Second Araga-Starym War

The Second Araga-Starym War, otherwise known as World War III, was a large scale war that happened in late Earth World Mark VI. It was and still is widely considered to be one of the most destructive wars in Mappercraft history, due to most major cities being griefed in some way and that it had a large cost on resources and morale on both sides. The war begun when the Aragan Imperial Republic declared war on the Empire of Starymglia after not accepting their territorial demands, causing long lasting tensions between the two nations to finally boil over. Several other nations also involved themselves in the conflict besides Araga and Starym: on Araga's side was the Kingdom of Columbia (also by extension the rest of the Auburn League) and Arabia; solely on Starym's side was the Kingdom of Maple, who were loyal allies with Starym. The war ended two days later with the time limit on wars being reached and the Treaty of La Rochelle.

Background
Araga and Starymglia had had a rivalry amongst each other since Earth World Mark V, stemming from the First Araga-Starym War. The terms of the Treaty of Helsinki that ended the war upset Aragans, due to the fact that it included that Araga had to cede their share of the British Isles — except Edinburgh — and Czechia to Starym and that Araga had to pay reparations in the form of 10 stacks of diamonds, 7 stacks of TNT, and a mending book. Despite no conflicts for the rest of the world, tensions continued to exist between the two nations.

Antagonism between Araga and Starym persisted throughout Earth World Mark VI, with it growing evermore through quasi-proxy conflicts that had occurred, such as the Libyan War and the War in France. While Araga and the Pan American Union (the Kingdom of Columbia after the Pan American Civil War) continued to improve their relations and grow closer diplomatically, Starym was for the most part only allies with the Kingdom of Maple, who might as well have been a puppet state of theirs.

Prelude
During the afternoon of September 4th, 2017 several players — mostly Aragans — including Tomad, Skali, bonito_pibb, Cambrian_, and Mich — who had been fed up with Starym at this time — traveled to the city of Cataan in Keem to loot and generally mess around. Emperor of Starym FedexMC was called on by the rest of Starym to dispose of them and they all eventually went away.

Later, these same players (and most likely more) went to Lyvonis and starting messing around there as well. They notably started placing down doors everywhere in the downtown, annoying many Starymglians but ultimately not fully engaging with them just yet. Tomad (or another Aragan leader) then started demanding for the pre-Helsinki Treaty borders to be put back into place, which would give them back Scotland, Ireland, and Czechia. Starym refused this demand, considering they did not want to be taken advantage of by other nations and players and the fact that they were still frustrated with the Arabian War that occurred three days prior. In retaliation to the negative Aragan response, Fedex then started to taunt Araga by standing by their refusal of the demand and even mocking them for it.

Beginning (Sep 4th)
Fedex's continued refusal of the territorial demands sent a signal to the Aragans that the only way they can reclaim their former pride is to declare war on Starym. While in a Skype call, Cambrian_ ordered Tomad to declare war and Tomad complied, sending an official declaration of war on Starym and the Kingdom of Maple in the Minecraft chat. Imperia, due to their status within Starym as a vassal or autonomous subdivision, promptly affirmed their neutrality and thus little went on there during the war. Soon after, Arabia declared war on Starym and therefore issued their support for the Aragans in the war. On top of that, the Kingdom of Columbia got involved when after seeing Maple distracted defending themselves and attacking Araga and Arabia, they declared war on them as well. Technically all of the Auburn League members were at war against the Kingdom of Maple as part of the alliance's collective defense policy; nevertheless, claims were made by nations such as Delthea affirming their supposed neutrality.

Immediately after the declaration of war by the Aragans, the battle and griefing of Lyvonis began. Tomad built three withers in the downtown of Starym as a show of strength and, along with other Aragans, sweeped the city out of the Starymglians that were there and started blowing up structures and massively cobblemonstering the city. They also did considerable damage to the cities of London and Cataan. Meanwhile, Fedex and his friends (presumably Czin, jere_x, and franmox) were on their way griefing Aragan cities in Germania, most notably Vasque City and Berlin.

After the PAU declared war on Maple, its King Freezepond turned to them and started attacked and griefing a few cities there, with moderate success. In order to honor their alliance with Maple and to support their efforts, Starym — unilaterally by Fedex — declared war on Columbia, too. At this point, the entire world was effectively at war with each other, with only minor powers avoiding the conflict.

By the end of the day, a great amount of major cities throughout Europe and North America were at least moderately griefed, with some such as Lyvonis bearing the worst of it. No side seemed to be on the top, although it is arguable that Starym and Maple were behind Araga, Arabia, and Columbia in strength and infrastructure by this point. Due to the next day, September 5th, being a school/work day, Araga offered a truce to Starym until both sides could be sufficiently active at the same time; however, Starym refused this and even remained online until they had to go to sleep. This begun a pattern of one side of the war (typically Starym and/or Maple) staying online, effectively preventing the other side from logging in until they could properly mobilize.

Middle (Sep 5th)
The second day of the war, September 5th, was much less documented than the first, though it was most likely the most eventful.

Lyvonis continued to be griefed heavily, with the state of the city reaching to a point where there were cobblemonsters on top of other cobblemonsters; it resembled nothing like its prewar state. In addition, the city of Sandistan got griefed and cobblemonstered by Mich and Soup presumably got griefed as well. Overall, cities across the world continued to be griefed, and PvP skirmishes occurred across Europe and North America.

End (Sep 6th)
The final day of the war, September 6th, was the calmest time, with griefing and PvP being less of an occurrence; however attempts were still made by Starymglians and Maples and Aragans, Columbians, and Arabians to grief each others' cities and settlements. While this was going on sometime in the afternoon EST, Tomad began talks with Starymglian co-emperor batboy1999 regarding reaching a peace and Aragan territorial/other demands.

Later on the same day on ~19:00 EST, Tomad and batboy1999 began talking again on the peace matters. Soon after, Tomad gathered batboy1999 and other major leaders in the war into a Skype call and Sikorskiii made a Google Doc for the then treaty. The name of the treaty was a short matter of contention among the leaders, with some proposed names being the Treaty of DDD and the Treaty of Treaty of Treaty; regardless, the name was decided on to be the Treaty of La Rochelle. The treaty outlined multilaterally agreed upon demands by each party that participated in the war. Aragan demands included them gaining back the rest of Scotland in exchange for Alsace-Lorraine and Czechia in exchange for Trebizon, 6 stacks of TNT and 5 stacks of firework rockets from Starym, and 1 stack of firework rockets from Maple. Starymglian demands included them gaining Alsace-Lorraine in exchange for their Scottish territory and Trebizon in exchange for Czechia, and 5 stacks of TNT and 5 stacks of firework rockets from Araga, Columbia, and Arabia. Maple demands included 15 diamond blocks from Arabia, 10 diamond blocks from Columbia, 64 TNT from Aragan duchy states excluding Russia, and 64 diamonds from Russia in exchange for them keeping Helsinki and everything to the north of the Gulf of Finland. Auburn League demands included the settlements of Landing and Soup being annexed by Columbia, an NAP with Starym and Maple, and 64 TNT from Starym, distributed to each member of the alliance. Arabian demands included 128 TNT from Starym and giving Cuba (excluding Havana) to Columbia in exchange for Egypt. In addition to each nation's demands being addressed, an global agreement was made: a rollback would be done in all cities and Cuba being released under independent or Columbian control. While the war ended de jure on 20:30 EST due to, the Treaty of La Rochelle was finalized 22 minutes later on 20:52 EST.

Aftermath
After the Second Araga-Starym War concluded, batboy1999 (who was an admin of the server) promptly rolled back all the griefed cities and settlements, except for a large section of Vasque City, which was most likely forgotten on accident.

Despite the rollbacks effectively resetting most cities back to their prewar state, the war still had a major impact on all nations involved, with it causing them to universally deal with a large resource cost, particularly in regards to TNT, armor, tools, and weapons, as well as a morale cost. Hence, it is difficult to determine which nation or nations actually won the war. It is arguable that Starym and Maple endured more detriment than Araga, Columbia, and Arabia during it, as they were more often defeated in battle and had a greater share of settlements destroyed. It can be assumed then that Araga, Columbia, and Arabia actually won the war and Starym and Maple lost. However, a balanced trade of territory and resources outlined in the Treaty of La Rochelle would seem to disprove the notion that that any one nation or side truly won the war.

Nevertheless if their performance in the war caused it in some way or not, Starym began to see a decline in relevance and power on the server after the end of the war, with Araga and Columbia — later becoming the Pan American Union once more in Earth World Mark VII — starting to emerge as the two main superpowers, or Superstates, that dominated during the end of the Earth World series.

In addition to its effect on the nations involved, the Second Araga-Starym War likely also had an impact on player activity around the end of Earth World Mark VI. Activity among members of all nations significantly declined after the war, with players online at peak hours going from around 8–20 to 3–10.