Lost Crusade
In all of the Exalted Imperium’s five-thousand-year history, no year was more memorable or devastating than 3104 IE - the year of the Lost Crusade. This ill-fated venture began the Imperium’s greatest ever loss of territory, power, and prestige, doomed thousands to untimely death, and earned the empress her eternal title of “The Mad Queen.”
Background
It is our most holy of duties to bring the blessed light of Reina to bear against all darkness, yet darkness festers beneath our very feet! Well, we shall stand it no longer!The Lost Crusade was first conceived in the decaying mind of Imperatrix Oribella Neriphine, the soon-to-be “Mad Queen.” As Imperatrix Neriphine’s madness progressed, her devotion to her patron deity, Reina the Sun Queen, deepened. So determined was the Imperatrix to spread the light of Reina that she decreed any sort of heresy against the goddess was to be immediately crushed. However, the Imperatrix found the most egregious heresy not within the Imperium, but underneath it. Ancient texts, older than the Imperium itself, spoke of a mythical race of dark elves and of their forgoing of sunlight for a life deep within The Underdark. Imperatrix Neriphine became obsessed with these dark elves, an entire race who had turned their backs on Reina for other unknown and unholy deities. Such heresy was too much for the Imperatrix to bear, and so she sent out the call to arms for a grand crusade into the depths of the Underdark.
The Crusade Begins
The assembled army totaled 120,000 strong, made up of multiple races from across the Imperium, equipped for a crusade lasting a year or more. This force was divided into three equal armies, each led by a battalion of 500 Sun Elf warriors. Each of the three forces made their way to one of the dwarven strongholds of Saema's Rest, Thorulum, and Omur’s Gate, all eternal keepers and defenders of an entrance to the Underdark. The Gatekeepers of Thorulum and Omur's Gate, though hesitant, opened the way for the Imperial armies, with the dwarves of Omur's Gate even providing two battalions of 800 dwarven warriors to accompany them. However, the Gatekeeper of Saema's Rest, Farid Greymail, refused to let the Imperial army pass.Your "crusade" is naught but folly! Our creator tasked us with sealing away this darkness forevermore, and so long as I am Gatekeeper these gates shall remain sealed!Despite his strong rhetoric, Gatekeeper Greymail eventually folded under threat of swift and decisive military action, and the army marched forward. The mighty gates deep below the earth were thrown open as the three armies marched past the furthest dwarven outposts, striking out into the endlessly winding tunnels within.
In the Underdark
In the beginning weeks of the campaign, communication was constant and the news was uneventful. Minor skirmishes with startled beasts were all that the armies found, and communication slowed as they traveled deeper. The forces began to report larger, more frightening creatures, ones that did not attack but simply watched from afar. More importantly, they began to find traces of civilization distinct from that of dwarves. The final bit of information came from the force that entered through Omur’s Gate – a report from the general leading them. In her closing comments on the state of the expedition, she mentioned that her scouts reported discovering what could be described as “an abandoned outpost,” and that she intended to have it fully investigated once they reached it. For over a month afterwards, not a word was heard from any of the three armies. Finally, 126 days after the start of the crusade, dwarven scouts in Saema’s Rest discovered a weakened, near-dead human soldier emerging from the tunnels. Upon his recovery, the soldier recounted a horrific tale of how the army was beset upon by monstrous beasts of enormous size, sending the forces into disarray. When finally the beasts were driven away only a fraction of the initial force remained. Their general was among the survivors and ordered an immediate retreat to the stronghold, but attacks became more and more frequent as they traveled. Eventually the army was dispersed into battalions, in the hopes that the smaller groups would attract less attention.
The tactic seemed to work for a time, but smaller creatures the army had easily managed during their arrival began to take their toll, picking off groups of soldiers or individuals and dragging them into the darkness, never to be seen again. The soldier’s battalion decided to split again, and following another attack in which they were “swarmed upon by monstrous insects, emerging from the ground to snatch men away” he broke rank and fled alone. Somehow, through luck or divine guidance, he made it near enough to a dwarven outpost to be rescued.
Sketch salvaged by survivor.
Aftermath
In the coming weeks, more survivors began to arrive from all three armies. Some alone, others in groups, all telling the same tales of sudden and devastating attacks and of the tortuous retreat that followed. In total, less than 10,000 survivors returned from the crusade, the rest lost forever in the darkness below. Nearly all of the Imperium’s greatest military leaders were lost, along with their finest soldiers and greatest mages. This so weakened the Imperium, and so angered the families of those who had been conscripted to fight, that dissent turned to open rebellion within a year. The resulting wars, both internal and external, cost the Exalted Imperium dearly. The Mad Queen passed away at the age of 684, having been effectively replaced by her advisors, and the crown passed to her daughter, Lialeth Neriphine. Too young to rule, Lialeth was instead guided by her late mother’s advisors until she reached the age of 150, upon which she fully took hold of the throne. Empress Lialeth Neriphine was forced to deal with the consequences of her mother’s actions: a fractured empire, shrunken borders, hostile neighbors, a struggling economy, and a dejected nation on the brink of total collapse. Determined to rebuild the Imperium to its former glory, the new Empress begins to plan a new grand undertaking. But that is a story yet to be written…
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The Lost Crusade
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Date
Elements 3104 IE - Knowledge 3104 IE
Location
The Underdark
Result
Imperial defeat
Belligerents
The Exalted Imperium of Oriand
Dark elf heretics
Strength
120,000
Unknown
Casualties and Losses
~110,000
Unknown
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