Kai Aphmyarkaiph

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The last days of the Elwynnbrigaden
Kai Aphmyarkaiph
Date: 1542-1543 (Elw Calendar)
Place: Duchy of Elwynn, Raikoth
Casus belli: The secret submission of Kaiser Hasan I as vassal to the Shahanshah of Babkha
Outcome: Conquest of Elwynn by Yyiji Tonkothion.
Ardashirshahr renamed Tielion Loki
Participants
Duchy of Elwynn Raikothlin Paladins
- Rays Fern
- Rays Clover
- Rays Dandelion
- Rays Birch
- Rays Grape
- Rays Apple
- Rays Nightshade
- Rays Lily
- Rays Rose
Commanders
Duke Ardashir Moqtada al-Osmani (Fled),
Steward Rai Avon-El (House Arrest)
Yyiji Tonkothion
Strength
Elwynnbrigaden: 1,571 infantry, 40 armoured vehicles, 4 Fajr Ballistic Missile Launchers, 240 OAH Leviathan Attack Helicopters, 20 OAH F3 Karkas Light Strike Aircraft

Eliria Guard: 500 guardsmen
Elwynns Riddare: 500 Riddaren Eliriaregemente: 2,500 archer-grenadiers Rifles Regiment: 2,500 riflemen Rustayisarbazi: 4,000 militiamen, 196 armoured vehicles Fedayeen Ardashir: 350,000 militiamen

Paladins: 27,000-45,000

1 iceberg ship 'Queen of Night's Repentant Children' Volunteers: "Unknown"

Casualties
Civilians: 239 dead or missing, 957 wounded

Combatants: 167,976 dead or missing, 63,064 captured, 5,572 wounded

Unknown
Notes
Raikothin interdiction of Babkhan Merchant Navy convoys to Vijayanagara damaged 546 commercial vessels and killed about 430 civilian sailors

The Great What-We-Are-Becoming (Kai Aphmyarkaiph) was a Hyperborean holy war and in effect marked the commencement of the second Babkhano-Boreal conflict for control of the then Duchy of Elwynn.

The campaign was a decisive, albeit short-lived, victory for Raikoth which saw the political power of the Babkhi destroyed for a generation. The Babkhi community however endured and would go on to play a fundamental role in the declaration of Elwynnese independence and the creation of the Coordinated State of Elwynn and thereby reaffirmed their place as one of the foremost of the Twelve Peoples of Elwynn.


The Prelude to the Kai Aphmyarkaiph

The second Babkhan Era in Elwynn began in 1542 and came about as the consequence of the accession of Count Hesam Jahandar of Hyperborea to the Imperial Throne. In this he was bitterly contested by the adherents of Loki who always rejected Babkhan influence in Shirekeep. Nonetheless, having gained the backing of the Hyperborean Council of Elders - who, at the urging of the genealogist Taksi Kamheinion, recognised him as a descendant of Authi Kalirion - was able to secure his title as Kaiser Hasan I Kalirion.

The War of Jeremy's Nose (1539-1542) marked the highpoint of Babkhan influence and glory in Shireroth. With the able assistance of the Haraldian Huskarls, the Babkhan led and organised Elwynnbrigaden was instrumental in a blitzkrieg that overran the Kingdom of Bosworth and saw the seating of Kaiser Hasan I on the Throne of Bosworth by Duke Harald of Froyalan (as Elwynn then was called) - but magnanimousness from the side from Shireroth allowed Bosworth a return to status quo ante bellum.

As this war concluded and Kaiser Hasan's reign drew towards its allotted close the manoeuvring began with regards to the succession not only of the Imperial Throne but of Froyalan. The war had effectively left Harald in possession of Bosworth, particularly the region known as Gascony on the northern coast of Benacia, where most of the conflict had been fought. In order to settle this domain Duke Harald thought to leave his Shirerithian possessions in the safe-keeping of his Babkhi allies and the good reputation Hesam Jayatar then enjoyed as victorious Kaiser and wise count of Hyperborea influenced him to appoint Hesam as his successor in the year 1542.

One of Hesam's first acts had been to rename the Duchy back to Elwynn as a way of shoring up the support of the Elw for his reign. Beyond that the country remained essentially unchanged.

Things did however begin to go awry when Hesam's machinations, only the surface of which were visible, began to impinge upon the now less intricate plottings of the Khan of Vijayanagara, Aurangzeb Osmani. This boiled down to a vulgar division of the spoils that would be dispensed at the Kaiser's abdication. Essentially Aurangzeb demanded a larger cut than Hasan was willing to concede. The upshot was the infamous showdown at the Lycurgus Club in Ardashirshahr where the erstwhile Kaiser was brutally gunned down by his treacherous lieutenant.

The reward for Aurangzeb was the Ducal throne. At this point the Babkhi could be said to have won all. Now they proceeded to lose all, and in spectacular fashion.

During the reign in Shireroth of Kaiser Hasan I, Hasan had controversially ceded all sovereign power over Shireroth to the Babkhan shah, Rashid. The Sword of Vengeance was a personal gift from Hasan to Rashid, and Hasan had inscribed Rashid to be his heir in Shireroth in his will, as a form of retirement gift. Kaiser Hasan was however murdered in Ardashirshahr, and in a bitter feud over succession with Jacobus Loki, Rashid was eventually declared the Kaiser of Shireroth. The Babkhan shah, recognized by Babkhan law and Rashid's feudal allegiance, gave Rashid and his successors the title Emir of Sathrati.

The treachery, when it was discovered, partially through ill-timed Babkhan gloating, and partially from the guilt racked conscience of Kaiser Ayreon himself, spectacularly blew apart both the Mango-Camel Pact and the constitutional order of Shireroth. The result was uproar in Shirekeep - where Jacobus Loki was finally poised to seize the Imperial Throne, consternation in Eliria, and from the frozen wastes of Hyperborea there came news of a revolution.

Civil War in Shirekeep

The restive partisans of Anti-Kaiser Loki II rose up in rebellion in 1542 when succession of Kaiser Ayreon was announced, and this was before the secret clauses were known, the natural consequence of which was dissension amongst the nobility and uproar in Shirekeep. The Imperial Government was, as a consequence, severely paralysed and incapable of independent action. Imperial Forces were deployed to secure the capital but were given no clear instructions as to rules of engagement and received contradictory orders on whether to treat the Partisans of Loki as hostile or not. As a consequence, the Lokiists were able to run amok in the city, siezing key institutions.