A chaotic melee of ship and sword unfolded in Bolsterlee over the past season, so much, so normal. But the exact circumstances around the battle are anything but typical. As the Liberty’s Fist attempted to hold the line at the Bolsterlee and Woodswater Rivers once again, they found a foe more interested in fleeing and wailing than pitched battles. Scrambles by both sides to pull the other into conflict were clumsily effective. When all is said and done, the Lerona Mere fleet has emerged victorious over a mess of a campaign, through no real fault of their own.
But what emerges from the fallout is of far greater concern. The Illsevir have fled Baile Fealtoiri, scrambling aboard ships as best they can and bound for the Cape of the Bailes. In their place, a Balite army under the command of Prince Iren Morgan marches up from the south in a flurry, bringing a new banner to an old home.
What if They Called a War, and Nobody Came? - The Battle on the Rivers
While the rest of The Concord moved east to Weiland, fighting an inland war the likes of which shook the foundation of The Concord, the sailors and marines of Liberty’s Fist were the next in a long tradition of Concordian forces moving to Bolsterlee. The season had waned and The Marlin’s latest set of attacks had all the wild abandon of previous seasons. The Illsevir in the east more and more have replaced the stoic and silent eminence of the hive mind with maddened screaming, frantic violence and snarling fury. But the numbers attempting to cross the Woodswater and Bolsterlee Rivers and encircle Athermer's Folly are even less than years prior, allowing encampments of Marines to hold the line and strike out at the aquatic monstrosities from the decks of skiffs and other rivergoing craft.
The cause of the Illsevir’s distracted assault became abundantly apparent soon enough. A dark grey Illsevir fleet snaking up the coast of the Bailes and dropping anchor off the coast of Baile Fealtoiri. Scouting ships from the main bulk of Liberty’s Fist observed a chaotic mess of Illsevir forces boarding these ships while other groups marched off into the horizon, and even more slipped beneath the waves. Fearful of being boarded, The Lerona Mere ships kept their distance, but it was clear for all to see that the single-minded cohesion of The Illsevir in Bolsterlee had shattered.
The forces that did assault The Concord were dishevelled and manic. The marines of Liberty’s Fist held strong and even managed to spend much of the Summer camped on the Eastern banks of the rivers that divide Bolsterlee and Baile Fealtoiri, fighting the Illsevir on enemy territory, cutlass and boarding axes in hand. Throughout the summer the marines spend their nights drinking wines and ales ferried down from Jaalstead and Lerona Mere while during the day they clash with rampant Illsevir who rampage around the field like angry toddlers. Surely the enemy is dangerous, capable of slaying a sailor who is too carefree, but for any with at least half a mind for safety, it is a grand campaign of rest and relaxation behind a siege engine, or cutting new kill notches into their hilts.
Illsevir bands can be found all over the lands east and of the Bolsterlee River, scrambling through the hills and woods in groups rarely more than a dozen strong. These feral Illsevir are a problem for the variety of Buroughs in the region, but hardly something that requires the presence of an army. Rather, it is the perfect opportunity for buroughs to test their metal and blood their young militias against a foe dangerous, but disorented.
What is for sure, is that the time of the Illsevir in the Western Low Valley is over. But questions abound as to why and what will replace it.
Game Information
There will be decisions and information regarding the battles in Bolsterlee for the Admiral of the Libertys Fist and the Senator of Bolsterlee.
Liberty’s Fist has fought the forces of The Marlin in a strange campaign. The normally single minded Illsevir are instead divided, like a drunkard of many minds they wander the countryside, armed but confused. This strange circumstance means that The Marlin’s forces inflict half as much damage as they expected to, but does facilitate the Illsevir taking other options (see Eastbound and Drowned). The Marlins forces also suffer additional casualties inflicted not by The Concord, but by this strange form of desertion.
The Liberty’s Fist fought well, if borderline leisurely, under the command of their Admiral, Charles Le Mer. While no Concordian forces aided the large Lerona Mere fleet, characters from Bolsterlee may have taken part in the campaign can tell tales of strange combat against a foe that is wild and murderous one moment and then seemingly despondent and fleeting the next, of nights around campfires with raucous Lerona Mere sailors and a time at war that is about as pleasant as it gets.
Eastbound and Drowned
But what was That Illsevir fleet doing off the coast of the Bolsterlee / Baille border?
Neither Liberty’s Fist or this new fleet (dubbed ‘Cetus’ by the sailors of the Lerona Mere fleet, inspired by a seaweed laden greatship that acts as the fleets flag vessel and its massive equine figurehead) were particularly interested in a battle at sea. After an Illsevir Destroyer, those jagged half submerged spearships, sunk a Lerona Mere sloop Torchrunner both fleets left eachother alone but observed.
What they witnessed was a fractured evacuation. Those Illsevir that still moved with purpose and silent vigour boarded the vast warbarges of Cetus and stood silent. Such was the strangled effort that sailors swear on the Sphere that they saw hundreds of Illsevir simply walk into the sea, missing their ramps or skiffs in their mindless march. After all was said and done it is likely that somewhere between three and four thousand Illsevir boarded the new fleet, which began to depart as swiftly as it had appeared. The remaining troops either slain by Concordian forces, lost in the wild woods or waves of the borderbailes or scrambling for an attempt to embark further down the coast.
Scouting ships from Liberty’s fist attempt to follow Cetus as far as is possible. Between their keen eyes and rumour from ships attempting to pass the Cape of the Bailes, rumour has placed the Cetus and its wounded cargo just over the boarder to the East into the Explorers Sea. The fleet is currently ancored some distance off Anderslee, but more knowledge beyond that is difficult to obtain.
There are those among the Admiralty in Lerona Mere (an affectionate name for the restrained drinking evenings that become vicous drunken debates over phantom naval deployments enjoyed by Free Captains), that now would be a fine time to strike at Cetus, with two Lerona Mere fleets surely great damage could be done against the Illsevir. But as many urge caution, likely a vast bulk of booty would be lost far from home and besides, this should be heralded as a victory, not an excuse for more, costly, war.
Game Information
The Marlin, thanks to the strange circumstances of its attack this season, is able to act early. The force has boarded a fleet and sailed to The Explorers Sea off the eastern coast of Esterra. There is no longer an organised Illsevir force in Baile Fealtoiri. After years of fruitless attacks against The Concord, it seems that The Marlin was finally driven mad by Concordian stubbornness and skill at arms. Bravo.
As stated above, ‘Feral Illsevir’ can still be found across the region. These forces are varied in size and countenance. While still impossible to communicate with, players are invited to use these bands as hostile forces in their tales of adventure in the region or in sanctioned events set in Bolsterlee and the Borderbailes.
As for what the future holds for the Illsevir in the East, only time will tell. But in the interim there is celebration in Bolsterlee! Business, Mines and Herb Garden Investments in Bolsteree will find that they have produced as if they were one tier higher this past season as businesses to a booming trade, herb gardens find supplies previously earmarked for the war effort back to their own hands and mines find their labourers free to return to work.
Monsters are More Effective than Princes
While Concordian planners look on at an empty region, ready for the retaking, their hopes of simple reconquest have been swiftly dashed. Not a fortnight since the Illsevir departed from Baile Fealtoiri has reports come from ships making their way up the Eastern Coast of The Bay of new forces moving up from the south.
A considerable army of warriors has been sighted moving North from Baile Lochra into Baile Fealtoiri flying two banners. The first is the crowned white oak on forest green of the Morgan Kingship and the other showing a red hand bleeding black on a gray backing, the personal banner of the High Prince, Iren Morgan.
Since the collapse of The Twin Blade Confederacy, The Concord has had no contact with either the man styling himself King Alabaster Morgan, High King of the Bailes, Holsk of Vandarvon and King of Lochra, or his son. What rumours escaped the foreign service during this time told tale of a morose and brooding father bearing deep ancestral scars against the Valley. They also held rumour of a blood-thirsty son who meant to take the world at speartip, a raider, commander and killer of ill repute.
While the Bailite army is not the most formidable foe The Concord has ever faced, their tactics are as unknown as their past. Concordian warmakers who are hoping for a simple southern expansion will find their dreams shackled by the High Price Iren Morgan, also known as ‘Iren Falsehand’.
Game Information
There will be decisions and information about the Bailites in Baile Fealtoiri for the High Reeves Council, The Senator of Bolsterlee and The Concordian Consular.
A Bailite army has taken first steps into Baile Fealtoiri. If a Concordian army were to also enter Baile Fealtoiri they would have the choice between engaging the Bailites or attempting to consolidate their control without conflict. For more information about Concordian options in Bail Fealtoiri see ‘Great Empires Are Not Maintained By Timidity’.