Battle of Mar Mulkaan

The Battle of Mar Mulkaan was a battle fought between the Kingdom of Ord and the Iron Dominion at Mar Mulkaan, a hobgoblin enclave on the Stormpoint Peninsula. It was a turning point in the Iron War, and culminated in a crippling defeat for the Iron Dominion and the intensifying of conflict between it and the Crown.

Dharion Aurelius and Ozdak fought there, with both suffering trauma as a result of the horrors experienced during the battle.

Mar Mulkaan
The Iron Dominion of the Fingerbones has been at war with the Kingdom of Ord for as long as can be remembered, with the two nations engaging in a series of conflicts that have come to be collectively known as the Iron War. The ruling council of the Dominion, the Invictum, long held a grudge against the people of western Ardor for allegedly displacing them in centuries long past. As such, the Invictum regularly ordered strategic strikes on the coast of Ord in an effort to damage their trade. The infrequent nature of these attacks informed the King's reluctance to launch an attack on the Dominion, resulting in a standoff that grew in tension year by year.

However, King Wyman IV Martariot managed to negotiate with the Invictum a peace, a process that took several decades to achieve its goal. A fortified enclave, Mar Mulkaan (translating roughly to "far home") was built on the Stormpoint Peninsula. The area of the Marrowglade Forest surrounding Mar Mulkaan was levelled in order to facilitate the building of houses, ships and defences, resulting in leagues of desolate field surrounding the new fortress.

A New Leader
However, many within the ranks of the Iron Dominion were deeply unhappy with the peace, however tentative the agreement was. These traditionalists were led by Kul Skaven, a formidable hobgoblin warlord, and tensions within the Dominion reached breaking point when Skaven learned of the death of a hobgoblin builder at the hands of an Ordic knight. Furious with the Invictum's perceived weakness, Skaven disappeared for three months before returning with a magical gauntlet of black iron and staging a coup, slaughtering the entire council single-handedly.

Now in full control of the Dominion, with the Invictum loyalists either converted, exiled or purged, Skaven initiated a huge offensive operation, which included redoubling the attacks on Ord and ordered his general, Kharkon, to secretly reinforce his troops at Mar Mulkaan, not only with several heavy ogre units, but with a cadre of goblin alchemists who began brewing vats of alchemist's fire and stockpiling it within the enclave. Centurion Valdak was also sent along with his legionaries and son, Ozdak.

Ordic Response
After Skaven's forces razed the seaside town of Audracost, the latest in a series of attacks on the Stormpoint Peninsula coastline, Count Melchior Krane of Blackmont petitioned the King for aid in defence against the Dominion. In response, the King sent his eldest son, Prince Edegor Martariot to gather a host and march south to Mar Mulkaan to besiege the fortress. Numerous loyal houses lent soldiers to the cause, including House Clemente, House Goodfellow and House Thornegrey. The Crown's forces convened at the latter's castle of Blackmont to engage in a final war council and make the last preparations before marching towards the Goblin Claw for the attack.