Noreillen Incident (1229 AW)

Combatants| * Kingdom of Wyrsia

Commanders| * Kirian Sharpe  †
* Henry Webbman

Forces| * Neuesfeld Expeditionary Force (NEF)
* Various Minor Militias

Casualties| * 50~ dead or wounded
* 300~ executed

The **Noreillen Incident** was a battle between the allied Kingdoms of Wyrsia and Fühlgart during the Second Fühlgartian Civil War. The Neuesfeld Expeditionary Force (NEF) had been sent over by Queen Cecilia of Wyrsia to assist in King Erik of Fühlgart's invasion of the Fühlgartian mainland. However, they were ruthless and undisciplined, looting and plundering unchecked instead of liberating. Ultimately, this drew the ire of Prince Kepler von Kalzberg, who broke orders and came to the defence of the local villagers, leading to a ruthless battle.

The NEF was sent north of Neuesfeld shortly after the Monarchists captured the city and tasked with establishing order in the minor villages of the area alongside Prince Kepler von Kalzberg and his Retinue. However, the NEF's General, Kirian Sharpe, was prone to looting or extorting the Fühlgartian citizens upon capturing their villages. In response, Kepler von Kalzberg sent a letter back to King Erik demanding the NEF to be recalled for their unprofessionalism, which the Fühlgartian monarch refused, stating he had no authority over them.

As the joint task force approached the village of Noreillen near the border with Western Innyria, Kepler von Kalzberg rushed ahead of the NEF and occupied the village, turning his force around and barring Sharpe from entering the town. Sharpe, not keen on being ordered around by a minor princeling of a different nation, advanced anyway, giving the order to attack the Fühlgartians if they got in the way.

After five soldiers of Kepler's retinue were killed, he retreated and abandoned Noreillen, taking up a position on the southern bank of the River Suttock further north. Sharpe occupied the town and made an example of Noreillen, gathering all men in the village and executing them.

The news of the killings spread like wildfire. The next day, numerous peasant militias joined Prince Kepler's forces in small bands and militias, seeking to enact revenge on the NEF. Finally, on the third and final day of the Noreillen Incident, Kepler rallied his force now bolstered by roughly 200 militias and marched on Noreillen.

Despite Prince Kepler's greater numbers, Kirian Sharpe intercepted him north of the village, trying to conceal his forces in the woods north of Noreillen. However, Prince Kepler's peasant militias knew the local area well and were able to surround Sharpe in the woods, leading to the majority of the NEF being encircled. Sharpe formed a circle and ordered his men to hold the line, yet after being flanked from all sides and Sharpe dying early into the fighting from an arrow through the head, the encircled NEF surrendered.

Prince Kepler and his militias weren't in a forgiving mood, however. The NEF prisoners were disarmed and subsequently sentenced to death, being hanged across the forest. The NEF rearguard and a handful of escaped survivors abandoned Noreillen under Captain Henry Webbman, who retreated all the way back to Neuesfeld. Shortly after, the NEF was disbanded, and Webbman and his troops were reintegrated into the Army for the Liberation of Wyrsia and sent back to fight in the Wyrsian Civil War.

The Noreillen Incident sparked a major diplomatic falling out between the two allied kingdoms. Dreams of closer cooperation and perhaps even uniting into a single country fell overnight as the monarchs of both countries, despite being vast friends, realised that their people still held many suspicions toward one another. To prevent further escalations, Wyrsia ceased all military aid to the Kingdom of Fühlgart in their ongoing civil war, focusing entirely on their homefront,

Meanwhile, in Fühlgart, King Erik blamed Prince Kepler for needlessly provoking the NEF and called his mass execution of the NEF's captured soldiers tyrannical. Subsequently, he was branded a war criminal and an enemy of the kingdom. With his own king and nephew using him as a scapegoat and his already poor opinion of the Wyrsians and Monarchists as a whole, Prince Kepler defected, personally taking control over the area north of Neuesfeld and founding the Anti-Wyrsian Inquisition.