Dark Blue indicates a territory annexed into the Kingdom of Valens during the various wars in the 1300s launched by the Onyx King. Note that the Carettic duchies in the south were not fully occupied, but had their revolting armies militarily defeated at some point.
The Onyx King’s Wars refers to a series of military campaigns in Central Wudor launched by the Kingdom of Valens under the tenure of Archebaud de Fleur, better known as the Onyx King.
Despite the insistence of the Valenic court that the initial round of invasions were launched in order to contest Velmiric Slave Raids endemic to the coastal Ettish lords who swore dominion to Valens, it is generally agreed that the true intent was enforcing permanent dominion over polities dominated by the Ettish People in the north, and gaining an edge against the growing power of the Evershining Empire by securing control over their most accessible routes of expansion into Wudor.
Contemporary interpretation of the conflict note vast oversights with Archebaud’s plan- Ettish polities were already slowly being absorbed into Valenic control as time passed, Valenic naval power was non-existent and largely developed as an extension of it’s Ettish subjects, and the weakness Valens experienced as a result of it’s rapid conquests allowed the Evershining Empire to emerge victorious in the subsequent Carettic War.
Despite outwards military victories against Ettish polities, former Valenic policy was thwarted as the Ettish Schildswarths were largely validated and the power of the pro-Valenic Valkoons sharply decreased.
While previously, Valens and the various duchies of Ettmark had been developing a somewhat codependent relation in which Ettish merchant-gentry were content being subordinate to the Valenic Crown so long as they were permitted to keep their wealth, the wars of conquest ultimately demonstrated that the Valenic crown would have no issue seizing it once it’s conquests were complete, ultimately polarizing the remaining independent Ettish polities to resist Valenic rule by any means necessary. Mid-way through the onset of the wars, as the Carettic War began and the last Ettish states were under threat of conquest, the Ettish cities of Hanset and Zotten would band together under the banner of the Republic of Ettmark, with several other settlements joining shortly after.
Shortly after this, the Drow would intensify their incursions into southeastern Valens,
Ultimately, Archebaud would attempt to solidify his conquest by accessing profane magicks, delving into necromancy in order to resurrect a legion of the dead and performing the Obscene Rite. This would be his undoing, as he was killed in the middle of the ritual due to poor preparation- the sole outcomes of the event were the acceleration of the collapse of the Onyx King’s conquests with his death, the summoning of countless masterless undead (later split between the bloodthirsty Mindless and the somewhat sentient Vehement, and the rapid collapse of functional order in Valens, northern and eastern Carettia, and Ettmark.