Stomp Surrenders to SIN, Ends War Against Land Claims

The Stomp/claimers war has come to an end.

In a post on the Illyriad Forums, Stomp leader Pico offered a brief but clear concession:

“Stomps has surrendered to Sin and is ending the war on land claims. Congratulations to Sin on an excellent campaign and thanks to everyone who supported Stomps efforts in this war.”

Stomps’ mission to engage and defeat the land claim issue and the alliances who enforce them began on June 8th — exactly two months from the date of SIN’s own land claim according to their profile page, which was the first in a string of eleven total claims in the BL. The alliance, which was founded by Pico and his alt LePue, sought to engage T-SC first in Elgea — an early move that drew out T-Sc’s DSD kin T-O. T-O’s involvement overlapped with subsequent war declarations against Stomp from SIN, TVM, RE, Stark, and Hansa.

At times, however, the loosely assembled coalition of land claiming alliances appeared to be faltering. Early exits from RE and T-SC from the war, as well as a later rift with SIN and T-O reportedly over the management of He-Man’s defense in Elgea led to political tensions. There was even a report that Hansa had considered leaving the war as well. Perhaps the most contentious political  upheaval, however, came from House Stark after Phoenixfire dissolved his alliance’s land claim and made unilateral peace with Stomp.

However, in spite of these political waverings, the claimers’ battlefield prowess proved to be the deciding factor in their victory over Stomps, with SIN leading the way.

From the start of the war’s escalation on June 15th, the claimers racked up eight razes, one capture, and four siege breaks compared to Stomps’ one raze and one capture, according to the war score card. Of the 9 successful sieges, eight are attributed to SIN.

Specifically, SIN’s military potency, together with their organization in the Broken Lands, made Stomps’ campaign difficult at best to achieve in an open war setting. Late Stomp efforts to exodus cities into Pawanallpa to create a Stomp BL bulwark were largely unsuccessful.

From here, it remans to be seen where the land claim issue will go — whether the issue will be transposed onto the Han/Stark war, or whether another, larger-scale war will be fought in the future not over specific claims, but rather over the entire idea as a whole. Many argue, however, that nothing is settled by this war, and its outcome has proven nothing about the validity of land claims. Perhaps the only testable question — can they be defended? — may have been answered, at least in part.