Endless War

## The Endless War

Combatants|  Keldar

 Aldian defectors  Stavian defectors  Tyrian defectors |  Aldia  Fallhammer Istenback  Hanseatic Free Provinces   Tyrland   Stavenberg

*Not to be confused with the Eternal War.*

***"This war will decide who rules the continent: Whoever triumphs in this conflict will control the will of Erideon for a thousand years."***

**— Lord Lautrec, after being given the command of the Aldian forces.**

The **Endless War**, as it is largely known in the Common tongue, and known by many other names including the **Great War**, the **Black War**, and the **Keldari Invasion**, and by the soldiers and population of Keldar (somewhat ominously) as the **First Crusade**, is a large conflict that is currently taking place in central and northern Erideon.

The conflict has resulted in an unprecedented amount of destruction and loss of life within a classical understanding of History.

The Endless War is, in the year 120 3A, the defining geopolitical event in the continent of Erideon. The victor of this war will be able to define the future of the continent and its peoples.

## Prelude

Early in the Third Age, the creation of the two most powerful states of Erideon was cemented. In the west, the New Monarchy coalesced the disparate peoples of the western ranges of the continent into a single nation; meanwhile, in the east, the Kelic and Duranian duchies were swallowed in a wave of religious fervor that created the nation-state of Keldar in its modern form.

The New Monarchy of Aldia had recently been formed by the Glorious Revolution in the year 1 3A. In the revolution, led by Laurence Istiniac, the old Aldian monarchy was deposed and replaced with the House of Istiniac, and reformed into a constitutional monarchy centred around the person of the monarch and a Parliament composed of the Lords of the Kingdom.

Meanwhile, Keldar was formed by the unification of the previously-fractious Keldari and Duranian duchies after a wave of religious fervour, centred around Kel, the Lonely God. This new religion led to a bloodless popular uprising, in which the noblemen of the realm agreed to deposit the spiritual power of the state in the hands of the Pontiff and the temporal power in the hands of the Grand Master.

Prior to these events, the Old Monarchy of Aldia was the only power in the continent, ruling in a benevolent hegemony over the other states of the continent. This, of course, allowed the western Aldian duchies to gradually expand eastward, annexing the duchies of Allsellen, Tourall, and Leveire.

However, the civil unrest in Aldia, coupled with the rise of Keldar, created a situation in which the Kelic Holy Order acquired enough power to contest the dominant position of the Aldians in the continent.

For those reasons, scholars largely describe the Endless War as inevitable in light of the growing rivalry of these two states over the minor countries of Erideon and their resources.

### Antebellum

It is believed that open tensions between the two powers first began with their conflicting interests in the Free Provinces, as both Keldar and Aldia were interested in securing the rich port cities of the North for their own.

Aldia was primarily interested in acquiring the wealthy northern ports in order to eliminate their primary competitors for trade in Erideon: the capitalistic burghers of the Hansa. By securing the Hansa, they hoped to direct trade -- and the customs and margins to be collected from it -- to the cities along the Fjords, and primarily to the wealthy capital of Roulan, whose monopoly over trade had been significantly sapped by the rise of the Northern entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile, the officials and Knight Commanders of Keldar conspired to eradicate what they believed was the debauched culture of the Free Provinces, which suffered from evils so dastardly as irreligion and democracy. The Holy Order believed it was Kel's will that their Paladins save the Northerners from the vile and base culture in which they were mired.

As both sides began to ramp up their interests in the provinces, tensions between the two began to rise dramatically. For more than a decade and a half, a rivalry between both states began to form, resulting in embargoes and sanctions being applied by one side and reciprocated by the other.

### Casus belli

Tensions finally erupted into open conflict following the Manentier Incident. Although the truth of the incident is yet to be uncovered, Aldia alleges that Keldari Paladins covertly infiltrated the village of Manentier and slaughtered the local garrison; meanwhile, Keldar alleges that the entire incident was a pantomime staged by Aldia to give them a *casus belli* to invade Keldar.

Following the incident, Aldia immediately presented the Grand Master and the Grand Chancellor with a formal declaration of war on the 18th of May of the 18th year of the Third Age, under the pretext of protecting the Aldian people in the east from the dangerous eastern neighbor.

## Course of the war

### Opening stage

Following the Manentier Incident, several Aldian columns advanced into Keldari territory, gaining a number of rapid victories that assured Aldian control east of the Kragstett mountains. Nonetheless, Keldar was very well prepared for this offensive, and it resulted in an untenable number of casualties for the Aldian side over a period of eight years.

After internal pressure against the war began to ramp up, and a Keldari counteroffensive began, the Aldian Parliament and public believed that Manentier had by that point been avenged. Thus, a ceasefire was called and peace negotiations began.

### First truce

The first truce was agreed after the Keldari counteroffensive stalled, leaving both combatants mired. With Aldian public opinion turning against the war, and Kelic military failure, both sides convened in Tzand to negotiate a peace, with the chief of Mzundelft acting as mediator.

By the terms of the first peace, all of the territory of the frontier marches and margraviates occupied by the Aldian forces was restored to Keldar, but Keldar paid reparations to Aldia for the destruction of Manentier. Both sides offered war payments and indemnities to the Dwarves of Kragstett, who had been caught in the middle of the conflict, and recognized the chiefdom's neutrality in the matter. The border between Aldia and Keldar would become a demilitarized zone, with no garrisons allowed within 30 leagues of the border.

This first truce, signed 27 3A, lasted until 49 3A.

### Second stage

Hostilities erupted again following a buildup of Keldari forces along the border, in clear violation of the terms of the ceasefire. An Aldian ultimatum was presented and rejected, and the war erupted again.

In the second stage of the conflict, Keldar possessed the initiative from the start. The Aldians, who had secretly broken the terms of the agreement and established covert frontier defenses, were able to defend the border well for five days, but the disorganized and delayed arrival of Aldian reinforcements meant that Keldar largely enjoyed local numerical superiority.

After those five days, the Kelic columns were able to punch through the Aldian defenses and into the less defensible terrain of Leveire, in which the fighting primarily took place. For the following six years, both sides hastily pressed soldiers into the action, but Aldia was able to secure its territories and push the crusaders back into the mountains of Kragstett.

By that point, both sides had suffered tens of thousands of casualties, and the consequent war-weariness encouraged both to call for a ceasefire in 55 3A

### Second truce

The second truce was agreed on 55 3A, and lasted until 88 3A.

### Third stage

The third stage erupted when Aldia attempted to garner influence in Kragstett in a fashion illegal with the second truce

### Third truce

The third truce was signed on 95 3A and lasted until 108 3A.

### Invasion of the Free Provinces

In 108 3A, Keldar formally declared war against the Free Provinces, under the belief that the Aldian Monarchy would be too troubled by the Quiet Rebellion to intervene. However, this intelligence turned out to be false, as the Quiet Rebellion had been nearly crushed at that time, leading the Aldians to intervene in the war on the side of the defenders.

### Invasion of Tourall and Leveire

Main article: Tourall offensive
The **Tourall offensive** was launched in early 119 and resulted in a resounding victory for Keldar, leaving the invaders in control of the duchies of Tourall and Leveire.

Although the offensive was primarily targeted towards a perceived weakness in the Aldian lines in the northern duchy of Tourall, the large-scale capture and destruction of Aldian forces -- and the consequent removal of Aldian forces from Leveire to combat the Tourall offensive -- allowed the Holy Order to open an ancillary attack in the south against the Leveire sector.

By the end of 119 3A, the Holy Order had secured massive gains throughout the eastern regions of the New Monarchy, gaining control over the breadbasket of the Aldian Monarchy and threatening to seize all Aldian possessions east of the Istenback mountains.

Only the last-ditch efforts in the Burning of Vareaux, cutting off the advance of Keldar, allowed the Aldians enough time to regroup and stage sufficient counteroffensives as to temporarily regain the initiative in the war, winning minor gains throughout Tourall and Leveire.

### Invasion of Tyrland

Main article: Keldari invasion of Tyrland
As it had not directly involved in the conflict until very recently, Tyrland has been flooded with refugees desperately hoping to escape the worst of the great conflict.

After the fall of Logarius, Keldar has launched an invasion against Tyrland, which has been enormously successful in pushing the Tyrians back to Leiton.

### Invasion of Stavenberg

Main article: Stavian offensive
As Fredgar Whitehelm was busy in the south, leading his troops in the Recovery of Mzundelft under Lord Mzinchaft, Keldar staged a surprise offensive against several Stavian townships on the border with the duchy of Tourall.

Keldar was able to secure several bridgeheads into the subterranean dwarven tunnels, cutting off the Stavian contact with the surface against Tourall, ensuring that the New Monarchy would be unable to freely use Stavenberg as a staging ground to launch an offensive against the northern Keldari flank.

This offensive indirectly resulted in Whitehelm's Folly, as Fredgar Whitehelm was forced to abandon his command of his troops, and in a last-ditch effort to attempt to seize supremacy over the now-restored Great Chiefdom of Mzundelft, attempted to occupy the Golden Tower of Tzand.

## Effects

### In the Free Provinces

The occupied territories have been ravaged by the intense fighting of the Keldari invasion. Although the initial onslaught of Keldar was successfully arrested, meaning most of the provinces remain outside of the clutches of the enemy,