Battle of the Theoporan Coast

The ships slide through a mirror-flat ocean stained red with spring seaweed.
Ahead lay the Island of Theoporos. This is to be the Makan Empire's final engagement with the once-dominant Slintan navy. Imperial marines prowled the decks above, checking arms and readying the boarding ramps.
Vanguard Admiral Taneshiro stood atop the tower post of his mighty siege barge, Ryutai, scanning the fog-choked horizon for signs of Theopora’s seaport. It wasn’t long before he spotted the masts of almost two dozen Slintan warships. Taneshiro gave the order and the Makan vanguard arranged into its usual inverse-wedge attack formation, ready to seize glory.
The signal flags relayed the maneuver to Head Admiral Norikatsu, who urged his fleet forward. For years, the Slintans had frustrated Makan ambitions to expand onto the Hersinos Subcontinent, leveraging their triremes to outmaneuver the less agile Makan warbarges. But today, the Makans had a new weapon: the Dreadbox—colossal floating fortresses designed to dominate close-quarters combat with hole-punching ballistae and retractable boarding ramps. Yet the Slintans remained undeterred.
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Theosmotos, the last Slintan Admiral, stood at the bow of his quadrireme, Varyana’s Fang, his gaze unyielding as he turned to his men.
“Florys and Mantua watch over us as they always have. Steel your hearts and let the waves take the weak, for we are not among them.”
A roar erupted from his crew, fists striking shields in defiant unison. Theosmotos raised his arm, and a long, serene horn sounded across the bay. Twenty two Slintan warships surged forth from the port as the Makan Dreadboxes neared.
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The fog thickened as Taneshiro’s vanguard neared Theopora’s harbor, yet the silhouettes of the Slintan triremes were still visible—growing larger, closing fast. Then, a shout alerted Taneshiro to his left.  From the west, Taneshiro spied a wall of more white sails emerging from the fog. He'd been flanked, but his warbarges numbered almost a hundred, he would be fine.

Makan Vanguard, Left Flank

Panicked shouts filled the air. Confused orders to deploy boarding ramps and swivel the ballistae as an armada of Slintan ships bore down on the exposed flanks of Dreadboxes. Moments later, the first rams struck. The sharp crack of splintering wood resounded as massive holes gaped in the hulls of several Dreadboxes.
From one deck a Makan marine would witness as their boarding ramp fell short of its target, a Slintan trireme already reversing its oars from a breach. Water surged through the lower decks, and within moments, the warbarge was lost. Dozens more followed. The left flank crumbled as the Makans, desperate to reorient, crashed into each other—oars shattered, ballistae misfired, and the fleet devolved into a tangled mess of wreckage. Then came the arrows.
The Slintans rained fire upon the stranded warbarges. Flames spread rapidly, and with their vessels immobilized, the Makan marines were little more than kindling. The left flank was lost. As the vanguard’s main body pressed forward, its formation twisted, compressing into a slanted, jagged line.

Makan Main Element

Head Admiral Norikatsu could no longer see the signal flags of the vanguard from his platform. The morning mist had thickened into an oppressive veil. Still, he pressed on. The last reports had stated the Slintans numbered barely two dozen ships.
Then, all warbarges came to an abrupt halt as they caught the vanguard's rear.  It was not mist that cloaked the sea—it was smoke.
Norikatsu’s blood ran cold as he beheld the wreckage ahead. His vanguard had shattered, its ships burning, its soldiers drowning. Warbarges collided as they struggled to halt their advance, their cohesion unraveling into a death trap of their own making.  Norikatsu ordered all ships to reverse, but the fleet was losing cohesion fast.
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Meanwhile, the swift Slintan triremes wove between the sluggish warbarges, striking at their vulnerable sides. Makan boarding ramps latched onto many, turning pockets of the battlefield into brutal melees where blood slicked the decks. Elsewhere, the Slintans rammed and loosed flaming arrows, setting the mighty Dreadboxes ablaze.
At the heart of the battle, Theosmotos steered Varyana’s Fang toward the Makan flagship, now trapped between two sinking warbarges. There atop the decks the commanders barked orders furiously, a shallow disguise of their desperation. Theosmotos raised his bow, drawing back with practiced ease, and loosed an arrow. The shaft found its mark, striking the Makan admiral through the throat.
A great cry erupted from the Slintan warriors as the enemy commander crumpled. Theosmotos did not know his name, but he felt the weight of victory settle in his chest as he watched the enemy’s resolve splinter.

Makan Right Flank

Vice Admiral Yoginatsu had left a trail of several sunken Slintan ships in his wake. His forces now swung inward, moving to collapse on the Slintan center. But Yoginatsu soon learned why he met so little resistance.
The first boulder struck.
From the cliffs of Theopora, massive projectiles rained down, launched by the city’s catapults. The floating fortresses became easy targets, their broad sides shredded by stone and fire. Yoginatsu was forced to sail on, damaged as his ships were. As they wrapped around, they came upon the destruction of the entire Makan fleet.
Yoginatsu’s ships now found themselves trapped between the city and the Slintan navy now beginning to encircle them.
A wise commander knew when to surrender.
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The Battle of the Theoporan Coast ended the naval phase of the Slint-Mako wars. The Makan advance stalled, their armies forced to feed in from conquered Tyros, far to the west. Though the wars would rage on, this victory bought the Kingdom of Slint another hundred years of survival.

Digital rendering of the Battle of the Theoporan Coast

Commissioned artist rendition of the Battle of the Theoporan Coast

Authoring Date

288 AR