By the historian Decurtius,
by the grace of God Count of Occitania.
About 104 days within the third era.
TOME IV
Magic, is a subject not often spoken out, as condemned and tracked by the chadzian church. Though it is said by most officials of our holy faith, that its use is limited and well-contained, sometimes, the chadzian inquisition can be slow to uproot heresies and punish them accordignly. Although we live in a "rational world", the people of Calradia, always felt to some extent, that there was something else, something beyond the boundaries of the material world of the chadzian dogma; or in the words of the great fallen metaphysicist Fallen_Curtis:
"Though my body and soul belong to chadz, sometimes the material world seems unreal, from the fact that an invisible hand prevents us from leaving the battlefield, to the fact that no one I know ages at the same time. As chadz is my god, there ought to be something outside, for the rules seem different for each. There must be something greater than chadz, and though he plays a great role in our lives, something in the textures of this world just doesn't seem right..." - Fallen_Curtis, LXVII book of the divine prophecies.
Regardless of the religious feelings of the people of Calradia, there is consensus on two points; first, that chadz sometimes intervenes in mortal affairs, and then, magic, though existing, is a sin. At this stage of the third Era, the state of the imperial forces forced them, perhaps, to such a sin. The Fallen reconquest did indeed drain the last of the Empire's resources, and as their auxiliaries of the HRE got called back home to defend their lands from a Desert Alliance invasion, it became clear for some Fallen official, may chadz have pity of their souls, that the imperial armies needed time to prepare against the Hospitallo-Occitan alliance. Meanwhile, the armies of the Alliance did indeed regroup near Dugan, and thanks to their allies help, could breath long enough to take back the offensive. A fully equipped, modern army of thousand of men then marched to reconquer the southern land occupied by the imperial forces. But as they reach Dusturil, they could not attack. -
"We stood there, ready for battle, our banners deployed, our army eager to reclaim our land... but as chadz is my witness, we could not attack..." - Hospitaller_Valdian, two days before the last Dusturil battle.
Held back by magical forces, the Alliance army could do nothing, as the empire reinforced their grip on the village, sending troops and weapons every day. "-
We spent three days here, watching the ennemy reinforce, while our army sat and waited, melting as the time passed, like the snow in the spring." - Hospitaller_Devestater - talking about the day before the last Dusturil battle. The alliance's morale was reaching an historical low, as their army, was vanishing, slowly but surely, under the weight of the salaries they could no longer pay and of the food they could no longer find. That could have been the end, but on the third day: -
"We prayed to chadz and he answered. The faithful prevailed today as our troops saw from the encampment, the wrath of the dev-gods falling on the sinners. Raining fire from the skies, like demons of times past. chadz rescued the true believers today and punished the wicked of their sinful ways. Now that our faith brought balance to this land, tomorrow, after knowing the punishment of chadz, the enemy will know the fury of our blade." . -Hospitaller_Peppovitch, on the eve of the last Dusturil Battle
And indeed, galvanized by chadz's presence, the Alliance forces miraculously recovered both morale and strength and afterwards, crushed the Fallen resistance with a degree of fanaticism rarely seen in the history of the Calradian conflict, as this was no more a war, but a Holy Crusade.
The rest of the alliance reconquest is more or less the history of nameless battles, fought only to be to be lost by the exhausted and demoralized imperial forces. As the Alliance's armies marched north, the Empire simply decomposed, incapable of mustering anything consistent enough to stop the fresh Hospitallo-Occitan forces.
Nevertheless, these last battles indeed marked a the closing days of an Era, not in the sense that new calamities came, but that the world would never be the same. The dislocation of the Fallen Empire utterly changed the the configuration of the north-eastern quadrant. Moreover, in their fall, the Imperial forces brought consequences far up north, when invasions from over the great barrier made the already war-weary FCC collapse in a matter of days, leaving the Hospitallo-Occitan alliance in control of the steppes. Still, during the following days, hardened elements of all that constituted the "Fallen alliance" marched north, where local lords offered them shelter and harbor, in order the rebuild and potentially counter-attack; but from a geopolitical stand point, they are bu a mere shadow of their former self, and can no longer endanger the steppes area on their own.
Still, as the war came to an end, the Hospitallo-Occitan alliance grew weary itself, as it grew and maintained on a territory where hostile sentiments were the normative contact they had with the other northeastern cultures, who saw, and still see the Alliance as the western culture entry point for the northeastern quadrant, contributing to both a will for prolonged peace for the Alliance, as well as a besieged mentality...
END OF TOME IV
