2016 The fall of the Second Empire

(hereafter are the events of The Fog LARP 2016)

The Second Empire was formed in 2014 and presided by emperor Bogom of East Wind, who was pronounced Emperor supposedly by the spirit of the First Emperor Jarn himself. Two years later, in 2016, several member states proposed Queen Talia of Vanor to succeed Bogom as empress. That was declared unacceptable by king Tirion of the Seven Hills, who then proclaimed his intent to seize control over the Second Empire.

The other member states were not exactly thrilled with the idea, which resulted in the factual dissolving of the Second Empire. The Dark Guard seceded and declared neutrality, while East Wind, Bdin, Sea Wolves and Green Banner formed the Northern Alliance as a defensive military union against the Kingdom of the Seven Hills.

2017 Philosopher’s Stone. Start of the war

(hereafter are the events of The Fog LARP 2017 “The Philosopher’s Stone”)

In the midst of the complicated political situation, adventurers from Pontus returned from a distant journey bringing an artifact that became known as the “Philosopher’s Stone”. Representatives of all nations gathered at Bolyarovo, where fragments of the stone have been scattered after an accident, poisoning the adjacent land and water sources. In the process of destroying the Philosopher’s Stone, all states, with only a few exceptions, became involved with either the one or the other party in the brewing conflict.

The tension between the Northern Alliance and the Kingdom of the Seven Hills kept increasing, resulting in a number of military incidents. After one such incident the Kingdom of the Seven Hills started full mobilization and signed an alliance with Silverthorn. In October, the Sevenhillean army occupied Etropole. The Northern Alliance responded by sending all their available forces to stop the enemy’s advance. Thus, only a few individual Sevenhillean units managed to penetrate Bdin territory, performing surprise strikes on military and civilian infrastructure in the Bdin Elves. By the end of the year, both sides did not have the resources to continue hostilities. Two fronts were formed with no man’s land between them. The war came down to sporadic and pointless attacks.

2018 The Great War

(hereafter are the events of The Fog LARP 2018 “All Quiet on the Northern Front”)

The year started with the so called New Year Truce – on New Year’s Eve, soldiers from the rival trenches s gathered in the no man’s land to celebrate together. The next day the hostilities were resumed. On the political scene, both warring parties were trying widen their respective coalitions. The Kingdom of the Seven Hills managed within 1 month to conclude military agreements with the Incarnadines, the Suntouched, Noldor, the Dark Guard and Pontus. Meanwhile, the Northern Alliance’s efforts have secured the support of the Heralds of Chaos, the Norsemen, Ferumgard, and some Western tribes, including the Red Ravens and the Phoenix Tribe.

In July 2018 the decisive action of the war occurred at Etropole. where the best units and most prominent commanders from both sides met on the battlefield. While the Allied forces lost most of direct military confrontations, their better logistics and support organization played a decisive role and, in the end, the Kingdom of the Seven Hills and their allies had to capitulate and an Armistice was signed under the auspices of the traditionally neutral Guild of the Sand Blades

While celebrating the end of the war, the Dark Guard, who, since the decline of the Second Empire had lost interest in politics, accidentally or not, opened a portal leading to another world – known as “the Feywild”. Most of their elite disappeared, there for a while, which became the beginning of the decline of the Dark Guard’s political influence.

(hereafter are the events of The Fog LARP 2019 “Games of Trust”, which, in the ingame timeline, take place one month after the Etropole Armistice in 2018)

A date has been set one month later for a peace conference to resolve the outcome of the large-scale conflict and turn the Etropole Armistice into an actual peace treaty. It seemed, however, that only a very thin line separated the two factions from resuming hostilities, especially with the heavy pressure some of the Allies applied towards forcing extremely harsh conditions on the Kingdom of the Seven Hills. It was the most affected ally – Bdin, that prevented further continuation of hostilities by agreeing to reasonable terms and reparations and using their influence to secure the peace. The peace conference was a success, as almost everyone gained some additional territories – there was plenty of unoccupied land to distribute, while the party that lost the war did not lose neither territories, not dignity.

This time, however, will be remembered rather by the unexpected invasion of the Black Masks – a nickname given for obvious reason to a remnant elite regiment of the old Imperial Seventh Path, called “The First Brigade”. They had fought in the Mage Wars – from 992 to 1098. At some point their regiment had to retreat and ended up stranded in the desert. They built a couple of bunkers, hid some equipment, and put themselves in hibernation, to be awaken in 2016. For three years the Black Masks collected information and prepared to return to where the contemporary Mage Academy was – to continue with their mission to secure all mages, and, after that, restore the Imperial order. The First Brigade was extremely efficient, armed with formidable Imperial equipment, and also had sympathizers mainly among the contemporary Order of the Seventh Path. Their opponents were disorganized, divided, distracted with the peace talks, as well as with internal mage academy politics. It was the small number of forces that the First Brigade brought with them, that prevented them from seizing power, as well as the sudden change of heart of the Order of the Seventh Path, who decided that in the end they did not want to support aggressive power-thirsty aliens from the past. Eventually the Black Masks had to withdraw and their position and further intentions are unknown to us.

2019

The Supreme Lord Moroes of Bdin proclaimed himself Emperor, based on the uniat with the Bdin elves, led by their Queen Marian. The state started to call itself the Bdin Empire.

2021 – The fall of the comet and the Belitsa war

(hereafter are the events of The Fog LARP 2021 “Harvest”)

In the early spring of 2021, to the North of Danube River, a meteorite hit. Rifts, earthquakes and tidal waves were caused by the impact, reaching beyond Vanor to the West and Aeonia to the South. Severe casualties and destruction were caused everywhere. On top of that, the fallen rock brought an unknown poison that penetrated the soil and made it completely inhospitable to all and any domesticated plants. With perished crops and no prospect of growing new ones, the known world faced terrible famine.

One small region, however, remained clean from the poison – the Belitsa land, territory of the Noldor Elves. Both rumors and Intelligence services soon confirmed that a nearby rift had unearthed a strange substance that could temporarily counter the effects of the poison. A desperate search for the Substance began everywhere else, but soon fell short. It was apparent that the elves were the only ones with access to the lifesaving element and even if they wanted to share it, the deposit would only feed a handful of nations.

It was then that a Sevenhillean expeditionary force surprisingly advanced into Noldor territory.

The nimble elven guerillas bloodied the Kingdom’s nose and slowed the invasion enough for two opposing fronts to form: Task Force Griffin – supporting the invasion with the intent of establishing a joint mining operation thus saving their people from the imminent mass starvation, and The Fellowship – a coalition valiantly defending Noldor’s sovereignty with the hope of receiving the Substance’s life-preserving gift in return.

Both factions united unlikely allies. East Wind consolidated into a Knyazdom (a local equivalent of a principality) and started a more aggressive policy, which led them into the strange situational alliance with the Kingdom of the Seven Hills. The Bdin Empire, the Sea Wolves, Pontus, the Green Banner and the Western Phoenix Tribe also joined Task Force Griffin. Noldor were supported by both the Gargavran cultists and the paladin-like Order of the Suntouched, as well as practically all Southern nations.

The new war ended with victory for the invaders. The lands of the Kingdom of the Seven Hills, Knyazdom of East Wind, Bdin Empire, Sea Wolves and Vanor would recover faster than others, due to the expeditionary force’s success to not only acquire the amount of substance necessary, but even a little surplus. In great manifestation of solidarity in the hardest of times the Fellowship leaders decided for a fair distribution of the available – though insufficient – substance between them.

As a last shred of decency Task Force Griffin powers officially took commitment to fully withdraw after having exploited the resource for one year.

In the midst of the war druids around the world sensed a terrible disturbance. Something evil had seen the opportunity and come to sow mayhem and madness. That evil was contained, but the Druid circle in Belitsa was destroyed.

2022 – Recovery from the Cataclysm’s aftermath. The surprising offensive of the Tenebran Empire.

(hereafter are the events of The Fog LARP 2022 “In Two Minds”)

After the Belitsa war Substance deposits kept being discovered and depleted throughout the lands. A constant, although insufficient, supply of Substance was ensured. A giant effort needed to be made every year by every nation, however, to mine the substance, to store it, move it, distribute it and, ultimately, use it. An effort requiring huge capacity in terms of human,financial and technical resources and expertise. The cataclysm had also devalued all currencies and a limited amount of recently found imperial coins became the common monetary means of exchange.

An undesired effect of the substance was that about 30% of the world’s population suffered from a mental sickness, commonly known as “Substance Allergy”. The Alchemist Guild had a leading role in finding a palliative cure that temporarily alleviated the allergy symptoms, thus becoming an internationally recognized research body. Two vaccine variants with different side effects were developed in the meantime. After heated debates the public opinion and the decision makers eventually leaned towards the more radical solution, which was subsequently implemented. It had drastic consequences: the sickness was completely eradicated, at the cost of loss of life amounting to as much as 10% of the total population.

One year after the Belitsa war, respecting the peace treaty, the nations formerly allied in Task Force Griffin and The Fellowship gathered in Belitsa to return it to Noldor with a short ceremony. A joint military exercise took place оn the occasion. The games were held in the spirit of sportsmanship. A major provocation, however, was instigated by a Noldor unit, openly led by king Elve himself, and supported by Gargavran and Dark Guard forces. They attacked the delegation of the Kingdom of the Seven Hills causing a number of casualties and taking several important prisoners. The former Seven hills’ allies from Griffin did not interfere in the incident, which was later deescalated. The diplomatic and military tension between the Kingdom of the Seven Hills and Noldor remained at very high intensity.

(hereafter are the fictitious events preceeding The Fog LARP 2023 “Defiance”)

A surprising offensive by an outer force put an abrupt end to the various animosities between the local nations. The force was identified as the Tenebran empire – a recently recovered remnant of the Old Empire, founded by descendants of the old Imperial Order of the Seventh Path. In 2019 a small reconnaissance force of the Tenebran elite forces – known as “Black masks” – was sent to prepare an offensive. It was successfully pushed back and the subject was forgotten due to the catastrophic events that followed. Being a united state, the Tenebran Empire took a lot less long to recuperate from the cataclysm and set back in motion their plan to reclaim the world dominance and glory of the Old Empire.

The divided, still recovering nations that just suffered a huge loss of population and morale did not stand a chance. The Tenebran victory was swift and definitive. The attack came from the South, where Aeonia’s fragmented lands did not pose any challenge. Plovdiv fell in 10 days, which was the longest siege in the entire offensive. Lastly, with the fall of Bdin, the Tenebran victory was complete.

All local power and institutional structures were disbanded by the Black Masks – both national and international, such as the Mage Academy and even the Order of the Seventh Path, which was widely considered by the invaders a group of incompetent impostors. The former nations were declared Imperial Provinces going by their own names, but removing terms such as “kingdom”. Insurrection attempts took place in practically all former countries, and were all brutally and efficiently neutralized. There was just one failure that annoyed the Tenebrans – all former monarchs were able to avoid capture, so they were all declared wanted.

2023 – Forming the Rebellion and pushing out the Tenebran occupiers.

(hereafter are the events of The Fog LARP 2023 “Defiance”)

In 2025, two years after the conquest of our lands by the Tenebran Empire, the nations sent representatives to Belitsa for a commemoration of all the fallen in the wars prior to the invasion. This event, however, was  but a cover for the gathering’s true purpose – a rebellion was forming and a leader had to be elected. 

It all would have been for naught if a way to topple the governors had not been found. But a brave man, Vizimir Radik, took on a dangerous mission and brought back the memories of an ancient Master Craftsman.

The debates about who is best fit to lead were going with full force and parallel to them the memories were being untangled. They spoke of a weapon that can end someones life permanently, devised by the Master Craftsman. Evilok, the god of Death, had stopped the old artisan from using the weapon and broke it into pieces, which were hidden just out of reach. At last, after various trials, the weapon was assembled, in hopes it could get through the Governor’s defenses.

The small nation of the Sea Wolves was chosen to lead the rebellion by an overwhelming majority. The weapon was entrusted to the “Flying Squad”, an international group of honorable people, trusted not to use the weapon for malice. With the leadership of the Sea Wolves, the weapon held by the “Flying Squad” and the shared wish for freedom, the local governor was killed and the Rebellion was launched.

(hereafter are the fictitious events preceeding The Fog LARP 2024 “Lines We Draw”)

Slowly, but surely, governors fell  one after another and the number of free provinces grew with each week. The Tenebran Empire was being beaten by the united efforts of all the nations. Every trace of the empire was battled – from the armed forces, to spies and collaborators. Seemingly none remained.

Months passed and the seasons changed. Winter came, and so did Tenebran reinforcements. Fighting continued in what later became known as the Winter War. The Rebellion fought nature as much as it did the Tenebrans. Victory was achieved nonetheless. The cost was great, but freedom is never cheap.