Chronicles of the Casse

[BarbarianEmpire]

Meanwhile, in on the Mainland…

The Wars of the Gaels
In Gaul to the south, bloodshed between great powers had become a constant. The civil war between the fractured factions of Gaul had been at a standstill until the Aedui Confederacy gained the upper hand against the arrogant man worshipers, the Arverni - taking their capitol and scattering their misguided peoples to the winds.
The martial prowess of the Aedui and their devotion to their old gods and government drove Barae to consider them his true allies. He knew that, when the time was right, he would name the Aedui his only allies and stand with them against the Arverni and all enemies beyond Gaul.
Until then, however, trade must flow.

The Fall of the Nerves
257 BC
As Barae consolidated his hold on Albion, ill news drifted in from across the channel, first on the lips of messengers and spies, then on the faces of shattered Belgean refugees.
A huge host of Germanic savages had descended upon the lands of the Nervaea, led by their brutal Sweboz overlords. The Sweboz alliance, it seemed, was quite interested in funding its campaigns against the other Germanic tribes of the east, and the rich ports of the North Sea were, they assumed, theirs for the taking.
The Belgae fought fiercely against the invaders, but the numbers of the Sweboz were too great, their warriors too dead set on spilling blood. The Sweboz stormed the region, sacking Bagacos and putting its people to the sword.
Barae and the other lords of the Casse were outraged in the extreme by this butchery of their cousins and the despoilment of their ancestral homelands. Barae and his liege lords convened in Ynys-Mon. There was talk of cutting all ties with the Sweboz, closing the ports of Albion to any Germanic trade vessels and even declaring war upon them. There was even talk of taking the Casse warhost and attacking the Sweboz on the mainland, driving the arrogant easterners back into their forests.
Barae would have none of this, however. His warhost was crucial to Casse's hold on Albion - and there were still enemies in the Tin Isles. Would they leave Albion to be raided by Caldedonians, or burned by some renegade lord? Nay - there was too much work to be done before the Casse could even think of gaining enemies on the mainland. Instead Barae vowed that, when the Casse were ready, he himself would free the lands of the Belgae from these eastern oppressors and unite their old homelands with the new, whether it took five years or fifty.
In any case, the Sweboz now controlled half the ports in the North Sea. Who would they trade with, if not these easterners? The Aedui's hold on Gaul was still precarious at best, and the Coast of Chieftains was still free and still brimming with enemies of the Casse. How could they hope to raise money for a campaign against the Sweboz if they only had themselves to trade with?
Nay, the Casse would remain on good terms with the Sweboz for as long as they could, even if it was only skin deep. As they had in the past, the Casse would rely on their cunning and their practicality to gain the upper hand. After all - trade must flow.

In Albion

The Unification
257-254 BC
In this period of brief respite from war and subjugation, Barae and his great family went about strengthening the infrastructure of the tribes of Albion. Towns became cities, and tribes became a single people, Britons and Belgae united.
Mines were constructed in Cambriae, adding to the already substantial wealth of the Casse. Proper trading ports were built, and markets were deemed crucial to any settlement belonging to the great realm of the Casse. Roads connected all settlements, that the armies and trade caravans of the Casse could easily traverse the entirety of the Isle.
Barae reformed his hardened warhost and named it “the Wolf” after his favored totem animal, a holy terror of the night long associated with the underworld, death, and rebirth. A front line of heavy swordsmen, spearmen on the flanks, supported by light swordsmen, Midlander champions, and light cavalry. None in the Isles would stand against the (relatively) disciplined and organized warhost of the Casse.
Holding the Isle of Darkness and proving himself to the Druids meant Barae and his entire ruling family could start training there, adding the might of all the Druids of Albion to his forces, as well as the adulation and confidence of his men.
Indeed, these were profitable times.

The Caledonian Campaign
254-253 BC



In the spring of 254 BC, Barae and the Wolf marched north into the crag-strewn vistas and snowy wastes of Caledryn, skirmishing with savage Caledonians as he descended upon Attuaca, the most feared and respected stronghold among all the backwards tribes of the region.
The battles with the Caledonians were only remarkable for the fact that Barae, upon seeing these proud, savage people in action, made the decision to incorporate their warriors into his warhost, using them as skirmishers and shock troops at the head of his army.
Once Attuaca fell in 253 BC, Barae claimed the entirety of Caledryn as his own, and there were none who will seriously opposed him. In fact, many warriors flocked to the banner of the Casse and all its strength, making the integration of the Caledonians all the easier.

Meanwhile, on the Mainland…

Upon leaving Greece, Lannildot the Longstrider crossed the Aegean Sea and entered the Far East, where he treated with powerful Greek kings and exotic lords, gaining trade rights and information about their distant lands and gaining the title of Lannildot the Farstrider. He made his way back to the West by bravely traversing dark lands of the Getai and other savage tribes, still managing to gain information on the way. He found a region rife with marching warbands and power-hungry lords, and knew that the Getai would soon be a power to match its perfumed neighbors to the south.

In Gaul, the Romani and the Aedui continued to make peace with and betray each other in equal measure, turning region into a war-torn nightmare that proved to define an entire generation.

In the Tin Isles

The Goidelic Campaign
250-246 BC



Barae wasted no time in the wastes of Caledryn. As soon as he had mustered a host of Caledonians and set them up as Client Tribes, he led the Wolf west, over the narrow sea and onto the Isle of Eire, where he made war with the northern Goidels. After a lengthy siege of Emain-Macha, Barae conquered the Goidels of the north in 248 BC, becoming their high king and raising levies to hold these new lands.
He descended upon the peoples of southern Eire in short order the following year. These people proved to be proud and rebellious, even when Barae marched the Wolf through the gates of conquered Ivernis. Barae had no time for quelling generations of rebellion, and therefore decided to expel the lot of them, spreading their numbers thin across the Tin Isles. Thus the Isles were united for the first time in all of history, forever searing Barae's name into the scrolls and stories of peoples great and small, near and far.



Next: The Chronicles recount the beginning of the first major confrontations of the Casse - the liberation of the Nerves and the brutal beginnings of the Germanic Wars.