2nd Conquest of the Sword Coast
The 2nd SWORD COAST CONQUEST was underaken by RHONE, under QUEEN MORALEI, at the behest of several Sword-Lords, due to the chaos overflowing from AENAR. See Harrowing of Aenar. The campaign was marked by concerns among the nobility of Rhone regarding her ambitions as she was only crowned as caretaker until her brother's children came of age. With many nobles bowing out from the muster, she reorganized a cadre of women veterans deeply loyal to her for the campaign. This group would later formalize itself as the Order of the Raven Circle. Her small Rhone force was augmented by several Sword-Lords who had pledged their loyalty to her. The campaign was a multitude of smaller battles as she worked her way up the Sword Coast dealing with the various groupings of Sword-Lords arrayed against her.
The campaign was marked by the death of the Heir in Rhone while she was in the North. The mood of the nobility became bleak indeed as many saw her hand in the accidental death of the child. She was forced to stall the fighting to allow her to return to Rhone and deal with the volatile political situation. Eventually, she was able to placate the majority of those loyal to the Throne and resumed the war along the Sword-Coast. The toll of the war was devastating. The Sword-Coast had been battered by the chaos in Aenar for decades and now it was being chewed over on both sides. The Rhonish forces were of less numbers but better logistical arrangements and so the two sides were able to continue the fight seemingly without end. In battle after battle, the wearied forces of Rhone fought the exhausted Sword-Lords in a downward spiral despite her victories. Ambushes, raids on stores and wagon trains became the norm and the entire region nearly plunged into despair.
A series of victories that stole the heart from the remaining opposition led to the abandonment of the field by these Sword-Lords. One of them, the High Lord of Ganathor, returned to his homestead to find a marauder force from Aenar razing his lands and threatening his people. The Ganathors were only saved by the intervention of the Araeris family that had fled to the Coast for refuge from the Throne. Despite their feelings about the Throne, the Araeris scion was able to convince Ganathor to meet with the Queen--the time was quickly approaching when the madness from Aenar would consume them completely. The meeting between Queen Moralei and the Sword-Lord Ganathor and a few others trusted with the task left an indelible mark on the history of the West.
After seeing the pride and fierceness of the Sword-Lords independence as they agreed with her conclusion of future doom unless they tied themselves to Rhone, the Queen made an offer that that shocked and pleased them. The Sword-Lords were not required to kneel before the Throne and they would serve as unburdened by an Eorl or Lord-Knight over their territories. They became the first Free Lords in Rhone owing service and tribute only to the Throne itself and outside the usual hierarchy imposed by the Rhuani nobility on local tribes and communities. It is said that the ancient stone tableau had no name before that day and ever since it was has been known as Queenspride. It is not a mockery or a jest but a remembrance for the Sword-Lords that the Queen of Rhone once ignored her pride, ignored the prospect of her inevitable but devastating victory and bade them keep their holds and titles so long as they let her protect them.
By -150 BL, the entire Sword Coast and citadels ranging even further north had sworn their allegiance and Queen Moralei made good on her promises. As the land was now part of the kingdom, she was free to require that the southern nobility muster to protect it from attack from without. In this fashion, she tied the cultures together and they have remained so, even if uneasily at the best of times and violently at the worst, in the centuries to come.
Included Conflicts
Conflict Type
War
Start Date
-152
Ending Date
-150
Location
Comments