The Tenth Crusade was launched by First Prince Cordelia Hasenbach. While there were several reasons it was launched, the main was to use up leftover troops from the Civil War in Procer, and a means to consolidate her reign in Procer while forcing other Good polities to support rather than interfere with her actions.
Major Actors
Named crusaders invading Callow
The two most powerful Named sent against Callow were the Grey Pilgrim and the Saint of Swords, but there were a number of others as well.
Northern Callow:
- Grey Pilgrim
- Saint of Swords
- Painted Knife
- Vagrant Spear
- Mirror Knight
- Myrmidon
- Forsworn Healer
- Rogue Sorcerer
- Blade of Mercy
- Silent Guardian
- Mansurin
- Francois
Red Flower Vales:
- White Knight
- Witch of the Woods
- Valiant Champion
- Silver Huntress
- Fortunate Fool
- 6 other Heroes
Several others are yet to have been mentioned by name or by Name.
Notable non-Named crusaders in Callow
It was mentioned by Prince Amadis that there were enough royals between the two armies that a session of the Highest Assembly could take place within Callow. Presumably this meant that a majority of the twenty-four princes and princesses of Procer were invading Callow.
The Invading force sent to Northern Callow was mainly made of the First Prince's opposition, backed by many unruly fantassins. Generalship of the army was granted to Princess Rozala Malanza, though Prince Amadis Milenan was de-facto leader due to his political clout. Other commanders included Prince Louis of Creusens, Prince Arnaud of Cantal, Prince Alejandro of Segovia and Princess Adeline of Orne. This was partially in the hope of getting them all disgraced, though Malanza was expected to be a competent enough leader that the Northern front would be a success.
The armies besieging the Red Flower Vales was led by Prince Klaus Papenheim and Princess Mathilda, (presumably) backed by Prince Etienne of Brabant, Prince Arnse of Bayeux, Princess Clotilde of Ainse, Prince Ariel of Arans and Princess Francesca of Tenerife. The army primarily comprised of the First Prince's allies, levies from the remaining eighteen principalities, with half the Lycaonese armies as a core.
Named defenders in Callow
The Named fighting on the side of Callow were four of the five members of the Woe and two of the Calamities.
Northern Callow:
- Black Queen
- Hierophant
- Archer
- Thief
Red Flower Vales:
- Black Knight
- Warlock
- Scribe (Non-combatant role)
Notable non-Named defenders in Callow
Ultimate control of the defending Army of Callow was in the hands of Marshal Juniper. Most of the surviving major characters from the Fifteenth Legion of Terror were present and active, such as General Nauk and General Hune. Larat led fifty members of the Wild Hunt.
Brandon Talbot was in charge of the Order of the Broken Bell, while at the same time trying to gain support for his faction, the Regals.
In the Vales, Marshal Grem was the commander, leading the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Tenth and Twelfth Legions, with Marshal Ranker as second-in-command. Other generals included General Mok of the Third, General Sacker of the Fifth, General Nekbeh of the Tenth and General Yawa Foehammer for the Twelfth.
Major Events
Fronts
The Tenth Crusade was initially fought on three fronts, one against the Legions of Terror of Amadeus in the Red Flower Vales, one against Malicia and her loyalist Legions in Praes and the last against Catherine Foundling and her Army of Callow in Northern Callow.
After the Battle of the Camps and the Battle for the Vales, the Procerans were forced out of Callow, while the Legions under Amadeus began ravaging their way down the southern Principate. As the Dead King began his invasion of Procer, the Callowan front was abandoned as the armies moved to defend the Northern Principalities. This created three new fronts for battle, one led by Princess Rozala Malanza in Cleves, another led by Prince Klaus Papenheim in Hainaut and one led by Prince Otto Reitzenburg at Twilight's pass.
At the end of Book Four, the eastern front was finished as well, as Warlock eliminated the Ashuran fleet besieging the Praesi coast. The elimination of half of Ashur's warships was taken advantage of by the League of Free Cities, with the Nicean fleet, backed by a handful of ships from the other cities, sinking the other Ashuran war fleet and blockading the Thalassocracy.
Another front was opened in the principality of Issere, with the Legions of Terror led by Amadeus besieging it, the armies of the Dominion of Levant rushing to defeat them, the armies of the League invading through the Waning Woods and the border army in Tenerife rushing to defend Issere. In desperation, First Prince Cordelia conscripted another Proceran army, reinforced them with the personal armies of every royal not already at war and sent them to relieve the Grand Alliance armies in Issere under Princess Rozala's leadership. The Isseran front was later complicated with the additions of the Army of Callow and the Southern Expedition of the reborn Empire Ever Dark, both independently intending on extracting the stranded Legions, as well as an army of devils summoned by Hierophant while under the Dead King's thrall. This front eventually concluded in the Prince's Graveyard, with all of the belligerents travelling to Salia for a peace conference.
History
The Tideless Isles
The very first battle of the Tenth Crusade was the seizure of the Tideless Isles by the Thalassocracy of Ashur. It was mentioned to have been a great victory, with only a handful of losses, which were easily replaced as the Ashurans were mentioned to have captured ten times the number of ships sunk from the pirates in the Isles. The pirates whom were not captured or killed fled to the Wasteland. This was a great strategic victory, as now Ashur had a foothold from which to launch raids on Praes' eastern coast, forcing Malicia's Legions to defend them instead of marching west to reinforce the Callowan fronts.
The Stairway
The first part of the offensive in Callow was an elaborate ritual designed to burn a path through the mountains between Procer and Callow, a path which was nicknamed "the Stairway". This allowed Proceran force of fifty thousand to invade in grounds that the defenders had not prepared for combat.
This complicated the strategic situation for the Kingdom of Callow, as there was no way for them to reach there in time to defend the north. As there was a demon bound in the Barony of Harrow, Queen Catherine was unwilling to fight in the vicinity of it and thus ordered the retreat of the Barony's citizens and armies, as well as the removal of as much food as possible form the territory before letting the crusaders take it uncontested.
Prince Amadis Milenan, at this point, arranged the assassination of the First Prince's envoy before taking over negotiations with the Duchy of Daoine, promising the cities of Laure and Dernier to Duchess Kegan, though Kegan expected him to betray her whenever it was convenient. Regardless, she sent a thousand members of the Watch to reinforce the Proceran army, with Adjutant causing an incident at the border to make it look as though Daoine was genuinely backing the Procerans.
The twenty-thousand strong Army of Callow arrived in the city of Hedges and was reinforced by a thousand soldiers from Baroness Ainsley of Harrow's army. Queen Catherine ordered Special Tribune Robber's cohort and Archer to begin scouting around the crusader host.
Princess Rozala Malanza sent out five thousand light calvary to take Harrow ahead of the rest of the army, which was suspected by the Army of Callow's leadership as an attempt to bait out the Order of the Broken Bells, the Wild Hunt or the Woe into a heroic trap. As such, the Army let the crusaders take Harrow uncontested, before marching south once more once they realised that the Army of Callow was not taking their bait.
Three weeks later, Prince Amadis Milenan sent out a relative of his to meet with Baron Darlington's nephew Julian as an envoy for talks about a betrayal against Catherine in exchange for the North as his own principality once Callow had been conquered. Catherine, whom had intimidated Baron Darlington into nominally being on her side, insisted on going to the meeting, where she met the Grey Pilgrim, whom came along as escort for the Proceran envoy. As a precaution against him, it was implied that Catherine had the Wild Hunt on standby in Arcadia to intervene.
The talk between the two of them failed to reach an accord over peace, but nevertheless resulted in terms of engagement being settled; No sacking of cities, no angels, no demons, no devils, no torture or mistreatment of prisoners, prisoner exchanges are arrangeable and all surrender is to be honoured, so long as it is genuine. As a gesture of goodwill by Catherine, she told the Grey Pilgrim about the Demon of Absence, whom promised to slay it if they could.