The 21st Siege was held during the first week of the 3rd server migration. With server rosters heavily shaken up by the migration, Maphr and Astair saw the two main alliances clash head-on. On other servers, the rise of neutral forces stood out, with frequent clashes particularly against the Notongsu Alliance.
On Maphr, The K Alliance repelled the Notongsu Alliance's offensive through defensive lord swaps, securing both Windawood Castle and Kent Castle, while the Notongsu Alliance took the Orc Fortress. On Astair, after a chaotic battle where both alliances traded engravings every few minutes over Windawood Castle, the Notongsu Alliance succeeded in engraving with five minutes remaining, settling a 1-1 split. On Pa'agrio, although Chonggun's main forces departed, support from The K Alliance allowed them to claim Windawood Castle and the Orc Fortress, while the Notongsu Alliance took Kent Castle.
On other servers, clashes between neutral factions and the Notongsu Alliance were common. On Ken Rauhel, the Jalnan & Wang Alliance—who had departed from the Notongsu Alliance—faced off against Notongsu, with Notongsu succeeding in capturing Windawood Castle and the Orc Fortress. On Sayha, Kere Team clashed with the Notongsu Alliance, but neutral alliances such as Cheondang and DS, who had previously fought alongside The K Alliance against Notongsu on the Arrein server, arrived as reinforcements on Sayha, pinning the Notongsu Alliance down to just Windawood Castle.
This report focuses on Maphr and Astair, the primary battlegrounds between the two major alliances.
Windawood Castle Held via Lord Swapping, Orc Fortress Goes to Notongsu — Maphr
Maphr currently faces a significant power imbalance. While major forces from The K Alliance, including Chonggun from Pa'agrio, gathered in large numbers on Maphr, the Notongsu Alliance saw its balance collapse following a series of departures, including Jeontu Myeongga, the former lord of Windawood Castle.
As the siege began, both alliances clashed immediately to claim the masterless Windawood Castle. With the former lord Jeontu Myeongga gone, the gates fell quickly, and both sides tangled at the entrance to block each other's entry. The Notongsu Alliance's Steel Clan was the first to enter the castle. However, Notongsu could not hold out for long behind their barricades, and a resurging push by The K Alliance succeeded in engraving Windawood Castle around the 7-minute mark.
Having lost the castle, the Notongsu Alliance immediately launched a counteroffensive. Lacking numbers, Notongsu effectively abandoned Kent Castle to concentrate their attacks on Windawood Castle. Their focused breakthroughs proved effective, breaching the outer gate barricade line multiple times. After regrouping, Notongsu continued to create breaches by shifting their attacks between the main gate and the east gate.
However, whenever the defense line was breached and enemy forces attempted to enter, The K Alliance countered with defensive lord swaps. Regardless of which clan took over, with a certain level of forces secured inside the inner castle, The K Alliance's replacement sovereigns consistently succeeded in entering the interior. As defense via back-to-back lord swaps repeated two and three times, the Notongsu Alliance's momentum gradually weakened. They tried shifting their attack to the east gate, but found no breakthrough.
Ultimately, after intense fighting, the Notongsu Alliance made a brief attempt at Kent Castle before redirecting their efforts to the Orc Fortress. Choosing to secure what they could realistically win, the Steel Raon Clan succeeded in engraving the Orc Fortress. Realizing their opponents no longer intended to attack the main castles, The K Alliance secured their defense at the main castle and poured their forces into the Orc Fortress.
The K Alliance assaulted the Orc Fortress from two directions, breaching up to the outer gate barricade line with about two minutes remaining. However, they were forced to leave a minimal defense force at their main castle, and the Notongsu Alliance's Guardian Tower barricade—which had broken through Windawood's defenses multiple times earlier—held firm. Just as The K Alliance had done at Windawood Castle, the Notongsu Alliance successfully pulled off a last-minute lord swap to defend the Orc Fortress.
The final tally for the Maphr server ended at 2 for The K vs. 1 for Notongsu.
Engraving After Engraving, Final 5 Minutes Decide Windawood Castle — Astair
Astair proved to be an unexpected battleground. It was originally a server where The K Alliance had far fewer forces, but the balance heavily tipped in the opposite direction when a large number of Notongsu Alliance forces departed early in the server migration. However, Notongsu deployed numerous reinforcement units, including clans bearing the Zephyros crest, balancing out the forces to a degree.
The primary battleground was Windawood Castle. Although The K Alliance held the upper hand in overall numbers, they had to set aside troops to defend Kent Castle, which they already controlled, keeping the battle for Windawood Castle razor-thin.
In the early phase, The K Alliance, led by the Unity Clan, pounded Windawood Castle while shifting between the main and east gates, but the Notongsu Alliance's defense remained solid despite their heavily reduced numbers. The K Alliance's opportunity came past the 30-minute mark after a series of fruitless skirmishes. Following a heavy push through the main gate, the sovereign character of Hong Gane succeeded in infiltrating the Guardian Tower. Though defeated just before completing the engraving on that attempt, a follow-up assault succeeded in engraving the castle a few minutes later.
The Notongsu Alliance immediately counterattacked. As the gate breached in an instant, The K Alliance's defending forces scrambled to set up a Guardian Tower barricade, but failed to hold for even two minutes as castle ownership was handed over to Notongsu's Bottoldan Clan.
From that point, Windawood Castle descended into a chaotic scramble with consecutive back-and-forth engravings. Castle ownership changed every one to two minutes: The K Alliance immediately re-infiltrated to re-engrave the tower, then fell back to hold at the Guardian Tower when the gate was breached, only to yield the engraving back to Notongsu. Though The K Alliance held longer cumulative control past the mid-game, it meant little in a siege where final ownership at the buzzer is all that counts.
The closing minutes unfolded at a breathless pace. The Notongsu Alliance re-entered at 45 minutes, followed by The K Alliance at 50 minutes, and at 52 minutes, The K Alliance drove out the enemy with a lord swap. However, with five minutes remaining at 55 minutes, Notongsu succeeded in re-engraving, restoring castle ownership of Windawood Castle back to its starting position.
During the remaining time, The K Alliance attempted a breakthrough, but with their main clan having secured the engraving, the Notongsu Alliance rapidly constructed a formidable barricade line. Allowing no further breaches of the gate, Notongsu held Windawood Castle to close the Astair server at 1 for The K vs. 1 for Notongsu, as both alliances took one castle each.
