The Holy Battle of Oroth
The Holy Battle of Oroth in 5146 APC was a combined naval and land based assault on the port city of Oroth and was one of the final major events that brought the Age of Shadows to an end.
The Conflict
Prelude
The Shadowlands were a dangerous and confusing place to live both for those who were members of the Justice of the Shadows as well as for those who were not. Even at the height of their power and with the most members they ever had, it is estimated that no more than one in five of the population were direct thralls of the Shadow Suckers, with the unconverted cooperating simply in line with the pre-existing social order which the cult now controlled. The Cities Under Grace had many spies in the Shadowlands and by the beginning of the 5140s it was no secret that the Justice of the Shadows were assembling an ocean gowing fleet in the harbour of Oroth. Greatly concerned about the possibility that the Hylacon Gates might actually be destroyed, the leaders of the Cities Under Grace determined to launch a pre-emptive strike to prevent that and also to reclaim Oroth. Their fleet was joined by an army which crossed the Tellus River and invaded the Shadowlands from the north to support a co-ordinated attack.
Deployment
The attack on the city and the fleet in the harbour was a pincer movement between the naval forces of the Cities Under Grace, led by Admiral Cairam Ironhorn and their campaign army, led by General Marcus Bartholemew. Reliable communication between the attacking fleet and the troops advancing overland was the key to co-ordinating the attack and encryption mages trained at Greystow provided this. General Bartholemew had the hardest task since not only were his soldiers inevitably slower overland but he was obliged to conduct a game of feint with the Shadowlands military planners, fooling them into positioning the bulk of their forces in defence of Cynran and then conducting a fast final march to Oroth that begin at night, testing the fitness and resolve of his men even before the battle. At one point it looked worryingly as if the attacking ground forces might arrive too late, but bad weather in the Orothonian Ocean delayed the fleet just enough to make their eventual arrival simultaneous.
The defenders of the Shadowlands were caught underprepared for such a powerful assault which they had not anticipated, the focus of all their recent energies being on the building and equiping of the fleet they planned to sail to the Dark Domains. In thinking about their own plans to attack the Hylacon Gates they neglected to consider the possibilty of this suprising reaction from the Cities Under Grace. Then too, they had positioned the majority of their defensive troops in and around Cynran, anticipating that the capture of their capital would be the aim of any invasion. So it was that of their main armies, only the 2nd Legion Reserves were camped outside the city walls. The Oroth City Militia was largely a civic security force and although it numbered at least four thousand they were poorly armed, relying on the terror of the Shadow Suckers to enforce internal discipline in the city. Because the Darkest Umbral herself was present at Oroth, overseeing the preparation of the Fleet of Liberation, her dedicated elite unit, the Umbral Guards were able to bolster the defenders but they were the smallest of the units from the Shadowlands to take part in the battle. Admiral Mabazil Kleet had charge of the ships in the harbour, General Rab Rivers from the 2nd Legion was given command also of the city militia in an emergency order from the Darkest Umbral, but Linamna Keld retained control over her own guards.
Cairam Ironhorn by DMFW with Midjourney
General Marcus Bartholemew Portrait by DMFW with Midjourney
Linamna Keld by DMFW with Midjourney
Admiral Mabazil Kleet Portrait by DMFW with Midjourney
General Rab Rivers by DMFW with Midjourney
Battlefield
The battle was fought in the harbour at Oroth, and later at sea to the west in the open Orothonian Ocean. The city itself was also the scene of much fierce fighting both outside and subsequently within the city walls.
Conditions
The weather over the three days during which the combat took place, was fine and warm with a moderate north easterly wind which picked up on the third day. This had the effect of aiding the attempted escape of parts of the Fleet of Liberation which were only re-engaged on the final day of the battle.
The Engagement
On the 13th of Doloph, the Yendle first fleet entered the harbour of Oroth, with the galleass class ships immediately beginning to engage with the Fleet of Liberation. With the element of surprise leading to early success, much of the Fleet of Liberation was set on fire and their ships sank before they could retaliate. The problem for the defenders was that most of their ships were intended to transport men and arcane materials to the Dark Domains and with a few exceptions were not designed for conflict at sea. At the 14th bell, Mabazil Kleet was quick thinking enough to break through a damaged section of the attempted blockade when harbour ballistic defences opened up a gap and escaped with three ships, chased by seven of the Yendle first fleet. Meanwhile the Yendle Heavy Marines began to close on the quay. The sinking of two of their ships threatened the bridgehead but shortly after the 16th bell, an advance force from the West Anchor militia gained control over the high ground outside the second level walls and destroyed the heavy artillary defending the harbour. The Quarowl 3rd Batallion now engaged the Second Legion reserves and overwhelmed them over the course of the afternoon and evening. As night fell, the city was encircled and the Liberation Fleet mostly destroyed but the main walls had not been breached.
The second day was the bloodiest of the entire battle although the result had effectively been decided already. General Bartholemew sent his remaining forces into the city, just after noon, having spent the morning bombarding the walls with heavy weapons and wearing down the Oroth City Militia on the battlements. In hand to hand fighting the invaders, who significantly outnumbered the defenders, defeated the City Militia and the more organised and tenacious resistance of the Umbral Guards. Linamna Keld was taken prisoner at the 20th bell and Oroth was in the hands of the forces of the Cities Under Grace by nightfall.
The third day was more of a technical mopping up exercise, when the few ships that had escaped the harbour were sunk by the Yendle First Fleet far out to sea, completing a very comprehensive victory for the invaders.
Outcome
By the end of Mald in 5147 APC, the Shadowlands ceased to exist, as the armies of the Cities Under Grace completed their conquest of Cynran and the smaller settlements which has become entangled in the malign political project of the Justice of the Shadows.
The public execution of the Darkest Umbral, Linamna Keld on 5th Tuzlle 5146 APC was an important step in demoralising the Justice of the Shadows and certainly helped to make subsequent battles easier with most of the cultists surrendering very quickly. Many of the ones that didn't were killed by emboldened local resistance leaders who were thirsting for revenge and eager to put those who had terrorised them to the sword. But with that said, the Justice of the Shadows had established deep and long roots in the region and even the death of a Darkest Umbral did not necessarily matter to the Ancient and Glorious. They might have regrouped if it were not for the energetic work of the Grace Army Corps of Combat Purifiers, who were efficient and deadly in taking down all Shadow Suckers wherever they were hiding.
Aftermath
Just before midnight on 28th Glim 5148 APC and into 1st Tivith, so spanning the exact midpoint of the year, a great psychological cry of rage from the Dark Domains now known as the Dark Scream rattled the Hylacon Gates but could not break them. It represented a moment of sheer frustration for the Ancient and Glorious as their long and patient plans, enacted over centuries and designed to cure a "problem" they had suffered for millenia, came to nothing. They had been so close to success but the Holy Battle of Oroth denied it to them.
Unfortunately, this burst of powerful arcane petulance was the trigger that attracted extra-dimensional attention from the Limit Lands and in 5149 APC Prince Rygarde launched his own invasion of Magicians' End from beyond the barriers of the Discontinuum. And with that invasion, the Age of Shadows came to an end and the Limit Protectorate began.
Historical Significance
Legacy
Despite the turbulent times that followed the end of the Age of Shadows, the Holy Battle of Oroth is still rightly regarded as a glorious moment in which the forces of the Dark Domains were thwarted, and the anniversary of its conclusion on the 15th of Doloph is celebrated as a holiday within the Congress of Concerned Citizens (which can be thought of as a kind of successor to the Cities Under Grace), even today.
Conflict Type
Battle
Battlefield Type
Naval
Start Date
13th Doloph, 5146 APC
Ending Date
15th Doloph, 5146 APC
Conflict Result
The fleet which the Justice of the Shadows had been building was destroyed and Oroth liberated.
Location
Belligerents
Justice of the Shadows
Led by
Strength
Estimated Total : ~6000 soldiers and sailors
The Fleet of Liberation consisting of four galleons and ten carracks, the reserves from the 1st Legion of Justice, the Oroth City Militia and the Umbral Guard.
Estimated Total : ~17000 soldiers and sailors
Yendle 1st and 2nd Fleets consisting of twelve galleass class assault ships and twenty troop carrying hulks, Yendle Heavy Marines, Quarowl Light Brigade, Quarowl 3rd Batallion, West Anchor Offensive Militia (the "Defiants") and the 2nd, 4th and 5th Grace Army Corps of Combat Purifiers.
Casualties
Estimated Total : ~4900 soldiers and sailors
The destruction of the Fleet of Liberation is thought to have cost about two hundred lives. The troops from the first Legion of Justice refused to surrender until every man was slaughtered and another twelve hundred were lost from their ranks. The Oroth City Militia made up the largest of the defending forces and over three thousand of them were killed in bloody hand to hand fighting in the city before they surrended. Finally the Umbral Guard perished completely with their leader and accounted for about another five hundred lives.
Estimated Total : ~5000 soldiers and sailors
The Yendle 1st Fleet lost the "Sealance" and the "North Storm" when they were both set alight in close combat.
From the Yendle 2nd Fleet the hulks "Grandyne" and "Celestria" were sunk by Oroth harbour heavy ballistics before they could set their complement of troops ashore.
Including the land battles in the city, the final casualty rate was around thirty percent of the total force of seventeen thousand, roughly five thousand men.
Objectives
The protection of the Fleet of Liberation at all costs. The defence of Oroth.
The primary objective was the destruction of the fleet the Justice of the Shadows had built at Oroth but the secondary objective was to capture the city itself as a prelude to the conquest of the Shadowlands.
Admiral Mabazil Kleet at Sea by DMFW with Midjourney
General Rab Rivers at Oroth by DMFW with Midjourney
General Marcus Bartholemew by DMFW with Leonardo AI
Admiral Cairam Ironhorn by DMFW with Leonardo AI
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