KOR-AZOR – A war that began two months ago because of a perceived insult to an Amarrian Holders daughter has ground to a stalemate in the Kor-Azor Region. House Darabi, lead by Iraj Darabi, declared war on House Miyan after Touraj Miyan refused to apologize for unflattering remarks he made about Darabi’s daughter Mina. Although House Miyan’s fleet is nearly twice the size of House Darabi’s, creative tactics by Darabi fleet commanders have made both sides somewhat evenly matched and the war looks to drag on for quite some time. The other House Lords in the region have remained neutral in the conflict.
Touraj Miyan became the Holder of House Miyan after the death of his father Idrees six months ago. From the outset he made many mistakes in Amarrian social protocol that annoyed the Lords of the other regional Houses, but his behavior was tolerated because House Miyan is one of the larger and more influential houses in the region.
Three months after Touraj’s rise to House Holder, Lord Darabi sent his daughter Mina on a mission of diplomacy to House Miyan. When asked the reason for the mission Iraj said, “I simply wanted to make sure House Miyan knew that House Darabi would still support it in the future. I was shocked and disgusted by what ended up happening.” Mina Darabi is well known by the Lords and Ladies of the Kor-Azor region for her quick-wit and charm as well as her striking beauty.
Apparently Lord Miyan was quite taken with the young woman and tried to win her favour. While Mina turned down the new Holder’s advances on several occasions she was still invited to a lavish feast that Touraj hosted a month after her arrival. Although accounts vary, several in attendance said that Touraj became very drunk and threw himself at the lovely diplomat. When she rebuffed him once again, Touraj flew into a rage and to the shock of others at the party, he loudly questioned not only Mina’s upbringing but her chastity and piety. Mina left Touraj’s estate that night.
When news of the outburst reached House Darabi, Iraj demanded a formal apology from Touraj for insulting his daughter’s purity. Touraj in turn blamed Mina for the incident saying, “She was coming on to me, not the other way around! Her father [is] just using this as a way to steal everything my ancestors have built up” and refused to apologize. At that point House Darabi declared war on House Miyan.
In the two months since the declaration many battles have been fought in Kor-Azor and though the Miyan fleet wins the majority of engagements they suffer a disproportional number of ship losses. Their resources are starting to dwindle at the expense of fielding a fleet nearly twice the size of Darabi’s.
Both sides are looking for a way to break the stalemate and the knowledge that capsuleer corporations could provide ships, intelligence and resources might weigh heavily on the future war plans of both Houses.
The other Lords in the region have not yet taken sides but there are unsubstantiated rumours that behind the scenes many support Lord Darabi. If this turns out to be true it could spell the beginning of the end for House Miyan.