Kaalroen Empire re-awakens

For most of the third century PC the Kaalroen Empire had, to many of its neighbours, appeared dormant. Since the Siege of the Fortress of Dawn some seventy years ago the tribesmen of the Kaalroen Empire had withdrawn westard from the Cullbain Bay. Though the lands around the delta were still Kaalroen territory the superstitious northmen were reluctant to settle in the shadow of the Fortress of Eternal Dawn, in sight of the ruins of Storvattenstad- the township that had paid dearly for rousing the Elves to war. The Skraeling people had lent their best young men to that war and few had returned home. It had taken the population many years to recover.

Yet Lord Traegan brooded in Hovedstaden. His realm continued to suffer the predations of the marauding Ogre war-parties from Graag. Most resulted in little more than border skirmishes but the increasing temerity of the Ogres began to rangle with the proud Lord of Chaos. Moreover though the Elven Fortress remained (for the time being) unassailable, their rich arable lands around the Cenebrae estuary were becoming increasingly lightly defended as Mellvellon's citizen levy drafted more and more Elves for the distant war in the south. The timing seemed apt for the Kaalroen Empire to once again assert itself and demonstrate its continued mastery of the northern territories.

The Ogre raiding parties that crossed into the province of Hjemland in 276PC were met not by the usual tribal warriors of the plains but by a full legion of dread soldiers and knights assembled from the might of Hovedstaden's military arm. Traegan's merciless campaign systematically intercepted and destroyed the bands of Ogres moving through his territory. Many Ogres were forced to return back to their homelands empty-handed and hungry by the time autumn had settled over the north. Traegan withdrew to winter his armies in Hovedstaden in the knowledge that the Ogres would not trespass so upon Kaalroen soil so eargerly in future.

For all that the Ogres had been made example of to the rest of Traegan's enemies to stay away from the Kaalroen borders, some factions continued to take thier chances and venture into the northern realms. The Skaven continued to prosecute their war against the Elves far to the south and from all accounts that reached Hovedstaden the ratmen were beginning to gain the upper hand. However, the war was draining the Skaven of their valuable warpstone and they were forced to search further afield for supply. The Kaalroen Empire was known to harbour rich deposits and so Skaven armies were soon appearing on the frontiers.

Some of Traegan's lords sued to him to allow the Skaven to take what they needed, or indeed to form alliance with the verminous brood, that they might help extinguish their common enemies of Mellvellon. However Traegan's assessment of the strategic situation was far-sighted; he surmised that to allow the Skaven to quickly over-power their enemy would simply lead the Elves to abandon the war in the south and evacuate their remaining people back north to the Mellvellon homelands. An influx of Elves back to the Cullbain bay would put them out of reach of the Skaven but leave Traegan with an even tougher nut to crack when he eventually brought war to the Elves. Rather, it would be preferable to prolong the conflict between rat and elf, that they might exhaust one another's armies and populations and so leave both vulnerable to attack in the near future... irrespective of whoever proved to be the ultimate victor in their war.

So it was that in 283PC Traegan's legions fell upon the Skaven warpstone hunters and utterly annihilated the rat-spawn at the Battle of Gratisslad Tower. Without the rich warpstone gathering that they had anticipated the Skaven would have to struggle on against the armies of Mellvellon in a further-protracted war that, Traegan hoped, would leave both nations weakened as he continued to gather his might in the north.