1763 Aerg Croesgadwr – Age of the Crusader
For several decades Maer Braech occupied western Toulmore as far east as Bovund.
In early 1763, as one of the first Crusader offensives outside of Tok, the Crusader war
machine drove Coftyr and Maer Braech from Toulmore’s borders. Maer Braech’s defeat
in Toulmore came shockingly fast and was as much a blow to Maer Braechi morale as it
was to its military forces.
Despite this defeat at the hand of Alykinder’s Crusaders most Maer Braechi
looked upon the defeat as a reflection of their monarchy and their own First Families
and admired rather than condemned the Crusade’s ideals. Much of this sentiment
was driven by Maer Braech’s decades-long economic and military downturn and the
growing distrust of the common Maer Braechi.
1766 Grand Army Rise
When the Grand Convocation of Royalist noble clans met in Creevin and agreed to
form a vast, unified army to oppose the Crusaders, Maer Braech, with its deep water
ports was chosen as the host for the supplies arriving from all corners of Alwyd. King
Faelswyth, having reigned over a period of economic instability, worsened by the In
the preceding three years what started as pub gossip as to the state of affairs of Maer
Braech’s ruling class had become dangerously seditious protests, anti-royalist daily
periodicals, arrests, trials and frequent crackdowns. Popular opinion within the
country openly advocated revolt.
King Faelswyth, weary of the waning loyalty of his subjects, welcomed large
formations of Creevish and Craesilian troops to garrison Maer Braech’s ports and to
manage the massive stockpiles of supplies collected for the Grand Army. He knew as
well that those foreign troops had it in their best interests to defend the King’s claim
were it to come to revolt from his royal subjects.
1768 Grand Army Falls
As the Grand Army was picked apart piecemeal in Creevin to Maer Braech’s north, the
most devastating blow to the Grand Army came with the destruction of Maer Braech’s
major ports. Laugardi and Hovudra had their major wharfs destroyed and massive
stockpiles of Grand Army munitions were bombed or sabotaged. There was limited
ground fighting in Maer Braech and what there was, was mostly limited to the coastal
regions. The primary source of this fighting was led by Crusader SBS backed Maer
Braechi resistance groups against foreign troops of the Grand Army stationed in Maer
Braech. The SBS exploited the existing rift developing within Maer Braech between
rulers and the ruled to the Crusade’s advantage.
At the end of 1768 Maer Braech was in financial ruin. Too much of the nation’s
capital had been invested in the Grand Army, and the country’s main source of trade,
the ports of Laugardi and Hovudra were providing zero revenue to the monarchy
Gaeryn Har’s started 1768 as school teacher and by the end of 1768 had risen to
lead one of the largest anti-royalist factions in Maer Braech. Sympathetic to the Crusader
cause, Har’s’ writings were used for motivational pamphlets, anonymous “letters to
the editor” and other anti-royalist propaganda. The SBS noted Har’s’ gift early on and
groomed and supported his rise to a leadership position.
1769 Rebellion
As spring dawned in 1769 so too did open rebellion in Maer Braech. Most armed conflict
consisted of small skirmishes when there was actual fighting. Early on the majority of
the rebellion was fought in the pubs and papers and on the radio. Har’s was a truly
motivational writer and, though he was unassuming physically and possessed a soft
spoken voice, his words carried weight when he spoke them aloud in pubs or from
pirate radio broadcasts. While not a skilled military leader, Har’s survived several
assassination attempts which provided an image of military prowess with the common
quar. This drew many current and former military officers to his banner providing the
martial experience he lacked.
In the fall of 1769 what became known as the War Along Caenal Way broke out on
the 33rd of Hynafaed. Har’s and his leadership council were not so quietly meeting with
local cell leaders in Solvik, the capital and home to the royal residence. Though expressly
ordered by the king not to attempt an arrest, overzealous caenerols organized a daring
raid on the warren where Har’s was staying. As the armored column surrounded the
warren the news spread throughout the city. Within the hour thousands of civilians had
filled the streets around the siege. As the crowd became increasingly agitated and began
to hurl more than insults at the cordon of rhyflers Har’s exited the warren and climbed
on top of one of the government tractors and began trying to talk both sides down. One
royalist caenerol noticed that both the nearly silent crowd and the rhyflers under his
command were swayed by Har’s words. Fearing mutiny, he drew his pistol, aimed at
Har’s and fired. Har’s was knocked from the tractor and disappeared from sight. He was
not fatally wounded, but this was not known to the crowd for at least a day afterward.
The streets erupted in a wild melee that in the end involved tractors and kites,
rhyflers joining the crowds, civilians on both sides, and a fighting withdrawal down
twenty two city blocks down Caenal Way over the course of three days. As the
rebelling forces reached the gates of the royal residence at the end of Caenal Way
on the morning of the fourth day King Faelswyth escaped in his rigid airship with
close family members and only the riches they could carry. By nightfall any royal
courtiers who would not renounce the King were banished from the city and their
residences occupied by jubilant revelers. By lunch the next day a reluctant Har’s,
limping from a bullet wound and shocked at such a rapid turn of events, Har’s was
the de facto leader of Maer Braech. Modelling after the crusade, Har’s declared
himself governor rather than king as was royalist tradition for centuries. He then
called for elections at a national level to build a moot to help steer the country’s future.
1770 Crusader State
At the outset of 1770 two Crusader armies lay along the border to the north, the ports
were invested, and the royal coffers were dry. Maer Braech had avoided the widespread
devastation that so many other nations had suffered during the Crusade, however, her
financial situation however, was dire. The SBS agents that had supported Har’s rise to
power approached him with a message direct from Alykinder beseeching Har’s to join the Crusade willingly with the
promise of upgrading Maer Braech’s infrastructure starting
with a rebuilding of her major ports. In return Maer Braech
would become the Crusade’s manufacturing and economic
hub in the west.
The events of the preceding two years had shown the common quar
of Maer Braech that the first families could not and would not take care
of them. That the so-called commoners themselves could have power
and a say in their daily lives and fortunes.
Har’s delivered many impassioned speeches emphasizing that
his ideals, the ideals that had inspired the nation, were kin to those of
Alykinder and the Crusade. That an alliance between the nation and
Alykinder’s commonwealth of nations would be a boon to both.
In the summer of 1770 Maer Braech signed the Commonwealth
Treaty and officially became a Crusader State.
In the winter of 1770 King Faelswyth was apprehended in Coftyr.
The King and his immediate family, dressed as farmers with wagons
stuffed with Maer Braech’s royal jewels, were caught by Crusader forces
when the King attempted to bully his way past a security checkpoint.
1773 Waess Revolt, Cythwyn
The Cythwyn of 1772/1773 disrupted many of the traditional trade routes and was
generally regarded as one of the worst Season of Storms seen in many generations.
The Cythwyn was devastating to national economies, resource stockpiles and to
every family and clan across Alwyd.
As the snows melted and the lakes thawed a full scale revolt took place in the east.
Known as the Waess Revolt, large sections of Kryst, Lower Barro and Craesil broke
into civil war and insurrection against their Crusader occupiers. Trade was effectively
stopped via land routes between nations of the east and the west. More importantly to
the western Crusader HQ was the vital flow of supplies to the Crusader armies in the
west was no more.
Though repairs to Maer Braech’s major ports were not finished they were opened
early to accommodate the armed convoys braving the waters of Lake Morandi to
deliver what quar and material from Tok to Maer Braech that they could. By the end
of 1773 even the armed convoys stopped attempting the lake crossing. Craesilian and
Fidwogger surface fleets and submersibles made short work of any enemy convoys
they encountered.
Much of the industries of Maer Braech, Easky and Leitrom were turned over to
manufacturing Crusader equipment as quickly as those factories could be retooled.
Trucks idled outside these factories and traveled straight to the front once loaded,
swapping crews at way-stations along the way to keep the army’s lifeblood flowing
south. Crusader Campryg Lycasta began purchasing major stockpiles of grain from
Creevish farmers and moved it south by cadier, faerf and taru to support the Crusader
forces besieging Coftyr.
Governor Har’s, whose strength lay in rhetoric and motivation, not national
economies, stepped down as governor in favor of a series of governors more to
Campryg Lycasta’s liking.
1774 Retreat from Coftyr
As Crusader Campryg Lycasta ordered the full retreat from Coftyr due to lack of fuel,
bullets and chow. Great camps were built across Maer Braech to house the retreating
army. Maer Braech’s own stockpiles and resources were low after the long winter but
the populace turned out to welcome the beleaguered Crusaders as they crossed over
the border and marched back into Maer Braech.
Over the next several years many Crusader units, after settling in their great
camps, began their own farms where they grew vegetables and raised termites. They
traded and bartered with the local Maer Braechi and intermarried and an even stronger
bond formed between the populace and the “occupying” army. The ranks of the Crusader
army began to swell as young Maer Braechi chose to join the Crusade rather than the
Maer Braechi Tollyn Maeryn military.
Maer Braech became a refuge and then home for the Crusader armies.
Of note: As the Crusader loss in Coftyr became obvious, (medically) retired Cae