The Mathair uprising

The Conflict

Prelude

For the longest time it was Cruthi raiding ships sailing to Fealdland to raid and plunder them but not this time. The great expedition as the Fealdish barbarians had called it sailed into the Mathair in 1775, four years after they blockaded Chiora. And they came not to simply plunder but to conquer. Since then five southern kingdoms had been overrun by them from where they established the Viceroyalty of Alderland. Further north they began to block off the inlets and waterways of the outer west coast to build their castles and they had expanded into the Grotto islands to the west. Now their attention was on the great river system that was the gateway to much of Chiora. They erected more castles, blockaded the trade routes ,forced the peaceful wulver clans to submit to them and founded the Starreck river Dominion. The aim of this was to close vital trade and commerce between kingdoms and open a route from which their ships could traverse from one side of Chiora to another at a quicker pace, part of their ultimate strategy of strangling the hated Cruthi kingdoms to death and either conquering them or forcing them to submit to Fealdland. However something else was transpiring on the river. Fiefdom over the vast river delta was awarded to one Earl Conrad Hayes. Who wasted no time in enacting his plan for the mathair. Immediately he ordered his forces to start logging the woods around the areas of richest soil in the Mathair delta and. He constructed dams and reservoirs to divert water to areas he wanted and started selling the land to people back in Fealdland. He wanted to create a new Fealdland on the Mathair. By clearing the wilderness of the delta, starting a large scale opperation of planting incense flowers, hops and barley, surplanting the land with Fealdish settlers, forcing cruthi into serfdome and having his pesonal ships have monopoly on trans-Mathair trade House Hayes would be one of the most powerfull families of the realm. Three years into his project and all was going well. He consolidated his power and had converted almost half the mathair into promissing plantations. However there were whispers of danger. The grotto islands had been liberated by an upstart chief of the McNessa clan, A selkie by the name of Murdoch. And in the Mathair the wulver and other local clans have taken to the shadowed woods and waterways to fight the invaders led by a grey wulver simply known as Timberback. McNessa knows that the Mathair is the key to turning the tide against the invaders. If he can break the back of the Fealdish invasion and rally more clans to join the fight they would surely drive them into the sea. And so from the islands he sets sail for the coast at the head of a fleet of thirty four galleys to break the blockade, burn the Fealdish out and free the Mathair.

Battlefield

The majority of the war was foughtin the Mathair river delta. A vast expanse of river islands, bogland, rainforest and tributaries that almost cut Chiora in half alin the centre. It was also fought on the western Kenmanoch coast, in the lands south of the delta and as far up the mathair river as Urkennog. Up and down the Mathair trade routes skirmishes were fought very frequently, though large scale naval battles rarely occured in this way.

Conditions

The dense woodland of the Mathair was swiftly being reduced and the waterways were being diverted. If the warband was to have any success at all they would have to rely on the environment to avoid pitch battle with the Fealdish. Throughout the uprising the Cruthi burned logging camps and ruptured dams and dykes to maintain an environmental advantage and cause a bit of destruction on their part. They once managed to stop a force setting out to massacre a village by breaking a dam and sending the water to flood their encampment.

The Engagement

Burning of the coast

Murdoch has only one possible route to the Mathir, through the gulf of Bettick. And he can only get into the Delta if he assists clan Calradyin recapture the occupied city of Invermathair. But the west coast is infested with the Fealdish navy fed by eleven large fortresses situated up and down the coast at either side of the inlet. Murdoch knows that if these fortresses are left untouched they will send reinforcements into the Mathair. At the head of a fleet of thirty galleys each packed with warriors he springs upon the Fealdish galleons like a swarm of wasps and he sails along the coast from the southward side taking the forts as he goes. In six weeks he had sacked five fortresses before reaching the inlet and upon destroying the fortress protecting the inlet he divides his force. He takes fourteen galleys and best warriors from all the island clans into the Mathair with him and sends the rest to finish the remaining fortresses. As he slips into the Mathair he sends ospreys with messages for the Wulver villages and in particular the one called Timberback telling them to gather for war and that he was determined to drive the invaders out.

The siege of Invermathair

The city straddling the mouth of the river mathair had been under the thumb of the dominion for a third year now. Ruled by a settler militia under the command of a man simply called Rethsby. Already a great trade port before they had taken over they plan to some day make it the dominion capital, reshaped to their liking, but Invermathairs lost children will not give her up without a fight. The rightful lords of Invermathair Clan Calradyin have held position on the outskirts of the city walls with rams and their famed war mammoths to smash the gate down but the outnumbered Millitia have threatened to massacre the Cruthi commonfolk and noble hostages within if they attempt to attack. Among them is lady Alpia Calradyin the firstborn daughter of Cheif Ranon Calradyin who had in secret accepted Murdoch's hand in marriage. Spies embedded in the city have revealed that Alpia had used her cunning to convince Rethsby to enclosure the six hundred or so commonfolk around the river that runs through the settlement so they may catch their own food instead of the Fealdish feeding them. In the event of an attack they could steal boats and try to escape but Murdoch put a different plan into action. In broad daylight the Calradyin army broke their camps and turned north for their valley. The spies within the city spread word that the siege was over and encouraged the settlers to celebrate. By night's fall the music and raucousness could be heard for miles away and the garrison had gotten largely drunk and beyond Rethsby's control. At the western river entrance spies had infiltrated the turrets and guard-posts, killed them, stole their uniforms and opened the water barrier. Murdoch himself led the galleys into the city and with a detachment of warriors slipped into the city while the spies extracted Alpia from the chieftain's hall. As short as their reunion was it was nonetheless joyous. The two embraced passionately but Murdoch soon ushered her into one of the galleys and evacuated with many other people. Murdoch's warriors begin setting fire to the buildings housing the garrison which acts as the signal. Suddenly from the field upon which the broken siege camp once stood a wall of men and beasts stream forward to the high pitch whale of bagpipes and the bellow of war horns. The few defenders fit enough to fight rally to the walls but Rethsby orders a good number of them to slaughter the commonfolk. They go only to find them protected by McNessa warriors who cut them down. It does not take long for the gate to break and first the furious war mammoths charge in followed by Calradyins who slay the garrison without mercy and take the head of Rethsby. The feasts prepared for the Fealdish is now enjoyed by the Cruthi and in the following celebration Murdoch formally asked Ranon for his blessing to marry Alpia. Ranon Accepts hapily and after a long night of revelry Murdoch's army now bolstered with Calradyins sets sail into the Mathair.
Situated in his fortified capital of Armundey Conrad Hayes has heard of the carnage in the west coast but increased attacks all across the Delta have called for him to keep his forces in reserve to protect the planters and trade routes. He requests ships from the south to be dispatched to the Delta to help. He is confident that if any of the clans move on him he will put them down easily. None the less he orders further river patrols and tells the commanders of his yeomanry to tighten their grip on the villages that have not yet submitted. He appoints his most trusted administrator Lord Becker Ashwood to command his forces.

Timberback and wolftooth

Murdoch had accompanied the McNessa trading ships through the Mathair since he was twelve and so knew near every route and stream as he did his mother's face. The galleys passed through deep everfreen forests and wide, snowcapped glens before finding his way to the delta. Timberback sent him a colour coded message that told him where he could be found. He reached his secret den nesstled far into a flooded rain forest in the north. A ruined hall where once a mighty Mathair clan ruled. The joy of seeing the grey wulver was dashed by a very unwelcome sight. The young man standing next to him was Halchon of clan Ekrin or 'Wolftooth' as most called him. Heir to clan Elkrin who ruled over the hated Theighnrost confederation. Timberback only just managed to stop the two men from brawling. One hundred and fourty years of blood feuding does not simply end beause of the Fealdish. The Mathair had once been the McNessa's home but the ancestors of Wolftooth expeled them upon their rise to power. Eventually the two men calmed themselves and decided on their plan to cut the lifeline of the Fealdish expedition by destroying it's ability to generate income and turning it's strategic advantages against the Fealdish.

The bleeding delta

The Harnersford plantation was the first of many plantations soon to be added on what the Fealdish called Rooks island. harvest time was close and it's wide fields we're bright with the hues of incense flowers and shone gold with wheat. The planters were awoken to the smell of burning and sound of bellowing war horns. The warband sought to make their mark on the Fealdish and so destroyed the fields, plundered and burned the home and killed the planters. The Millitia attempted to give chase in boats but the Cruthi led them down winding, dark tributaries and they were forced to turn back. As word of this victory spreads other wulver clans dissolutioned with keeping to them peaceful tradition only to be repaid with brutally also take up arms throughout the Mathair and word of their brutally soon spread. The wulver are masters at hunting on the rivers and with their famed longbows are expert sharpshooters. Lurking in the trees and gliding silently beneath the waters they loose armour piercing arrows that puncture the plate of yeomanry from great distances and then melt away. as a result the Fealdish attempt to cut down the forest quicker. The rivers are not safe either for the of the McNessas soon become adept at raiding ships on the river, using the speed and maneuverability of the galleys they capture everything from trade vessels to soldier transports. In their galleys they launch lighting quick raids against plantations and trading posts dotted allong the riverbank. They plunder wealth and supplies and burn the rest. In response the Fealdish gather warbands of their own to trek into the forest to hunt down the Cruthi. Oft times they would be ambushed in the thicket or fall victim to traps hidden in the woods and turn back but Fealdish retribution when enacted was terrible. An invading force Destroyed the town of Dunreaith, home of Clan McLairn. They sacked the castle, desecrated the shrines, beheaded the shamans and nobility within and uprooted the clan's sacred tree. The McLairns and Timberback himself responded in kind. They found the force responsible was posted in the Cearmund plantation and surrounding settlement that encompassed a whole island. The Cruthi stormed the town, butchering and plundering and burning. Planters and soldiers tried plunging into the water to escape the bloodhungry Cruthi only to find the settlement surrounded by galleys who filled them with arrows and beat them to death with war shillelaghs. War in this manner would be fought incessantly across the Delta.

War on the wulver road

Using maps taken from the Delta the Cruthi identify the routes used by the Fealdish to funnel support to their fronts in the different frontiers of Chiora. McNessa and Elkrin warriors were dispatched follow the same routes finding Fealdish outposts wherever the water reached. The Cruthi took them one by one over the space of a year and with each victory the river opened up to them. Fealdish forces on the offensive suddenly found themselves surrounded and without support. With route they secured the warband found more support in the form of food, weapons and eager fighting men much to the frustration of their enemies.
While Ashwood would remain a loyal companion of Hayes he was relieved of his command. Hayes decided he needed a more ruthless hand to win turned to a powerful cheifin who had sworn loyalty to Fealdland. Ian MacShenie had decided that the Fealdish made better friends then enemies and had converted to Eyramism and thrown in his lot with them. He owned six plantations all but two had been burned and so he jumped at the chance for revenge. Hayes was feeling more and more suffocated and pled to his masters for aid.

My lords the situation in my domain is more dire than we anticipated. The savages it seems have rallied and are striking at me with a force I had not thought them capable. They murder his majesty’s subjects without mercy and have carved a path of destruction and larceny through my domain. We cannot assist our armies north of the great river and if aid is not sent to us in the form of a substantial force of men and arms the expedition is in grave danger.

The battle of Geltien bridge

While they awaited salvation chief MacShenie rallied his own personal force of yeomen and millitia that set off into the Delta to hunt the warband down. They took vengeance on multiple towns on the way to lay seige to the warband stronghold of Selbroch. But Wulver scouts had tracked his movements and both Murdoch and Wolftooth moved to stop him. They positioned their forces at either side of a brick MacShenie would need to cross. They hid themselves in trenches they obscured with foliage and waited dill half their number crossed. At the sound of a war trumpet a barrage of fire arrows streams from the surrounding woods and the bridges soon catches light. The warriors spring from theirs positions and charge. It is the first pitch battle of the uprising and for once the Fealdish are not so outmatched. Although they inflict more casualties they are cut down and in the light of the burst bridge Murdoch sees Wolftooth holding aloft the severed head of MacShenie. With no heir everything that was once his now belongs to Wolftooth, no doubt a scheme of his from the beginning. The joy of victory is short lived and they must make haste to Timberback.

Hayes is releved to see twenty fresh Galleons harboured in Armundey bearing much needed reenforcements. He has promised to reward all who take up arms for him with tracks of land to plant and homestead. Six thousand men answer his call. He can afford to consolidate his power untill he can go on the offensive again for he knows that the warband would not dare launch an attack. However like all of his other assumptions of the Cruthi he will find himself sadly corrected.

The ruin of Armundy

The galleys had gathered undetected on the beach adjacent the city and an army awaited on the landward side. If they could bring Armundey to heel now they would have the whole Mathair. Bellow the galleons silent figures move throug the water darting in between the ships. They are wulver and selkies including Timberback himself. They are infiltrating the galleys, filling them with pitch and tar. At midnight the ships light up like a fat fed hearth and the city is engulfed in a bright glow. Galleys streem from the water at the docks and a great army led by Wolftooth charges from hidden positions to batter down the gates. Hayes is taking no chances and orders for his wife and child son to be spirited out. McNessas and wulvers storm into the city first and cut down the spirited resistance made by the Fealdish reinforcements but it is all for naught. The Land army batter down the gates and make there own rampage through the city acting on three years of hatred they show no quarter. Heyes will not flee and with his personal guard he makes a stand in front of his residence. He meets Murdoch face to face and in the little Cruthi he knows challenges him to single combat for the lives of his men and the civilians. Murdoch agrees. The fight it was noted was a tense one both men greatly skilled fighters who traded blows for what felt like hours. But it was Murdoch who got the upper hand landing a cut to the unarmoured back of Heyes's knee and stabbing him through the pit. He allowed his foe a respectfull death by waiting till he drew last breath before taking his head. He ordered Heyes's men and the remaining civilians spared before setting about plundering his personal residence. By the break of day Armundey was devoid of life and with it's fall marked the death of the Starreck river dominion and heralded the doom of the Expedition.

Outcome

The remaning planters abbandon their holdings and leave for friendly territory. Murdoch, on his way to replenish his forces in the Islands Married Alpia and took her to the isles

Aftermath

The Victory would rally many kingdoms to stand against the expedition. And without the revenue generated by the plantations, rebellions rife in their conquered terrories and the tide now against them the Fealdish would abandon Chiora a year later.
Murdoch Was given the titles of Lord of the grotto Isles by his king and hero of the mother river by shamans. The wulver clans even gave his clan toll fee trade in the Mathair. A gift that angered Wolftooth. For even though he was gifted all MacShenie land this was seen as an act of favoritism. McNessa tried to reconcile with him but their feuding would continue. Timberback had not yet had his fill of adventure and would enjoy raiding with Murdoch for many years before sailing across the sea to join the famed Cruthi Mercineries of the Imperial Gallowglass in Vastria. Victor Heyes was but a child when his father Conrad was slain. He does not remember much of it but he knows what is rightfully his. And he is not the only one. Someday the Mathir will know fury of the children of those who sought to make a knew life there. And the name Hayes would ring in the ears of the McNessas

Historical Significance

Legacy

The victory against the planters is widely celebrated throughout the Mathair and by the clans who fought in it. In many a cheiftain's hall you will see a trophy or two from it. Sets of Fealdish armour, trinkets from plantations or the silver coated skulls of the invaders. It is known amongst the poets as the 'Stand for all of Chiora'.

Included under Conflict

War of the great expedition

Conflict Type

War, Theatre

Start Date

Spring of 2778 HR

Ending Date

Winter of 2780 HR

Conflict Result

Cruthi Victory, Starreck river colony dismantled, Cruthi clans take control of the Mathair

Location

Mathair river delta

Belligerents

Warband of the Mathair

• Clan Calradyin
• Clan Elkrin
• Clan Kalster
• Clan Kollraith
• Clan McAverie
• Clan McLairn
• Clan McNessa
• Clan McSwenn
• Clan O'Bannarn
• Clan Thanerost
• Kingdom of Mura
• Kingdom of the Tosca
• Wulver clans

Led by

• Halchon 'wolftooth' Elkrin
• Malcom McNessa
• Murtaugh 'Timberback' Bannon

Viceroyalty of Rederland

• Kingdom of Fealdland
• The Starreck river dominion
• Viceroyalty of Rederland

Led by

• Becker Ashwood
• Conrad Hayes
• Ian MacShenie

Strength

10,000 Wulver warriors
7000 Kern infantry
4000 Clan Warriors
800 McNessa reivers
700 Miura Warriors
400 Tosciean huntsmen
14 west Chioran galleys

18,000 Fealdish infantry
10,000 Yeomen of house Hayes
6000 knights
2000 Cruthi Mecrineries
1500 Settler millitia
20 frigates
30 river brigs

Casualties

7000 dead
5 galleys destroyed
12 Villages destroyed
14,000 civillians killed

17,000+ dead including Hayes
2000 captured
47 ships destroyed
Hundreds of Planters and settlers massacred
All plantations either burned or abandoned
Stermont river colony lost

Objectives

Stop planter expansion into the Mathair
Secure routes throghout the Mathair to cut Viceroyalty supply lines and bring aid to other Cruthi armies
Seize settlements and fortresses to control the delta
Drive the Fealdish out of Central Chiora

Tame the Mathair river delta
Destroy the Wulver clans
Keep supply lines intact
Hold the castles on the mathair