Feran Invasion of Vardania

Ten thousand ships fleeing southern yoke,
Bringing with them only fire, blood and smoke.
A single stroke to break Hrangin's peace,
Unleashed fanatical conquest that would never cease.
You Ferans, proud knights of the south so grand,
Are nothing but the scourge of Vardanian land.

— "Ferans" by Emelia Valerian

A new power was rising. Once weak and divided, the Feran people had been united under the banner of a new god. The Three that are One had chosen them as their people, Vodan the Prophet proclaimed, and had given unto them a new homeland. A land of fertile earth and luscious woods, where all of Ferankind would flourish until the end of days. They called it Feranar and in the winter of 841 DA, they set out to take it. A new age was dawning on the world and Vardania would never be the same after. The launch of ten thousand ships marked the begin of the Feran Migrations.

Fall of the Rhovarin

Vardania on the eve of the Invasion was a land that had just emerged out of the barbaric Early Dawn Age. Its various tribes had begun to coalesce into larger polities and expand into previously empty regions. Eastern Vardania was dominated by the Rhovarin, a tribe that had first emerged in the late 5th century DA. Following the Desolation of the North in 793 DA, they rose to become the preeminent power on the continent, controlling all lands along the mighty Solryn. Then, in early 842, the Feran fleets reached Vardania.

First Strike

The hammer fell on the ancient city of Siris. An important port on the southern coast, it had repeatedly come under pressure by the Rhovarin and when the Feran warlord Kenrik Hallen offered his services as a mercenary, the city's rulers gladly accepted. Once his army had entered Sirin's walls, however, it promptly attacked. The fighting lasted barely a few hours. Those not killed were driven off and Kenrik named himself Lord of the First Gate. The floodgates were open and warband after warband streamed through Siris and into Vardania.

The Prophet Lands

Only about half of the Feran population had set off by boat. Another large group, led by the Prophet himself, moved along the coast and through the lands of Interra. In late 843, they reached the mighty Amarin and crossed it in early 844. When Hrugen, King of the Rhovarin heard of this new army approaching, he marched to stop them. On a forgotten field in eastern Vardania, his army was smashed, the King and his son slain. With the Rhovarin struggling to recover, the Ferans began to assault their lands in force.

by Donglu Yu

In the following months, Feran warlords overran much of eastern Vardania and by 846, threatened even the capital of Rhovar itself. But Grin the Unfortunate, son of Hrugen and last King of the Rhovarin would not give up without a fight. Again and again, he would defeat them in battle. Nine times the Feran hosts marched on Rhovar, nine times they were annihilated.

Finally, Emmerik the Great led a coalition of nearly one-hundred warlords against him. In 847 DA, Grin and his kingdom fell to the onslaught. By 848, the remnants of the Rhovarin had been driven into the empty lands of the north.

The Summer Coast Burns

by Dominik Mayer

Western Vardania was not the only place to come under attack. Beginning in late 844, thousands of ships landed along the Summer Coast. Here they met the might of the Rhomeian Empire and the walls of its ancient colonies proved too much for the Feran hosts. The outback was a different story. There was no unified nation to resist the southern attack her, only a myriad of tribes that would often fight each other as fiercely as the Ferans. The children of the Prophet had come to claim Vardania as their own and the Summer Coast ran red as they indiscriminately slaughtered anyone they would come across.
Hundreds of tribes were annihilated, the knowledge and culture of centuries destroyed. Like a tidal wave of steel and fire, the Ferans washed over all lands of the south. The great Gedari and Anari, most powerful tribes of the west found themselves crushed under the tide. In the end, even the mighty rhomeian cities could not withstand the onslaught. Melan fell in 850 and Madrin in 851. Both were razed completely, only empty ruins left to look over the waters of the Great Divide.

Three times against the Heartlands

By 850 DA, only the lands between the Mountains of Ash and Ice, commonly referred to as the Heartlands, remained unbeaten. The lands of the Avitae were home to seven great cities, each alone older and grander than anything the Ferans had seen before. Having grown arrogant of their recent victories, the new conquerors thought the various city-states of the Avitae easy prey. As early as 847, small warbands had begun to raid the borderlands. In the following years, three great armies would attempt to conquer the very heart of Vardania. Every one of them would fail utterly.

The Mercenary

Kenrik, known by many as the Mercenary for his conquest of Siris, was the first. Through conquest and subjugation, he had become the greatest warlord in eastern Vardania and had set his sight on the great city of Moira. Attacking in early 850, he found his army torn to pieces by guerrilla attacks and ultimately annihilated under the cities walls. Kenrik was killed and his skull served as a banner for the Moiran army.

Red King

Halin Marten, the Red King, had cut a bloody swath across the west. A thousand tribes had been smashed by him or so he claimed and several times he attempted to invade the Heartlands. The final attempt, in late 851, failed not due to Avitae arms but natures wrath. He tried to surprise the Avitae by attacking from the north, over the Mountains of Ice. Trying to cross, his host was caught by a blizzard and destroyed.

Emmerik the Great

At the head of a coalition of over fifty warlords, Emmerik the Great, invaded in 852. One hundred thousand soldiers stormed toward Tarquinnia, oldest and most powerful of the Avitae cities. But his army bled itself white on walls over fifty meters high and some say that his soldiers could soon climb them on the corpses of their comrades. After three months of bloodshed and under threat of nearing Avitae armies, Emmerik retreated.

by Dominika Mayera

In the end, the Heartlands proved to great a challenge. Contrary to the rest of Vardania, the Avitae formed highly centralised polities, had large veteran standing armies and numeral parity with the invaders. Additionally, the rough landscape of the area robbed the Ferans of their greatest advantage: cavalry. The Vardanian Horse had been extinct for over a millennium by that point and the Feran Heavy Cavalry had proven devastating. On foot, the Feran armies were easy prey for the disciplined Avitae soldiers.
Large scale attacks ceased, but raiding continued for decades. Although victorious, the Avitae had no desire to repeatedly content with Feran invasions and agreed to pay tribute, first to the surrounding warlords and after 853, to the newly declared High Kingdom of Feranar. With the majority of Vardanian tribes either annihilated or pushed north, Feran settlers spread far and wide. Within eleven years, the face of Vardania had been changed dramatically and irrevocably. The Age of Feranar had begun.

Ferans have been described in a myriad of ways over centuries. Depending on the writer and their views they may be written of in the most charming of words or made out to be child devouring abominations. Every account contains the truth, at least part of it. Ferans are but human after all.

— "Fire and Faith." by Darius Kaseidis

by Darkseid

Included under Conflict

Feran Migrations

Conflict Type

War

Start Date

842 DA

Ending Date

853 DA

Conflict Result

Destruction of most Vardanian nations. Establishment of the High Kingdom of Feranar.

by Stefan Kopinski

Hrangin's Peace
In 802, Hrangin the Great, thirty-first King of the Rhovarin led his army to the far ends of the continent, establishing tributary states as he went. His goal was not conquest, but rather to secure the burgeoning trade routes that had begun to emerge in the previous decades. His actions led to what is known as Hrangin's Peace, an era of largely peaceful relations between the various Vardanian people, that lasted the better part of three decades.
Myrd's Prophecy
One goal of the Rhovarin had always been the subjugation of the great cities of Siris and Saena. When Hrangin marched on Saena in 802, he was met by a single, elderly woman, a witch known as Myrd. She begged the king to spare Saena, saying that if he did so, his descendants would reign as kings for another thousand years. Were he to push on, however, he would capture the city and many riches. Four decades later then would begin the fall of his nation, his people doomed to disappear from the face of the earth. Hrangin pushed on and captured Saena a week later. On the same day, over forty years later, Kenrik Hallen would enter the city of Siris.

Myrd the Witch. Doomsinger of the Rhovarin. A nice tale told to portrait the fall of the Rhovarin as an act of divine punishment. In reality, the Rhovarin fell to our superior arms, their realm crushed under our knights hooves.

— Gerik the Bard

The Maps Lie
Maps of this ancient era show the Kingdom of the Rhovarin and other states as vast, sprawling realms. One might wonder how a rather small group such as the Ferans could have posed a threat. The maps do not represent the situation of the time accurately, however. While vast, these nations were sparsely populated. Vardanias population had only slowly recovered in the centuries following the Time of Twilight. Even the great city of Tarquinnia is stated to have less than 100.000 residents. Accounts such as that of Emmerik the Great, stating Hrugen to have fielded more than 300.000 soldiers against the Ferans are therefore seen as highly exaggerated.
Knights and Knighthood
Aside from cavalry and a new religion, the Feran Invasion brought with it a new concept, Knighthood. Feran Knighthood as an intermediate stage between commoners and nobleman had existed for several decades by that point. Under the influence of the Vodarian Church, as well as the Invasion, it began to change into its, now iconic, form. Concepts usually associated with knightly conduct (honour, loyalty, protection of the weak) and the Knight as the backbone of Feran armies first emerged in the immediate aftermath of the conquest.

by Jaromir Hrivnac