This past season the last Barony of the Weald held the line against the undead, the plague, and the heathen, sometimes all three at once. The Concord’s northern border is a place of danger and hope in equal measure. But over summer there have been far more victories than defeats. The Marble Gauntlet has met defeat against Bordevarian steel and the north remains firmly within the hands of The Concord.
Such is the nature of war that it can drag up pain from the depths, will the people of the Weald and of the Kingless Kingdom be happy with what they have found?
Brothers in Hated Arms
A year ago, The Concord was emerging from the largest scale threat it had weathered as a unified people. More than forty thousand undead foes bore down on Weiland and threatened to crush Bordevar, finishing a decades long war in one summer season. But The Concord held together, and through the sacrifice of all, no land was lost. Since that time, strikes from the Onyx Aristocracy have slowed to a near stop. The Starscar Border Forts stand resolute against future invasions and there appears to be more than enough to concern the walking dead within their own stolen borders.
But a near stop is not a complete stop. Over the summer of 224 into 225, the Marble Gauntlet struck at Eastern Resinderholz, crossing the Eisen River and bringing their blasphemous war to the people of the Greenweald.
The Marble Gauntlet has long been the vanguard of Onyx invasions into Bordevar and The Concord at large. This cohort of risen knights and their foul retinues carry rotting Bordevarian banners, clutch the ancestral blades of lost bloodlines, and claw inexorably towards the still beating heart of Bordevar. This most recent strike into Resinderholz was a flanking manoeuvre that could cut off Weiland from its allies, all the while gaining much needed bodies and vengeance for the Gauntlet.
But the Legion of the Blackheart Bear was engaged elsewhere, fighting far to the south in Mancante Terra. The steel-children of Eisen could not return to defend their home. But The Concord fights its battles together, not alone. The Crusaders Road was full of fluttering banners, the clatter of full plate, and the joyous singing of common squires. If Thordis Ravette and his walking corpses wished to call themselves knights, then they would see what true Bordevarians who held their valours close were capable of.
Basing his headquarters in the Eisen College of War, Sir Bremer the Broad, Banneret of the 1st Banner of Bordevar made no illusions as to his intent. This was not a campaign of measured movement, but the righteous fury of a resurgent Bordevar coming to the aid of a brother in arms. The knights of the 1st Banner were commanded to yield no quarter, to fight until their armour ran red with their lifeblood, and to slay the heretical dead.
For their part, the Marble Gauntlet did not snarl and rage in response to Bremer’s heroic tactics. Rather the forces of Thordis leveraged a campaign of measured warfare. Ghouls and Risen would rise up from the dark waters of the Eisen and crawl into the eastern reaches of Resinderholz, establishing beachheads for darkwood barges to disgorge their armoured payload. While the retreat was held by the crude undead, the Deathknights of the Gauntlet carved bloody paths into Havens, lost shrines and the outskirts of Eisen before moving to retreat back across the safety of the river.
But the 1st Banner has no time for pleasantries, no time to allow the reasonable retreat of an enemy force. Hammer would meet hammer, anvil would break anvil. Each Onyx assault was met either in the field or on the retreat by steel-clad behemoths barreling through the underbrush as if they were the wrath of Arcadian itself. Glittering in the speckled light through the trees, Bordevarian knights dueled against the rusted hulks of Deathknights, the thunderclap of their blades ringing out through the cursed wood. While heroes on the rise and heroes long dead fought for supremacy, their allies scrambled for their own victories. Squires and aspirants driving blades into the rotting bodies of risen corpses, huntsmen trading arrow barbs with cannibal ghouls, warpriests blessing this righteous justice. The order was no quarter given - and none would be - even when the so many great heroes of Bordevar were lost in the muddy banks of the Eisen.
Twice the line is nearly broken.
The first was in December, when a vast and well armed force of Ghouls struck deep into the Sableheart. Unsupported by Deathknights this raiding party moved quickly, outpacing and surprising Bordevarian defenders. But the Weald is dangerous for the dead as well as the living, and the predation of Boghoffens and other beasties that defend the Sovereign Heart of the Fae Queen brooked no trespassers.
The second demonstrated that while the Marble Gauntlet may be dead, they are certainly not fools. Thordis Ravette himself led a powerful strike directly into Eisen township. Eschewing the ghoulish vanguard, the force managed to make landfall and fighting was quickly afoot in the streets of the town, with Sir Bremer rallying the defence alongside Ritters from the College of War. Forces of the Banner rallied to their commander, pulling forces from the surrounding countryside into a battle lasting a night and day. The College of War itself is protected by a young Bordevarian Aspirant by the name of Annora, leading a militia of Bordevarian peasants and Ritter-students to hold the line.
But this was always the intent. Drawing much needed knights away from other locations, essential locations. While the melee raged in Eisen, a smaller force crossed the river to the south and attempted to burn and loot the Eisen Orchard, The Concord’s only source of Thunder Oak. Perhaps more troubling was the composition of this force; undead knights and warriors under a Red-White Banner, Warden Amelia of House Avalon at their head. As the one time general of the First Banner, it is unsurprising that the traitorous Warden knew where The Concord was most vulnerable. In the end it was a detachment of Knight Aspirants that turned the assault by burning the Avalonian barges, forcing the attackers to retreat before becoming stranded in enemy territory.
As the Summit drew near the enemy drew away. It had been a hard season fighting under the watching boughs of the Greenweald. But after all was done, the 1st Banner had defended Resinderholz from their cruel simulacra. While their casualties were large, no enemy forces had taken and held ground in Eisen or its surrounds for longer than a day. A victory earned in blood. But this would surely happen again. The Onyx Aristocracy knows, as The Concord does, that without Eisen and the Sableheart, The Concord cannot march soldiers East during winter.
If the Sableheart falls, so does Bordevar.
Game Information
The Concord has been victorious in the Sableheart this past season, defending against The Marble Gauntlet. It was a tough battle, and the forces were evenly matched, but canny choice of orders won the day.
Following the campaign, The Marble Gauntlet has retreated to Wolfsbuel and will be unable to attack next season. The 1st Banner of Bordevar begins the campaigning season in The Sableheart, having taken 1250 casualties, comparable to enemy losses.
This battle with The Marble Gauntlet has revealed one of their traits*:
| Trait | Effect |
| Traitors In Their Ranks | The Marble Gauntlet inflict +10% casualties to Bordevarian armies due to the guidance of traitorous Bordevarians within the Gauntlet. |
Ritters, Ritter apprentices, Orsa Dan Bremer, and Annora all have the following roleplay brief:
“I have fought alongside these people and together we did great things. I trust them implicitly and while the battle has ended, they remain my allies. Worthy of my sacrifice.”
Our Scars Have Names
After the assault on the Eisen Orchard, it became abundantly clear that the Thunder Oak supply was less of a secret than The Concord would have hoped. The 1st Banner was forced to garrison a rotating group of Knights at the Orchard to ensure there were at least enough fighters present to hold the line should be required.
Over time the posting became a restful break for the forthright warriors of Bordevar. It was a chance to walk among the massive Thunder Oaks, to repair gear and weapons, and to practice their steel against scouting ghouls rather than honour-bound deathknights. The Orchard was a source of great wealth and great import to Resinderholz and as such was often supported by one Huntsmarshall or another, making sure that the area was at least under watch. Something that could stop saboteurs and thieves, but perhaps not a full undead assault.
The grand trees, winding paths, and hidden places of Resinderholz hold many stories and hide many secrets. Not just for Greenwealders. It wasn’t long ago that Bordevarian knights marched through the Sableheart with armour and blade in hand. Only they were not coming as protectors, but as conquerors, raiders, and adventurers. To the Greenwealders of Vassertal and Resinderholz they were known as ‘Stahlrauberz’ and to the Bordevarians it was known as ‘The Northern Front’. Bordevarian knights, aspirants, mercenaries, and worse saw the Greenweald as a dark and magical place with secret wealth, either in the form of fae-magicks, Greenwealder goods, or grand tales of martial prowess. Sometimes small bands of a dozen or so would creep into the woods eager to make off with whatever booty they could find from an undefended haven, while at other times whole hosts would form under an influential noble and threaten cities. There was never any official state of ‘war’ but rather that predations of influential individuals against a fractured and shattering set of polities.
This sort of conflict leaves behind a considerable amount of dead and a not-inconsiderable amount of lost wealth as the trees quickly regrow over bloody battlefields, consigning the dead and their goods to the earth. It was late in February when a quartet of knights departed their post at the Eisen Orchard with their squires to seek out one of these lost battlefields. With their post under the watch of squires and aspirants they marched into the wilderness near Eisen. For these knights it was a reliving of the adventures of questing knights of old, striking out into the Weald with blade in hand and wealth to be found.
What follows is lost in the blood and malice. Under the eaves of the Weald three of these knights would die.
On the outskirts of the Eisen Orchard, a Huntsmarshall by the name of Emilia Kristoph would meet with these knights, her retinue close behind. Over raised voices and drawn blades, blood was spilled. Emilia Kristoph lies dead, as does much of her retinue, and the knights Ser Layla the Keen, Ser William the Enchanter, and Ser Uther the Valourous. Only one of Kristoph’s retinue has survived, a young scout by the name of Oderick Vuntenhalg, and a Ser Jeremiah the Phantom lies dying in Carningsfield. Both blame the other, laying the charge of murder at their feet. Neither is much reliable.
The magistrate in Eisen, Doktor Bruter Dolsk has ruled “The perpetrators of this heinous crime have suffered as is due with their death. It is unlikely that we will ever know the full truth, but in a time of war such things are lost.”
But despite the Magistrates ruling there is a ember of hatred burning here. Ser Jeremiah writes with shaking hand to his senator to see justice done, while Vuntelhalg begs to be heard by the Baroness for the truth of the matter. The Magistrates have washed their hands of the matter, but it remains to be seen if the people of The Concord will.
Game Information
A violent attack south of Eisen has left three Bordevarian knights dead alongside a Huntsmarshall and most of their retinue. It is unclear who is the perpetrator, but survivors are both pointing bloody hands at the other party. Magistrates have cleared the matter, but discontent remains.
There will be additional information and decisions for the Baron of Resinderholz, The Senator of Weiland, and the Deed Holder of the Eisen Orchard. It is likely that failure to act could see the situation worsen, including the risk of revenge attacks from both peoples.
The conflicts between Bordevar and the Greenweald are history, but not ancient history. There are many alive who would have lived through them and personal stories and cultural retellings from both sides are present. More information about this conflict can be found here.
This circumstance has had no effect on the income of the Eisen Orchard this season.
*Specific numbers within traits are subject to change, pending the War Chamber System review
Further reading at Winds of the World - Autumn 225