Decade of The Langsaex
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The Decade of the Langsaex refers to a series of conflicts between the Kingdom of Nova England and the Terrorist group CNUT during the period between 1010AJ and 1020AJ. Which eventually led to the total extermination of CNUT’s members and supporters. During this period as the conflict worsened the Nova English government withdrew from the international stage and enforced a blackout of all media leaving the country. Some critics from outside the Faedertellus have accused Nova England of using this media suppression to enact a number of genocidal war crimes. While the Nova English Witan has stood by its justification that it was required to stop the spread of terrorist propaganda.
Background
Nova England had been engaged in an on-off conflict with the supporters and operatives of CNUT since its inception as a Xeno rights group in the 930sAJ. After the Great Disaster, it was thought that the group had largely disbanded as its members left the former Nova English territories and migrated to other regions. Many of them found their way into places of learning or established their own institutes where they continued to preach their Anarcho-Communist ideology. However when the Faedertellus was reformed under the Leadership of King Josephus III, these aged ideologues recommitted to their ideological war against Nova England. The interactions between the re-established Nova English government & CNUT were marked by a number of small-scale skirmishes ranging from bombings to the stirring up of penal battalions. During the War against the White Plague these skirmishes began to escalate as the Nova English Armed Forces pushed out of the sovereign territories in their effort to create bufferzones in the Green. This culminated with the Dewsbury Incident and the beginning of the Decade of the Langsaex.
Opening of Hostilities
Dewsbury Incident
On the 6th Feormmonaþ (13) 1010AJ the Deputy Chairwoman of the National Health Institute Asulf Sawyer made a speech to local NHI Sanitation teams, border units of the National Police Force and representatives of the Dewsbury People's Militia to thank them for their services during the National Quarantine. At 1730 at rented 7.5t lorry broke through the security barricades and detonated a large quantity of ANFO based explosives. The resulting explosion caused much of the venue to collapse and led to the deaths of 75 men and women including the Deputy Chief of the NHI and Captain Marcus Rock the son of the then Witan Chief Alhhere Rock who had been in attendance as a representative of the Nova English Armed Forces. Shortly after the bombing, CNUT released a statement to the internet claiming responsibility in revenge for the actions of the NHI during Operation Claensian-Fyr. Witan Chief Alhhere Rock responded in a nationwide address promising to avenge his son and all those who died in the bombings with righteous fury and God’s divine judgement.
Burning of The Streatham-Park Autonomous Zone
Following the Dewsbury Incident the Witan authorised an immediate retaliation strike on CNUT as a show of strength. The target in question was the town of Steatham-Park, a long abandoned town from the former Provincia of Southern Burwood which for several decades had been abandoned to the lawless Green. The town in question had been occupied by a number of CNUT cells who had taken to naming their newly founded anarcho-commune the Streatham-Park Autonomous Zone or SPAZ for brevity.
At 0430 four days following the Dewsbury Incident elements of the NHI Sanitation Squads backed up by elements of the Light Infantry surrounded the settlement. Once these units reached their positions the attack commenced with an initial mortar bombardment of White Phosphorus. Shortly afterwards NHI Sanitation Teams entered the kill zone mounted in Grendels modified with large fuel reservoirs and flamethrowers. These units proceeded to incinerate and execute all those within SPAZ, with the exception of some of the CNUT local leadership who were taken into the custody of the SOE for interrogation before later execution.
The attack for the most part was broadcast live across state run broadcasters, with rolling coverage following featuring pundits, devils advocates and judges from the Office of Court Proceedings confirming the legality of the attack under Section 9 of the Terrorism Act. This act of publically broadcast retaliation lifted public moral within Nova England, with the additional benefit of eliminating an estimated 345 terrorists close to the sovereign borders.
Escalation of Hostilities
Battle of Hwitesands
With the destruction of SPAZ, hostilities between the government and CNUT cooled down for the rest of 1010AJ. However in mid-1011AJ this relative period of calm was shattered by the colloquially named Battle of Hwitesands.
On the 11th Saexmonaþ (7) 1011AJ the picturesque coastal village of Hwitesands was hosting its bi-annual Fréo-Fight. Separate to the ale-drinking and casual fighting a battalion of Penal Labourers were at work strengthening coastal flood defences. At around 16:14 during the height of a particularly boisterous bout, a cell of CNUT operatives ambushed the Penal Battalion’s escort and began arming the prison labourers with an assortment of improvised weapons amid calls to overthrow their oppressors.
A large majority of the penal workers immediately scattered into the countryside much to the bewilderment of the CNUT commissars. While those remaining marched towards the village green where the Fréo-Fight was taking place. The locals first became aware of the threat as scuffles began to breakout amongst the outskirts of the crowd. As they were roused from their drunken revelries they began immediately fighting back with whatever was to hand. Pint glasses, chairs, cudgels and fists were used by the locals in brutal hand to hand combat with the penal labourers. As the tide began to turn against the would be revolutionaries the CNUT operatives fired into the masses with sub-machine guns killing and injuring both penal labourers and locals with no regard before fleeing.
‘Yeah we thought it was just a few lads that couldn’t handle their ale but when we noticed that all those bastards were in their prison grays [Gray Overalls – Standard Issue to all Penal Labourers], everyone got involved in keeping the filthy fuckers away from the kids. It was chaos! Bottles of ale sailed across the air, I managed to smack one of them across the face with the ringside bell and I kid you not! I saw Father Aelfhun throw the ceremonial spear straight into one of them!’—Mr Turec Carrin, Excerpt from the Hwitesands Observer.
During their attempted escape they were gunned down by a local People’s Militia responding to the outbreak of violence. By the end of the day around 92 civilians had died with 247 wounded. Of the penal labourers 230 died during the battle, with a further 140 executed and another 359 recaptured from the countryside and transferred to other Penal battalions.
The attack on a sleepy village’s local festivities marked the beginning of CNUT’s new offensive campaign.
1011AJ Saboteur Campaign
After the failure at the Battle of Hwitesands, CNUT changed tact and began a campaign of sabotage against the national infrastructure of Nova England. These acts ranged from small nuisances such as spreading tire poppers on major roads to larger threats like the bombings of power stations.
Notable acts of sabotage in the period include;
- Bombing of Hempholme Hydroelectric Power Station
- Arson of Port Neil Transmitting Station
- Destruction of Rail Track on the Valleys Mainline
- Attempted sinking of barge in Port Neil’s commercial harbour
These acts of sabotage were carried out by small cells and lone wolfs often using minimal tools and planning to evade detection. As the campaign intensified, security was increased across the board with local People’s Militia units increasingly filling the gap left by conventional forces.
Assassination of Ceolfrid Key
Ceolfrid Key was a university lecturer at the University of St John in West Grinstead, New Sussex. On the 19th of Bordweall (2) 1012AJ Nova English Military intelligence were tipped off that he had been helping to recruit foreign students to CNUT thanks to their less stringent border restrictions between New Sussex and Nova England.
Following a period of surveillance these suspicions were proven to be true. The Ministry of Defence immediately authorised the SOE to undertake a capture or kill operation. On the 4th of Heorþmonaþ (6) 1012AJ as Ceolfrid was collecting his morning coffee, a motorcycle pulled up beside him and according to witnesses the passenger on the bike pulled out a pistol and shot the lecturer several times before the bike sped off into the labyrinth of ancient streets.
Whilst the event was attributed to the Nova English government at the time be local media. It later turned out to have been the result of internal divisions between different factions of CNUT one of which had been led by the deceased lecturer.
