War of the Psarian defection : Left : Pathusian musketeer, regiment Esperus ; right : Semantian grenadier, regiment Skaben.
For the same core reasons why these two empires have a lot of shared history and cultural traits, their violent clashes have been frequent and bloody.

In 1712, Kespirian 3d, ruler of Psaria and last monarch to officially bear the ancient title of Phras, died without heir; by law, this meant that the region should've gone to the Semantian crown, considered widely as the legitimate heir of the Phrases. However the wording, refering solely to "the legitimate heir of the Phrases", was vague enough that Pathusia was also a logical contender in the eyes of many. And the incident that set the powder keg on fire, was a movement seeking to maintain independence. Thus, each with a semi-legitimate claim to the land, each rejected by Psaria, Pathusia and Semantia gathered their armies, banners and cannons and marched to war.

This long, drawn-out and ultimately pointless conflict marked a turning point in the culture of warfare, at least in theory. Many towns were pillaged, burned to the ground, their inhabitants slaughtered or forced to flee. The two ancient capitals of the land, Psar-Gombadan and Psaria-Thamaffid, were only spared because as we will see, neither side ever made significant progress. Entire regions were severely depopulated. The brutality of this war horrified the elites, leading to reforms of the etiquette of war.

One of the aspects of these reforms was the end of an ancient and gruesome military tradition : the systematic scalping of fallen enemy combattants. The fruit of this practice are pictured here in the uniforms, both headdresses being basically trophies taken on corpses of the enemy before they were dumped in mass graves.

Beyond the outrageous disrespect inflicted to men who died with honor, it goes without saying that seeing the already hated opponent wearing the remains of fallen comrades would enrage the troops on both sides, especially when the combat was taken up-close. The combination of absolute hatred and stark discipline resulted in rules of surrender seldom being observed; after a battle, the victorious army would keep marauding in the occupied region, engaging in ruthless destruction. That's one of the reasons why neither of the parties involved ever made significant strategic progress in the 7 long years which this war lasted, and a possibly less altruistic reason why changes were deemed necessary even by military authorities.

It is also said about wigs that the curls served the purpose of covering dogs' sensitive ears, so the crackle of their own muskets upon firing wouldn't startle them as much. Sources in this regard are lacking; it could be true, or a disparaging myth spread by years of animosity, or a combination of both.