WAVE / Fairy War (March – April 2013)
The high-water mark of Fairy's prowess
| Dates | March – April 2013 |
| Combatants | Fairy Nation [Fairy] vs WAVE Alliance [WAVE] |
| Standout Leaders | TanyaFairy (Fairy leader), Mellificient, Erebus (Fairy); unnamed WAVE leadership (likely remnants of Consone-era officers) |
| Outcome | Decisive Fairy victory; WAVE dismantled and absorbed |
The WAVE / Fairy War marked one of the earliest and most influential conflicts in the post-Consone era.
Fought in early 2013, it began as a falling-out between two former allies, the Illyria Fairy Nation and WAVE, whose confederation ties frayed amid the political realignment that followed the Coalition victory over Consone (2012–2013). Though brief, the war established Fairy as a dominant power in southern Elgea and set off a cascade of political shifts that directly influenced the Roman Empire Coup later that same year. It also marked the height of Fairy’s stature in Illyriad, when the alliance stood as one of the most respected powers in the game.
Origins and Causes#
After the collapse of Consone, several surviving alliances sought new identities and coalitions.
WAVE, originally aligned with the Consone bloc, attempted to secure its independence by forming fresh treaties, including with the Roman Empire (RE). Fairy, on the other hand, emerged from the ashes of its earlier confederation determined to preserve sovereignty and retaliate against what it saw as betrayal among its former partners.
The immediate cause of war was WAVE’s perceived support for VALAR, a longtime Fairy rival.
As Nokigon notes in his History of Illyriad, “Fairy was no longer a coalition pawn but a regional power in its own right.” When diplomatic overtures failed, Fairy declared war to enforce territorial dominance and settle old Consone grievances once and for all.
The Campaign#
Fairy’s war was swift and surgical. Using siege strategy refined by a range of alliances during the Consone conflict, Fairy commanders launched coordinated offensives against key WAVE cities in southern Elgea. Within days, multiple sieges were established, and WAVE, still reeling from leadership disputes, was unable to mount an organized defense.
Forum contemporaries recount that several WAVE settlements were razed outright, while others capitulated under threat of destruction. The campaign’s brevity reflected Fairy’s superior organization and experience, particularly under veterans like TanyaFairy and Mellificient, whose command style motivated the Fairy rank and file to execute precision strikes and psychological dominance.
Aftermath and Consequences#
By mid-April 2013, WAVE had been effectively dismantled. Surviving members were absorbed into neutral or friendly alliances, and Fairy’s territorial control in southern Elgea was uncontested. However, the war’s political fallout extended far beyond the battlefield.
As Eternal Fire later chronicled in The Roman Empire Coup (2015), RE’s decision to remain neutral while its ally WAVE was under siege caused deep fractures within its leadership.
“Roman Empire originally allied with WAVE, but then when met with oncoming conflict against FAIRY, opted to sit back and watch their allies suffer, regardless of the pacts made. This prompted myself, and my trusted friend Moonpie to act.”
— Eternal Fire, “The Roman Empire Coup” (Illyriad Forums, May 24, 2015)
That indecision and the perception that RE abandoned WAVE fueled internal dissent that culminated in the infamous Flavius Aetius coup months later.
In this sense, the WAVE / Fairy War was both a military event and a political hinge point—the moment when southern Elgea’s alliance order pivoted from Consone’s cooperative vision to a new age of rivalry and realpolitik.
Legacy#
The war’s brevity and outcome solidified Fairy Nation’s reputation as one of Illyriad’s most capable independent powers, albeit for a brief amount of time. It demonstrated the emerging pattern of post-coalition conflicts, where former allies turned against one another in localized struggles for prestige and autonomy.
For historians, the WAVE / Fairy War represents the first spark of the late-Consone diaspora: a transitional conflict bridging the grand coalition wars of 2012 and the factionalized, personality-driven wars that followed in the years leading to SIN’s rise.
