War of the Ants

The War of the Ants, also known as The Citrus War was a military conflict fought across various islands belonging to the Akitei Empire between invasive colonies of Avalonian Leafcutter Ants and the Akitei plantation colonies on the Midway Islands, Yeosan Islands and Kihei Islands as the leafcutter ants began destroying consecutive harvests of citrus and sugarcane in the colonies. The war is named as such because one of the primary means of combatting the invasive species was the introduction of the mainland Imperial Weaver Ant, which was a common fixture in citrus farming in Akiteiwa proper, noted for its ability to protect citrus plants from various pests. The conflict finally concluded in 1669 when the harvests returned to normal yields. Leafcutter ants were not fully eradicated from the islands until the 19th century.

Background
From about the early 14th century, trans-Tethys trade between Akiteiwa and Avalonia began increasing at a prodigious rate as the tumultuous Two Emperors Period in Akiteiwa ended with the ascension of the Fourth Empire. This trade saw voyages of increased length and subsequently it was noticed more and more Akitei sailors would perish on these long voyages East. Much of these deaths were attributed to poor provisioning and to what is now generally called Scurvy, but at the time was termed "Sailing Sickness". To alleviate much of these issues, the Empire of Akiteiwa sought to re-establish outposts for provisioning across the various major islands that dotted the path, much as it had done some centuries prior with the Old Treasure Fleets. Part of this process was the creation of citrus plantations, as it was known at the time that the consumption of citrus alleviated and outright prevented Sailing Sickness. This process was mostly successful and fewer and fewer traders perished of scurvy in the centuries following. These plantations became a key part of the trans-Tethys trade, making the islands frequent stops for the large ships ferrying goods between Akiteiwa and Avalonia.

Invasion
At some point in the 1640s, a cargo ship carrying fruits and grains from Avalonia docked at the port of Daidaitsu on what is the largest of the MIdway islands. It is assumed that this ship was unknowingly carrying the queen of a species of Avalonian Leafcutter Ants (genus Atta). This queen presumably escaped the cargo and made its way to the island, where it formed a successful nest in the fertile soil. Over the following years, this nest grew and began to create more, new nests. These leafcutter ants spread across much of the island without some notice until the citrus harvest of 1650 saw much of that season's crop completely destroyed by leafcutter ants. As citrus was a permanent crop, these ant attacks caused considerable damage to the citrus trees, sabotaging the harvests necessary to provide for the considerable Tethys trade. However, it was not immediately attributed to the effects of the ants, assuming that the ants were a temporary or even positive phenomenon. Five years of harvests passed before the Lord of the Midway Islands was informed that the primary reason for the failure of the crops was an ant infestation. Following these years of failure, the Lord of the Islands was executed for dereliction of duty.

Counterattack
In 1657, the replacement Lord of the Islands was informed of the situation and decreed "The fate of our great Empire will not be decided by some interminable insect", declaring war upon the invader ants. The first course of action was to seek out and destroy what nests could be found near the plantations. This involved a collection of crude methods, including just digging them up, pouring boiling water into their nests and lighting them on fire. The year of this effort saw little effect as the citrus and sugarcane harvests continued to be wracked by leafcutter infestation. It is during this time that the first recorded Akitei casualty occurs, one plantation worker was bitten by one of the large morphs of the ants and is said to have "choked on the air". It is believed that he suffered an allergic reaction but modern science doubts that it is even plausible. With the brute methods failing, it was decided that introducing the Imperial Weaver Ant from the mainland plantations to the island colonies would be a highly effective means of deterring the leafcutter ants. Weaver ants are much larger and form very large and coherent colonies and it was assumed that these bigger ants would offset the smaller ones. The first colony of weaver ants arrived in 1660, clad in silk and transferred to one of the younger citrus plantations. The new ants took well to the citrus and soon a large weaver ant colony had covered much of the plantation. However it was found this wasn't particularly effective at saving plantations which had already been infested. The old plantations were ordered to be burned, every ant nest destroyed before replanting and the introduction of the weaver ants as soon as was practicable.

New Theatres
While much of the conflict had thus far been contained to the Midway Islands, it was not long before the increased traffic to the secondary plantations in the Kihei Islands and Yeosan Islands saw carriage of the leafcutter ants to those areas as well. Fortunately, the process of introducing Weaver Ants to the plantations was extended to the citrus in these other colonies and they were generally spared the worst of the effects of the leafcutter invasion. Families in these islands took it upon themselves at every opportunity to annihilate leafcutter nests. Many species of native ant were attacked in their haste but the effects appear to have been somewhat negligible.

Advanced Technology
In 1666, at the request of the Lord of the Islands, the College of Imperial Scholars had synthesised a new weapon which would kill and deter the hostile ants while not harming the trees. It was created from an extract of tobacco and is considered one of the earliest records of nicotinoid pesticides. This newfound weapon was judiciously used on every citrus tree in the Midway Islands. It had inadvertently caused considerable damage to the notionally friendly weaver ant colonies, but the effects to virgin trees or those that had been overrun by the leafcutters was considerable, driving the ants back from the plantations as their nests were also dug up, destroyed or doused in this early insecticide. This process continued over a number of years, over time the zeal of using the poison died down and more colonies of weaver ants were re-established, proving an effective shield again leafcutter re-infestation. By 1669, citrus and sugarcane yields in the islands had returned to pre-invasion levels, despite persistent attacks by the leafcutter ants for some years after. The war had been won.

Effects
Over the nearly two decades of infestations, thousands of tons of crops were destroyed and an estimated 10,000 Akitei sailors had lost their lives due to scurvy caused by this deficit of citrus for voyages. The cost to the Empire was considerable, attempting to outsource citrus production to the mainland and the losses in tax revenue from decreased trade volume over the period. This cost in effort is often considered one of the primary factors affecting Akiteiwa's ability to mobilise its forces against Tiperyn in the 1673 Komishima War, causing the loss of parts of that archipelago and beginning a persistent Tiperyner presence in East Kesh. The conflict is often considered one of the earliest uses of synthetic pesticides as well as one of the earliest biocontrol campaigns, seeing the deliberate introduction of the Weaver Ant. This however would set the beginning of a mixed history of Akitei biological control schemes, not least of which including the ongoing cane toad infestation in the Tethys islands, including the Midway Islands.