The Invasion of Eleria

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25,000 rebels would lead the invasion, following an initial bombing from Grinvel provided bombing craft they would storm the coast with several transport ships and seized fishing vessels to establish a beachhead. General Gulliver would personally command the invasion, among his Galran advisors he felt the pressure to show them he could conquer Eleria and give it to the SU as a prized state. He would be Emperor of the Empire and the SU would receive an invaluable territory in Western Touli.

Prior to the invasion starting off, Gulliver sent surrender terms to the Imperator.

"To the failed Imperator Laerence, 

This is your final warning, bend knee to Emperor Gulliver and the Sovereign Union or suffer dire consequences. You will be shown no mercy, your people will be chained and your generals hanged. Submit to the new world order and you'll be spared to live your life in exile.

Your better,

Emperor General Gulliver of the Elerian Empire."


Gulliver would wait for 24 hours before launching the invasion fully intending to force the Imperator's hand. 

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4:44 am 

The cool air of Summer swept across the sands of the Elerian island, the waves crashed against her shoreline in a serene peace that wouldn't last. 

The distant sound of gasoline powered engines in the high skies approached fast as Elerian rebels flew their Gotha bombers over their homeland, armed with several bombs they would drop in a large spread to do as much damage as possible prior to the troops landing. As the bombs dropped and burned the earth below they turned back due East as several boats began to cross over carrying rifle squads of rebels to storm the beach. The boats shored allowing them to touch the sands and begin rushing to the dunes and for the inland.

The first few men didn't suffer long. Bullets fairly ripped into their flesh spraying mists of blood at their comrades and sending them to the ground as the silence was filled with shouting and rifle fire. "Contact!" the rebels lined along the dunes firing their Talbh rifles at the dark as numerous flashes of Elerian loyalist who survived the bombing kept lead flying toward them. The Rebels couldn't tell if they were doing anything to their opponent until flares were fired, the bright red lights illuminated the early morning sky still dark as the sun barely rose over the horizon revealing the large deployment of loyalist. 

More rebels stormed the Southeastern beaches of Eleria but struggled to move forward past the dunes. 

5:34 am

The Gotha bombers were refueled and rearmed and sent back West, the intense firefight on the beach was a bloodbath as rebel forces would send troops forward only to be cut down swiftly. In a panic the rebel commander ordered the larger transport ships to send more troops and request naval bombardments from the Galrans. The Galran fleet did not respond. They finally got the relief they needed when the Gotha bombers returned dropping bombs over the loyalist and giving the rebels a break to move inland at last. 

The Gotha bombers turned back East to rearm but noticed traffic approaching them from the North. "We got bogies!" a tail gunner called out, chambering a round in his turret. Elerian Lancer fighters attacked with unreal speed and shot down several Gotha bombers, "We need fighter support!" a rebel called out over the radio, this would stun Rebel command who didn't think the Loyalist had any aircraft. But in some strange hindsight the Galrans sent Lancer fighters to Eleria proper instead of the continent. 

Fighting continued to rage across the Southeastern reaches of the island, but now the loyalist had artillery support. Field guns began blasting advancing rebels forcing them to stall once more. 

10:10 am

General Brown sent in 10,000 more troops to shore up defenses along the Eastern region, he lit a cigar and overlooked a map of the island. "We need to contain them along the coast as best as we can, if we can't we fall back and begin proper defense protocol for the capital and interior of the island." The constant back and forth of rifles being fired across the area turned the entire area of almost 100 miles into an active warzone, the loyalist had to use runners to communicate lacking the SU provided radios the rebels had. 

2:32 pm

Rebel forces received the bulk of their deployment and pushed with sheer manpower to seize a sizeable beachhead along the Southeastern region. However Rebel commanders were already requesting more troops as Brown's forces were inflicting heavy losses for every inch taken. The battle had begun, but for the Rebels it was already looking to be a long and grueling task to take the island and force the Imperator to step down. For Brown and his loyalist forces, it was the beginning of their proper defense of their homeland. 

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2 days

Southeastern Eleria was a warzone, most of the civilians had been evacuated to the North many of them ending up in Iomairt. The capital was preparing for the brunt of the assault as Brown was merely buying time for the defenses to finish. The unfortunate reality was, the rebels outnumbered them and had better weapons. Since the initial battle on the beach the rebels were slowly pushing the Loyalist inland. 

Elerian loyalist were calling themselves the Elerian Imperial Army or EIA while the rebels identified themselves as the Elerian Sovereign Alliance or ESA. Gulliver was confident still he could seize the capital rather swiftly but send another 20,000 troops to land on the island. Giving the EIA difficulty would be Galran longstreet light tanks and landships that now landed to support the invasion. Artillery fire would be sent back and forth as EIA forces desperately tried to counter the new metal demons on their homeland. 

Despite the huge technological advantage these rebels found the loyalist a fierce opponent, the stories of Elerians being some of the toughest fighters in Ouhiri was not an exaggeration. Gulliver sent his best troops at the front, he needed to win this battle to impress his new masters and win over more benefits from the SU. 

EIA lines were holding firmly for now, but Brown knew at best could only hold off for another day or two. Firefights between infantry were simply outmatched, the rebels sending trained Elerian riflemen with more advanced guns were killing his men 3 to 1. The tanks were making short work of any defensive line, their artillery could reach farther and to make matters worse the air fighters they had were running low on Staol brought over by the Galrans. This meant those damn Grinvel Gotha bombers could hit them unopposed. 

He sent his report to Iomairt, the line would not be held, the fighting would unfortunately reach the capital. 

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The final defensive line before the Capital's initial defense lines were now being hit, Rebel air supremacy was now clear as Loyalist scrambled to move their Lancer's further North and West to avoid losing them to bombings and capture. 

EIA lines held hard against the onslaught, but it was a hard task given the technologic advantage they were against. The longstreet light tank made short work of infantry held positions and showed how utterly helpless small arms fire resisted against it. Anything the EIA troops could use from field guns to improvised explosives did little but slow the advance down, what really slowed the rebel advance was sheer logistics. Galran ammo and fuel had to be hard shipped and ran to the stretching lines of the front.


General Brown positioned his troops along topographical defensive positions along the upper South region, here the farms and ditches gave his troops much needed cover. If he had one advantage, it was the fact ammo and supplies reached his forces very quickly. They weren't running short of rifle rounds or machine gun feeds, crates of .45-40 long bullets kept his troops rifles fed and the EIA broke out their tube reload rifles, the No.4 rifles and everything else that was being held off for the rainy day. Well, dammit that day was here, vanguard troops and drafted light infantry responsible for guarding the rear were given the single shot rifles while Brown's heavy and standard troops could at the least return fire more frequently. 

Brown gave the Elerian gunsmiths a blank check to make as many No.4 rifles and ammo as possible, it was also given that all able bodied men of Eleria be drafted for the defense of the homeland. If Iomairt was to be a battlefield, it would be one that the world would remember. For now Brown was harassing the rebs and stalling their advance with his choice of the battlefield finally forcing the enemy to be careful with their SU tanks. Several major passageways now were exposing the light tanks to field gun fire and the EIA took out 5 in quick succession, those burning hulks blocked the main roads and forced rebel infantry to work around them. 

It was finally a damn break. But he still had one problem, those Gotha bombers. But even those were struggling, the refined gasoline needed to fuel them had to be, again, shipped from Galra as it wasn't being made in Eleria. Bombing runs were short and often disappointing. Gulliver was starting to feel the tension in his chest when the lines began to show signs of static activity. What was looking like a clear march to the capital was becoming a logistical nightmare. 

Galran officials informed Gulliver that ships could only move so fast but if Gulliver killed off the Samurai it would be possible to have fuel shipped to Shiysil and then to Eleria. But reports came East that the Samurai weren't defeated yet, Gulliver couldn't believe it, what the hell was going on? This was to be the year of victory and yet his forces were stalling out. He ordered riders East to find out what was going on, as for the assault on the island he couldn't do much more than send more or less men grabbed off their farms and handed rifles to flood the field. But if that is what it took to bring the Imperator down, then so be it. 

Elerian Loyalist hold the line against rebel forces just South of their capital. 

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Iomairt has fallen. 


The Imperator and Imperatrix were being escorted to the Western coast where the Elerian Navy awaited to take them to the far western islands. General Brown was leading a valiant but ultimately futile attempt to hold back rebels, Imperator Lawerance met with his general one last time before boarding the Elerian flagship. 

"I can't believe its come to this, my home, in flames. Because of a madman sitting on a throne of religious madness." Lawerance felt despair, he felt lost, his forces fought Gulliver to a standstill for several weeks but with no foreign help he eventually lost to the better equipped rebels. 
"Our lord has not abandoned us for the false prophet my Imperator, he has simply given us a test to be better forged by." Brown was staying, he had well over 10,000 Elerians willing to fight and die for the Imperium, he would take what was left and flee North and go underground. The open war was all but over. 

"I will return Brown, I swear this. To you, to my people." Lawerance said, fire burning in his eyes. A resolve he would not abandon his country, "I know you will, but for now, board and head due west." 

After a few hours the Elerian fleet disembarked for the western islands. These small islands were the farthest outreach of the Elerian Imperium, as the ships faded into the distance Brown would order a retreat to the North and allow the rebels to seize the last port into Eleria. The Elerian rebels won. 

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In the Imperial palace of Iomairt, Gulliver adorned with medals he never earned sat on the Imperator's throne smugly smiling at his new position of power. As promised he had recently told his new SU allies to begin taking whatever they needed from Eleria and its mainland territories. But another guest had come to meet him, a greying man in all black wearing a kilt and tartan, "You've done well Gulliver, you have secured yourself as Emperor. Just as a foretold." Gulliver swallowed some spit in nervousness before responding, "Yes, you did call the alliance with the SU to be rather beneficial to us. Campbell." Standing before him was Lord Martin Campbell, a high ranking Gaelic clan leader and the mastermind of the overthrow of Imperator Lawerance. "We got work to do Emperor. Let's make sure the next step is in motion."