Editing Second Desert War

'''The Second Desert War''' is remembered as a great clash between the men of the Red Mountains and those of the Desert Clans during [[Coming of the Andals]]. Though it did not involve the entirety of either people - and, indeed, involved men of both cultures and others (notably the Andals) besides on either side - it is has long figured in the imaginations of Dorne as a war between peoples and lands. 

== Background ==

Prior to the [[Locust Wars]], the men of the Red Mountains were considered to be in ascendance in Dorne, with the Daynes and Fowlers subjugating the edges of the great Desert and the Yronwoods expanding in territory, power, and prestige under the rule of [[Olyvar Yronwood]]. While the Yronwoods managed to hold on to their dominance during the Scourge War, the Kingdoms of Sky and Torrentine were both beaten back from their most recent conquests during the First Desert War. The King of Brimstone, [[Vorcan Dryland]], and the captain of the Scorpion Host, [[Conran Qorgyle]], were not satisfied with merely reversing those recent gains, however, and had sworn prior to the First Desert War to someday expel the mountain-men from the desert entirely; even those lands and Clans which they had ruled over for generations.

== History ==

=== The Magnar of the Clans ===

For ten years after the First Desert War, an uneasy peace held along the borderland between the Kingdoms and the Clans. Conran Qorgyle, however, was not convinced that this peace would last - or, at least, he would not be satisfied if it did. He warned often that the desert was surrounded by enemies, and that the Clans could not stand against them alone - they needed eachother, and more importantly, they needed him. When he eventually called a Clansmoot, the coastal Clans of the west heeded him summons - Maltrevar, Spiny and Ruthvan assembled, and elevated Qorgyle to their Magnar, in exchange for his promises of protection, land, steel, and glory. He reached out to the other western Clans - Serpent, Parch and Dust - but found them unwilling - indeed, Serion Serpent declared himself openly hostile. His second act as Magnar, however, was not to punish or subjugate these inland Clans, but to send an ultimatum to the Daynes, accusing them of oath-breaking by their continued occupation of the Desert's western border, and demanding they leave those provinces within a moon.

=== The Bloodroyal ===

His ultimatum issued, Conran Qorgyle struck east for Hellgate Hall for a council of war with his ally and brother-in-law, King Vorcan Dryland. During his stay, the Bloodroyal, [[Castor Yronwood]], requested an audience with both Qorgyle and Dryland, at the southern border of his realm. They agreed, and the three men met and spoke, agreeing to friendship and peace between them, and aid from Yronwood in freeing those Desert-lands under the rule of the Fowlers. However, after Dryland returned to his Hall and Conran began the ride back to his host, the Yronwoods were able to secure the fealty of the Fowlers without bloodshed; with the lands coveted by the Clansmen now under their banner, they demanded that the Drylands give up their claims to it and uphold their alliance, threatening to otherwise join the Daynes in defending their border-holds. Vorcan Dryland refused. When Conran's deadline passed, and his army marched, the Yronwoods thus marched too, to join the Daynes.

=== The War in the West ===
[[File:Borderlands.png|thumb|right|The Western War was fought amidst the cliffs and forests of Dreadsands, Stinging Sands and the Stained Sands. Long mixed between Clansmen and Red Marchers, they marked the uncertain geographical and cultural border of the great Desert.]]

Joined by the Brimstoners and the Clans Maltrevar, Spiny and Ruthvan, Qorgyle struck west and began laying siege to the Dayne-aligned holdfasts which dotted the edges of the great desert. The Daynes, joined by the Yronwoods, Bleatings, Dreadsands and Towers, assembled their own army to the north, before marching down to join battle with the invaders. In early battles, including the First Battle of White Hiss, the armies of Mountainmen were bloodied, but able to retreat with most of their forces intact. Emboldened by their victories, the Clansmen conspired to strike for Starfall, and raid along the rich Torrentine Valley while Qorgyle and Dryland tied down the armies in the east. However, the reformed armies of Dayne and Yronwood struck first for the raiders, and dealt them a crippling defeat along the southern banks of the river. This was, however, to be their only victory in the war.
[[File:RaidLoc.png|thumb|left|The raiders of the Clans Maltrevar, Spiny and Ruthvan were turned back in the shadow of Starfall.]]

==== The Second Battle of White Hiss ====

After their victory against the Clansmen raiders, the forces of Dayne, Yronwood and their allies again reformed to the north while Qorgyle and Brimstone laid siege to the holdfasts of Dreadsands. As the fortresses fell, one by one, the alliance again sought to pen the besiegers against the walls of one of their cliffside castles, hoping that the Clansmen they had slaughtered on the Torrentine's banks would give them the numbers and edge they needed to prove victorious. However, when Conran's scouts reported that the enemy had begun to move south, he chose to preempt them by force-marching his own forces to White Hiss, a cliff-sided, thickly forested plateau between the lands of the Stinging Sands and the Dreadsands. The Scorpion Host had won a victory assaulting that ground earlier in the war,  but it had been difficult; now, their Captain wished to turn that terrain to their advantage.
[[File:WhiteHiss.png|thumb|left|The forested plateau of White Hiss was the location of two great battles of the Second Desert War. The cliffs and crevasses that surrounded it, along with the dense woods which blanketed it's surface, made it a difficult position to assault.]]

The strategem proved successful, and the armies of the enemy were caught attacking a natural fortress. The Yronwoods and Daynes initially committed to battle, but as the hopelessness of their assault became clear, the Yronwoods retreated. The Dayne forces were not so lucky - thousands died or were captured, and one of the sons of the Sword of the Morning lost his life in the fighting. Within a few weeks, King Caswyn agreed to "truly" leave the desert, foreswearing claim of mastery over Dreadsands, the Stinging Sands and the Stained Sands. Whether he swore an oath to the effect of no longer interfering in the desert is a matter of historical contention.

=== The War in the North ===
[[File:Goodsprings.png|thumb|right|Shady Sands and the fortress of Goodsprings, where the bulk of the War in the North was fought.]]

While the Daynes had made peace, the Yronwoods persisted, refusing to give up the northern edges of the desert they continued to hold. After a few weeks during which both armies reorganized and replenished their stores, the forces of Brimstone and Qorgyle struck north, while those of the Yronwoods assembled on the other side of the Falcon Peaks. Moreso than in the West, the conflict over the fortresses of Goodspring and First Well was characterized by siege, with the armies of the Bloodroyal hesitant to join open battle. For long moons the Drylands and Qorgyles camped and waited beyond the walls of the coveted strongholds, though there were a few skirmishes in the southern foothills of Falcon Peak. Eventually, Goodspring fell, and the armies of the desert moved to siege First Well, as they had a decade prior during the First Desert War. The Yronwood strategy to wait out the attackers had seemed to have failed, and the Bloodroyal was pressured to relieve the siege - his armies marched, and again tried to smash the Scorpion Host against the walls of First Well, and again failed. With the course of the war seemingly obvious, the King Castor sued for peace. 

== Aftermath ==
[[File:DornePost2ndDWar.png|thumb|Political map of Dorne following the conclusion of the Second Desert War. ]]

Following the conclusion of the Second Desert War, both the Drylands and Qorgyles set about restoring order to their recent conquests, and making their rule - or suzerainty - fact, rather than mere law or word. Conran Qorgyle died of heatstroke during these campaigns and was succeeded by his son, [[Tywald Qorgyle]], whose mother, [[Milona Dryland]] assumed the reigns of regency. It was under Milona that the Western Deserts was united, with the ruling families of those Clans considered rebels or traitors exiled west, to the Torrentine. Andals and allied Clansmen alike settled into the newly conquered lands, but their peace was to prove brief, as Caswyn Dayne returned to the east some seven years later and successfully drove the Qorgyles and their allies from the Desert entirely.

[[Category:Events|Second Desert War]]
[[Category:Dorne|Second Desert War]]