Twelve Great Battles

The Twelve Great Battles were a series of campaigns led by Gilles le Breton, lord of Bastonne, and his thirteen Grail Companions, against the greenskins, Beastmen, Undead and Skaven that plagued the lands that would become Bretonnia. They took place between 976 and 978 IC. They were victorious in each, and earned much honour, glory and renown. The deeds of the Companions became the epitome of aspiration for all knights, and these battles formed the basis of countless Bretonnian tales in later years.

Background
The Bretonni, proud and warlike horsemen, had arrived to the lands west of the Grey Mountains and north of Tilea around -1000 IC, and began a centuries-long war against the greenskins that roam in these fair realms. Three hundred years later, the Bretonni lands became dominated by twenty main tribes, who absorbed or destroyed the rest, and kept fighting among themselves for control over the territory - although they kept allying against the Orcs and Goblins. They built many great strongholds and castles, but in 577 IC an increase in the greenskin raids saw four of the major tribes destroyed - the other sixteen managed to claim their lands, establishing regions that would remain relatively stable to this day, although Glanborielle and Cuileux were later destroyed and absorbed by others.

In 947 IC the northern lands were overrun by greenskin tribes, as well as Beastmen that poured forth from the Forest of Arden. Around this time, the Norse began to raid the northern coastal regions and the northern Bretonni tribes were isolated from each other and their lands ravaged. Three years later, Bastonne struck an alliance with Lyonesse through the wedding of Lord Thierulf and Rosalind, sister of Gilles le Breton. The Lord of Lyonesse and the heir to Bastonne became strong strong friends, and the ties between the two realms grew strong.

In 975, Gilles, already famed throughout the lands of the Bretonni after he sought out and slew the giant red Dragon Smearghus 23 years earlier, inherited the crown of Bastonne after his father died repelling the Orc armies that had invaded Glanborielle, Quenelles, Brionne, Aquitaine, Parravon, Montfort, Bordeleaux and Bastonne. Joining forces with his friend Thierulf and the famed Lord Landuin of Mousillon, Gilles prepared for one final, great battle.

On the morning of the battle, a ghostly vision came unto them, a maiden of surpassing beauty and fey power arising from the mirror-sheened lake beside which they were camped in the Forest of Châlons. The knights knew full well that the sublime apparition was no mortal creature, for not a ripple disturbed the waters. She blessed Gilles, enchanting his banner with her likeness. The bodies of the Companions became suffused with unearthly strength and light. Their eyes did glow with lambent flame from within, and their weapons and armours shone with new power. Thus did Gilles, Landuin and Thierulf trascend the mortal clay and earn sanctity to become the first of the Grail Knights, the famed Grail Companions.

First Battle
On the morn the enemy, array'd upon the field, were like unto a living sea, of such number that all hope seemed forlorn. Yet Gilles and his Companions rode forth as vengeful gods of war, and parted the tide. Victory after victory was won; a hundred score fell before their terrible wrath. The verdant fields ran crimson and black, and the green-skins, trapped 'twixt sword and sea, fled howling into the tide to be claimed by the cold claw of Manann. Few escaped the fury of the blessed knights, and the lands were saved. Gilles unfurl'd the standard of the Lady upon a great mound of the dead and the people did rejoice.

In this deed, Gilles had won the first of his famed Twelve Great Battles, and with it the allegiance of Lord Marcus of Bordeleaux and Lord Fredemund of Aquitaine. That day, the first-forged bonds of brotherhood that were to unite the Bretonni were the true prize.

Second Battle
And Gilles' victory was a beacon of hope in the bleak and dire night, and his Companions were an inspiration to soldier and seneschal alike. But whither should they wend, asked Landuin, and Gilles did reply south. The knights took the coast, the seas calming at their passage as they rode through the surf towards embattled Brionne. They came upon the rearguard of a great war-horde of green-skins, their lords borne aloft on long-necked wyvern. Upon their sight Fredemund did sound his clarion-horn and summon'd to him a mighty flock of falcons that struck terror into the black hearts of the enemy and tore at the wings of the Orc-beasts, driving them to the ground. The knights fought deep into the heart of the green-skin horde, where Landuin struck down the bloated Orc warlord, and Fredemund slew his monstrous mount. Thus was the Second Great Battle.

Third Battle
And so from that day, riding hard, Companions five did travel onward to the besieged Castle Brionne. Just as they struck, the foe garner'd about the great moat, Lord Balduin of Brionne sallied forth across his oaken drawbridge with the last of his knights. Balduin himself took the brutal axe that day, stuck fast in his shield and emblazoned there for evermore. Though their number was outmatched fifteen-score to one, the Bretonni tore through the green-skins like a scythe through wheat in harvest, and Gilles and Balduin did hail well met in the midst of the battle. They clasped forearms as brothers, and Balduin was joined into the number of the Companions. Thus was the Third Great Battle won.

Fourth Battle
Afterward, urged ever on by night-blessings and visions from the Lady of the Lake, the Companions did venture to crss the mighty River Brienne, and spurred their chargers a hundred-league through the shattered lowlands of Carcassonne towards the land of Quenelles. Grim lord Lambard of Carcassonne did spy the banner of the Lady and come unto their side, and as they raced through day and night the Companions clashed swords with green-skin borne upon great wolf that did snap hungrily at their steeds. The Companions held true, and after several weary nights the shadow of great Quenelles did fall upon them, but rejoice was denied: they were greatly vexed to sight the borders of fair Loren aflame.

Though each were bone-weary and in sore need of succour, the divine power of the Lady flowed strong, and the Companions made haste unto the green-skins that did hew and put to flame the ancient forests. A night of blood and fire came upon them, and the Companions fought tirelessly with skill unmatched and awesome majesty. The dark was lit by shining sword and eye ablaze, and the wrath of the goddess was such that her champions could not fall. Bough joined blade as the ancient forest came to the Companions' aid, to choke and bind, to smite flesh and break bone. The fae-spirits of that haunted forest did flit and glimmer beyond sight amongst the branches, striking down those that dared do harm to their realm. Thus did Gilles become friend to the fae, and did win his Fourth Great Battle.

Fifth Battle
Granted restful sleep by the Lady the Companions greeted the new sun to find themselves refreshed, and their wounded bodies whole and sound once more. Suffused with the vigour of a spring dawn, the Companions did ride northward to lend their swords to beleaguered Parravon, now amongst their number Rademund the Pure, Lord of Quenelles.

And so it came that the eight Companions did ride upon once-handsome Parravon, carved from stark mountainside by the River Grismerie, only to find after seven nights of long travel that it stood in wrack and ruin. Fell giants aloft in the peaks did heft and rain boulders down upon the city below. Borne aloft on his faithful pegasus Glorfinial, Lord Agilgar of Parravon wheeled through the air above the city the better to take the battle to lofty crag and distant aerie, and did smite the foe.

The goblyn of the Severed Hand did defile the streets and citizens below, setting a great flame and taking fair maidens into slavehood. Through cobbled streets charged the Companions, cleansing alley and courtyard, riding down enemy without number beneath iron-shod hoof and casting twisted, lumpen bodies into the flames. Thus was the Fifth Great Battle won.

Sixth Battle
And that day, Agilgar did gladly troth his lance to Gilles, and the blossoming coterie of Companions galloped on until as the sun set they came upon the land of Montfort. There they saw the towering Lord Martrud and his kin give their all to fend clear a dozen tribes of fierce night-goblyns, who gushed forth from the mountainside in a number like unto a black and unstoppable flood. Axe Bite Pass, that dark vale upon which Castle Montfort broods, was carpeted in a carrion feast of a thousand dead.

The Companions rode out into the tide of black clad fiends and did lay about themselves mightily until... Alas and woe! How great the pity! Gilles was transfix'd upon a mighty bolt sent heartward by an infernal device of the cowardly goblyn. Weeping, the Companions bore their lord in fever-dream aloft into the castle. A night of dark grief and desperation came, the Companions as unquiet ghosts around Gilles' death-pallet as leaches and surgeons were heard to dolefully proclaim that dark night to be his last.

It is unmeet that I should write of the depths of the Companions' woe. But the Lady was within Gilles, and as dawn broke the fallen hero did grasp the shaft of the bolt with a great roar and pull it bodily from his chest where light streamed out. Grim and wrathful, Gilles was like unto a divine sky-warrior as he rode forth once more, smiting a three-flock of wyverns that descended upon him from the black-bellied skies, one felled by the very bolt that had struck him.

A full week was embattled Montfort besieged before the Companions turned the tide. The night-goblyns fell away into their dank caverns and dark chasms to lick at their wounds as dogs in their misery. Thus was the Sixth Great Battle won.

Seventh Battle
But be it known that Gilles would not let the enemy from under his sight, and did lead his Companions after the retreating foe, plunging into the everlasting night of the caves. On and down and on and down they galloped, ever deeper through the labyrinth, their only radiance the flame that licked from blade and blazed in eye. They slew all the trolls and the dark creatures of the depths that came upon them for to bar their way, delving ever downward into the dark heart of the mountain where man was not meant to tread. And they knew no fear. Within those dank and foetid halls, the goblyn kings were cut down from throne and skewered upon lance like unto hogs. Thus was the Seventh Great Battle won, and Gilles fought a path back toward the light, drenched in the black blood of the foe.

Eighth Battle
Ten-strong, the Bretonni Lords bolstered by Martrud of Montfort then rode north and westward towards Gisoreux. Here they were joined by Beren, master of that troubled land. Once more did they come against foul and frothing green-skins in this their next Great Battle, but this time the evil beasts had called down the eyes of their base gods. These twin and save spirits sought to smite the Companions, but the heavens did shake with their frustration, for, as all know, dark magicks cannot harm those under the auspice of the Lady. There began a fray, fell and fierce; Lord Balduin rode before the Companions in a fury like unto a baresark of the north, hewing the heads of a dozen shamans with a single sweep of his axe.

Tens of thousands numbered the slain that day, yet not a drop of blood fell from the Companions in their stride. The green-skinn'd beasts fled in disarray, for as their conjurations failed, their hope was extinguished as a candle in a storm. Thus was the Eighth Great Battle won.

Ninth Battle
On the morn, the Companions made haste to the west. They entered upon the lands of Mousillon, pride of the realm fo Landuin. Alas, hope proved false for poor Landuin, for in his absence his land had been turned to smouldering ruin. Cattle lay slaughtered in blackened wasteland, and once-pure river was dark with foulness. A bilious stench carried up from swampland where in times past virgin glade stood proud. The Companions rode in grim silence through the gates of Mousillon for to join with the remnants of Landuin's family and Folgar, the neighbouring Lord of Artois.

Folgar had come with dire news of a great host marching under full moon. Upon all sides beset by beast and living dead, the Companions fought as chatelains, one to each wall, there to hold out alone against the foe. Gilles hewed the head from an immense drake-beast's shoulders. Thierulf wrestled with a monstrous two-headed giant while Agilgar, borne aloft upon his pegasus, joined battle with bat-winged fiends in the lightning laced clouds above. The Companions found triumph when Landuin struck down the foul night-creature that had called the dead forth from their peace, and the beast-kin fled howling into the darkness of the forest. Thus was the Ninth Great Battle won.

Tenth Battle
Having triumphed, the Companions spurred their warhorses to the north. Thereafter many long nights in the shade of the Forest of Arden, they did come upon the elf-laid stone of L'Anguille, city-fortress of the coast, and they hoped to find respite. But to no avail, as the grand port was embattled by crude men of the north, clad in pelt of fur and steel, and the Companions did meet them in a great tempestuous battle, joining the lord of the city, Lord Corduin. As the battle raged night upon night, day upon day, the moons turned, and many thousand savages and barbarians were hewn and cast wailing into the sea. But the fierce foe paid no regard. Orgulous and grim, the northmen would not give, for they sought glory or death in the eye of their bloody gods. In desperation, Lord Marcus of Bordeleaux did throw down his challenge to the fell lord of the Norse, the towering giant Svengar of the Skaelings: "Find victory or take leave!"

In his pride, Svengar would not refuse. Many brave warriors had met Death under the barbarian's bloody hand, yet fear did not chill Marcus' heart, for he knew that the Lady was with him. Then did the warriors meet atop the towering lighthouse of L'Anguille, ancient and fey in construct, all Bretonnia at their feet. Cloud roiled and storm lashed as the combatants fought, the elements themselves conspiring to aid the twin hammers of Svengar.

Night bowed to day and day to night, and still the warriors fought, a concert of steel reaching the ears of all below. Finally, Marcus opened his foe's guard, and struck his opponent with a blow of such might he fell in twain to the rocks below. In respect of the warrior skills of the Bretonnian lords, the Norse took sail back to their icy homelands. Thus was the Tenth Great Battle won.

Eleventh Battle
The Companions rested well that night. On the morn, they pressed toward the rising sun unto the province of Couronne, where they were joined by Lord Carleond. There they faced the amassing armies of Orc-kind pushing toward L'Anguille. On the banks of the fast-flowing River Sannez battle was met, and the water did run black that day with foul blood spilled. The Orcs turned their eyes from the great halo of light playing round the Companions, and were struck down into the mire as they turned to flee. Never before had such a great toll of green-skins been slain upon a single day, nor ever since. So much tainted blood quenched the dry earth that it seems as marshland underfoot even to this very day. Thus was the Eleventh Great Battle won.

Twelfth Battle
Now lend your ear to the Twelfth Great Battle of Gilles, fought upon the great and verdant fields of Couronne plain. To south-west over the river did squat the dark and haunted Forest of Arden. From within depths uncharted came loping all manner of monster and great beast. Giants, trolls and creatures without name stalked through a press of Beastmen so great that from a vantage they seemed to the Companions as swarming insects crossing the Ford of Sannez. Tribe upon tribe of green-skins descended from the Pale Sisters to the south-east, and blackened the horizon with a horde five-thousand score at least There was so great a noise and tumult it seemed as if the earth would shake and split asunder. The Companions made their prayers and arrayed themselves for this the final battle, but disaster played its hand once more as, at their back, the fair city of Couronne was overrun by an unnatural tide of vermin. Rats walking as men took notched blade to the guard and erupted in great number from the gates to threaten the Companions from the rear. Surrounded on all sides by a number of foe beyond countenance, the Companions yet stood resolute and without fewr; for the lords of each of the fourteen lands of the Bretonni now stood as one, the gathering complete, and their brotherhood and bonds of faith stood stronger than steel. They knew in their hearts the Lady's power flowed through them that day, and that none could stand against them.

Mighty indeed was this last and most epic of battles, and each Companion performed such deeds as to fill the sagas of wordsmiths and scribes until the end of time. The moons raced across the darkened sky, replaced by the burning orb of the sun, but to no respite. Only the Lady knows the number of weeks that saw battle, but against all odds, the Companions emerged victorious. The piles of the dead were stacked like unto mountains, and searing pyres burnt the slain enemy such that night was turned to day for a season and more. Thus was the Twelfth and final Great Battle won.

In this day were the sacred lands of the Bretonni scoured of evil, and its peoples made safe.

Aftermath
After this last victory, in 979 IC the lands of the Bretonni tribes were finally secured. A great meeting took place in the home of Folgar of Artois. There, the formal dukedoms were created, and the Bretonnian calendar is introduced. Each of the great lords of the Bretonni, the fourteen Grail Companions, including Gilles le Breton, are named Dukes. The Dukes swear oaths of allegiance, and Bretonnia is formed. Fredemund, Duke of Aquitaine, the so-called 'Bird of Prey', wedded then Gilles' youngest sister, Annabel.

Source

 * Warhammer Armies: Bretonnia (6th Edition)
 * pg. 6
 * pg. 7
 * pg. 8
 * pg. 9
 * pg. 10
 * pg. 38

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