War of Noraz Valley

The War of Noraz Valley, also known as the War of the Red River, was a siege campaign fought between the Ulgren and Redhammer clans for control of Noraz Valley and the strongholds within. The campaign lasted 4 years and is one of the bloodiest and most recent battles fought by primarily dwarvish kin. The battle spanned out across the whole Noraz Valley region, and rarely up on the hills and lower peaks of the Dragon’s Spine. Not only notable for its death toll, but also for the advanced warfare technology used during it at mass scale.

“Noraz was a great tragedy, for the streams in which we drink shall forever more taste of the blood of kin.” - Hvralskur Stonearm of Gral Ultan

## Location

The main location of the war is in the name itself, in the expansive Noraz Valley, a 136 mile long stretch of land that is about 20 miles wide. The River Graksur runs through the valley with many headwaters separating the territory into wide sections parted by river, making retreat difficult for land based troops. Although the terrain was limited, both clans expanded vertically with specialized troops taking both the mountain sides, and deep underground holds. The first location of the war was in a spot aptly named as fool’s land.

## History

### Causes

The war was a direct result of rising tensions for resources between the clans, however the inciting incident was the wall erected by the Ulgren Clan used to impose tariffs on trade traveling through their section of the valley. This impacted upon the trade agreements proposed between the Redhammers and their allied clans. These agreements were unable to be fulfilled due to the tariffs imposed being restricting further travel and subjecting the goods to rot and thievery as carrying it back would take months and require many men that were not present. Diplomatic representatives were sent on behalf of the monarch and elders of the Redhammer clan. Months of heated debate waged back and forth between the clans and meanwhile both suffered. The members of the Redhammer clan were subject to more deaths from starvation and more became impoverished and could barely afford new clothes. Merchants tried to discover paths around the Dragon’s Spine past the wall but nearly all attempts were met with death or failure. Even attempts that succeeded such as Dark Realm pathways, were deemed too impractical or dangerous to reliably use and would require extensive amounts of infrastructure to prepare for long distance cargo carry. Meanwhile, the members of Clan Ulgren became engrossed in tales of Redhammer scouts on the mountains looking for what they assumed to be a way around the wall and into their homes. This elevated paranoia led to preparation of the soldiers of Ulgren and a call to arms for younger dwarves. The debates between clan diplomats waged on ultimately it devolved to yelling and an Ulgren Dwarf by the name of Theoshus Fleethand took a drakepowder weapon, specifically a Gravel Breech, and fired directly into the chest pointblank into the Redhammer diplomat Hausver Skond. Hausver was mortally wounded, suffering from multiple piercing wounds in vital organs. This act was a declaration of war to both clans, and the Redhammers began to organize their troops while the Ulgrens tried to make a call to arms to their people. Although Clan Ulgren had nearby allies in case of warfare such as with Clan Falkur, this was useless due to their agreements stating that they were allies in the terms of defensive action, and as they were the ones to pull the trigger, they were out of luck for now. The Redhammers made haste with sending messengers to their allies although it would take at least a year of time before any reinforcements showed up.

## Battles

The first months of the official start time of the war were spent positioning troops and sending scouts. During this time, the clans began to station regiments outside their holds and mines. The first official battle was near the middle of the valley at the Peak headwater. This battle was the first indicator of what the overall battle was like. The Redhammers played defensively as the Ulgren clan had the best defenses in the end and they could afford to play reckless now. The first regiments of flail and shield users moved forward through the thin waters of the headwater while the backline arbalests fired a rain of bolts into the sky to aim above the shields. The Redhammers opened their shield formation to guard from the skies. This opening gave the Ulgrens more vigor and their defenses were compromised in the sake of capitalizing on this temporary weakness. The sound of roars and cracks pierced the air and soldiers still in the headwaters began to drop like flies, making a bridge of metal and meat that turned the waters red. The footsoldiers of Ulgren began to advance further and readied their maces and flails to meet the armor of the Redhammers. 3 more regiments would cross the river, managing to take out 2 large swaths of Redhammer soldiers before they were surrounded and only half a regiment managed to reposition across the water. The Ulgren then made a temporary retreat that proved successful. Both sides began to form larger bridges that could be deployed to cross smaller bodies of water with haste.

The next battles the sides were switched with the Ulgrens playing more defensively. Scouts made the long journey back to the main hold to inform of the strategies of the Redhammers and to bring artillery of their own. Meanwhile the Redhammers requested the increased production of drakepowder weaponry and ammunition. Batches of these were given out, mostly in the form of Tunnel Rifles, although Flamers and Rakers were requested as well. As they pushed forward over 700 Ulgren dwarves were pushed into the mining settlement of Gral Harken. Specialized forces of basilisk riders were released into the camp and about three quarters of them were killed in action but ultimately managed to kill around 400, and capture 100 after 3 weeks of siege. The rest fled to the Dark Realm and were presumed to be lost.

By now the skirmishes and major pushes have lost the Ulgren around 50% of their foothold and a prominent mining encampment about a year in. They requested the most heavy artillery they had by enforcing the help of a previously imprisoned magus by the name of Alko Ifrediet. Ifrediet was offered his freedom in increments of every death he was responsible for, he would receive a half a year off his sentence. Morale was wavering in the Ulgrens, and the Redhammers had about 500 soldiers worth of men in reserve from alliances on stand-by. Alko became a major player in the next battle as while drakepowder and crossbow fire was exchanged between the lines of soldiers, he began to organize a coordinated attack. He waited until the valley breeze began to blow down from the mountains and cast a spell that formed large cloud of deadly gas to drift down onto the soldiers. The noxious cloud killed about 10 soldiers before they began to retreat toward the middle of the valley. Regiments of basilisk riders encircled them, and although they could not kill them all, they were meant to be more of a distraction. Alko began to rain hellfire upon the groups of herded soldiers, and mortally wounded more than 200 men in total, most incinerated beyond repair. The amount of ash and blood stained the rivers more red than they have ever been. This was seen as a benefit as the water naturally flowed down toward the Redhammers and made it hard for them to recover as they had to have water delivered straight from headwater sources.

The Ulgrens made steady progress reclaiming land over the next year with the help of Alko, although the Redhammers were more conscious of his presence now. They requested the help of Clan Dutremon to travel the mountain and attempt an assasaination on Alko. Uniforms of fallen Ulgren soldiers were given to them in order to blend in. These troops spent the next year trekking through the mountains and infiltrating the military. They made their way into Alko’s quarters without setting off alarms after helping the enemy for 6 months. Alko was resting as he was restrained by Iron Bands. His ribcage pressed, making even verbal spells useless. The 6 members of the coup stabbed into the crevices of the bands and at his throat leaving Alko to be a contorted, gurgling mess in the morning. They managed to make off late into the night and 4 of them made it back to Clan Dutremon as two had passed on the way due to natural hazards.

Now with their main firepower dismantled, the Redhammers made a stronger push than before, mercilessly wiping the floor with Ulgren. Most weren’t able to retreat and died during the 3 months it took for the Redhammers to destroy the remaining encampments and claim the last mining settlement. For the last two months of the war, the Redhammers were mowed down in swaths by artillery fire from the safety of the wall that had incited the war. Eye witnesses say that some days, the 30ft wall had stacks of corpses 5 feet tall plastered to the wall. The Redhammers eventually completed construction of large trebuchets and aimed them at the stronghold behind the walls. They released iron spheres of flaming drakepowder that exploded with the ferocity of a dragon on the walls. Casualties on the Ulgren side began to quickly mount and fears for the common folk within were realized. Clan Ulgren eventually resigned and surrendered after 4 years of bloody combat.

## Aftermath

The total aftermath of the war resulted in Clan Ulgren being dissolved into the Redhammers and forfeiting all previously unskirmised assets, which included the city of Tyutal. The wall was dismantled and death counts began to be tallied. Over 2600 deaths on the Redhammer side and 7000 on the Ulgren’s. After this a codex of warfare known as the Tome of Atrocities was established between all the dwarvish clans of the Highlands to avoid the inhumane acts committed within this war, and this included the disuse of drakepowder Flamers, and limiting of the firearms in general. Clans are skeptical of war with each other after the war of Noraz Valley.