The Final Bromalnor War, known by contemporaries as the 12th Continent Campaign and the 8th Elf War, was a conflict between the Elvish-affiliated House Mystraleth and the goblinoid Bromalnor Empire. It transpired in northeastern Balebu and lasted nearly three decades.

Initial Dispositions

Geopolitics on northern Balebu were dictated by the Lake of Stars, a vast body of water which separated the different peoples who lived on its shores. The entire eastern coast was taken up by the northern half of the Bromalnor Empire, a vast hobgoblin-ruled state. Its capital was Gatesettle, a fortified city. Bromalnor was bordered in the west by various non-state peoples, the largest of which were the independent Highlander goblin tribes, and the orc-and-ogre clans of Gorobroek. West of Gorobroek in turn lied a loose federation of elven citadels nominally under the protectorate of House Mystraleth. These communities were administered from the sprawling and relatively new metropolis of Meuenel-Mythal, which doubled as headquarters and garrison for Mystraleth's resident Continent Legion. In exchange for the protection, Mystraleth occasionally drew manpower, food, and gear from the citadels.

Though the communities themselves rarely faced military threats, the Continent Legion was routinely on campaign, fighting a variety of enemies all over Balebu; the Elvish Empire had notably been engaged in seven major wars against Bromalnor, none of which had been concluded decisively. Mystraleth's interests here were as much domestic as they were a point of foreign policy; by constantly engaging in "imperial" wars, it could strengthen its position in Elvish society by incorporating other elven houses, gaining prestige and compensations from other houses, build up its army, and consolidate its control over the Balebian elven communities and other satellites nearby.

The war was officially sparked by regular orcish raiding in the eastern region; seven elven farmers were reported missing. In response, the Continent Legion - which had been preparing for war for at least a year - mustered and marched east. This initial deployment was more of a local show of force than any kind of a military maneuver; columns of Mystraleth soldiers in lustrous golden armor marched across "their" countryside, setting up yellow-tent camps that dwarfed most cities and making a point of parading through the settlements. Eventually, the parade force reached the border region and set up its sprawling camp on an open plain, intending to scare off any orcs still in the region by their mere presence and to wait for a few other units just now arriving from overseas to join it. But the army, constituted to a large part out of inexperienced officers and units drawn from overseas policing forces, was woefully surprised when a large contingent of badeep cavalry smashed into the undefended camp and howling infantry followed soon behind. Intending to rapidly defeat Mystraleth, and perhaps even conquer some elven territory, several Gorobroek clans had allied. The Battle of the Golden Field was a very painful experience for the elves, but their well-equipped and trained soldiers managed to fend off the unarmored and barely coordinated orcs in close combat.

Mystraleth's honor was slighted; it had lost several hundred high elven soldiers. Thus it decided to seriously go to war, marching into Gorobroek and sending orders back to the communities to raise levies and bring supplies.

A map of the major campaigns and battles of the Final Bromalnor War.

Penienvale Campaign

The war against Gorobroek was long and difficult. The Continent Legion operated in the hills and forests, often as a single body to take full advantage of its superior numbers and formations, trying to wipe out larger clan armies and hill forts while smaller units maintained the long supply routes back to the city-turned-logistics-hub Penienvale. It was during this campaign that Mystraleth was increasingly forced to make use of non-Mystraleth units to buffer out its manpower needs, primarily citadel forces used to extend their pelennite battle lines but also miscellaneous light skirmisher and cavalry units for supply runs or smaller-scale skirmishing.

The Penienvale Campaign did not play into the strengths of the Continent Legion. It was a heavy infantry force, relying on its rigid pike-and-roundshield pelenniae formations to fight pitched battles; but Gorobroek preferred smaller, tribe-based heavy cavalry or skirmisher infantry tactics. The elves would force the orcs into a pitched battle by threatening to besiege major population centers, rout their opponents, and then find themselves in a difficult situation trying to track down numerous small orcish units while also consolidating their gains and protecting supply columns.

The arrival of three dragons was a helpful addition; the elves could now raid and destroy enemy hill forts and settlements without having to deploy the entire army and besiege the places. Still, this did not allow the Continent Legion to make progress; Gorobroek was vast and decentralized, meaning there were always more hill forts and orcs. Worse, Gorobroek was receiving manpower and weapons from its neighbors; ogres from the mountains in the south, Highlander goblins out to raid the supply trains, and high-quality steel gear from Bromalnor who wanted to weaken Mystraleth.

New Offensive, 4'184 b. OW

In order to finally break out of the eternal stalemate, the Lord Commander Menfeyl Allini proposed the New Offensive: a vigorous advance, going even further east but, rather than trying to secure fortresses and supply lines, the army would simply march on, breaking out into the Bromal Northlands region. It successfully did so, utilizing dragons and spellcasters to annihilate orcish settlements in its way before entering Bromalnor territory. Bromalnor had taken some precautions, expecting some sort of elven assault, but the relatively small force stationed on the Gorobroek border was unable to match the large, magical, and well-equipped Elvish force.

Menfeyl pushed further, taking in supplies from ships on the lake shore and marching south over several days. The dragons were of great use, keeping any Bromal military units far away and weakening fortifications ahead of Elvish assaults. The advance eventually reached Terkieburg, a large fortified city at the mouth of an important river. There were Bromal armies on the way, but they did not arrive in time: dragons destroyed the gatehouses and citadel, allowing elvish forces to rush in, pillage, slaughter thousands of goblinoids, and prepare the walls to fend off the Bromal armies who arrived many days later.

Mystraleth decided to take a break here; the Bromal armies besieging Terkieburg were several times larger than its own, and the suppressors and devastators among goblinoid ranks meant it was too dangerous to use the dragons. Menfeyl remained in Terkieburg for an entire two years, resting his soldiers, replenishing his ranks, and bringing in many supplies from Mauenel-Mythal, prime among them new equipment and an estimated 30'000 non-Mystraleth soldiers from the communities.

Northlands Campaign

After years of unsuccessful siege, the Bromal armies were sufficiently weakened and the Elvish army sufficiently strengthened to be evenly matched. Mystraleth broke out of Terkieburg, routing the besieging force and pursuing the Bromal emperor, who was encamped nearby and who fled north, towards his many strongholds in the hilly Northlands. This was good ground for Bromalnor: its lighter forces could maneuver on the rougher ground much better than the Elvish pelennites, it had many fortifications in the region, and the Northlands were backed by the reasonably productive land of Kenfelt which supplied its armies with all that it needed.

Between 4'182 and 4'171 b. OW, the Elvish army - which became the 1st Army as other fronts opened up - attempted to root out the Bromal armies from their Northlands hideout, with a special focus on capturing the emperor whenever there was word he was in the Northlands. These hills were an important strategic location because they protected the plains around Gatesettle, but they were also extremely difficult to take. Mystraleth could operate effectively while it remained near the shore and the major rivers that flew into it, but whenever it had to reach further into the Northlands to besiege a fortress or meet a Bromal force, it suffered from supply issues.

The Northlands Campaign was put into the hands of Elevate General Ivonne Mystraleth in 4'180, and seven of the twelve Mystraleth regiments there were drawn off to fight in the south; she did receive several regiments of levies in exchange. The Bromals meanwhile used various units to protect their hills. Each fortress and various military districts had their own local garrisons, which were often enough to ward off smaller Elvish attacks as long as they had the ballistae and mages to counter dragons and mages. Several times over the years, the emperor himself led a field army to try and beat Ivonne in battle, though more often than not the imperial army was badly smashed; other larger armies led by Bromal generals rarely fared better.

Mystraleth abandoned all its ground in the Northlands in 4'171, when it redeployed its units south to defend the northern Korinn plain from the large imperial army in Merrenburg and to reinforce the 2nd and 3rd Armies.

War for the Plains

The coastal communities of the elven heartland were ordered to build a fleet of ships on the Lake of Stars the moment Mystraleth took Terkieburg and realized the power that came from dominating the lake. Bromalnor had some trade ships, mostly for the Korinn Plain and Nerker Peninsula, but no military vessels; the three hundred transport brigs and battleships Mystraleth had built by 4'180 easily outmatched this weak force, sending any ships Bromalnor might have used to channel their naval superiority burning to the lake floor.

Realizing it was pointless to hope on rapid progress in the Northlands, and fearing the extensive defenses of double-walled Nerkynburg, Mystraleth opted to try an amphibious attack. It used its large fleet of ships to assault Nerkynburg by surprise in 4'180; sadly, the attack failed, and Mystraleth had to settle in for a two-year siege. It also had to fight off a small relief army. Around half the Elvish forces around Nerkynburg were split off into the 3rd Army, and half of the remainder began fighting in the Korinn plain, warding off smaller Bromal forces intending to attack Terkieburg or relieve Neryknburg and at the same time pillaging Bromal settlements.

After Nerkynburg fell, the sizeable 2nd Army engaged in a lengthy campaign on both Korinn and Nerker, attempting to capture all major settlements while at the same time fighting off Bromal armies come to free those settlements. As a result, the 2nd Army was constantly on the move, going from one battlefield to another one.

Menfeyl would continue trying to secure Korinn and southern Nerker for more than a decade. When the emperor besieged Terkieburg and threatened to wipe out the 3rd Army in 4'170, Menfeyl completed his conquest of Nerker and even continued on the offensive, taking Myrkerren in 4'169 b. OW; the plan was to secure all open, agriculturally rich land in central Bromalnor, thereby cutting off the emperor in the hills from the important supplies and reinforcements from the south. Luckily for Menfeyl, the Elvish forces in the north managed to defeat the emperor and, his armies depleted, marched for Gatesettle; meanwhile Menfeyl prepared in 4'168 to meet a vast southern relief army commanded by the Lord of War himself. He even intended to push south after destroying it, to take the renowned arcane city of Holimion and "kill the evil black elves who mate with the goblinoid beasts and dare fight the glory of our sun army."

The 2nd Army was decisively defeated at the Battle of the Dark Hill^[1]; Myrkerren was retaken soon after. The remaining Elvish forces, mostly small garrisons holding hostile goblinoid settlements, found themselves fighting a defensive war against large Bromal armies.

Roughlands Campaign

The 3rd Army sent in 4'179 to secure the Roughlands - a hilly region very similar to the Northlands, filled with fortifications and serving as a protection for the capital as well as a military reserve raising armies to fight in Korinn - consisted of four autonomous regiments and auxiliaries with a simple mission: capture the administrative head of the Roughlands and other notables, take the fortresses of Caer Taryk and Roughstone, and ideally secure the region to make Gatesettle vulnerable.

The Roughlands Campaign turned out to be even more difficult than the Northlands one. The Roughlands were larger and better defended, by a determined and highly mobile enemy who opted for raids and surprise attacks rather than pitched battles. The four regiments found themselves operating on their own most of the time, trying to secure enough supplies from convoys and foraging while at the same time fighting tough skirmishes against an elusive foes, interspersed by sieges against large and well-defended fortresses. The Battle of Roughstone in 4'174 was especially bloody, costing the lives of several thousand levies and 200 Mystraleth infantry.

The Bromal emperor, commanding a huge new army, forced the 1st Army to fall back to Terkieburg, and promptly besieged that town in 4'170. He then marched into the Roughlands with most of his force, intending to wipe out the few elves harassing his forces in the region before driving the 2nd Army out of the south. The 3rd Army fought some extremely difficult battles, trying to escape the large goblinoid hunting force while at the same time inflicting losses. In large part thanks to the Battle of Red Walls at the Elf-held Caer Taryk and to some lucky dragon raids, the 3rd Army eventually managed to push through into Korinn and relieve Terkieburg.

Advance of the Central Army

The Bromal emperor fell back to the north. The 3rd and 1st Armies merged, forming the Central Army under the command of Elevate General Tauheyn Fenyail, who had distinguished himself while fighting in the Roughlands. It fought a first battle against the imperial army relatively near to Terkieburg, which it won; then a second, pitched battle in the rich fields below the walls of Merrenburg (later known as Mirmillion), which was again won thanks to the exceptional advantages of the pelenniae formation.

Before pursuing the fleeing emperor, the Central Army committed the Rape of Merrenburg, pillaging and slaughtering the majoritarily wood elven population of that town; as much as a punishment because Merrenburg had not immediately surrendered, as out of vengeance because the Merrenburgers were elves who lived in a goblinoid state; undoubtedly, the drow of Holimion would have suffered a similar treatment if that city had been taken (or worse, since Mystraleth had developed a great abhorrence for dark elves and the Spider Movement was reaching its peak).

The Central Army eventually pushed through the last remaining goblinoid defenses, leaving destruction in their wake, and began besieging the capital Gatesettle in 4'168. They had to withdraw, however, because initial assaults failed and the large relief army of the Lord of War was on its way. The elves fell back as far as Terkieburg, because of an unsustainable supply situation.

Retreating War

The situation had changed from imminent Elvish victory in mid-4'168 to imminent Bromal victory near the end of the year: Gatesettle was secure, a huge new imperial army would be ready for the campaign season of 4'167, and the entire southern conquests - including even Nerkynburg itself, which had only had a skeleton garrison - had fallen. Menfeyl was replaced and the Continent Legion, with a manpower of around 42'000, attempted to defend its holdings in and around Terkieburg. It was initially successful, denying the imperial army a victory for two years.

However, Mystraleth increasingly had other problems. There was some unrest among the elven communities because the war was too expensive, and major military problems were brewing within the Elvish Empire. Mystraleth began cutting its funds for the war with Bromalnor, and drew off more and more units to reinforce other places across the empire. The dragons were likely one of the first units to go.

The Continent Legion continued fighting until 4'164, though that final campaigning year was almost exclusively the siege of Terkieburg. The last units left at the end of that year, joining the now much smaller Continent Legion tasked with maintaining Mystraleth rule over and protecting the borders of the elven communities on the Lake of Stars. The new Bromal emperor's legitimacy to rule meanwhile had been clearly confirmed, and the Bromalnor Empire's hegemony over Balebu was assured. It would maintain this dominance for a long time.