The Toll War

Fought between the mercantile Desçov Kingdom and the Krengo Lordship of the mountains from this.start_date to this.end_date.

As the Orcish Migrations to the north drove refugees and the displaced south into Krengo's northern fields, the mountain lords hardened the borders and increased the toll on their mountain passes to keep themselves funded for the predicted incoming food shortages.

This, in turn, passed the costs onto Desçov, which relied heavily on it's trading empire.

As the migrations were triggering the starting stages of its collapse, the Midborne Empire was too occupied with internal politics to rent mercenaries to Desçov which, at the time, this was the primary fighting force of Desçov in most conflicts. This left them unusually ill equipped to fight Krengo due to a recent defunding of their own military force.

Denied an ally, Desçov fought indirectly. It funded surveys for a bypass route to make the mountain passes optional, and it reached past the head-house to bribe the peak-lords directly, hoping to fracture the league at its next high-assembly rather than defeat it in the field. The gambit backfired, as an oathbound culture like the dwarves have strong peak-kinship, so foreign silver surfacing at the sacred high-place would be shunned by all other lords. This meant that Desçov's attempts at dividing the league ended up uniting them against a common enemy.