The Sailor's War

In late December, 583 T.A. in a small villiage named Sufrin on the Alsen River in what is now Andersfelden but then was part of the Kingdom of Esperia events transpired that would see a war that would shape the relationship between Esperia and Sollen to this day.
On the river Alsen, Esperia had erected multiple checkpoints through which Sollenite boats had to pass in order to get to the sea. At each checkpoint a tariff would be payed, and Alsen was a new addition to these charges. The villiage had erected wooden towers either side of the river, and threatened to fire on anyone attempting to pass through without paying the toll. It is here that the crew of the imperial vessel The Lion's Pride argued for hours with the magistrates of the villiage. Eventually being told they could pay up or turn back. They paid and retired to the villiage Inn, where, with hot heads and flared tempers they ordered ale to drink away their frustrations, only to find that a new 'trader's price' was in place at the Inn. Records say that for bread and ale of the most common kind the charge was four silver pieces, almost two gold by today's currency. This was too much for the sailors of The Lion's Pride. They drew weapons and threatened the owner of the bar, only to have the locals draw on them in retaliation. Unfortunately for the people of Sufrin these were grizzled sollenite veterans of the open sea and a slaughter ensued. The fighting broke out into the streets and a riot ensued. Fleeing the fighting the sollenite leasure barge Dream of Mine was sunk by a ballista shot from the southern riverside tower. In response the sailors burnt the tower and the soldiers inside. Conversely the villagers set fire to The Lion's Pride and sunk it to the bottom of the Alsen. When all was said and done some fifty esperians were dead and twenty three sollenites, amongst them twelve of the sailors from The Lion's Pride and eleven crew drowned in the sinking of Dream of Mine. The remaining sailors fled back to Sollen.
When news of this spread both Sollen and Esperia demanded compensation from the other. Esperia demanded the heads of the sailors responsible and the weight in silver of their people killed. Sollen demanded the value of the ships sunk by the esperians and the value of their cargo be paid along with the removal of the unarmed toll station at Sufrin. Neither side met the others demands.
In January of 584 T.A. Esperia rebuilt the ruined tower at Sufrin. On February third of the same year Imperial flagship Righteous Hammer sailed downriver from Tristromm. A hatch in its prow was opened revealing a black iron barrel some three feet wide at the mouth, it took aim at the newly built tower and the first cannon ever seen in human conflict fired out, and war was declared.
At first the seemed a forgone conclusion. The Tristromm navy sailed down the Alsen wreaking a level of destruction on the Esperian defenses that had only been rivaled by the great sorcerers of forgotten years. In the field the forces of Herrscherland, Zuchtland and Felsigland held back the forces of Esperia. In two weeks the Sollenite navy had taken the city of Kharia, later renamed Salzheim, the second largest of Esperia's settlements, though the bombardment of the city left little left of its former glory. When the navy reached the open sea they had expected to find the Esperian navy waiting for them. Instead they found open waters with not a ship in sight. The Esperian admiralty had opted to avoid the superior Tristromm navy entirely and had traversed the eastern coast of Felsigland, raiding the undefended ports along its shores. It was in May 584 T.A. that things took a turn for the worse. With Felsigland's undefended East under attack, the Emperor withdrew his troops from the frontline to reinforce the coastal settlements. Knowing Wittemburg, the then capital of Sollen, was too heavily defended to be taken, Queen Asma Sulayhi also withdrew her forces from the Felsigland front and turned her army west. In the northern provinces a Vampire by the name of Elisabeta Von Hart had resurfaced after a century of being believed to have met her true death. She had taken over the Royal Court of Wurtbad and demanded to be recognised as the true Countess of Wurtland. The Counts of the northern provinces understandably took issue with this. Eisreik, Bösesreik and Steinigsreik declared no undead fiend would ever sit in the court of the Emperor and vowed to Mount her head upon the city gates. Holzreik was the most sparsely populated of the provinces at the time and most of its peoples of fighting age were crewing schooners and sloops in order to fight the encroaching Esperian navy to the south with little success.
Knowing that without aid, the provinces of Herrscherland and Zuchtland would fall to the Esperians, Prince Henrik of Tristromm put out the call to aid, asking the dwarfs of the Vengryn Ankor and the Grand Elven Cities for aid. The Dwarves insisted this was a human matter, and that no dwarf blood should be spilt over it. The Elves did not reply. He then instructed his navy to free up the eastern shores of Felsigland, that his Emperor might come to his aid. This would mean either a months long expedition around the Esperian Peninsular or take the shorter route through a dangerously thin chasm at the north of the peninsula known as the Straights of Duhthar.
In the field the Esperian army was going from victory to victory. With the withdrawal of Felsigland they now outnumbered their enemy, were better trained and equipped. Their military traditions going back to the days of the Ashadin Empire saw them have well trained mages compared to the outlawing of arcane magic present in Sollen. This was to change though as things appeared more desperate for the defenders. Untrained sollenite mages were unofficially allowed to practice their magic on the battlefield and the harnessing of the Weave to cast powerful spells would often leave the casters crippled if not outright destroyed by the spells they cast.

It was at this time that Thomus Winkel would invent the Celestial Hurricanum, a device capable of storing excess magic channeled by a magic user such that they could then be sufficiently free from the dangerous side effects and allow more powerful mages to unleash the magic stored within. This would most likely have been a boon to the sollenite forces to have access to reliable and powerful magic. Unfortunately for all involved Winkel's mistress was found to be an Esperian spy and he was hanged alongside her. It would be a century before this device would be rediscovered.

Conflict Type

War

Start Date

February, 584 T.A

Ending Date

September, 585 T.A