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<h3>1650 — Victory</h3>
<h4>Ervëa and Attafei</h4>
The Munkhâshi sent <b>Ervëa</b> one envoy after another, offering surrender on honorable terms; or even an independent kingdom along the Eärdur. They could not understand what made the Caďinorians fight on, in a hopeless war, their capital burned (1646), tens of thousands dead, their realm cut almost in half. To the ktuvoks, the Caďinorians had lost, and had no business fighting on.
<p>Fortunately for Eretald, Ervëa never wavered. His main army was in Seraeor, almost surrounded by the Munkhâshi; at the right moment he marched it down southward, joining with another force in Araunicoros and cutting off the Munkhâshi forward lines. While the Munkhâshi elite forces abandoned the seige of Ctesifon and rushed to grapple with him, Ervëa methodically destroyed their rear guard and supply lines. If he could keep the army he had captured trapped, it could be entirely destroyed. He could, and it was (1647).
<p>There were more Munkhâshi where they came from— but not infinitely more, especially as Attafei was enjoying similar successes in the east. The ktuvoks sent Ervëa a message which was a mad combination of threat, disdain, and peace proposal. Ervëa didn’t need to be told twice about Munkhâshi weakness.
<p>The Munkhâshi figured that the Ctelm Mountains and the fortress of Gopando (retaken in 1646) would stop the Caďinorians. Ervëa plunged through the mountains, and simply bypassed Gopando. He landed an army east of the Shkónoro, by sea; and pushed east to join them. By 1649, the Munkhâshi in the Kešvareni plateau were cut off from the Munkhâshi heartland.
<p>Throughout the war Ervëa showed himself to be cool, energetic, and cunning. His armies were almost always smaller than the Munkhâshi hordes arrayed against them; but Ervëa had the gift or the madness of being able to ignore the mere probabilities, and imparting the same attitude to others; and the skill or luck needed to exploit marginal opportunities and meager resources.
<p>If Ervëa was clever, <b>Attafei</b> was merely stubborn. He simply pushed his men forward; if he met resistance he threw men at it; if the obstacle was insurmountable he went around it; if the odds were hopeless he trusted in Jippir.
<p>One of the obstacles to the march north was the <b>elcari</b> of Khak Beliddên, who refused to allow Attafei’s armies to transit through their territories, or to lend their expertise in the fight against Kulig. They pointed out that he could go around, but he saw another way: occupation of the elcarin <i>khak</i> (1646-7). This proceeded with grim efficiency; when the elcari realized that resistance would not preserve their settlements and machines, they submitted to the Tej.
<p>In 1650 Attafei broke through to the sea. Jippir or no Jippir, his men quaked when he told them to enter the marshes of the ktuvoks; he simply strode ahead into the waters. His men marvelled, and lost their fear. So great a god as gave this strength to Attafei would not let him fail.
<h4>Elsewhere</h4>
<p>The <b><a href="Javascript:parent.al('Gurdago');">Gurdagor</a></b> marched north from Guṭḷeli— through Peligir territory— into the Skourene homeland. With the aid of Iṭili and Ṭisuram it liberated the eastern half of Skouras— the ancient territories of Engidori and Pafliopagimi.
<p>The question was what to do next. The Tžuro were obviously engaged elsewhere; but their attention would return. Gurdago’s Šinourene allies, knowing that the alternative was to become Gurdagor client states, proposed another ‘Skourene League’. Gurdago wanted something stronger. On the death of Lord Adesdanti, the Peligir talked of alliance, but this idea was sorely tested by the defection of Teralam (on the Gelihur peninsula) to Gurdago.
<p>Neirimi of <b>Moun</b> learned too late not to trust Munkhâshi gifts. The peoples he had conquered rebelled; his neighbors invaded. He died in battle, defending Neiral, his capital city. It was burned— and the new temple of Gelalh with it (1648).
<p>Xuruwaruz II of <b>Axunai</b> had some idea of reattaching Moun to itself, and perhaps turning the anti-Moun coalition back into an empire; the other states soon disabused it of these notions. The new kings had no desire to become governors again; and empires, it seemed clear, only cost money and caused trouble.
<p>In 1650 the <i>niveï</i>’s troops were expelled from <b>Četazi</b> (modern <i>Ṭetäs</i>) the largest city of Čeiy; it became the capital of Amurineli.
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