The Fall of Rasca

The siege, sacking and ultimate destruction of Rasca and the Empire of the Rasenna

The Conflict

Prelude

In the years before the fall of Rasca, the formerly expansive and all-powerful Rasennan Empire had fallen greatly due to internal issues and a gradual decentralization of political, economic, and cultural power away from the city of Rasca. Provincial capitals became more important and the empire buckled and cracked as invaders and revolts led to losses of vital provinces and land. By the time the city came under siege, the empire had become able to govern little more than the suburbs around the dying city. When a combined army of Hasdinians, Hedbards, Yarmeza, Marvingans, Leutrburgs, and Sturmares came to the city, they found it in complete anarchy and disunion as the city itself was embroiled in a micro civil war as factions vying for control of the city just as a vast army rolled into Lakia and came to its front door.

Deployment

The allied army surrounded the city in two days and cut off Rasca's connection to their only port at Tarpeia on the third day. On the fourth day, a group of messengers slipped by the encamped Hedbards in the south and planned to carry a message to a supposedly allied army led by exiled Rasennan soldiers. The next weeks were spent on the construction of siege engines and construction of defensive trenches and moats by desperate citizens who now formed the defending force.

Battlefield

In the time the coalition took to prepare for an attack, word arrived and the Rasennan forces in the south hurried north to get to the city in time to defend it. The assault began at noon and the combined armies at first were thrown back by the frenzied defense of the citizenry but quickly overwhelmed them, slaughtering the defenders on the walls and opening the main gates to the city which the attackers flooded into. From here, the city fell into a panic and the commanders of the coalition lost all control of their men as they slaughtered families in their homes and stole anything belonging to them. Pillaging and numerous atrocities were committed until dusk when larger palaces and public monuments were finally taken and the wealth of the Laterian and Rhon hilltops were captured for all to see, artifacts and relics from campaigns and conquests which had been held in the Temple of Marius had finally been captured and the loot was thrown among the masses of conquerors who fought one another for the golden cups of the Hakkaten general Tsavo, the solar crown of Rursus and countless other priceless treasures from across the timespan of the Republic and Empire were thrown to the dogs. The ashes of emperors and heroes of the republic were scattered and their vases were taken and melted down for silver coins. At sundown, the relief army arrived at the city and upon seeing the destruction of the city, threw down their arms and either retreated to the countryside to become common bandits, surrendered, or killed themselves in shame. When the sun set, the city was ablaze and the attackers began departing to their homelands with the stolen treasures of nearly 1,000 years of the city's past.

Outcome

Enormous outpouring of wealth into the hands of the invaders as the treasures of Rasca were made crystal clear.

Aftermath

With the destruction of Rasca, a domino chain of rebellions and revolts brought on by the shockwave of wealth coming from the city led to the individual kingdoms that destroyed the city falling to their own internal failures. This was amplified by an era of plagues, earthquakes and other disasters that made the situation worse and worse until the social laws that connected the vast kingdoms and empire collapsed and society reverted back to what it was thousands of years ago.

Historical Significance

Legacy

The fall of Rasca was te beginning of the end for the age of empires, afterwards many of the kingdoms who destroyed the city would fall in their own way and after them came diseases and disasters that destroyed the old order of society. When the old imperial eagle of the Rasenna fell, it brought the whole world with it.

Conflict Type

Siege

Battlefield Type

Land

Start Date

1 B.E

Ending Date

Year 0

Conflict Result

Destruction of Rasca and the beginning of the Dykairos (Hard Times)

Location

Rasca