Councillor War

The Councillor War (SA 317-318) was a war between the rebellious Calamannic Councillors and a coalition of Westreachian staffhalders led by Staffhalder Walther Lancercost of Langcaste. The war resulted in the defeat of the Councillors, the destruction of the rebellious Central District Army and the formation of the Triumvirate as the central governing body in Westreach.

Background
The Westreachian Regency was dealt a series of serious blows in SA 315 and 316. In late December of SA 315, the Calamannic Kingdom into which Saric had poured resources was overrun and destroyed by the Berskins, who now exerted primacy over all of the fallen Westreachian northern provinces. The Calammannic tribes, their King Megnovic slain and their armies mauled, were thrown into dissaray by the war; some tribes were absorbed by the invading Berskins, while others migrated across the Eisenest. Most, however, scattered south, pouring into the Heathan and destabilizing the region.

Political unity among the Westreachian staffhalders had also begun to splinter; Staffhalder Walther Lancercost's ultranationalist faction gained ground following the developments in the North and even began to establish an oppositional government in Cragtown. Many of the Calamannic warlords streaming south entered Saric's service as councillors, commanders in the Central District Army, as he sought to maintain his grip on power. Though they were initially a minority, the Calamannic councillors swiftly assumed control over the Central District Army, a development aptly demonstrated by a December, SA 316 mutiny in which they forced Saric to pay a hefty ransom. By this time, the Central District Army was largely autonomous, and the majority of it's rank-and-file were composed of Calamannic tribal auxilaries integrated by the councillors.

Night of the Knives
By early SA 317, Saric's Regental regime was bankrupt; payment to the Central District Army and to other civil servants thus ceased. The Calamannic councillors, who by this time had full command over the autonomous Central District Army, began to conspire against Saric, seeing his regime as lethargic and vulnerable.

On February 11th, SA 317, during a feast in Harerok, Saric's Calamannic bodyguards turned against him, slaughtering the feast's attendants and murdering the First-Protector. The Central District Army, having marched from it's encampment at ..., then stormed the capital, easily overwhelming it's defenses and sacking the city. Law and order in the Regental capital broke down over the following days as infastructure collapsed and Calamannic warbands pillaged neighborhoods. On February 21st, Calamannic cheiftan Veregonix Ryder, largely recognized as the leader of the councillors, declared himself King of Westreach from the Towering Keep and was coronated with a crown of twigs.

The reaction to these events from Westreach was unexpectedly unified and decisive. Upon learning of Saric's death, mobs of Langcastian peasants and Lancercostian soldiers stormed Calamannic tribal encampments outside of Cragtown, slaughtering as many as four thousand Calamanns before order was restored. Staffhalder Walther Lancercost, recognized as the most stable force in the region, immediatly declared his intention to confront the Central District Army and had soon formed a Westreachian coalition that included the Staffhalders of Franchurst, Chambrante and Trafehaken.

Course of the War
Lancercost landed at Hornwall on September 3rd, SA 317, with six thousand Langcastians and Trafehakenmen and proceeded to march north to confront the Calamanns, who were dispersed across Harehald raiding and sacking towns. During the march, Lancercost's host was joined by several thousand Franchurstians.

The campaign began well enough; Rosshall, which had been invested by a band of Calamanns, was relieved, and a number of towns were recaptured as the Lancercostians closed on Harerok. Once the danger of the Lancercostian expedition was realized, however, King Veregonix I concentrated his forces near Harerok and marched in force against the slow-moving Lancercostians. Facing a Calamannic army of some thirty thousand, Lancercost fell back on the port-city of Previs, where he was besieged starting in late November. The siege was mantained for some two months, during which time the Calamann host was diminished by disease, desertion, and the cold. The Langcastians, on the other hand, continued to be supplied by sea. Veregonix abandoned the siege in late January and retreated back to Harerok.

After resupplying and recieving several thousand reinforcements from Langcaste, Lancercost felt confident enough to resume the campaign and begin marching along the coast on Harerok. Veregonix, upon hearing of the renewed Lancercostian advance, rallied his increasingly disillusioned army and moved to block the Langcastian advance at Halcourt. In a brief, decisive battle, the Calamannic left flank was broken by a Langcastian cavalry charge and the Calamanns proceeded to rout from the field. Veregonix was tramped by his own troops during the retreat, and thousands of the fleeing Calamanns withdrew to Harerok, where they barricaded themselves behind the city's strong walls. Not wanting to risk a costly assault, Lancercost managed to negotiate the surrender of the 9,500 Calamanns entrenched in the city. Upon their surrender and disarmerment, however, he had them and their families executed outside of the city walls in a three-day bloodbath, effectively eliminating the Calamanns as a distinct ethnic entity in Westreach.