1766 – Rise of the Grand Army of Kings
A Grand Convocation of Royalist noble clans from across the Continent met in Creevin and agreed to form a vast, unified army to oppose the Crusaders. Massive as their newly raised army might have been, the allies were still prone to squabbling and infighting, particularly between units of different national origins. Old jealousies and feuds could not be reconciled merely by the appearance of a common enemy, and no great leader arose from the Royalist ranks to unite the Grand Army. Alykinder’s propaganda arm also exploited these rifts at every turn.
1767 – King Klyntoch Captured
In the fall of 1767 the Creevish King Daern Maes mir Klyntoch was taken in a daring surprise raid by Crusader Special Action rhyflers as he hunted at his mountain lodge. Duke Rylloch Abene, a lesser noble from southern Creevin, succeeded him. King Abene, never a proponent of the Grand Army, attempted to wrest control of the force from the Convocation of Nobles. King Abene was succeeded after three short weeks by Prince Gaenter mir Klyntoch, still in his infancy, after King Abene’s motorcade disappeared one rainy afternoon.
1768 – Fall of the Grand Army of Kings
The death of the Grand Army of Kings came in pieces. First Maer Braech, staging ground for supplies flowing to the Royalists, was forced into submission when the Crusaders were able to destroy the ports where arms and munitions were brought in. A combined fleet of Easkovite and Craesilian warships was destroyed on the waters of Lake Morandi mere miles from port – and safety – by a daring Crusader battlecruiser squadron and krates from the Crusader Air Corps.
The Grand Army first met the Crusade in open battle at the disastrous battles of Slevesvi and Granfin, where the Royalist forces were soundly defeated. Neither battle was particularly large in scale but, by the death of a thousand cuts, the Grand Army evaporated.
Many quar were captured and many more escaped; some south and west through Maer Braech into Coftyr, some into Leitrom and Naedio in the north. The routed Royalists abandoned massive amounts of arms and supplies, which were in turn captured by the Crusaders to feed the war effort in Maer Braech and the siege of the Coftyran Wall.
1770 – Crusader Rule
Mauvn, Dowager of Invevenverta, on the21st of Gaerwys, was installed as Imperial Regent of Creevin. In an ornate ceremony in Invevenverta Alykinder crowned the Dowager and delivered his now famous “Evergreen” speech to open the ceremony.
Although a widow, Mauvn was still quite young, and naively determined to exist under Alykinder’s heel while still ruling her nation as she saw fit.
Mauvn was extremely popular with the common Creevish quar and many thought her unjustly treated by King mir Klyntoch before his capture. However, popular support for the Crusader cause only existed in remote areas. Resentment towards all the foreign fighters from the Grand Army remaining in Creevin was plentiful and the Crusader army was seen as more of the same.
1775 – The Court of Invevenverta
In 1775 Caernerol Bel’garyn was promoted to Campryg and command of all Crusader forces in the west. His predecessor, Campryg Lycasta, was recalled to Tok after the disastrous retreat from Coftyr. Campryg Bel’garyn moved the western seat of Crusader power from Solvik in Maer Braech to Invevenverta in Creevin.
Campryg Bel’garyn claimed the move was due to the importance of Creevin to the Crusader’s efforts, while most of the rank and file believed the move to be motivated by the whims of an ostentatious Creevish Court. Chief among these believers was Caenerol Loeck, now in command of the Rhyfler Corp in the west and nominally Bel’garyn’s second in command.
1777 – Insurrection
As 1777 dawned Creevin was in turmoil. Partisan bands operated over the entirety of the Creevish countryside, and in some areas the Trench Watch even operated independently from the Creevish government. Many of the uprisings against the Crusade were funded – and often led – by agents of Naedio and the Fidwog FOD working covertly.
Campryg Bel’garyn’s forces were spread thin. Supplies were still not fully flowing into the west from Tok. The conflict raging in Kryst blocked the northern passes and the bulk of Crusader forces under Campryg Bel’garyn’s command were still refitting and rebuilding in Maer Braech, from the failed invasion of Coftyr two years earlier.
At Bel’garyn’s insistence the Dowager Mauvn began to give weekly radio addresses to the Creevish population in hopes of quelling open rebellion. For the outlying townships with limited radio access, pamphlets were passed from quar to quar. Each of the Dowager’s addresses were written by the Crusader political arm and spoke with their voice. Mauvn’s popularity quickly grew and as she began to gain limited power back in her home country, her staff began subtly editing these political pamphlets and soon enough they were replacing the political arm’s messaging entirely with their own. The radio addresses continued to follow the Crusader script, but her quar, and the Crusader command knew her words were hollow. By the time Bel’garyn decided to put a stop to Mauvn’s political pamphlets her popularity was so great that very little could be done without igniting the powder keg that Creevin had become.
On the 9th of Dael, Campryg Bel’garyn was unexpectedly recalled to Crusader HQ in Tok for an emergency session. The safest way to make the crossing was by air and the Campryg employed almost all of the remaining western Crusader Airmobile fleet and marine corps assets as his escort.
With Campryg Bel’garyn indefinitely detained in Tok dealing with the crisis and near civil war there, on the 34th of Canolyd with no official orders from Crusader HQ, Caenerol Loeck named himself Campryg and assumed command of all Crusader forces west of Lake Morandi.
1779 – Campryg Loeck Withdraws
In the spring of 1779 Loeck, with the Dowager, in front of the Creevish Court and the Crusader Governor and staff declared Creevin a free state and that the Crusader military and all political power would be withdrawn from Creevin in 70 day’s time. Loeck also proclaimed Mauvn the rightful, legitimate heir to the Creevish throne, despite her claim being purely by marriage bond and not blood. In the weeks following several of the most prominent Creevish nobles that posed the most danger to the Dowager in the Crusade’s absence had their lands confiscated and were given only until the Crusader withdrawal to exile themselves or face arrest. Many of these nobles fled to Naedio and Easky. In Easky they were quietly, and secretly, arrested.
By the end of summer all Crusader forces in Creevin withdrew south to Maer Braech and Creevin was abandoned to her fate. Mauvn’s popularity among the population was sweeping and enthusiastic and the Dowager quickly capitalized on this to cement her power and begin rebuilding a nation that had been occupied for nearly a decade.
Throughout Loeck’s deployment in Invevenverta rumors abounded of secret liaisons between Loeck and the Dowager. Such rumors and conspiracy theories only intensified later, in 1780, after the Arnyaran invasion.
1780 – Western Arnyaran Invasion
On the 6th of Pryfaen massive Western Arnyaran land trains crossed into Creevin. Thousands of the new steel-clad iron houses came down out of the Bhurvaeld Mountain passes and pressed into the Elghmore Valley. The ancient fortress of Kefnagast fell in the first week and the port city of Brigdak, at the mouth of the Elghmore River, fell soon after. The Western Arnyaran, nominally a Crusader state, border was largely unoccupied and thought safe. After years of misdirection, the Western Arnyaran ruse was a complete success. Creevin, Coftyr and Leitrom were taken completely by surprise.
By late 1780 the Arnyaran invasion reached their ancient borders within Creevin. As early winter 1780 settled in, tens of thousands of Arnyaran civilian land trains crossed into Creevin and began to settle, while the army attempted to fortify their newly occupied lands.
Mauvn spent all of the political capital she had gained with her foreign allies. The Coftyran RCEF was mobilized to come to Creevin’s aid. After lengthy negotiations via fast airship couriers King Edifys Fedderic III also agreed to dispatch the Fidwog Overseas Department as well. The King required many concessions from the Dowager. Chief among them was massive logistical support. Many of the remaining stockpiles of arms, ammunition and tractors still stored near the southern Creevish ports, from the failure of the Grand Army of the Kings, were turned over to the Fidwog FOD upon their initial landing in 1781. This support turned out to be the key to Fidwog’s success in turning the southern Easky advance.
1781 – Invaded by Friend and Foe
As the stormy season subsided nearly one fifth of Creevin was under Arnyaran occupation. The cost for both sides was massive in terms of material and lives. The Arnyarans attempted to exist peacefully among the inhabitants of the lands they occupied, however partisan activity, especially in the Elghmore Valley, was constant and effective. This inability to pacify the populace led directly to the limited gains the Arnyarans achieved in the fighting season of 1781.
On the 1st of Dael Easky forces crossed into Creevin. The speed of their attack took the entire country by surprise. Thousands of members of the Watch surrendered without firing a shot as way-station after way-station was overrun before they could send warning.
The port of Hafjor was invested before the first day ended and fell before the first week was over. Dozens of Creevish battleships, cruisers and destroyers were destroyed in port and those that made it out of port under their own steam were destroyed piecemeal by a blockading Easky fleet.
Easky forces in the south of Creevin drove hard for the Aeritini River. After six weeks of hard fighting the Easky 2nd Asis army had secured Ostad and two weeks later began shelling the fortifications around the mouth of the Aeritini.
On the 15th of Dael the Coftyran RCEF landed in the Elghmore Valley in an attempt to support Mauvn against the Arnyarans with a breakthrough to link with The Creevish army fortifying their capital. The RCEF was quickly met with disaster as the Arnyarans, again, successfully attacked Coftyr without warning 4 weeks later effectively cutting supply to the RCEF.
On the 12th of Gaerwys and the 36th of Gettlyn the fourth foreign army landed in Creevin. The Fidwog FOD came to answer Mauvn’s call of support. The first and second waves came ashore in and around Innesvi. The first wave split its forces and quickly moved to link with local Creevish forces in Granfin and to reinforce the Gwyldyfin forces desperately holding the Aeritini River delta. The second wave landed and started building fortifications to protect the Aeritini beachhead and harbor for follow-on waves.
Now
Creevin has long been victimized by the avarice and treachery of her neighboring kingdoms and countries. The Coftyran Empire, the Hovdaen, Ehn’k’du, and even the Arnyarans of old – each at one time or another held large swathes of Creevish territory, and quar, in thrall. Alykinder and the Crusaders promised to end that long, sad history, but the inexplicable removal of support by Campryg Loeck left Creevin open to further depredations by Arnyara, Easky, and anyone strong enough to carve out a piece of territory. As of 1781, no fewer than four different foreign armies marched across the Creevish countryside, and remaining divisions among their populace complicate the situation even further. Pro-Crusade Creevish fight Pro-Royalist and pro-Independence Creevish; pro-Arnyaran, pro-Easkovite, and pro-Leitromer factions fight everyone. Of any nation on Alwyd, Creevin is currently the most-divided, and most dangerous.
Creevin burns as massive armies march and fight across its soil. The only large and organized fighting force in Creevin, capable of maneuvering against large enemy formations is the national army bivouacked in defense of Invevenverta. Mauvn, the Dowager of Invevenverta, young and inexperienced at leading a nation in war, has managed in a very short to time earn a great loyalty amongst the Creevish. Mauvn’s advisors are evenly split between counter-attacking to the west, the south or staying put and protecting the capital, and their riches. Mauvn must act soon. Every Creevish quar, no matter their political affiliation, are now fiercely loyal to the Dowager. They each project their own politics onto her as her own and to save her country she must discover how to unite them all or Creevin will once again cease to exist as a sovereign nation…