Chapter I-III Plagued Conquest
As the warriors and soldiers of the realm were raised, they were sent to group in the city of Kvatch. There, they would meet with King Tahm's main army and march into Anvil. Tahm was a direct leader, and preferred for his army to make up the bulk center. He would, save for in rare occasion, march in front of the main army with his personal guard of battlemages. On the 11th of Hearthfire(9), 455, the Kvatchi army had reached Fort Wariel and began the siege. Anvil had managed to raise a small army, however the zealous King Arctur considered defeating the Bosmer a task of much greater importance, and so Kvatch was left unopposed. Disease plagued the army's camps, however on the 11th of First Seed(3), 456, Fort Wariel finally gave in. The Army of Kvatch then began to March southwest, passing Garlas county and going for Anvil itself. The city fell on the 5th of First Seed(8) of the same year. However, after sustaining another crushing defeat against the Bosmer, King Arctur reluctantly decided to move his army north to prevent Kvatch's forces. The army however was severely outnumbered, and they were instead sent north to liberate Fort Wariel. Kvatch's scouts and spies gained word of this, and marched to Garlas county to battle the Anvillians.
An example of the shield issued to most of Anvil's soldiers and guards.
They managed to reach Garlas before the Anvillians reached Fort Wariel, and on the 9th of Hearthfire(9), they met. Separated from his guard of battlemages during the fight, King Tahm found himself with his army’s heavy infantry, where he promptly began to study their tactics. The battle would be over by the end of the month, an easy victory for Kvatch. The army was then sent to Jodestone to occupy the county. Bandits and disease became a major problem during the siege, and so an assault was ordered to end it as quickly as possible. By the end of Frostfall(10), Jodestone was King Tahm's. King Arctur, arrogant as he was, still refused to surrender, and so the army was ordered back to county Anvil. By the start of the new year of 2E 457, they had reached their destination, and began to surround the fort of Hrota. Around the same time, the army of Anvil had regrouped and began attempting to regain Jodestone. The Kvatchi occupation garrison in Jodestone defended valiantly, knowing they were but months away from the capture of Hrota. During the siege of Hrota, Tahm's marshal and son Prince Piner approached him. Piner claimed that he had recently been in contact with an engineer and blacksmith who claimed he had invented a weapon capable of shooting projectiles in a fashion much more deadly than bows. Tahm, of course being a mage, is quoted as simply responding "So an enchanted bow?" before sending his son away. Back in the siege, on the 1st of Second Seed(5), 457, Fort Hrota finally surrendered to the Kvatch's forces. Days before this success, the Baron of Brittlerock, Percian Olo, a descendant of the great Bendu Olo, declared war on King Arctur in order to claim the throne for himself. Arctur at this time was at war with three separate nations, and so was more than happy to accept peace from Kvatch the day after Hrota fell. The barony of Hrota was ceded to Kvatch, and Tahm marched back to his palace in triumph.
However, he had little plan to stay there long. During the war, the peace treaty Tahm had signed with the county of Linchal had expired, and Count Larian had established a regency while he left on business of his guild. The Kings of Colovia and Skingrad were themselves still away on business of a guild, and the King of Anvil would not intervene for obvious reasons. Before going to war, Tahm planned to begin training in combat once more. At Castle Kvatch's training hall, he noticed a city guard named Mal who was lacking someone to practice with. Tahm himself had also simply resorted to hitting targets and dummies. Of course, hitting an inanimate object repeatedly was much less effective than training with another person, and so Tahm approached Mal. He agreed, and by the time that training session was over, Tahm had gained a courtier and a friend.
Tahm and Mal bonded during training at Castle Kvatch
On the 8th of Midyear(6), 457, Tahm figured he had spent more than enough time in the training room with Mal. The soldiers of the realm had been given time to rest and supplies to be restocked. The levies were raised, and the regent of Linchal was sent a declaration of war penned by Tahm. Count Larian returned almost immediately to Tahm's dismay, and, in memory of the last war he fought, sent his army to Trumbe. The Linchalese, it seemed, had been underestimated by Tahm. When the army of Kvatch was finally fully assembled, it outnumbered the Linchalese army by scant more than 100. Realizing he would need any advantage he could get, Tahm appointed one his skilled courtiers, a woman by the name of Flacassia, to commander. Following this, Tahm used his skills as a mage to enchant the weapons of his men. Tahm was, however, planning on a major use of his magicks once the war was over, and so to conserve powers decided only to use lesser spells and enchants, confident that this, when combined with his skilled generals and slight numerical advantage, would win the battle. Trumbe fell before the battle, allowing the Linchalese to completely focus on defense, however Tahm's prediction was correct. When the dust settled on the 29th of Sun's Dusk(11), the Linchalese were once again fleeing from the fields of Trumbe. Kvatch quickly liberated the fort, then began their march into Linchal. During the siege, the Linchalese forces successfully managed to raid Tahm's camp, killing a great deal of soldiers. When the siege ended a Kvatchi victory in the middle of Sun's Height(7), 458, the main Linchalese army had once again began sieging Trumbe. The Kvatchi army in turn once again marched to Trumbe and began to do battle. This time, the Linchalese forces were absolutely crushed. With Tahm's enchantments still working, Kvatch still led by greater commanders, and an even greater numerical advantage than before, as well as many of the Linchalese forces being demoralized from knowing that Linchal had been forced from the same field three times now, the battle was less of a battle and more of a massacre. The Linchalese were quickly routed.
The Slaughter at Trumbe[1]
However, during the battle, King Tahm began to experience cramps. Figuring this simply to be from him constantly fighting at his age, he simply excluded himself from the battle. However, when he started to suffer from diarrhea, he knew he had an illness. Once the battle was over on the 12th of Last Seed(8), Tahm, cast a spell hoping to discern how bad this truly was. Tahm was satisfied with the results, and instead simply decided to return to the field with his army. However, as Tahm was preparing to March north once more, a courier was sent from the castle in Kvatch. Prince Molvirian, Tahm's firstborn and heir, had been taken by Witch's Pox. Prince Piner would assume Molvirian's place as heir.
Tahm's second son assumed the role of crown prince following Molvirian's death
Tahm was stricken by grief, and decided to keep himself out of the field for the rest of the war to mourn. Perhaps owing to his weakened state after learning about Molvirian, the very next day, Tahm began developing symptoms of a fever. Although of course still wishing to conserve his magicks, Tahm realized the possibility of him dying, and so cast a moderate spell of resist disease. Now confident in his health and given time to grieve, Tahm decided to continue the army's march, and began to siege the city of Talwinque in county Linchal. As the siege began, Tahm realized he was merely suffering from food poisoning. He regretted having had casted the spells on himself, but there was little he could do about it now. Tahm was, however, treated to some good news- Chancellor Cosmain of Bethesda had finally managed to improve relations with the Colovian Estates. It seemed that the Colovian Regent was much more sympathetic to Kvatch than King Ilnori had been, and was sure to put in a good word with the King about Chancellor Cosmain once he returned. This ray of sunshine through the clouds would not last long though, as a mere few weeks afterward Magister Raxle sent a letter to Tahm informing him that the situation in Hackdirt had once again deteriorated. The Brethren of course, having reacted violently to Raxle’s attempt at conversion, we much less inclined to enjoy martial law, and had begun rising from below the surface to attack guards. A group of Brethren had been reported to have attempted to get into Baron Albec's estate before being slain by guards. Tahm gave the city what troops he could spare to ramp up the enforcement of the marshal law, and promised more once the war was won. Back in said war, things were going glowingly when compared to the internal news Tahm had recieved. On the 28th of Evening Star(12), 458, the siege of Talwinque was completed. Count Larian had fled into hiding, and the regent of Linchal, being the marshal of the nation, knew they no longer stood a chance. The marshal promptly
surrendered, much to Larian's ire once he came out of hiding, and Linchal was now, by definition, a government in exile, with the Wolf of Colovia waving over Linchal itself.
The Kingdom of Kvatch following the wars with Anvil and Linchal
[1]- During the battle, the single battlemage present at the battle(the remainder had withdrawn with Tahm) was widely reported as having been slain. When he appeared once more at Tahm's side following the battle, he claimed to have only been knocked out, and used restoration magicks on himself once he awoke. However, with the battlemages being Tahm's personal gaurd and Tahm, as mentioned before, a suspected Daedra worshiper in private, accusations of necromancy or even his guard being disguised Daedra flew about.
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So, some useful progression - but the proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say.
Well, looks like we've gotten the proof now.
What heresy do you speak. By The Nine!
Nice to see things moving. And I must say, I'm getting motivated to play Elder Scrolls again. Ah, it's just a wonderful world. And it's good to see the CK mod of it and the occasional AAR.
Nine you say? I know of a few Altmer that may wish to have a word with you.
Heh, same with me. Once I started I figured I might as well go play through Morrowind again. Well, I was going to play Oblivion but then it crashed every time I entered first person because of mods.
I'm to much of a elder scrolls fan to not read this.
Subbed.
Welcome aboard!
The background sounds pretty interesting. Though "Backstory I" has some giant paragraphs that could use splitting into smaller parts.
I was afraid I had made the backstory too hard to read, glad you confirmed my suspicions. I edited it, but of course now I feel like I made the paragraphs too small.
Oh, and the next update should bring us to a decade after game-start. I was planning on doing updates on the status of the world (er... continent) every decade, but I figured that, well, being that this is my first AAR and that everyone who's commented so far has A LOT more experience than me, I should ask you guys as to your opinions on how frequently I should make the status of the world updates.