Independent State Allied Forces

History
The Independent State Allied Forces was established in the August of 2003, following Erusea’s invasion of Amber and takeover of the Spaceguard Turret Network. Member states of the Continental Nations' Economic Alliance, a trade bloc centered around the Federation of Central Usea, created a joint command structure for their militaries and agreed that an attack on one nation would be considered an attack on all. Collectively matching Erusea in strength, the ISAF set an ultimatum that Erusea withdraw from Stonehenge before the 14th of September or the alliance would launch an offensive to retake it.

Erusea did not vacate Stonegenge, and when the ISAF attacked, Erusea used the railguns to deny close air support to the ISAF's ground forces. The ISAF retreated east as Stonehenge grounded and destroyed their warplanes. As Erusean ground forces drew closer to the ISAF general headquarters at Los Canas, a large strike package of ace pilots attempted a strike on Stonehenge. The mission was a total failure, forcing the ISAF to abandon Los Canas and reconstitute their headquarters in North Point. Materiel and personnel losses continued to hamper operations after retreating outside of Stonehenge's engagement range, and by the summer of 2004, all surviving ISAF forces had fled to islands off the continent's east coast and a small defensive perimeter around Saint Ark.

At a safe distance from Stonehenge, ISAF aircraft defended the relocated general headquarters at North Point from strategic bomber strikes until Erusean spies destroyed the archipelago's early warning radar network in the September of 2004. An ISAF strike package retaliated by destroying a significant number of bombers on the mainland, granting the ISAF a respite before more bombers could be moved to the front. They took advantage of this time by dismantling the infrastructure supporting Erusea's expeditionary Aegir Fleet, ultimately sinking the fleet in November.

The destruction of the Aegir Fleet allowed the ISAF's naval forces to operate with more freedom, and in the January of 2005, they launched Operation Bunker Shot, a large-scale landing operation on the mainland's southeast coast. The operation was a tremendous success, but further progress was stymied by Stonehenge. Within the next month, the ISAF took control of the entire southeast quarter of the Usean mainland and launched secondary landing operations at Snyder's Top and Saint Ark.