Summary
The War of Regrets took place between Etes 4251 and 4263. Instigated by the alleged murder of a young Moltess Lord, this conflict hewed the Stubble Stars quickly into a bloody battlefield.
Chain of events
Instigation
Cryptonic records in equal parts name House Moltiess as the instigators of this war, as well as an innocent defender of sovereignty and House. It is recorded that a Lord of the now-defunct House Temmerin had slain the young Moltess Tiberius. Details of the event are sparse and contested heavily. The account of an esteemed colleague of this chronicler, the Chronicler Martush, who was present at the events, recalls it thusly:
For many Etes prior, the House Moltiess enjoyed a prosperous alliance with House Temmerin of the Stubble Stars. A marriage was arranged for young Lord Tiberius to the Temmerin heir, Lord Bastus, who was only three Etes the Moltess’ senior. From this blood alliance, both Houses hoped to project strength and unity in the Stubble Stars, a cluster that contains both the Duchy Temmerin’s Abode and the Duchy Chorus and Song.
The festivities proceded as planned on the eve of marriage. The betrothed Lords sealed their pact early, as was Moltess tradition, then a feast and a dance. Present for the festivities were the Bannerlord Holton, his wife, the Lady Dominique-Marine, the Bannerlady and Duchess of the Abode Miriam Temmerin, and her husband, the esteemed Lord Septon Temmerin of Nightgoad.
When the Lords Husbands retreated to their chamber for the consummation, all seemed serene. Several hours later, the Lady Miriam was woken by the screams of terror of one who had witnessed an unmaking. She rushed to the bedchamber to find her son holding a bloodied Lord Tiberius in his arms. Such went her account, in any matter. She, her son and her husband all recorded the same testimonies to Opiioris spiders, telling of an attacker storming the room, murdering the young Lord, then vanishing into the night. Let it be noted that a concerted search effort did not reveal sign nor portent of such a figure. Enraged with grief and loss, the Bannerlord Holton is said to have fallen into a state of ire so severe that he spurned his own Lady wife and later tried to attack and unmake the Lady Miriam, deepening the schism between the once-allied Houses. As their conflict threatened to heat into a war, the Seneschal of the Empire, the esteemed Lord Lester of Oppelstadt, dispatched a mediation mission to the Stubble Stars, led by the houseless Lady Royal Ambassador Kristen Mockshaw.
Here, the langauge of accounts changes. The Ambassador’s reports tell a tale of alliances lost replaced by alliances gained. House Moltiess received messengers from Houses Freeheart, Magus Opus, Plex, and Harkon, declaring support against the House Temmerin, whom all perceived as a shared enemy, due to the third Stubble Star War 65 Etes prior. House Temmerin’s allies included the esteemed Houses Oppelstadt (now defunct) and Opiioris, both of whom saw an opportunity to unseat the Moltesses and seize the rich cultural capital of the Empire, the Duchy Chorus and Song and her County moons.
One Ete after the arrival of the Lady Ambassador, tensions heated into warfare. In a surprise assault by Moltess forces on the Abode, the Lady Ambassador fell dead from the shockwave of a misaimed orbital lance that had been meant as a warning shot but impacted close to the Abode. This strike also unmade the Lords Hybol of Oppelstadt and Nefretus Opiioris, the Lord Commander of the Opiioris High Fleet. With the Ambassador dead, Empire wept for Mother’s embrace. With hands forced, the Lockstar Emperor sent a legion of Legionnaires to break up the conflict. Instead, the troops were appropriated illegally by the House Opiioris and led in an assault on the world Song. The planet bled from bombardment and an estimated 30% to 40% of the Moltess fleet was unmade in orbit. Despite the overwhelming force, House Moltiess managed to rally their own allies and defend their home. From this point, the political lines were drawn. The House Temmerin led what became known as the Lords of the Comets, styled so to liken their fervor to that of the lesser Goddess who upholds the Great Barrier Shield, while the House Moltiess led the Moltess Alliance into battle.
Ambush at the Abode
Excluding the young Lord Tiberius, the first blood drawn in the War of Regrets belonged to House Temmerin. In Ete 4251, as the cryptons reveal, an enraged Lord Holton Moltiess is said to have ordered the assemblage of a ship and crew. Lord Olifan Moltiess, High Commander of the Moltess Forces, knowing the weight of his orders, ascended the Songspire personally. The Lord Commander’s esteemed Lady Wife, the Marchioness Avila Marjorie of House Magus Opus, procured the warship Aveline Choriess from her family’s shipyards over Opus Magnifens. Under Lord Olifan’s command, the Aveline Choriess, equipped with an arsenal of orbital lances and a battallion of soldiers, followed the Tendrilous Way to Temmerin’s Abode.
The cryptons record a dangerous maneuver whose verasity is unconfirmed. Singular reports exist suggesting the Aveline Choriess descended the Paralaexon short of their destination to perform an uncharted Paralaexon blind flight outside of the Roads. Using this technique, it was said, the Aveline Choriess re-worlded at an unexpected location, evading tuned sensor coverage.
Considering the Kharkunian implications of such a maneuver, the House Moltiess maintains to this day that the warship Avaline Choriess never left charted Roads. Instead, they evaded detection by the Abode’s extensive grid through clever maneuvering and an experimental technology whose divulgence would violate House interests and has therefore been denied continuously.
The Chronicler Hunter of Beklund, whose own great-grandfather was the Chronicler Nelson of Beklund, claims that Nelson was present on the ship and recalled many a time the tale of the crew laying in a rest stop at Freeport Mansell to paint the exterior of the ship in Temmerin green and gold, while the Lord Commander Olifan practiced a Temmerin dialect before the fateful re-worlding at the Abode. Once there, Olifan spoke in a confident impression of the old Lord Garrus Temmerin of Venclestone and demanded passage to the planet. A clever ploy that, if Hunter is to be believed, paid its dues. It is this Chronicler’s never-ceasing duty to warn the studious reader of both Chronicler Hunter’s and Chronicler Nelson’s gracious poetic license.
Arrived at the Abode without detection, the Lord Commander ordered the dispatch of his battallion to a take a military installation detected on the outskirts of the Abode. The records suggest that it is unlikely the Lord Commander was aware at this time that the installation was Camp Harper, erected by the houseless Lady Ambassador Kristen Mockshaw. The Ambassador had arrived only days earlier to begin a third round of mediation at the estate.
Not many records survived the battle because of the events that soon followed. While Moltess soldiers enjoyed an extensive amount of training and honing, it a battle of blood and un-making. Moltess forces, who expected Temmerin guards or a local military, instead faced a protection group of battle-hardened Imperial Legionnaires. By sunrise, most of the fighting had stopped. Moltess forces, heavily decimated, were seen fleeing the field while the Lady Ambassador stood bloodied, damaged, but victorious against the surprise attackers. The glory of her victory surely did not fill her for very long.
At this time, the estate at Temmerin’s Abode hosted a strategic meeting between the Lady and Lord Temmerin and their allies, envoys from House Oppelstadt and Opiioris. At the round table in the Abode’s highest tower, the Regality, sat the Lord Hybol of Oppelstadt. With tensions high, the House Oppelstadt offered devices of war to even the technological odds with the House Moltiess and their ally, House Magus Opus. Lady Miriam was to marry her son, Lord Bastus, oft called “the Widower” in the annals, to the heir of the Oppelstadt Design Mandate, Claus of Oppelstadt. House Opiioris had sent an envoy from their financial outreach branch, the Lord Nefretus. As was their custom, the House Opiioris saw a fit opportunity to endebt a smaller house, and planned on securing another debtor vassal. In the room, Nefretus was wont to dress his predatory offers in a well-smelling bouquet of words.
The Lord Commander’s orders had been clear. Take any military installations in or around the Abode, then fire an orbital lance warning shot in the Doxan Sea to give the Abode a chance to surrender. Lord Holton planned to end this conflict swiftly, and to arrest the Temmerin heir for his crime. Accounts about on-ship events were once again contradictory. While some records suggest a deliberate sabotage, the official Moltiess account describes the event as equipment failure. Chronicler Nelson supposed that the crew, happy to fire the lance, jumped with joy so much that the ship was moved just from their soul-light. In any event, the lance was mis-aimed. It impacted not at a safe distance in the sea, but close to Temmerin’s Abode. While nothing was directly hit, the immense shockwave quickly extinguished the lives of everyone in the outskirts, including the Lady Ambassador, her Legionnaires and most Moltess Force soldiers. The wave also traveled through the city. The sharp edges of the Abode’s star-like layout caused the wave to be dispelled after only blowing away some dozen houses. However, nothing constricted or disturbed the wave in higher altitudes. A much weakened wave hit the Regality tower and shattered many of the glass windows in its upper floors. Lord Necrebius, who stood facing one of the windows at the time, was showered with glass. A shard in his neck ended his life quickly and without pomp. Lord Hybol was said to have died from an internal bleed caused by his fall onto the edge of the table.
The Lady Miriam reacted quickly and with force. One of the Temmerin’s orbital cannons took aim at the Aveline Choriess and sent her to Kharkun with one shot, killing the Lord Commander. Chronicler Hunter insists his ancestor escaped the ship prior to this in an escape craft when a prophetic dream warned him of its coming doom.
Thus concludes the first shedding of blood in the War of Regrets.