Grafters’ 1677 Invasion of the Isle of Wight

The Grafters’ 1677 invasion of the Isle of Wight turned an attempt to test their engineered creations in a limited arena into the first supernatural war on British soil. Three weeks of combat left hundreds of civilians dead and the Checquy’s forces shattered; the invaders’ defeat came only when the last surviving Rook killed both himself and the Grafter general. The aftermath was not simply victory: the Checquy had to hide how close it had come to defeat while negotiating the Grafters’ apparent dissolution.

Causes and Target

As the Checquy recognized the Grafters as a formidable power, the Grafters themselves grew conscious of what their engineered strength and resilience might accomplish. Their government contact, impressed by them and seeking personal advancement, encouraged them to explore their potential rather than informing the King of Spain. But the creations were so monstrous in appearance that their use risked provoking a religious public. The Grafters therefore sought a small, contained arena in which to test their assets, and the Isle of Wight was selected as a preliminary target.

The Invasion and Its Cost

In 1677, the Grafters’ creations came out of the sea and fighting began on British soil. The Checquy answered by deploying the Pawns under the direct command of the Rooks. Battles continued for three weeks; hundreds of civilians died, and each Grafter creation brought down cost dozens of Checquy soldiers. The campaign’s scale made the invasion more than a trial of the Grafters’ weapons: it became a costly struggle for the Checquy’s survival and exposed the human price of the invaders’ experiments.

One battle showed the devastation in concentrated form. Twelve Checquy troops, identified as the last anthropophagi in the British Isles, joined forces and killed seventeen monsters. Their victory came amid the leveling of an entire village and the poisoning of the surrounding fields. Pawn Hamish McNeil, a leper, released an abnormal and virulent disease among the Grafter troops; their bodies fell apart under their own violent exertions. The Checquy’s resistance thus depended not only on direct combat but on a disease that turned the Grafters’ physical exertion against them.

The General’s Defeat

At the end of the campaign, the Grafter general remained as the final invader. A massive warrior, he proved impervious to every form of attack the Checquy could muster. With its forces decimated and its other Rooks dead, the organization faced an opponent it could not defeat by ordinary means.

Crimson Rook John Perry resolved the impasse by linking his mind to the general’s and shooting himself in the head. The act killed them both. Perry’s death ended the invasion, but it also meant the Checquy had lost its last surviving Rook: the decisive victory was inseparable from the destruction of the officer who secured it.

Treaty and Aftermath

After the invaders were defeated, Charles II reportedly wanted to invade Belgium, apparently believing the Checquy had demonstrated its superiority. The Lords and Ladies of the Checquy instead pointed out that their forces had been decimated and their most capable generals killed. The King accepted their judgment, and negotiations with the Belgian ruler followed. The Checquy concealed the precarious state of its forces while the treaty was negotiated, preserving the impression that it could still bring overwhelming power to bear.

Under the treaty, the Belgian ruler agreed to dissolve the Grafters: funding was withdrawn, experiments were terminated, estates and property confiscated, and the project was dismantled under Checquy supervision. The treaty’s sweeping terms reflected the leverage created by the threat of Checquy retaliation, not a demonstration that the organization remained unscathed. The Checquy believed the Grafters no longer posed a threat, and the invasion ended in a settlement secured through concealment as much as force. Its later narration presents the campaign as both a victory and a warning: the Checquy prevailed, but only at a ruinous cost.