Vaasan War

The Vaasan War was a decade-long conflict between the Kingdom of Damara and the Kingdom of Vaasa during the mid 14 century DR in which Zhengyi the Witch-King rose to power and successfully conquered both realms.

Location
The war began in Vaasa itself with Zhengyi's conquest of the Sunderland in the south and Ostraland in the north, but much of the war occurred on Damaran soil and climaxed at the Ford of Goliad.

Causes
Zhengyi the Witch-King appeared in Vaasa and raised Castle Perilous in a single night in, thus declaring himself ruler of a new Kingdom of Vaasa. He raised an undead army and quickly gained allegiance of the land's evil inhabitants, including the dreaded Citadel of Assassins, and began a war of conquest across Vaasa and Damara.

Conquest of Vaasa
While the war did not arrive in Damara until, the fighting began in , when Zhengyi's forces conquered Vaasa immediately after the erection of Castle Perilous. The northern town of Palischuk was razed while the southern town of Darmshall was the only settlement to withstand Zhengi's assault, but would become a puppet state of the Witch-King. At the same time, Zhengyi worked to cripple Damara's economy by dispatching demons to the Bloodstone Mines&mdash;a critical source of Damara's key export of bloodstone gems &mdash;and by barricading the passes through the Galena Mountains and causing the "Wolf Winter," in which the frosts arrived early, killing crops and driving wild beasts, along with many lycanthropes, into populated areas.

Invasion of Damara
When the snows melted in early 1348 DR, the forces of Zhengyi's Kingdom of Vaasa crossed the Galena Mountains and began their invasion of Damara, committed atrocities and massacres everywhere they struck. The fighting was largely confined to Damara's northern duchies of Arcata, Brandiar, and what would become Soravia.

Damaran defenses were somewhat disorganized. Most resistance took the form of militias led by local lords, including a young Gareth Dragonsbane, who won every battle he led, and Kidaez Tahlard, a nobleman who died early in the war when the forces of Vaasa encroached on his estate. The Vaasan and Damaran forces fought many skirmishes, including a battle at High Moon wherein a mercenary company known as the Men of the Red Blade suffered losses.

As the war dragged on, Damaran territory in the north, including Bloodstone Pass, became increasingly cut off from the Kingdom of Damara. Even so, it was five years until the war truly began to turn against the Damarans. The first notable settlement to fall was Helmsdale, a town of 500 that was decimated and became the Vaasan headquarters for the remainder of the war and beyond. A number of displaced and desperate refugees joined forces with bandits in the Galenas, and under the leadership of the Grandfather of Assassins, began pillaging and demanding tribute from surrounding towns, including Bloodstone Village.

As the war dragged on and the depredations of the Witch-King became clearer, the peoples of both Impiltur and Narfell grew increasingly concerned about Zhengyi's ambitions, but neither made any major effort to support Damara. The only exception was a single raid by riders from Narfell, who moved against a Vaasan camp on the shores of the Icelace River. While they had success against the goblins in Zhengyi's army, they were handily defeated when faced with undead raised by a single priest of Orcus.

Despite minimal support from their neighbors, the Damarans held off Zhengyi for another four years. The Duchy of Brandiar, which experienced the brunt of the violence with approximately 8 of the 10 years of fighting happening within its borders, was the first to fall when Duke Ebelard Brandebury surrendered to Zhengyi.

The Battle of Goliad
The two sides then arrived at an apparent stalemate during the summer of, when the army of King Virdin Bloodfeathers met the Vaasan forces at the Ford of Goliad. This site was both the critical crossing point of the Beaumaris River and also a death trap for whichever army attempted to cross it while the other held the opposite side. The war had been tremendously costly for Damara to this point, and because of this, the young King Virdin was swayed to accept a gambit that he believed would allow him to surprise the Vaasan forces. The king was provided a magic wand that was meant to allow his troops to cross the river undetected, but in truth this was a ruse overseen by Zhengyi and the "wand" was a simple stick with twelve castings of Nystul's magic aura upon it. Thus the disastrous Battle of Goliad occurred and the army of Damara was slaughtered when they attempted to cross the Ford while King Virdin was assassinated as he watched the carnage in horror. Subsequently, it was widely believed that the king's chief lieutenant, Felix, was Zhengyi's agent who both provided the "wand" to the king and was perhaps the assassin as well.

Zhengyi and his allies in the Citadel of Assassins quickly capitalized on their victory, leveling the town of Goliad and then, in a single night, killing most of the remaining leaders of Damaran society. The first victim was Duke Helmont the 13th of Carmathan, along with fifty other members of his family in the ruling House Devlin. In the Barony of Ostel, the entirety of the ruling House Praka was killed, and likewise in the Barony of Polten, Baron Donlevy the Old and all of House BelMaris were wiped out. With all leadership positions across the duchies thus now held by either puppets of Zhengyi or known cowards too scared to stand against him, the Witch-King quickly claimed control over all of Damara.

Aftermath
With most of Damara's experienced soldiers now dead and its leaders assassinated, the realm was unable to stand against Zhengyi any further. He claimed the northern duchies as his own, established the Duchy of Sovaria as a buffer state, and garrisoned those lands with his forces, but rather than keep the peace, they sparked a refugee crisis and created an atmosphere of danger as displaced soldiers turned to banditry. He further demanded that the southern baronies pay hefty tribute to his Kingdom of Vaasa, and hand-selected the rulers of most of these realms, sometimes selecting for loyalty but more often selecting for incompetence. The result was in-fighting between the southern rulers and heavy taxes on the people. While this arrangement was often considered a devious decision on his part, ensuring control of the northern regions (where most of Damara's mineral wealth was located) while leaving the southern regions unable to unite against him, the truth was that Zhengyi had a limited ability to continue the war as his undead troops were unable to travel much further from Castle Perilous than the Goliad River.

After consolidating his control, Zhengyi then turned his attention away from Damara as he plotted to grow his strength. Two years later, the Bloodstone Wars would erupt in Damara between the squabbling baronies.

Combatants
Zhengyi's army consisted of three main groups. The first were the demon and undead forces made available to him through his allegiance to Orcus. The second were the monstrous humanoids, goblinoids, and giants of Vaasa, who flocked to him when he first declared his rule over Vaasa. The last group included Vaasan humans, such as the White Worm tribe and the Citadel of Assassins.

King Virdin's army was comprised of the soldiers and militia of Damara, led by the Damaran nobility, with some very minor support of neighboring realms, namely Narfell and Impiltur. It was rumored that Impiltur provided additional aid in the form of troops disguised in the livery of the Duchy of Carmathan.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Bloodstone Pass • The Mines of Bloodstone • The Bloodstone Wars • The Throne of Bloodstone
 * Novels
 * Promise of the Witch-King • Road of the Patriarch
 * Promise of the Witch-King • Road of the Patriarch
 * Promise of the Witch-King • Road of the Patriarch