The First Lauch Conquest of The Hales

**The First Lauch Conquest Of The Hales** (Also known as The First Conquest and The First Lauch-Hale War, formerly known as The Conquest) was a war for the control of the Southern Hales, between the Kingdom of Lauchete and The Hale Empire.

## Origins of the conflict

Although the Halesmen traded off their southern caves and allowed the lauch the settle and mine them, in exchange of medical aid during an epidemic that broke out a few decades before the events, many of them were angry at the growing Lauch population on The Hales.

A meeting was hold with both the grandchief of The Hale Empire and the king of Lauchette to ease the tensions. Morker argued that the construction of a town was never part of the agreement, referring to Pierre Harbor. Jaquin reasoned that the miners need a place to live, and a dock to transfer the minerals back. After a long discussion, the king agreed to return half of the minerals to the empire, as well as promising not to expand any more to propitiate the grandchief.

Nevertheless, the numbers of the settlers grew, as well as the rivalry due to the clashing cultures and religions. Raids on Pierre Harbor rose, as the tribesmen felt like it was their duty to decrease the Lauch population. Seeing as the Grandchief refused to put an end to the raids, Lauchette declared war on the empire.

## The Battles

Even before the first wave of Lauch invaders, King Jaquin offered Brandor Wirh, the chief of Ostar independence from the empire if the Ostari would remain neutral during the war, so they could use the islands as a landing port, as well as set up military camps in it. The chief accepted the offer.

The Hale navy was inferior compared to the Lauch's fleets, so the grandchief planned to wait for and let the Lauch land on the shore, then defeat them on-land, and invade Lauchette after their army is defeated.

King Jaquin wanted to achieve a steady victory. Lauchette's plan was to continiously transport troops to Ostar and and invade in waves.

The first few Lauch invasions, lead by Colett Leclair, alongside with Lodwich Maiger, who commanded the Egrilian forces was a huge success for the kingdom, conquering a lot of southern territory, and pushing back the John Mak lead deffenders further back north. The Lauch soldiers managed to conquer over half of The Hales, but their victories would eventually slowed down and come to a halt.

As further the Lauch got into the northern territories, the weather got colder, something that the southerners weren't used to. Diseases started to rise, and the deffenders started to recapture their lands. Things only got worse for the Lauch, once John Mak was replaced by Vott Bardy as the commander on the front lines, who would take a more offensive approach.

The Hale forces started to advance south, and Morker used this opportunity to send a call-to-arms to Chief Brandor. The Ostari were becoming hostile towards the Lauch, who started to abuse them. The islanders blamed their leader's decision to accept the Lauch offer. Brandor accepted the call, to regain his people's support. The Ostari skirmishes were unexpected, and even though they were outnumbered, they managed to destruct the Lauch camps and recapture some of it's southern territory. Locking the remaining Lauch troops between two fronts.

The united soldiers eventually managed to capture both commanders, forcing the remaining Lauch men to stand down. The Halesmen celebrated an early victory, before learning that an even larger wave was on it's way to invade, lead by Louise Allair. Shortly after they landed and started conquering rapidly, the grandchief decided to sue for peace, and the war was over.

## Aftermath

Nearly one third of the south Hales was ceded to Lauchette, while Ostar was completely annexed, making it an empire. The rest of The Hale Empire would be vassalized reformed into The Kingdom of Hallengard, a new kingdom with no court, where the king would still hold absolute power over the nation.

Many Hallengardians were outraged by the treaty, which would escalate into numerous raids on the Lauch controleld areas, and eventually The Hallengardian Reconquest.