War for Whitecrest
"We were better men, once, my lord. Once I might have stood by you without question, and you might have chosen your king over some upstart pretender." -Commander Michar Valeir, just before he and his Rovasan retinue defected to King Federick Gallamoar's forces
The Conflict
Prelude
(All writings herein penned by Armin Tarthis, historian of Zezithral in the city of Ara contemporary to the War for Whitecrest) The first major military campaign for King Federick Gallamoar, the War for Whitecrest began as simply as a war could, and perhaps years before a blade ever spilled blood. On the 7th of Renrian, 999 AD, the Lord Brand of Whitecrest and the Vale of Laeleve succumbed to a long bout with an unknown disease of the blood at the age of seventy-one, and with his passing came the ascension of his third son Marien. This fact alone would have been of little consequence had Marien not been so easily influenced by his own daughter, Jamei. Jamei Whitecrest was, for all intents and purposes, cut from the same cloth as Lukan Antar and Irra of the Wavereavers. In her heart was the flame of conquest, and in the rule of King Federick she saw a weak monarch incapable of keeping the northern lords in line and foreign invaders from the west at bay. For years after Lord Brand Whitecrest's death, Jamei met with members of her father's court. At first, their meetings were little more than logistical rundowns of what the Whitecrest domain needed to continue to grow and pay tribute to the king, but always in the lady Jamei's mind was the idea of moving forces westward, to Ara's white walls. She began plotting in true at the end of one of her meetings with the court on the 16th of Niivaren, 1003 AD. Sirs Maribal and Drachus of the Laeleve Vale were present for the first time in months, and the attendance of Sirien Lobruk, the coin-master of Lord Whitecrest's court meant Jamei had all the pieces she needed to plant the idea of rebellion in the right minds. With those three men, she began conspiring for Whitecrest domination from a position of strength; the same argument she would eventually outwardly use on her father hardly more than a year later. By that time, the Vale of Laeleve would have its forces marshaled almost to the strength it possessed before the War for the Middlelands. "Theirs is not a bond of love," said the Lady Whitecrest when she first spoke publicly of her dissent of King Federick and his relationship with his brother Roderick (who commanded the entire northern fleet for decades). "Theirs is a tenuous match of blood and all that keeps the north from breaking trust with the south, perhaps even from rebelling or declaring for King Malak of Krasta." She is known for then turning to her father, having planted the seeds of this argument in his mind during months and years of dinner conversations and late night walks along the outer palisades, and saying, "My lord father, I beseech you to consider the strength of our house. The blood of old Irranaya flows through our veins just as it flowed through the Antars, the Nyriams. Consider the strength of our will. If the Gallamoar court and king cannot match us, why should we not cast them aside?" It was then, on the 7th of Niivaren, 1004 AD, that the weakness Jamei so despised in her father showed itself again. "They have shown nothing but good faith to us, dear flower," said the middle-aged lord to his still-youthful daughter. "A man who breaks trust with his king is damned before all." Momentarily rebuffed, Jamei sent couriers in the night to the Lord Rigus Faloran of the Rovasan plains--the lands between hers and the king's own capital--to begin currying favor with him. Lord Faloran responded with haste, curious about the proposals Lady Whitecrest vaguely mentioned her letter, and by the middle of Qorden of 1004 AD, the two met in Ivory Keep and began forging an alliance, certain Rynuessa would not rally for the king given their history of neutrality, and equally certain the northerners would not unite in time to rescue the beseiged Gallamoars. With the Laeleve and Rovasan forces under her command, she effectively wrested the choice of peace away from her father and formally began war on the 7th of Kinnian, 1005 AD, by attacking and seizing Sheris, a city in the midst of Rovasan lands, yet under Gallamoar control. Its positioning between Laeleve and Rovasa was the perfect staging point for the two armies to meet. And after only a few hours of battle, Lady Jamei Whitecrest had pushed back Gallamoar forces and dragged Lord Marien Whitecrest into a war he had never wanted, for a prize he had never sought.
Deployment
The Engagement
The First Battle of Rovasa
On the 8th of Magvast, 1005 AD, Gallamoar forces came within sight of a hostile Rovasa. King Federick's delay had given the Whitecrest men ample time to garrison and fortify the town, complete with pikes and trenches and resulting chokepoints. And for the moment, this advantage proved enough to allow those fighting under the Whitecrest banners to prevail over the greater numbers and training of the Gallamoar men. Following a desperate charge into the village square to force a victory, King Federick and Lord Dmitri Mandus called a retreat before the Whitecrest warriors surrounded their army. This battle cost Lord Dmitri three fingers in a wound that would later fester and take his life, and, perhaps most importantly, took the life of Sir Fremmen of Rovasa. Fremmen was a lifelong friend of Captain Michar Valeir and Lord Rigus, and his death galvanized Michar against the Whitecrest cause after seeing the futility of their effort despite the momentary victory.Michar Valeir
At this moment, we must take pause to consider this immediate ramification of the first Battle of Rovasa: the defection of Captain Michar Valeir. There is far too much context to explain adequately in this volume, but I will attempt to distill the culture around Rovasa as it pertains to the favorability of Captain Michar versus Lord Rigus, for in this field, I believe, we find the best explanation for the significant following the young captain had when he turned his face to his own lord in favor of his own king. House Valeir, in the generations leading up to the war, was a vassal family sworn to House Faloran. This arrangement itself came about following House Gallamoar's overthrowing of the royal Maelcrests, and for nearly three hundred years, this House relationship thrived on the already existing love between the families, perhaps dating back nearly to when the Lady Reverent herself returned south (this is as the Faloran scribe has recounted). Tension, however, first substantially arose between the families when Rigus Faloran's father, Horik, accosted Lynn Valeir, Michar's mother. Abvar, Michar's father, and Horik nearly came to blades that evening, and only the intervention of King Federick himself ceased the conflict from escalating to a skirmish between the minor houses. Horik Faloran dishonored himself, and such an action poisoned the well of his favor in the eyes of the people under his rule. (To be continued)Outcome
Aftermath
Belligerents
House Whitecrest and Attenders
House Gallamoar and Banners
Strength
Casualties
Objectives
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