HSE suffers raids

The period 513PC to 520PC was not a happy one for the Holy Sigmarite Empire. Matilda was ageing, and her rule becoming ever more autocratic, and she seemed more focussed on improving the treasury than securing her borders. By 513, the Realm of Ran'k'adanra had expanded, running from the coast to the state of Helland, and a brisk trade along the Easting road had grown up between the HSE and its strange neighbour to the west. This trade improved life for those in the south and west of the Empire, and Sudhafen prospered. However in the east the noble families of the Empire faired less well.

Tarnished by accusations of necromancy and Vampirism, House Volbeck of Osterland had few friends inside or outside the HSE. Pellenar, now a full state of the HSE, remained hostile to the Volbecks, and the Drazkharovs, the Volbeck's usual ally, had become insular and aloof. Matilda was no friend of the Vollbecks either, so when Osterland was raided by the Ogre Kingdom in 513PC, the Empress showed little interest. Matilda was equally loathe to get involved when the province was attacked by Elves in 514PC, but later in the year, when a small army of House Vollbeck was defeated by the Dark Elves of Khaldeith, the HSE could no longer turn a blind eye to the constant threats to its borders.

To deal with the Dark Elf threat, Matilda once again tried to stop Khaldeith from sending troops and equipment to New Naggaroth. By sailing up the Dinethenin river, raiders from the southern Dark Elf city were plaguing the lands to the south of Osterland, and attacking the HSE itself. Once again Matilda's navy sailed from Sudhafen to give battle with the Dark Elves, and despite sinking several Dominion vessels, the outcome was the same, and the flower of the Holy Sigmarite Navy once again perished at the hands of the Dark Elf raiding fleet.

Mellvellon send expedition west

The High Elves of Mellvellon made a bold move in 513, establishing the colony of Sein Thoron on the coast adjacent to both the Dark Elf Dominion and the Dwarf Empire. The colonists moved west from Barad Aureil, moving through the edges of the Kallroen Empire. Such was their skill only once did they encounter Domovoi raiders, and these were easily defeated by a scouting party.

After reaching the coast the founding was done in incredible secrecy, with mages from Sein Craban shrouding the colonists and craftsmen in shadows. Still that level of work could not come without some attention and setbacks. To the north was the Ogre Kingdom, and a wandering scavenger tribe blundered close to the new Elven town as it was being built. The elves rushed to distract the Ogres, and whilst the Mellvellon scouts were crushed and devoured Sein Thoron itself remained undiscovered.

By winter the colony was established and the elves were funnelling in troops in low numbers. It was only a matter of time before the Dark Elves of Khaldeith noticed the movement on their borders. A corsair raiding party travelled along the coast and met a Mellvellon defence force in the marshy inlets of the coast. The forces of Sein Thoron quickly saw off the attackers but it was clear the colony had been discovered.

Whilst the colony sent word to Sein Craban for further aid, they despatched some of their own men to skirt the Dominion and reach the Holy Sigmarite Empire. The Elves were intent on finding out the secrets of House Volbeck and confirming the rumours of dark sorcery. The truth was revealed in early 514, as they glimpsed necromantic magic raising the dead from an old battlefield. The elves were furious and smashed through the unliving warriors and their master. But attempts to talk to the Empress about the cancer that lurked at the heart of the HSE were rebuffed.

Back in Sein Thoron military aid had arrived in the form of red-skinned ogres, and not a moment to soon. Expecting a coastal attack from the Dominion, the elves were surprised instead when a host of daemons materialised within the colony. The ogres eagerly charged to meet them in battle but found themselves overwhelmed and cut down by the great daemon of Nurgle that towered over the battlefield.

The defence of Sein Thoron was crushed and the elves braced themselves, desperately building their defences. But just as soon as they had appeared the daemons vanished back to the warp. The daemons' summoners had asked only one battle of the host and now the daemons were sated. The elves of Sein Thoron breathed a sigh of relief, but they were now in a tenuous position. To the west and north were Dark Elves and ogre tribes, to the east was the dwarven hold of karak Izor, and they were making enemies of the HSE. Surrounded and without allies, could the colony survive?

Domovoi re-affirm skaven pact

The aggressive expansion of the Kaalroen Empire meant that it was now bounded on all sides by hostile enemies. To pursue their plans for world domination the Kaalroens needed to make war on those empires which opposed them and so they sought to establish alliances with the other forces of disorder. The Skaven had long proved amenable to the Kaalroen's advances but despite the large quantities of resources gifted to them by the Kaalroens they had still made no attempt to attack any other empire, Typhus instead spending most of the aid on infrastructure projects within his own borders.

Impatient, the Domovoi sent an ambassador to meet with Typhus at Boiling Peak and inspect the Skaven Empires preparations for war. To test the Skaven's battle readiness a tournament was planned on the larva plains beneath Boiling Peak. Both sides selected troops who's loyalty had been called into question, seeing this as an opportunity to dispose of unreliable elements within their factions.

The Skaven quickly gained the advantage, their army commanded by a particularly adept Warlord who's abilities had drawn the suspicion of the most Divine Emperor Typhus, who mistrusted excessive competence in his underlings in case they turned it towards personal ambitions. As the dust settled the Skaven troops had won an overwhelming victory and Typhus publicly pardoned his triumphant warlord, although he tragically and accidentally fell into a larva lake during the ensuing festivities. The Chaos delegation was treated to an extravagant feast, although only the threat of unspeakable punishment by their overlords held them in check in the face of Typhus' overwhelming smugness, self aggrandisement and references to the Skaven master race.

Typhus assured the Domovoi that the Skaven preparations for war were almost complete and that they would be mobilising their forces shortly. This proved sufficient to satisfy the Domovoi for the time being, although the perception that the Skaven were happily free loading off Kaalroen aid would continue until Typhus actually began to deliver on his promises.

Biggest Cities

	Biggest Cities
1	Hovedstaden	Kaalroen Empire	465,000
2	Boiling Peak	Typhurian Enclave	450,000
3	Novgorod	Kaalroen Empire	385,000
4	Sigmarheim	Holy Sigmarite Empire	365,000
5	Lamentation	Dark Elf Dominion	300,000
6	Apotheosis	Dark Elf Dominion	290,000
7	Sudhafen	Holy Sigmarite Empire	255,000
8	Karak-a-varr	Dwarf Kingdom	250,000
9	Karak Brynaz	Dwarf Kingdom	250,000
10	Dragonspire	Mellvellon	225,000
11	Khaldieth	Dark Elf Dominion	215,000
12	Galamory	Holy Sigmarite Empire	195,000
13	Flodenstaden	Kaalroen Empire	195,000
14	Phalicia	Kaalroen Empire	155,000
15	Ayn'Qaahira	Kaalroen Empire	145,000

Domovoi assault Barad Aeuril

Despite the wars that had once taken place between the two forces it had been a while since the armies of Kaalroen had clashed with the elves of Mellvelon. This was despite the closeness of elven colonies to the chaos borders, but all the relative peace was to change in 512. The Domovoi massed for an attack, though whether it was due to the fickle whim of their gods or a concentrated plan it is difficult to say.

Their target was Barad Aeuril, a city on the peninsula between Culibain Bay and Dragons Teeth Bay. A small colony, one of the smallest in the Mellvelon empire, Barad Aeuril was nonetheless important to the elves. It was built on the ruins of the ancient city of Averacium and for hundreds of years elven scholars and mages had been eagerly exploring the ruins for artefacts.

As such the colony was well defended, as the Domovoi found out when they marched in force along the peninsula. The terrain is open, with no place to hide an army, and elven scouts gave Barad Aeuril plenty of warning. Battle was joined in the Amon Hills where the elves commanded by Prince Swiftstride had lain in wait. The chaos forces surged forward under a hail of elven bowfire.

The fighting was as bloody as would be expected from these old foes. Chariots and Dragon Princes scythed through unarmoured marauders, but dark magics and armoured knights took their toll on the elves. Swiftstride himself was cut down by the elite Domovoi warriors.

Neither armies were willing to give ground despite terrible casualties on both sides, but as night came the stragglers of each force were eventually forced to retreat. The Domovoi survivors returned to Kaalroen. The elves of Barad Aeuril had halted the attack but they were in no mood to celebrate, with so many of their kind dead they could not call it a victory.

War in the Galamor bay

After the repeated failures of the Privateer navy of Galamory, Empress Matilda decided as her first act in power to grow the tiny Imperial fleet based at Sudhafen. By the year 511PC the Imperial navy had grown from a handful of sloops and frigates, to a warfleet of dozens of frigates, cruisers and several galleons. Each ship was brand new, state of the art and equipped with the latest cannon.

The first act of the newly appointed Admiral Von Schneckt was to prosecute Matilda's private obsession with gaining control over the privateer fleet. In secret, and without the knowledge of her council, she had taken Von Schneckt to one side and instructed him to go to Galamory and subdue the privateers. Their vessels were to be impounded and added to the Imperial fleet.

Unfortunately for the Empress, Von Schneckt was neither a subtle nor competent admiral. Instead of using possible subterfuge, the admiral sailed half his fleet into the Galamor bay and declared the privateers to be under arrest for piracy. Incensed by this, the privateers then proceeded to leave their anchorage and sink Von Schneckt's fleet, with the exception of one medium sized cruiser, which managed to escape. Von Schneckt went down with his ship, the Pride of Sigmar, leading to much embarrasment for the Empress. Matilda however had managed to keep her secret, and was able to blame her undoubtedly incompetent admiral for the debacle. At the same time she managed to tarnish the noble houses of Hoffenland, whose advice she had sought on appointing the leader of her new navy.

The Imperial navy came unstuck later on in the year as well, when Khaldeith raiders were sighted in the Galamor bay. The Imperial fleet, led by the new flagship Empress Matilda, sailed out to meet the dark elf threat. In their fist taste of real battle the Imperial vessels faired poorly. Although they looked the part, shiny guns and clean decks are no substitute for experienced crews, and that showed in poor manouevring and even worse gunnery. The Empress Matilda did manage sink some dark elf vessels, but concentrated too much of her firepower against the smaller enemy ships, leading to an inevitable unequal duel with the dark elf battleship.

The cruiser fleet faired little better in its action against its counterpart. The Khaldeith fleet ran rings around the Imperial cogs, sinking all of them, while suffering only a few ships lost themselves. Another admiral had been lost and the pride of Matilda's new navy now lay at the bottom of Galamor bay. Still, the raiders were driven off, at least that was Matilda's claim, and the Empress insisted more budget be spent replacing her lost ships.

Pellenar joins the HSE, Sudhafen grows in power

As the HSE continued its relentless growth in power it continued to come under attack from the largest power block in Palurin, the great Kaalroen Empire. From 509-510 Domovoi and beastmen raids over the Flachland gap increased in ferocity. One of the new rising powers in the HSE was that of the Von Schaffernacke family, rulers of Sudhafen, and its newly formed standing army was sent to deal with the threats. In a series of small engagements they suffered mixed fortunes. The beastmen were easily crushed but the Domovoi proved more stalwart opponents, repulsing the Von Shaffernacke attacks and continuing to rampage through the HSE.

The horse lords of Pellenar, lead by House Aureus, were still eagerly proving themselves worthy of inclusion into the HSE. Seeing that the Von Schaffernacke army had not solved the chaos problem they rode out themselves and defeated both beastmen and Domovoi patrols, sending the remaining chaos forces back to Kaalroen. Despite the assistance, the Sudhafen men were in no mood to thank those of Pellenar, especially after the arrogant lords of House Aureus loudly bragged of their superiority on the battlefield. This minor dispute came to blows, with both sides suffering for the pride of their leaders, before the men of House Aureus limped back to Pellenar.

If the noble Von Schaffernacke family thought they had proved themselves superior to the horse lords they received a blow in 512. Dark elf raids from Khaldeith had become a constant occurrence around the Galamor Bay. The Von Schaffernacke army marched to the defence of the villages but found itself under a terrible barrage of elven crossbows. Those not killed were taken by the elves for slaves. But aid was to arrive, as the knights of Pellenar attacked the slavers before they could return to their ships. Managing to weather the hail of bolts they forced the elves to retreat and leave behind their captives.

Begrudging thanks was given to House Aureus by Von Schaffernacke, and this time no fighting broke out. Begrudging thanks was given to House Aureus by Von Schaffernacke, and this time no fighting broke out. Sigmarheim showed more gratitude than Sudhafen. For their aid in fighting both chaos and elven raiders Empress Matilda formally announced Pellenar as part of the Holy Sigmarite Empire. House Aureus was growing in power and influence.