Declaring War
Whether your nation declares war on another or vice versa, all current diplomatic edicts and trade routes are ended. Regardless of who declared war, each nation's Ruler must make a Stability check. Succeeding the check increases Unrest by 1, while failing increases Unrest by 1d4+1, plus an additional 1d4+1 for every 10 below the DC, as the people become agitated at the state of war. Your relationship with the opposing nation becomes hostile.
If you and the enemy nation had embassies in each other's territory, the Grand Diplomat must make two Stability checks. The first is to determine if your embassy staff successfully escapes to your nation, and prevents any sensitive information falling into enemy hands. If the check fails, your nation's Unrest increases by 1d4+1, plus an additional 1d4+1 for every 10 below the DC. The second check is to determine if your nation succeeds at capturing the enemy's embassy intact. Doing so grants you 1d4 Minor Secrets on the enemy nation as detailed in the Espionage Edict.
Ending War
Negotiation
If all nations involved in the war are willing to negotiate an end to the war, your Grand Diplomat can issue a diplomatic edict to negotiate peace during your Decision phase. The terms are then dictated as part of this edict.
Total Victory
The war can also end when all settlements of one side have been occupied by the other side. The nations belonging to the defeated side then cease to officially exist.
The victorious side of a Total Victory gains the remaining Treasury of the defeated nations. It can also claim the hexes formerly claimed by the defeated nations at the cost of 1 BP per hex, plus 1 BP per settlement district within those hexes; these hexes are considered to be already explored, and hexes and districts that are already exploited do not need to be paid for. However, the victorious side also increases their Total Unrest by 1 per hex and per settlement district taken due to the change in administration and the general resentment of the population. If there are multiple nations on the victory side, the spoils of war can be negotiated between them. Any hexes of the defeated nations not claimed by the victors at the time of victory become unclaimed, and can be explored and claimed as normal.
Any special units of the defeated nations (army units, scout teams, police units, agents) nominally becomes owned by the victorious nations (divided among them as part of negotiating the spoils of war). However, the new owners must make a Loyalty check for each unit with a penalty equal to the unit's ACR plus it's commander's LB. Failure results in the unit rebelling against the new order, becoming independent and unsupported by any nation. They will eventually disband if they cannot pay their Consumption, but may become a danger as they raid lands to gain BP. You may defeat them in Mass Combat as normal, attempt to negotiate with them, or leave their actions up to the GM.
Any prisoners that survived in the defeated nations' captivity are automatically freed. The fate of prisoners still in your custody are up to you, with the consequences detailed in House Rules: Mass Combat - Victory and Aftermath under "Prisoners of War".
If your nation adds the defeated nations' territory as part of your own, you also gain a portion of their current casualties. Your nation's Casualties increase by an amount equal to the proportion of the defeated nations' Casualties equals to the proportion of territory taken. Add up the number of hexes and settlement districts your nation is taking over. Then calculate the percentage of that territory from the total number of hexes and settlement districts of the defeated nations. That percentage is the proportion of the total Casualties of the defeated nations that is now added to your own nation's Casualties.
Aftermath
After incorporating conquered territory and settlements in your nation, the people in your new lands may not accept your rule so peacefully. Starting on your next Event phase after your victory, your nation automatically experience a number of nation events in addition to any that are normally randomly generated. These events cannot be altered with the Ear to the Crowd leadership perk.
Each conquered settlement generates one random event per alignment step difference between it and your nation from Table: Aftermath Settlement Events for a number of months equal to its number of districts. If the settlement's alignment matches your nation, it means that its citizens are more or less content with your nation's policies. The number of events is reduced the more the settlement's (or your nation's) alignment shifts closer together.
Table: Aftermath Settlement Events
| d% | Settlement Event |
|---|---|
| 1-20 | Inquisition |
| 21-40 | Localized Disaster |
| 41-50 | Plague |
| 51-70 | Sensational Crime |
| 71-85 | Squatters |
| 86-00 | Vandals |
As long as settlements are generating aftermath events, your nation experiences a nation event in addition to any that is normally randomly generated from Table: Aftermath Nation Events. Once no settlement generates aftermath settlement events, the nation aftermath events cease.
Table: Aftermath Nation Events
| d% | Nation Event |
|---|---|
| 1-20 | Bandit Activity |
| 21-30 | Food Shortage |
| 31-40 | Foreign Spy |
| 41-60 | Large Disaster |
| 61-70 | Plague |
| 71-00 | Smugglers |