Red Plains War

### Outcome

Talor forced to renounce claims on southhern MeziaThree tons of silver given to Astarcia as war reparations

The Red Plains War was an action fought between the Kingdom of Talor and the state of Astarcia. It was instigated by Cyng Aethelhere Strongmace over Talorian claims on the Astarcian lands surrounding the city of Safcoro.

## Background

Safcoro and the surrounding area had originally belonged to Talor - the Talorians knew the town as Safacourgh. During the chaos after the Battle of Vorgebirge, the town was sacked and occupied by a Kafetran warlord, Ferreilarios, in 504.

Ferreilarios eventually lost the town in 513 when his kingdom was conquered by Astarcia, a confederation of Kafetro-Vadyan tribes that ruled the eastern bank of the Astarciy River.

Talor opened diplomatic relations with Astarcia shortly afterwards, and one of the first messages sent by Cyng Aethelhere was a demand to return the 'rightful Talorian soil' of Safacourgh.

Of course the Astarcian government rejected the claims, which led to tension between the two countries. Cyng Aethelhere repeatedly demanded the return of Safacourgh, eventually expanding his claim to the entire region of southern Mezia.

## Beginning

In 522 matters came to a head. After nine years of posturing, Cyng Aethelhere declared that enough was enough. He raised the levies of the Cwylming and Vestr and marched on Safacourgh. He was supported by the majority of the royal families, though only Norrhelm and Ricfriding sent their Fyrdmen to assist in the war.

Astarcia was unprepared - it had been posturing to face an invasion by Harä or Krasnar, which had both been increasingly aggressive at the time. Safacourgh was quickly overwhelmed and the town was quickly pacified, with the older inhabitants remembering the halcyon days of old before Talor lost control of Safacourgh.

With Astarcia faltering, the Fallen Company intervened. While their official mission was to prevent any Tungrid invasion of Dalfore, this extended to keeping the balance of power in the region north of Dalfore. The Fallen Company leveraged its power to stop Harä and Krasnar from invading as well, and sent Pierre Chizau with one and a half thousand chevaliens and footmen to assist Astarcia in repelling Talorian forces.

Three months after the initial move, Astarcia had managed to free up nine thousand men from its northern strongholds, with half led by Count Giotti Pensambria and the other by Count Orlanios Yuneta.

## Astarcian Comeback

Talor, in taking Safacourgh, had largely considered the war over. They had taken their objective and the bickering sub-commanders of the Talorian force saw no need to continue. They were caught by surprise when Chizau's men crossed the Astarciy River at Upmoor and began to march towards Fenwich. Cyng Aethelhere underestimated the threat and sent Theoren Blydnas to intercept them, giving him the Ricfriding Fyrdmen and eight hundred levies.

Theoren was decisively defeated at the Battle of Fenfield. He was killed and two of his sons, Theodred and Maohrdred, were taken captive by the Fallen Company, later to become famous chevaliens of the Company themselves.

Aethelhere was incensed by the defeat and marched his entire force south to meet Chizau in combat, but the Fallen Company's organised footknights marched rings around them and managed to join forces with those of Pensambria and Yuneta in early 524, taking back Safacourgh the next week. At this point the Talorian forces were outnumbered two to one and still hopelessly outmatched in skill by the Fallen Company detachment.

The Astarcian force now headed south. They took Fenwich without resistance, then headed east and occupied Mearhus as well. The Talorian force could do nothing more than tag along behind and harry the Astarcian outriders. The Astarcians wintered in Mearhus and, though Aethelhere spent the winter trying to drum up support and troops, he was unable to cobble together a force to match that of Pensambria, Yuneta and Chizau.

## Peace Deal

Upon the arrival of spring and the dawn of the year 525, the Astarcian forces broke out of the Talorian encirclement around Mearhus and began to head towards Eorlsburh. This panicked Aethelhere - most of the royal families lived in Eorlsburh and had not been affected thus far by the war and they were fed disinformation of Talorian victories and advancements by Cyng Aethelhere, but this illusion stood to be shattered if Eorlsburh was taken.

If Eorlsburh fell it was probable that Cyng Aethelhere would be removed from power. It was also definite that House Eorlfric would lose a massive amount of honour and prestige, a big deal in Talorian society, and furthermore it was possible that Talor could shatter entirely. It was paramount that Aethelhere stop the Astarcian advance.

He did this by offering terms. He met with the Counts and Chizau in a small inn on the edge of the Cwylming and signed a peace. The terms of the peace were privy only to Aethelhere on the Talorian side of the table, and the only favour he asked of his opponents was that the terms were not made common knowledge in Astarcia either, or flaunted in the fortresses of the Fallen Company. The only widespread fact was that the war ended in a status quo ante bellum - nothing had changed since before the war.

## Legacy

Following the war Aethelhere built up the defences of the Talorian border and reformed the levy system, making it easier for the Cyng to raise forces in the event of a war. He was ridiculed in court for not keeping the promise of taking back Safacourgh, but managed to keep his throne for another thirteen years.

Only after Aethelhere's death in 538 did the terms of the peace come out, revealed by his son and heir Saxehaer. He had paid three tons of silver from his own pocket as war reparations, as well as promising Astarcia that Talor would never again press a claim on the town of Safacourgh or the land around it. The latter claim was quickly forgotten, though, as Astarcia fell two years later to the new Grand Duchy of Kafetra.

The war's name comes from the name of the area surrounding Safcoro - the Plan du Rogge, which translates as the Red Plain. It is called this due to an ancient local legend that says the original inhabitants of safcoro were massacred by Kafetro-Vadyan tribesmen in the distant past, and that the plains outside the town ran red with the townsmens' blood.