While I'm not quite ready to put the OOC up I thought you might appreciate an advanced look at the 'Factions' section:
Houses, Claimants and Factions
House Corfina – Emperors of the Elgafolk (Elves)
210 years ago, Voron Corfina led his horde around the North of the Morktree to conquer the Inburian Empire and form the Haltian Empire in the ashes. Now Voron is dead and his two sons both blame each other for the murder.
Voron II Corfina – The Eastern Haltian Empire
Voron II, son of Voron is 220 years old and, as a teenager was sent to live with and learn the ways of the newly conquered human subjects in the East. Like many of the younger elgafolk in the East, Voron learned to enjoy a settled, human lifestyle, as an adult taking on the trappings of a human Lord and becoming a leading figure in the party at court calling for reforms within the Empire to improve society for the Inburians, Mittelvolk and other enslaved and downtrodden human groups, seeing this as the only way for the Empire to safeguard against a largescale human revolt in the East. Unfortunately, for Voron, the succession Crisis brought on by his father’s assassination led to widescale revolts before he had the chance to announce, let alone begin implementing the reforms he believes in.
Voron, uniquely, among the many leaders, knows just how big the threat from the Blight actually is. Recently his forces held off an attack from 52,000 orcs, but from what his scouts indicate, this is only the vanguard of a much larger force and if they get past the fortifications at the Grendell there may be no containing them and all the petty rivalries between humans and elgafolk will mean nothing. Victory is necessary not just to maintain the integrity of the Empire, but to ensure the survival of all people on the Western continent.
Voron still commands the largest body of troops in the Empire, currently around 90,000, though they are divided, fighting numerous enemies and many armies are in disarray following a series of defeats, to the ‘White Wyvern’ at Trefgodwig, the Western Empire at Lysfelt, the D’Ambois Expedition at Sidskold, the Calarian Republic at Hjodfelt and the ‘Red Wyvern’ at Rodelkog.
The defeat at Lysfelt was particularly disastrous and Voron made the call to retreat with his forces, abandoning the capital of Alveby to regroup at Elvesland.Voron is a cautious and thoughtful leader who does actually care about his subjects and, more than most of the others is very aware of the danger presented by the increasingly active Blight in the East.
Voron is a careful and thoughtful leader who is generally popular with his inner circle, though he lacks the charisma of some of his rivals.
Orrian Corfina – The Western Haltian Empire
In comparison to the Eastern Empire, where most of the human population is enslaved or otherwise oppressed, the humans in the West in relative symbiosis with the elgafolk, paying tribute in exchange for safety and security. The Sahalky cities are prosperous trading hubs while the Pobryn hill folk are allowed to live in relative isolation on their rugged coastline.
Orrian Corfina, now aged 190, unlike his older brother was raised in the West on the vast open plains, amongst the nomadic elga tribes who were, even then, beginning to become suspicious of the Easterners abandonment of the ancient nomadic lifestyle in favour of ‘decadent’ styles of human Lordship.
While commanding, at most 40,000 troops, and enjoying almost no support East of the Morktree, Orrian’s victory at Lysfelt, which he personally commanded, has given momentum to his cause. While many of the Western Empire court believe in abandoning the lands East of the Morktree and some even favour abandoning Maceataby and Elvesland (Mittelvolk cities), Orrian is aware that if his brother is able to deal with the other threats to his rule and bring the full force of the Eastern Empire’s armies to bear, he will undoubtedly be defeated.
Commanding from the front, Orrian is a handsome, inspiring and brave figure as well as a competent tactician who has the trust of the men under his command.
House Hasikos – Human Pretenders
210 years ago all the lands between Grendell and the Morktree were the domain of the Inburian Empire with the Kings of Favis, Calaria and the Mittelvolk all paying homage to the Hasikos dynasty. It was Dakis III Hasikos who halted the Blight at the Grendell, though his forces were so weakened by the battle that he was unable to stop Voron Corfina when he invaded from the West, sweeping through the Mittelvolk Kingdom and Inburian heartland. The surviving descendants of the old dynasty have been allowed to live on, provided they don’t cause unrest. However, in the shattered Empire, two Hasikos Sisters have reemerged to claim the old throne of Inbur and drive the Elgafolk into the West, flying under the old Inburian Wyvern banner.
Andronika Hasikos – The White Wyvern
Andronika Hasikos at 19 is the elder of the two Hasikos sisters and potentially the biggest threat to the Empire of all of the rebel groups.
Raised on a farm in central Inbur, Andronika developed the Gift of Healing which led to her arrest for a crime she didn’t commit, allowing the local Lord to sell her into slavery, at an enormous price, given her rare talent.
Andronika, however, is a manipulative little thing and convinced one of the guards to help free her and the other slaves in the caravan she was in. One of whom, Aonène de Bellièvre is now believed by many to be the prophesied ‘Dawnbringer’ to save all peoples from the Blight. Andronika escaped to the town of Tregodwig where, after two failed attempts on her life, she began raising a force with Aonène in opposition to the Empire.
Voron, the late Emperor, dispatched an army to lay siege to the town and bring Aonène back to the capital of Alveby, but the army was defeated outside the town by the small force fighting under the banner of the ‘White Wyvern’, the town garrison and a relieving force from the King of Carnelfenney.
Andronika is a charismatic, moderate figure who counts elgafolk and humans of many races amongst her inner circle. While known as brave, compassionate and undoubtedly cunning, Andronika also has reputation for ‘brazen’ behaviour which does not endear her to some of the more pious members of the population.
While Andronika currently commands just over 2,000 troops, a very low number, she is in the process of negotiating an Alliance with Carnelfenney, potentially bringing a further 10,000 under her banner, enjoys substantial support amongst the Inburians and Mittelvolk and, most importantly, is also supported by the ‘Dawnbringer’, who acts as something of a magnet for adventurers.
Ariana Hasikos – The Red Wyvern
Ariana Hasikos, at 18, is the younger of the two Hasikos sisters and the supposed leader of a large revolt from a mixture of Inburian peasants and slaves, wealthier burghers and retired Imperial veterans.
This revolt has been particularly bloody and elgafolk captured by the rebels have inevitably been tortured and murdered regardless of gender or age. Ariana, herself, is retiring figure without the natural charisma of her older sister. In theory her rebels ought to swear allegiance to Andronika as the elder sibling, and the rebellion maintains lip service to the idea of doing so if she makes it to Inburian lands. Privately, however, many of the rebel leaders view Andronika’s known fraternisation with elgafolk with suspicion and have a preference for the more malleable Ariana (who tends to acquiesce to the views of her advisors without protest). By all accounts, the two sisters are quite close though Ariana is little more than a figurehead and the odds of the two forces eventually coming to blows is fairly high.
While the Empire expected Ariana’s revolt to be easily crushed, their outnumbered army was surprised by a charge at the battle of Rodelkog and routed in vicious hand-to-hand fighting, though not before inflicting serious casualties on the rebels. Unfortunately, the Imperial forces abandoned all 32 of their field guns in the retreat. Currently, the ‘Red Wyvern’ controls no major settlements, though these guns will now give them the capacity to breach the defences of walled towns. While only currently mustering a force of just over 13,000 soldiers, victory at Rodelkog has proven to the local population that Ariana’s army has the potential to drive the Haltians from their lands.
Coralie D’Ambois – the Black Wyvern
Coralie D’Ambois has a connection to House Hasikos through her mother, though in reality her claim to the throne is laughably slender. A Vichian noble, Coralie D’Ambois was disowned by her family for eloping with a pirate captain and eventually turned to piracy and privateering herself. Despite the dubiousness of her claim to the throne, Coralie managed to convince a number of corsairs and other mercenaries to join an expedition to the Inburian Coast, more as an excuse to loot Haltian manor houses than actually establish Coralie as Empress.
The force was swelled by local peasants and slaves though Coralie expected them to inevitably be routed by the Empire and had plans in place to flee back to her ship in the event of military collapse. Coralie’s forces were surprised by an Imperial army outside of the village of Sidskold. While numerically inferior, the Imperial forces had advantages in training and cannon, though through a series of poor decisions, squandered both of these advantages (attacking ahead of the artillery arriving on the field and attempting the move the left wing of the cavalry through a swamp to surprise the Expedition… which it did not). The Battle of Sidskold was a slaughter, with nearly 900 imperial soldiers killed, and a further 2,700 captured along with 4 batteries of ordinance, out of an initial force of 6,500. Just over 350 rebels were killed or missing, and a further 670 wounded in the fighting. Coralie, by all accounts, personally took command of a unit of shot in the village itself.
With news of the victory spreading, Coralie’s army has swollen to close to 13,000, though her position remains precarious. There are, including the survivors of Sidskold, around 8,000 Imperial troops to the North and 12,000 Calarians to the West. Both forces are well equipped and trained while Coralie’s forces are lacking in armour, horses, arquebuses and training. The Calarians harbour a particular hatred for her (she captured a treasure galleon a few months ago) and would gladly see her hanged. Coralie will need to make her next moves very carefully.
Coralie is ambitious (some might say greedy), bold, unafraid of risk and (perhaps surprisingly) a competent and inspiring military commander to rival Orrian Corfina.
