Smuggling Wars

The Smuggling Wars was a conflict fought in River's Rest that began in 5018, M.E..

The Smuggling Wars began after the great cataclysm which struck the region of River's Rest in 5018. The earthquake raised land near the town through which the Tempest River flowed. As a result, it created the Tempest Falls, and destroyed any further chance of practical river navigation from River's Rest to destinations up river. This had a crushing affect on one of the local illicit professions, river piracy. While some pirates moved up river, others turned to smuggling to make their profits. This drove them into straight conflict with a pre-existing smuggling network.

The smuggling network had been in existence for decades and had developed its own rules and rituals in accordance to their profession. The pirates turned smugglers ignored them completely. This lead to a direct confrontation between the old and the new. The term war was applied loosely, as there were no battles or generals leading armies. Instead, it became a struggle between two groups which lead to back alley stabbings, mysterious disappearances, and further forms of violence and intimidation. In the end, no one group won the war, as the conflict broadened into a general attempt at survival eased into a period when bloodshed between parties faded from fatigue.