Great Crusade Against Araby
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The Great Crusade Against Araby was a three year long war, to free Estalia from the Arabyan invaders, and then taking the fight into Araby in retaliation to topple the evil reign of Sultan Jaffar and crush his empire.
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[edit] Prelude and Early War
In IC 1448, Sultan Jaffar had united all of Araby and ruled it with an iron fist. Convinced by the nefarious Skaven that the Estalian Kingdoms was planning an invasion, he gathered his massive army and prepared his fleet for war.
He landed in southern Estalia, and quickly seized the capital of the most important southern kingdom, Magritta, and advanced towards Bilbali the most important northern kingdom. As his army marched north, thousand were dragged south to Araby in chains, to be sold at the terrible slave markets of Lashiek.
As the stories trickled up north, King Louis the Righteous of Bretonnia, worried about where the Arabyans would turn once Estalia was conquered. He soon declared the first Errantry War and send word to the emperor Frederik III didn't want to send the army south in defence of a foreign nation, as the Empire neared a state of civil war he appealed to the independent knights of the Empire to go fight against the unjust invasion along with the Bretonnians, while the Elector Counts each offered a part of their own armies.
As the evil sultan didn't know of the armies gathering to fight him in Brionne he quickly got overconfident sending his fleet into the neighbouring country, Tilea. His massive fleet sailed through the Tilean Sea to attack the city-state of Tobaro, while Tobaro was better defended than the sultan had expected. The defenders of the city managed to hold the sea walls and protect the outer city from an invasion fleet many times their size, driving them into a humiliating retreat and showing for the first time that the Arabyans could be defeated, even when they were gathered in force.
[edit] Allied Intervention
The allied army consisted mostly of heavy cavalry, a thing the arabyans lacked as their desert homeland isn't suited for horses or thick armor. With this superiority, they crossed the mountains into Estalia and quickly won victories against the Arabyan army. As Jaffar realised he couldn't win in the field agains the superior army, he withdrew to his homeland while he left a force in the most important city of Estalia, Magritta, under the command of the Sheikh Emir Wazar, better known as Emir the Cruel.
As the inhabitants were enslaved and forced to fortify the city, the army marched south through Estalia. Seeing how the vengeful Arabyans had put entire towns to the torch as they fled back south, they vowed to take the crusade all the way to Araby and slay the evil sultan.
As they assaulted Magritta they knew that the siege could go on for years, and Jaffar would be able to gather a fresh army in Araby if they didn't pursue now. Thus they decided to split their army in two, one would stay to besiege Magritta and break the last Arabyan strongpoint in Estalia before following the other army into the hot deserts of Araby, a task that would take eight years and the intervention of Mymidia to complete.
As the main force arrived in the ports of southern Estalia ships were brought in from all over the Old World to ship the army across the sea.
[edit] The Crusade Reaches Araby
[edit] Sack of Copher
As the crusaders sailed, Jaffar and his men prepared for the coming invasion. When they finally arrived in the spice-trading city of Copher it was heavily fortified and the defenders were well prepared for the coming battle. Yet they weren't prepared for the wrath Jaffar had brought upon them, and once the defenders first started faltering against the onslaught, the high spires were pulled to the ground and much of the population were put to the sword.
The crusaders were playing straight into Jaffars schemes, he had expected that once they had fought for months in the sweltering heat of Araby they would loose their taste for vengeance and return home. While they weren't prepared for a desert campaign, they were urged on by the fact that the locals hated Jaffar even more than the crusaders and rose up against him.
For months they marched through the hot deserts towards El Haikk, the capital were Jaffar had decided to make his stand, where the outcome of the war would be decided, once and for all.
[edit] Battle of El Haikk
As the crusaders laid siege to the sultans stronghold, many hundreds of tribesmen conscripted by Jaffar revolted, plunging the city into disarray and throwing the careful plans of Jaffar into chaos. Seeing that his last hope for victory would be meeting the enemy in the field, where the hot desert sun would deter the Old Worlders used to a different climate he marched out to meet the army at his doorstep.
While Jaffars army slightly outnumbered the crusaders, the lack of heavy cavalry in his army came into play once more. As the infantry of both armies fought a desperate battle, with the crusaders being pushed back in the heat, thousands of heavily armoured knights charged into the side of the Arabyan light infantry, thousands of tons of metal cutting straight through the lightly armoured pikemen like a scythe. This charge has been immortalized by many legendary stories and songs, colouring the ground red as the Arabyans were crushed beneath thousands of armoured horses. A colour that remains to this day.
[edit] Aftermath
Jaffar died that day, pierced through the back by a Bretonnian lance as he fled. Now seeing their honour satisfied, the knights of Bretonnia decided to return to Copher and sail home. Yet most of the Imperial knights stayed for years hunting down and defeating remnants of Jaffars dark empire, and almost 100 years passed before the last of the Empire troops had returned home.
It was in this century that many of the Imperial Knightly Orders were founded, as they discovered many things previously unknown in the Old World, they often named themselves after this, such as the Knights Panther.
[edit] External Links
A map of the involved nations, and the surrounding area
