The Blacksmoke Conquests

# The Blacksmoke Conquests and the War of the False Kings

The Five Kingdoms of the continent of Norton were still independent at this time: The Kingdom of Florenia of House Flowers, the Kingdom of Aureunia of House Casterlan, The Kingdom of Nevia of House Snow, The Kingdom of Coroal of House Blacksmoke, and the Kingdom of Railuna of House Halfmoon.

With the Kingdom of Coroal expanding economically and militarily with the newly discovered riches and the abundant amount of animals and fertility in the soil, the city of Porto da Coroa begins to grow rapidly, with merchants being increasingly attracted to the city, with the advantage of being closer to the Polis Cities than the other cities of the realms, the mainland powers, Houses Flowers and Casterlan, grew their eyes to the new riches of the Blacksmoke.

With that, the current King of Flowers, William XI Flowers and the Golden King, Ailin III Casterlan had a meeting in the capital of the Kingdom of Flowers, the huge castle of the Hanging Gardens, signing a treaty uniting the kingdoms dominating all the riches of the south. Before formally declaring war on the young and apparently inexperienced King Percy Blacksmoke, who had recently inherited the Coroal Throne, the two kingdoms began preparations for the invasion, transporting Casterlan troops to the Greenlands and Flowers troops to the Goldenlands. When your troops are ready, the declaration of war letters arrive in Porto da Coroa. With this, Percy manages to quickly raise an army of six thousand soldiers, still without the support of the armies of his vassals.

## The War of the False Kings

### Western Front

The first act of war takes place in the far south a few miles beyond Glassword, when troops from House Flowers cross the demarcated borders of House Blacksmoke. With no one to stop them, the troop follows the terrible and poorly made road to Little Crown City. The well-guarded city of Little Crown holds the siege very well, and the troops are held till the relieve force, led by Ireon Shellstar, lifts the siege. The war doesn't start well for the Flowers.

Aware that the realms' armies were much larger than the Blacksmokes, Percy spreads his troops across the realm's roads where they could quickly join, forcing the Flowers army to split as well to cover a larger area. Leaving small forces behind as cover, Percy reassembled his troops and attacked the enemy troops in small numbers, eating the Florenia enemies little by little and pushing the troops into the great, dangerous and unknown forest, where Percy's guerrilla tactics went into action, with the troops scattered and lost in the forest, soldiers who had vast knowledge of the area, would hide and attack during the night, while they were unprepared, and with that, the soldiers of the two kingdoms began to blame each other for the failures. of the battle, creating conflicts in the troops. Meanwhile, a part of the troops from the west surround Fort Montalto, but the siege is unsuccessful, with the troops being massacred after an attempt to invade the castle at the Battle of Montalto. In a desperate attempt, William gathers a new army and his fleet to try to descend the Florian River and then the Crown River to attack and take Crown's Port, led by himself, but this attack, firmly rebuked by Ailin, due to the immense power of the Blacksmokes, but was ignored. The Blacksmokes fleet intercepted William's ships mid-river, where the Battle of the Crown took place, with the Blacksmoke fleet emerging victorious and with the capture of King William, who was taken to Crown's Port, with the Florenia exiting the war.

### Eastern Front

King Ailin was aware that trying to cross the forest was out of the question, so he tried to take the hard way and go through the roads and surround the great marshal fortresses that guard the eastern borders of the Coroal kingdom, The Blackshield, and the Yellowshield. Percy sends a portion of his forces to guard the city of Maresia and reinforcements to the Shields after King William is defeated. The sieges are calm, at first, until the Battle of Blackshield, where the Blackshield is taken by forces commanded by Ailin himself, after the despair of loss overtakes Ailin with the capture of William, making Marquis Mayoon Blackshield and his family flee to Crown's Port, asking for the king's help. This was Percy's biggest loss of the war, as the way to Crown Port was now open.

As the Casterlan troops await reinforcements to march on Crown's Port, Percy sends letters to Maresia and Yellowshield, telling the army of House Nynphos of Maresia to attack the army surrounding Yellowshield and the Lechtons to be prepared to march. After days, the Battle of Yellowshield takes place, and this is where the armies are split in two: The Nynphos, with the support of the Blacksmoke fleet, would attack Goldtooth. And the Lechtons, would pursue Ailin's army and retake the Blackshield, this plan works, but the Lechtons only manage to push Ailin closer to Crown's Port, where he is trapped between the Blacksmoke and Lane armies, he keeps resistance for a while, but surrenders, ending the War of the False Kings. King Ailin is captured and taken to Percy, along with William, to what would now be the Hall of the Silver Throne. Percy demanded that William and Ailin that in order for them to keep their territories, vassals and their heads, they must bend their knees and recognize Percy as the only king among them. And so it was, despite protests, William and Ailin knelt in front of Percy, the first King of Norton.

## The Invasion of Railuna and the Integration of Nevia

Former Kings Ailin Casterlan (Now Grand Duke of Aureunia) and William Flowers (Grand Duke of the Florenia) knelt, but that was not the end. The entire continent would kneel. Percy begins preparations to invade the Railuna. The Blacksmoke fleet ascends the Coroal River and crosses the Florian into Moon Bay, helping Casterlan troops more quickly cross the bay. With the Halfmoon vassals unprepared, Florian's Gate Castle and Munnia City are quickly occupied by overwhelming Blacksmoke forces, where the city is pillaged, its slaves freed, thus taking most of the southern coast of the Lunar Mountain realm. Percy orders Flowers and Border Castle forces to surround the three massive fortresses that guard the entrance to Moonlight Valley, which was extremely difficult to get through. King Titan VI Halfmoon begins to gather his army, in Luna and Mountmoon, as Meioway, Intrana and Gelalto were protected by the mountains and the Three Sisters. The Halfmoon army is divided into two: the guard of the Three Sisters and the protection of Mountmoon and the city of Luna. Knowing that he would not be able to enter the sealed kingdom, Percy begins to dominate the peaceful kingdom of Nevia, but through negotiation, not to relax his dominance over the lands taken in the Railuna.

Negotiations between House Snow and Blacksmoke take place in one of Snowdale's strongholds. King Aquilon II Snow refuses to enter the kingdom if he is not part of the new royal family, offering the hand of his daughter, Helena Snow, to the single King Percy, who accepts, so the Nevia enters the Kingdom of Norton peacefully, clearing their way into House Halfmoon's realm, passing with a part of the Snow army and a Blacksmoke troop, they storm the castle at the Battle of Gelalto, with a massacre taking place there, opening a breach in the Halfmoon's defense, down the valley and the river, heading towards the city of Intrana, where the city is also besieged. So the army is divided: the Blacksmoke would besiege Intrana and the Snow army would besiege the castle of Meioway. The first to complete their task would help the other, then join the armies to attack the Three Sisters.

The Snow's fresher army ends the siege of Meioway and aids in the Battle of Intrana. The king's army marches towards the Three Sisters. As they come under attack from both sides, the strongholds succumb, in the biggest massacre ever seen in Norton's history. The army of the realms pass through the Halfmoon lands, pillaging, killing and committing other crimes, even against Percy's orders, until they reach Mountmoon. The city of Luna surrenders at the sight of the massive army. The Halfmoon, stubborn and proud, kept their slave garrisons in place on Mountmoon's high walls. With Percy's speech and promise of release for the slaves, a riot breaks out in the castle, with everyone captured and taken to Percy. King Titan, enraged at the defeat, is forced to kneel to King Percy, who abolishes slavery in the kingdom and takes all the freed slaves to Crown's Port. Leaving the defeated King Titan as the Grand Duke of the Railuna.