Battle of Valdev
| Battle of Valdev | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Part of the Aevos Coalition War | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The Battle of Valdev was the opening battle of the Aevos Coalition War between the (soon-to-be-formed) Covenant of Five and the League of Veletz with their Orcish allies. It was sparked after incursions from both sides into each others territories with accusations of hiring bandits from both parties. These events led to a Veletzian host marching on the Haensi capital of Valdev.
Prelude
Tensions had been building for years. Both sides claimed several grievances against each other, including the accusations of hiring bandits to target each other's nations. The Kingdom of Hanseti-Ruska had issued a proclamation[1] decreeing that if any nation joined the Kingdom of Norland in their conflict with the Grand Kingdom of Urguan that it would lead to war. Up until the point, the League of Veletz had been supporting Norland, leading to outrage from the Veletzians. The Kingdom of Hanseti-Ruska had also accused the League of Veletz of harboring bandits and brigands, leading to the expulsion of the Canons' Regular from the League.
The two sides came to a head when members of The Ferrymen captured the heiress of Balian, who at the time was pregnant with her first child. The bandits took her back to Fort Breakwater in Veletzian lands and quickly gathered further numbers in preparation for a rescuing force. Meanwhile, their leaders conversed with the captured Princess and encouraged her to disassociate Balian from its heritage of The Holy Orenian Empire. This eventually led to a public proclamation entitled Water Under The Bridge[2]. Shortly after the publication the gathered forces of the Kingdom of Haense and representatives of The Church of Canon arrived at the gates of Fort Breakwater and demanded the release of The Princess of Balian. The Captain General of Balian, Gaspard van Aert, arrived moments after this and was allowed into Fort Breakwater to aid in finding a peaceable solution. After some time he convinced The Ferrymen to release the Princess. She was returned to representatives of the church and the forces of Haense returned to Valdev. Frustration was held between both The Ferrymen and Veletzians that The Kingdom of Haense had intruded on what they perceived to be a secular issue. After some deliberation, they rallied under "Harr the Anchor" of the Ferrymen, and rode towards Haense with the intent of initiating battle.
Battle
The League of Veletz and their allies showed up in numbers, swarming around the back gate of Valdev. This action was met similarly by the Brotherhood of Saint Karl, the official military of the Kingdom of Haense, alongside numerous allied soldiers who happened to be in the city. The battle itself was short. Volleys of arrows from both sides commenced immediately, though the Covenant soon ordered a charge outside the gates, taking the Veletzians off guard for a moment. In an initial clash, several soldiers of both sides were injured though it seemed to be moving in favor of The Kingdom of Haense. However it was the finer of Veletz's soldiers and Ferrymen that survived the initial clash, and they were able to quickly reorganize and push back against the forces of Haense. The tide soon turned, with the Veletzians pushing back with force against the now scattered remains of the Haeseni host charging the city and leaving only a handful of survivors.
Aftermath
The battle, albeit short, sparked the powder keg in the Heartlands, becoming the opening battle of the Aevos Coalition War. A lot of the foreign powers that had soldiers in Valdev rallied together, forming the initial stages of the Grand Covenant [3].
