House Avo Gene Sequence Acquisition 13

The Conflict

Prelude

House Avo planned the liquidation of their alliance with the Sky Elves meticulously and laid groundwork slowly over decades. They first became inspired in their method by watching the then-surprising effectiveness of fully armored knights in the Sorcerous Wars ravaging Balk. Before the midpoint in that conflict, House Avo was already opening chapterhouses of new knightly orders in every Sky Elf settlement, and even those of other cultures with a significant Sky Elf population. These orders were presented as established to protect embassies and foster improved cooperation and coordination of future combined arms allied forces. In reality they were both the infiltrators and the perpetrators of the coming action.

The Engagement

On Kyzlû the 2nd in the 64th year of the Age of Knights, in the peaceful afterglow of the prior day's Edrannon festivities, every chapterhouse of House Avo's false knights struck. Sky Elf soldiers and guards were killed in their beds or their cups, and all defensible structures were seized. The willful were purged while priority targets and the weak were taken until quotas were reached then the rest were purged as well. Any flying cities and fortresses that House Avo could decipher were stolen and the rest set to plummet to the ground. There was resistance of course, and the resulting conflict would be the most deadly and expensive private campaign in imperial history, but the damage had been done in that first surprise attack. It's estimated that by the end of the operation's first week well over three quarters of Khthon's Sky Elf population had been killed or captured. Apart from their Pyrrhic victory on Arx Firmus the Sky Elves lost every one of their flying cities in the first year. There have been victories and even occasional triumphs for the Sky Elves, but in the century since they have never regained the momentum from House Avo, who quickly came to see the conflict as a cleanup operation and only a minor annual expense.

Outcome

Sky Elves ended as a political power; House Avo significantly weakened by casualties much higher than projections

Aftermath

Sky Elves outside House Avo's control struggle to maintain genetic diversity in their few hidden enclaves; House Avo is ascendant after seizing control of one of the most sought after genes in imperial culture

Conflict Type

Covert Operation

Start Date

Kyzlû 2, 64 Knight

Conflict Result

House Avo crushes the entire Sky Elf people

Belligerents

House Avo

Sky Elves

Strength

Dozens of knightly orders made up entirely of those with inside knowledge of their enemy's cities and headquartered within them

The entirety of Khthon's Sky Elf population

Casualties

High, nearly 50% of their initially committed forces

Nearly absolute, today's population of Sky Elves is likely not more than five percent of the pre-operation population

Objectives

Establish absolute control over the gene sequence responsible for manifesting wings in Sky Elves and their descendants

Survive