"They wanted an official name for it which avoided the dread word "invasion" and came up with "The Ten Years War". A better tag would have been "The War Which Never Should Have Happened". Must blame was placed, then and subsequently, on the Christotan government for being so woefully unprepared for the Labbish attack, but their surprise is understandable. Look at portraits of the two nations at the start of 1293. Christoté was enjoying something of a golden age. Supervised by a series of eccentric but capable Chancellors, its economy was booming; trade was never busier, agricultural reforms on the Central Plains and elsewhere were, excuse the pun, bearing fruit, mining and manufacturing were reaching new heights of sophistication. The federation had managed to traverse the century without pulling itself apart in some civil conflict - the women's freedom struggles shouldn't be discounted but were a far more refined revolution, the odd riot notwithstanding. Christoté was prosperous and confident and assured of its pre-eminence on the world stage. It was nestled in the so-called Jade Alliance, a coalition with Erenland and Kakranfé; between them they comprised around two thirds of Teraf in land-mass alone and effectively controlled the politics of the continent. And then we have Labland. Though once a powerful nation, it had been shattered by the Erish Empire and never properly recovered. After liberation it had reverted to its old corrupt forms of government and economics while the world around it changed. Much of the 1100's and 1200's saw Labland locked in conflict with its ancient enemies the Kakranfans, which ultimately cost it much of its land, most of its resources and all of its stability. Civil strife raged long and hard through the kingdom, somewhat exacerbated the interference of nations like Christoté, and only with the accession of Tenrif II to the throne in 1285 did some cohesion emerge. Using a classic mixture of brilliance and tyranny, Tenrif managed to unite Labland and pave its way to recovery. However, the rebuilding still only seemed half complete by 1293.
"You have to take all this into account when assessing the actions of Chancellor Falcan Ollia and his wise councillors at the time. Labland made its intentions clear to them, of that there can be no doubt. King Tenrif spent the spring conscripting forces, stockpiling arsenals, building war engines and assembling them all on the Christotan border. He also sent some fairly unambiguous correspondence to Huwdone House. There had been a particularly unsavoury incident fifteen years earlier when a troop of Christotan mercenaries had massacred a defenceless Labbish village. (When the news became public it marked the end of Huwdone's direct participation in the civil wars). Tenrif demanded the extradition of these mercenaries to face trial in Labland. The response of Falcan Ollia was to expel the Labbish ambassador for causing a scene in Parliament Hall, to carry out minor maintenance work on some border forts and to continue much the same as before. Some historians now deny it, but his measures had the full support of the Christotan government, military and public. The threat by a small, decrepit kingdom to invade mighty Christoté, the rulers of the world, looked to be the most desperate sort of bluff. One more petty king chucking his mouth around to impress his subjects, everyone thought. On 14th June a huge Labbish fleet sailed across the Sunken Sea, the inland saltwater lake on the border of the two countries, and landed at Dydesbury.
"Dydesbury fell after three days. It is a large walled town which even then was a military centre, and basically it opened its gates to the invaders in pure shock. The Guardsmen stationed there tried to put up some resistance but were hopelessly outnumbered and outfought, and either surrendered or were slaughtered. Popular resistance to the invaders was almost nothing. Many people fled Dydesbury while they could, some quietly sold out to the enemy and others killed themselves, went insane or simply hid, overwhelmed by the horror which had visited them. After three days the cockerel flag of Labland flew from Dydesbury's town hall, some executions were carried out by way of example, a garrison was left to control the town and the Labbish armies drove into the mainland. The pattern of Dydesbury was repeated a hundred times as the province of Elsey was rapidly overrun. The Christotan Guards were large in number but scattered across the country and geared around policing duties; the stereotype of bumbling, amiable custodians was all too close to the truth. The one large mobilised unit was, predictably, away in the Flaugian states, interfering in another petty civil war. The Labbish pushed inexorably southwards, bugles blowing and black and scarlet banners flying, not shockingly barbaric but terribly relentless and single-minded. Chancellor Ollia, amidst the uproar in Huwdone House, desperately tried to mobilise the Guards, recruit fresh troops, put up any sort of resistance to the catastrophe. The Flaugian army returned, was badly beaten but regrouped further south and managed to slow the Labbish advance. Ollia was finally able to put a credible force together and a decisive march against the invaders was planned. Then, with equal swiftness, a second army swept into Christoté, this time striking from further east, and the horror was amplified tenfold. If the first wave had advanced steadily then the second came like a tornado, a narrow column of soldiers which bore through Schall and Kratz and cut the provinces in half. Left unattended as Christoté frantically tried to reorientate its forces, the first army continued its march with renewed successes.
"The ambition of Labland was clear to see. These were no border campaigns, no steady accumulation of territory over the years through a series of raids. King Tenrif was trying to finish Christoté off in one fell swoop. He wanted to break its power beyond recovery, even if a permanent annexation of the lands proved impractical. Here's how close he came to succeeding. By the time fighting resumed in the spring of 1297 - even the irresistible Labbish advance paused for the winter - the western force was ten miles from Chorley. The loss of Chorley, 'The Iron Town', which houses the country's chief military and commercial smiths, would have been catastrophic. Even worst, the eastern army had captured the last of the great bridges which give entrance to the Dorlafan Central Plains. It was poised to sweep down towards the Cities - which were as well equipped to withstand a siege as a sandcastle is the waves. The fall of their sacred Cities would probably have completely broken Dorlafan resistance and led to total surrender, and that would have destroyed the will to fight on in the other invaded provinces. And that would have been the end of the federation. The southern provinces, yet to be touched by the war, would no doubt have mounted their own defence; but it was beginning to look like the Erish Empire all over again, land after land falling like dominoes.
"The second wave of invaders spelled Chancellor Ollia's demise. Wholly out of his depth, he was pressured into resigning and was replaced by the closest the country had to a good general, Sebastin Tannerz. Tannerz' apologists cite his appointment as the turning point of the war, and there is no doubt the mobilisation and deployment of the troops gathered speed when he took command. Christoté still had the crucial advantage of its vast population and Tannerz, for the first time in the war, was able to take advantage of it. He assembled a huge force of Guardsmen, citizens' militia, foreign mercenaries and anyone else he could get his hands on. They marched across the Central Plains and met the Labbish at a wide grassland called Briers Field. The battle saw some sickening carnage but ended as a resounding victory for Christoté and effectively ended the Labbish advance. The next few years saw the invaders being gradually driven back, reluctantly giving ground but having to struggle against increasing difficulties. The mood of the Christotans was up; before Briers Field all most could do was despair, now they surged to join the army or organised their own small-scale insurrections against their conquerors. A force was raised in Kratz's and Schall's coastal regions which harassed the long Labbish supply line, threatening to cut the invading army off completely. Reinforcements from Labland itself were ambushed en route and the western army had to withdraw to assist their colleagues. By 1299 Elsey had been completely liberated and the Labbish were in full retreat, driven northwards out of Kratz and back towards their own borders. Yet come the end of the year the war had reached an impasse. Christoté had recaptured all its territory but Labland remained undefeated. A peace overture (reluctantly) offered by Chancellor Tannerz was rejected outright by King Tenrif. Throughout 1300 Huwdone House prevaricated and Labland rebuilt its armies; in the spring of the next year a fresh attack was launched and a Christotan force in its path roundly beaten. Morale plummeted as it seemed that nothing could pacify this enemy, that the war would never end. Then Huwdone House's frantic appeals for help from its allies finally met with a response.
"The appeals had gone almost unanswered since the start of the war and most people had given up hope. Erenland sent a few scabby units and made it clear that this was all it could afford (although individual Erish fighters came over in droves to fight as mercenaries). Kakranfé was a different prospect, and their delay was merely due to them building up their strength for a decisive blow against their hated enemy. In 1301 the legendary Kakranfan navy set sail down the Asatan Estuary, the waters which then acted as a natural boundary between the two nations. All Labbish fortifications on the south bank were methodically razed, then thousand of Kakranfan troops disembarked, eager for bloodshed. The Labbish were forced to hurriedly retreat to face this new threat from the rear. Tannerz delayed no further but sent his troops across the border to pursue them. The bulk of the Labbish armies were caught in a pincer and destroyed, and Rifton and other towns were besieged and rapidly captured. There was only one possible conclusion to the war, but still Tenrif refused to surrender. The Kakranfan warships reached and attacked the Labbish capital from water. After subduing the rest of the country, the joint land troops turned east and linked with the navy to begin a long, grim siege of the city. And still Labland clung on. It seemed as if every single person would have to be slaughtered or starved before it capitulated. Finally the will of the Labbish nobility cracked and Tenrif was overthrown in a bloody coup. His successor offered unconditional surrender. The Labbish war had been won.
"The war was won but Christoté had teetered on a precipice for a very long time. The years which followed were equally dangerous. For all the thousands who had lost their lives, the physical scars on the country itself were comparatively slight. As they were aiming for conquest the Labbish had tried to grab their prize intact, and only during their scrambled retreat did much field burning or bridge wrecking take place. The psychological damage to the nation was greater. The belief in Christoté's invulnerability, the arrogant assumption that size, wealth and culture alone equated power, had been shattered. A few bloodthirsty children like Tomas Kenner aside, the federation suddenly felt terribly exposed and fearfully awaited the next host of barbarians at the gates. Sebastin Tannerz shamefully exploited the mood of unease. He increased his own powers considerably and forced in his "Fortification Programme" to toughen up the country. City gates and walls across the land were strengthened, new forts and defences were erected in borderland regions, the ranks of the Guards were swelled, a whole new Regiment was raised to patrol the Annexed Lands, foreigners were courted and the sole criteria for gaining citizenship was possession of a good fighting arm. To pay for it all, taxes were raised and public spending in welfare and the infrastructure slashed except in war-damaged areas. Most ominously, powers allowing conscription, the absence of which had hindered Tannerz' recruitment drive but was celebrated by most as a cornerstone of their liberty, were only rejected by Parliament after sustained rioting and showed every sign of resurfacing. Over all this presided Sebastin Tannerz, smuggled into Huwdone during a state of emergency, never ratified by full elections and, as the 1300's dragged on, finding excuse after excuse not to call them. Tannerz had already broken one fundamental principle of Christoté, not to expand the borders, by seizing parts of southern Labland - temporarily he promised but no-one was convinced. It was believed he was prepared to go even further, that he regarded his Fortification Programme as mere tinkering and that, to guarantee Christoté's security, a fundamental restructuring of the state was needed. After all (he wasn't alone in thinking) the first rule for any government is to safeguard its citizens. The old system had failed in this task, so maybe...
"Christoté pulled away from that danger as well. Tannerz was eventually bullied into calling elections in 1310, by which time he had antagonised virtually the whole nation. He was unanimously voted out of power and met a highly suspicious and never solved death two years later. His conservative successor promptly reversed most of his policies, and Christoté tried to continue as before. But just as foreign policy became decidedly more cautious, so a fear continued to hang over the federation, a haunting belief that the idealism was doomed to end in bloodshed. Even by 1334, with times booming once more and memories of the war grown stale, the feeling of confidence was a reserved one. The triumphant optimism of the 1200's had been lost and would never be recovered.