Transcribed by Kardan Verigio

Unfortunately, I have even less information on the Second Great Expansion than the first. While there were scattered accounts of the period most referring to it as “The Great Northern War”, most simply were just reiterating the scattered transcriptions of Kadicus Sethos. While he did include some historical information, most of it focused on how to conduct military operations.

The expansion north began with a raid by a Vyaldur chieftain and less than a hundred warriors, who swept down and terrorized some unnamed village. They arrived under cover of night, stealing horses and a wagon full of grain. They returned north with their stolen goods and shortly a handful of Saronean knights, sworn protectors of the lands the northerners had raided. A tense situation escalated and a skirmish broke out, resulting in three slain knights and some untold number of Vyaldur joining them in the dirt.

Things quickly escalated, as the Jarls called for retribution and vengeance, while the Saronean knights and lords clamored for the same. Raids and attacks from the north increased, while the Empire began sending troops to northern garrisons and fortresses. 

The better part of a year would pass until Emperor Konstan II called together a Conclave of Lords and Ladies from the major Saronean Houses and declared war against the north. Records indicate that the Conclave lasted for a fortnight and detailed not only the forces needed but also how lands would be annexed and divided among the existing Houses for their assistance.

And thus began the Great Northern War. 

Much of the beginning of the conflict seemed to be little more than armored knights on horseback encountering small forces of poorly armed infantry with minimal tactical capabilities. 

It wasn’t until Jarl Hakkan Swordbreaker began to lead the Vyaldur resistance that the Saronean armies met with any actual losses. He was a veteran of several protracted battles against savage hill tribes and Ughol hordes, and apparently persuasive enough to ally the Vyaldur as a people. Where once there was a collection of rabble that seemed to be more concerned with feuds and infighting, now there was a more unified force.

For the better part of ten years, Swordbreaker stymied Imperial expansion in the north, using the terrain and weather against them. However, he eventually faltered under the sheer might of the continued Imperial campaign. While some accounts, including Kadicus Sethos himself, would attribute Swordbreaker’s downfall as due to Imperial superiority, there are hints that the betrayal of several key Jarls was truly instrumental. One could probably surmise that the Jarls were bribed with promises of land or silver.

Thus, the Great Northern War ended with Jarl Hakkan Swordbreaker’s surrender, after which he was taken captive to act as a “liaison” with the northerners, although, in all honesty, it sounded more like he was paraded through the Great Cities as some sort of trophy and a symbol of the Empire’s victory.

For many years after that, the Imperial forces would continue to expand in the north, annexing further territory, and bribing various Jarls to bow to the will of the Empire. While a number of lesser battles were recorded, none of them seemed to be of terrible importance, and most were often locally conscripted militia defending newly constructed Imperial forts.