The First Republican Civil War
The Conflict
Prelude
As the Republic continued its marched forwards into their lands the tribes united the banner of the one who called himself rìgh na ciad, or king of the first. He united the tribes and began sacking and razing Republican frontier towns in the West. Solden was struggling to deal with the renewed vigor of these barbarian tribes and began to be pushed back. The consul of Solden at the time, Lotrus Soldicus, requested aid from Vernica in order to help push back those of Gaulren. The Consul of Vernica Polipsis Vernicus agreed to help so long as his forces were allowed to set up outposts in Solden’s land for trade and military. Not wanting to lose anymore Solden settlements Lotrus agreed to these terms and Vernica sent two legions lead by Polipsis’ son Evander Albionus Vernicus who had just finished securing a peace deal with Albion with exceedingly favorable terms for the Republic. With the aid of these legions along with a fresh legion raised from the population down in Plania the Republic managed to push back the forces of Those of Gaulren. During this time Evander's legions began to establish their outposts, but they were more than mere outposts. Using the wealth from defeating Those of Gaulren’s armies and sacking their villages Evander, the head paladin of the order of Abadar, began to establish massive temples to his patron god Abadar. This infuriated Solden as they had chosen to dedicate their lands and people to Aroden. Vernica’s legions would not budge on this matter however as it was a requisite for their assistance in the fight against Those of Gaulren. The spies of Those of Gaulren found out about the tension between Solden and Vernica and attempted to play off of it by focusing their attacks at destroying only the outpost being set up by Vernican legions and demolishing the temples while leaving Aroden’s temples alone. Solden’s maniples would never be informed anytime a temple to Abadar would be assaulted leaving them to be destroyed. After destroying several outposts and temples the legions of Vernica fell back to the High temple to Abadar the had been constructing since their arrival. The statue to Abadar had just finished construction and the temple was taking shape around it. Those of Gaulren brought in their druids capable of bringing down entire buildings and whilst the ground troops held up the Vernican legions the clerics gathered together and brought down statue to Abadar. The forces of Those of Gaulren feigned defeat and retreated back deep into their lands after causing the Vernicans a lot of casualties. The legions of Solden happened to be nearby, but all requests for aid were captured by Those of Gaulren and prevented from calling for aid. This along with Solden’s unwillingness to assist Vernican temples in the past caused them to believe that they had simply left them for dead defending their temple against a tide of barbarians. Evander elected to remain silent on the matter for the time being after Solden claimed to not have even known that attack was happening which Evander didn’t believe. Evander called for reinforcements to replace their losses from Vernica as well as a maniple from Abadar’s Legion, the Legion dedicated to the defense of Vernica itself that only the most elite are allowed to join. When questioned about bringing in some of the most elite troops Vernica had evander said that he had to avenge their god and that only the chosen of Abadar would suffice. They demanded that Solden must assist them in their planned retaliation against the forces of Those of Gaulren. Evander had Solden engage a medium force of Those of Gaulren whilst Abadar’s Legion’s First cohort lead the charge into the bulk of The king of the first’s army. This is what Evander told Solden he was doing, in truth his father received word from the flamen to Abadar that Solden’s Legions planned to betray Vernica the moment that the armies of Those of Gaulren were pushed back deep into their forest. The Evocati later found and purged the dark cult that had corrupted the flamen who gave falsified information, but at the time Consul Polipsis had thought the flamen’s heart remained pure. Polipsis had begun to fear treachery from the consul of Solden, Lotrus , since his refusal to assist in the defense of the temples being built and worried that their unity with the Republic was beginning to falter in favor of their god Aroden. With Vernica’s forces across the bridge in Solden lands if left unprepared their legions could be cut off allowing Solden’s smaller numbers to take advantage of the chaos created by the sudden treachery. Not wanting to be caught out, Polipsis elected to instead strike the first blow before Lotrus could. Polipsis ordered his son Evander to feign an attack against Those of Gaulren and then once the legions of Solden had engaged their targets to instead fall back and attack the Solden legions in the rear. Evander was a devout worshipper of Abadar who was not a fan of war where it was not needed and he took his time deciding whether to follow through with these plans or not. The King of the First had been in talks with Polipsis and was informed of the plan and that he would be guaranteed peace for him and his people, who had taken a substantial beating from the previous wars, for his time as consul and the time of the next consul. The King needed this peace to regather his forces and accepted the terms. He sent spies to ensure that the Republic wasn’t trying to betray him and his people and found Evander in quiet prayer to Abadar to see what he should do. The King sent his greatest psychic to crack the mental defenses of the Paladin to Abadar and convince him to follow the wishes of his father. As Evander stood up and returned to his legion Those of Gaulren sat back and prepared for the worst, but hoped for the best. Evander returned to his armies and begun preparation for battle as usual. He took aside his officers and informed them of what he had learned from his father and Abadar. His officers told them that they were with him and the glory of Abadar and Vernica. It is said that Evander Solemnly nodded and prepared for the first civil war of the Republic. Evander discussed with his officers how they would convince the common legionnaire to betray the legions of those that they fought side by side with for the last year against Those of Gaulren. The officers informed them that the soldiers were disgruntled at the lack of support in defending the temples to their patron cities’ deity and were fiercely loyal to him as their legate. He has shown time and time again he would lead by example and never would let them down and if he told them that Solden betrayed the Republic and Vernica they would fight with him. Satisfied with their answer he set out to finalize the preparations with his officers to redirect their legion after the initial engagement with Those of Gaulren. After the preparations were finished Evander marched his armies out from camp and forward towards the lines of Those of Gaulren. As he was told the armies buckled rather quickly and fled back into their forests. As his Legion began to give chase he ran out in front of his men and told them that Solden sought to betray Vernica and control the Republic themselves. He told them that their plotting needed to be stopped in its infancy and destroy their legions so that Vernica in turn would not be destroyed. The men apprehensively backed him as they were loyal to their legate and marched to follow Evander. The men began discussing amongst themselves what this meant for them, many were ready for the spoils of war that they would receive for backing Evander, while others were not too keen on killing fellow men of the Republic, especially those they had been fighting alongside for almost a year while others merely would follow their legate’s orders as that is what they signed up for and Evander has yet to lead them astray. All marched forward for the time being to battle against the legions of Solden. While Evander was leading his legion back towards the legions of Solden, the legionnaires were pushing back the enemies rather handily until finally Those of Gaulren broke and retreated back into the forests. Talthis Pilinius, Pro-praetor and legate of Solden’s legions operating in the province of Redwater was about to pursue his foes when scouts reported to Talthis of Evander’s legions marching towards them. Talthis had been worried about Vernica’s legions ever since Polipsis had sent a portion of Abadar’s Legion to assist the war, but without their help his province of Redwater would’ve fallen to Those of Gaulren for sure. As he sees Evander’s legion marching towards him he was unsure as to what to expect, the idea of an outright civil war at this point in time while Those of Gaulren were still a threat to their stability didn’t seem possible to him. This made him suppose that possibly they had information that a force of Those of Gaulren were about to hit them hard so he set his army up in a defensive semi circle with one side facing the direction of Those of Gaulren and one side facing towards the approaching legions just in case. Talthis sat at the front of his army waiting for Evander to ride out to greet him, instead he saw Evander on foot leading his troops and the moment that Talthis spotted him he watched as Evander gave the order for his men to charge. Evander watched as the Legions of Solden reorganized to fully face his charging forces quickly and efficiently as could be expected of any Republic legion, however this only solidified Evander’s idea that Solden was ready to betray them and seeing his Legion advance at them first didn’t surprise them as they were ready to do the same to Vernica. This was the first time that Republican forces had fought each other ever besides in mock wargames. Both sides were able to predict and deflect each others thrusts and tactics as the legions of Solden and Vernica used extremely similar methods. The battle lasted for over ten hours with both sides unable to gain an upper hand in the fighting, any flanking attempt to get around the stalwart shield walls of the legionnaires were dealt with making the fighting be relegated to what the front line infantry were able to accomplish bashing each other’s shields. Evander saw that nothing was getting accomplished and decided to send in the portion of Abadar’s Legion he was given. He wanted to not let Talthis realize what he was trying to do so sent them through the center of his force hidden by the chaos of battle. Once these hardened troops reach the front line they were able to make a crack in Solden’s lines. This small bulge was then exploited by the rest of the army pushing through the center. Talthis saw that his line was buckling and didn’t want to leave Solden undefended so began to order his men to retreat. He left behind volunteers willing to hold the line for the rest of his men while the rest of the legion retreated back to more defensible positions. Evander tried to hunt down Talthis’ forces, but was unable to as Solden’s legion marched back to their nearby castrum and fortified themselves for the night. The field was littered with the corpses of dead legionnaires on both sides, when Evander had exploited the gap the sides that were being buckled had unleashed their pilum into the surging mass of troops and caused a great deal of casualties. Evander wished to not linger on the battlefield for too long fearing what it might do to the men’s morale, but the damage had already been done. The battlefield would be called The Field of the Shattered Shield and in the modern era no active legionnaire is allowed to set foot on the battlefield, for after the battle a significant chunk of both the legions of Solden and Vernica deserted their respective legions together and went to the far western coast of Redwater and built ships to go to the island of Hadasht. They took with them the wives they took from various tribes of Those of Gaulren on their way to this new world. This enraged both Solden and Vernica as desertion was considered to be one of the most heinous crime in the Republic, even worse than a thief or murderer. However, Polipsis still thought he would be able to get the upper hand over Solden so he decided to continue his war. He continued to send orders to his son Evander and his forces began to plunder the countryside. Left with only the most loyal or most greedy for war spoils his army continued to follow him as they went around Solden’s lands raiding. Light skirmishes would occur throughout this period with only one pitched battle happening later on. Polipsis continuously tried to get support over to the stranded legions, but the navies of Solden ensured that this would not happen blockading the port of Vernica and Velia, the largest port in Albion. This civil war lasted for just over three years with no side gaining the upper hand, Vernica’s legions stuck in Solden land were forced to continuously forage and force the local plebs to give them food as well as purchasing supplies from the Adal Caliphate. Evander saw no honor in continuing this war and constantly requested his father make peace with Solden. Polipsis on the other hand was waiting for the right opportunity to strike at the city of Solden itself with his legions. The massive land bridge connecting the two cities could not be crossed without the legion being sent through the portal and in the sea they had to wait for a chance to cross the strait with the fleet of Solden blockading the way. During this time Albion had been ready to strike. Vernica’s legions, even though a good chunk were ready to cross the strait as well as already fighting in Solden, still held a significant presence in their lands which their armies could probably overrun, but their victory would come at great cost. Instead they stood poised ready to strike once more if Vernica’s legions crossed over into Solden. Tired of waiting Albion hired mercenaries from the tribes of Caelum, a handful of Undine druids with immense control over the waves. As the transport ships from Vernica attempted their posturing towards Solden once more, the Undine used their control over the sea and created a swell that prevented the fleets of Solden from approaching the transport ships. The transport ships crossed the strait and managed to land on Solden’s shore with minimal damage to the fleet allowing them to begin the siege of Solden. They got word to Evander’s forces that they managed to cross the strait and have begun to lay siege to the capital. Evander Albionus Vernicus marshaled his forces together and began to march to link up with their reinforcements. Talthis’ scouts reported back to him that fresh Vernican legions have begun the siege of Solden itself. Talthis rushed his legion back to intercept Evander’s advancing forces and prevent them from linking up with the reinforcements.
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