This great war of nations started thousands of years ago, perhaps around turn 80 if my memory is correct. This conflict started as a conflict over borders. It originated as a simple conference to determine where the mutual border between our nations should be set. The area in discussion is a fertile group of grassland tiles east of the Yun Feng Mountains, called such by our nation after the name of a town built just on the western edge to supply us with iron. The Gamecatcher Alliance had built its own city at the edge of this disputed area, Balance of Power (called now Power of Victory by Apolyton), acting as a choke point city that separated our two nations.
The Gamecatchers surprised us with a demand that they be given control of all the land from Balance of Power to the Yun Feng Mountains, as well as control of our iron town. They did offer to replace the town, or even let us keep it, on the strict stipulation that we not connect an iron resource to our trade network. All of Fanatikou was surprised and upset over this outrageous demand. We discussed this demand in our forums, drawing up our own proposal that would split this much disputed area of grassland evenly between Fanatikou and the Gamecatchers. We were then further angered when we learned, but a few turns later, that the Gamecatchers had cancelled our in-game peace treaty as incentive for us to hurry up and decide. This meant that, according to the save game, we were in a state of war. When desperate last-minute diplomatic discussions failed, Gamecatcher preceded attack our town of Yun Feng, and to destroy it. They even went so far as to use a game exploit, to attempt to hide this treachery by offering us a peace treaty through the diplomacy screen before we could check to see if the city still stood. It was war.
Fanatikou was far from prepared to fight any sort of war, as we had previously been in an expansionist state of mind. We fought a defensive war. After the massacre of Yun Feng, Gamecatcher sent no less than three offensives into our lands. Each time, we barely managed to rout the invaders. Right after the war had begun, we had informed our neighbors, the Elucidans (otherwise known as the Creative Design Group - CDG) of our plight. They rushed to our aid, soon after sending their Immortal divisions to attack GCAs northern flank. In the only true battle of the war, they managed to take a Gamecatcher city. Their troops proceded to march toward Catchopolis, the Gamecatchers capital, when they were all defeated. Gamecatcher proceded to ravage CDG. Realizing the odds were against them, they forfeited two of their last cities to Apolyton, and sent the last of their technological advances to us. CDG, as you well know, was the first team eliminated from the ISDG.
This is where Apolyton comes into play. We had contacted them as well when the war started, asking for their aid. They intended to remain neutral in the matter. However, CDGs destruction left them fearing the growing power of the Gamecatchers. They felt that the aggression of Gamecatcher would be turned on them if Fanatikou was eliminated. Because of this, as well as a pledge of revenge Apolyton made to a dying Elucida, Apolyton joined with us in our struggle against Gamecatcher.
As Apolytons huge army marched on Gamecatcher territory, they abandon one city after another. Fanatikou, which had previously signed a cease-fire agreement, as well as a temporary peace treaty, with Gamecatcher, renewed its war against Gamecatcher in an effort to regain the territory we had lost. Gamecatcher took the same cowardly strategy with us, abadoning cities one after another as we marched on their territory. Thus, it can be said that hardly a single battle was fought in the latter days of the war. The last of the Gamecatcher Alliance fled to the far away lands of the Webringen, leaving remnants of their once-great forces in their homeland to fight a resistance.
