Palimede incident

Palimede incident
Part of Kindred Wars
Battle of Palimede island by Pelaxian painter, Nino Godoy
Date August - November 1783 Location Kindreds Sea Result Carto-Pelaxian Commonwealth victory
Belligerents
House Lian House Kou	Carto-Pelaxian Commonwealth
Commanders and leaders
Prince Kou Admiral Gotarzes	Don Elver Galarga
Strength
10,000 men 30 ships	13,000 40 ships
Casualties and losses
thousands	hundreds

The Palimede incident was a battle between a Qian slaver fleet and forces of the Carto-Pelaxian Commonwealth. By the late 1780's the volume of slaves acquired by the Carto-Pelaxian Commonwealth began to decline steeply due to labor reforms favoring the use of indentured workers and serfs from Vallos which represented a readily available pool of workers at cheaper rates. Certain powerful slaving interests at the Qian court at this point advocated a policy of armed coercion against the weakening Commonwealth. Without waiting for imperial assent, the noble houses of Kou and Lian which relied on the slave trade around Vallos assembled a fleet of their own and augmented it with Loa and Muslim privateers. Their plan was to occupy some or all of the Jusonia Islands and threaten the Carto-Pelaxian capital of Albalitor unless the new labor reforms were withdrawn by the Commonwealth's government and an indemnity was paid. During the Palimede incident of 1783 this slaver coalition was ultimately repulsed in both land and sea battles by the Carto-Pelaxians, one of the last notable military victories of the crumbling Commonwealth. Albeit unsanctioned by Qian imperial authorities, the incident soured relations between Daxia and one of its most important trade partners; the sale of slaves to the Commonwealth all but dwindled into nothingness as that government put new legal roadblocks on the flesh trade and the Qian court destroyed the participating noble houses in retaliation for their insubordination.