The Second Mineosian Crusade

In the year 1034, the branch of Mineos of the Church of Veritas launched a second crusade of reclamation on their south western border. This crusade hoped to reclaim territory which seceded in the Sundering, bringing the populations back to the Church. They also hope to eradicate heretical sects of Veritas like the church of Summer and pagan revivals of Lesser Realm faiths. The crusade has had much success in the first 5 years, taking cities such as Amchester, Grief and Devout, but they have been halted after two failed attempts to invade Tumult, losing at Third and Dusk. The Crusade's leader the paraclete of Mineos Griswold Wygarthe, is revising future deployments, as their defeat at Dusk has still provided a potential ally that may ease their reclamation of Tumult's territory. Until then, they proceeded to the east into the Ten Thousand Lakes Region and accosted the city of Contact. Neither side really put their all behind it, and morale was dying within the crusaders. Thus, the war ended with the Church installing a governor in Contact.

The Conflict

Prelude

The peoples of the Church of Veritas have always held a sense of loss and longing for the territory they lost during the Sundering, as well as a contempt for foreigners after the failure of the First Mineosian Crusade. Though in the Dragon Blight and the Era of Kings relations between the nations were bettering, this sentiment was not forgotten amongst the people. Thus, when the paraclete of Mineos declared a crusade to the chagrin of the other paracletes, the people backed this charismatic military leader. Despite the international backlash, the crusade began.

The Engagement

There were seven campaigns:
1. Amchester 1034: While in the First Mineosian Crusade, Amchester proved a difficult city to take, in the eleventh century the city-state was in sharp decline. Within the first month of the crusade, the city was already conquered with the local rulers surrendering before levies could even be issued. It took a while to subdue the rolling hills south of Amchester, and to this day it still houses many bandits and freedom fighters, but this campaign was a great success.
2.Vifield 1035-1036: The Mineosians are no fans of fey. Vifield was a fey city of tree herders from the Western Fey Wilds loyal to the Fairy Queen of Fey Banquet. Though that loyalty did not come with assistance when the crusade attacked. While the branch of Mineos valued Lesser Races as they had the potential to convert, they did not see the same with the fey and issued an extermination campaign. This campaign was especially difficult as the crusade had to both siege a fey stronghold while simultaneously clearing the Advance, a herd of walking trees numbering in the hundreds of thousands. They were successful though, destroying Vifield and scorching the Advance.
3. Grief 1036-1037: Grief was difficult to claim as they did not wait for the crusade to reach their doorstep. While Vifield was being scorched, armies of Grief attacked Armchester and the Mineos Mission. They thought a preemptive strike would divide the Crusade's forces and prevent a prolonged siege. Grief was a divided city, having suffered a string of civil wars and coups throughout the Era of Kings. This made their defenses less than optimal in combating the might of the Church of Veritas. This plan was at first successful, with much of Mineos' siege equipment being damaged or destroyed and the attack delayed. But the ire it provoked cancelled out any grounds they gained, and the crusade met their armies in force. Grief surrendered before their walls were sieged.
4. Devout 1037: While the Grief campaign saw most its engagements in the open, Devout was a prolonged siege of a highly religious and devoted people of the Pelorian Revival. Most the city was rubble before a single Crusader got passed their wall, leaving not much to conquer for the crusade. Even then, annexing the city has been difficult. Their occupation of the city proved so difficult that they kept their forward base of operations in Grief.
5. Third 1038: The crusades first defeat. While conquering the city of Third in the kingdom of Tumult was not terribly difficult with the local leadership seeking peace and the Tumult military not wanting to risk the engagement yet, seeking more diplomatic means, the city proved hard to hold. Harder even than Devout. The Third Militia, their main opposition, used guerilla tactics and explosives to deadly affect. Seeing the Tumult military gathering their forces, the crusade sought it best to fall back from this city, as it held no strategic or logistic value.
6. Dusk 1039-1040: Dusk was the crusades second attempt at Tumult. They sought to take advantage of the civil unrest brewing in the city to divide their opposition, thus taking the bridge which this city held. This would have cut off the main access point to Tumult's northern lands, giving the crusade a second go at Third as well as a potential opportunity for the region of Gilburrow. This campaign was also a failure. The bridge was destroyed by Third Militia terrorists, and the crusade lost many in combating the demonic presence there. They fled when the avatar of Asmodeus showed up, to their shame, as Neih joined their enemy in repelling that devil. They did capture the leader of the Third Militia though, what little recompense that is for the halting of their crusade in Tumult.
7. The Contact Campaign (1042): After a year of recovery from the defeats of Tumult, the crusade moved against Contact. It was a short lived attempt, as enthusiasm for the cause was low and their forces were spread thin in the already conquered territory. There were a few engagements with mercenaries that Contact hired to fight their war, but before the crusaders ever made it to the city began peace talks. They gave governorship to the Church of Veritas in exchange for peace, and the crusaders took it not knowing that this was a politically empty title. The decades to come would show that Contact is ruled by no one.

Conflict Type

Military Campaign

Battlefield Type

Land

Start Date

1034

Ending Date

1042

Location

The Veritian Leaf