1694–1695 Laqi Cross-Border Raids
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Beginning in mid II.1694 AN, Laqi raiding parties under the authority of clans based in Brookshire began crossing the border into Drak-Modan. The targets of these raids ranged from theft of government property, ambushing soldiers on patrol, and capturing civilians for sale on the Laqi black market.
This wave of raids is believed to have been precipitated by a combination of the Draconian bioterror attacks between 4.I.1694 and 15.I.1694, restlessness among Laqs following the end of the Guttulinese conflict and the ensuing peace in southeastern Benacia, and a bias against Drak-Modan for occupying Laqi ancestral territory. Unlike previous instances of cross-border raiding by Laqs under Kaiseress Salome's allegiance, clans were not punished for their participation in these raids.
The raids took place in two phases. During the first phase, a majority of raids were conducted into Kizshire, due to the lengthy shared boundary and the plentiful minor Laqi clans in Brookshire looking to earn prestige and status. After XII.1694, however, the Kizshire frontier began to quiet while Capeshire began to experience highly-organized and heavily-penetrating raids.
Drak-Modan Response
In view of the uptick of Laqi brigandage the recommendation of the DMDF commander with responsibility for the defence of Kizshire, Magister Philokrates Kakadu, to the Co-Chancellors and to the Southern Banner Group was that a punitive expedition be conducted against the Laqi communities of the border country in order to restore a measure of dread in their hearts.
The threat of Laqi raids was used by Drak-Modan propaganda to increase support for the state and as an excuse for new measures to suppress Modanese Nationalist dissidents.
Early Phase
After IV.1694 AN, Laqi cross-border infiltration increased tempo, with a sign that cells were penetrating deeper into Kizshire and performing increasingly dramatic acts of bravery, in order to one-up eachother and earn prestige. Samples of Laqi graffiti could be found throughout Kizshire, in both urban and rural locations, ostensibly to spread anti-Bovic profanity but also designed to mark which locations were safe or dangerous for an infiltration cell to use as a hideout.
Dirty Laundry Incident
On 2.XI.1694, a postal service truck had gone missing between Drakorda and Kurpla.
During the evening of 16.XI.1694, several television signals were hijacked in the Kurpla broadcast area. The broadcast consisted of a group of Myśk'wce'unyn Laqs, who took credit for stealing the truck, lounging on a makeshift set built out of mail sacks and a tent background. For the next half an hour, the group read through some of the personal correspondence they had captured, pausing frequently to mock either the author or recipient, by name, about their romantic inadequacies.
Near the end of the broadcast, one of the Laqs stripped down and compared his physique to that of one Jon Murtagh, who had mailed a photo of himself to Simon Manning as part of an appeal for the two to repair their relationship. He then tore apart the letter's subpar poetry and called Jon a pathetic lover.
At the half-hour mark, as interruption by Drak-Modan broadcast authorities became increasingly frequent, the Laqs ended the broadcast with the words, "Simon, I show to you a real man soon!"
Late Phase
Late raids, believed to be conducted predominantly under the authority of the Count of Lowbrook rather than by independently-acting clans, targeted Capeshire, with graffiti found as far west as Eriksburg.
Aftermath
Drak-Modan and Shireroth failed to reach a negotiated peace that would return stability to the frontier. Instead, the raids petered out in late 1695 AN, once Drak-Modani forces pulled back to the city centers. In Capeshire, where raids were concentrated upon testing military installations and their defenses directly, the end to raids coincided with the creation of the Lowbrook Association, a formation of troops in the new Guttulinese Army under the authority of the Count of Lowbrook.
