[Wyewood] Autumn War Book IX, AS LX

[Wyewood Seneschal]

Autumn War Book IX, AS LX
In those days, when prosperity begot rivalry and rivalry begot strife, the Baronies of Madrone, Aquaterra, and Wyewood, bound in the Salish Sea Accords, held dominion over the northern land ways.

>From Madrone rode the finest horsemen in all the marches, their cavalry swift and disciplined, striking fear upon the open plain and guarding the merchant roads with iron resolve. Their watchtowers crowned the mountain passes, their tolls of passage enforced not only by right of custom but by the thunder of hooves and the unbroken line of their lances.

>From Wyewood came the archers, famed in all the realms; it was said their volleys could halt even the strongest charge, beast and rider alike brought low in a storm of feathered death.

Aquaterra, too, was not wanting, for their armored fighters of renown stood as a living wall, shields interlocked, their steel-clad ranks advancing like an inexorable tide.

Yet to the south, the lords of Blatha an Oir, Glymm Mere, and Dragon’s Laire, whom men named the Pacifica Alliance, found themselves pressed and hemmed in. The markets of the interior, rich with grain and ore, lay beyond the Salish Sea Accord’s control, yet the Pacificans were denied the free road to them. Their embassies turned away, their bargains refused, resentment hardened into reprisal.

So, the southern lords, having no recourse upon the land, turned to the sea. By the decree of their councils, privateers were loosed upon the southern waters, and the rivers, too, were seized—timber, salt, and wine taken as rightful spoils. Glymm Mere’s warriors readied for the reckoning, their great weapons gleaming in the lines, mighty blades and hammers poised to sunder shield and helm. Dragon’s Laire marshaled its fierce Legions, disciplined and relentless, drilled to drive their spears as one into the heart of any foe.

Yet Blatha an Oir, knowing well the measure of Madrone’s horse, saw that no fleet nor oar could answer the thunder of a charge upon the field. Thus, they called for champions—not merely men of the sword, but masters of the bow and the keen-thrown axe, whose shafts might darken the sky and whose blades might humble even the proudest rider.

The Salish Sea Accord, affronted, declared that no honor could stand where treaties were mocked and commerce made prey. Yet neither side would yield the rights each claimed by inheritance and toil. And so the Autumn War began—not by sudden clash of steel, but by the slow corrosion of envy and the obstinacy of lords who would rather hazard ruin than endure diminution.

In Service,
Baron John de Percy, OP, OM
Baroness Margaret Palmer
Wyewood