First Peroth-Atlan War

The First Peroth-Atlan War (-2735 to -2720) was the first of five major conflicts between the Atlan and Perothan peoples that would stretch nearly a millenia. The first war was characterized as the continuation of the rise of the Perothan Empire and a victory over the Atlan state of Zanatal. Solidified by the successes on the Peninsula after the Great Ushaora War, Peroth was able to challenge the long-standing independence of Zanatal and aimed to gain control of the valuable sea trade centered around the city of Ataya. In all, Peroth conquered all but the southern third of the island and would occupy the acquisitions until the -2100s.

Beginning
In the -2770s to -2750s, Peroth had capitalized on their conquest of Ushaora by campaigning the regain lost territory in the south which had been snatched up by Feshans in the aftermath of the Great Ushaora War. After the campaign pushed the Fesha back across the Caratis River, the Perothan Emperor, Ushanka, solidified a trade pact with the Siwesin states to the west in order to protect his border and increase trade.

Even though Peroth and Zanatal had briefly formed an alliance a few generations prior to fight the Feshans, most of the trade gains and sea-power had gone to Zanatal in the aftermath. Ushanka believed that the success of his empire hinged on the monopolization of trade and had long-coveted the Atlan Sea trade which flowed through Ataya. He spent nearly a decade in the -2740s building a warfleet to carry his armies and enforce his will on the Sea and finally in -2735 he felt he could challenge the Atlan fleet.

Ushanka sent a messenger to Ataya requesting subjugation and tribute, but the Atlan elek, Ishartha IV had the messenger delivered back to Peroth blinded, saying the Perothans were "as blind at sea as this man is now in broad daylight." Ushanka immediately set to preparing his warfleet for invasion.

It was several months before Atlan sailors began to report seeing the Perothan Warfleet approaching, but Ishartha IV was reportedly shocked they were invading at all. Being ill prepared, he sent for all warships to come as quickly as possible to the capital, where he hoped to put an end to the invasion before it began.

The Battle of Imisha Bay
In early -2734 Ushanka's Warfleet under the command of his brother and chief Admiral, Porodas reached the coastline near the mouth of the Imisha river, where the harbor of Ataya sat nestled about 3 miles upstream. Knowing that his superior number of ships would be ineffective in the river passage, Porodas aimed to draw the Atlan fleet into the broader coastal waters by feigning a landing of troops on the shore south of the river.

The bait worked, for Ishartha had not yet rallied his land forces to Ataya, thinking that a land battle was impossible at this point in the conflict, and quickly mustered the warships docked in the harbor to interfere with the maneuver. The Atlans were confident in their ability to outperform even the numerically superior Perothans at sea, and made quick preparations with ramming spurs and bows toward the ships nearest to the coast. The overconfidence caused them to neglect protective flank positioning, and the Atlan fleet was completely caught off guard when a portion of the Perothan fleet appeared around the north end of the bay and quickly closed in on the rear of the Atlan formation.

Finding themselves surrounded, the Atlan fleet attempted to wheel into defensive positions to minimize exposure to ramming (the most common form of naval attack at the time) and hoped that by slipping between the Perothan ships they would gain positioning to ram the attackers. Unbeknownst to the Atlans, Peroth had recently developed a new technology- pitch-tipped javelins which when lit could quickly spread fire which was very hard to douse. As the Perothan advance crossed between the maneuvering Atlan ships, the sailors on desk lit and cast flaming javelins onto the hulls of the enemy ships, catching many on fire at once.

The Atlan fleet was thrown into complete disarray, as the flaming ships blocked the open retreat for the few remaining Atlan vessels not on fire. While some Atlan captains bravely steered their burning ships into Perothan warships, taking them down as well, the majority of the Atlan warfleet at Ataya was sunk, and less than a third limped back into the harbor.

The Conquest of Zanatal
After the battle of Imisha Bay, the Perothans gained almost complete naval superiority around Zanatal while the remaining Atlan fleets not in Ataya could only harass supply ships from the mainland. After some maneuvering and planning, Porodas made landfall with transport ships carrying ground forces about 40 miles southwest of Ataya. Among the men was Ushanka himself, wanting to personally oversee the invasion forces.