The Crowning War

The Crowning War (898 AFA - 901 AFA) was a war fought in Western Baelor between the Aladar Empire and the Southern Rebellion. Lasting for 3 years, the war was the result of the former Emperor of Aladar, Emperor Geraldus Aladar, dying without an heir. The cities north of the Nexus River stayed loyal to the crown of Aladar, following Aladar's niece, Empress Abigail Aladar. The cities south of the Nexus River followed General Darrius Reimer, then head of the city of Kingsforge. The war resulted in the destruction of Aladar's capital city, Candor, and the southern cities successfully seceeding from the Aladar Empire, forming the nation of Delmar to the south. The remaining cities, now under the leadership of Queen Denice Hemdall, formed the new nation of Kell.

Seeds of War: 895 - 898 AFA
Rumblings of succession in the south started as early as 895 AFA, when Emperor Geraldus Aladar ordered a raise in taxes on imported goods from the temperate isles and Ozark. This rule largely affected the city of Cliffport, a rich city who's economy relied heavily on their overseas trade. Many of the town's citizens took to the streets to protest the taxes, yet seeing now way of succeeding without the aid of other southern cities, Baron Greystone (head of the city at the time) instead began increasing the city's overland trade with other southern cities in an attempt to bolster the economy and improve their relations.

However, things didn't begin to come to a head until the rise of Grenk, a powerful orc chief who united several of the orc tribes west of the River Rye in 896 AFA. For two years, the Orc chief waged war against the nearby cities of Stonehaven and Kingsforge, twice breaching the walls of Kingsforge and even breaching the first wall of Stonehaven in 897 AFA, though they were repelled at the second wall. Reinforcements from Candor and other northern cities were slow coming, and instead the populace turned to General Darrius Reimer, a local leader of the Kingsforge militia and a former adventurer who had travelled much of the continent in his youth. Under Reimer's leadership, soldiers from Stonehaven, Kingsforge and Cliffport repelled the orcish attackers, eventually finding Chief Grenk's main encampment on the banks of the Rye. Over three days the forces fought a fierce battle, but in the end Reimer landed the killing blow of Grenk, and the orc coalition was disbanded.

In the aftermath of the war, Reimer assumed the title of Lord of Kingsforge, and began to consider succession from the north, at the behest of Baron Greystone.

Death of King Geraldus and Beginning of the War: 898 AFA
During the summer of 898 AFA, Emperor Geraldus fell ill from a strange disease, and despite the best efforts of Candor's clerics, the King dies shortly thereafter. It is unknown whether his disease was of natural causes, or was the result of a curse from southern rebels. Regardless, the Emperor's death sent the empire into turmoil, as he died with no direct heir: His only child, a son, died at a young age, and he had no brothers.

Next up for the throne was Empress Abigail Aladar, Geraldus's niece. However, General Darrius - seeing the general feeling in the South that they didn't wish to follow anymore rulers in Candor - took this opportunity to instead claim himself king of all the land south of the Nexus River. Despite threats of war from the new Empress, many other southern cities soon declared their loyalty to the new King Darrius, including Stonehaven and Cliffport. The only major city in the south that did not comply was Redrock - Lord Parnassus, head of the city, believed that General Darrius lacked the strength to truly fight a war with the northern cities, and instead chose to stay loyal to the new queen.

Determined to unite the south against the northern cities, King Darrius lead a large offensive force across the River Rye to Redrock. When met with this overwhelming display of force, Lord Parnassus surrendered the city rather than watch it be sacked by the invading force. He was executed and replaced with Lord Marianne Andall, a former citizen of Cliffport and sailor herself who was sympathetic to the rebel's cause.

Having heard word of Redrock's surrender, a large force of soldiers from Candor crossed the Nexus River by way of the Crossing, planning to sack Stonehaven and then take Kingsforge from there. However, the southern rebels had anticipated this: In the days leading up to the attack, soldiers were transferred from Cliffport to Stonehaven, and the soldiers from Candor were easily repelled. This was the true beginning of war, as both sides began to prepare for a prolonged engagement.

War on Multiple Fronts: 899 - 900 AFA
Initially, King Darrius had hoped that their defeat at Stonehaven would give the northern cities a reason to discontinue their efforts to reclaim the south. Instead, Empress Abigail ordered a large force to be assembled in Deeproot, with the intention of taking Cliffport. However, Cliffport had been preparing for war for years, and with their advantageous position between two cliffs and the sea funneling the invaders to only one side of the city, Cliffport was able to withstand siege for months while the southern rebels won battles on other fronts.

For the first several years of the war, most of the fighting took place south of the Nexus River, as Empress Abigail sent force after force across the Nexus, to continually be repelled by the southern forces. In mid-900 AFA, King Darrius finally took the offensive, leading a large force of soldiers from Redrock, Stonehaven and Kingsforge across the river to sack the city of Shoal. They then proceeded to sack the city of Mandred, the last large settlement between their forces and Candor.

The Sacking of Candor and the End of the War: 901 AFA
Arriving at the walls of Candor in early-901 AFA, King Darrius offered the Empress the chance to surrender the land south of the Nexus River in exchange for sparing Candor. The Empress refused, believing reinforcements from Streamhold to be arriving the next day. The force would likely be enough to repel the weakened rebels, who's forces had been thinned from fighting in Shoal and Manfred.

Unbeknownst to her, Lord Denice Hemdall of Streamhold believed a war with the south to be unwinnable, as the riches of Cliffport and the military might of Stonehaven and Kingsforge would be difficult to overcome. Therefore, she struck a deal with the leaders of two other northern cities - Sleetwood and Shipwell - to withhold aid to Candor until after the city fell. Then they could swoop in, force the rebels south of the Nexus once more, and start a new nation in the north with their capital at Streamhold.

Without aid from Streamhold, Candor was sacked over the next three days. Though they fought bravely, King Darrius's forces raized the city, burning it mostly to the ground and killing the Empress in the resulting melee. The rebels celebrated their victory, and King Darrius briefly contemplated taking the rest of the north to once more unite the west under his rule.

However, those thoughts were crushed days later when a combined force of Streamhold, Sleetwood and Shipwell forces crossed the amber plains north of Candor and arrived at the ruined city. Seeing the odds were not in his favor, King Darrius retreated south again, effectively ending the war, as the northern forces did not pursue beyond the river.

Fallout of the War
Meeting in Stonehaven, the new Queen Hemdall of the north and King Darrius of the south reached an agreement for peace, as neither side wished to continue the fighting. The land south of the Ivory and Nexus rivers was ceded to King Darrius, who called his new nation Delmar, with its capital at Kingsforge. Queen Hemdall renamed the Aladar Empire as the nation of Kell, placing its capital in Streamhold, which was renamed to Thronehold. With the fighting ceased, both sides could focus on rebuilding, and figuring out the future of their two new nations.