Crusade

**Crusades** are religious wars led by the Maudesian Ministry.

The first Crusade was that of Sibylla's, against the Adamantium, and thus predates the Ministry proper. The second Crusade was against the elves of the Sylvandale, who had been Sibylla's allies during her fight against the Adamantium, but whose relations with Maudet and the Ministry had deteriorated to the point of war by the time of the early Second Age. During the Fourth and Fifth Ages, four Crusades were called against the Adamantine Ministry, considered heretical in Maudet. Most recent were the three Crusades against the Orcimar invaders during the Sixth and Seventh Ages, which were called by both the Maudesian and Adamantine Ministries.

According to the Ministry, the faithful who give their lives to the **Crusades** earn a special place at the side of the Watcher as the "Exalted".

### Sibylla's Crusade

*See also: Sibylla*

In around **-180D** (1015 AE), a massive horde of barbarians crossed the Narrow Sea from the north led by the warlord Thetsoll, and Sbiylla, the Betrothed of the Watcher. Some records claim the barbarians were driven south by the fiendish hordes, while others say that Sibylla was bringing freedom to the people of the Adamantium who had been long oppressed by the depravities of the magisters. The Adamantium was forced to abandon the island of Westenia to focus on their mainland troubles. Thetsoll's armies steadily gained ground, in part thanks to a slave uprising led by the elf Febrion, and they prevailed at the Battle of Valarius Fields in **-171D**. Before they could lay siege to the City of Adamantium, however, Sibylla was betrayed by her husband Thetsoll in **-170D**. She was taken to the City of Adamantium, and burned alive, while Thetsoll was granted most of the northern lands in Morgaea. He took Nordain for himself, while dividing what would become Maudet, Anderlay and the Freemarks between his sons. For their service in battle against the Adamantium, Thetsoll gave the elves a new homeland in the Sylvandale. The Long Walk began as a massive influx of elves settled the region.

### Second Crusade

The exact cause of the conflict that resulted in the destruction of the Sylvandale is disputed. The Sylvan claim it was primarily racial and religious persecution over their refusal to let in Ministry missionaries and templars. Ministry sources blame the Sylvandale's increasing isolationism, and their refusal to lend aid during the Second Scourge. There were also rumors that the elves kidnapped humans to sacrifice to their gods. Border skirmishes had broken out by the early Second Age, and tensions reached a head with an elven attack on the village of Rhett's Crossing in **2A09**.

In **2A10**, after the elves had made serious gains, including capturing Montelleu and marching on the Maudesian capital of Ducailles, Matron Rayne I called for a holy war. Officially, only a single nation, the besieged Maudesian Empire, fielded troops in answer to the Matron's call, though some templars from other countries joined as well. Despite considerable victories, including the sack of Ducailles in **2A14**, the elves were pushed back and eventually defeated; their capital of Aerasala was conquered in **2A20**. Despite this loss, a group of elves refused to admit defeat, and made their final stand on the Emerald Plains. The human forces, led by Sister Amity, Lord Demetrius Parquin and Ser Michel of Lac Celestis met them on the field. The elves, who were vastly outnumbered, refused to lay down their arms when given the chance. And while Lord Demetrius was slain during their charge, it was the death of the great elven warrior Nephinae that marked the end of the Crusade.

The elven kingdom was dismantled at the end of the war. Mentions of Febrion, and elven contribution to Sibylla’s cause, were labeled heretical by the Ministry, and Ministry artwork and teachings denoting them were destroyed. The elves were then forced to either assimilate into Maudesian cities, living as second-class citizens in slums called enclaves, and converting to the worship of the Watcher, or adopt a nomadic lifestyle that separated them from humanity to keep their own pantheon.

### Third Crusade

After King Fyroden had failed to take over the Freemarks, his Adamantine allies turned on him, usurping him in **2A45**, and ousting him from Alepool. This led the Ministry to declare a crusade to reconquer Alepool from the Adamantium in **2A80**. The following battle for the independence of Alepool was short, but bloody.

### Red Crusades

*See also: Adamantine Ministry*

In **3A87**, disagreements between priests in the Adamantine and orthodox Ministry doctrine, primarily about the role and control of magic, resulted in a schism and the appointment of Grand Cleric Severian as the first Patron of the Adamantine Ministry, in opposition to the Matron in Ducailles. The north began to refer to the Adamantine Ministry as the "Red Ministry", in reference to blood, and the perceived corruption in the Adamantium. Relations between the two factions deteriorated quickly; the Maudesian Ministry called for retaliation against the Red Ministry after they declared a holiday to celebrate the death of Matron Amara II in **3A99**.

The Maudesian Ministry called four Crusades between **4A40** and **5A10** against the Adamantine heretics. Each Crusade fell just short of its goal of conquering the City of Adamantium, however, and the Crusades did little but cement the separation between the two Ministries. The Adamantine Ministry started to form its own dogma and policies, and the groundswell of mages fleeing from northern lands into Adamantium bolstered the empire's waning power. It is likely that more Crusades would have continued had the outbreak of the Fourth Scourge not intervened. The Adamantium retaliated for the Crusades by refusing to send aid to the northern nations against the fiendish hordes.

### Orcimar Crusades

*See also: Orcimar*

In **6A30**, the Orcimar conquered Sudern, and began to use it as a base to strike at Verullus and Ghallen. By **6A42**, they had conquered much of the Adamantium, Ghallen, and Lysadore, and began to assault the Freemarks. It took many years for human resistance to become organized, and it wasn't unitl **7A23** before the Orcimar were pushed back to Verullus and Ghallen. After the Battle of Oremeni Bay, the largest naval engagement in recorded history, resulted in a stalemate, an impasse began.

Three Crusades were called between **7A25** and **7A84** by both the Maudesian and Adamantine Ministries, the former to reclaim Ghallen, the latter to retake Verullus and Ventara. The first, called in **7A25**, proved successful. The second, declared in **7A52**, was a disaster, with the Orcimar capturing much of Lysadore. In **7A55**, a third and final Crusade was called. By **7A84**, the Orcimar had been pushed back to only the city of Kurzog in southern Ghallen and Sudern. By that stage, rebuilding all the destruction that had been caused was considered more important than trying to dislodge the Orcimar from Kurzog once again. A meeting between envoys of all human nations, except the Adamantium, and the Orcimar in Loweyn resulted in the signing of the Loweyn Accords in **7A84**, and a declaration of peace. While there was no peace between the Adamantium and the Orcimar, skirmishes were few, as the Orcimar pulled back to Sudern to rebuild.

## Contemplated Crusades

Crusades that were contemplated but never carried out.

### Against the Grand Temple

In the early First Age, the Ministry relied on mages to kindle the flames of the holy braziers present in every Ministry. Dissatisfied by their role as lamp-lighters, the mages of Ducailles snuffed the sacred flames in protest, and barricaded themselves inside the choir loft of the Grand Temple. Matron Ambrosia I was outraged by their behavior, and attempted to order a Crusade on her own temple, but was discouraged from this idea by her templars. The flames remained unlit for twenty-one days while negotiations were carried out. The mages eventually left for the Institute of Magic, following the signing of the Anderan Accord in **1A20**.