Lontinien/Scratchpad
History of the Wars of Lontinien (1431)
The History of the Wars of Lontinien was written in 1431 by Free Josef Gutasson, a Crandish historian.
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Before the conquest of Lyrica there was a Hurmu chief by the name of Totarr (note: Þoðarr) who ruled over a substantial kingdom from southern to mid Lyrica. However he lost half of it to the invading Slobs, and was slain in his hall by the Klossish armies, eager to conquer the Norse who had earlier conquered them. His son Öifröiterr (Note: Eyfreyðr) fled to kin upon the island of Lontinien, saying; “The Crandish have fallen upon us, none escape their triumphs. Woe to us that we ever attacked the Crandish! Brothers, aid us upon the big island so we may defeat the enemy!” (Note: Where this quote comes from is open for speculation, however it is doubtful that these where Eyfreyðr’s words.)
The Norse-kin upon the island had inter-wed and married with the tartars, so that they were hardly distinguishable, and had taken on Tartar names for themselves. The Khan to whom Öifröiterr was related was known as Lautala Ügüuneigen (Note: Lawtala Ügüünejgen, Seafield Sly fox) and he rose an army of horsemen that floated across in ships and attacked the Klossish, but was defeated and himself killed, along with the Norseman Öifröiterr at the battle of Küningsbruck, where his superior numbers were caught in an ambush and destroyed.
Now some hundred years later the Tartar house Lautala still housed a grudge against the now united Kingdom of Cranda, and so in 723 AD they launched a raid upon the isle of Lyrica, burning plundering and raping as is the tartar way. Then they left the isle for their home. When the news reached the barons and lords of Balduvien they sent word to the king in Johannsessbuurg, and some months later were given permission to launch a raid in retaliation, which they did with relish.
The raid was organized with three hundred longboats carrying three thousand men and seven hundred horses, and so provided set sail and landed upon the isle of Lontinien, where they enacted revenge and returned with more than three hundred tartar slaves. But they had not raided the pastures of the hose of Lautala, but rather that of Zeigüntala (Note: Zhejgüntala). The Zeigüntalas joined forces with the Lautala, and launched more destructive raids upon the Lyrican coastline.
In an effort to stop the raids, fortresses were established upon the isles between Lyrica and Lontinien, the strongest of which was Kasdalaujo manned by eight thousand soldiers and with walls of stone four feet thick and 20 feet tall. However the weaker fortresses themselves often became targets, proving more costly than the limited defense they provided.
Raids and counter raids shot back and forth between the two islands for the next six hundred years, and due to the miscalculations often involved in them, the counter raids final caught the intention of the Lontinien Grand Khan who declared that all the houses were in fact in blood feud with the Crandish. The raids only intensified until in 1354 the dreaded Grand Khan Ildüudurdugtski (Note: Ildüwduridwghcy, sword leader) personally led the greatest horse army ever assembled across with the objective of conquering the Crandish on Lyrica once and for all.
Ildüudurdugtski is said to have been eight feet tall, which a great black beard that hung to his waste. He could snap a man in two with his bear hands, it has been said, and would eat the flesh of his subordinates that failed him. (Note: This description is entirely Crandish propaganda. From what we can peace together though the man had a beard he was only about six feet and not a cannibal.) His army was over seven hundred thousand in number (Note: Most likely an exaggeration on the historian’s part, the number more likely only 250,000), and came over in many thousands of longship all at once. They first besieged and overran the island defense, then landed upon the shores of Balduvien, where they rode like demons and destroyed with relish.
The Tartar army rode first to Baltdun, which they razed to the ground, killing many thousands there and in the surrounding countryside. They destroyed every fortress they came across, riding northeast along the coastal area familiar to them from past raids at first, and then into the interior, towards the heavily fortified city of Metbuurg.
Now as all this was happening the King of Cranda, Jaams II, had raised an army and a fleet, and sailed south to Lyrica. He had with him 80,000 soldiers and 700 vessels, and landed in the north and marched south to Metbuurg, adding to the 12,000 soldiers already garrisoned there.
The battle was joined in 1355, and the siege lasted for eleven years, with Jaams dying two years into it of fever, and his son Fretrick II taking over, though keeping his father’s death secret until the siege was broken. Fretrick himself lead the charge from the main gate that finally broke the Tartar lines and forced them to flee to the coast. Over twenty thousand tartar prisoners were taken and sold as slaves.
Following the victory the Crandish armies set off in pursuit, destroying the majority of the tartar forces remaining, and taking Ildüudurdugtski as a prisoner, and having him publicly executed in Metbuurg when the tartar khans failed to produce a ransom within a year. All totaled, a further forty thousand tartars were taken.
Fretrick wished to follow up the defeat of the tartars that had invaded Lyrica with a decisive action to put a stop to all tartar raids, as the death of the Grand Khan would surely make them increase. He set about readying for the conquest of Lontinien. (Note: The tartars were so weakened by their great defeat it is doubtful any further raids would have been a serious problem.)
The Crandish forces were split into four armies, one led by the king himself, one by Baron Vilhelm fonn Metbuurgo, another by Baron Josef Wahr (of Kiezlant), and the forth by Gerhart Freemann (of Johannsessbuurg), all landing on different points of the island in spring of 1367 The tartars fought back with great ferociousness, and the conquest took a further ten years, to be completed by his son Jaams III six years after Fretrick’s death in 1371.
The tartars fought a number of very hard battles, and the campaign was a mix of victories and defeats. The new Grand Khan, Gedussüchugurchu (Note: Gedesükhughurakhu, stomach breaker) was every bit as ferocious as his predecessor, and inspired such fear and hatred among his armies and their commanders that they often committed mass suicide rather than face his wrath when a defeat took place. (Note: No doubt an exaggeration, should the Grand Khan have acted in such a way he would have been at blood feud with every house on the island and quickly deposed). He often led his armies personally, and defeated the Crandish forces on a number of occasions, though they were always able to regroup and continue the campaign. Reinforcements were constantly had to be provided to the Crandishmen; it is said the war nearly destroyed the Crandish economy for lack of manpower.
Other notable tartar khans were Tskorwin Aijussükee (Note: Corwin Ajusükej, highland pasture bear-axe) who eventually changed sides in the conflict, which possibly lead to its victory and why the Tskorwin house controls half the island, and Lautala Zirükeezida (Note: Lawtala Zhirükejzhyda, spear-heart) who was killed in battle at Rohingrad in 1372, after fighting the Crandish for five years.
And so once the conquest was complete Jaams III left Lontinien for his palaces in the north, after appointing a Viceroy. The country was reorganized, and almost entirely converted from their primitive pagan faiths to the true faith of Oten. So ends the narrative.
Fretrick Anglerr's description (1467)
Fretrick Anglerr (Frederick Angler) was the Crandish governor over Lontinien in 1467 AN, when the area constituted an island west of Lyrica. In the years thereafter, the Lontinians were forcefully moved to the Apollonian mainland.
Description
The barbarians that live upon this islande are of little note technilogically or culturally. They are a muddle of races, thoughe chiefe amongst these are that of the Norse or Hurmu, and that of the wilde tribes found upon the mainlande. These tribes are known by many names, the Mongols, the Tartars, the Huns, the Freenesians, a name given to them moste inappropriately, no people could be more bound. They call themselves the Jawnetka (Younetkah), or people of the horse, no doubte there defining feature.
Upon this islande there are two chief cities, namely Hopkinslaaden and Rohingrad, bothe built by the Norse, who by now are so muddled with the Tartars so as to be unworthy of the designatione. Bothe cities are smalle in populatione, the majority living upon the wilde grasselandes that cover the islande. Mostely Crandishmen have moved into the cities now, so that our eares need not be polluted with the horrible gurgles that the Tartars refere to as their language.
The Tartars themselves have recently been converted to the true faithe, somethinge for which we may all rejoice, fore their devotione has proven most profounde. They cling still to their olde traditiones, as one might expect of such primitive people, but many are compatible with our holy faithe.
In warfaire, the Tartar shows his opponente no mercie, taking the culte of glorie farre beyond where a civilized Crandishmen would. They kill everyone, women and children, burning and plundering as they move, and committe acts of rape and murder that would make even our moste enthusiste berserks hide for fear.
They pride themselves in their horses, and never will a true Tartar fight on foote unless his horse be killed; to do otherwise would be preceaved as cowardesse. There weapones are the famouse Tartar bowe, archerie being an area they display great skille, the lance, which they make of wood and designed to knock enemy knightes off their horses rather then kill him, and great war hammers.
The Tartars dress in thicke furs, no matter what the time of yeare is, and have mostly black hair. The Hurmu blood in distinguishes our Lontiniens from those found on the mainlande in that they sometimes have red or blonde haire, unlike the uniforme blacke found elsewhere. Their eyes are spittes almost, their chinnes sharp and pointed yet very small, with sharpe fange like teethe. They are very large, supporting the idea they are indeede descendentes of the giantes, standing seven feet tall in some cases (as opposed to a giante, who must be at least 20). They are all very stronge, being conditioned so by their bleake lifestyle of nomadic herding.
