The Conflict
Prelude
Escalating tensions between the Theocracy and the Kingdom of Karad had led to a number of border raids aimed at razing farmland. These were invariably (and often truthfully) blamed on border rulers acting on their own initiative rather than centrally-directed military actions. Both sides were aware that their own troops were doing these raids without official instruction and were at least somewhat willing to admit that the other side might have individuals taking individual action but the situation was degenerating rapidly.
The Theocracy built a series of temples in unfarmed land near their border. This was to serve a few purposes - the contingent of priests there would be able to aid in quickly restoring any torched farmland but also the priests, guards, etc would be able to serve as a military deterrant and the temple as a fortress. Three such temples - called fortress-temples in the bureaucracy of the faith - were completed with plans for another two. Each was of a similar design, modified for local terrain. The temple itself stood on top of a motte with supporting buildings arrayed around it, all surounded by a chest-high wooden palisade. One such temple was the Fortress-Temple of Beckenrock which, due to errors in the planning, had a palisade too small to to enclose all the required buildings so some were built, as a temporary measure, outside the palisade until the palisade could be expanded.
Konrad Hervies was a minor noble of the Kingdom who claimed, with varying degrees of de facto truthfulness, a long thin strip of the Kingdom's border lands. He had been a zealous pursuer of the informal cross border raids and the Fortress-Temple of Beckenrock was built adjacent to one of the major incursion routes of his troops. He protested strongly against its creation - trying to claim that a military installation merely a mile or so from his lands was a direct provocation - but his diplomatic protests had little effect on the Theocracy (as the Fortress-Temple was being built in respose to his aggression) and the Kingdom didn't put any of its weight behind them (for the same reason).
The precise chain of events leading to the attack is still unclear - see Short Term Outcomes for more - but a number of his men slipped across the border after dark with the intent of infiltrating and destroying the Temple-Fortress.
The Temple-Fortresses, castles in general in fact, were a new innovation for the Theocracy and details such as guard duties and the like were still a work in progress. When Hervies' men started a distraction fire in one of the outer buildings the entire detachment of soldiers ran to extinguish it, leaving the opposite side of the palisade undefended. Hervies' forces climbed this undefended section of the defences and moved towards the temple.
Hervies' men split into several groups and moved rapidly through the temple. According to later reports, their intent had been to set fires around the structure to destroy it, but a number of the resident priests had been woke by the sounds of the soliders running to fight the distraction fire and put up a resistance. Several were killed quickly but a small group managed to barricade themselves in a storeroom, buying themselves time to begin working defensive rituals.
The bare soil floors of the ground floor became a writhing mass of earth, grabbing at the soldiers and attempting to topple then smother them. Several fled and fought a doomed engagement against the returning garrison but the main group found their retreat cut off by the animated floors. As such they started a fire against the storeroom door and moved upstairs, on to the safer wooden floors of the upper storeys.
Once upstairs they killed the remaining priests, likely to prevent them having time to work more defensive rituals. Downstairs the priests in the storeroom began to pass out from smoke inhalation ending the defensive ritual and allowing the garrision back in to the temple. The remaning members of Hervies' men were swiftly captured or killed.
Come the morning, the Theocracy troops were still in control of the Fortress-Temple. The surviving Kingdom forces were interrogated and diplomatic protests were sent to the Kingdom by the end of the day.
This was the first Kingdom attack specifically targeted against priests - as opposed to farmers and other villagers - and was viewed by the Theocracy as a meaningful and potentially irreversible escalation. Large sections within the faith hierarchy pushed for open war but, after discussion, the decision was made to demand Konrad Hervies be handed over for Theocracy justice.
The King was unwilling both to hand over one of his subjecs or to provoke outright war. As such he handed that decision to an ad hoc gathering of his senior nobles. These deliberations were, in essence, a referendum on war with the Theocracy. The pro-war faction were numerically weaker but financially and prestige-wise stronger and prevailed. Hervies was not handed over.
Tensions degenerated further between the Theocracy and the Kingdom. Border raids increasingly became officially sanctioned and resourced, leading to over two hundred years of sporadic warfare.
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