02 - Iron Kingdoms W.. - Captain Spud Is Amazing

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44 Iron Kingdoms
were put to the test in haunting battles amidst thick
woods and bog. The short but bloody war’s outcome
was decided at the Battle of the Tongue. Vinter
Raelthorne II’s cunning brought him victory, for at
a crucial moment in battle, Khador’s mercenaries
changed sides and decimated the Khadoran flanks. As
the northmen were slaughtered, King Vygor charged
into combat with King Raelthorne II who impaled
Vygor on a yard of sharpened steel and brought the
conflict to its end.
Queen Ayn Vanar VIII, Vygor’s pregnant widow,
happily ascended the throne while crying tears of
farewell for her misanthropic, dark-hearted husband.
She declared the war over and began nursing her
nation back to health. The Thornwood War was the
first of the modern wars and ultimately an example of
the costs that such conflicts incur. Both Cygnar and
Khador spent years recovering from the losses of men,
machines, and resources, and in the end the short,
futile struggle gained nothing for either nation.
fading shadows: ios languishes
The iosans are a PeoPle caughT in The midsT of Tragedy.
They are The auThors of Their own faTe, a harsh reminder
ThaT Pride and arrogance can lead To The fall of an enTire
race. Their decline is one of ages, and The silenT lamenT of
cenTuries is Their TormenT. as relaTed by The exiled iosan
chelryhhmor To The rynnish scholar chanyce decauThis:
We are a people of shadoWs, my friend. shades of transparenCy.
some of us are as ghosts. if you Could see through the depths of
elven souls, you Would find there only sorroW. our sadness and
our grief is great, for We Could have sat beside our gods as beloved
Children; instead, We pulled them from the sky.
afTer The founding of ios, The divine courT soughT a means
To reTurn To The veld. by 840 br The iosans had fragmenTed
inTo Two races. The Pilgrimage of The winTer fane To The
norTh led by aeric severed The nyss from The iosans. The
divine courT was irrevocably fracTured.
cenTuries laTer The rivening sTruck. in 140 br, as recounTed
by The elf chelryhhmor, The clergy of The fanes wenT mad.
only The fane of scyrah was sPared This inexPlicable
caTasTroPhe. The remnanTs of The PriesThood ran ramPanT in
a frenzy of self-desTrucTion, buT The fane of scyrah reTreaTed
To Their forTress hold of lacyr’s inner sancTum.
since The rivening and scyrah’s reTurn To lacyr, The fane
of scyrah have aTTended a comaTose god, unresPonsive and
slowly waning. as she fades, her clerics rely more and more
on Their own souls for divine Power.
no one knows whaT haPPened To The oTher members of The
divine courT. The vanished, as The elves call Them, are losT
and unTouchable by Prayer or suPPlicaTion. They may waiT
silenT and invisible for The veld To oPen, buT some fear They
are simPly dead.
ios is a naTion griPPed in denial and, in Turn, unwilling
To oPen iTs borders. elven enmiTy for human wizards
and quesTs To faraway lands are Their only inTeracTions
wiTh The ouTside world. Today, They do noT indulge in
commerce, aid, or assisTance from any of The oTher PeoPles
of The iron kingdoms, and This shows liTTle sign of
changing anyTime soon.
The Raelthorne Dynasty
After the death of Malfast, the Crown passed
to Vinter Raelthorne II according to the terms of
Woldred’s Covenant. Malfast died on the eve of his
56th birthday with his family and friends attending
to him as he handed the reigns of the kingdom to a
man of honor and skill. Raelthorne swore he would
make the old man proud and treat Cygnar as well as
he could.
Vinter Raelthorne II was a skilled warrior and a
canny strategist; he also knew when to listen to his
advisors and when to ignore them. Armed with a
mandate to preserve the welfare of Cygnar, Vinter
decided that an alliance of merchant interests
capable of regulating trade was a necessity to ensure
Cygnar’s economic superiority. Though he funded the
advancement of mechanika and arcane knowledge,
he also knew the value of trade and alliances.
Under his advisement, the Mercarian League began
developing and would take 10 years of arguments,
political maneuvering, and infighting before formally
consolidating in 526 AR.
In 525 AR, he was badly wounded in an
assassination attempt staged by Menite zealots. The
assassins, Chernel Amarius and Darimia Amarius,
used a customized rifle to fire a single shot into
Vinter’s chest from 400 yards away. If not for the
rapid attention of a Morrowan cleric, Vinter would
have died. An extensive manhunt later uncovered
the culprits, and although no official ties to the
Protectorate could be connected to them, they were
charged with treason and hanged. Vinter’s advisors
immediately ordered inspectors to look into matters
of Menite interference in Cygnaran politics. Of special
note, Cygnar astronomically increased the tariffs for
weapons and ammunition for traders dealing with the
Protectorate while dropping their tariffs on liquor and