A simple retelling of my Casse campaign.

PART 1
Uniting the Tribes

Peaceful Preparation
272-266 BC

Barae, High King of the Casse, was one of the greatest leaders known to European history after Alexander the Great, even if his legacy and that of his people, the Casse, has been altered by the ravages of time and the propaganda of their enemies.

When the rest of the Tin Isles bickered with one another and seemed content to grind away the generations with skirmishes and sacking, Barae looked upon the lands of Albion with an appetite for subjugation. He knew these people, his people, could be great - these Britons, these Celts at the edge of the civilized world, perched on a natural fortress few could conceive of.
Albion and her sister isle Eire already brimmed with trade - among themselves and with other peoples near and far. The High King could see it in his mind's eye - all that trade, all that wealth consolidated, poured into a single coffer, funding entire armies, a vast fleet of warships, a united kingdom - nay, an empire, even beyond the shores of the Tin Isles...!
But he knew he must not get ahead of himself. There was much work to be done if he was to make his vision of empire a reality before death or old age took him. He went about sending an envoy across the Channel into Gaul, led by the legendary diplomat now known as Lannildot the Farstrider. He was merely Lannildot then, and he had a mission from Barae - to make contact with as many great peoples beyond Albion as he possibly could. He would meet with them under the pretense of gaining trade rights, but he would also be mapping their lands, gaining trust and information from the "civilized" fools of the south that future Britons could use against them.
With Lannildot came spies, to watch the progress of the civil war brewing in Gaul.
Barae then disbanded his navy and much of his standing army, and began to build - and bide his time.


The Albion Wars
266-257 BC



In time, the fair city of Camulosadae, the Casse's capitol, became one of the most advanced, wealthy, and powerful cities of the Isles, with a standing army funded by shrewd trade and merchant fleets. Before any of the neighboring tribes began to consider the threat the Casse posed, Barae and his war host marched north to besiege Ratae, the first step to subjugating the Midlanders. Between 265 and 263 BC, both Ratae and Caern-Brigante were put under the rule of the Casse. The battles fought were few in number, and quite decisive, as Barae's genius for battlefield tactics began to make itself known. His empire was just burgeoning, and already it was making waves felt across the North Sea.



Meanwhile Lannildot made his way east, to contact the burgeoning tribe of the Sweboz, a Germanic people who were already uniting tribes in the region, making them strong partners for trade. By the year 260 BC, Lannildot had made contact with the Romani and the Iberians in the south, as well as the various Greek peoples of the east, earning him the title of Lannildot the Longstrider.



In the year 260 BC, Barae took his war host west along the southern coasts of Albion, fighting war bands of Cornovae, taking Ictis the following winter. Gaining and improving this protected port and shipyard was a crucial step to ruling the seas in the future.
Ynys-Mon, a rich region of mining and sea trade, fell to the Barae and his son, Mowg, in 258 BC. Thus all Celts of Albion, savage and civilized, joined beneath the banner of the Casse, something not seen in all of history. If Barae had stopped here, he would still be a mark in the history books - but he would not stop. He would never stop. Once he had consolidated his rule of the tribes of Albion, his goal was to unite all of the Tin Isles - including the savage backwater of Caledryn to the far north...

Next: The Chronicles recount the bitter campaign against the Caledonians of the frozen north, followed by the proud peoples of Eire, as troubling events take their turn in lands distant and far...