The Fields of Solden

The Fields of Solden is the battle that took place just mere moments after the duel between Evander and Talthis. Vernica's troops seemed to be on the verge of victory and about to link up with the armies sieging Solden itself. As Evander attempted to commune with his god and found his connection to Abadar gone he realized this conflict was not what he thought it was and turned to see a horde of Those of Gaulren approaching.
The Fields of Solden is considered to be the end of the First Republican Civil even though the Vernicans assaulting the city continued until Evander's officers retreated informing them about the situation. Without this battle scholars believed that Vernica would have usurped Solden and became the single capital of the Republic, if it would still have been a Republic.
The Fields of Solden is also the general name given for the battles and conflicts with Those of Gaulren and the King of the First until the assault on Hadasht.

The Conflict

Prelude

Leading up to these events is the First Republican Civil War. The King of the First helped create the tension between Solden and Vernica by filling a flamen's head with visions from Abadar that were false leading the flamen to tell Polipsis that Solden planned to betray Vernica and they needed to act now. The King of the First bid his time until he thought he spotted an opportune time to strike and put a significant amount of Republic troops out of action.

Deployment

The forces of Vernica and Solden stood apart from each other as most of the combat had stopped to view the duel between Evander and Talthis. The King of the First lead his troops over a hill charging into the back lines of the Vernican forces.

Battlefield

The battlefield was relatively flat with a few rolling hills by covered in houses and huts of the citizens that lived in Solden, but spilled outside of its walls. The majority of the fighting took place on the edge of the various buildings that dotted the landscape leading to a number of choke points throughout the battlefield.
The Battle then spilled into the city as the forces of Those of Gaulren broke down the gate and scaled the walls.

The Engagement

The legionnaires realizing they had to do something formed a shield wall with those they had just been battling not but moments ago to face the oncoming horde. Evander watched as his troops as well as Talthis’ troops without a leader, using only their training and discipline, formed what lines they could. Those of Gaulren exploited the gaps and chinks in the legionnaires lines and began pushing them back. Evander stood from his stupor and began marshalling his men as well as Talthis’ men into proper battle lines. They were heavily outnumbered so his plan was to slowly fall back to Solden until he could request aid from the forces that were laying siege to Solden. Over a quarter of both legions were struck down as they continued the drawn out retreat. Those of Gaulren began to surround them as their numbers dwindled. Realizing that retreat became impossible Evander realized that all they could do would be to whittle down the enemies’ numbers as much as possible. Evander ran back out to the front lines to assist his troops in what was becoming a hopeless struggle. The King of the First sent three of his champions to strike him down, but each fell before the mace of Evander.
As the battle continued The King of the First realized the legionnaires would continue fighting so long as their commander fought with such ferocity. He stepped onto the battlefield himself and rushed into the fray against Evander. The King of the First brought his greatsword down onto Evander’s shield shattering it on the first swing. Evander exhausted from the constant fight did what he could to fight the King, but after a few minutes of hard fighting the king landed a blow striking through the heart of Evander bringing him down to his knees as the life left his eyes. Slowly the legionnaires began to surrender, surrounded and battered, to Those of Gaulren. The prisoners were stripped of their weapons and sent back to Those of Gaulren’s camp while the rest of the army marched upon Solden. A handful of Evander’s officers managed to slip past Those of Gaulren’s to warn Polipsis about the advancing army. They told him that they would need the help of Solden in order to win this as their numbers were too great. Polipsis enraged at the death of his son at the hands of barbarians went into a frenzy and said they would kill this army and afterwards they would sack Solden. The officers stood there in silence for a moment all looking at each other. They turned towards the horizon at the advancing horde and decided that something had to be done.
The officers walked towards the gate of Solden with Polipsis in chains. They yelled up to the guards about the advancing army of Those of Gaulren and that the time had come to put aside their differences for the good of the Republic. Lotrus was wary of their intentions, but upon looking out over his battlements he realized that if they didn’t work together Solden could fall. The Vernican legion poured in through the gates and began taking up defensive positions. Those of Gaulren prepared for a siege, but after only a few weeks the King of the First began to grow impatient. They had enough siege towers and battering rams to storm the city so he gave the order for the assault to commence. Those of Gaulren managed to break down the gate as well as get a sizeable force onto the walls. With the combined forces the legions managed to hold the line not letting the horde more than a few hundred meters into the city. The fighting throughout the streets was fierce and bloody, at several times Republican forces held onto a street with but a single man thick shield wall. Peresov Nereus had taken charge of the Vernican legions as the original legate had fallen in battle. Peresov managed to rally the troops that had fallen deeper into the city and reinforce the lines that were moments from being broken. He reinforced these lines with the smallest number of men possible while taking the rest of the legionnaires onto whatever hunk of wood could float and got them behind the lines of Those of Gaulren. Peresov managed to flank Those of Gaulren causing panic in their lines leading to the forces attacking the city eventually to retreat.
The king’s army had took a beating attempting to take the city and on the retreat it was a disorderly mess trying to flee the city. They had also taken a number of casualties fighting Evander’s legion so was in no position to fight even just Solden’s forces with how spread out their forces were at this point. The King of the First tried as hard as he could to rally his troops once more, but Lotrus deftly managed to keep his armies separated. Slowly they managed to pick off the splintered remains of Those of Gaulren’s army and pushed them North and out of the province of Redwater by the end of the year.

Outcome

Peresov Nereus took the consulship of Vernica, the first non family member of the Vernicus line, and reforged the Republic

Aftermath

The enemies of the Republic managed to gain a foothold in their lands and used the weakened state of the Republic to fortify themselves and carve out their territory. The Republic had to fight tooth and nail to resecure their former borders and eventually push forward into what would become the borders of the modern era

Included under Conflict

The First Republican Civil War

Conflict Type

War

Battlefield Type

Land

Start Date

1498 C.E

Ending Date

1494 C.E.

Conflict Result

The Republic was able to push back Those of Gaulren and resecured their holdings