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THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE HOLY ORENIAN EMPIRE: Volume IV; The Rubern War


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THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE HOLY ORENIAN EMPIRE: Volume IV;

The Rubern War

Written by Justinian Nafis, heir to the County of Susa

 

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and

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Adolphus Gloriana, Earl of Suffolk, Prince of Sutica

 


Preamble

 

The production of this historia has been slowed recently due to the state of the Kingdom of Oren. Or rather, the lack thereof. As of today, the Acreans (a vassal barony located north of the capital of Vienne)  have won a decisive victory against the Kingdom of Oren, and it has led to the swift conclusion of this terrible civil war we have found ourselves in. 

While these writers are of the opinion that both sides were equally righteous and loving in their conduct, as true children of God are, we shed tears, for all conflict brings sadness. I, Justinian Basrid, would also personally thank the Baron of Acre for mercy conducted regarding a member of the royal family and ask for clemency for all of the family.

It is strange to have started off this endeavor with vigor in recounting the once great Novellen Empire, only for the state of Oren to dissolve itself.  To wake and to think that yesterday I was an Orenian and now I am not. The mind struggles sometimes to grasp simple concepts, but the idea of a nationality is something it will never forget.

Was the war justified? Was the treatment of Acre by the Crown justified? Was the rebellion against the Crown justified? Can you rebel against the Crown?

There are many discussions to be had on the nature of the state that we forget the truth of the matter. These earthly states shall rise and fall as they have had since the dawn of time. The Empire we recount through our tales is not the same as Emperor Ex. Godfrey, nor even Emperor John I. They were mere predecessors to the Orenian name. 

Let us not dwell on the nationalities of men that divide, nor mourn what is lost to the soil. 

In the heavens above, there lies the Lorraine Cross, hovering above and reminding us all of our true rest in the Lord our God. The City of Man is wretched and corrupt, brought on by the Deceiver. Humility is always lacking and vain attempts at earthly pleasure are always tried.

But in the Tent of God, we are neither Orenian, nor Acrean, nor Haenseti, nor Balian.

To seek the favor and comfort from our Lord in the heavens, will bring the serenity we need.

“Lord God, maker of all, have mercy on us, sinners”

St. Lucien Prayer.


The Rubern War

 

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“We shall have peace, King Godric of Norland”

    By the Princess Imperial, Duchess Catherine Anastasia of Westmarch.

    Done in an Imperial style as a gift to the Baron of Arcishdorf, Manfred von Arichsdorf.

 

After three volumes, we have finally reached the beginning stages of the Petrine Empire, which were marked by the Rubern War. Although not officially ruled by a Novellen until Joseph II and Anne I, the liberalism that defined much of the dynasty finds its birth in the reign of Emperor Peter III, whose efforts laid the framework that his descendents would build upon. The resulting Petrine Empire, spanning from the reign of Peter III, beginning in 1737, to the reign of Philip III, ending in 1868 (though some date the end of the Petrine Empire to the end of the Brother’s War four months later), was the longest-living Empire the world has seen. Perhaps more impressively, and in large part owing to the strength of the institutions built by the Novellens, the Petrine Empire ended not by foreign conquest nor internal collapse, but by a conscious decision to lay it to rest. For this, it is critical that we examine its beginnings, for it is here that the course of the Novellens is decided.

As had become custom for those ascending to the Imperial throne, Peter III found himself with a multitude of dilemmas threatening his Empire. A coalition called the Alliance of Independent States, spearheaded by Norland, Rubern, and Haelun’or, was forming; they would soon be joined by the rebellious Archduchy of Suffonia, the dark elven tribes of Renelia, the Free City of Talon’s Grotto, and the Horde of Krugmar, which had recently broken its ties to the Empire and ceased its tribute payments. A number of other smaller states joined this coalition, though they were of little relevance to the larger war effort and therefore do not need mention. With the Irrinorian-Fennic front of the Toe War still locked in stalemate, Peter III knew that he would have to settle for a white peace in order to divert troops from the front and prepare for an invasion of the Empire in order to fully secure Rubern, which was effectively surrounded by the Crownlands, Kaedrin, and Haense. To add salt to the wound, the stalwart, crafty High Pontiff Daniel VI, who had played an integral role in both reforming the church and the Imperial administration, died in late 1737. This deprived Peter III of one of his most useful advisors and forced him to rely more heavily on men such as Simon Basrid, who by now had become Archchancellor. 

In 1738, Imperial diplomats were sent to Tahu’Lareh, the capital of the snow elven tribes of Fenn. As Grand Prince Aldred Tundrak was both desperate for peace and sympathetic to the Empire, he did not hesitate to agree to a ceasefire, then sign a formal peace, pulling both Fenn and the Reiver mercenaries out of the war. The tribes of Irrinor soon followed, though they immediately entered into secret negotiations with the Alliance of Independent States. By the 17th of Godfrey’s Triumph, 1738, the Toe War had officially come to an end. Although the first phase, culminating in the conquest of San’Strohk, had been a clear Imperial victory, by the war’s end, nearly all of the Empire’s gains had been lost. That mattered little to Peter III and his council, as the survival of the Empire as a whole was now threatened. In early 1739, a controversial incident, known as The Simbad Affair, pushed the AIS and the Empire to the brink of war. A Norlandic merchant of farfolk descent, known as Simbad, entered King Godric’s court demanding justice for a robbery that had been committed against him and his caravan. He claimed that a group of Haeseni knights, greedy for the riches he carried, raided his wares and stole away with his valuables. Simbad urged King Godric to send his soldiers to defend the roads and also extract recompense from Haense for their crimes. King Godric, never one to refuse the opportunity to defend his people, agreed, and issued an ultimatum to King Andrik III of Haense, demanding that he pay ten thousand Imperial marks and execute the knights responsible for the attack. The Lord Palatine of Haense, Konrad Stafyr, who himself had conducted an investigation into the alleged attack, advised his liege to rebuke the demands, as he found that the names of the Haeseni knights that Simbad had given were completely fabricated. King Andrik concurred with his Palatine’s findings, and rejected the Norlandic demands. For the next few months, diplomats were sent back and forth in the hopes of finding a diplomatic resolution, but it was clear that war was inevitable. Emperor Peter III, ready to defend his vassal, summoned the banners of the Empire and placed the Imperial army under the command of Leonard de Ruyter, a talented general who had been a trusted lieutenant of the late Lord Protector Adrian de Sarkozy. The Imperial army and the respective armies of the Crownlands vassals began to surround Rubern, putting it to siege. The Imperial plan, devised by General Leonard de Ruyter, who had adopted his former liege’s aggressive disposition, called for a quick capitulation of Rubern, followed by a direct confrontation of the AIS army in order to push it out of the Empire. It was critical to the Imperial plans that the AIS army not reinforce Rubern and prevent it from being quickly conquered.

The AIS did not idle during this time either, and the great delay between The Simbad Affair in 1739 and the official beginning of the war in 1740 was primarily due to the great distances between the members of the coalition. It took months for the belligerent armies, great and small, to amass, but by the spring of 1740 they had begun to amass to the southeast of the Empire, near Kaedrin. King Godric and Prince Richard of Rubern were the principal commanders of the coalition army, though with the latter besieged in Rubern it was left to Godric to organize the invasion. The coalition plan involved a quick push through Adria to defeat the Imperial army besieging Rubern. After this was done, they were to immediately march on Haense. Taking it would mean splitting the Empire in two, which would allow the AIS armies to swiftly overwhelm Kaedrin and Curon, while holding the line against the Crownlands, before turning back west to march on Helena.

On the 3rd of Harren’s Folly, 1740, King Godric’s army entered the Empire from the southwest, rapidly advancing towards Rubern and overrunning the Imperial border defenses. General Leonard, eager to meet the coalition army, split his forces in two. The greater part, under he and Emperor Peter III, who had come in person, would meet Godric just outside of Rubern, while the lesser part, under his second in command, General Darius Sabari, continued to besiege the city. Letters were sent to Haense, Kaedrin, and Curon, calling for them all to converge on Rubern in order to overwhelm Godric’s army. However, with Curon too far away, Haense still worried about a possible attack against its own borders, and the Kaedreni army slow to move, they would not arrive in time for the momentous Three Skirmishes of Rubern on the 2nd of Sigismund’s End, 1740.

Much controversy surrounds the Three Skirmishes of Rubern, and a clear picture of what occurred is mired by propaganda. It is undisputed that the Imperial army suffered a string of defeats against the AIS forces over the course of five days, and that the Emperor and his Empress, Lorena of Augustin, were captured in the aftermath of the first engagement. However, AIS propaganda distributed in the aftermath proclaims the death of Peter III, claiming that his head was bashed in by King Godric himself. Official Imperial missives dispute this narrative, publishing personal accounts from Peter III himself detailing his great escape from the prisons of Rubern. Discounting absurd theories that the Emperor was replaced by a double, it can be safely assumed that the rumor of his death sprung from the standard execution of a minor Imperial bannerman.

To resume the narrative of the encounter: the Imperial army, although outnumbering its opponent, was defeated in a first engagement on the 2nd of Sigismund’s End, 1740. Although sources are poor, some scavenged scraps of diaries have suggested that General Leonard was too forceful in his attacks, allowing gaps to form in the overextended Imperial line, which was soon exploited by the better-seasoned warriors of the AIS. The Emperor, having ridden to the collapsing right wing of the army to restore morale, was dragged from his horse by an orcish berserker and quickly surrounded. The Empress, herself overseeing the battle from a vantage point, was taken prisoner by a small group of Ruberni knights that had sallied out to join the battle. Unaware that his liege had been captured, General Leonard used this opportunity, as many coalition soldiers were more interested in seeing the captured Emperor and Empress than fighting the battle itself, to sound a retreat. The Imperials fell back in good order, and retained the numeric advantage, but had been soundly beaten.

That evening, General Leonard was informed of the capture of the Imperial monarchs. Never one to hesitate, he ordered that the battle be fought again the next morning. On the 3rd of Sigismund’s End, 1740, the Imperial and AIS armies fought the second of the three skirmishes. Not wishing to repeat the mistakes of the previous battle, General Leonard took care to ensure his army’s advance was made slowly and in good order. The AIS army, met by a more cohesive and disciplined Imperial attack, were pushed back to the River Rubern and at risk of breaking. However, at the decisive point in the battle, Prince Richard of Rubern led a sally out to attack the Imperial siegeworks under the command of General Darius Sabari. Believing that there was little risk of an attack, General Darius had not drawn up his ranks and manned his fortifications. The besiegers were quickly scattered and put to flight, forcing General Leonard to pull back his army to avoid it being hit from the rear and trapped on two sides. With the siege broken, morale shattered, and the numbers swinging in King Godric’s favor, the Imperial army made a third and final attempt to defeat the coalition army and rescue the Emperor and Empress on the 6th of Sigismund’s End, 1740, but, now outnumbered and in weak spirits, were quickly defeated and driven back to Helena.



 

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An artist’s rendition of the Three Skirmishes of Rubern, painted by the Londenlander artist Florentijn Schapink c. 1755

 

While the coalition forces had suffered some losses during the Three Skirmishes of Rubern, most notably Prince Richard of Rubern, who had been killed by an Imperial archer during the third skirmish, it was clear that the Imperials had suffered greater. King Godric’s plan had been executed perfectly: Rubern had been secured, the Empire had been cut in half, the Imperial army had been shattered, and the Emperor and Empress were in the custody of the AIS. King Godric proceeded to divide his army in two, with himself in command of the eastern half and the new Prince of Rubern, Marius I, in command of the western half. They spent much of the summer and fall of 1740 conquering the castles and fortifications of Haense and the Crownlands, respectively, before retiring to their winter quarters in Rubern to rest their soldiers and consolidate their gains. Even when the Emperor made his escape on the 29th of Godfrey’s Triumph, 1740, the morale of the AIS forces did not fall, for their successes over the course of the past few months greatly offset the loss of a prized captive.

It was during the winter of 1740, when the war of swords had drawn into a lull, that the war of words flared its brightest. Missives, countermissives, public letters, theses, discourses, and more were written and published at an unprecedented rate. The Archives of Helena give evidence that for every ten households within the city containing at least one literate person, nine regularly read and followed the ‘war discourse’ that came with the winter of 1740. The center of this verbose action was the debate between King Godric and Emperor Peter III, though it must be noted that many other scholars, authors, lords, and ladies, participated in this war of words.

 On the Imperial side, Peter III wrote frequently of the Tapestry of Man, a term coined by his Archchancellor, Simon Basrid. It was a vision of a united man progressing beyond the feudal and ethnic divisions that defined their race for centuries. An approach towards greater cultural and political unity under a central government, reformed under liberal ideals that allowed for representation among the constituent participants of the Empire, would be the dream that Emperor Peter and his government sought to attain. King Godric sharply rejected this, instead tying his movement to the same ideals that the Empire stood against. However, Godric asserted that, unlike what the Emperor claimed, humanity had become deprived of its honor, its victory in conquest, and its heroes. The Empire celebrated the end of the ‘Age of Heroes’, championing instead the ‘Age of Man’, which would be defined not by individuals, but by movements of the many. King Godric desperately tried to keep the former from fading, and for it was given the moniker, either in jape or in glorification, The Last Hero. 

With the spring of 1741 came another year of campaigning. The eastern front of the war, pitting King Godric against King Andrik of Haense and King Adrian of Kaedrin, remained relatively quiet for the year. A few minor skirmishes were fought, and a few fortresses were taken, then retaken, but both sides generally avoided direct confrontation. Kings Andrik and Adrian, though possessing greater numbers, were generally reluctant to fight Godric in open battle, as he had gained a fearsome reputation after his successes the previous year. Godric, on the other hand, felt little need to move with great haste, and was content with ensuring his position was completely secured before moving on Reza. This security, naturally, would come via the western front, where Prince Marius of Rubern began his new campaign against the Crownlands with great earnest. 

After his failures in 1740, General Leopold de Ruyter was sacked and replaced by General Darius Sabari, who appears to have convincingly absolved himself of any fault during the Three Skirmishes of Rubern. General Darius believed that with the AIS army divided, he had a perfect opportunity to smash Prince Marius’s forces and drive them back to Rubern. While his approach was not nearly as aggressive as his predecessor’s had been, it still relied on a vigorous, mobile campaign. For the first few months of 1741, the two armies maneuvered around each other, fighting a few skirmishes in between quick sieges. Most of these engagements were draws, but the Imperials were able to replenish their manpower more quickly, while Prince Marius’s army grew thin from having to leave garrisons at the various villages and castles he had captured. Finally, on the 15th of Owyn’s Flame, 1741, General Darius arrayed his army outside of Helena and prepared to face the coalition forces.

Unfortunately for the Imperials, while General Darius had adequately managed the season’s strategic campaign, he was a woeful tactician and field commander. At the Battle of Helena’s Fields, he arranged his army in a single vertical column facing the AIS forces, which negated his advantage in manpower. Furthermore, he took no care in organizing his army, and as the mass of levies, Imperial regulars, and mercenaries marched forth, they became confused by the many, often contradictory, orders from commanders they did not know. The battle took less than an hour, and the Imperials were soundly defeated, losing nearly a fifth of their army Prince Marius’s forces suffered minimal casualties. The western flank of the war had now been soundly secured by Prince Marius, with his conquests of the Crownlands leading up to the River Rodenburg, and the AIS advance towards Haense could now proceed uninterrupted. As the two sides once again retired to their winter quarters, plans were made by the coalition high command to march on Reza and put it under siege.

As the spring of 1742 came around, King Godric prepared to implement the first phase of his plan. It called for the securing of Hangman’s Bridge, which was a vital crossing point on the River Rubern between Kaedrin and Haense. If he could secure it, he would be able to prevent Kaedreni reinforcements from assisting Haense in the upcoming siege. Godric split his army, sending most of it to begin the march towards Reza, while taking a small force of around three thousand men himself in order to secure the crossing at Hangman’s Bridge. Alerted of this movement, the King of Haense ordered a small detachment of five hundred cavalrymen to hold the bridge and sent a letter to the King of Kaedrin informing him of Godric’s plan. King Adrian moved quickly, assembling a force of over four thousand and marching towards Hangman’s Bridge at a breakneck pace. On the 11th of Sigismund’s End, 1742, King Godric and his force arrived. Taking only a moment to pause, they immediately charged at the Haeseni cavalry, scattering many and driving the rest across the bridge. However, just as the Haeseni contingent was nearing collapse, King Adrian and his army arrived. A lull in the fighting commenced as the two sides took the time to reorganize and arrange their lines. An hour later, the two forces clashed again, with King Godric aiming to hold the now-taken bridge and King Adrian aiming to retake it to maintain his kingdom’s link with Haense. The fighting devolved into a long, bloody slaughter, but after ten hours of fighting, the coalition ranks began to falter. Knowing that continued fighting could lead to the destruction of his force, King Godric sounded a retreat, and he and his men withdrew in an orderly fashion. The impact of this victory, though often overlooked by historians of the Rubern War, cannot be understated. Not only had the Empire secured its first victory against the seemingly invincible forces of the AIS, the vital strategic crossing at Hangman’s Bridge was now fully secured: it would remain in Imperial hands for the remainder of the war.

Not all went well for the Empire during 1742, however. General Darius Sabari, wishing to avenge his previous loss to Prince Marius, implemented a plan devised by Doran Ruric, a distant cousin of King Godric and leader of a mercenary company formed by dissident Norlanders. The plan called for the establishment of a bridgehead across the River Roden, which would be used as a forward operating base in the liberation of the Eastern Crownlands. General Darius presented this plan to the Imperial high command, and when it was approved he and Doran Ruric began their preparations. In the summer of 1742, a large Imperial force under their command was ferried from Helena over to Sunholdt, the seat of John d’Arkent, who by now was First Minister of Curonia. The initial landing fared well, and as more Imperial troops were ferried over, it appeared that the campaign was off to a strong start. However, General Darius and Doran Ruric had walked into a trap. On the 28th of Horen’s Calling, 1742, at the ‘battle’ (if it can be called that) now dubbed ‘Doran Ruric’s Folly’, the army of Prince Marius set upon the overstretched, disorganized Imperial army, catching them completely by surprise. Doran Ruric attempted to organize a defense, but quickly fell to the surge of Ruberni knights. Upon seeing the oncoming coalition army, General Darius boarded the fastest ship and fled, leaving his army behind. Broken, exhausted, and leaderless, the Imperial army laid down their arms and surrendered. 

Back in Helena, General Darius was officially stripped of his rank and discharged for his cowardice. He was called to replace him by Alren DeNurem, a young, but bright Imperial general who had been one of the few to oppose Doran Ruric’s reconquest plans. Although hardly a man- only around twenty years of age- he was regarded as disciplined, intimidating, and wise beyond his years. Although his tactical skills could not match those of the famed commanders of the AIS, his understanding of logistics and overall strategy would prove to be second to none. Given the failures of the various quick offensives against the AIS, General DeNurem opted for a far more cautious, methodical strategy. He spent the winter reforming the military, establishing the new Imperial State Army (ISA) in late 1742, which would serve as the model army for the Empire until its disbandment by Emperor Philip III in 1867. He also planned a campaign not around retaking Rubern itself, but starving it and the other AIS member states out by cutting their supply lines while using ISA detachments to support the primary Imperial vassals. At that time, Rubern and Kaedrin were major exporters of wheat, serving as the "breadbasket" for most of Arcas. With a supply line secured to and from Rubern, the AIS would be able to continue their offensives without concern, and could reinforce and resupply their armies without great difficulty. However, if Rubern were to be surrounded once again, then the AIS states would be cut off from their vital grain shipments. 

The full implementation of this plan began during the spring of 1743. By now, Prince Marius and his army had rejoined King Godric, and the two prepared for their final push towards Reza. King Andrik had spent the winter building up his defenses and preparing for the coming siege, and he sent frantic letters to Helena, Curonia, and Kaedrin, calling on them all to defend Haense, as he knew that his forces alone could not hold out against the coalition. The Emperor announced that all war efforts would now be directed towards the defense of Reza, and he and General DeNurem departed Helena at the head of their new Imperial State Army. Heading north, bypassing both Rubern and the occupied Eastern Crownlands, the ISA soon met with the Curonian army led by King Wilhelm II. They then moved south, finally reaching Reza, along with the Kaedreni army led by King Adrian, just before the AIS forces arrived. 

The two armies arrayed themselves outside of Reza on the dawn of the 20th of Sigismund’s End, 1743. The Imperials fielded one of the greatest hosts seen upon Arcas, numbering nearly thirty thousand strong in total, with the Emperor and his vassal kings at the head. The AIS forces, though outnumbered, as was usual, did not fall far behind, and King Godric rode before an army of twenty six thousand. For hours, the soldiers of both sides stood silently as neither dared to make a move. It was not until noon that King Godric ordered his skirmishers forward to harass the Imperial lines, but he still refrained from committing his army to a full assault. By dusk, he had withdrawn his forces entirely, and by the next day, the many banners of the AIS army could be seen returning to Rubern. No battle had been fought, no siege had commenced, but as the day came to an end, it was the Imperials that stood upon the fields of Reza, celebrating.

King Godric’s decision to retreat from Reza is perhaps the most controversial debate surrounding the Rubern War. While each scholar has his own opinion of what truly transpired in the war councils of the AIS, these authors have developed a theory, free of crackpot notions and conspiracies, that may explain this puzzling action. While King Godric, and the whole of the AIS, had enjoyed a number of decisive victories over larger forces for the past three years, the sheer size of the armies that faced each other at Reza all but ensured the coming battle would be a bloody one. While his forces would likely emerge victorious, their losses would be far more difficult to replenish than it would be for the Imperials. Undertaking a siege against Reza would also take a great deal of time and effort, which would stretch well into the winter. King Godric had no desire to subject his forces to the brutality of the northern winters deep into enemy territory without adequate quarters and provisions. By the time the next spring came, the Imperial army he was bound to face would be far more replenished and rested than his. Thus, a retreat was called for. Following a logic not dissimilar to General DeNurem’s, King Godric decided instead to continue taking the smaller forts and towns across the Empire. 

Along with Godric’s retreat from Haense came the disbursement of the assembled forces of the Empire, who now returned home to protect their lands against a feared theoretical incursion from the AIS army. Little fighting continued for the rest of 1743, though Prince Richard conquered a few small towns near Kaedrin, and King Godric took a castle of mild importance within Haense. The only other event of note that year was Operation Lady in the Hightower, undertaken on the night of the 4th of Godfrey’s Triumph. A few Imperial special forces, under the command of the robust Colonel Peter Baldwin d’Arkent, the youngest son of John d’Arkent, infiltrated Rubern and were able to sneak into the cells undetected. They quickly found the Empress Lorena, who had been a captive of the Ruberni since 1740, and rescued her from her chains. They returned her to the capital, where they were met with great acclaim. That winter, a personal memoir by the Empress recounting her time in captivity became the most widely-circulated work of literature in both Imperial and AIS territories.

It was also during the winter of 1743 that a number of ambitious, wide-reaching reforms began to take place within the Empire. Simon Basrid, who, according to The Truth of the Devil from the Sands: The Life of the Wretched Villain Simon Basrid by Stepan de Rosieres, believing that now was the perfect time to advance his cause of the wretched sin known as democracy, successfully lobbied for the Emperor to implement a number of liberal reforms. The Emperor outlawed all feudal levies within the Imperial Crownlands, reorganized the city government of Helena, and instituted the Imperial Senate- a body that would be comprised of elected senators, chosen from various electoral districts across the Empire, to formulate, debate, and vote on legislation. This legislation would be submitted to the Emperor, who would have a final veto. Judicial reforms were also implemented, and several layers of national courts were created to hear cases and make legal rulings throughout the Empire. At the top sat the Supreme Court, which was to be the foremost legal body throughout the Empire, with powers of judicial review that were superseded only by the Crown’s own authority. These reforms were initially well received, with an Empire-wide turnout of well over 80% in the inaugural elections for the Imperial Senate. Only the petty nobles of the Western Crownlands protested, though with their lands occupied and their diminished levies outlawed, few paid heed to them.


 

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The inaugural session of the Imperial Senate on the 1st of Tobias’s Bounty, 1743; this painting officially commissioned by the Imperial Senate

 

The entire world expected the war’s resumption in the spring of 1744 to bring with it the many battles, lightning-movements, and great campaigns that had marked the previous four years. However, much to the surprise of everyone, it would be twelve years until the next significant battle of the war, which would also be the final one. General DeNurem and the Imperial high command had agreed on a policy of avoiding battle, especially with Prince Marius and King Godric. Instead, they would focus their attention on besieging occupied forts and towns, ambushing grain shipments from Rubern, and directly engaging only small, heavily-outnumbered AIS contingents. The rest of the war was defined by this strategy. When King Godric would storm a Haeseni castle, the next day he would receive word that the army of King Andrik IV, who had succeeded to the Haseni throne after his father’s death during a boar hunt in 1746, had retaken another. When Prince Marius’s army tried to march across the River Roden to attack the ISA camped across, General DeNurem would fall behind the walls of Helena and watch as the frustrated Ruberni Prince withdrew to the Eastern Crownlands. When a caravan from Rubern was seen traveling to one of the member states of the AIS, Kaedreni raiding parties would ambush and destroy them. 

By 1750, food shortages began to wreak havoc both within the army of the AIS and also back in the member states. While King Adrian of Kaedrin, veteran of countless conflicts since the War of the Two Emperors, perished that year of an illness, his government continued the wartime policies he laid out and installed his son, Robert Castor, as Governor-General to rule in the absence of a king. Such cohesion and unity could not be found in the AIS states.Grain riots broke out in the lesser tribes of Zakopane, Aurvergne, and Al-Faiz, forcing them to recall soldiers from the coalition army to quell them. On one occasion, a detachment from the Irrinorian tribes sent home to respond to civil unrest was set upon by a company of Imperial-aligned mercenaries, slaughtering them to a man. In Haelun’or, the Sohaer, Diamethor Visaj, was overthrown in a coup. The new government immediately made peace with the Empire and withdrew from the war. As the days drew on, Godric’s ranks whittled while the Imperials' only swelled. Prince Marius was forced to recall several garrisons in the Eastern Crownlands to replenish severely depleted ranks elsewhere. Mere days later, ISA soldiers could be seen occupying the abandoned forts, castles, and towns. A desperate attempt was made by Prince Marius to apply some pressure on Helena, and he led a raiding party near the capital in 1753. He met an army under the command of Colonel Peter d’Arkent outside the castle of Harlingen on the 7th of Harren’s Folly, 1753, where he proceeded to rout the Imperials. However, the men under d’Arkent, despite taking heavy losses, had performed far better than in previous years, and had inflicted moderate casualties upon Prince Marius’s own forces. The infuriated Prince was forced to withdraw again, as he no longer had the numbers required to carry out any significant operations. It would be the last time the AIS crossed the River Roden in an attempt to threaten Helena directly.

King Godric fared slightly better in the east, though desertion, starvation, and frequent harassment decimated his ranks as well. King Andrik IV, whom we regretfully could not include more of in this work, given how much of his efforts were focused on internal reforms within Haense, and would thus distract from our work, was killed while saving his wife from assailants in 1753. The throne would pass to his five year old son, Sigismund II. A year later, King Godric was able to destroy a combined Haeseni-Kaedreni-Curonian army at the Battle of Krasna on the 27th of the Sun’s Smile, 1754, but he was just as stunned as his Ruberni counterpart when he found that his own army had suffered significant casualties. With his position untenable, and morale plummeting, King Godric abandoned all but a few of the fortifications and towns he had captured in Haense, pulling most of his army back to Rubern. Prince Marius followed in 1755, completely withdrawing from the Eastern Crownlands to defend his own lands in Rubern. The ISA marched through the Crownlands in a triumphal procession. After nearly twelve years of occupation, the heartlands of the Empire had been retaken. With the dwindling of the AIS army, and the swelling of the combined Imperial forces, Emperor Peter finally approved plans for an offensive into Rubern. It was to take place the next year, in 1756, with the aim of bringing a complete end to the war. 

It is in the winter of 1755 that we see the exit of King Godric Edvardsson, The Last Hero, from the story of history. Believing that he had lost any ability to campaign against the Empire, and receiving word that a distant cousin named Caedric Edvardsson, who was falsely claiming to be Godric’s son, had ousted the government and crowned himself King of Norland. Godric was in the middle of devising a plan to march the remains of his forces back to Morsgrad to retake his throne when, on the 7th of Tobias’s Bounty, 1755, he received a minor wound during a skirmish with ISA forces outside of Rubern. Although it was little more than a cut, the wound quickly began to fester, and with it came rot, which soon spread. Despite trying every medicine, herb, and treatment known to man, the doctors of Rubern were unable to cure the king. On the 23rd of Tobias’s Bounty, after uttering a final few words to a priest of the Red Faith who had come to perform the last rites, King Godric succumbed to his illness, perishing at the age of thirty-seven. His death signaled the true end of the war. 

As news of King Godric’s passing spread, the AIS ranks fell into a deep mourning, grieving the loss of the commander they believed to be invincible. Prince Marius, now in full command, attempted to rally the coalition forces to make a stand against the Empire, but by now the inevitable end could be seen by all. In early 1756, the Horde of Krugmar made peace with the Empire and withdrew from the war. The tribes of Aurvergne, Zakopane, and Irrinor soon followed. Norland, under King Caedric, while still in formal peace negotiations with Emperor Peter III, agreed to a ceasefire and withdrew their soldiers from Rubern. An ISA detachment was sent into the rebellious Archduchy of Suffonia, where they imprisoned the Archduke, stripped him of his lands and titles, and set his palace ablaze. The Suffonian population was then forcibly deported into the Imperial Crownlands. By the time of the final Imperial offensive into Rubern, only the Ruberni themselves, the tribes of Al-Faiz, and the tribes of Renelia remained. The final battle came on the 15th of Owyn’s Flame, 1756. A depleted, exhausted army under Prince Marius faced a sizable ISA brigade commanded by Colonel Peter d’Arkent. The two lines met outside the gates of the city, and for an hour the fight seemed even, but soon the Imperials gained the upper hand and began to push the Ruberni forces back to their walls. Prince Marius attempted to conduct an orderly retreat, but his ranks devolved into a general panic and soon began to flee into the city. The Imperials surged into Rubern, quickly rounding up prisoners, cutting down those who resisted, and securing the city. Prince Marius, knowing the end had come, surrendered himself and agreed to a ceasefire, which Al-Faiz and Renelia followed. Although formal peace negotiations would continue for the next four years, officially marking the end of the Rubern War as 1760, no fighting occurred after 1756. After sixteen long, arduous years of war, the Empire was now victorious. The AIS had been shattered, its member states having either fallen into anarchy or made peace with the Empire, and the rebellious territories of Rubern and Suffonia had been reconquered. A week of celebrations broke out across every hamlet, town, castle, and city of the Empire, and soon the various ISA and vassal forces, who had been tirelessly on campaign for years, were ordered to demobilize.

The Rubern War stands as the longest war in the history of the Holy Orenian Empire, surpassing even the Eighteen Years’ War and the Sinners’ War. It was during this difficult period that a new Orenian identity began to form. Where strength of arms and great vassal armies had once ruled the day, the Novellens were forced to adapt to the new style of warfare the Rubern War brought. No longer could numerical superiority decide the day in great, decisive battles, as had been assumed for the first four years of the war. Instead, a slow, grinding style of war, marked by skirmishes, raids, and sieges, became the rule rather than the exception. Unafraid of dedicating his resources towards internal reform, thereby solidifying the state against the prolonged offensives of the AIS, Peter III not only strengthened the Empire throughout the course of the war, but did so at his enemy’s expense. This would bear fruit after the war’s end, as the Empire was healthier than ever, prepared to continue through with the reforms that had begun in 1743, and was the undisputed power on the continent. While his later actions, especially surrounding Haense and Sutica, can be criticized, Peter III’s handling of the Rubern War and its aftermath are nothing short of remarkable.

As dawn sets in the year of 1760, however, a man of nine-feet stands proudly overlooking a pagan city.

 

"God has gifted me the land on which I step. And with these steps, I shall claim the City-State. And cleanse them from filth. But Lord, I ask you? Why must I fight for the Emperor of Man who I love?" the King and humble Messiah sadly pondered.

 

 A cruel Basridi man had the answer for the question. And his deeds would lead to the bloodiest war between Canonists the world has yet to see.

 


O Ágioi Kristoff, Jude kai Pius. Dóste mas gnósi ópos sas ékane o Theós. Poté min afísoume na doúme to skotádi, allá as doúme móno to fos tis sofías kai tis alítheias. O Theós na se evlogeí.


The resulting reign of Emperor Peter III, and the Sutican War, shall be covered in our next volume of The Decline and Fall of the Holy Orenian Empire. 

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"Darius Sabari was the one finest Generals to grace the army, any well learned historian worth their salt would know that the Empress Lorena was saved by General Sabari in Operation Lady in the Hightower, which was published by the Imperial Government not long after her rescue. And perhaps someone should aid this 'historian' in their timeline as General DeNurem joined the Army long after the rescue of the Empress." would remark the Captain of Balian.

Edited by ErikAzog
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Dame Viktoriya DeNurem sheds a tear. "General DeNurem was te' best General, period. Yam biased, I guess."

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"This revisionist historian is still writing this?" blinked the old and decrepit Sir Charles Galbraith 

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Spoiler

revisionist history be like "No, the white girl cannot pogchamp the empire" ;( 

 

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13 hours ago, sergisala said:

"This revisionist historian is still writing this?" blinked the old and decrepit Sir Charles Galbraith 

 

"Someone forgot to give Mister Galbraith his medication! Someone roll him back to his room!"

 

Said the nurse within the decaying Petrian Retirement home to another nurse.

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