Invasion of Carrhen subheader

• Haszlal, Si-Zralli, Kaeroc, Briareth, Iranela mobilize on Haszlal's State Fleet of the South Marksmarshal's authority, sailing to Rutgher's coastline.
  • They scout for enemy fleets, but are unable to find them. The Rutgher Theocracy absolutely has ships, and shipbuilding docks, but they are unable to find any docked or sailing fleets.
  • The group does find some ships out at sea that mark the description of warships, the longboat design of the Velheim people that is common in the Carrhen continent, sailing southwards (in the direction of Old Ceardia). The group attacks the ships, blowing them up with a variety of alchemical attacks to the bottom of the ships. Upon salvage afterwards however, they find that despite these ships being warships and carrying the common round-shield hull covers of a Velheim warship, the interior of the ships was completely stripped and they were carrying only civilians and supplies, blankets, food wares, timber and construction goods, and lots and lots of religious offerings. The fleet tries to save any people who survived the destruction of the ships, though the rough high seas make this nigh impossible, beyond the fact that the civilians did not seemingly want to be rescued and make no attempt to reach their would be rescuers, going head-under intentionally and not resurfacing. The aquatic people in the retinue observe from underwater how they just intentionally drown themselves, stupefied by their actions.
  • Regardless of this circumstance, as Regalia was technically still in the middle of negotiations and hadn't replied yet to the triple-alliance's request for a complete withdrawal, the Foreign Ministry's request for negotiations was declared Regalia "stalling for time" and the Consul a sham, and the war is now full and well underway.
• Avox, Aaliyah, Galinthos, Dominique, Zen'daral mobilize with both the Petrou and State Fleet of the South Marksmarshal, on a search and destroy.
  • Dominique fails to track down a Rutgher commander to abduct or kill. Seemingly, the Rutgher learned their lesson and started rotating their officer corps, having suffered critical sabotage the first time, but arming themselves against this type of command beheading a second time.
  • The Petrou fleet captures the islands fairly easily off the coast of Rutgher, with little to no resistance, the forts on these islands having seemingly been abandoned, and the civilian population also being missing. The Petrou soldiers observe the Gates of Handrin on the easternmost island of the chain, a massive rectangular stone gate, weathered by centuries of rain and ocean winds, though still standing. The hill leading up to the Gates are covered in offerings and sacrificed animals, with the ground running red, however there is no one present.
  • Avox then lands with the remaining soldiers and captures a coastal port which was relatively small and easy to take, setting up defensive positions and acting (presumably?) as a safe port for landing future Regalian armies.
• In response to the growing conflict in the region, The Riggtamaan Kingdom and the Enman Kingdom re-commit themselves to Regalia by stating that "Regalia's treaties with our nations are strong, and we have no intention of helping the errant Ceardians to the south". However, to everyone's surprise, Rifftamaan then immediately invades Enman, pouring soldiers across the borders and tearing up a peace treaty that had lasted for a century since their last war. They call the war the "Fire and Water War", and state that nothing changes for them, they are still committed to the Naval Treaties with Regalia, but that they have simply decided that Enman's independence has lasted long enough. The Rifftamaan Kingdom seems to be making good headway into the Enman Kingdom and the Enman Kingdom is completely taken off guard and unprepared.
• The Trëmannor Kingdom re-doubles down on its Naval Treaties, and in fact escalates its commitment to Regalia by requesting formal integration to the Regalian Empire as a Suzerain entity (allowing the Kingdom to remain autonomous, observing its own laws, but paying tribute to Regalia and receiving protection from the Regalian army and Navy).
• The Silverwind Colonies economy collapses nigh-instantly by the sudden burst of conflict on the continent, having been used as a staple port for trade and suffering a severe decline in traffic. The Silverwind Colonies request financial aid from the Regalian State, however it is worth noting that they are not actually a federal part of the Empire despite their treaties. Past governments have always stalled on outright annexing the Silverwind Colonies due to their known Piracy, and how Regalia was always capable of tacitly denying being involved but still reaping the benefits through the Naval Treaties.
• The Xizham Kingdom does something strange that nobody expected either. Despite the growing conflict in Hadar, the Xizham Kingdom manages to secure a loose agreement with the warring Digmaans and the various Allar civil authorities to integrate Xizham into the greater Hadarian realm. As a result, the Xizham Kingdom folds into Regalian territory, but automaticaly defaults to a Regalian autonomous subject. They mobilize their army, and cover the border to the east, but strictly state they do not want to get involved with the conflict and are merely guarding their border.
• The Milat Duchy seems spooked by the conflict and offers to join Regalia's Naval Acts on Respect to Regalia's Navy, and Accepting the Regal as tenable Currency while joining the Regalian trade Market, but ask as a caveat that it not be forced to accept Unionist Missionaries, and that Regalia make a declaration of good honor and intent not to force it on them down the line.
• The Connorock Kingdom, Khittrakhat Confederacy and Ütterann Kingdom make a joint statement denouncing Regalia's war on the continent, citing they agree with the Rutgher state line that this is all a long ploy by Regalia to take over political power on the continent. They say they are willing to regard Regalia's good intentions however, and offer for Regalia to agree to a non-aggression pact with the three nations in concert, which would both insist that Regalia not attack them, and not try to force them to sign the Naval Treaties. The overture seems with peaceful intent, however the Ütterann Kingdom mobilizes its army on the eastern border of the Serman Duchy. It is unclear to State Bureaucrats whether this 3 part alliance is intending to join the war on the Rutgher side against Regalia if the treaty is declined, or whether they intend to invade Serman if the treaty is accepted to gobble up as much land before Regalia's inevitable victory. Further prying seems pointless as they re-iterate the treaty request as is and refuse addendums that would recognize Regalian sovereignty over the as of yet undefeated nations.
• The Konvernh Alliance is too tribal and uncivilized to understand what is going on and just vibe on their little islands.
• The Yervonth council sends a messenger to Regalia, trying to ingratiate themselves by saying that there is an unusual amount of ship activity around their islands, like a fleet of ships is looking for something. They say it is unclear what nation the ships belong to, but that they are definitely from Carrhen, and are mostly carrying lifestock and civilians.
• Elewisa Peirgarten, Zzuros, Avis, and Vasilje take over the Petrou fleet after their landing, providing covering support, though most of it seems redundant as the Petrou marines are able to capture most of the coastal region by themselves, so they all remain on stand by.
• Trajan Novak issues an ultimatum as General of the South Marksmarshal to the triple alliance, however the ultimatum is obviously redundant as admiral Haszlal already used a pre-emptive strike against the Rutgher ships out at sea, and thus war had already commenced.
• Trajan, Aleksandra, Kolenko, Miomyr, and Tovak march forth with a Tenpenny army, landing in Petrou's secured harbor and beginning the offensive against the Rugther Theocracy, facing fairly little resistance on land.
• House Faure sends their army across the border again, but House Guentyr (while expected) does not arrive, so Faure just presses on themselves. They are unable to find any enemy armies, but make headway invading Rutgher.
• Towards the end of the first moves of the campaign, Avox Petrou's patrols stumble upon a small group of people moving towards the captured port on a caravan. They meet up, finding two Breizh Unionist missionaries, a troupe of about 14 children, and two Guentyr signet carrying guards, claiming to be remnants of the Breizh Unionist mission outside of the Rutgher capital. Petrou's men confirm that the missionaries definitely speak with a Breizh accent, but that the Guards curiously enough speak with a very subtle Velheim accent. The children indeed seem to check out, being the frightened remnants of murdered Unionist families. The missionaries and their guards and children are now in Petrou custody (meaning they require Petrou to issue a command to release them), but request House Petrou allow them to travel to Regalia. They say that they must speak to House Sorenvik, and say regardless of the war circumstances, they absolutely refuse to speak to anyone except House Sorenvik, even refusing to speak to House Guentyr.

Conflict map:

[USER=18703]@Annie_Short[/USER] [USER=19811]@MyJhintuition[/USER]  Orders

• House Nordhjem sends 9 Wealth Tokens to the War Ministry directly.
• House Nordhjem issues approval for the Nordhjem fleet to assist house Abansaddi.
• Godrun visits the Dwarven settlements in the Nordhjem lands to inspect their conditions. He finds that the Dwarves live on incredibly poor terrain, the islands are some of the worst infertile volcanic rocks in the entire Regalian Archipelago and were as such unsettled until recently when the Dwarven refugees and settlers were welcomed. Despite the harsh conditions however, it is noted that they are doing something Dwarves have not done in hundreds of years: building the first small-scale Dwarven holds underground, the first real tunneling projects since the creation of the great Holds, and a marked change from their past habit of just accepting living in the open air among Ailor. The Dwarves state that the people who sold them the land assured them that the land was wealthy albeit poor for farming, and that they bought lots of cattle to help feed them as they delve deeper into the volcanic islands to hopefully find something worth trading, but haven't found anything yet. They say they do not really need anything but wouldn't object to more food shipments (worth 5 Wealth Tokens) from house Nordhjem.