Mosk-Sopoh Dolysoh
Mosk-Sopoh Dolysoh, born Mosk Dolysoh and also known as Sopoh II and Mosk Sopohed, was the fourth gole of Toor, notable for conquering the Laeooy Coast, destroying the major city state of Troun and ending Tyrna's status as an independent kingdom. He established the neutral status of Ydoh Rol, as well as the high title of the Guardian of Ydoh Rol, of which he was the first holder.
| Mosk-Sopoh Dolysoh | |
| The Divine Destroyer | |
 | |
| Gole of Toor Guardian of Ydoh Rol Jeenor of Gaskal |
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|---|---|
| Reign | 1848-1870 FR |
| Predecessor | Meerō Dolysoh |
| Successor | Beejetoh Dolysoh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1829 FR |
| Died | 1870 FR |
| Parents | Meerō Dolysoh and Toves Goonoh |
Mosk grew up in Gaskal and was Meerō's eldest son. Having turned 12, he accompanied his father on the Red Orchid campaign which was an unsuccessful attempt at defeating Tyrna and Troun. He would later recount this time in his memoirs, saying:
"I was embarrassed for my family. I was embarrassed for my father. And I saw this embarrassment in the eyes of his generals. I knew that I never wanted anyone to look at a Dolysoh like that again. They shall look at us either with reverence or with fear."
The embarrassment that he mentions relates to the humiliation that Gutsag, the gole of Tyrna, subjected Meerō to: throughout the siege Gutsag had not only numerous times sent letters with insults by throwing them with rocks over the walls, but also had musicians and a choir perform songs with offensive lyrics about Meerō every morning.
Reign
Mosk chose to rule under the name Sopoh and was referred to by Ludoh as Sopoh II and by Porteek as Mosk-Sopoh. A version of the latter name can also be spotted in the inscriptions in the Gaskal royal palace, written as "Mosk Sopohed", which can be translated as Mosk of Sopoh.
Campaign against Tyrna
Mosk-Sopoh opened his reign with an immediate march on Tyrna. This campaign is known as the Green Cherry and was a resounding success for the new gole and earned him respect among his Jeens.
Unlike his father, Mosk-Sopoh was not in the habit of preparing for a campaign for years, instead putting together an army quickly and counting on the element of surprise. Additionally, he introduced the idea of first attacking Tyrna from water and then, when most forces would be focused on the coastal side of the city, enter it from its southern gates. As Toor did not have warships, the attack was commenced at night, with hundreds of sailing ships carrying archers that began to fire flaming spears. This set Tyrna's port and fleet on fire.
In the morning toorians attacked the southern gates and were able to easily enter the city. Tyrna was then sacked and Mosk-Sopoh ordered its inhabitants slaughtered. He then had a choir perform drinking songs, while heads of Dōrsags were hauled over the wall with siege engines.
Porteek references several toorian sources that explain that the brutal treatment was not simply due to Mosk-Sopoh's personal hatred of Tyrna, but that he needed to be sure that he won't be attacked from behind when marching further west. But the campaign ended abruptly due to the untimely demise of Mosk-Sopoh's sister, Goolytoh, with whom they were very close. Mosk-Sopoh chose to go back to Gaskal.
The destruction of Tyrna and specifically the execution of the Gmorōn kings sent waves across Tarnaria. It made the new gole immediately known across the eastern Continent and marked a new era. Some admired Mosk-Sopoh's boldness, some feared him and many hated him for the destruction of an ancient and culturally important city. The murder of all Dōrsags in Tyrna led to a century-long blood feud that indirectly led to the Dolysohs losing power to the Tōrmoh dynasty.
A relief in the Gaskal royal palace shows the toorians bringing back the spoils of war. The inscription below says:
"I painted the walls of their houses with the their blood."
Ultimatum to Deeras
Meerō honored his father's agreement with the Deeras family and Deeras was treated as an independent land. However, the consensus of nobility in Gaskal was that Deeras should at some point be confronted and begin contributing to the treasury. Uroh Maadoh became the negotiator with Deeras and established regular correspondence with them.
By the end of Meerō's reign Uroh Maadoh began sounding the alarm that the population of Deeras had increased dramatically, due to the many Negy opting to migrate to the region and settle. Uroh Maadoh argued that Deeras might become a threat to Toor and choose to invade like they have during the reign of Opol.
The new gole was much more receptive to Uroh Maadoh. After the army returned from the campaign against Tyrna, Mosk-Sopoh sent a convoy, led by Uroh Maadoh, to inform the Deeras clan that their senior representative is to travel to Gaskal to pay respects to the new gole.
"As a friend of your glorious house, allow to voice a humble piece of advice. Do bring gifts and offerings, as the gole is impatient and watches his visiting friends with a greedy eye."
The term "visiting friends" was doublespeak for "vassals" or "subjects", and if the quote is not a later embellishment, but an actual phrase uttered by Uroh Maadoh, this would have been understood as an ultimatum.
The Pale Grape: conflict with Troun, Nadd and Deeras
But the destruction of Tyrna was treated as an ultimatum as well, and even before Uroh Maadoh could return to Gaskal, the western coast of Ydoh Rol was attacked by the Naddians. They wreaked havoc on the coastal villages and ransacked several towns, murdering its inhabitants and leaders. Porteek quotes Brone Forod's memoirs, where he says:
"The prey was given too much time to eat and sleep. And when it got its rest, it attacked, fiercely and blindly, like an animal. Burning our homes and slaughtering our people. We took a long time training our muscle in the past, and it was perhaps too long. But when we were ready, we were ready to take on not just a single tree, but the whole forest!"
It indeed became clear that Troun and Nadd decided to make a preemptive strike. Apart form decimating the western coast, the naddians were able to burn the fleet of sailing ships that was used to attack Tyrna.
The furious Mosk-Sopoh began swift preparations for a conquest on Nadd and Troun.
Meanwhile, Deeras refused to submit to Mosk-Sopoh and the family was able to put together a 10,000-strong army, comprised of mercenaries, mostly from the Oaleed, but also from Urnotys, Jojnohs and Aagalohs. This army then invaded Toor, forcing Mosk-Sopoh to forgo his preparations for a conquest on Nadd and Troun and instead channel his resources towards this new threat. He led a 5000-strong Gaskal force against the mercenaries, who by this time managed to enter Ydoh Rol. The gole was able to force them out and push them back to Palas, then Dol, at which point the mercenary army fled to the west.
Mosk-Sopoh then proceeded to Deeras and attacked the city, defeating it easily: the city had almost no armed forces defending it and seemed to be very sparsely inhabited. There were also no members of the Deeras family. Mosk-Sopoh largely spared the lives of the city's citizens, proclaiming it to be under his jurisdiction and assigning Uroh Maadoh as Murdoh.
However, as the toorians were passing through Dol, they were ambushed by several Negy armies, which used the mountainous region to their advantage and very quickly surrounded the relatively small army of the gole. The encounter turned out to be a disaster for Mosk-Sopoh. Suffering heavy losses, the army was able to fight its way out and return to Gaskal. Just a week later news arrived that the Deeras family returned to the city and that Uroh Maadoh was executed.
Less then a month later Troun invaded Toor and burned down Palased. By this time Mosk-Sopoh's court was already long in the process of putting together an army for a future conquest against Troun, so in spite of heavy losses at Dol, Mosk-Sopoh was able to lead an army of about 8000 against the invaders. A key battle happened in a region known as Kees. Troun's army turned out to be much more numerous and was led by the gole Mod Dorvysoh, but he was killed early in the battle and his sons chose to withdraw. Mosk-Sopoh, who realized that he got lucky and that that battle could have been the end of Toor, did not pursue. On their way back through Ydoh Rol, however, Troun forces ransacked every village they passed through. This seriously undermined the region and for the next decade it was mostly in ruins. This also began to threaten the religious standing of both the region and the Dolysohs, which would eventually lead to the special sacred status of Ydoh Rol.
A mere year after the battle at Kees, in late autumn, Deeras invaded Toor from the south. This time the army consisted mostly of Negy and Jojnohs. They reached Palas and stationed there, with the intention of biting away the region between the Palas and Dol mountains from Toor. Since it was winter, they counted on snowfall to slow down Gaskal's response. Mosk-Sopoh, however, moved out immediately, marched to the mount of Marij and hit Deeras' army from this less expected direction. The Negy quickly retreated, leaving two Jojnoh divisions to hold toorians back. Mosk-Sopoh managed to defeat one of them and pay off the other.
The toorians then pursued the Negy and almost caught up with them, but were forced to follow them beyond Dol, essentially playing into their hand again: the Negy quickly vanished among the mountains and hills, and then hit the toorians on their way out. This time the trap was even tighter and Mosk-Sopoh's troops suffered enormous losses, with the gole barely saving his own life.
As he arrived at Gaskal, he was greeted with even more bad news: the naddians had again attacked the west coast, and had once more burned down the fleet of sailing ships that the toorians had been rebuilding for the past two years. What was left of west Ydoh Rol was decimated completely.
This series of defeats between 1849-1852 FR, known as the Pale Grape, put a huge strain on Mosk-Sopoh's reign and on the sovereignty of Toor.
Pact with Deeras, neutrality of Ydoh Rol
The decimation of Ydoh Rol became big news across Tarnaria, since to Xaewoon believers Ydoh Rol was a sacred land that was supposed to be guarded by Dolysohs. This was immediately viewed as a challenge to the Dolysohs rule by many, but ultimately the events of the Pale Grape led to the strengthening of both Toor and Dolysohs grip on power, as they proceeded to resolve some of the issues through politics and diplomacy.
Mosk-Sopoh wanted, in fact, to respond with an immediate campaign on the Laeooy Coast to restore his family's honor, but was held back by Meerō Lōblyn, who suggested better preparation.
At the same time, a number of nobles led by Uroh Tydon began to suggest a neutral status for Ydoh Rol, distancing it from Toor and ensuring that no Xaewoon state would ever attack it. This was opposed by Brone Forod who viewed the connection of the Dolysoh court to Ydoh Rol as crucial to Dolysohs power. Uroh Tydon argued in response for the Dolysohs to establish and take the title of the Guardians of Ydoh Rol, which would be a formalization of the Dolysohs claim to rule over Ydoh Rol. Forod believed that the title of a gole was higher than any other title in the land, and that the Guardian of Ydoh Rol should be subservient to the Gole of Toor.
However, Uroh Tydon's case was helped by the outcry directed at Deeras, since its troops entered Ydoh Rol with malicious intent. The Oaleed used the situation to set up their raids on Deeras, and Maird imprisoned one of the Deeras family members. As a result, Deeras reached out to the court in Gaskal and pledged loyalty in return for protection and support. Specifically, Deeras wanted the Dolysohs to legitimize their place as the land of the Negy and at the same time as true Xaewoon followers.
The pact between Toor and Deeras was finalized in 1853 and a mission to bring back the captured family member from Maird was successful, which improved the reputation of the Dolysohs. They were now seen as the makers of peace and defenders of Ydoh Rol. At the same time, this served as a formal recognition of Deeras as a sovereign state, which became a vassal state that was to pay tribute. It remained independent militarily, but in practice both Deeras and Toor tended to support each other in war, which meant that the Dolysohs turned a serious adversary into a strong ally. The pact was sealed with a marriage between Mosk-Sopoh's daughter Mylyn Dolysoh and Kolom Deeras, the son of Faan Deeras.
While this action ensured the recognition of Deeras by Toor, it essentially triggered a several century conflict between Toor, Deeras and the Oaleed people, as the Oaleed continued their raids against the Negy. It also put additional pressure on Toor to subjugate the Laeooy Coast.
In 1854 Mosk-Sopoh proclaimed the neutral status of Ydoh Rol, while giving himself the title of the Guardian of Ydoh Rol. He also initiated a project to re-build the region after its decimation by Nadd.
Red Apple campaign
Preparation
Apart from purely military measures, Mosk-Sopoh organized a diplomatic diversion, by secretly involving Troun in investing into the city of Jhet. Jhet was itself established and built with Toor's money, a fact that was kept secret for over 50 years. By Mosk-Sopoh's reign the city was already becoming an important frontier and a gateway to further exploration of the lands to the west of Laeooy Coast, but it had minimal military leverage. This somewhat allayed the fears of Troun's court regarding persistent rumors of imminent payback from Mosk-Sopoh, them believing that Nadd is going to take the brunt of the blow and that Gaskal wouldn't involve Troun in such long-term transactions if they were planning to invade.
Attack on Troun
April of 1856 FR saw a massive 12,000 army march from Gaskal. Contrary to the narrative sold to Troun, Mosk-Sopoh went past Nadd and approached Troun in the early hours of the day. The forces were positioned in a semi-circle and then attacked. Although Troun was a formidable fortress, the unpreparedness of its defenders coupled with the sheer amount of attackers that hit its south walls all at the same time created panic. Troun fell within several hours. In the ensuing days, Troun was ransacked, a lot of its population slaughtered and the rest enslaved. Mosk-Sopoh then ordered the city to be leveled.
Troun was never re-built and its destruction typically marks the subjugation of Laeooy Coast by the Dolysohs.
The beginning of the "Long Siege"
Main page: The Long Siege
Mosk-Sopoh planned to surprise Troun and then on his way back attack Nadd from this unlikely direction. However, when his army approached the city, none of the arrows or siege engine were able to reach the walls of the city: as if hitting an invisible wall, all projectiles just fell to the ground, stopped midway.
It turned out that just several weeks ago, Nadd saw the arrival of Mran Gantorn, a gantolian superhero warrior. Gantorn's power was a subconscious creation of a vast defensive field that would create a barrier, passable only by slow moving objects. The effectiveness of the field could be further increased by Gantorn's conscious effort, as well as his perception of his surroundings.
At the time of the attack neither Gantorn nor even most of the naddians realized that the city was under siege, but as projectiles, hurled at the walls were moving very fast, and thanks to the fact that Gantorn was staying fairly close to the walls, his field protected the south-western border of the city.
Realizing that a superhero warrior might be involved, Mosk-Sopoh set up siege. An active phase of the siege lasted until winter of 1856, after which the majority of active forces were moved east in order to deal with the increasing Oaleed threat.
Nadd ended up holding Mran Gantorn captive and thus ensuring that no enemy troops could enter the city up until Gantorn's death in 1901. The Long Siege, thus, lasted for 45 years.
Blue Orange campaign
Challenge to reign and death
Mosk-Sopoh was considered a strong leader, but the conclusion of the Blue Orange campaign brought a number of unexpected challenges to his reign. Specifically, the nobility and the military were unhappy with the high taxation that was used to re-build multiple cities and lands after the Pale Grape conflicts. Both the Red Apple and Blue Orange campaigns, while successful, turned out to be a disappointment to the nobility due to the way Mosk-Sopoh distributed the spoils of war, with the majority of it going to Gaskal, Ydoh Rol and Deeras.
In 1869 FR Mosk-Sopoh was directly challenged by Doks Raad who was the Grand Pōntim in the Chamber of War. Raad was closely aligned with Gorōntoh Vossyn-Lōblyn, Grand Veraa and the principle of the Chamber of War.
Although Gorōntoh never directly supported Raad, she never directly opposed him either. This was due to the complicated position she was in. Her father, Meerō Lōblyn, had a history of disloyalty to Dolysohs, even taking part in a coup against Meerō Dolysoh, but his political prowess allowed him to earn the trust of Mosk-Sopoh when he came to power.
Gorōntoh could have been put in a position to take sides if Mosk-Sopoh was to demand her support. This was dangerous as the coalition against Mosk-Sopoh was considerable, and Gorōntoh did not want to be forced to make a choice. She then reached out to the Mōrtoh elder Goven Bylyk who was responsible for Beejetoh Dolysoh's bid to the throne, and asked him to intervene. This was a clever move, as involving Mōrtoh basically meant that the stance of the principle of the Chamber of War was quite irrelevant.
Mosk-Sopoh's reaction to the challenge was also unorthodox, as he suggested a series of physical challenges to be organized between Raad and himself. One who proves to be the stronger warrior takes the throne. This was a dangerous path to follow, as it undermined the whole idea of Dolysohs as the ruling family, but on the other hand it did satisfy nobility who felt that this is a fair way to resolve the conflict. Goven Bylyk was able to convince Mosk-Sopoh to keep the contest a secret from the outside world until the time he defeats Raad.
The contest began in early 1870 FR. It was held in several parts, each of which was attended by around 50 people, among them guards, ooron and representatives of the royal house. Both Mosk-Sopoh and Raad were experienced warriors in excellent physical shape and both kept clearing the challenges on par. The resolution came suddenly during a routine spear contest when Raad hit Mosk-Sopoh in the chest, killing him on the spot.
Raad and his party immediately left and began celebrations. However, Goven Bylyk was prepared for the possibility of Mosk-Sopoh's defeat and had already invited Beejetoh to secretly arrive at Gaskal. Mere hour after Mosk-Sopoh's death he made the claim on Beejetoh's behalf as her Mōrtoh elder.