Holy Sigmarite Empire 408-424PC

The Count of Holwingen had showed little sign of slowing with his advancing years. Rather, Count Drazkharov had helped to maintain the impetus of the Emperor Wolfgang’s campaign of expansion into Louis’ reign. In 410PC the Count and his lady wife Anastasia sailed to Adler an Zee at the head of a host of a thousand soldiers, pledging their support and protection to the new colonies.

Igor and Anastasia toured the new settlements to meet the smallfolk there, and personally brought supplies and provisions to the pioneers who forged westward to annex the territories of New Aranur. Anastasia was noted to dote on the tales of the smallfolk and take great interest in their adventures of the new lands. The Count himself led a joint counter-attack against Skaven invaders later that year, and his soldiers were rapturously received by thronging crowds who celebrated the victory along the streets of Ulrichshafen. In no small part did this victory over the vile rat-men weigh in the Drazkharovs' favour when they brokered a marriage for their eldest daughter, Izolda, to the young Lord Mortiz of Ulrichshafen, second son of the venerable and well-respected Moritz family of Nordingland.

Holwingen was still equally as fierce in its defence of the Empire at home, and in 416PC the Krahefort Guard mustered in the passes of the Durom Ranges to successfully repel a a Lizardman incursion from Cuitlaxaochitzin that otherwise threatened to overwhelm the Empire’s northern borders. Igor and Anastasia became much beloved in the Holy Sigmarite Empire as brave and just protectors of the people of the north. As the influence of Holwingen rose, other noble houses sought to align themselves with the power of the Krahefort. In 418PC the victor was decided as the Drazkharovs' second daughter, Sophia, was married to the aging Count of Wurmlingen. It was rumoured at the Imperial Court of Sigmarheim that, as part of the marriage deal, Igor and Anastasia had promised their support to the Count’s claim to inheritance of the long-contested state lands of Niederland.

Emperor Wolfgang concentrated on domestic matters towards the end of his reign. In these years the count of Holwingen extended his control over the north, while Wolfgang was blessed with three Grandchilden by his hier Louis. In 413PC, just ten months after the birth of Prince Konrad, the Emperor died, aged 67. He remained bitter to the end that he had been unable to extend the control of the Kingdom to the seas of the Pan Coron Ocean, and his son Louis vowed this would be his main aim.

In 416PC Louis began planning a new settlement on the coast of Armaethor. He completed his father's road to the coast in 417 without interference from the Lizardmen, and by 418PC Eichenwald had been established as the Empire's newest port in Armaethor, on the shores of the Pan Coron Ocean.

Eichenwald quickly started drawing trade away from Galamory and Sudhafen, as captains were far more willing to sail into the new Empire port than risk getting too close to the foreboding shores of Arvin and the Dark Elf Dominion. The Count of Sudhafen, irritated by the loss of profits then began discussions with the dwarfs to build a canal connecting the two ports.

The establishment of Eichenwald was met with indifference by Cuitlaxaochitzin, but the armies of Typhus licked their furry lips. Another human settlement, even further from the main armies of the Empire, and harder to defend. By 421PC the Skaven realm was ready to strike and a new raiding force was assembled, making the difficult trip across the Pan Coron Ocean in just a few weeks, arriving in late summer of the same year.

Eichenwald and the surrounding area were not powerless to defend themselves however. Realising how exposed the new town was, and expecting a Lizardman attack, Louis II had stationed a permanent large army in the town. This army became aware of the skaven before they had a chance to sack the city, and marched out to the skaven landing zone in order to halt their advance on Eichenwald.

The skaven gave battle under the setting sun, and the artillery and magic of both sides was brutally effective. Poison gas bombs, warpfire, rocks and all sorts of deranged weaponry were fired at the Empire lines, as well as vicious spells. The Elite Alptraum guard suffered the most, with more than half the regiment lost in the opening exhanges. Still the Imperial army stoically marched forward into the teeth of the skaven guns, firing back with cannon and hellstorm rockets.

The Imperial artillery was no less destructive. The skaven screaming bell was severely damaged, and the core strength of the ratmen horde, the stormvermin, was obliterated by accurate shell fire. The battle reached a climax when the Imperial cavalry delivered the charge, breaking the ratmen's lines and forcing their way through to the screaming bell itself. In the ensuing melee both the skaven general and his infernal war machine were destroyed in a cacophony of rending metal and tortured inhuman screams.

Unfortunately, despite causing horrific casualties to the skaven horde, the Imperial army was almost annihilated. The Empire general, surrounded, panicked and was cut down after his knights had bravely stood and died facing the swarm. Only a handful of state troops limped back to the relative safety of the Eichenwald pallisade, and there they waited for the inevitable skaven assault on the underdefended settlement.

It never came. Typhus' horde had suffered huge losses, despite holding the field. Their general was gone and their war machines damaged or destroyed. Their elite infantry had been slaughtered and only a few thousand clanrats and skaven slaves now remained. Far too few to even think of continuing the raid. The skaven looted what they could from surrounding villages and returned to Boiling Peak with their spoils.

The heroic defeat, while saving the town of Eichenwald, did not please Louis II. Another king had lost another army, and in 422PC his mood turned ever more black after his youngest son, Konrad, succumbed to the plague.

Two years later, Domovoi forces from the Western areas of the Kaalroen empire led by Tyras, Personal Champion of Elder Hors the violent, sought to expand there holdings in that direction. Tyras sent raiders as far as Pellenar, a small nation of humans native to Palurin and under the protection of, though not control of, the Holy Sigmarite Empire. Emperor Louis II was quick to respond, despatching a standing army of Ogres to help the Pellenarians. After a handful of minor skirmishes in which the Ogres crushed smaller raiding parties, Tyras was forced to raise a larger army so as not to lose face in the sight of his master. The two forces clashed on the plains outside Saarborn.

Whilst the large number of Chaos sorcerers used the eight winds to their advantage in the early stages of the battle it was clear that the Domovoi were overwhelmed by the sheer number of ogres arrayed against them. A few individuals managed to escape and return to Novgorod with news of the massacre in the West. Tyras was one of the survivors but had been gored by a mournfang in the final stages of battle. His recovery would take many months and forced a furious Elder Hors to take control of the Domovoi armies himself. Meanwhile the domain of Pellenar welcomed increased talks with the HSE, and allowed a number of Sigmarite missionaries to visit their settlements and spread the good word.