The One Antler War, also known as the Great Liberation from Golden Antler Tyranny War, was a conflict fought between House Golden Antler and House Suuyne in the Woodland Greens, southern Shattered Continent, as part of the Elvish Wars.

Belligerents

House Golden Antler was leading a regime of terror against its population in the Woodland Greens. The House had sizeable armed forces at its disposal. The Stag Guard was by far the largest force, a professional and loyal but barely trained army of heavy infantry used primarily to beat down and suppress unarmed civilians. The Thousand Sons were a unit of light cavalry and foot skirmisher mercenaries. Patriarch Tymahe could also count on a Mystraleth principle called the Favored Falcons, as well as a small unit of assassins and bodyguards called White Devils. The Golden Antler forces were commanded by two cunning but inexperienced thanor generals, Thian and Minth, who were nicknamed the house's "antlers".

House Suuyne, meanwhile, had seen battle several times in the recent past. It had a sizeable veteran infantry force, a corps of warmages called Silver Bolts, and the support of wood elven foot skirmishers who had fled Golden Antler's oppressive regime to side with Suuyne. The force was commanded by experienced moon elven priestesses who had recently won a campaign against a minor Mystraleth force; this meant they already knew the strategic mindset of their Mystraleth-based opponents.

Battles

Opening Move and Fall of the Antler

Golden Antler arrayed a powerful invasion force, sending nearly its entire armed forces to fight under the command of General Minth. The plan was to overwhelm Suuyne in a single push, before it could properly prepare and defend, and decapitate house nobility to swiftly incorporate Suuyne into Golden Antler. Minth, though she had never led an army to battle before, felt confident of her victory; after all, she had the larger force and the full support of the powerful Lord Protector of the Woodland Greens.

In a brash move, she force marched her army from the camp where it had gathered for three days, before crossing the river that marked the border between Golden Antler and Suuyne. In two more days, the army would have crossed the Tuuinsisinis Hills and reached the gates of the Suuyne capital. But battle was met far earlier: Suuyne, knowing what was coming, swiftly raised its highly mobile army and deployed it in an advantageous location in the hills, waiting for the enemy to arrive. A day later, Minth's force reached the bottom of the hill on which the moon elves stood, and the thanor prepared her force for battle.

She planned to lead a charge straight up the slope with the Stag Guard, keeping the Thousand Sons to guard the flank and potentially outflank the enemy, and, at Principa Maihe's bidding, keeping the Mystraleth troops in the back as reinforcements. Soon after, the Guard began charging up the slope, and battle was met.

The attack was a disaster. Standing on top of the hill, the moon elves could send volleys of arrows and utilize their powerful warcasters to seriously damage the attackers, and the exhausted soldiers who did make it all the way up the slope were no match for the better-trained and fresh moon elven infantry. The Stag Guard line was already falling apart, some elves already trying to flee in the direction of the river. Minth, seeing this and knowing she had already fully committed, led her two hundred Guard reserves up the slope as reinforcements, and ordered Mystraleth and the Thousand Sons to do the same. But Maihe instead swiftly retreated in direction of the river, while the Thousand Sons stood by idly. Soon after, Minth fell in battle, and the Stag Guard was decisively routed.

The Mystraleth principle returned to Mossy-Green Grove without having lost a single soldier. 500 Stag Guard made it back; the rest deserted, died, or was captured by Suuyne. The Thousand Sons switched sides and now took coin from Suuyne. And one of the Golden Antler's two generals had died, which is where the name "One Antler War" originated.

Suuyne Campaign

The Golden Antler had basically no army left; it was open ground for Suuyne. The moon elves decided they would end the threat posed by their neighbor once and for all, and that they would liberate the poor population of the Woodland Greens from their plight. Their army marched across the river unopposed, taking one settlement after another facing virtually no resistance. They had far superior numbers, strategy, morale, and experience; and their warcasters did not have a real equivalent on the Golden Antler side. In fact, the Golden Antler was falling apart on its own, with villages rising up and declaring their independence even without Suuyne intervention.

Siege of Mossy-Green Grove

After a year of circuitous conquest, consolidation, humanitarian support, and skirmishing, the Suuyne army finally reached Mossy-Green Grove. The Favored Falcons had left the continent a few days prior, so that the city was now only defended by a handful of Stag Guard and White Devils. The moon elves broke through the city's hastily erected and lightly defended palisade without trouble, beginning a siege of the barricaded Purple Palace. It had some mythal and abjuration protections, but these could not resist the power of the Silver Bolts, who began bombarding the palace with fireballs and lighting. The walls slowly crumbled, and after two days and one failed White Devil sortie, the palace was on the verge of collapse.

It was then that General Thian, the surviving White Devils, and a few bedraggled Stag Guard came out of the sagging palace. Thian held in her hands the severed head of Patriarch Tymahe.

Outcome

The Golden Antler was defeated and literally beheaded. Without its patriarch, the house disappeared, and the Woodland Greens found themselves without any noble houses. The Purple Palace collapsed a few days after the surrender due to structural damage.

Thian and the other thanor were shown mercy in exchange for their surrender, and were allowed to go free. Many Stag Guards were tried and imprisoned for their crimes, the others were allowed to go free. Suuyne did not have the resources to rebuild or govern the ravaged Woodland Greens, and so pulled back to its own borders.