Atheran Raider War
War Long in the Making
The eastern winds carried with them the sounds of drums through the mist. The deep steady beat echoing out across the water in stark contrast to the stillness of the morning air. A solemn dread that built with each strike, as shadows found shape in the fog. The bell of the watch rang out with each strike of a great hammer. As the beat grew faster, a deep bellowing chant in a foriegn tongue came with it, as three great dragon heads broke through the fog. Each hewn from a single timber at the bow of a great ship of shallow draw, that moored upon the shallow shore a few feet from the waters edge. Leaping from their ships these men splashed into the shallow water, with a roar of a yell they surged forward. A few dozen men clad in mail, armed with swords and axes, behind broad shields they charged.Then as quickly as they had come these raiders were gone. Back to the sea with all they could carry upon their backs. The smell of smoke choking the now still morning air, as the people crept from their shelter. Less now than there were before, and but one fighter now among them.
In recent years the first echos of war have come between two of the largest nations. The lead up to this war started sixty years prior, when the Raiders of the West had made significant strides toward unification of their region under a young king. The established power in the east, Athera; saw this as a significant threat to their security and hegomony over the heartlands. As such the Atheran's marshaled their Legion to war with their allies the Coastal, and marched against the southern border of the Gothic States. This military action forced a response from the young king of the Sea Raiders, who marched his over extened army southward to meet this incursion. This conflict was short as the Atherans had out matched the fatigued raider force, and with pressure from the north by the Khan's forces the Raiders were forced to cead a large swath of territory to the Atherans. Sixty years prior to the current day, this war ended setting the stage for the growing hostilities in the following decades. These hostilities started as increasing raids on the coastal towns of Athera, and attacks across this new frontier territory by the Gothics, and riders of the Khan. This slow burn of skirmishes would slowly build as the Raiders gathered their strength. and prepared for war. The Kings of Athera were slow to recognize these growwing hostilities as signs of coming war, and failed to meet the enemy, or take aggressive actions against them. The hostilities were recognized by the Marshal of the King who had led the Legion through the first war with the Raiders. He saw the mounting attacks, and new war was coming and lobbied heavily to begain preperations for a full scale war. Met with stone walling by the Council of Kings, he set to readying the nation how best he could on his own. When their came a sudden uptick in the raids along the Atheran Coastline, the Marshal knew war was imminent, beseaching the King of Cal-Corvec to muster his levies he deployed a company of soldiers further into the frontier.
It was this deployment of this company that led to the first real battle of the war. On the road west, the Legion was ambushed by Gothic forces concealed in the hillsides. This ambush would become a devistating loss for the Legion, with less than a fifth of the company surviving, and the death of General Martin DeVeca. Upon th survivors return to Castle Seaview, they learned that the Gothics had begun to muster for a full invasion of the Frontier territories, and would soon be upon Seaview.
Describe an ongoing military conflict in your world.The Conflict
Prelude
The prelude to this war began more than a hundred years prior, with the first attempts at unification of the Raider States by the late King of the Sea Raiders. It was his efforts to unite his people which first set the stage for the major conflicts which would come, with his army funded by the raids of the Atheran and Pell coastline. The wars of unification of the Sea Raiders were brutal, and long fought. His great success caught the attention of rivals, and this King was assassinated before he could fully unite his people. Rule passed then to his young son, an angry and surprisingly capable young man. This united kingdom was expected to collaps with out a strong leader, but this young King faced every rival and every challenge to his rule. The young king of the Sea Raiders, finally united his people and turned his attention to the other Kingdoms of the West. Through conquest, and shrewd diplomacy the Kings of the Gothics, the Rus, and the Litho/Polish would join the King of the Sea Raiders in his war against the Khan.
The First War
As the young king found hard won success against the Khan, and had struggled to unite the people of the West. This success had caught the attention of the Marshal of the King of Athera. The Marshal recognized the threat which a unified Raider State possed to the hegmony of Athera over the Heartlands. With this growwing threat the Marshal went to the High King of Athera to seek approval to take the Legion to war. The High King agreed, and set the Marshal loose against the Raiders. The Marshal didn't go to war alone, taking his Legion he sought the aid of the Coastal Republics. With their long history of war with the Gothics, the Coastal had reason to fear the unification of the Raider States and as such quickly joined the Atheran Legion in war.
With this combined force, The Marshal marched to war with the Raiders. His goal was not the destruction of the raider state, but to undermine their successes against the Khan and fracture the alliances. Marching in to the Gothic border regions the armies of Athera and Coastal Republics quickly took ground from the local Gothic Kings. The Gothic Kings called for aid from the King of the Sea Raiders. Recognizing the threat posed by the Atheran and Coastal armies the Sea Raider King marshalled his forces against this combined force. This unfortunately pulled most of his forces from their campaign against the Khan, who immediately began to take advantage of the situation. Feeling pressured from two sides this forced the young king to move quickly and take dramatic action against the Atheran Coastal force. Fighting three pitched battles against this combined force, and being driven back quickly in the first two battles before making a final stand against the Atheran force. The Marshal of Athera challenged the young king to single combat to determin the fate of the war. The young king over confident in his abilities accepted this challenge and was quickly and easily bested by one of the greatest warriors of Athera. The Marshal thought that the defeat and humiliation of the King was enough to break his alliances. The King was forced to ceed a large region of the south eastern gothic kingdoms to the Atheran's. This established what would be called the Atheran Frontier, and ended the conflict as the young king had to turn his attention back into his own territories.
The Watchful Peace
With the First War over, the Atheran's moved to secure this new frontier. They established the city of Seaview as their stronghold in the region. Expanding upon the fortifications in place, and constructing Castle Seaview high on the cliffs. From here the Legion General would serve as governor of this frontier, and represent it in the Council of Kings. The Atheran Rangers would be expanded, and would move into this frontier to patrol and keep the peace during the transition of power. Although there was some animosity between the local gothics, and the new Atheran occupiers the Gothics were treated fairly and given full rights in their new Nation. The former King of Seaview now serving as an advisor to the Legion General, while maintianing direct administration of Seaview and the surrounding towns.
In the immediate aftermath of this first war, the young king faced many challenges to his rule and goals. The first being the recovering Khan who had taken advantage of the distracted forces and resecured large swaths of his old territory. The fast and mobile Khan was capable of reacting faster to the changing circumstances than the primarily infantry armies of the Sea Raiders and Gothics. Pressing his new advantage, the Khan threatened once secure cities under the control of the young king. This threat alone would be enough to hold the advance of the Raider State, however they faced threats from within as well.
The humilating defeat at the hands of the Atheran Marshal shook the faith of many of the nobles who had allied with the young king. Under the pressure of the Khan these nobles sought to lead the allied powers themselves and began to fall to infighting. These battles were bloody and divided the already weakend power base of the young king. It would take him decades to rebuild his power base, fending off every rival in turn. During this time his wars with the Khan continued, attempting to hold back the Khan's renewed advance. Eventually the King was able to crush the Khan and resecure his control of the other Raider States.
During this time the Sea Raiders resumed their raids against Athera and Pelliny, sailing across the Shattered Seas to enrich the coffers of the Sea Raiders. This was done to fund his armies in the field against the Khan, and to weaken the armies of Athera. This also expanded the fronts the Atherans would have to manage when the next war came. The what the Sea Raiders discovered was that the County Corvec had become far weaker than it had been in the past.
Also during this time the Gothics made many raids into the new Atheran Frontier, attacking towns and villages and disapearing back into their cities. This was done to weaken the hold on the frontier and to enrich the lords of the Gothic states. More than this though it allowed the Gothics to gain experience fighting the Atheran Legion, while testing the strength of the Legion garrison.
The Ambush
The decades past slowly with conflict building as time went on until just over sixty years had past since the end of the last war. With a large uptick in raids across the Atheran Frontier, the Raider offensive appeared to have begin in earnest. The General Martin DeVeca of the Seaview Garrison recognized that action must be taken against these bold attacks. He organized a company of Legionaries under the Command of Quintin Hollistin and set out for the frontier towns. The General had hoped that such action would serve as a suitable show of force to discourage further raiding across the territory. However on their march the General and his Company were set upon by a large Gothic army. These Gothics trapped the General on the narrow roads of the low pass, and overwhelmed the column as they marched. During the battle the General and most of the Company were slain by the Gothics, with the survivors fleeing into the wilds led by a band of Rangers who had come to their aid. This first true battle, marked the beginning of the war, as large forces were soon mustered against the Atheran Frontier. With the full might of the united Raider States now poised to strike back at Athera.Specifications
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Raider States
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2000 Members of the Silver Shields
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