Hittite Civil War

The Hittite Civil War was a conflict that began on the 20th of March, 2021, in the ninth Season of PTR MC. Up until that point, it was the largest and longest conflict to have occurred on the server, involving around nine total players and lasting for three days, though for most of that time it was an "undeclared" war.

During the course of the conflict, the main object of the fighting was the city of Byzantion, whos mayor was the player SamuelFreeman69. After originally being a part of the Hittite Empire, Byzantion would declare secession from the Empire, then would be the subject of an official war declaration that would lead to a re-annexation of the city by the Hittite Empire. Thousands of dollars were spent on war preparations, making it one of the most expensive wars ever done on the server.

Leadup to War
The city of Byzantion was founded the day the server opened to the public. Immediately after its creation, the city joined the Hittite Empire as a willing participant. Over the course of several days, however, the city and its leader, SamuelFreeman, began to experience issues with the central government centered in Antioch.

The first of these issues was the problem of taxation in the Empire. Though the tax was relatively small on towns, a meagre $15 worth of daily taxes (less than half an iron ingot), Samuel refused to pay these taxes. After several hours of debate, Samuel finally conceded the issue, but would remember the event for many days to come.

Samuel had been friends with the leader of the neighboring Roman Empire for many days before, including from previous seasons. This would lead to Samuel and the Emperor of the Romans, DeathCow, to begin to hangout together during the course of the season in the city of Rome itself. During these meetings, the two would engage in what they called "Gay Sex", though the actual content of the exercise was more of a joke than actual homosexual intercourse. This joke would evolve into a very real discussion later that day, however.

After these meetings, Samuel began to petition to the Hittite King, sungross, to enact real legislation to "legalize" homosexuality. Though the actual concept of legalizing a sexuality was a joke shared between Samuel and DeathCow, Samuel began to push for this to be made a real law with much urgency. Though sungross was neutral in the whole issue, considering the topic to be "irrelevant" to the running of the nation, Malleokid, an inhabitant of the Hittite city of Tyre, objected strongly to its passage. After much "debate", the law was put into place, but the tensions between Samuel and sungross would never be healed.

The root cause of the problems between Samuel and the rest of the Empire was the simple fact that he had achieved a higher level of gear than the rest of the Empire. Samuel had full Netherrite armor, while the rest of the players in the Hittites were still mostly using Diamond. Samuel therefore felt that he had a higher right to rule than Sungross, and began to lean into the gay rights issue more heavily, with a final piece of legislation designed to enrage Malleokid and force sungross to concede his political power in the Empire. The legislation was as follows:

"Byzantion demands: Gay rights in Tyre no matter the consequences. Gay parades every 7 irl days: Grant Byzantion more autonomy: No Byzantion taxes (Gay parades take place in every city)" This would be the proverbial final straw in the issue, and after Sungross refused to implement the legislation, Samuel attempted to declare war on sungross with the CB to "Overthrow". Though this CB was invalid and was later voided, the war had unofficially begun. Byzantion declared independence that same day, forming the Kingdom of Greece soon afterwards.

The "False War"
The "False War" as it would come to be known is the name given to the period of 2-3 days after the secession of Byzantion from the Hittites. During this period, both sides were given ample time to prepare for the war they both knew would come. Though nothing was declared and technically hostilities were not allowed, Sungross outlawed Samuel in the Empire and began a massive preparation effort to reconquer Byzantion.

During this period in time, Samuel would invite his friends to the server, who founded the nation of the Republic of Texas. Byzantion would disband Greece and join Texas in a move that severely angered the Hittites and confused many on the server.

In the following days, Sungross would prepare his nation relentlessly for the coming conflict, getting all members of the Hittite Empire to netherrite armor and making potions.

At the end of this period, the player Hairy_Sonic joined the nation. Hairy_Sonic is an infamous player known for his toxicity and skill at PvP, and joined Tyre to help the Hittites. On that same day, the Hittite Empire declared war on the city of Byzantion, and therefore drawing in the rest of the Republic of Texas.

The Siege of Byzantion
After the declaration of war, Texas began to hastily repair the walls of Byzantion to meet the attackers when they arrived. Malleokid, Tooger, Sungross, and Hairy_Sonic arrived southeast of the city and began to set up a siege camp. They attempted to use the Siege plugin but realized that the plugin was preventing them from sieging, and so attacked the city without the plugin, a move considered controversial after the fact, but during the battle was not a contentious issue. Tooger set up cannons and began firing on the walls of the city while the rest of the Imperial forces assaulted the walls with bows and arrows. After several minutes of skirmishing with the defenders, the Texans began to grow restless. SamuelFreeman was the first of the defenders to leap over the walls and directly face the Loyalists in melee combat. However, he was quickly overwhelmed by the more numerous attackers, and though reinforcements came from over the walls to assist him, he and the reinforcements were slaughtered and their items taken.

After this, Tooger and his cannons broke through the walls of Byzantion, letting the rest of the Hittites break through and flood the city. The rest of the defenders, notably Mihail, evacuated the city to escape being killed. After this, DeathCow intervened to warn the attackers that they should use the siege plugin or face consequences. Quickly fixing the siege immunity issue, the attackers settled in for a siege of the city that they expected would last several IRL days. The Mexicans offered to assist the Hittites in their quest to recapture the city, as they were rivals with the Texans and wished to interfere in their foreign affairs. This led to the creation of the Hittite-Mexican Alliance, which lasts to this day.

However, behind closed doors, Samuel, Mihail, and Sungross worked out a deal to stop the war and make peace with one another. Sungross agreed to let Samuel grab an inventory's worth of valuables and destroy a building in the city in exchange for the surrender of the city, which took place on the same day that the war had begun.

The surrender of the city took place without much pomp. It conclusively ended the Hittite Civil War, but instead of installing a new regional governor for the city, the Hittite King would directly annex the city into his domains to be handed out to a Loyalist at a later date.

Aftermath
The effects of the war were widespread. The war, despite being relatively minor, was proof that a larger player count equaled larger and more in-depth wars. Though the war was a victory for the Hittites, they were criticized for their ignoring of the Siege system and the miscommunication on both sides which led to breaking of some rules. Though Hairy_Sonic was punished for his toxicity during one of the war discussions and rule breaking afterwards, the Hittites came out relatively unscathed.

SamuelFreeman would retreat to Texas and found the town of Amarillo, leaving behind the Hittite Empire and his life in Byzantion behind.