The conflict known as the War of the Houses is a power struggle between many of the Houses in the city of Orleans. Split down the lines of the majority of the Houses and their rival, the de Rais clan, it has ground down to a stale mate at present.
The Conflict
Prelude
The War of the Houses came to prominence in 743 AD after years of squabbles between the de Rais family & their extended clan, had tried a power grab in the city of Orleans. Leading up to this, a number of the Houses were vying for power in the city trying to gain control of political positions within local government. These included guild leaderships, the title of Burgomaster, and the Archbishopric of the local Church.
In nearly every case, the de Rais was overlooked except when it involved leadership duties in the military. This in part was deliberate. Sections of the local Thieves Guild of Frankia hated the de Rais family who in general was viewed as overtly aggressive and not above backstabbing, assassination, and outright attacking other Houses & the Guild members. This was especially true when things went against the family, and what happened was the Thieves Guild turned up strange shipments to the de Rais family estates. Forbidden texts and weird artefacts kept being found in their holdings, and suspicious deaths were linked to their estates.
The de Orleans were the leaders in condemning the de Rais, and it took the other Houses to step in to try to force a marriage between the two to try to prevent it escalating further. Maybe such an act would calm things down. Unfortunately, the de Rais family had made a mistake in their past. For power & wealth they had struck a bargain with a powerful Hag called Granny Applebite, who wasn't to amused with the thought of harmony coming to the city of Orleans. She had the de Rais groom murdered in a locked room, and the de Orleans bride implicated. Fortunately for the latter, most of the other Houses thought it strange that either family would go to such lengths, let alone the fact the bride was in court at the time, and the room locked from the inside.
The de Rais still blamed the de Orleans for this and made moves against them. The de Rais had, and still do have, mercenary connections far in excess of any other local House, and summoned as much as possible. They planned to strike at most outspoken Houses and have them wiped out militarily in one go. By challenging the Houses to a pitched battle to settle the score once and for all, they had hoped most would at least suffer a painful defeat.
North of Orleans, on the plains the two sides met. Arrayed against the de Rais was an army consisting of 5 of the leading powerful Houses. Split between cavalry, foot soldiers, and archers, they proved to be quite intimidating in part to the experience of the cavalry, and the loyalty of all the troops to their houses.
On the de Rais side, was a few cavalry, and a good mix of foot soldiers & archers. Most of these were mercenary factions, and on good terms with the de Rais. The only thing that the de Rais soon realised was the lack of cavalry who were outnumbered 4 to 1. Because of this, they had to dig in to stop their enemy from running roughshod over them.
The battlefield was a mix of meadows & rocky grassland and slightly sloped to the north, along the left flank of the de Rais, and the right of the other Houses.
The date chosen was in the middle of Spring so and with little cloud. Both sides had a an excellent view and the ground was firm enough to not bog down the troops.
The first sign of the engagement came with a flurry of archers from both sides. The de Rais tried to take out as many cavalry as they could but had difficulty with the numbers, and the fact that the enemy was advancing swiftly on foot. Also, the Houses had the advantage of all speaking the same language and was far more coordinated from fighting together in the past.
The de Rais ran into their first problem when they tried to get the mercenary units to move. Most knew the cavalry from Orleans were well equipped & trained, so dug themselves in to avoid being charged. Sweeping up along the slightly higher part on their right, the cavalry of the Houses made a good long charge before slamming into the de Rais cavalry heading towards them. Routing them, the Houses went further doing more damage when slamming into the mercenary units. Carrying out a hit-and-run technique, they bit hard at the northern flank taking out a good number of the mercenaries. The de Rais archers at this time turned their attention to the Houses foot soldiers who were steadily advancing taking a good number of the more inexperienced troops down, while trying to keeping their own heads down from enemy arrows.
The de Rais hierarchy drew their own swords and fought back against the enemy cavalry trying to push them back somewhat and ease attacks on their mercenary allies. Taking a number of the enemy horsemen out, they plunged in with a fury to take out the cavalry leaders, who were all noble born. Unfortunately they overestimated themselves and were roundly beaten back or captured.
At this point the foot soldiers of the Houses slammed into the mercenary units and started to suffer further due to mercenary units experience. Seeing this, the cavalry of the Houses freed up some of their men and sent them in to help their foot men, and started to force the de Rais nobles on horseback to publicly surrender. After a further 20 minutes to half hour the mercenaries surrendered with the archers.
The de Rais were were beaten, and suffered for months if not years for this. They had to pay a number of repartitions to the other Houses that were involved and withdraw many of their people from public life for a number of terms of service. They lost up to half their income for a good number of years and reputation. They were allowed to stag and kept some of their businesses, although they weren't allowed to have whole mercenary groups stay in the city. Only the representatives of the mercenary groups are now allowed in.
The de Orleans were cleared by this under the terms of being on the winning side. They also allowed to ransom off the majority of the de Rais nobles back to the latter, making extra coin in the process.
The de Rais were effectively disgraced for a long time of this, and most of Orleans hate & despise them. None truly trust them any more, and only do business with them due to what holdings & influence the de Rais still have in Orleans. The de Rais have gone out of their way to try to build up their reputation again somewhat, yet at the same time is working their way until they make another power grab, along with taking down the de Orleans in the process.
Shortly after the battle the de Rais asked Granny Applebite to place a curse on the de Orleans, which she has done. A number of the children born to the de Orleans since has shown Sorcerer and/or Warlock traits, with a good number now interested in magic. There is a clause unbeknownst to both families that Granny Applebite has worked into the curse that sooner or later a Hexblood will be born, and that child will be hers' and hers' only.
Historical Significance
Surprisingly little is known about the battle as nearly all involved decided it was in everybody's best interest to avoid talking about it openly, especially since Orleans is a highly powerful city in the Frankish Empire. It may be seen to outsiders that such an action could be used to ferment more bother down the line.
The battle had a lasting effect on all involved. It fostered deep distrust against the de Rais that is taking generations to remove, and masking the true legacy of what happened, and potentially more damaging in the long run.
The de Rais & the de Orleans had both encountered Granny Applebite at some stage in their past, and her mark is all over them. She is manipulating both from the shadows, and hoping one will fall to her grasp. With the curse on the de Orleans starting to bear fruit in recent years, and the de Rais still a partial social pariah in the eyes of many, it is only a matter of time before one or both are permanently scarred or irrevocably destroyed.
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