project-ayyem

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Porclyns, Swine, Unghogs, and Wolves

[project-ayyem]

The Duel of the Fates and the Battles of Concord Pass

The Duel of the Fates. The Clash that Halted the Turning of the Heavens. When hammer struck shield to the rhythm of the Song of the Three. The duel between Halloriah Palmette and Johanna fah-Wyllandac is singlehandedly the most important event to the history of modern Ostereign, shaping culture, politics, religion, and more -- all in a single bout. This more broadly relates to the Battles of Concord Pass when many battles were fought in succession, ultimately concluding the War of Successors, otherwise called the Civil War.

Likely enlisted at age sixteen, Halloriah Palmette began as a peasant soldier in the army of Veynan Fury, a general of the late king of Ostereign who was fighting to put a member of his own family -- distantly related to the royals -- on the throne. As the legends go, Halloriah first made a name for himself after single-handedly holding off one hundred enemy soldiers to allow his squad to escape during a stealth mission. Once they reached safety, his friends couldn’t bear to leave him behind, and upon returning to him found that he had killed them all while sustaining massive injuries to himself. This event earned him his first sobriquet: The Anvil. Because he could take a beating, of course.

He became more and more famous after this, first among the army then to nearby towns they passed by. Simultaneously, the people of the land were growing more and more weary of war and disillusioned of the current contenders. Eventually the Last Moot came along; a somewhat impromptu, hair-brained last attempt by the warring factions to come to an agreement on who should be king. Near the end of the moot, much of Veynan’s army rose to announce their backing of Halloriah as king, and this outrage all but ended the negotiations. Little could anyone have known the monster that had just been unleashed. Halloriah Palmette is seen without question to have been the most skilled tactician and strategist in Ostereign’s history, and the guerilla campaign he was about to embark on would go on to be studied by kings, generals, and scholars for the next seven-hundred years until the modern day.

Then there is Johanna fah-Wyllandac. Though not the first born of King Andyr IV fah-Wyllandac, she was the only to be born in the green -- destined to rule as Queen after the death of her father, but she ran away sometime in her early teenage years. It is said that she spent those years wandering the realm as a mercenary, sarn knight, scholar, bard, beggar, etc. It isn’t known when in this journey she came to wield Hope -- the weapon once wielded in the time of Yore by Prevenach, who was ‘Lhyv-Writ-Mortal,’ as he was called in the Yorean Sagas. Hope was a great warhammer forged of divine bronze and gold; the holy tool of Lyveau, the god of labour and patron of commonfolk. Johanna described it as a symbol of the strength of the peasants; the power to build or break. It is for this artifact that she is called The Hammer.

It was only when the Civil War broke out that she resurfaced, hammer in hand, to dismantle the kingdom which she was supposed to have inherited. And not only that, but to destroy the hierarchy entirely. Her stated goal was to completely break the system down so that the people may choose how to build it anew and create a better realm for all. To eliminate monarchs and powerful governments. The idea was an affront to many; to abandon the system created by the Three in order to create a stable society was pure blasphemy. But she had the power of a divine in her hands -- she is seen as a demigod in her own right, the greatest warrior in history. Powerful, determined, blessed by divine right, a champion of the people. None could match her prowess. Such divine authority won a great many to her side, and soon her army was fighting to destroy the claimants to the throne. She was not at the Last Moot, likely spending her time raising more levies -- so she did not get to see the rise of her greatest opponent.

Thus, we now arrive at the topic at hand. The war had been raging for nearly twelve years at this point, and while there were still a couple of other contenders, there were four armies relevant to this battle: that of Armeric fah-Eodyr, Horess Dalherondy, Halloriah Palmette, Johanna fah-Wyllandac, and Uitiar Opochtos Radax. It was in the dead of winter that it occurred.

The first engagement was the Battle of Reds between Armeric and Horess, named because both’s coat of arms had red fields. Although a relatively even matchup, many expected Armeric to finally fall here, as he had struggled to keep up the numbers of his army. Fortunately for now, he had managed to hire a handful of mercenary companies to bolster his ranks, allowing his superior tactical ability to shine through and win him the day.

After resting for a few days on the southern hill of the pass, scouting and planning, Halloriah’s army arrived in the early morning. This engagement is called the Battle of the Secret Company. Armeric had readied himself for an easy fight; Halloriah’s army had been winning battles only by the skin of their teeth after suffering a major desertion somewhat recently, so the former’s army decently outnumbered his own. During the course of the battle Halloriah’s army had stretched itself wide, leaving it with only a few lines. Armeric intended to punch through and destabilize its formation, so he began to move in. What he did not know was that one of the mercenary companies he’d hired were secretly from Halloriah’s army. In truth, there had been no defectors -- only infiltrators. The Secret Company had taken the rear, enabling the total encirclement of Armeric’s army with one that now sported bolstered numbers, and they were defeated through great effort. The battle was exhausting and costly; ultimately a small number managed to escape, including Armeric, but they would never have been able to recover their numbers enough to reenter the war.

Halloriah's army had less than a day to rest, forced to stand ready at twilight to meet Johanna's forces who were approaching from the east. This engagement is called The Battle of Hammer and Anvil. While the armies were equal in strength -- Halloriah's forces had been reunited, as well as bolstered with some of Armeric's survivors -- his army remained exhausted and tired. It is likely that Johanna had waited to battle the victor for this very advantage. Halloriah used every advantage he could: the high ground, superior marksmen, better tactics. He even feinted a retreat into the pass to catch Johanna’s army in a trap, but the odds didn’t look good for him. This is when he called for a White Duel. A White Duel is an ancient right: a duel of single combat between the highest commander of every force where the entire battle must cease and the armies bear witness, and whoever lives is named the victor of the entire battle.

Their arena was formed by an encirclement of their respective armies who spectated in reverence. The greatest military mind in Ostereign versus the greatest warrior in Ostereign. An unmovable object versus an unstoppable force. Anvil versus Hammer. Their duel lasted for hours, with the advantage changing hands multiple times. Halloriah used his cunning to manipulate openings, even going so far as to withstand strikes from Hope to create them -- making him the only known person to be hit by it and live. Johanna relied on her superior skill in single combat to overpower him or circumvent his schemes. Each missed strike made craters in the ground, a war drum fashioned from the earth. Eventually they both became disarmed and engaged in fisticuffs, wrestling in the snow and pounding with gauntleted fists. There are even some who claim that Halloriah took Hope in his hand and made a strike at Johanna with it at this time -- a feat thought impossible, for any who are unworthy that touch the weapon would surely die.

They spoke during the duel, passionately discussing strategy, pontificating theology, debating the correct social system, and admiring each other’s skill and prowess. One was a peasant, bent to the whims of a lord who only cared for him and his comrades as fodder, who chose to perpetuate the system which kept him down in the hopes that he could change it for the better. The other was the heir to the greatest kingdom ever seen in Andalorne up to that point, but chose to dismantle it so that the people could build something anew. They forged a mutual respect, it would seem. And their duel ran so long that the army of Opochtos Radax was able to get close without opposition.

To briefly summarize, Uitiar Opochtos Radax was a warlord from the -- at the time -- recently expanding city-state of Palat in central Andalorne. He and his brother, Anaximotles, had conquered the tribal region of Cesse and were negotiating trade deals with Ostereign when the War of Successors broke out. Anaximotles was recalled home and was assassinated. Opochtos, in his anger and desire for vengeance, used the war as an opportunity to build his own kingdom and base of power in Ostereign for the purpose of invading Palat. This is why a total foreigner was involved in the war.

Now, both Halloriah and Johanna were not keen on a southern warlord conquering their homeland -- no matter their own differences. When they became aware of Opochtos’s arrival, they called a truce to fight their mutual enemy. Many attribute this decision to their newfound respect for one another. Opochtos’s one army outmatched their two. He had legions, veterans, professional soldiers, local levies; Palatine armies are renowned for their structure and discipline.

Johanna and Halloriah coordinated as best they could while still personally commanding their own armies. It was difficult, hard fought. Through a feat of sheer willpower, they managed to pin Opochtos’s army into the pass to execute a hammer and anvil tactic, but his forces were truly so superior that they were beginning to push their way back out. This is when Halloriah did something never before seen in Ostereign: he deployed a regiment of battlemages. Their existence was a closely guarded secret. Battlemages up to this point were exceedingly rare to the point that most armies did not have one. Magic as practiced by the Irennish is quite ritualistic and involves singing in choirs, but he was able to coordinate enough of them to perform feats of offensive magic -- an accomplishment which is often attributed to insights from his Zelrephite heritage. The pass became alight with flame as fireballs rained from the sky, guided by the singing choir. With fire from above and their two armies battering Opochtos from either side, Halloriah and Johanna were able to utterly annihilate Opochtos’s army. The force of the magic was so great that the pass was greatly widened, and there is famously a large chunk blown from the northern hill.

In the aftermath, the two victors signed the East-West Concord. Halloriah would be granted the western half of Ostereign, which would go on to become the Kingdom of Anvilesse. The east would become independent and devoid of any state or states. Some say it was a grand experiment. In the modern day, Vyhenneog is composed of a handful of different government systems, and is more fractured politically than Anvilesse. And it all hinged on the result of -- and the bond forged in -- a duel meant to be to the death over a kingdom which had been decomposing for eleven years.