Battle for Sangsalgu
by hughpierre
The Conflict
Conditions
For all the death and destruction wrought in this time; the gods seemed content in their viewing since their was not a cloud in the sky. A vibrant and sunny week for men and women, boys and girls to die in calm warmth.
The Engagement
The battle for Sangsalgu can be divided into two flanks: Green and Blue; after the colouring of the lake waters where the fighting took place. The events that happened during the Green Battle is what most think of when they think of the battle. So, the overall battle and the Green have become conflated with each other, but one must also remember that the Blue had longer lasting consequences.
Sangsalgu is unusual. A measure more of pride than sense. The capital of Sangsalgu is leagues wide, but much of the area within is water, with most administrative centers connected via bridges, dikes and chinampas. So when the witches launched an unprecedented assault on the extreme opposite edges of the city limits, proper coordination proved too difficult.
Each theater within the city would have counted as a battle in their own right, but that is not how it is chosen to be remembered. As they were happening, more or less, simultaneously; accounts were compiled together into a single week-long record of a battle.
Known unofficially as the battle for the Coyoacan peninsula; it was a more straight forward conflict because the people could put up less obstacles and the attackers were comparatively fewer. Even so, the single wall that separates the peninsula from the rest of the land was literally overrun. As in, the covens jumped, perched themselves comfortably on top of it and launched their salt fires into the defenders. All the while, wights were commanded to move around the wall, though the lake bodies on either side and attack the rear.
By all accounts, it should have all ended swiftly in the attackers favour. But an unexpected barrage of lightning deactivated the wights and smited the covens. Those that remained were quickly cleaned up by the remaining forces of Coyoacan's three districts, without help from Sangsalgu Proper.
The Green Battle
Tenula
The back and forth battles for Tenula were nothing new. Tenula was the first point of contact and the last. The Tinged quickly overran the defenses and then left it to the Sang when they returned. For all the attention given to the witches, and in particular the wights, many people tend to forget the other enemy: Mist Men. It is them, that Sangsalgu fought for most of the struggle for the peninsula.Dike of Cranotuilloil
There was no contesting the grass dike. The witches used it as a bridge to bypass the fighting happening in the Moyotlan and Cuepopan districts. Some wights and covens got off half way to open new fronts in Moyotlan as part of a flanking maneuver. But others went straight to the Sacred Precinct.Salt Docks
We are not sure from where, but three covens and an attachment of wights made it to the island of Salt Docks and slaughtered its few inhabitants. During the contention for Tenula, they left for Salt Side of their own accords.Moyotlan
The fighting that took place in the Moyotlan District is often given as an example of the hopelessness the defenders felt, but it is also held up as the first serious bit of resistance to the invasion. At this point, the salt states were annexed, Sangsalgu's outer defenses were overrun, scores of lake islands and inlets were taken. And Moyotlan's defenders were restrictively armed civilians. Old generals stationed and responsible for the city, made the practical decision to reinforce the neighbouring districts with whatever troops they could find. Controversially, green boys were sent in to help evacuate the area and delay the onslaught of wights. When the district was finally retaken, it was widely believed that they were no help. Many had retreated into barricaded streets, homes converted into makeshift holdouts and canals; all built by the resistance who refused to leave. Stories came out of women acting admirably manly and the elderly reliving their grit, while warriors sent to help them broke under the assault. Despite their valor, Moyotlan would be lost and those who did not make it to the Cuepopan lines or swim across the open water would (and did) die.Cuepopan
Most of the fighting happened in Oxxo. The most inconvenient battle ground for an attacking force. Retired warriors were recalled to active service, strengthened with reservists from the mainland and draftees of graduates and almost-graduates of the city's schools and support from women and children. The generals made it clear that they:must defend, defend, defend. Hold out for as long as it takes for the main army to march back from their issues in Dragonsgrave.It would be three days from the time of this pronouncement. In that time; broken boys, wailing women and men who were near dying before the invasion, would face the full impact of war. Even seasoned warriors, (who will get their turn), would not have able to stand up to them. Defending Cuepopan really came down to specific circles of the defenders, the largest group being those in the district's main market. Relief would finally come when a portion of the army and contingents from the Long Step would canoe across the Mixed Lake and open several new fronts. Although these soldiers were professional, they were also greener than the fighters who were already in the district. Facing against the undead horde flooding the canals, the towering covens with legs like that of terror birds, jumping off buildings, stamping walls and shooting salt fire into their ranks.
Sacred Precinct
The center of the city never became a battleground. But the leadership did send out skirmishers and coordinate with auxiliary forces to delay the inevitable. Just when the snake wall was about to be breached, half the army had crossed the great causeway directly towards the Precinct; breaking the short siege in the city center.The Blue Battle
Outcome
This conflict was the first display of the military potential of salt spells to the Sang. They were long aware of their use by the residents in Salt Side but were disregarded as impenitent. The witches, however, used salt like no other before and showcased their superiority by directly challenging the preeminent order of the region.
And it was a close thing. Only a minor oversight on the Tinge's planning had delivered their defeat. The salt heavy waters of the Brine Marshes, are the source of the salt rivers that flow throughout Salt Side, and into the valley's largest body of water. It seems that coven matriarchs assumed this geographical fact was proof enough of continual sources of salt to maintain their advantage.
But for how ever long their devices stepped through the artificial lake, the salt was being drawn out by virtue of it being pure water. Eventually, both the wights and the covens would cease function. Randomly collapsing to the confusion of both sides.
Aftermath
- Shaken military confidence of the Triple Alignment
- Increased interest in salt spells by administration officials and military bodies
- Ecology of the lake environment is damaged with a distinct drop in marine harvesting
- Urgent need to open new military academies to replace the troops lost, leading to several changes in the provincial status of previously conquered territory still under Sang control.
Historical Significance
Legacy
The consequence of the repeated lightning strikes into the lakes by the College of Birds killed nearly all of the life relied upon by shore settlements. There surges seemed to have spilled over into the Mixed Lake resulting in stunned fishes and drowned birds; eagerly collected by peasants and other opportunists. Thankfully, such effects were limited in the Sang's man made lake; but for the principal lake targeted, only the eels survived.
Administration of the Mixed Lake also changed. At the time, an effort was underway to make as much of the lake as possible drinkable. But the drowning of the salty bodies of the wights, and daresay- putrefication- of what would be renamed 'the Wallows', made this project undesirable. Hence, Sangsalgu has pure and salt water canals now.
Technological Advancement
All who live in the valley know of wights. Folks along the Bad Step freeze theirs in hollow caves. Those on the valley floor powder their ancestors in red; the most hallowed being kept on public display.
The unnamed clans and tribes who live in the marshes do not appear to have such reverence for the Dead. Through the manipulation of salts, it was shown that the consciousness of the dead or dying can be locked within the body and brought back to service the living.
Now the Sang have adopted the practice; but only awaken their deceased to invoke wisdom in disputes as part of the law courts in the Alignment.
Included under Conflict
Conflict Type
Battle
Battlefield Type
Urban
Conflict Result
Sang Victory by the skin of their teeth
Location
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