The Harrowcrag expands its borders

Long had the lords of the Marrowcraw Courts sought to “reclaim” the Splintervale, the expansive hinterland that stretches north beyond the Tatterspine Hills as far as the River Mournrush. Numerous raids had been suffered across the Splintervale, its gently rolling hills and open countryside proving easy terrain for marauding forces. Deeming these lands their “ancestral right” the descendants of the Drázkhary dynasty were set upon securing their dominion over the Splintervale.  

Prince Dragos, the de facto military commander of the Marrowcraw Court, had previously ventured across the Splintervale to scour the land of invaders in the wake of the raids by the Vermin clans, but he was forced to take his armies eastward to deal with the ever-more frequent skirmishes with the Sylváney tribes. The titular Duke of the Splintervale, Yvan the Gaunt, had fallen in Battle of the Charnel Fords during the crusades against the Quermarans. So it fell to his nephew, Lord Ygor of Shivermere, to lead the latest Drázkhary crusades in the quest to claim the Splintervale. Though relatively inexperienced to campaigning when compared to the court elders, what Ygor lacked in experience he more than compensated for in chivalric spirit, leading from the front and inspiring his men with conspicuous bravery on the field of battle.

The knights and militia levies of Shivermere clashed first with the savage tribes of the Barrowgorge Fray who had taken to frequent plundering of the settlements in the eastern marches. These nomadic beasts proved a wily foe, accustomed as they are to guerrilla tactics and roving ambushes. Slowly, over the course of many weeks and at the cost of heavy casualties, Ygor succeeded in driving the Fray from the Splintervale. By garrisoning and fortifying each farmstead and village as it was cleared the crusaders were able to prevent the Fray from maintaining a foothold, and soon the beasts were increasingly dependent upon falling back to their own borders for supply and reinforcement. Though doubtless the Barrowgorge Fray would return to raid the Splintervale they would find its estates and villages better prepared and defended against future attack.

The crusade did not end with the defeat of the Barrowgorge Fray. Having secured a border along the River Mournrush, Ygor needed to lead his crusaders south against an altogether different foe. The duardin of Karak Findar had taken to prospecting far and wide across Permenia. Having sailed their skyvessels the many leagues north to descend upon the Splintervale the enterprising duardin had recently established a mining outpost in the foothills of the Tatterspine peaks. 

Upon receiving fresh levies from Harrowcrag, along with a pair of ferocious dragons sent from the castle’s stables, Ygor was able to launch a sudden and savage attack upon the mining outpost. Though lesser in number than the tribes of the Barrowgorge Fray, the duardin were no less formidable in battle, bringing to bear sophisticated technology - and with it, deadly firepower. Ygor’s army found the outpost to be well defended, taking punishing fusillades from the defending duardin. The nimble skyvessels proved too agile for Ygor’s forces, strafing the Marrowcraw soldiers as they advanced. Even the mighty Harrowcrag dragons could not withstand the fury of the Arkanauts’ guns. Yet the beleaguered duardin simply could not match the sheer numbers of Ygor’s army. The skyvessels proved too few in number to be able to contain the massed infantry and knights of Ygor’s army as they attacked across a broad front. The Arkanaut ground forces were overwhelmed by the assault and the outpost was sacked.

The expulsion of the Karak Findar presence from the Splintervale saw the lands secured at last. With the Drázkhary’s alliance to the Aster-Lonvren in the west, a Dominion of Death now stretched from the banks of the Mournrush in the north to the floodplains of the Sallowwash in the south, controlling all the lands of Athein and Fermia.