Aloria Story Progression Between Cities And Moors

The beginning offensive in the Elven lands commenced fully at the beginning of february, with armies shipping out to the Elven Cities deployment zone. Numerous armies were present, Garth Viduggla with 10,000 troops, Dietricht Drache with 10,000 troops, Hamelin d’Vaud with 35,000 troops, Lewis Heinrich with 25,000 troops, Ulric Typhonus with 80,000 troops and Ardige Viduggla with 18,000 troops with a total of 175,000 troops funneled down the main Elven landmass with urban centers. The overbearing troop numbers has one obvious result: The Elven armies simply retreat further away into the Elf Moors and the Inner Elf Lands leaving much of the Elf Cities open for Regalian occupation. Very few if any armies ever clash, and in many cases the attrition caused by 7 armies piled onto a land mass smaller than the archipelago seriously strains the Regalian capacity to provide logistics for such a massive army in one spot. Numerous times armies run into each other, once Ulric Typhonus’s army almost accidentally attacked Garth Viduggla’s army due to the awkward positioning of the Viduggla’s force crossing the warpath of the Typhonus. Then, later, when the armies position themselves to hold the area, Typhonus’s well disciplined army come to blows with the Officer corps of Viduggla’s army on grounds that the Typhonus find their army conduct to be despicable, fraternizing even with the lower common levies, causing a few rowdy fist fights between the officers.

That conflict did not appear to to be the last. Various army compositions were considered less than optimal. In Kahrter’s force, Lampero levies (made up of various combinations of Blackmarks, Orcs and half Orcs) engage in very rowdy and aggressive behavior towards their d’Ortonnaise and Peirgarten levies. There are numerous cases of abuse among the troops and generally speaking, d’Ortonnaise and Peirgarten troops get treated like the servants of Lampero troops, with Kahrter’s disciplinary officers being barely capable to even contain their aggression. Aggression is worse in the d’Vaud army where d’Ortonnaise levies try to enact their revenge on Ravenstad levies in the army. Despite d’Vaud’s best intentions and actions, several murders are committed with Ravenstad levies having dead crows impaled into their eye sockets. In the Typhonus army the many Harhold peasant levies greatly annoy the Typhonus and Drache disciplined forces, farting and eating porridge during their march causing severe discontent among the forces.

Unfortunately, due to the collapse of discipline and severe aggression between the levies in Karhter’s army, his army faces extreme difficulties. Being the only army deployed outside of the Elven Cities, and being caught in the retreat of the Elven forces from the Elven Cities, Karhter’s army suffers a string of battlefield defeats with large casualties. Eventually Erwald Ravenstad’s nearby patrolling ships help levy Karhter’s army to safety, but not without severely mistreating the d’Ortonnaise and Peirgarten’s levies and providing the Lampero levies with all the means and possibilities to keep bullying the others. As much as both the Ravenstad and Karhter Officer corps attempt to stop this, eventually it is just accepted, given that the Lampero troops seem so rowdy that they could cause a serious mutiny on the voyage back to Regalia. The only spot where the Lampero troops seem to function properly as in Vulmar Ravenstad’s 20,000 troop army that was kept in Regalia: they fraternize well with Harhold troops, finding a compatriot in thuggish and lacking in class and quality behaviors that make the Ravenstad army quite a tight unified bunch.

Christopher Black, Alexander d’Ortonnaise and Erwald Ravenstad all patrol various positions along the Elven coasts and find no real opposition. There is however some evidence to imply the Elves were attempting to produce makeshift ships in various positions, but the heavier Regalian battleships appear to be unable to actually catch up to where these makeshift ships were going, yet speculating that they all moved further west to the Far West Sea.

In the Archipelago meanwhile, a peculiar string of murders continues to terrorize Harhold’s domain. The men that Sorenvik worked with are all murdered, leaving nobody left behind in Harhold’s lands. Immediately afterwards, noises of riots and revolts of non-Unionists spark in Harhold’s lands, though the riots themselves actually do not take place. Instead, there is a somewhat sizeable exodus of practically all Old Gods worshipers in Harhold’s fiefs crossing the border south and settling in Drache lands as supposed refugees of noble oppression. Harhold shortly afterwards announces that “In fact, house Harhold proudly announces that there are no abberrants or heretics left in our lands”, meanwhile the cremation furnaces run over-hours.

Finally, even though Audrey d’Ortonnaise was fired from the Foreign State Minister position, her plans were still executed in an attempt to woo the Avanthar into peace. The Finance Minister provided a large sum of regals, several carts of bales of gold as a tribute to secure goodwill and peace. Despite the expert diplomats and riches brought along by the diplomatic mission, the Avanthar are unreceptive. In fact, the Avanthar simply take the gold and announce that they consider this payment of 2 million regals as tribute to keep the diplomats alive and allow them to speak. Eventually after some negotiating back and forth, the Avanthar present their demand simply and plainly:

“We the Avanthar demand that the entire false prophetous group called the Synod of Regalia shall face the path of thorns in their purest form to atone for their sacrilege”. ​

The diplomats are then summarily ejected from the Avanthar camps, and on their return, the Avanthar reinforce their point by surprising the spectators and initiating an assault on the Daen Viscounty of Cortobar. The assault of Cortobar, while failing to actually breach the walls, results in colossal civilian casualties as storms of arrows are lobbed over the city walls and into the streets and squares beyond, while the Avanthar themselves suffer minimal casualties as a result of the Regalian Emperor retreating the Regalian troops from the Daen city states. The returning diplomats research what the Avanthar meant with their demand, and when consulting other Avanthar in Regalia, the conclusion is crystal clear: The Avanthar expect the the Regalian Empire to deliver the Synod members to the Avanthar, to strip them to bare nakedness, and walk the path of thorns of repentance while being whipped with horse hair whips.

Sophia du Polignac in return proves more successful. Supported by various court members, Sophia du Polignac manages to eject Olivia Ombre from the position of Guardiess of Ithania, assuming command of the Home Guard army and taking the position Ombre previously had at the Ithanian court as notable Regalian.