The Sashtalia War

The Sashtalia War was Baron Arathanial of Sendaria's campaign to recover the ancestral House Lensely lands lost during the dueling century. Arathanial had spent two years preparing the campaign, recruiting and arming and hiring out Sevendor's mercenaries for the season; with the Warbird Sire Gimbal already fallen at the close of Magelord, Sashtalia was the last great obstacle to Lensely consolidation of the Bontal Vales.

Sevendor's tacit support

Minalan declined to call Sevendor's banners but provided substantial covert support: intelligence on Sashtalian castle-defences (with magi-aided cartography of every lance-count and bridge-ford), permission for Sevendori vassals to hire on as mercenaries for the season, and material gifts. Carmella built a custom warstaff for Arathanial's newly-hired Court Wizard, specifically enchanted for breaking walls and undermining towers. Sir Cei rode with Arathanial as his sworn vassal-of-Cargwenyn.

The campaign

The Sashtalia campaign unfolded over the spring and summer of Enchanter, with castles falling at a rate that bore the unmistakable mark of magical-aid intelligence and Carmella's warstaff. The dueling-century-old Lord Trefalan of Sashtalia was defeated; multiple Sashtalian fiefs surrendered or were taken; the line ended.

The partition

The post-war settlement did three things at once:

• Arathanial recovered most of the ancestral Lensely lands his grandfathers had lost.
• A new Lensely cadet barony, Taravanal, was carved out of conquered territory and given to Arathanial's elder son Arlastan.
• Sevendor opportunistically picked up six border domains, including the Trygg-clergy estate Alya wanted protected.

The result was a permanent rebalancing of the Riverlords: Sendaria became the senior baronial power of the Bontal Vales by a substantial margin, with Trestendor and Sevendor as junior partners; the dueling-century carve-up of the original Lensely county was substantially undone.