Emperor Wolfgang takes HSE throne

Emperor Louis died in 397PC, aged 75. Under his reign the Holy Sigmarite Empire had seen expansion, and a colony founded in Aranur, in the ruins of Aquila. Louis reign had been one of peace, and the Empire had avoided the bitter battles which had plagued previous Imperial rulers.

Wolfgang, Louis' son, was not a man of peace. He looked to his great great grandfather Karl II, whose ambitions of expansion had never been fully realised, and had dreams of equalling the rule of Konrad the great, almost three hundred years earlier.

Wolfgang immediately sought to establish his rule by raising an army to march on the Kaalroen Empire, who had been continuously raiding the plains of Pellenar for almost a century. By defeating the Kaalroens Wolfgang would take his place in history and bring the independent kingdom of Pellnar closer to the Imperial throne.

Unfortunately for Wolfgang it was the host of Lord Tragean who marched out to meet the HSE army on Mallar Moor in 398PC. Despite a valiant charge by the knights of the Empire, and a stalwart defence of the moor itself by the Empire's finest greatswords, the chaos lord and his army was too much to overcome. Wolfgang's defeat ensured Pellenar would continue to suffer the ravages of the Empire east of the Mallvass mountains for years to come. The emperor's dream of bringing Pellenar into the Empire were on hold, for now.

Nine years of peace followed. Emperor Wolfgang spent his time trying to keep the nobles' petty squabbles from destabilising the Empire, while noting with alarm the growing power of the Drazkharov state of Holwingen in the north. Ill tales reached his ears often, but always the duke of the north was at pains to assert his loyalty.

Then, in 407PC, the Empire went to war again. By now Wolfgang once again had expansion on his mind, and with his fleet penned in by the Dominion at Sudhafen, the Emperor wished to have another outlet into the Pan Coron ocean. Wolfgang began moving towards the coast of Armaethor, moving west of the Eichenhohe forest, and building a road to establish a new trading presence on the shore.

The Slaan of Cuitlaxaochitzin were alarmed by this move however. In 406PC the Lizardmen ambassador made an official complaint which was rejected by the Emperor, and a second deposition, this time an ultimatum, was similarly ignored. In 407PC, war came to the Empire once again, as an army from Tacapantzin marched out into the plains of south east Curufin, intent on removing the Empire forces and pushing them back north of the Eichenhohe forest.

The battle of Galar plain, where the fighting took place, was a savage and drawn out afair. The lizardmen marched forward towards the Imperial lines, stoic in the face of determined artillery fire, and shrugging off the savage magics the Imperial battle wizards unleashed upon the cold blooded warriors. Battle was joined in the centre of the plain, and the lizardmen found the Empire knights and elite infantry difficult to break down. Despite being outnumbered, the army of men refused to break, and the lizardmen only claimed victory when the last Imperial cavalryman, the Empire general himself, was cut down.

Once again despite a valiant effort, the army of the Holy Sigmarite Empire was defeated, and Wolfgang abandonned, at least for the moment, his plans for expansion. Once behind their initial borders, the Lizardmen suggested an "everlasting agreement" on the borders of the two nations. This was the last deposition made by the ambassador of Cuitlaxaochitzin, as for the remainder of his reign no lizardman was allowed to enter the walls of Sigmarheim while Wolfgang was present.