Covenant Wars

"'You say that continuing the war will bring death to innocents. But I ask you, what is the alternative? To let the citizens of an entire country be ravaged to satisfy the whims of a psychopathic monster? To continue wasting lives on foolish skirmishes with pointless objectives? Or to come to peace, thus declaring to the whole world that we agree with how they rule, through fear, murder and rape?' — Thrynniril Ae'ldruin"The Covenant Wars (4E 225–234), also known as the Cold War and the Bandit War, was the name given to the major international conflict fought between the Cyrodiilic Empire and the Covenant of Freedomfighters of Skyrim. The war was named after the union of veterans of the Great War and barbarians that warmongered against the Imperial Legion's presence in Skyrim, secretly funded by the Aldmeri Dominion. These armies, the Imperial Legion of Cyrodiil and the Free Armies of the Covenant, were two of the largest ever pitted against each other in history, and the fighting between them rapidly spread to countless provinces and lands in general.

Beginning with the Retreat to Cyrodiil, in which the Imperial Legion was forced out of Skyrim, both sides scored significant victories over the other, and at different times during the war either seemed likely to triumph. The first two years of the war saw both sides skirmish with and raid each other, while fighting a handful of significant battles and trying to gain allies while they built up their respective war industries. A series of Imperial defeats in the war's second year culminated in the invasion of Hammerfell, a major strike into an uninvolved province led by one of the commanders of the Free Armies of the Covenant, Mariber Sicarius. After the defeat of Mariber's forces in Hammerfell, however, the Empire gained traction when it mobilized its greater industrial base. Using superior numbers, the Empire drove the rebel cells created by the Covenant from the Hammerfell and engaged them in their own territories, a series of attritional campaigns known as the Padomaic Sieges. In an effort to reverse the course of the war, Mariber launched a massive strike on the Imperial City through the Spiral Skein. Much of the Covenant army was lost and their Head of State, Bor Roman, fled the battle through the Gold Coast. Mariber Sicarius subsequently vanished in the Battle of Senchal. This, coupled with the overall victory in Elsweyr and the demilitarization of the Order of the Blades, brought an end to the fighting.

Unbeknownst to most, the conflict was started, maintained, and funded by the Aldmeri Dominion and the Dark Brotherhood, whose ultimate goal was the transformation of the Covenant into the High Kingdoms of Bretony as well as the eradication of the Imperial Legion and the Order of the Blades. The conflict led to the original masterminds of the Covenant controlling several lands in High Rock, generally unscathed by the consequences of their war crimes.

Tensions in Dawnstar
Although the Covenant Wars officially began in 4E 226 at the Battle of Bal Oyra, and tacitly began in 4E 225, with the Retreat to Cyrodiil, their origins could be found nearly a decade earlier. Though a fictive event controlled by the Aldmeri Dominion, the war had its origins in the growing dissatisfaction with the White-Gold Concordat signed by the Cyrodiilic Empire to end the Great War. In 4E 175, the Elder Council passed critical pieces of legislation: conditions of the treaty outlawed the worship of Talos in the Empire, formally disbanded the Blades, and delivered a large portion of southern Hammerfell into the control of the Aldmeri Dominion. Emperor Titus Mede II made these concessions to the Thalmor hierarchy in order to give the Imperial Legion time to recover its strength, as it had been decimated in the Battle of the Red Ring. Additionally, the ban enforced regarding the worship of Talos greatly angered the people of Skyrim. Talos originated from Skyrim and has been a beloved deity of the people of Skyrim for generations. That was reason of the rise of the Stormcloak Rebellion in the North, militarily led by General Kellogg, from which the Aldmeri Dominion took notice of the damage rebel cells could do to the portions of the Imperial Legion still stationed in Skyrim.

These acts mainly enraged veterans of the Great War, who had seemingly fought in vain for many years, and whose lack of employment found in Skyrim after the signing of peace had turned into highwaymen and bandits mostly. These veterans turned into bandits rapidly created trade markets, and while some became violent brigands guarding forts, others took advantage of the dwindling forces of the Imperial Legion in Skyrim and created mega-corporations based on the drug and black market, but none more so than the Flower Crown Trading Co., a khajiiti cartel led by the caravans of Dawnstar, where law seemed to be weaker. By 4E 209, it enjoyed full privilege in Jarl Kazu's court, including the power to veto and sanction regional laws. Some on Solitude, where the Imperial Legion still resided strongly, supported Flower Crown, admiring the company's success in rapidly eradicating piracy in the Ports of Dawnstar. Others bemoaned its leader, Bor Roman, for his corruption and his support of the abundant freedom that Jarl Kazu's court had achieved. Soon, Falkreath and Whiterun followed Jarl Kazu's example, heading towards neutrality and supporting neither the Imperial Legion or the Stormcloak Rebellion in Skyrim's civil war.

The issue of the rise of these three neutral cities polarized Imperial sentiment towards Skyrim and viceversa, with the Empire believing they were outmatched by six cities, and the stormcloaks attempting to gather their alliances. These cities remained neutral for many years, with some inclination towards one side or the other. Whiterun became an agrarian city, strengthening its commerce with all other Holds, regardless of allegiance; Falkreath was under the command of a former legionnaire, Jarl Allena, who claimed total neutrality, and Dawnstar remained, albeit crime-ridden and dominated by the khajiiti cartels, without a side on the civil war. Amid this political storm began the career of one Neo of Riften, representing his wife, Jarl Mannon, in most of the foreign policies of the Hold they ran together. Unbestknown to all at the time and unclear to the rest of the provinces until many decades later, Neo was in fact aligned with Gemeo, Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, and Thalmor leadership. Over the next decade, he would manipulate the tensions between the neutral, Imperial-loyalist, and rebellious cities, to finally fulfill the plan devised by the Dark Brotherhood and the Aldmeri Dominion to destroy the unity, and subsequently, the Empire itself.

As a Silencer of the Dark Brotherhood himself, he fomented the Crossing at Fort Greymoor in 4E 219, a ruse cooked up by him, the Dark Brotherhood and Jarl Alice of Whiterun, so that the Free Cities of Skyrim could demand additional rights to increase protection on its borders. That event led to the definitive banishment of the Order of the Blades from the neutral lands of Whiterun, an act that was soon followed by Dawnstar and Falkreath. As the husband of Jarl Mannon, he worked his way into the courts of all three neutral cities under the guise of a Riften diplomat seeking to find neutrality as well and abandon the cause of the Stormcloak Rebellion. In 4E 222, he encouraged the Jarls of the neutral cities to allow his younger brother, Dex, a formidable soldier and veteran of the Great War, to lead the militia of Riften into their territories to deal with the brigands and highwaymen that infested their lands as a token of Riften's good will towards them. Subsequently, Mannon would also disband from the Stormcloak Rebellion and altogether banish the Order of the Blades, the Imperial Legion, and General Kellogg's troops from their land. Unbestknown to the neutral cities, Dex won over the many taken forts and redoubts of Skyrim by offering their occupants ranks in a new government to be formed, having, by 4E 223, created a massive militia that was coloquially named the Bandit Horde.

With the armies of the Free Cities radicalized and the mines of the Free Cities serving to arm and armor that militia group, Jarl Kazu of Dawnstar, fearful of the loss of the neutrality of the Free Cities, declared that Dawnstar would take no part in the efforts of Dex to unite the brigands of Skyrim into one army. Jarl Mannon and Neo subsequently approached Dex and encouraged him to make a stand that would force Dawnstar to abdicate from neutrality and become the first city officially aligned with the new political movement set by Riften.

The Taking of Dawnstar
At Neo's behest, the Bandit Horde began a siege of Jarl Kazu's territory of Dawnstar. The entire incident made Jarl Kazu look belligerent when he repelled the arriving forces of the Horde, and in Cyrodiil there was debate on whether to send the Imperial Legion to intervene or not. It was eventually decided that, by declaring that they were no longer supporters of the Empire, Dawnstar no longer would have their protection. Initially, Neo suggested that Dex simply stood siege for as long as possible, but realizing that the public opinion condemned Kazu's inaction before the political outset of Skyrim, in which war had been boiling for years, he authorized a duel.

As customary in Skyrim and in Nord tradition, Kazu accepted Dex's duel, who claimed the armies were not in Dawnstar to invade, but to occupy after he had ended Kazu's life. Kazu was rapidly slain in duel and a strong sympathy by the captains of the Dawnstar Guard toward Dex rode him to the position of Jarl of Dawnstar. Thus, Dawnstar's flags were burned and black flags were raised instead. Dawnstar was thereafter the seat of the Bandit Horde.

The taking of Dawnstar alerted not only the Elder Council in Cyrodiil but the remaining two Free Cities of Skyrim to the end of Dawnstar's neutrality and the birth of a third political movement, which would supplant the drive the rebellions that had been growing throughout Skyrim had, and that the Stormcloak Rebellion had been failing to satisfy. Additionally, the events of the escape of the court of Dawnstar from the recently conquered territory further pressured the Order of the Blades in acting in territory in which they were banned, thus giving the Bandit Horde causus belli to retaliate their presence. It was also during the events of Kazu's demise that the Grandmaster of the Order of the Blades at the time, Quintus Petreia, met and counted with the timely assistance of then Commander of Whiterun General Infantry's Dalacard Rethwode to see the survivors of the siege out of Dawnstar territory.

As Jarl, Dex mainly followed the instructions of Neo, promising to bring an end to the presence of both the weak and dividing Stormcloak Rebellion and the oppressive Imperial Legion that had so often plagued the people of Skyrim. The first years of his tenure saw very little done to fulfill that promise, however. Many times the Bandit Horde had the opportunity to encounter and destroy the remnants of General Kellogg's armies, who still campaigned through Eastmarch untouched, and nothing was done. In fact, it seemed as though they had pactuated a non-aggression sort of deal. Furthermore, soon Riften and Winterhold had abandoned the stormcloak cause, joining the Bandit Horde along with Morthal. Not only did that leave Windhelm as the sole seat of the Stormcloak Rebellion, but also brought many forces to the fold of Dex's leadership. By 4E 224, most of the fortresses and redoubts of Skyrim were garrisoned by Horde forces, and little remained of the highwaymen gangs that had formed after the Great War.

The Formation of the Covenant
During this time, Neo instructed his brother to make alliances with the experienced khajiit that had risen to the incontestable leadership of the Flower Crown Co., Bor Roman. Having serious doubts about the capacity of Dex to control himself and accomplish certain political feats, Neo was in need of a de facto ruler of the lands the Covenant had been acquiring, while it would fall for Neo himself to control the overall political movement. Bor Roman's faith in the protection of the Empire had been shattered long ago, and he had made a point of questioning it himself when he kidnapped and exchanged ransom for the Prince of Anvil, Kydonius Therin. Having made a name for himself as a talented blackmailer and ruthless crime syndicate leader, Bor was then ordered by Neo to eliminate any Imperial influence from the Ports of Dawnstar: seeking revenge for his kidnapping, Kydonius, who was at the time a Legate of the Imperial Legion stationed in Skyrim, would fill the cities with spies and at times would sabotage cargo and Horde ships. Neo did not intend for the Imperial Legion to be able to have such liberties in Horde territory. After being deemed worthy, Bor Roman was commissioned by Dex to control the territory that spanned from the ports of Dawnstar to Winterhold, being therefore deemed Portmaster of the Horde.

While the Horde would now not only conscript bandits and brigands to their ranks, enlistment had become mandatory for all men over fourteen years old, and women were deemed to serve as healers. Such rapid growth of the ranks of the Horde were a machination of Neo, who knew that the Imperial Legion had now been finally recovering from the Battle of the Red Ring, and that General Kaillus Sicarius had been assigned to take full control of the Legions in Skyrim. Preparing for retaliation and attempts to recover the territory the Horde had conquered, Dex was instructed to call to arms all possible prospects. While that led to the creation of a disorganized army of barbarians, the strategy of the Horde was to overwhelm in numbers and disconsider most of the protocols that had to be followed by parties at war. Veterans of these times would later consider that the greatest mistake of the Horde was to remain with such customs until later into the war, when their force was already established and neutral, but to most people, it was justified as a means to protect the free land the Horde had conquered.

In 4E 224, the Imperial Legions were almost at full recover from the disastrous campaigns of the Great War. With the secession of Hammerfell, however, many of the cohorts were forced to move there to stop rebel cells from destroying the remaining Imperial outposts, which frustrated Kaillus Sicarius and Kydonius Therin, both members of the Imperial Legion in Skyrim that had been requesting reinforcements for months. A bill was in course in the Elder Council to secede from Skyrim as well, thus neutralising the White-Gold Concordat's side effects and allowing the Horde to dominate the province until the Legions had better prepared for a large-scale conflict. The power of veto fell to Emperor Titus Mede II, who had pressure on both sides, and was uncertain of whether to sanction and lose another province or go into another war only three decades after the last. At roughly the same time, Bor Roman had expanded his influence to all of Skyrim, and emerged on top of Dex as one of the figure leaders of the Horde, just as Neo had intended. In a public appearance, Bor declared that Dex had been a great ally of Skyrim and its economy, generating jobs and gold flow, and there was intention to formalize the domination of the Horde throughout Skyrim. He declared that the stormcloaks were essentially dead, and that all the trade companies would blockade the cities that still supported the Imperial Legion. That address caused a series of secessions, beginning the formation of what would later be called the Covenant.

Over the rest of that year, Markarth, Falkreath and Windhelm were lost to the Horde. Jarl Allena of Falkreath abandoned Skyrim after multiple death threats to join her husband, Count Aiden, in Cyrodiil, being supplanted by Jarl Steel, a ruthless mercenary under direct command of Dex; Windhelm broke to siege even under the command of famed General Kellogg, becoming allied to the Horde, and Markarth was taken by battle from the Imperial Legion, marking their first defeat in the war and being given to command of Jarl Athrein, Bor Roman's associate and owner of multiple whorehouses thorughout Skyrim. The wave of secessions intensified after the disastrous Battle of Markarth, where the Imperial Legion suffered a humiliating early defeat trying to overthrow a Horde-affiliated insurgent government led by false Forsworn, and had to resort to heavy-handed tactics that harmed many citizens to put down the insurrection. The conflict led High Rock to close its borders with Skyrim, and King Rourke of Jehanna thus took a dislike to the machinations of the Horde.

Allies of the Covenant
Bor Roman, although a trade master and a ruthless conman, was no general, and Dex would often be preoccupied with local insurgencies and keeping authority within Skyrim. Nonetheless, the Portmaster, as a means to increase his influence within the Horde, made a point to hire several forces that would keep him from being vulnerable to the will of Neo and Dex. These individuals included Er-Shei Rak'tee, Mariber Sicarius, Asenath, Cedteron Malearc, Makarov Amit Zendai, Jarl Athrein and even Count Vulcuno Thramor for a time. Most of them were killed during the course of the war. The fact is that many of Bor's allegiances had, at one point, been part of the Empire and thus knew their strategies. Mariber Sicarius, one of the most prominent names of the Horde, was a brother to General Kaillus Sicarius, knowing not only the methods of battle of his brother but also his personal feelings.

One of the most important allies recruited to the Covenant cause was the Argonian warrior Er-Shei Rak'tee, whose allegiance was strongly firmed with Bor. Along with his captain, Asenath, Er-Shei was named Protectorate of Dawnstar and was the personal guardian of Bor Roman. Having found in Bor Roman a father figure, Er-Shei accepted his offer of riches and protection. All he had to do in return was lead the Free Armies of the Covenant against the Empire that had wronged Skyrim and her people. Rak'tee took the opportunity afforded to him, and was undoubtedly one of the most capable leaders of the Horde and the Covenant, having direct command over General Mariber Sicarius and therefore ordering and supervising some of the bloodiest campaigns of the war, and, because of such horrible actions, becoming known as a feared general and admiral, and held many titles, one of them being Iceblood. His flagship, El Dublin, was seen wreaking havoc upon many cities, and it is said that after the war it was one of the only ships to have remained in activity on either side.

The Road to War
All the cities affiliated to the Empire found themselves the target of multiple attacks and raids. As violence became an increasing part of the Bandit Horde, more so than it ever was, the Elder Council grew restless and began sending reinforcements to Solitude, the only city that still remained a part of the Empire in Skyrim. Not all were content to wait: the Prince of Anvil, who had chosen to remain in Skyrim even against the protests of his father, who was High Chancellor of the Elder Council at the time, mutinied against the order to hold back against a group of Horde skiffs that traversed through Solitude's coast and with his crew established a private group of legionnaires to combat Horde forces that would roam in Haafingar. Therin's "Army of Light", that would later be reorganized into the Order of Light, won a series of victories, and embarrassed even the Order of the Blades after they defeated Blade Master Za'kar, sent to rein them in, and captured his flagship, the Wandering Lion.

In the beginning of 4E 225, the Dark Brotherhood started to perform a series of activities, becoming less secretive and ever more embroiled in the war, performing services to the Horde and its command openly. That led Emperor Titus Mede II to outlaw the activies of the guild in all Imperial territory, including what he considered still part of the Empire, Skyrim. He was shortly after assassinated in Skyrim, which left the Cyrodiilic Empire in an interregnum and intensified the series of attacks of the Horde. The first siege of Solitude begun and the city barely resisted, being defended by Kydonius Therin and Kaillus Sicarius. Since the siege of Markarth was caused by insurgents, and not by the official government body of the Horde, the siege in Solitude marked the first time the Horde had launched an offense with warfare against the Empire, finally giving the Elder Council causus belli to retaliate, a formality they were constitutionally bound to.

When news spread, Jarl Aurelia of Whiterun, Alice's successor, demanded explanation from the Horde and offered Whiterun to serve as neutral grounds for the Empire and the Covenant to discuss terms of peace. A rune explosion on Whiterun in the final weeks leading up to the war was aimed to take the life of the Jarl of Whiterun, Aurelia (ordered by Neo and carried out by Gemeo and Ivy, assassins of the Dark Brotherhood), upon her request to call a Moot and elect a High King of Skyrim to settle the dispute between the Empire and the Horde. After a second attack on Aurelia's life, the General of Whiterun, Dalacard Rethwode, started an investigation to find out who was behind the assassination attempts on his Jarl, who was, to him, a mother figure. While Aurelia chose to step down and name her much younger sister Gabriella as her successor, Dalacard's search took him to Cyrodiil, where he discovered that the Elder Council, under Callistus Therin's influence, had approved a military act to invade Skyrim through Falkreath, and that the Dark Brotherhood had been responsible for the assassination of the Emperor. Deducing that the Dark Brotherhood had been working for the Horde, Dalacard sent a projection to his old friend, Quintus Petreia, alerting him that Whiterun and Solitude were in danger.

Upon his return, however, Dalacard found that Solitude had already been conquered by Dex himself, leading a bulk of the Horde troops, and that Kydonius Therin, Kaillus Sicarius and the Order of the Blades seeked refuge in Whiterun, the only remaining passage to Cyrodiil.

The Retreat to Cyrodiil
"To stay and die will save no life, Dalacard Rethwode. The forces of darkness have really grown within our grasp, and now escape through our fingers. — Quintus Petreia"

The Retreat to Cyrodiil happened days after the escape from the taken Solitude. The battle occurred after Horde forces captured General Kaillus Sicarius in the border with Dawnstar and charged him with spying for the Empire. Kydonius Therin and his recently reorganized Order of Light attempted to rescue Sicarius, but all were also captured and sentenced to death by the hand of Dex. Both Therin and Sicarius were thereafter brought to the Port of Dawnstar, where they were to be executed. A group of Blades, led by Master Ekone, accompanied by Raego Stormblade, stormed the Port and attempted a rescue of the Legate and the General. The ensuing battle resulted in the deaths of many of the Order of Light, and the army of the Horde was overwhelmed by the organization with which the Blades attacked.

The Blades and Raego's force of legionnaires could hold their own for a while but they were eventually beaten back by the large numbers of barbarians that the Horde had in its ranks. As they prepared to fight to their end, Grandmaster Quintus Petreia teleported into the field with a force of a hundred more Blade Knights. Managing to rescue the Blades, the survivors of the Order of Light, Kydonius and Sicarius from their certain deaths, the Blades engaged the bandit army in the snowy fields of Dawnstar, as the Horde forces attempted to prevent their escape.

The battle on the port, however, was not the only conflict. Unbeknownst to many, Blade Knight Maenar Aquilarios led legionnaires that were stationed in Solitude, taking out valuable Horde outposts that would allow for those unable to escape by magical means to make their way out of Horde territory by foot, although few managed to do that. In the sea battle, fought solely between legionnaires and the Horde forces, the bandits saw victory for Dex's movement by sinking all the boats that were meant to sabotage and create a diversion in the Port by exploding the cargo ships there located.

Er-Shei Rak'tee, having heard notice of the battle by Bor Roman, took his master's sword, Hopesfire, and went after the survivors. He intercepted Maenar Aquilarios and Master Seeds, managing to best them both in swordfight, vicious as he was. However, he was unable to defeat Grandmaster Quintus Petreia as easily, and was forced to retreat as the other Blades were using magic to transport the survivors out of Horde territory.

When Dex arrived to the site, the battle had already been over, and Er-Shei Rak'tee, in the company of Bor Roman, debriefed what happened to the leader. It seemed clear to all the Horde command that, while they had lost the opportunity to capture valuable hostages, that event was the beginning of a much larger chain of happenstances.

As for the Blades and the ones they had rescue, they managed to appear through Mystic magic at Fort Greymoor, in Whiterun, exactly where the conflict had started to aggravate years prior to the second siege of Solitude. As the ban upon the presence of the Order was still active since the Crossing at Fort Greymoor, Jarl Gabriella ordered the arrest of every present member of the Order, while the Legion was not welcomed into the gates. Dalacard Rethwode, however, interceded for his old acquaintance, Quintus Petreia, and Quintus arranged for a session with the Jarl and her court. As Jarl Gabriella left the choice for Dalacard to make, uncertain of what Aurelia would do in such situation, Dalacard chose to allow the passage of the remnants of the Imperial Legion and the Order of the Blades through Whiterun on to the Pale Pass.

That marked the official absence from any Imperial militia in the lands of Skyrim, and total domination of Skyrim was now set, save for the land of Whiterun, which remained neutral.

Soon after, however, an emissary of the Horde announced the coming of Dex to Whiterun within a fortnight. Dalacard Rethwode discovered that the Horde and its many ranks were rallying a massive army to wage war on the defenseless neutral city, the last remaining in Skyrim. Upon debriefing his discoveries to Jarl Gabriella, he was ordered to take whatever valuable items and information that Whiterun held and find the help of the Blades, in order to retake Whiterun. Dalacard took scrolls and items of value to the Jarl and rode south under false identity, being able to cross the Pale Pass without further problems. However, Whiterun was taken shortly after in the Siege of Azaron. The imprisonment of Jarl Gabriella in the dungeons of Dawnstar and the conquest of Whiterun finalized the domination of the Horde, which took complete control of all Holds and cities of Skyrim. With his mission, Dalacard accepted to join the Order of the Blades, being apprenticed to Grandmaster Quintus Petreia.

Strategies
Although managing to extract all the remainders of the Legion in Skyrim was a victory for the Empire, the prospect of a war between the Imperial Legion and the Bandit Horde was now inevitable. Thousands of legionnaires departed from the Imperial City on missions to find and defeat the Bandit Horde, that was now officially renamed as the Covenant. After a military act passed in unison by General Kaillus Sicarius and Grandmaster Quintus Petreia, the legionnaires were led in these missions by the Order of the Blades, the first time that the Order of the Blades had taken up arms en masse. Despite the scale of the opening battle in the second siege of Solitude, however, neither side yet had the resources or the strategy to fight a major interprovincial war. The Imperial Legion in particular was bedeviled by the fact that at this early stage the Imperial Legions of Cyrodiil numbered only 30 thousand troops (it would eventually be expanded many times over).

To coordinate the strategy of the war, General Kaillus Sicarius ordered the establishment of the cohorts, large military commands that operated within theaters known as oversectors or priority sectors, areas of operations that overrode old sector boundaries. Each cohort initially numbered 5,000 legionnaires, numbers which expanded dramatically as the war went on. Under the command of the new Blade Commanders, the cohorts served as rapid reaction forces while the Empire's disparate Regional Guards operated in defensive deployments - a number of battles in the Covenant Wars were fought entirely by local guard militia without a legionnaire in sight.

Each cohort was divided into four subordinate centurias, of which three were further divided into smaller components. Under the this plan, one centuria was maintained as a mobile reserve force while the others were divided into progressively smaller units so that one army could fulfill one legion operation, four cohort-level operations, sixteen centuria-level operations or sixty-four contubernium-level operations. In reality, cohort army deployments were rarely so neat, and typically one cohort in each legion remained intact, but the others were divided into hundreds of small, fast-moving raiding companies. Known as the "militia model", this allowed small numbers of legionnaires to mobilize far larger numbers of local guerrillas and execute local coups, a strategy that was successful at the Battle of the Camray Hills, the Battle of Menevia, and the Battle of Uld Vraech.

Though it launched a few coordinated attacks in the first year of the war that were usually successful, for example, at Bruma and Jehanna, the Empire's war was typically a defensive one, with most offensive operations being small-scale raids. The few pockets of Covenant territory outside Skyrim, for example, Gideon, Llothanis, Ranyon-ruhn, and Tel Ouada, were blockaded. Until it could build up its armed forces to overwhelm the growing ranks of the Covenant, the Empire was vulnerable to the Covenant's stateless strategy.

The Covenant pursued a defensive strategy for the first few months of the war, seeking to blunt Imperial ships into their dispersed territories. Its first offensive moves were combinations of surgical strikes and terror operations, a stateless strategy designed to deny the Empire key invasion corridors, undermine support for the war, and sever key fleets' supply lines.

To compensate for their disadvantage in resources, the Covenant also sought a technological advantage, manifested in a resort to magical weapons and advancement, going so far as corrupting the Mages Guild, bringing Arch-MageSabrina secretly under their allegiance. Before they could build up their armed forces for a strike at the Empire's Cyrodiilic cities, however, much like the Empire's strategy, the Covenant' war typically took the form of a large number of small-scale raids. Both sides also pursued a furious propaganda battle, the Empire through Black Horse Courier, and the Separatists through the Cov. Flower Crown Feed.

The raiding strategies
Both sides made a handful of large offensives in the first year of the war: In the Covenant's case, the Boethia's Spine campaign, the fleets of Mariber Sicarius push east towards Alt Bosara in an effort to break the Empire's lines of communication from Bal Oyra to Tel Oren. However, the majority of operations consisted of small scale raiding.

Within four weeks of the second siege of Solitude, the Covenant swiftly seized many major trade routes, denying the Empire access to them and preventing the Blades from gaining a foothold in the Sea of Ghosts. The Covenant soon set its sights on the resources of their vassal territory, Winterhold. Dalacard Rethwode, recently promoted to Vicar of the Order of the Blades and the new addition of his protegé Alea Lasharel, who had met Rethwode only days earlier, battled Mariber Sicarius' thousand-strong mercenary forces on Winterhold and were eventually able to capture the plans of construction for a large kind of ship and flee with the blueprints, with help from reinforcements from Alesan, a traitor Rethwode had saved from certain death.

The Battle of Bal Oyra was a Covenant attempt to solidify its presence on the northern Morrowind trade route by conquering Bal Oyra. Despite possessing an advanced communications center that linked legionnaire reports throughout Eastern Tamriel, the city had few defenses. The Imperial fleet was lured away from the planet by a blockade of Alt Bosara, and a fleet under the mercenary commander Mariber Sicarius conquered Bal Oyra with a massive invasion army. Their efforts were sped up thanks to fireballs in catapults unleashed by Mariber's fleet. This prevented communication with the Imperial outposts in Morrowind. Prince Kydonius Therin's Order of Light attempted to stop the Covenant, though his forces were nearly defeated. Luckily, Imperial forces under Dalacard Rethwode and Alea Lasharel arrived just in time. This resulted in the Battle of Bal Oyra. During the battle, the Seventh Cohort and the Order of Light were pitted against over ten thousand barbarians and a large fleet.

Arrival at Deepscorn Hollow
After the battle of Bal Oyra, the Empire was forced to return to Imperial territory through the Padomaic Sea to gather supplies and aid the injured, since House Redoran had an agreement with the Empire of not acting in ceded territory, even for benevolence. While Commander Lasharel chose to sail back in the Phoenix II, the vessel with each she created a bond, Rethwode and Kydonius Therin returned in the Cruiser of Justice. They sent rowboats in advance a day before their arrival in Cyrodiilic land to warn Countess Naerin Ael'druin of their victory in Bal Oyra, their arrival and their need for skilled medics. Three days after their departure from Bal Oyra they safely arrived in Leyawiin.

There they were received by an expensive retinue of dancers and singers afforded by the government of Leyawiin; more speficially, the famed poet and bard Thrynniril Ael'druin, foster father of the Countess and Viscount of Telepes. Awaken, a song that would later be turned into a sorts of pro-Imperial anthem in the Covenant Wars, was performed by the first time that day. Unbeknownst to most, it had been commissioned by Prince Therin prior even to the Battle of Bal Oyra, indicating that the Prince had belligerent intentions before he knew of the attempt to conquer the Outpost of Communications of Bal Oyra.

Afterwards, the war heroes were given a feast in their honor in the fortresses of Deepscorn Hollow, as they had insisted in the need to depart soon after their arrival. During the feast, Kydonius Therin gave a speech that declared his intentions of going to war and starting a new political movement, where the Order of Light and the Order of the Blades would act together to stop once and for all the growing threat of the Covenant. Alea and Dalacard were wary of the declarations made by the Prince, but Thrynniril suggested there was no alternative other than going to war, since maintaining peace would declare the Empire agrees with the cruel modus operandi of Dex.

Later that night, Dalacard Rethwode properly introduced himself to Elvyria Asteria, the Scarlet Witch of Anvil, who had been responsible for gathering the intelligence that allowed the Empire to counterattack fast enough in Bal Oyra. He discovered that she was, in fact, not a witch, but a vampire, and that she had joined the Order of Light to prove others wrong when they would belittle her or have prejudice against her condition. Furthermore, she told Rethwode that she was being deployed to Skyrim to investigate on Therin's suspicions regarding the involvement of the Dark Brotherhood in the war, and, subsequently, Neo's involvement with the Dark Brotherhood.

As the survivors of Bal Oyra prepared to return to Yasammidan the morning after, Dalacard approached Kydonius and formally requested he sent a Blade, trained in the arts of espionage, instead of Elvyria to infiltrate Skyrim. Due to his previous investigations of the Brotherhood, he knew the level of danger they posed and wanted to spare Elvyria of a terrible future she would eventually come to meet. Kydonius, interpreting Dalacard's request as a statement that the Order of the Blades was better qualified than his Order of Light for the work, declared that his request would only be granted if he sent, in Elvyria's place, his apprentice, Alea Lasharel. Dalacard, overcome with fear for what could happen to Alea, disagrees, in a way sealing Elvyria's fate.

Defense of Yasammidan
As part of the fleet that participated in the Battle of Bal Oyra took their way to Anvil in the vessels offered by the Countess of Leyawiin, the Blades had make their way back to Yasammidan, since that was the original place where the 7th Cohort's fleet was supposed to be stationed in a state of protection. With them, the Scarlet Witch of Anvil, the Duke of Garlas Agea and some others went, all aboard the Cruiser of Justice. Their arrival was quiet and calm, despite Yasammidan's horrid appearance. The Imperial galleon arrived swiftly afer a few day's travel, and they were met with a battle that was taking place on the island.

Master Ekone had been charged by the Elder Council and the Grandmaster with a peaceful approach toward the Volkihar Clan, in hopes that willing negotiations would cease the threat of the Covenant approaching them and undoing the efforts of the Empire to keep them neutral for the past centuries. However, Ekone's efforts as a diplomat were minimal, and soon the endeavor turned quite violent, which ended with a chase against the lord of their court that went all along the Sea of Ghosts, only to end in Yasammidan.

Makarov, the overlord's guardian and chief of security, chose Yasammidan as a refuge because of its abandonment and off-chart location. However, he did not know that, due to a prophecy given by the Beldama Coven that a great darkness would be found in Yasammidan that would be able to turn the tide of the war, the Blades were already stationed there. The remainders of the 7th Cohort that did not join the effort in Bal Oyra found Makarov's arriving boat and intercepted it. Caught between the anvil and the hammer, the Volkihar were all but purged, save only Makarov and two other vampires, that left in another vessel.

While the survivors of the court stood to fend off the Blades, Makarov and his liege attempted to flee, but they argued as they did, and Makarov was forced to murder the Vampire Lord. Soon after, however, Legate Rydarnius found him and they proceeded to shortly duel before they were found by Dalacard, Alea and Thryn. Rethwode thus ordered he be arrested, bathed and fed, so he could go through interrogation the day after. He was taken to the barracks by Alea, and there he was fed and put to sleep. That same night, Elvyria Asteria and Kydonius Therin left in Alesan's shrouded skiff to Anvil, from which she departed to Falkreath to infiltrate the Dark Brotherhood.

The very next morning, Quintus Petreia and Kaillus Sicarius arrived at Yasammidan in the secretive attempt of investigating if the boy they had found was indeed the darkness that the Beldama Coven was referring to. Their questioning being inconclusive, Quintus opted to train Makarov and induct him in the Order of the Blades, leaving the next morning. Dalacard and his apprentice were still assigned to protect and oversee activity in Yasammidan, however.

The Siege of Solstheim

 * "'The Covenant has hidden huge factories on Solstheim, building huge slave armies and massive warships. We must act quickly!'""―Quintus Petreia"

One of the largest campaigns of the first year of the war was the Imperial First Cohort's drive to capture Solstheim. When word reached the Elder Council of House Redoran's conscription of slaves and the construction of warships in the island, High Chancellor Callistus Therin dispatched Quintus Petreia and Seeds to lead an assault on the island, with Petreia commanding the legionnaire forces on the ground and Seeds, at Therin's suggestion, commanding the sea forces. During the battle, the Empire unleashed a fleet of galleon-class assault ships on the Covenant defenses. The Imperial forces soon clashed with the enemy forces, both on the ground and in sea.

On Solstheim, Quintus' army quickly took the advantage. An elite group of Recon Quaestors under command of Captain Alistair Morgan, were on a mission in the city of Sadrith Mora, though their ship was sunk down behind enemy lines. Alistair and his men, however, completed their mission, to destroy a massive defensive artillery emplacement at the heart of Solstheim. In reply to this, the Covenant mercenary Garron led an squadron of lancers against Quintus' ground forces. The strike force cut swaths through the columns of legionnaires. In response, Quintus led a force of lancer legionnaires on horsetop and defeated Garrons's force, with Quintus even defeating Garron in single combat. He then met up with Captain Alistair at the headquarters of the Covenant in Solstheim, and after a brief skirmish, took their leader and his associates into custody.

It was then that, Garron, who had survived the first duel, appeared and charged into the command center, where he was met with a volley of arrows from the legionnaires. He was badly damaged, but survived thanks to his unique regenerative abilities and attacked Quintus. Many legionnaires were killed, but Garron was eventually defeated by Quintus with aid from Alistair. The surrender of the Solstheim leadership spelled victory for the Empire. However, due to his regenerative abilities, Garron was able to survive.

Meanwhile in sea, Seeds was leading the Imperial forces to victory. During the navy battle she used an unorthodox move: ordering the legionnaire fighters to shoot their cannons in a direction that looked clear of enemy units, across the bow of an galleon-class assault ship. As Seeds sailed past the Imperial battleship, many Covenant skiffs followed him. The cannons just missed Seeds, but destroyed numerous skiffs. She then sailed past a Covenant cruiser, while the remaining cannons destroyed it. The battle was won for the Empire.