Silkstone War

The Silkstone War was a conflict that ended the more than half a century of peace after the Treaty of Ylsaon. The conflict originally started when the Dwarven Dominion invaded the Reaton-occupied Adestia, to which King Berthold of Hastogar had a claim to. Invoking the Silkstone Pact, King Berthold called his neighbors to arm, leading to the bloodiest conflict in recent memory of Aegeron.

487, month 5: Unrest in Adestia!
There have been several poor harvests in recent years while King Jacob of Adestia increased taxes to make up for lost revenue. The general dissatisfaction turned into unrest soon after the Reaton Reds shifted their focus to a few select states, Adestia included. There are news of peasants rising up all over the countryside, forming militias and torching noble estates. King Jacob mobilized his vassals, but rumor says he might not have the force to put down an actual rebellion.

487, month 6:  Rebellion!
Instead of negotiating, King Jacob attempted to disarm the peasants by force, which caused revolts to spread like wildfire. The lower classes of Adestia have united and risen up against their masters, several counties are now in open rebellion. Even worse, the citizens of the royal capitol of Pongrad joined the rebels and the Royal Palace has fallen to the mob. King Jacob fled the city and is rumored to be in Fairbreak trying to raise the armies of his vassals, but they are all busy trying to contain their own subjects. Meanwhile advisors and volunteers have arrived from the Reaton Republic to help the newly formed Red Army of Adestia "protect the innocent and preserve the peace".

In Stoneharbor: The Roxfort Academy organized a series of public debates between prominent intellectuals about the current crisis. While some argued that divine interventions like the protection of the Ironfist line by Moradin show that the Gods favor monarchies, others immediately brought up how the major tenets of most religions oppose tyranny. Some members of the Avalanche watched the debates, the highlight of which was the “domino-theory” that whatever happens in Adestia will profoundly change things on the continent. This was the one thing people from all sides of the debate agreed on.

487, month 7, week 1:  Reatons Triumphant!
The Red Army of Adestia has defeated the armies of King Jacob and his vassals on the plains south of Riverdale. King Jacob himself has been captured and dragged to Pongrad where he was stripped of his royal title. The Kingdom of Adestia is no more, from its ashes rises the Republic of Adestia.

In Stoneharbor: The Reaton Reds organized a victory rally that was attended by thousands, their rallying cries could be heard everywhere from the Slums to the Consul’s Palace: “Tyranny has been defeated in Adestia, and soon Liberty, Equality and Fraternity will triumph all over Aegeron!”

487, month 7, week 2:  Regicide!
As its first action the newly chosen People’s Council of Adestia voted to hold the tyrants of old responsible for their crimes. Within days the tyrant King Jacob as well as the crème of the Adestian nobility were publicly executed at the main square of Pongrad. This blatant disregard of the sanctity of a royal life (and a violation of the Treaty of Ylsalon) led to widespread condemnation. Within days King Berthold of Hastogar claimed the throne of Adestia, as the former King Jacob was his second cousin, which makes him the rightful king. It is rumored that the king is already mobilizing his army to seize Adestia, but the Red Army stands ready to defend their home.

487, month 7, week 3:  War!
Citing the chaos and the danger of a Reaton Red takeover in Adestia, Emperor Thorin Ironfist declared Adestia to be a protectorate of the Dwarven Dominion. Dominion forces have already crossed the Pontar river from the north, while a several dwarven armies entered into Adestia from the east through tunnels. With the Red Army fortifying the southern border in anticipation of an attack from Hastogar, the Dominion attack took them completely by surprise. The city of Ironspell is rumored to have already fallen to a surprise attack from below ground.

'In Stoneharbor:' On Market Days the Reaton Reds took over the Great Market with a rally where they denounced the aggression of “reactionary forces” and vowed to “fight until the last drop of our Red blood''”. Later they asked the people of Stonaharbor to donate so that the Red Army can “''retake our homes and drive the forces of the tyrant Ironfist from our lands''”. As far as the Avalanche could tell the commoners of Stoneharbor donated a lot to the Reaton cause.

487, month 7, week 4:  Betrayal!
The signatories of the Silkstone Pact, Adestia, Hastogar, Iregion and Eldhil pledged to come to each other's defense in case of a Dominion invasion. When King Berthold issued the call to arms to protect his claim to Adestia, Queen Avita of Eldhil responded, but Wizard-king Carric of Iregion refused, claiming that the Dominion forces were not attacking Hastogar, just trying to end the Reaton threat.

In Stoneharbor: Soon after the news of Iregion’s betrayal reached Stoneharbor, the Roxfort Academy shut its gates to protect their students from the growing “anti-mage sentiment”. As far as the party could tell their fears were unfounded.

487, month 8, week 1:  Nomad raids!
While the rulers of Hastogar and Eldhil were raising their armies and moving them north, a large horde of nomad raiders arrived to the southern regions of Hastogar. They are lead by the current Khan of the Umbrakhai and it is rumored that Ironfist promised them vast treasures and plunder. The sudden arrival of the raiders forced King Berthold of Hastogar to withdraw his forces, leaving the forces of Queen Avita of Eldhil on her own to face the Dominion forces that are already advancing into Eldhil.

In Stoneharbor: As the war progressed tensions started running high all across the continent, Stoneharbor was no exception. Fights have broken out between dwarves and humans, shops owned by Dominion sympathizers have been broken into and ransacked (Thanks to Pongo’s precautions the group who tried to vandalize his lab met a nasty surprise. The Avalanche turned the unconscious thieves over to the authorities the following morning.)

487, month 8, weeks 2-3: Dominion advance!
Adestia is almost completely under Dominion control, only Pongrad remains defiant as the last refuge of the Red Army of Adestia. Despite weeks of heavy shelling and the efforts of the best dwarven siege engineers the city managed to resist the Dominion. Meanwhile the armies of the Dominion are advancing into heartlands of Hastogar and Eldhil, the cities of Hazelbrook and Mesthyr have already fallen. King Berthold of Hastogar can not hope to withstand the dual advance of the Dominion and the Umbrakhai nomads so it is rumored that he will soon surrender, leaving Queen Avita alone to face the might of the Dominion. It seems the war has been lost…

In Stoneharbor: The situation in the city got worse. Last night a mob looted the foundries and shops of Dominion Metals and set fire to some of them. After several (failed) attacks against the Dominion Embassy the city allowed them to station heavy arbalests on their roof who have orders to shoot all intruders on sight. Also, the Northern Gale Trading Company sent a polite letter to Pongo, informing him that “regretfully, current circumstances don’t allow our current business venture to continue”.

487, month 8, week 4:  Saviors from the North!
Armies of ferocious Northmen entered the Dwarven Domnion from Nordterra pillaging settlements and even managed to sack the city of Gamlastrond. The barbarians seem to be led by clan leaders, and King Bodvar of Nordterra distanced himself from the "actions of tribal leaders". Nevertheless, the barbarian onslaught caught the Dominion completely by surprise, it is rumored that the dwarves are frantically pulling troops from the southern front and sending them to the north to defend the dwarven homeland. Most suspect that the barbarians were hired by either the merchants of Golden League or the elves of the Azure Federation, both with deep pockets and a vested interest in the Status Quo.

In Stoneharbor: Bonnego Brawnanvil, Pongo’s apprentice, was attacked today. Pongo sent him out to get more coal from the Great Market, and Bonnego put on his cloak before leaving without realizing that, in addition to his clan’s symbols, it had the sigil of the Dominion on it. It did not take long for trouble to find him, only the timely intervention of the City Guard saved him from being lynched by a Reaton mob.

487, month 9, weeks 1-2:  The Tide is turning!
Wealthy states from all around the continent started hiring mercenaries en masse as well as recruiting volunteers and sending them to aid the Silkstone Pact forces. This aid and the partial withdrawal of Dominion forces gave King Berthold the breathing room he needed to drive the nomads out of his land. Meanwhile Queen Avita personally led her forces (now reinforced with foreigners) to rout the Dominion Army Group that laid siege to the city of Ifakadi.

487, month 9, weeks 3-4:  Stalemate!
Despite the abundant foreign aid the armies of Hastogar and Eldhil can't hope to match the superior equipment and training of Dominion forces. After losing several non-decisive battles the advance of Silkstone Pact forces stalled. With no hope for a quick victory for either side both the Dominion and the Silkstone Pact decided to dig in and prepare for a prolonged war of attrition.

487, month 10 to ?:  War of Attrition
Having already looted the northern towns of the Dominion, the Northmen decided to withdraw to Nordterra (and thus avoid an open battle with Dominion reinforcements). While the withdrawal of the Northmen allowed Ironfist to redeploy his legions to Hastogar and Eldhil, the Silktone Pact was not idle during this time. Vast armies of "volunteers" and mercenaries have arrived from all over the Continent, their equi

pment and services paid for by various rulers, many of which had been rivals just months before, but now they found a common enemy in the Dwarven Dominion.

Although the Dominion's military is superior in both training and equipment, the volunteers and mercenaries from over a dozen realms give the Silkstone Pact considerable numerical advantage.

After several bloody, but ultimately indecisive battles both sides decided to dig in and prepare for a prolonged war of attrition. It is likely that neither the Dominion nor their enemies can support this war indefinitely, but it is not clear who will fall first. Meanwhile both sides are frantically searching for anything that could give them an edge...