle was fought in Orlan, but the Rogues were defeated once more.

On their mission to find more Knights, Luke, Seton and the soldiers with them were forced to fight with the Monkey King's army. But the monkeys' banana weapons did not turn out to be very effective and the Knights were victorious. Soon, though the Dark Hunter Elmo and his minions were sent by thedude to capture the other Knights. Heroes of the day were Sharpie Thunderflare and Grongringro-eth, who fought Elmo, Grongringro defeating him. Afterwards, several possible Knight recruits were found, but it did not become official until later.

Angered by his failure, thedude orders a full-scale assault against Orlan. The Knights of the Olde Speech and the possible recruits make heroes of themselves in the battle, but for the first time the Paradox Rogues manage to get through the outer wall and invade the capital. A final battle is fought with the Knights defending Matthias's castle and in the end they manage to drive the Renegades away.

With the Rogues retreating, the Knights decide to strike back and locating thedude's base lead an assault against it. However, not much resistance was shown. The Knights defeated Barney the Dinosaur and entered thedude's base only to find it empty. Talmid, Thingguy and Jonna in an attempt of an escape had entered a ship of thedude's and left with it. However, thedude and his Red Mythrans had also boarded and caused the ship to crash.

Meanwhile, the Knights in thedude's base were ambushed by Lord Vladek and some of his Knights. The Knights of the Olde Speech managed to defeat Vladek and capture him. While they were recovering, Wiz Ardon, the Peculiar Enchanter made his appearance and decided to help the Knights. At that time, also, many Knights of the Olde Speech officially joined. Yet, the Knights received a message that they were needed in the capital. Thus, they began their journey.

Back in Orlan, an army of Paradox Rogues was barely defeated, but the Red Mythrans arrived after them and caused a lot of trouble. Realising that the Knights of the Olde Speech were on their way, though, they left in order to attack them. The battle was about to begin, when the ship containing thedude, Jonna, Talmid and Thingguy crashed nearby. Jonna was escorted back to the castle, but the rest joined the battle. thedude made an illusion of himself, afraid that the Knights might injure him, and it entered the battle for him. The illusion, as an extension of himself, managed to injure Talmid with the Grammer Sword and he passed out. Then, the illusion was destroyed by Thingguy and the Red Mythrans not realising their actual leader was alive fled. The Knights continued their way towards the castle, carrying an unconscious Talmid.

In the meantime, the Aquilones had invaded the northern borders of Morcia, after Accipitris persuaded the Aquilone King to join thedude's forces. Matthias, after hearing the news by Nuncius the Messenger, sent an army led by General Dux to face the Aquilones. The army was obliterated and Orlan having no sufficient force to defend it was easily conquered by them. thedude soon arrived after them and took his place on the throne room. Vladek was freed and Matthias was captured.

Thus, when Jonna arrived in the castle, she was captured, too. The Knights of the Olde Speech and the army they led was the only resistance that remained. When they reached Orlan, they fell into thedude's ambush. Furthermore, Talmid woke up, but was under the control of thedude. The Knights fled with as many Knights as they could, promising themselves to return to save King Matthias, Jonna and Talmid.

Recruiting Major Q the 10th Hero, an elite Sentinel warrior, to help them, the Knights stealthily intrude into Orlan and enter the castle. Major smashes the Barney Bot prototype that impersonated Barney the Dinosaur. After that, the Knights free Jonna and then Thingguy leads some Knights and Squeaky to the Throne Room. At the same time, a fight starts in the Main Hall, while Matthias is freed by Nuncius. In the throne room, Thingguy manages to break thedude's spell on Talmid and then they proceed to fight thedude. Reinforcements arrive and Legoboy manages to take the Grammer Sword from thedude. Eventually, all the Knights of the Olde Speech and the King's Soldiers end up in the Throne Room, but they have to retreat to avoid thedude's superior army. On their way, they meet Matthias who proposes an escape from the roof.

The Knights avoided a fight with thedude's army on the roof by not letting anyone on it. However, the members of the Sorcerer's Council appear. The aforementioned Council wanted to ally themselves with thedude. However, after the Knights defeated them and managed to escape, thedude met them and declared " Deh enemy of mah enemy .... , .... iz steel mah enemy . . " and attacked them. The Sorcerers possibly made a deal with someone else, perhaps with Vladek, and thus they rushed to help thedude, but thedude wasn't notified and betrayed them.

Meanwhile, two Nexus-Forcers, Major's friends, appeared and informed the Knights that the Nexus Force was on its way intending to defeat thedude, though it would be one week late. After discovering that thedude had received even more reinforcements from the Eastern Empires, the Knights decide to ride south to Elepharia, the Elephanters having always been an ally of Morcia. In the meantime, the Peculiar Enchanter goes to Orlan's castle to spy on thedude and cause some chaos with Nuncius following him. It is known that he found his demise there by the sword of Lord Vladek.

Arriving in the river separating Morcia and Elepharia at the time of the Skyfalls' event, the Knights discover thedude was faster than them. An army of his, having been provided ships by the Elephanters, who were fooled by him, attacks the Knights. During the battle, the Robot Barneys, later called Barney Bots, first appeared in public. The battle resulted in the smash of at least Sir Shard and Sir Blaze, while Talmid was defeated by thedude and captured; Squeaky's tank was destroyed, but he survived. The remaining surviving Knights as well as any allies were forced to flee wherever they could, resulting in their being scattered across the planet. With this battle, thedude secured his rule over Morcia.

When the Nexus Force arrived, thedude's technology seemed to operate better than theirs (the Sorcerer's Curse afflicting them harder than him for some reason), while thedude's Barney Fighters proved too diffiicult to fight. So, after two of their spaceships were destroyed, their fleet retreated and they made a blockade around the planet in order to stop thedude and his forces from leaving it.

The Extended War

Several historians -most of them are Morcian- consider that the First Syntax War ended with the Battle of the Skyfalls. However, other historians also add thedude's later battles for conquest to the meaning of the term. Thus, thedude's such imperialistic attempts have often been called the Extended Syntax War.

Even during the events of the Main War, thedude's meddling with Aquila resulted in a civil war to begin. Hence, after taking Morcia, it was easy for thedude to seize the land for himself. He let King Jork do most of the ruling, but he was considered to be his superior. However, five years later Jork led a rebellion against him, but he was smashed. After that, thedude did not let anyone but himself rule Aquila.

Soon after ensuring Morcia was his, thedude also sent a force of Paradox Rogues to attack the monkeys that lived in the forests of Morcia. Few monkeys survived this cruel act and the Monkey King would no longer be a threat to thedude in a case of a betrayal.

The Elephanters had been tricked to help thedude into defeating the Knights of the Olde Speech. Yet, when thedude tried to force his authority upon them, they realised their mistake and started fighting him with all they could. Truly, they managed to give a very good fight. For a year, they managed to hold the river and after that they managed to hold for two more years before they were eventually defeated (the elephants they were riding was a great advantage even against the Paradox Rogues' technological prowess; in the end, thedude had to send the Red Mythrans).

Once thedude had made sure the battle in Elepharia would be won -though it had not been finished yet-, he started sending most of his forces to Nordland. The nomads were no match for his forces, so he easily managed to spread his rule all over the Eastern Nordland. However, what he wasn't expecting was the defence the warriors of North Island would put up against him. The latter managed to organise the rest of the Nordeners into a decent army aside from their own, while they were also helped by Britayan ships. This combination resulted in thedude's being unable to conquer the Western Nordland.

After six months of hard fighting and many losses, thedude decided he needed more power to defeat the North Island warriors (and especially he needed to take Britay first). Thus, he started moving his troops in order to release an attack against Britay. Needing time to recruit new soldiers and to let his old ones rest, it wasn't before five months had passed that he managed to begin his assault against the island land. There had been many unofficial battleships until then, but no war had really been declared. On the excuse that they were hiding fugitives, thedude sieged and captured Orllewin, Britay's port on the main continent. After that, six more months were necessary for him to be able to make a landing on Britay. Subsequently, thedude's army began a siege in both Camelot and Kingston. Camelot fell three months later, but the royal family escaped to Scottar. A new siege began there and eventually, being under severe pressure, the King had to surrender. Kingston, which could have lasted more in the war, was forced to open its gates to the enemies and the destructions that ensued were especially cruel.

Having taken both Britay and Elepharia, thedude sent a fleet from each kingdom to the Southern Isles. Though having an exceptional fleet, the Isles were unable to deal with two fronts and were defeated in one month.

After taking over all the Western lands but Nordland, thedude turned his attention to the East. He had already started feeding the two Empires with lies and rumours to urge them to fight each other. He also offered both help, giving them money and technology. At last, the two started fighting each other in a very cruel war. thedude waited until they were both weakened and then invaded. The Empires were his in a year. On his way there, he also captured Rabus and the surrounding areas, which only held four weeks against him.

At last, thedude had taken over everything but Western Nordland and the North Island. It was time for an all-out attack. He gathered a huge force consisting of Paradox Rogues, Shadow Knights, Barney Bots, Red Mythrans (not many), Elephant riders, sailors, Aquilone and Morcian horsemen, Semeranis and Semurians. They brought ships, all sorts of technology and the explosives the Easterlings use. The Nordeners fought valiantly, but it was too much for them. thedude captured all of Nordland in a month and then sieged North Island for another three months. Then, they fell. At long last, thedude was victorious. He had conquered all of Militiregnum.

Record

The events of the First Syntax War were recorded for the first time in a book called "The Perpetual Doom of the Knights of the Olde Speech during the Syntax War". The book was written during thedude's fifteen-year long reign, however, it was only published after thedude had been dethroned. There have been many speculations over who wrote the book for the person still remains anonymous. What's very quizzing, though, is that the author seems to know things that they shouldn't. There often details that wouldn't be known to the open public, like what exactly was said during Thingguy, Jonna and Talmid's capture by thedude. While that indicates that one of them could be the author, the same happens with many different perspectives and the author couldn't be many people at once. Furthermore, the Knights denied having anything to do with the writing of the book. On further research, it was discovered that each chapter is written in the way some Knight narrated it at least once. Lady Jonna, the Storyteller, had heard many of these narrations and adding her own, she would tell the stories of the Syntax War during her time as a Storyteller. She has denied being the author, but perhaps the actual author collected most of the chapters from her. The author's identity still remains a mystery, though.