Editing Iron Gold Conflict (section)

== '''V . A Continental War''' ==
The first skirmishes began in Daxwell and Leffington. With the Empire’s armies still marching south from the cold north, the Holy Concordat picked up the slack in defending the remaining aristocratic territories. Pierre de Plaitignon gave the command to his ruthless revolutionary comrade Gillot Desjardins, a criminal who had been freed from prison in Lanconne and a former captain of the Aracellian army. Gillot led a rebellious cadre of Aracellian cavalry to Daxwell where they would clash with an army led by Lords Janus and Fletcher. Percival himself dueled Gillot on horseback in a battle that would be dubbed the first real battle of the larger conflict. The two were said to have fought fiercely in the field, each removing the mount advantage from one another and continuing their bout on foot. Sword struck shield, and dagger thrusted for gullet as the battle pressed on. Meanwhile, as the mud reached the knees of many knights and republican rebels, horns blew from the northwest. Banners from House Lionette crossed the hillside as soldiers from the Moors streamed southward to reinforce the Concordat army. In response, Gillot and his army almost immediately pulled back in retreat, somewhat impressively so for an army of commonfolk. Gillot himself had suffered a serious blow to his shoulder, Percival having found his mark with a dagger thrust, suffering only a few grazes on his thigh and gut in return. The two returned to their camp, the former in shame at his loss to the seasoned noble. 

In Leffington, an army under the command of Emiliano Barral besieged the local Schafer family, featuring seasoned Cliffs soldiers who defected from House Naclerian. They won decisively, crushing a Concordat inquisitor force that hadn’t expected them to reach Leffington as quickly as they did. Similar brutality washed over Leffington, with several inquisitors and church officials being massacred by mob violence. Their infamous army became widely known as the Monterrojan Legion, a terrifying and brutal cohort.

After a month of marching and resupply, the Emperor and Empress Valestios arrived at the head of a large army at Wakendor. Bearing the flags of a new House, they crossed the Veridian to begin retaking holds lost to rebels in the Heartlands. Gillot’s garrisons in Honeyhill and Churning surrendered immediately, and several Republican leaders were hung from the ramparts of the castles they looted. Gillot’s army was forced to retreat from Stowebridge, finding solace and refuge in Liscombe with another army under the command of Pierre himself. Barral, taking the hint from losses in Honeyhill, removed his army from Leffington and returned to Porthaven. 

In the Moors, Lords Lionette, Rozsca, Contador, Rist, and Laherrerian besieged the rebel holds in Swyndon, successfully routing the druid army and handing the territory over to Lord Lionette. Rebels in Dinnren, Caeriolet, and Amiett fell over the next few weeks despite heavy and ruthless ambushes carried out by Republican partisans. In return, a rebel army from Wardyth put several triumite churches to the torch in Scarbruin, destroying the inquisitor chapter houses and hanging the leadership. The Empire’s army, now commanded by Lord Rozsca, would be trapped near the Godsbane for several months before they were granted a reprieve. 

The remaining Piedmonts faced a serious problem. Republican armies had been eyeing their lands for some time, and Pierre himself had already expressed his intent to hang them with the rest of the nobles. Acting from their territory in Couronnova, the Piedmont army sailed with assistance from the Naclerian navy to Vilenos, sieging the rebels there and capturing their leadership. Then, they would go on to fortify the island and move their family there to escape the violence which was quick to follow them. Couronnova, like Leffington and many other towns like it, were taken by the Plaitignon armies. Cordell and Laurent, acting as quickly as they did, saved the Piedmont family from certain death. 

The next several months saw brutal fighting over territory in the East and West Midlands. Hillshire Hall and Farcaest constantly swapped between rebel and imperial control. Under the leadership of Lucilla and Velkoryn, the Empire’s army secured Beckhollow with help from a Janus army. Only due to Lucilla’s medical expertise were hundreds of northern troops able to be saved. Lord Tallwood and Ajai Valestios laid siege to Farcaest in the fourth month, and Ajai finally slew Gillot Desjardins on the battlefield after the latter attempted to escape capture. Fortifying their position, the two prepared to face an army from Couronnova that never came. 

Instead, the Plaitignon army, which had reached over 15,000, united with the remnants of Gillot’s force at Lessholdt and marched toward Porthaven. There they merged their force with Barral’s Monterrojan Legion and together marched north around the Cunningwood. On the sixth day, Velkoryn and Lucilla’s army fell under attack while they were encamped by the largest Republican force amassed during the war. The Battle of Churning would end in a decisive victory for the Republic, ending with the capture of both the Emperor and Empress. Momentum in the war immediately flipped. The Republic held victory in its grasp, if not for their poor position behind enemy lines. Late in the night, while Pierre and Barral prepared to face the army at Farcaest, Lord Rudolf Dungeon and Hans Thul broke into the rebel camp to free both the Emperor and Empress. Both were found in the command tent and promptly freed after learning of their impending executions. In the morning, Pierre recalled his army from Churning to regroup in the Grapelands. Emiliano Barral had disappeared, only for his body to be later discovered in Leffington with a slit throat. 

After a year of fighting, the Monterrojan Legion had disbanded or returned to the fold of Cliffs nobility. The remaining Barral loyalists were executed in Castolonia by a force belonging to the Piedmont and Naclerian levies. While the territories were still quite tense, order was temporarily restored and the Barral rebellion was formally ended. In Olivosa, a large rebel army led by Dietrich Tisch lost decisively to an army led by Lord Valencourt and Exuro Victorum. Dietrich himself fled north to Borleone to fortify with the Plaitignon army. Rebel leaders in Makras were locked up or executed by Valmias and Aldona Schafer, who had escaped the trouble in Leffington and had found refuge in Triav. They would join the army in Olivosa, crossing the river to Chatirou and Valenoix. 

The war finally ended with the sieges of Cholsey, Ruevogne, and Borleone. Velkoryn and Lucilla, now freed from captivity, led a united front against Pierre’s army, crushing it on the field. Pierre caught the stray lance of Lord Tallwood, who had led a flank charge from the right. The charismatic leader of one of Reveia’s bloodiest revolutions died in the mud of Somerdell, his face disfigured from the hooves of horses and his body soaked in his own blood. Dietrich Tisch struggled to control the masses, and was hanged in Aracellia for failing to uphold the democracy he had promised to them. Aracellia fell two days later where twelve remaining Republican generals were shot by crossbow bolts. 

The Republic died that day, but the landscape of Reveia had forever been changed. Aodh, who had fled to Logori Kupe, was now the most infamous man in Reveia.