The 50K Offensive

Many of the Realm's most powerful literomancers volunteered to join the Offensive. This force included several of the current Defenders of the Realm, and they were joined by Scion Striker , ambassador of House Mollusca, who heard about the Offensive on his mission to The Warren. They were also joined by 4 Tome Knights who are now among The Missing, including the Heirs of Sauropoda and The Missing House, and a significant Sauropodan and Chiropteran.   These Tome Knights were joined by 11 support writers, including the Monarch and two other members of The Missing House, and a Missing Chiropteran. Prinx Tempest Kwake of House Lapin, although a Defender of the Realm, chose to join the support writers rather than spearhead the assault, as they were distracted by their duties as an Owsla Officer.   Unbeknownst to the Defenders, the Undead Horde began the counteroffensive with not one, but two, Night Monarchs at the helm. This initial advantage proved significant, and allowed the Undead Horde to mount a significantly stronger resistance than the living had anticipated.

The battlefield literally spanned the width of the globe. Living combatants gathered in their Houses to engage the enemy. In the meantime, the two Night Monarchs set about the beginnings of the Word War in the usual manner; they combined their powers of Dark Literomancy to build up the strength of the Undead Horde around the world. Strategically, they chose to begin their initial assault in the Meles Protectorate, with House Meles as their first target.

The requirements of the ritual established unique conditions that would have significant repercussions in the course of WW3:  

Living combatants were required to each generate 50K words of literomantic power

Success in doing so would build up a significant literomantic battery that could then be applied against the Undead Horde in the course of the War

Those who succeeded would acquire resistance against the corrupting powers of the Horde's influence, should they face the Undead directly in battle

Failure to do so would result in an increased vulnerability for that combatant, who would be tainted by the Undead's necrotic influence

Combatants who did not spearhead the magical assault could lend their literomantic energy to the soldiers at the literomantic front

This energy would only be able to bolster their resistance to the curse of failure, not increase their chances of acquiring the literomantic immunity

Only spare literomantic energy could be used in this manner, meaning that only exceptional literomantic efforts could be used for this purpose

These support writers would have to choose which of the power writers they were supporting

No one could know whom they had chosen to support, since the ritual's effectiveness was dependent on a sense of real risk for the combatants

The Undead Horde also experienced unique conditions. With two Night Monarchs beginning the War instead of one, their initial strength was considerably greater than anticipated. This may have been enough to overwhelm the living forces without the efforts of the 50K Offensive.

The campaign was entirely magical in nature, so the belligerents never confronted each other face-to-face. Living combatants gathered to write and generate energy in a literomantic battery; sometimes in groups, sometimes alone. To the outside observer, it looked like any other write-in, except that the combatants engaged at every possible waking moment for the length of a week.   The Night Monarchs, in the meantime, rallied literomantic power and set about creating zombies on a mass scale. Quickly realizing they were under attack, they turned their efforts to a counterspell.   The Dark Literomancy of the Night Monarchs drained the magical energy of the living literomancers as the ritual was underway. Some felt the effects almost immediately. Others felt the weight of attrition as the Offensive commenced.   Foxx was required to restart their novel in the course of the offensive because the dark literomancy of the Horde caused them to take the plot in a strange direction. The Mad Batter suffered from various health problems under the curse, and Sable Aradia simply experienced more of the same insomnia and exhaustion due to the infliction of anxiety and nightmares. Prince Jean became physically ill, and Duochanfan was inflicted with a severe case of Writer's Block. Even EGryph suffered repeated migraines. AttorraRu struggled under the weight of illness and repeated strokes of bad luck, and was writing right up to the very end with no sleep for 36 hours, but succeeded in achieving the goal.

All of the participants successfully generated the 50K words worth of energy, except for Prince Jean of House Lapin, who subsequently fell to the Horde in the Fall of House Chiroptera. This was later used to great effect against an exceptionally-powerful Undead Horde as generated under two Night Monarchs, rather than one.   Foxx's immunity prevented her from dying of a zombie-cursed bite until she could ultimately be healed by Sable Aradia, and allowed her to get her Archon Mykola Void to safety in the Fall of Chiroptera.   Sable Aradia's immunity is believed to be one of the factors which caused the "Turn Undead" effect that brought an end to The Battle of Kin Beach.

The survival of new and existing Defenders of the Realm had a significant impact on the course of The Third Word War. With twice the "usual" power of the Undead Horde working against them, the level of literomantic power being thrown around had never been higher, and it was desperately needed.   In many cases, the output of a single Defender made the difference between a House's survival or destruction. Many analysists have concluded that it was the literomantic immunity gained by the ritual's participants, as opposed to the sheer volume of literomantic energy generated, that had the greatest impact. Most of the ritual's participants survived to the end of the War, maintaining their resources for the living and depriving the Undead Horde of their use.

The veterans of the 50K Offensive were the second group to receive the title Defender of the Realm. This time, only the forward combatants were given the title, as an element of direct, personal risk was deemed to be necessary to warrant receiving it. This decision was controversial, as some felt that this decision failed to acknowledge the accomplishments of the support writers reaching their goals.