Campaigns of Emperor Guntherm

Overview

This document was compiled by the civil service at the request of the Minister of Historical Research, and focuses on the military campaigns of Emperor Gutherm.

Timeline

As documentary evidence is reasonably plentiful and interpretations differ, here follows primarily a timeline of confirmed events, with references to the documentary sources as and when they seemed relevant.

Birth and Early Life

In 200YE, Guntherm is born to Steinr parents.In 212YE, Guntherm passes his Test of Citizenship. In 234YE,Guntherm is appointed to his first Imperial title: General of the Green Shield army.

There is an undated tale from the early period of Guntherm's Generalship which illustrates the methods with which he gained his popularity. I am no storyteller, but having heard interpretations from several sources, the essential facts appear to be that he dismissed a powerful Thane named Dunstan from his army - where he had been an officer for many years - for using the soldiers under his command as servants in his hunting pursuits and neglecting their needs and the needs of the army.

It is also a common theme of the retellings that Thane Dunstan was sent home with the antlers from his last kill 'to remind him of what he had done', but every other part of the kill was used to the benefit of the Green Shield army, particularly those who had suffered under his command.

The other major correlation in tales of Guntherm's deeds from this time is the constant resistance to any form of battlefield looting; he insisted that as they fought the Jotun, who were honourable warriors, they should bury the barbarian dead with all their panoply and goods still with them.

Several such tales hasten to reassure the listener that Guntherm was not stingy or unprosperous in his private life, however, stressing the beautiful gifts that he bought his wife while out on campaign. Indeed, two notes of thanks have been carefully preserved by the Halls of his offspring - one from his daughter Brigid concerning a fine ivory box carved by a Suaq magician, and one from his son Cnut regarding a Varushkan axe.

The Jotun Offensive

In 235YE, a major Jotun offensive begins into western Wintermark.

This is the defining campaign of Guntherm's early career.

The Jotun first came sailing down the Gullet into West Marsh, sweeping aside the Kallavesi patrols and smashing a foothold into Kallavesa, extending their reach throughout Skymark.

From there, they tested the Empire's defences to the north in Stark, but quickly pulled back after the Navarr defended Rest with great tenacity; instead they pushed across into the plains of Kronemark, whilst raiding south into Bregasland and Mitwold over the Westmere.

Before the Empire could rally and push them back, the Jotun were already building a great fortification in West Marsh and a smaller outpost in Kronemark. Imperial hesitation was often blamed on the timidity in military financing that [{Empress Mariika]] had encouraged and her death having left a power vacuum in which bickering could slow the Imperial response to such a threat, especially as her enemies had poisoned the generals against Wintermark in particular.

Eventually, the Wintermark, Marcher and Freeborn armies were deployed to counter the offensive; however, they spent some time split between defending Bregasland and Mitwold against any incursion, keeping the Jotun away from Kalpaheim, and ensuring the roads to the ancestral swamps were kept open in Kallavesa, and the Jotun had time to complete their fortifications.

The histories generally agree that Guntherm eventually persuaded the Marchers to fully commit to driving the Jotun out of Wintermark by demonstrating the magic of the circle of runesmiths known as the Bloodgold Hammer, who used the realm of Summer to empower the Green Shield in crushing the fortification at Kronemark; the method by which they did so never entered Imperial Lore, but the Marchers were convinced.

The larger fortification in West Marsh proved more resilient, however, and a slow grinding campaign seemed assured until the Western Wind hakima emerged, using the power of Spring to ruin key points in the vast fortification so that the Summer-empowered troops could finish the task. The exact rituals which they used were not recorded, but they seem very similar to Rising Roots that Rend Stone.

The Jotun were caught off guard by the use of ritual magic, as it is not an area they have ever specialised in, and with the loss of their second fortification they fell back across the Gullet.

In the wake of their defeat, Guntherm petitioned the Imperial Senate to construct fortifications in Wintermark and the Marches to prevent a repeat occurrence, but the Senate was still extremely conservative with spending at the time and refused his requests.

Invasion of Jotun

In 238YE, Guntherm led the victorious Imperial armies into the territory to the west of Wintermark.

The Imperial forces split in several directions to harry the crippled Jotun armies wherever they ran. Orders record that Guntherm led the Green Shield north into Kalsea, followed by the Fire of the South, which could afford to be led so far afield due to its great speed.

The Green Shield headed up into the territory that the Jotun name Skallahn, and took the low-lying farmland and fisheries of Greenwall along the northern shores of the Gullet as the Jotun tried desperately to unload their forces from their ships, before chasing the wounded armies across the great plains of the Iron Stand.

Meanwhile the Fire of the South pressed even further north into the territory that the Jotun name Tromsa, and made their foothold in the forest of Icewood; they took no further territory, carefully balancing the retention of their foothold with damaging the Jotun without running out their tenuous supply lines.

The Marchers headed down the southern coast of the Gullet, into Narkyst, and made a spirited attempt to capture the territory named Hordalant on the border of Bregasland; they successfully overran the marshes of Blutgahn and the plains of Ashahohn but were incapable of making further progress.

These actions enabled the Empire to recapture a great many prisoners taken from Wintermark and the Marches during the invasion, but there is plenty of evidence that efforts to liberate the humans of Kalsea and Narkyst did not go so well.

The local thralls were found to be fanatically loyal to their Jotun masters, and slowed the advance and capture of Jotun territory; those that had taken up the offer of citizenship were convicted of treason in unprecedented numbers, and the local population was essentially wiped out in Imperial-controlled regions, being replaced by settlers from Wintermark and the Marches respectively.

While this offensive was being undertaken, the rest of the Imperial armies were engaged with the Thule in Miekarova and Volodmartz - indeed, there was some considerable unrest that Guntherm and those loyal to him were engaging in military adventures along the coast of the Gullet when long-held Imperial territories were in danger.

Against the Thule

In 239 YE, having pursued the defeat of the Jotun as far as it would reasonably go, Guntherm finally agreed to contribute to the campaign against the Thule, so long as decisive action was taken rather than the grinding stalemate that the Thule magics had brought to the main front.

The Marchers and the Brass Coast held the Jotun front while Guntherm took the Green Shield across to join up with Highguard and the League gathering in Karsk. Orders from this time show them committing strongly to a heavy offensive pushing into Skuld.

The Thule were forced to spend some of their attention repulsing this advance, and the Varushkan, Urizen and Navarr armies committed in Miekarova and Volodmartz successfully pushed their assailants back over the mountains.

However, tragedy struck - an intervention through the Sentinel Gate to smash a key Thule fortification in Miechernya ended in disaster after it turned out to be a trap set by the Thule for the hakima of the Western Wind. The Thule threw everything they had at the coven, and they were slaughtered in their entirety, their kohan overrun by the sudden assault. The Imperial forces destroyed Thule resistance in the area, as the forces had no plan for a retreat, but the Empire had lost a vital military asset.

Seeking the Throne

After the victory against the Thule, the Varushkans add their support to the voices of Wintermark and the Marches who have been clamouring for Guntherm's accession to the Throne; my studies uncovered a telling letter from the Senator for Karsk regarding how Varushkan national bourse Seats based on mithril and ilium resources in Verthandi and Skuld might be used.

So emboldened, Guntherm declares his candidacy for the Throne at this point; he is immediately faced with two other challengers for the position: the Senator for Bastion, Rebecca, and the Archmage of Summer, Julius of Elos.

Rebecca's campaign seems to be primarily based around a similar platform to Mariika's steady focus on defence and economic concerns, and there are some records of propaganda published by her followers accusing Guntherm of reckless endangerment of the Empire and a general lack of Loyalty.

Meanwhile, Julius of Elos' campaign focussed around warning of the dangers to the East that had been too long neglected - of which Axos was the major component, and the fundamental opportunistic nature of the Druj only a minor side-note - and the importance of choosing someone who appreciated the contribution of magic to the Empire's victories, framing the deaths of the Western Wind as demonstrating Guntherm's carelessness with such matters.

Despite this opposition, Guntherm took the Throne - in the end only two senators of Highguard and three of Urizen voted against him.

On attaining the Throne, he is regularly recorded by Rebecca's loyal followers as fulfilling all of her worst nightmares. As soon as the new General of the Green Shield was elected, Guntherm used his power to depose her, although he did immediately appoint her as his adjutant.

He also made free with the Hand of the Chancellor, resupplying armies heavily and beginning the construction of the fortifications he had been denied across the western border of the Empire.

In 240YE, tired of pushing resupply motions through the Senate, he encouraged them to grant each General the power to resupply their own armies as they saw fit.

The campaign against the heartlands of the Jotun was re-ignited, but the constant sabotage by the local population means that the Empire found it impossible to take an entire territory.

Invasion of Otkodov

In 241YE, Varushkan armies, supported by the Dawnish, finally get their foothold in Verthandi. Together they capture a source of Mithril, which the Varushkans did not manage to keep as a National position. Their stewardship of The Eternal Shafts of Time is often cited as a reason for this failure, and resulted in outrage from the Varushkans. This incident inspires several generations of maneuvering by Varushkan senators to try and have the other Bourse seats physically within the borders of their nation reallocated as national seats - but without success.

Someone has gone to great lengths to erase from the records exactly where the Mithril in Verthandi was found, but from occasional references to 'panning for Mithril' it might well have been under the great lake at Erskjuvaten. It could, however, easily be some smaller series of mountain lakes or streams.

The Varushkan armies grimly hung on to their foothold, but the Thule seemed quite happy to curse the whole of Verthandi so long as the Varushkans were suffering from it - and appeared to know their every move before the Varuskhans themselves.

The Jarl of Keirheim

In 242YE, the Jotun launch an amphibious assault across Lake Nutjuitoq, bypassing the Empire's holdings entirely, and carve out a beachhead in the Suaq Fount. They are led by Kjorvak, Jarl of Keirheim, whose fleet conveyed them across the treacherous frozen wastes.

Guntherm leads the Green Shield army to engage, but once they are heavily committed, the Shard of Winter - a Thule army - attacks both sides within a great storm of snow and ice. There is much theorising between members of the Imperial Conclave about the ritual that the Shard of Winter might have been using, but nothing ends up being contributed to Imperial Lore from this.

The Shard of Winter are also reported to have a 'great rune-clad Artok' accompanyn it. Many military intelligence reports disagree strongly on the rune-markings, or the number of such beasts. However, what is clear is that at least one of them is tamed enough to be ridden by a Warlock, because this is the one which they use to try to assassinate Kjorvak.

In the storm, Kjorvak was separated from his Skjaldborg warriors; again, I am no storyteller, so I will refrain from attempting to describe in detail the battle which followed, but instead of slaying his enemy while he is distracted by the Thule, Guntherm saves his life; as the storm clears, the Artok lies dead and the Jotun retreat back across the lake.

The grimnir Haalstan the Green attended Emperor Guntherm immediately after the battle; it is from his diaries that we know that Guntherm told him about the encounter with the Jarl and the Artok. When it was clear what had transpired, Kjorvak swore a blood-oath to Guntherm, on Guntherm's sword - if a Steinr calls on the debt with Guntherm's sword in hand, the blood of Keirheim will come to their aid against the Thule.

Haalstan was very interested in the precise phrasing of part of the oath, and records that it was to be carried "in the blood of Kierheim"; he was unsure whether this would only bind Kjorvak's direct descendants or whether it would pass down through whoever held the port of Kierheim, as long as they were still Jotun.

However, the matter is largely academic - Kjorvak was reasonably successful at home despite the failed invasion, and his bloodline still rules Kierheim today - the current Jarl, Ustigar, is a direct descendant, and Haalstan's records are quite certain that a direct descendant would feel obligated to answer a call from any Steinr who arranged a meeting and presented the weapon.

Guntherm is widely held to have kept in contact with the Jotun by Winged Messenger extensively after this incident, particularly the northern Jotun, even though he still held footholds in their territories.

Failure in Otkodov; the Druj stir

In 243YE, the Varushkans finally lose their foothold in Verthandi, and the Thule invaded Karsk and Skarsind in force. At the same time, Guntherm continued the campaigns along the coast of the Gullet, seeking to comprehensively deny the inlet to the Jotun.

In 244YE the situation worsened further. The Druj begin to send raiding parties into Therunin. Despite the potential consequences, the insult goes mostly ignored - it is seen as a reasonable response to the Navarr incursions into Druj lands, although the Navarr maintain that most of these have been for exploration of potential extensions to the trods, rather than for pillaging.

Within a year, by t245YE,he Druj cause major embarrassment by ambushing a trading caravan run by a Brass Coast family at the border of Holberg. For some time the Empire does not know how to respond, as the caravan's regular trade route with the Druj was not exactly a legal endeavour; but the Druj helpfully make up their minds for them by launching two massive invasions into Holberg and Therunin, as well as a considerable traffic of raiding groups sweeping across the Semmerlak into Weirwater and Semmerholm.

=The Ceasefire

In 246YE, Guntherm arranges a two-year ceasefire with the Jotun. There are very few records other than around the final Senate motion ratifying the ceasefire, in which he reveals that the Jotun are asking for essentially no concessions - they are quite happy to fix the borders that currently exist, leaving several regions of Kalsea and Narkyst in Imperial hands.

Mysteriously, the Thule offensive in Karsk and Skarsind also wavers and dies away; contemporary investigations suggest that the Thule have become occupied with a Jotun offensive along the north-western coast of the area we now know as Urdur, although reports at the time did not distinguish areas of western Otkodov.

In order to avoid any accusation of appeasing the Jotun, Guntherm also presses on with the construction of two fortifications in Jotun territories - the Nail in Ashahohn, named in traditional Marcher style, and the Iron Banner on the Iron Stand.

Against the Druj

In 247YE, the Empire throws every single army against the Druj in Holberg and Therunin, pushing them back into the Barrens and the Mallum.

Guntherm refuses to let the Imperial armies take the Barrens, or any territory in the Vore or the Mallum, despite the extra casualties resulting from not taking a foothold. Instead, the armies focus exclusively on following the Druj armies wherever they may go and inflicting horrific casualties.

This is the campaign in which he earns the sobriquet 'Bloodthirsty', and there are records of his Inquisition by the Imperial Synod regarding his insistence that no Druj prisoners should remain alive, and that they should copy the terror tactics of the Druj and turn them against themselves - which was seen as a major offence against Prosperity, Courage and Pride.

There are several very different records of the Inquisition. Of the main narratives that emerge, the dominant one is that Guntherm knows that the treaty with the Jotun will expire soon and does not want the Empire to get attached to anything on the Eastern front.

There are also two significant undercurrents. One is that Guntherm, contrary to his nickname, was sickened by the waste of human lives involved in the attempted conversion of the Jotun thralls, and did not want to have to repeat the experience on the Eastern side of the Empire. The other is the persistent rumour that Guntherm simply did not care about expansion which did not directly benefit Wintermark, where his true loyalty always was held.

Another Jotun Invasion; the death of Guntherm

In 248YE, the ceasefire with the Jotun expires, and the Jotun are ready; they immediately launch a through offensive against the Imperial-held areas of Narkyst and Kallsea.

They find a mostly empty landscape. The settlers from Wintermark and the Marches, despite the rumours that Guntherm favoured this side of the Empire, have been quietly evacuated back to their original homelands to avoid them falling into the hands of the Jotun.

All that remains are the fortifications, their garrisons, their supply chain and the Imperial armies moving into position to defend them.

The Jotun are prepared for the fortifications too, however. The Iron Banner is destroyed by ice giants, summoned from the cold Summer domain of Cathan Canae; the Nail is besieged for several months, and on the point of starvation the Jotun grant its garrison safe passage back to the Marches, on the condition that they leave the fortification intact.

Guntherm was recorded as having been confident that the Jotun would be content with regaining the Gullet - but he is proven wrong. Once they have cleaned up the coastal regions, the Jotun sweep into Sermersuaq across the lakes, thirty thousand orcish troops ready to return the Empire's challenge to their homelands.

This is the end of Guntherm's campaigns against the Jotun, as he is killed on the Suaq Font defending the coastline of Sarda against the Burnt Claw tribe, who take his sword as a trophy back to their lands far to the west.

After his death and interment in the Necropolis - a subject on which he wrote many impassioned letters to various Stewards of the Dead insisting that he was fully committed to recieving that honour, whatever his differences with Highguard had been at the start of his reign - his daughters were repeatedly accused of taking his body, or at least some of his relics, and casting them in the Kallavesi swamps in the traditional manner.

They both denied this extensively throughout their lives - I kept coming across letters from them explaining patiently to various parties how they could not possibly have done this thing. They were generally reliant on the honourable reputation of their father for not looting corpses on battles - how much less, then, would they have dreamed of looting his resting place!

But to some of their Winterborn accusers, they wrote instead - in, alas, the vaguest of terms - of a great doom that their father foretold if they interfered with his burial arrangements, and how the lack of such doom having fallen upon the nation being a sign that they were innocent.