The Conflict
Prelude
The Kingdom of Ashenfeld was entering its golden years, ruled by one Queen Helewyse Seyherd. She would bring about what is arguably one of the greatest ages for the once proud nation. Trade was prosperous and its territory was expansive, however like any nation was thirsty for more. While some of her noble court looked north to Neundorf, or even to revive efforts of colonizing the so called "Deadlands", the church representative in the court actually suggested to head northeast, to Vebastonne. While their relationship had for the most part remained unremarkable, with minor skirmishes but no real mass military conflict against one another, tensions were rising. Its very rare for two nations to stand side by side, both eager for glory, and for their not to be some tension. The Church of the flame also sought to try and insert itself into Vebastonne, which has long aluded the churches influence under their twin goddesses, and so the church decided to try and influence the Queen.
To what extent the Queen knew of this ploy, none can be entirely sure, but its suspected she may have at least partially known of the churches plan, however even if the church had no ulterior motive to this move, it was a tempting one nonetheless. Vebastonne was known for having some of the most fertile soil in Nilush, and would make for an excellent trade power house. This was also coupled with an unsual happening in the noble courts. The Queens agents found an ancient claim from her direct lineage, to the Vebastonne royal court. This coupled with the fact that Vebastonne was currently having a disagreement over who was next in line to rule, as the current son of the king was not a Lilian Knight as is custom, led to the church and Queen Helewyse hatching a scheme. Using this justification, they could claim that the Queen was the rightful next of kin to rule, and so could annex the nation as rightful Ashenfeld soil.
With this, the nation would begin mustering, and eventually march out to war. With the church helping to justify the war amongst the commonfolk, Ashen forces marched into war confident and shielded with faith.
Ashenfeld began mustering a almost a year ahead of time, and would march into Vebastonne swiftly. They would lay siege to the castle of Clamont, however due to the formidable defenses, this would take a great deal of time, however they had to besiege this as it was the only real place they could use as a foothold this early on in their advancement.
While responding was slow, as their was general chaos and panic at the sudden arrival of the army, only having gotten the notice for war some scant days prior, King Elyot d'Courzeiu would remain inspiringly level headed and calm, moving to muster his armies in record time. While the castle of Clamont fell, by the time it fell the forces of Vebastonne had been mustered and readied for engagment, so the knights of the twin goddesses marched to meet the knight legions of Ashenfeld.
Battle mainly took place among Vebastonne, though near the end of the war the Vestoni were starting to push into Ashenfeld territory. Siege warfare was incredibly common, and lots of battles and skirmishing took place on beautiful fields, and even the fey enchanted forests of Vebastonne.
Conditions were harsh as weather played a big role in how battles went. Raiding was common and so peasants regularly had to evacuate their villages to avoid death. Famine and disease were also common in the many battlefields of the War of Lances.
The amount of battles that took place are too many to count, but in general after the fall of Clamont, Ashenfeld would begin 3 large pushes to encompass the most territory they could and split Vebastonne's forces. While this initially proved devastating to the Vestoni, quickly AshenFeld was running into problems supplying 3 separate pushes at once. Then came the Battle of Avimur in where the center most push would besiege a small village where a sizeable Vestoni force was camping in. While they waited to attack, they were surprised by the Vestoni suddenly charging in a massive cavlary force. With their longbows they would take aim and fire, only to dsicover these were not real riders, but a massive tide of illusions. A Vestoni witch had gathered a party of fellow witches to cast a diversion swarm, as suddenly out from behind and to the sides of their ranks, the real cavalry charge came. What followed was a massive melee, as even despite the surprise factor, inclement weather such as rain began to turn the battlefield into a mud bath. However, the Vestoni would emerge victorious, surprising considering their force was a lot smaller then the Ashen forces. however the Vestoni knights fighting in this battle were more fresh, while the Ashen forces had been on exhausting marches for the better part of 2 months.
After this battle, many other famous battles were to be had, but while the west most push achieved the greatest results, this too would slowly over time be worn down and eventually repulsed back. What followed were countless border skirmishes as both sides tried to push into one another's territory. However the edge would come to the Vestoni as they earned a hard-fought victory at the Battle of Lost Peaks, and begin to push into Ashenfeld territory. Fearing a loss of ground, and also worried about unrest back home, Ashenfeld would move to formally end hostilities, settling on a white peace.
The short term outcome were fairly severe, as Vebastonne rushed to rebuild, Ashenfeld would have to travel back home to quell civil unrest, as many had grown tired of the war after it being waged for 100 years. Though besides some small territorial changes, nothing much of note truly changed. Total dead are estimated to be around 2.3 million deaths, which certainly served to be a great blow to both nations.
Longterm this would serve as to put the people of Vebastonne and Ashenfeld at odds, something that has never truly healed since. In fact it has been made worse from the outbreak of the Fifteen Years War, and to this day a great rift lies between the people of Vebastonne and Ashenfeld. The Church of the Flame was never able to truly insert itself into Vestoni society, in fact the faith in the two goddesses has only increased. However they did manage to insert a select few gods and goddesses, rather than the entire pantheon, to be worshiped amongst the common folk, mainly Rudvite, Inos, and Aslir. However this is as far as it got with its scheme, as the nobility and a still sizeable portion of peasantry still worship the twin goddesses Lilia and Morgina.
This war would also serve as to establish the prestigious honor of having the greatest knights in all of Nilush. While Ashenfeld may have its knight legions, Vebastonne would emerge from this war proving itself to be a force to be reckoned with, and its knights widely celebrated and becoming the subject of many romantic tales of chivalry, tragedy, and glory.
Historical Significance
To this day the War of Lances serves as one of the longest lasting conflicts in Nilush hsitory, only being rivaled by Avaro's eternal war against the Deadlands.
In literature, both sides honor their armies with grand tales and beautiful poems and chronicles of the great deeds of individual commanders, or even knights. What has become an iconic rivalry is the now mythical rivalry of a Vestoni knight and an Ashen Knight. These two figures can be seen battling across many different works, even ones not related to the war. Such is its reach that it has led to many arguments amongst these two knights of who is better, and definitely no small amount of honor duels between them as well.
