Battle on the C'thardji Strip

## Overview

The Battle on the C'thardji Strip covered the many engagements fought on the border between Fellowship aligned C'thardjia and the Grenthyx Loyalist Truvenscia during the Uprootings. After an unsuccessful attempt to ambush the Grenthyx Armada, the Skirmish at the Zeri Strait put an end to Duchess Ch'mazi's plans to attack by ship. Instead, the C'thardji now sought to pass through Truvenscia and meet the rest of the Fellowship at the Capital. However, the C'thardji were unable to break through the Truvenscians first defences and remained stuck at the border. The conflict persisted for over a month, finding itself at a stalemate, until the surrender of Truvenscia's forces by Tommas Hollyard, the recently succeeded heir of Duke Ryandon. With this, C'thardjia was then able to travel to the Capital and aid the Fellowship in initiating the Battle for the Capital.

## Timeline

### Battle at Astoft

From Lovesung, C'thardjia gathered their forces at the Aurelle Estate and began their push into Truvenscia, first heading to the town of Astoft. However they were unprepared for how heavily fortified the town was and what ensued was the Battle at Astoft. C'thardjia were unable to hold their ground and Mazi ordered a retreat - the first of many.

### Capture of the Aurelle Estate

Nearing Aurelle, the battalions were met by Ch'vallio, Ch'yina and their guard who were driven from Aurelle by Houses Terrowin and Gardener's forces. An attack on Aurelle had taken place and, unable to defend themselves, the estate was captured. After retreating further, back to Lovesung, word arrived from Ryandon II Hollyard, Cardinal of the Truvenscian Army and eldest son of the Duke. He declared that his armies had no further plans to push into C'thardjia if Mazi agreed to remain in her own kingdom.

### Attempts to retake Aurelle

Mazi, empathetic to Vallio's loss of his family home, reasoned that Aurelle must be retaken before they can enter Truvenscia. Ch'matrin disagreed and sought to retaliate by taking Chardon, a town across the border whose position held a tactical advantage. Ophellaer, Matriarch of Helmont, agreed that capturing posts in Truvenscia was vital to move through the kingdom but under the current circumstances would not be possible. With that, the C'thardji made several efforts to retake Aurelle but none successful, One attempt at sneaking across the border to take the post from a different angle led to many casualties when faced with no means of retreat. After this loss, Mazi decided that they must hold off and take time to plan a new angle and concluded that, for now, Aurelle was lost.

### Matrin's Plan

With so many engagements in the battle resulting in retreat, many in Mazi's council brought up the possibility that battle plans were leaking to the Dynasty. This idea was something first suspected following the Skirmish at the Zeri Strait. Unbeknownst to the C'thardji, Regia Rh'jandel had used fellow Regia Wy'varri to discover and spread the plans that resulted in the Skirmish. For the attempts to move into Truvenscia, Jandel managed to employ Sir Varco of Mazi's own guard to relay information to the Loyalists.

Concerned, Mazi called for a meeting only between her, Matrin, Edro and Ophellaer - the only people she believed with certainty she could trust. However, personally, Matrin had become suspicious of the Helmontan Matriarch. In spite of the positive character Matrin perceived in Ophellaer, he worried that as a non native to C'thardjia she may have something to gain in betraying them. Although, with no evidence, he was forced to abandon his theories and put trust in his mother's judgement. In her meeting, Mazi declared that putting an end to the leaks was their new priority above retaking Aurelle or advancing into Truvenscia. In discussing the leaks, Matrin had an idea and began to devise his own plan to retake Aurelle. Trusting the leaker would not last as suspicions grew, he planned to tell them a false plan of attack in the hopes they would relay it to the Loyalists. If successful, Matrin would expose the leaker and would at last gain a victory in the war for C'thardjia.

A few days on, Ophellaer asked to meet with Mazi and Matrin privately. She revealed that she was fairly confident that out of all of Mazi's close advisors and guards, Sir Varco would be the leaker. Ophellaer was an excellent judge of character that had already built slight relationships with many C'thardji and so was quick to identify the culprit. Despite all this, she advised caution as Varco was the strongest answer but not necessarily the right one and suggested they only seek to test him at this stage. Disregarding this, Matrin ran with Ophellaer's observations and put his plot into action.

### Retaking of the Aurelle Estate

Aware of Varco's great arrogance, Matrin pleaded with him to assist him and his company in his planned Capture of Elstone. He then explained the plan was devised to prove his worth as a commander to Mazi. Varco fell for Matrin's game, envisioning himself snatching the praise as the true hero of the battle, and agreed to join Matrin. The following day, Matrin and his company (that included him, Varco, G'orlon, Dae-Ki and Ch'dorven) rode for Elstone. Upon arriving outside the town, Matrin sent Dorven, his squire and cousin, to tell Mazi of his entire plot and to attack Aurelle once its forces leave.

As Dorven arrived at camp, he relayed all Matrin told him to Mazi. What he spoke of was that Matrin and his company were riding towards Elstone and that the Truvenscians believed that Mazi and Ophellaer's battalions were moving in on either side to surround them. By then, Varco would have leaked the plan to the Loyalists and, just as they had each battle prior, would have prepared their armies to engage the C'thardji. Knowing the Truvenscians weren't fools, Matrin believed they would only pull out of Aurelle upon seeing the threat first hand. If all went to plan, Mazi could use the opportunity to recapture Aurelle and Matrin would retreat once he believed he had the Truvenscians fooled.

Mazi was furious with her son but knew she had to take this chance to reclaim the estate. Just as Matrin had hoped, the forces at Aurelle moved to intercept what they thought would be the entire C'thardj army. With ease, the C'thardji took back the Aurelle Estate and fortified the area before the loyalists could return. Outside Elstone, Matrin turned around and ordered a retreat. The Truvenscians held their ground in Elstone save for a small squad that began chasing after Matrin and his friends. Leading this charge was Petari Hollyard, who had realised they had been tricked and was eager for swift vengeance. As Hollyard caught up with Matrin a skirmish broke out. The C'thardji outmatched the Truvenscians but during the chaos Matrin was thrown from his horse in sight of Petari who eyed a chance at justice. But before he could reach Matrin, Varco charged into Petari, dealing a deadly blow. Matrin was shocked that Varco chose to save him and kept quiet about the leaks until they reached Aurelle.

At the estate, Matrin met privately with his mother and Ophellaer to explain his actions and to pleaded for forgiveness. Before Mazi could respond, Ophellaer interjected and commended Matrin for his tactics. She also reasoned that Mazi would never have allowed Matrin to make the sacrifice and that hiding the truth was understandable. With this, Mazi was content and turned her attention to Varco. Matrin's plan had worked and revealed that the once loyal guard was the responsible for leaking plans to the Loyalists. Varco, caught just as he was attempting to flee, was questioned on his motives. He admitted that he disagreed with Mazi's decision to join the Fellowship and was attempting to prevent C'thardjia from becoming involved in the Uprootings. Ophellaer recognised that Varco would not take such a risk without assurances he'd be protected and deduced that he was likely working under someone else. This was deeply unsettling for Mazi as she was forced to recognise that not all who pledged themselves to her agreed to her entry into the war. Varco was taken to Ch'caselle to be imprisoned, with the hope he would eventually reveal who he was working for.

### Conflict across the Strip

In the days following the recapture, word spread that Truvenscia was capturing settlements in the east of the strip, led by Ryandon II in retaliation for Petari's death. Holding no strategic purpose, Mazi feared that the villages were being pillaged and that innocents were losing their lives. The C'thardji set off to move across the strip, leaving Ophellaer's batallion to defend Aurelle.

Mazi's battalion reached the first Truvenscian occupied C'thardji settlement and were able to swiftly defeat them. The army then pressed on, liberating many settlements until they reached Favyn Hill. Here, the Truvenscian forces abandoned their minor conquests to engage in a proper battle. Some time into the battle, it was discovered that the commander, Kenward Hollyard had perished early on. With their commander lost, the Truvenscians began retreating north and the C'thardji were able to continue east.

As they neared the end of the strip, passing through unoccupied villages, the C'thardji arrived at Ankh, a town not far from the ruins of Saveen and Oncian. Here, Ryandon II stationed his men, awaiting House Terrowin's forces to invade deeper into C'thardjia. Though, his plans were not to be, as the C'thardj entered the town and sent his armies into retreat. Ryandon, devastated at the loss of another brother, refused to flee without some retribution. As he remained in the town with some members of his company, they soon found themselves engaging the C'thardji. A skirmish ensued and Ryandon was killed, following a duel with Ch'mazi herself.

After retaking the town, House Terrowin's army arrived where they were expecting to come across a town occupied by House Hollyard. Instead they were met with the might of the C'thardji army and many lives were lost, especially within House Terrowin.

### New Duke of Truvenscia

Having neutralised the threat across the strip, the C'thardji were prepared to move into Truvenscia. Understanding many of the south Truvenscia settlements to be unoccupied, the C'thardji marched with ease towards Mannis not far from the seat of House Claret. During the C'thardji's advance, Duke Ryandon, whose health had long been declining, passed away. The loss of three of his sons had taken away any spirit left in the Duke. With this, his youngest and only remaining son, Tommas, succeeded him. Tommas had never expected to rule and had no desire for it. Nor did he have any interest in prolonging his peoples suffering in the name of a King he held little respect for. And so, the new Duke of Truvenscia demanded the surrender of his entire army. By the time word had reached his soldiers, they had already engaged the C'thardji along Taproot Walk. The C'thardji were shocked when the army retreated so early into the battle and marched on to Mannis. Here they were met by the new Duke Hollyard who invited Mazi and her party in to negotiate their surrender.

Tommas expressed that he would call all his soldiers to return to their sworn houses and that Truvenscia would become an official neutral kingdom and would allow passage to any that desired it, Loyalist or Fellowship. The Battle on the C'thardji Strip came to an end and a massive shift in the war had begun. The C'thardji marched through the corridor to the Capital to soon ignite the Battle for the Capital.