The Colonial Effort The von Drachenburg and Ravenstad colonies that were made in Ceardia are finalized, contributing their colonial men and finances to the greater wealth and manpower of the respective families. The rest of the colonies remain rather dormant outside of the scope of the other wars going on, with only Eliopolous sending 3,000 troops to stake a claim to the Old Ceardian colonies. of Brilonde also colonizes part of Essalonia with 2,000 troops. The Hadarian War Effort House of Brilonde opens with their first act, the secession of their entire Hadarian occupied zone to the Digmaan Yaotl's hands. This transition remains relatively peaceful and face to face, no alterations are made locally and the Digmaan's administration quickly takes over. Digmaan Yaotl also purchases Viduggla's occupation zone for a small sum of money, but quickly finds that the Count Viduggla didn't leave anything to chances. By the time Yaotl's forces arrive, the area has essentially become destitute. Everything of value has been stripped, storehouses emptied, estates cleared out and even the woodwork ripped out to ship home to Norrlan. All the Unionist inhabitants have essentially gone on an exodus back to the Archipelago, and a sizeable part of the Allar population has moved to Sorenvik's lands. The lands are severely depopulated as a result, and the financial capacity of the region is in ruins, but at least the land is now Yaotl colored. Finally, Yaotl launches its full army invasion of the Blackjaw Mining Blast Zone. While the border forts offer stiff resistance, this colonial region is not matched, outnumbered at least ten if not twenty to one, and quickly falls to Yaotl's control, with only sporadic resistance and guerilla efforts. The Vlissinghelm War Theatre A rather chaotic invasion of Vlissinghelm commences with numerous ship and troop movements in the Anglian straits making it very busy indeed. The first to move are 8000 Tyrannian soldiers from the Tyrannian Veer side to Vlissinghelm, making landfall in the port town of Kaartsendam. Harhold ships, including reinforcements from the colonies attempt to prevent Tyrannian landings, but the naval superiority of the Tyrannian-Van der Veer is declared after a freshly launched warship of Tyrannian evens the naval battle in 3 vs 3 which Tyrannian wins. Harhold's colonial forces are unable to land, diverting instead to the south in the Dragenthal ford, unable to march all the way to Vlissinghelm in time to reinforce, and running into trouble with the local House Black authorities as well as the Dragenthal barons of the heartland region for landing troops in neutral territory. Harhold tries another drive for mobilization, but the wake of the Veer Pagans in the past year, as well as the massive losses incurred in Norrlan make the local aldermenn very unwilling to send large amounts of troops to war again, afraid of incurring similar losses. Few Harhold levies actually get pressed into service given the circumstances, thus allowing a relatively small Tyrannian army to make headway into the Harhold territories. Help however arrives from an entirely unexpected source. When crossing the river of Bulderwaarde, the Tyrannian army is unexpectedly attacked by a relatively small force comprising of yeomen and knights of the Buxton-upon-Tyre, Candrwaldringham and Blixford Dragenthal barons, carrying the banner of the new Baron's Coalition (the one that formed after Emperor Cedromar killed the previous coalition, one that is considerably more pro-state, but still anti-war). The Baron's Coalition manage to harry the Tyrannian force into retreating, unable to press forward, and having to take a defensive position in the forts of Polderwald. The Baron's Coalition forces seemed unwilling to siege or actually press forward, they just made a political statement that some of the Baronies in Dragenthal have not forgotten Tyrannian's involvement, having spent the past year discovering a trail of paperwork and captured culprits who revealed it was Tyrannian who messed with the stability of the locals and provoked riots and rebellion in Dragenthal. With the short reprieve granted to Harhold, the Barons retreated back into Dragenthal, making it also expressly clear that they still hate Hengest Harhold, but that he is slightly less of a tool than Gallus Tyrannian. Finally, Tyrannian send Enzo Celso to the Delmotte lands, who initiated a province wide smear campaign against Count Louis Delmotte, aiming at his impending disfavor at court over the Peirgarten Lady of the Chamber debacle, while also repeatedly pressing on the accusations of the Count being an adulterer and a whoremonger. Naturally, this would have an effect on the actions to come. The Veer War Threatre Delmotte in fact, mobilized its army and formally declared war on House Tyrannian. With the demagogue however speaking out against the Count, most of the warmoot was spent defending against the attacks of the mayors who started proposing that the Count may not have the religious standing he is hoping for to invade Tyrannian. Nontheless, the Delmotte host is assembled, but it is less than was projected, because the casus belli was disassembled before it was formally accepted by the mayors. Delmotte however also spends finances on a mercenary army, an army that is entirely unaffected by their opinion of the Count, which is immediately shipped together with the supporting fleet of House Ravenstad to the Tyrannian coastline. Witht he Tyrannian fleet in Vlissinghelm's sphere, their coastline is defenceless, and the mercenary army starts pillaging and burning their way through the Tyrannian Veer held lands. Several forts fall and formally fall under Delmotte control, as well as several villages being burnt, but their control does not retain. The mercenary army disbands after Delmotte's funds allocated for their actions run dry, and the lands occupied by Delmotte essentially revert back to Tyrannian on account of no soldiers being present to hold them down. Still, large damage was impacted on the area which was completely defenseless. Delmotte further demobilizes their colonial troops, while House van der Veer raises their own home levy. This home levy, is however laughably small. While the original war was already a point of concern, having 5,000 soldiers die in the colonies seemed like a huge waste of time. Now on the second warmoot, the mayors essentially say they've had enough of the war and ask the Baron to sue for peace, though some soldiers are raised for the sake of defending the homeland. The Colonial War Theatre House Blackjaw Dwarves use all manner of machinery and mechanical produce to try and demobilize Rote troops, especially in the wake of the desertions. Through a clever piece of propaganda however, the new Count Leopold Rote manages to revert much of the damages done by his predecessor. Essentially by publishing the peace demands of Blackjaw, which would result in the wholesale annexation of Rote lands into the hands of heathens and non-Ailor, Leopold Rote establishes the notion that while what his family did was reprehensible, it would not be as reprehensible as actually being ruled by non-Ailor and non-Unionists. Instead of attempting to rectify Abelhard Rote's mistake, he simply proposes that Abelhard did the least evil when choosing between what he did, and the greater evil, which was losing a war against a coalition. Most if not all of the troops which deserted return to the banner, and morale rises again in the hopes of ensuring that Rote lands remain Ailor and Unionist, even with a slight Unionist blemish. After their harassment tactics, Blackjaw sallies forth from their defensive position to attack Rote head on, with the incoming support of of Brilonde. 23,000 Brilonde troops indeed arrive in Blackjaw lands, although at an awkward angle, from behind Blackjaw's army, instead of from Rote's rear. The officers reason this is nothing worthy of concern, because of Brilonde was naturally attempting to avoid the naval blockade on Rote's land, which was still tightly patrolled by av Nystrom and Rote ships. Their judgement is however rendered in error when they realize that the Brilonde troops charge forward, into the back of the Blackjaw lines, just after melee ensued with the Rote troops. It becomes pretty clear to the sandwiched and severely outnumbered Blackjaw and Tyrannian troops then, that they have been double crossed by of Brilonde, who quickly envelops their back line and causes mass confusion and panic in their armies. The army completely collapses, with Tyrannian's troops quickly being wiped out, while Blackjaw loses the vast majority of his troops in the pincered melee, many Dwarves fighting to the death, but others also fleeing and attempting the retreat back to the capital. Following the crushing defeat at the Stockjaw Hills, Rote and of Brilonde's combined 48,000 troops easily march down Blackjaw's lands, chasing after the retreating troops until they reach the capital, settling in for the siege, along with a few other castles that hold out against the invasion. It is speculated that Blackjaw will be capable of holding the siege for a few more weeks, but that he is hopelessly outnumbered and outmaneuvered without any help. That being said, not everything is rose colored for Rote either. After the victories, his secession of half his lands to of Brilonde control is announced. While these lands switch from one Unionist to another, naturally half of Rote's army now lives in of Brilonde lands, and summarily simply leaves service, effectively cutting the Rote army in half. The stability of his homeland is negatively impacted at the loss of half his territory, though perhaps not as much as it would have been if all of it had fallen into heathen hands. Peirgarten honors their deal with Viduggla, retreating all forces and setting up defensive positions in the colonies. Aside from Frisque ships raiding the coastline however, a battle never arrives, and the Colonial front ends with yet another swivel. House of Brilonde finally ends the gestures in the colonies by announcing their formal mutual defensive pact with Contyr, concluding that any foreign invader will face both armies of of Contyr and of Brilonde if they set foot in Kintyr. The Wider Archipelago House Dietrich manages to mobilize a small host, citing a casus belli for "war being too close", but mosty mayors think that all the wars are happening at least 200 miles away, and refuse to summon their troops. House von Rahm mobilizes a moderate force for the Kathar war. House Black dedicates 2000 troops from the colonies to the Kathar war. House Black sends 10 Warships to the Kathar front. House Krupp's personal private security recruitment drive fails on account of spending no finances. House Krupp's Propoganda to start hunting Vampires fails because of how futile the suggestion seems. House Kupp sends 2000 men to colonize in Ceardia. House Krupp mobilizes its war host further for the sake of the Kathar war, gaining a few thousand more troops. House Skarpsten tries to plan Tabacca plantations in their homeland in Drixagh, coming to the quick conclusion that Tabacca, a southern crop, does in fact not grow in tundra, which is well still present in the soil in the middlings of march. With this failed investment, House Skarpsten loses a considerable sum of money of wasted manpower and purchases. House Brierüst sends 2000 of its colonial levies to the Kathar war. House Brierüst as part of the Ravenstad sets a number of laws which in effect allow Ravenstad silks to dominate the local marked and compete with the smaller local businesses with favorable prices. While local business is hurt, the populace is seemingly fine with this, as it is seen as a necessary step to avoid being swallowed by the much larger Ravenstad Duchy. House von Drachenburg mobilizes a moderate host to dedicate to the Kathar War. House Sorenvik receives the necessary payments for the Harhold prisoners, sending 30,000, all of them, on ships to the Kathar war front, sailing way past Anglia. Some of the prisoners consider starting a mutiny on the ship, but their inability to sail ships in rough weather eventually causes them to decide not to press their plans and simply go with the flow. House Norrvakt tries surveying the colonies but finds that most resources are yet used. The recommendation comes to simply start expanding the colony, widening the economy instead of trying to focus it. House Norrvakt attempts to survey a private defense force for the homeland, but is eventually told that private defence forces are hugely expensive, and the local economy simply cannot accommodate it. He is told that he might as well pay another family to garrison his lands if he wants more protection. House Norrvakt sends a sizeable sum of money to an unknown destination, it disappearing in a network of intermediaries and scholar institutes. House Ravenstad pulls back 5000 troops from the state and 5000 troops from the colonies to their homelands. House Viduggla keeps 20,000 troops in Norrland in an attempt to crush the Harhold troops, however the 10,000 Harhold brigands are sizeable, and difficult to shed. Something strange is also occuring, in that the Veer Pagans, at least some of them, seem to be helping the Harhold troops with occasional food shipments. The Veer Pagan situation is about to become more complicated, as the Veer Pagans are now in the unique position where they are forced to choose between bonds with strangers over faith, and bonds with familiar people over culture, despite their shared history of tragedy. Ultimately, the tragedy faced by the Harhold troops in Norrlan, and the abuse at the hands of the Duke of the Veer Pagans creates a common understanding, and the whole group of the Veer Pagans seem less inclined to really make a fuss about the situation back home anymore. House Viduggla attempts to court the Veer Pagans to invade Vlissinghelm, but as implied by the point above, they seem very content to stake a claim in Norrlan and have the land for themselves. The Veer Pagans, quickly being renamed the Anglian Norrlanders, indicate that they won't do anything until House Viduggla acknowledges their semi-autonomy over the western third of the Norrland landmass, with allowance of Anglian culture, rule of law, and partial self governance in all matters bar military and foreign diplomacy, which they are willing to cede to House Viduggla.
