The Dreughold Rebellion

Tilting the Scales of History

Used to tourneys and honor-duels, the Fae-warriors were frustrated by their inability to score any compelling blow against Cruithne's band. That drove them to recklessness and a horrified sense of awe at the mortal's resolve to fight as long as they could still wield iron or claw with their teeth. Never before had the Fae seen such displays of mortal ferocity, which was utterly foreign to their own indolent, almost casual approach to war.
For days, they tried to break through the wall, utilizing every spell and trick they knew, but whenever they nearly had a breach, a chunk of raw iron was hurled into their midst, and their attempts broke off. Most unique is that the songs record teams of women not only picking up weapons but chaining anvils to the wall and utilizing them as giant flails to clear the walls, a tactic never recreated.
Knee high piled the ashes of the Fae struck down by iron all along the base of the wall, and waist high at the gateway itself. Since the average Fae, roughly the same mass as a human, leaves only a small pile of ash behind once they are slain, that hints at the massive casualties inflicted upon the Fae armies.

— Anonymous Aelithi commentary on Laeonessai stories

The Conflict

Prelude

Mortals dwelt in the Dreughold since time immemorial, first as guests, and then eventually as slaves of the Stone-Fae. This existed for centuries as the Fae used their enchantments to control and beguile the mortals into servitude. In fact, the Dreughold had grown to become something of a dark legend for the mortals in other parts of the isles. If they caused trouble, the Fae-Lords would send them to the Dreughold for the rest of their lives.
As the Fae used the mortals for whatever they pleased, more and more of the Elfen, mixed mortal-Fae bloodlines, became more common, and while the Fae were unaware, being uninterested in their mortal, albeit long-lived offspring, these children had the ability to use the Awen, a gift from their Fae-blood.
It took decades before one of them managed to accidentally learn how to disenchant himself, Cruithne Cruithson, and once he realized the true nature of the situation, he was outraged. He trained himself to use Awen as well as experimenting with different ways to utilize and defend against it. Slowly, he began to disenchant people, and recruited them to his cause, and passed on what he had learned. After three years of secret preparation, he decided they were ready, and gathering his band of warriors, stormed the Great Hall during one of the many feasts. Taken by surprise, they slaughtered the warriors and nobility of the Stone-Fae. Their king only barely managed to escape.
Burning with shame from his humiliation, he persuaded and bargained the other Fae-Lords into amassing their forces with him, for they all feared what would happen if all the humans sought to conquer them. Two weeks after the initial assault from Cruithne, a Fae army had marched to the Dreughold, prepared to restore their honor.

Deployment

Twelve Fae-Lords were involved in the siege, each with their own separate encampments around the valley of the Dreughold. They sought to take the higher summits in the area but found those warded by enough iron-spikes driven into the rock to make it untenable for the Fae. The lake had an iron-chain with weighted iron tendrils going down to the lakebed, making it impossible to approach from the water.
With these defenses placed by Cruithne's band, the Fae were forced to attempt a siege. However, it was impossible for them to effectively cut off the keep, as mortals from within the keep would sneak in and out, warded by iron charms, and pretend to be enthralled, serving as spies, saboteurs, and smugglers.
Ultimately, the Fae forces were concentrated against the main gate in an attempt to assault the keep by force.

Battlefield

The battle was centered around The Dreughold, with the primary area of conflict centering around the hold itself, with the Fae aiming primarily to besiege the keep and then take it by assault when their glamour and grammarie failed to affect the fighters.

Conditions

The engagement began in midsummer when the weather was very hot, very dry, and very windy. Dust storms frequently obscured the vision of the combatants and were it not for the lake and wells within the keep that led to the aquifer, Cruithne would have been forced to surrender within a few days.

The Engagement

The battle was a prolonged skirmish rather than a decisive battle until the very end. In his years of preparation, Cruithne had learned all he could of iron-work, utilizing smiths from the lowlands that he went out to visit, and had devised multiple plans to counter the Fae superiority when it came to the Awen. As such, initial Fae assaults were countered by clever uses of iron, and iron-headed arrows punched through Fae armor, forcing them to stay out of range.
When the decision was finally made to launch a full assault on the gate, two-thirds of the Fae army were engaged in the endeavor, hoping that enough of them would be able to overwhelm the defenders. However, their weapons and equipment could not match up to the iron equipment. The Fae were massacred in their assault, betrayed by their own sense of superiority. Seven waves of assaults were sent against the walls before enough of the Fae-Lords were killed that they realized the futility of their assault and conceded to the demands set by Cruithne, aided by a daring night raid that set their camp ablaze and killed three of the Fae-Lords in their own tent. In less than a week, the Fae army was devastated, their political structure crippled, and the surviving Fae-Lords forced to accept the conditions demanded by the Dreughold defenders.

Outcome

The political order of Laeonesse was completely destabilized, as it had been the Fae-Lords that were the primary powers within the isles. During the battle, nine of the twelve who participated, out of the sixteen total, were slain. This gave mortals the opportunity to seize power over their lives in their regions, and with the exception of Aerlion, this was the beginning of the first mortal kingdoms.

Aftermath

The Fae political structure never recovered from the devastation wrought during the battle and the Faen Court devolved into multiple smaller Courts, all of whom struggled for power and supremacy, crippling any united attempt to regain their lost power. This allowed the mortal kingdoms to swell and grow, ultimately uniting under a High King, and as a side effect, banishing the Fae into their own realm.

Historical Significance

The Dreughold rebellion is seen as the start of human history within Laeonesse and the mark of the isles as a human political entity, or entities, in most of its history.

Legacy

Seen as the greatest triumph of human valor within the history of Laeonesse, it is celebrated universally throughout the isles as Cruithne's Festival. The Fae, those tied to the courts at least, are reluctant to speak of the event, but it is seen as an embarrassing aberration that could never happen again. It is not until after the Faen War that they begin to truly realize that they cannot remain in the Isles as humans grow ever more powerful.

In Literature

Countless songs and tales recount different parts of the Dreughold Rebellion.

Technological Advancement

This was the first wide-spread use of iron as a weapon and as an armor within Laeonesse, and it provided the foundational for the later development of iron-working for military purposes.

Included under Conflict

The Dreughold Rebellion

Included Conflicts

• The Dreughold Rebellion

Conflict Type

Siege

Battlefield Type

Land

Start Date

Midsummer's Night, 4700 years before Aelithi Occupation

Ending Date

Fifth Day of the Seventh Month, 4700 years before Aelithi Occupation

Conflict Result

Cruithne Cruithson and his band soundly defeated the armies of the Fae-Lords

Location

The Dreughold

Belligerents

Cruithne's Rebels

The Fae-Lords

Strength

• 330 warriors

• 590 support personnel

~3500 warriors

Casualties

• 221 Killed

• 109 Injured

• 80 support personnel injured

~2300 warriors

Objectives

• Objective 1: Hold the Dreughold as long as possible

• Objective 2: Force the Fae-Lords to accept their demands

• Objective 1: Eradicate the rebelling warriors

• Objective 2: Reclaim the Dreughold

• Objective 3: Enchant mortal survivors to ensure their future compliance