The Great Crusade

A Navinian Footman in Leogoth, ca. 6A 730.

6A 733 - (Triumvarate)

Holy Land of Leogoth

The Iderum

Grand Epherian Western Emirates

**The Great Crusade** was the royal Iadrian name for King Richard the Dragon's war for the reclamation of the Holy Land of Leogoth from the occupying Epherian Empire. Also called **Richard's Crusade**, the **War for Leogoth** or the **Iderum Rebellion**, the conflict was fought between Royal Iadrian forces, occupying Western Epherian armies, and rebel Iadrian forces dubbed Iderum, led by the deposed Geoff Arvait. The Crusade found great initial success, the combined armies of Iadria finding a much smaller Epherian force than expected due to the Empire's refocusing of its Holy Wars of Conquest to the east. Despite Richard's early string of victories in Leogoth, however, his Crusade soon encountered problems. Even as Epherian reinforcements began to arrive from the far East, Geoff Arvait and his Iderum set about overthrowing the Emir of Eaddovar, seeking to unshackle the former Principality from Epherian rule and take control in the name of the Griffin.

## History

### Background

The years prior to the Great Crusade were fraught with turmoil for the Kingdom of Iadria. In 6A 715, the Kingdom was still reeling from the aftermath of the Naegiran Uprising, with many dissenters to the rule of King Geoff remaining among the nobility and commonfolk. Despite these internal fractures, the Duchies rallied behind the King when an Epherian declaration of war arrived in Ihenium and the invasion of Leogoth began. Though the Iadrians would fight bravely for their Holy Land over the course of six long years, by 721 the Royal Legions had been nearly annihilated and the Knights Jareche themselves were dwindling. With the eastern Duchies threatened, Eaglespear lost, and the Citadel of Light itself encroached upon, King Geoff made the decision to sue for peace. The King himself signed the Treaty of Okeqar in the Citadel, overseeing the formal secession of Leogoth to the Epherian Empire.

The loss of Leogoth and the humiliation of the Treaty immediately sparked outrage among the nobility and wider populace of Iadria. Such a total defeat for the self-styled heir of Anderia was unheard of, and the Holy Land had slipped from Anderian hands for the first time in many centuries. King Geoff's hold on power, already tenuous before the Invasion, began to rapidly crumble. Much of the blame for the loss of Leogoth fell upon him in the public eye, and a coalition of powerful noblemen led by Duke Richard of Navine began to aggressively campaign for his deposal. The Iadrian clergy, in near-total disarray following the loss of their center of faith, was unable to mount effective opposition to this controversial proposal. The bearer of the Holy Crown had not been deposed since Alastair IV Silvane's removal in favor of Ralnan I Navine at the conclusion of the Stehevar Secessionary Wars. Duke Richard, using his royal ancestor's action as precedent, continued to build up his power and legitimacy as a potential replacement for the 'unworthy' King.

In 723, the Navinian Duke made his move. Summoning his allies and supporters to the Ucorian city of Aedrisos on May 17, Richard issued the Declaration of Aedrisos, proclaiming Geoff III's reign to be legally and religiously defunct, and announcing the Coalition of Navine's intent to depose the unworthy King in the name of the fallen Patriarchs of Leogoth. The Navinian Rebellion had begun, and rapidly grew in scale as Ucoria, the Autumnvale, and the Elven city-state of Cenother mobilized alongside Navine. King Geoff ordered the loyalist Dukes and Royal Legions to crush the uprising, as they had done in Naegirus nearly a decade before. However, the two Legions sent forward as the King's vanguard were surprised by Richard's forces shortly after entering the Autumnvale, and decisively beaten at the Battle of Ayrith, the first direct engagement of the Rebellion. The loss of two full Legions at the outset of the conflict, alongside the growing strength of Richard's forces and the wavering loyalty of many nobles, quickly forced Geoff into a defensive posture for the remainder of the civil war. Over the ensuing two years, the Knights Jareche and loyalist forces struggled desperately to slow Richard's march to Ihenium, but time and time again were unable to halt the Dragon Duke. Finally, in 6A 725, the final engagement of the Rebellion occured at Everton just east of the capitol, resulting in a Navinian victory and the final march on Ihenium. With the last of his defenses broken at Everton, King Geoff accepted the reality of his failure. Gathering his remaining forces, Geoff fled Ihenium, succesfully breaking through the rebel lines to begin the long march east out of Iadria.

Duke Richard Navine, though unable to capture the Arvait King, had nonetheless secured the throne. Under pressure from the victorious Coalition, the Iadrian Clergy declared Geoff's flight tantamount to abdication and crowned King Richard I Navine in a massive ceremony. With his goal achieved, the newborn 'Dragon-King' made clear his intentions from the first days of his reign; Iadria was to be restored to its prior glory and prestige, and Leogoth would not be allowed to stray further from the Holy Crown. While met with overwhelming approval from the common people, the new King had already begun to steer Iadria towards another destructive war with the Epherian Empire.

The first years of King Richard's reign were characterized by an unprecedented royal program of national reconstruction, military buildup, and rapprochement with former enemies of the Rebellion. The royal coffers, swollen under Geoff despite the hardships of his reign, were rapidly depleted under the new Navinian king. Following the model of his home Duchy's famous military, King Richard set about greatly expanding and increasing funding for the Royal Legions, leading to a process of standardization and reform not seen since the Whitehall Reforms centuries prior. Conscription expanded greatly as well, though conscripts' pay and standards of living improved. The Knights Jareche, depleted in the previous years of fighting and distrusted by the King, found themselves utilized as little more than royal guardsmen and Legionary advisors. To compensate for the expansion of the Legions, King Richard allowed the Ducal levies extensive power over the security of the realm; this was partly a necessary maneuver, as the refitted Legions would soon march east.

### Initial Phase

In 729, following two years of extensive military buildup, King Richard convened his council in Ihenium. Following a lengthy religious ceremony anointing the forthcoming declaration as the word of Jareche Edos, Richard formally declared his planned Crusade to the Dukes, lords and clergymen of the high Iadrian court. Met with near-unanimous support, Richard wasted no time. Across Iadria, the Royal Legions were withdrawn from their postings and sent east to the Epherian border. The ongoing Epherian-Alderan war to the south and the Empire's disregard for Iadria's strength allowed Richard to sieze the element of surprise, despite his obvious intent. Finally, in May of 729, the amassed Legions advanced. Though several Epherian fortified encampents held out, bogging down the attackers for weeks, the majority of the Legions swept into Leogoth all but unopposed, shattering the conscript defenders arrayed against them. Within a month, Richard's armies had laid siege to Eaglespear and fought their way into the Oases of Light, approaching the Citadel itself, even as the Duneswatch Towers were siezed one by one.

The great initial success of the Crusade did not go unnoticed. The Epherian Empire, though alarmed by the power of the Iadrian offensive, did not doubt their capability to push back the Iadrian advance. However, the majority of the Empire's armies were committed battling the legions of Aldera in the south; for now, the Emperor deigned to maintain the focus of of His military campaigns on the south, while awaiting the opportune moment to strike back in the less valuable western territories.

In Eaddovar, meanwhile, the former King Geoff Arvait had spent the past years building up his strength as well. Arvait arrived in the war-torn Principality, now an Emirate of Epheria, with a retinue of loyal warriors following his flight from Ihenium. From this small force, Geoff set about creating an army of his own; Eaddovarian veterans of the lost war, eager for the return of their former nation, flocked to the Griffin banner. By the onset of the Crusade, this rebel force -- dubbed the Iderum, or Exile Knights in Ucorian -- had become a true army of its own, boasting thousands of seasoned fighters prepared to reclaim Eaddovar at any cost. Arvait and his Iderum watched the onset of the Crusade warily; having primarily utilized guerilla tactics against the Emirate, Geoff was unsure that his army could stand should Richard turn against him once more. Once the rapid collapse of Leogoth's defenses proved the Crusade's power, however, the Iderum made their move. Backed by a massive popular uprising across Eaddovar, the Iderum assaulted the major city of Damberge, where the Emirate had centered its power. As quickly as it had been created, the Imperial Emirate of Eidvar began to unravel, its disorganized defenders suffering repeated defeats against the Iderum's coordinated shock attacks.

By late 730, King Richard's reconquest of Leogoth was all but complete. While some among his Council urged caution, the Dragon-King sought only glory. From the former eastern border of old Iadria, the Legions continued their advance, pushing slowly into Imperial-controlled Eaddovar and Baghram.