Kaalroen Empire 160-185PC

Towards the end of the 2nd Century PC the Kaalroen Empire was the largest Empire once more, the Dark Elves having curbed their expansion and once again turning inwards with intrigue and plot at court their primary interest. By contrast the Kaalroens continued to expand aggressively and by 160PC they had extended their dominion to the mouth of the river Cenebrae. Here the High Elves already had a settlement, protected by the Fortress of Eternal Dawn, but the forces of Chaos were not ready to launch their assault on it just yet.

In 163PC the battle of Mallend gap, the lowland pass between the Mallvass Mountains and the northern range, saw a Kaalroen army defeated by the Ogres of Cuitlaxaochitzin. This was a continuation of the Lizardmen policy of campaigning against chaos, usually with Ogre mercenary armies. It suited the slann as it ensured that the most aggressive members of their Ogre allies were away causing havoc elsewhere.

The defeat of the Nurgle army would not have been remarkable, but the Nurgle tribe abandoned its wanderings in Canaur and returned to the Empire. By 170PC the Nurgle faction had moved its base to the south of Skraeland, encompassing Hermansverk in its influence. By 180PC the faction had grown tremendously, attracting new followers from the previously unknown inhabited areas of the Branmeren hills. This strengthened the tribe's influence and would be critical in the events leading up to the union of chaos in 180PC.

The Domain of Ug, having been in decline since the defeat to the Kaalroen Empire, has remained largely quiescent since the Battle of Beasts in 141PC. Then in 165 an elven warhost from Drake's Landing arrived in Northern Canabrin intending to rid the world of the Beastmen threat. Ug himself was present with the army which met the elves, but the elves were victorious after a vicious and bloody battle. Ug himself was killed in the action, and the beastmen suddenly found themselves leaderless. Their Empire threatened to collapse, but soon shadowy and mysterious emissaries from Skraeland began arriving in the northern forests of Canabrin. It soon became clear that these emissaries sought the unification of chaos.

In 167PC the beastmen swore fealty to the Nurgle tribes of Hermanssverk, but had not yet sworn allegiance to Tragean in Hovedstaden. However in 171 Tragean's armies set out from Hjemland to meet the skaven of Typhus who had once again landed in Canabrin searching for precious warpstone. Typhus had brought a large army, but as battle was joined Typhus apparently lost his nerve in spectacular fashion, fleeing the battlefield in terror. Hours later the skaven had been utterly crushed and the beastmen swayed into Tragean's orbit. The Kaalroen Empire officially swallowed up Ug's old domain, the region known now as the Domain of beasts becoming a mere outpost of the might Kaalroen Empire.

The union of the two chaos realms appeared to stabilise the beastman decline, and in 180PC the beastmen of the north smashed the Lizardmen ogre mercenaries in the north of Canaur, who had once again travelled north to campaign against the Kaalroens. This time their raids were cut short as the beastmen routed their army and sent them back to Cuitlaxaochitzin rather empty handed.

The effect on the rest of the Kaalroen Empire was less marked. Buoyed by their recent success in adding so many new followers to the Empire, the nurgle tribes of Hermannsverk decided in 178PC to launch a full scale attack on the Fortress of Dawn. The assault was an utter fiasco and the army was destroyed, but the High Elves chose not to follow up the attack. They remained passively watching as a new settlement grew on the shores of the sea, and Storavattenstad became the new home of the Kaalroen fleet.

By 180PC the Kaalroen Empire dominated Canabrin and now reached as far as the great easting road in the south, where Gratisstad grew up on traders passing by. The Empire ran to the wastes of the north and all the way along the Cenebrae, and the tribes of the Branmeren hills were falling under the chaos realm's influence. The elven realms warred amongst themselves while the Empires of men and dwarfs fought each other on the sea. The only realm making a real effort to stand against the Kaalroens towards the end of the 2nd century was Cuitlaxaochitzin, and they were having little real impact.