The Second Cambrecian War

This is an article on the History of Feyworld
Years: 1000 NC to 1128 NC
Age: The Third Age of Man
Continent: Duria
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The History of Neptaris
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The Great Revolution in Neptaris	Peace and Reconciliation in Neptaris

The turn of Neptaris' 11th century saw the city in a state of reconstruction. In 1005 NC, the city underwent redistricting, adding the Naval Docks as a District of the city itself. By the second decade of the 11th century, Neptaris was again prosperous as trade increased with the Empire. Only Cambrecia was heavily taxed by the Assembly. In 1012 NC and again in 1015 NC, the Pontifex of Zelos in Septarium met with the Assembly to ask for a decrease in these tariffs, but both times the Assembly refused. While making a third trip in 1021 NC, the Pontifex's ship was attacked by pirates and sank off the coast of Neptaris. The Pontifex was killed in the attack.

Emperor Androcles Leto of House Zetar (and son of the now deceased Emperor Androcles) chose Severinus of House Gabinius as the new Pontifex of Zelos in 1023 NC. Severinus was actually present in Cambrecia during the final days of the Great Rebellion and had been horribly scared in a battle near Neptaris. As soon as he arrived in Septimius, he demanded that the King of Cambrecia attack Neptaris immediately and regain the territory. The King refused, citing that he was honor-bound to obey the Treaty that had been forged forty years previously. The Pontifex was incensed at the King's defiance, but there seemed little he could do.

Late in 1026 NC, Pontifex Severinus decided on a plan. He issued the Denunciation of Democracy, which stated clearly that democracy and, hence, democratic states existed in violation of the law of Zelos. Within, he permitted a five-year period in which democracies were to be converted to a more "stable" form of government before action would be taken. Neptaris, of course, refused to convert. In 1031 NC, the Pontifex called for a Crusade to free the ignorant people of Neptaris from their oppressive democracy.

The Neptaran Crusade was slow to start, as priests and lay people loyal to Zelos began to trickle into Septarium. By 1030 NC, the Pontifex decided that he had the support he needed to attack Neptaris and personally led his troops into Neptaran territory. Neptaris sued for peace on the grounds that most of the Pontifex's army was composed of retired Legionnaires and, thus, must abide by the Treaty of Neptaris. The Emperor did not respond to this request, and the Pontifex continued to march on Neptaris. As 1030 NC drew to a close, the crusading army wintered in the Territories, preparing for their siege the following spring.

The legal maneuverings of the Assembly, as well as the exceptionally long winter of 1030-1, gave Neptaris time to prepare for the Pontifex and his men. New walls were constructed and troops were trained throughout the winter. Finally, after the first spring thaw of 1031 NC, the Neptaran army under the command of Marshall Lewt Morgar left the city to face the Pontifex. The two armies met in the Battle of Perrenoth Fields, where the Pontifex proved to be the weaker military commander. Even though the Zelosite army was twice the size of the Neptaran army, they were resolutely defeated. Unfortunately, the Pontifex and most of his staff escaped and returned to Septarium to lick their wounds.

For the next decade, the Pontifex directed small bands of Crusaders as they harried Neptaran troops and pillaged whatever villages they could find in the Territories. Neptaris continued to plead with the Emperor and the King of Cambrecia to put a stop to the Crusade, but both refused to respond from any messages from Neptaris. In 1046 NC, Marshall Morgar discovered and destroyed a Crusader camp near the Cambrecian border. Garulan, the King of Cambrecia, claimed that the camp was actually a village under his protection and immediately declared war on Neptaris for violation of the Treaty. Neptaris, despite attempts to apologize for the action, had to again prepare for war.

The King and the Pontifex began massing an army in Septarium while courting the Legion's assistance in the matter. By 1050 NC, they were ready to attack, relying heavily on the assistance of the Legion, though not direct support. The King marched through the Territories fighting guerilla tactics from locals and dealing with the wet weather that summer received. The Pontifex, now in advanced old age, chose to accompany the King in this effort. Their success came slowly, but it was still an inexorable movement towards the city itself. In 1053 NC, they were within sight of Neptaris when the Pontifex died of a heart seizure. Without the direct support of their high ecclesiast, many of the crusaders departed the army. With a fourth of his army departing the battlefield, the King decided to retreat back to Septarium instead of trying to take the city, which would certainly have been a bloody affair.

Upon his return to Septarium, the King of Cambrecia immediately set about preparing another attack, this time with the full assistance of the Legion. The King began to construct a massive fortress, called Fort Speculium, near his border with Neptaris. Despite many successive attacks by Neptaran forces, the fortress was almost complete in 1060 NC, when King Garulan died. His son, Medeno III, was not as aggressive military as his father was, but by 1063 NC, he was prepared to attack Neptaris, using Fort Speculium as his headquarters. Within days of the planned attack, most of the Legion upon which he relied boarded ships of the Second Fleet and went home to Zeth. The Emperor Androcles Leto had died without an heir and what would come to be known as the First Succession War had begun.

King Medeno III tried in vain to attack Neptaris, but without the support of the Imperial Legions, he was pushed back each time. In 1071 NC, Marshall Angar Tivalos began a counteroffensive against King Medeno III, easily defeating what meager forces he had in the Territories. By the fall of 1071, Tivalos had settled in for a winter's siege at Fort Speculium. The winter was surprisingly mild that year, but by the spring of 1072 NC, Tivalos had not yet breached the walls of the Cambrecian fortress. By late summer, it seemed that Tivalos was going to finally breach the defenses of the supposedly impenetrable castle when the Imperial Legion arrived. Unfortunately for Neptaris, the First Succession War was over, and Antipater of House Varro was selected as the first of the Elected Emperors. Antipater immediately sent a Legion back to Cambrecia with the intent of taking Neptaris. In the subsequent Battle of Mists, Marshall Tivalos and the army of Neptaris were defeated by the Imperial Legion.

After the Battle of Mists, the Legion marched towards Neptaris, but the Legate decided that his army had suffered too many losses to attempt to take the city. He returned to Septarium to prepare for the next years' battle. Unfortunately, bureaucratic problems in Zeth prevented reinforcements from arriving for five years. When they did finally arrive in 1077 NC, Neptaris had again rebuilt its defenses and was prepared for conflict. The careful Legate decided to take his Legion to Fort Speculium and use the castle as a base from which to wear down the Territories. As so many had before, the Legate soon discovered that taking the Territories was almost as difficult as taking Neptaris itself. By 1090 NC, the Legate had made some marginal gains in the Territories, but nothing that seriously weakened Neptaris or its navy.

In the summer of 1090 NC, Marshall Tivalos marched on Cambrecia, avoiding Fort Speculium and the parts of the Territories the Legate had gained altogether. The Legate was slow to react, believing the sorties to be a trick, and the Neptaran forces began to lay waste to the undefended countryside between Fort Speculium and Septarium. With supplies running low, the Legate finally decided to take Marshall Tivalos' attacks seriously in 1092 NC and pulled his army from the Territories to fight the Neptaran army. Marshall Tivalos was not looking to confront the Legion, however. He continued to attack small farming villages, remaining a step ahead of the Imperial Legate. In 1095 NC, the Marshall's plan came to fruition. Many of the farmers of Cambrecia began to migrate northward, away from the fighting and Fort Speculium. They eventually settled in an unclaimed territory on the southern shores of the Sea of Swords (the land they settled would come to be known as Enesia three centuries later).

With much of the food the Legion needed to fight no longer readily available, the Legate was forced to put his men to work in the abandoned fields of southern Cambrecia. Marshall Tivalos returned to Neptaris and was hailed as a hero for ending the war. The celebrations were premature, but all available evidence did suggest that Cambrecia was finally defeated, despite the lack of a Treaty. Marshall Tivalos died in 1103 NC of old age, believing that he had saved Neptaris once and for all.

In the summer of 1110 NC, the Emperor Caurus of House Valerius made two appointments that would renew the Second Cambrecian War. The first was Petros of House Zetar as Pontifex of Zelos. The second was his brother, Demetrios Paolus of House Zetar, as Legate of the Cambrecian Legion. The two arrived in Septarium late in 1110 NC and immediately began reconstructing the Legion in preparations for war. By the fighting season of 1113 NC, they were thus prepared and had refortified Fort Speculium. Marshall Doncan Mathros was more of a politician than a military commander, and did not foresee the trouble that the two brothers would cause. Thus, when Legate Demetrios began attacking the Territories with a well trained and well supplied Legion and Pontifex Petros renewed the call for Crusade, Marshall Mathros was unprepared for the fight that was to come.

The Legate and the Pontifex were both careful men, but not unwilling to take risks to achieve their strategic ends. They systematically captured significant trade centers in the Territories, which not only served to cripple Neptaran supply lines but bolster their own. Their tactics in this matter were remarkably similar to Marshall Tivalos' two decades before, though it did not achieve the same desired results. The farmers of the Territories took up arms when they could to hamper the Legion, but they proved to be no match for the well trained Imperial soldiers with two strong leaders. In 1117 NC, Marshall Mathros finally lead an army out of Neptaris to stop the Legion, but he was sorely defeated in the Battle of Dry Fields. He did escape and return to Neptaris, but the Assembly immediately tried him for dereliction of duty. The trial was more of an excuse to replace Marshall Mathros than actually punish him for any real crime and the only sentence he received was to be stripped of his rank.

The Assembly chose a wily smith by the name of Prentor Perrenoth as their new Marshall of Arms, and he immediately set about preparing Neptaris for an extended campaign for its very survival. He requested permission to establish martial law in Neptaris, which the Assembly agreed to in a very controversial decision. Marshall Perrenoth immediately issued a law which called for involuntary, though temporary, enlistment of all able bodied citizens into the military. With the strength of the merchant class behind him, he marched on Fort Speculium in the spring of 1118, the headquarters of the Imperial forces.

The Siege of Speculium lasted for eight months. As winter approached, Marshall Perrenoth lifted the siege and returned to Neptaris. Despite his failure at capturing the fortress, he was successful in dealing a heavy blow to the Imperial forces. The following spring, Marshall Perrenoth was able to retake most of the land in the Territories that had been lost while Legate Demetrios and Pontifex Petros repaired the damage the siege had caused to their fortress and their respective armies. In the spring of 1122 NC, they were prepared to fight. Instead of attempting to recoup their losses in the Territories, the brothers decided to march on Neptaris itself. They arrived at the city gates and prepared for a long siege. After five months, the outer walls were breached and Marshall Perrenoth had been killed in battle. The Neptaran forces retreated to Castle Zepharos and the brothers began to prepare a siege there as well. Before they had even finished reconstructing their siege engines, the entire Legion suddenly picked up and departed for Zeth. Semelius Secundis of House Furius, last of the Elected Emperors, had been murdered by Ditis Carnifex of House Gabinius, sparking the Second Succession War in the Empire. Legate Demetrios and Pontifex Petros both returned to Zeth to defend the claim of their cousin, Marcellus of House Zetar, to the Imperial throne. Neptaris recognized the advantage and immediately attacked and took Fort Speculium. From that base, they continued to make gains into Cambrecian territory. When the Second Succession Wars ended in 1127 NC with Octavius Augustus of House Zetar as the victor, the newly appointed Pontifex of Zelos (Petros had died in battle) was not interested in expanding his influence into Neptaris. He encouraged the King to sign the Treaty of Speculium in 1128 NC, which granted Neptaris independence and returned the lands that they had taken to Cambrecia. Neptaris had finally won its freedom from Cambrecia.