First Siege of Blati
Although the second siege of Blati, known as the Battle of the Walls of Fire is better known and is more epic, the first siege of Blati, who happened roughly a hundred years earlier is not least fascinating and important for the future of the then small Empire and for the whole continent of Teria.
The Conflict
Prelude
In 460 AP Ikaria was besieged and captured by a barbarian coalition of Nords, Crorai and nomads. Its last Emperor, Arcadius VII , died fighting the hordes of enemies at the city walls, only gaining time for the navy to evacuate as many citizens, relics and soldiers as possible before the city fell. After 5 days of looting the splendour of the city was lost and all that was left was corpses, fire, blood and ruins.
In the aftermath of this ignominious event, imperial authority collapsed, there was no Emperor, no one who could unite the armies or organize the Imperial Bureaucracy. With half of the north occupied by barbarian warlords, the unconquered territories still hold by the Ikarians splited into multitude of kingdoms. The most important of these kingdoms were
The Blatian Empire and the kingdom of Cloudia. The first one was ruled by prince Eutychius, Arcadius VII oldest son and heir to the throne, who proclaimed himself as the new Ikarian Emperor. At the time of his coronation, he only controlled the city of Valia and the coastile down to the Kingdom of Isca Delenorum and what the Blatians called "The Old South" (the former southern provinces of the Ikarian Empire now ruled by petty kingdoms or absorbed by the Elves).
In the north, one of the kingdoms carved out by the Barbarian warlords was the kingdom of Sagus, ruled by its King, Aspar. He managed to consolidate his kingdom and his position despite some unsuccessful attempts of expanding his realm conquering territories from the neighbouring Blatian kingdoms. This alongside successful marriages made Aspar the most powerful barbarian warlord.
in 507 AP Mauricius II, Eutychius's son, died unexpectedly, leaving his 6 years old son, Tiberius as emperor. Soon empress Martina stablished a regency alongside the Master of Soldiers, Aegidius. This weakness was exploited by the barbarians of Sagus who began attacking both Imperial territory and vassalizing some Blatian Kingdoms. Dubris for example was forced to pay 5000 myrelion a year to its king Vagomaros, the son of Aspar. The situation got even better for Vagomaros when in 510 he got married to a princess of the Kingdom of Cloudia in accordance to a treaty between both realms, thus intermarrying with the old imperial family. This marriage gave Vagomaros a supposed claim over all the Blatian territories and tried to present himself as a new Ikarian Emperor who would unify the former Empire. Of course, not many Blatians believe it.
The only other strong claimants to the unification of the Empire were the Emperors of Blati. Vagomaros then summon his armies and those of the neighbouring kingdom of Drucaria and marched southwards. He reached Dubris in late winter 511 AP stablishing his headquarters at the palace of the Blatian King of Dubris, Mauricius I, his nominal vassal. When spring 512 arrived, the King marched his army south not without first demanding supplies from the king of Dubris and his people.
In the 5th month of 512 AP Vagomaros I contemplated the mighty walls of the Imperial capital from the distance. He thought he had caught the Blatians by surprise because he hadn't seen any Blatian army until then. But he had been fooled. In secret, during winter, Mauricius of Dubris sent a letter to Blati alerting them of the impending invasion. Thus, the Blatians managed to put all its available forces in high alert and decided not to fight an open battle and let the barbarians try to assault the mighty walls of the capital. They also acquired a lot of provisions for a lengthy siege and prepared its navy in case the enemy wanted to invade them from the sea.
All was ready for one of the most well known sieges in the history of Yeia.
Deployment
Vagomaros began building his siege engines (most of them built by conscripted Blatian prisioners from Dubris and Bovoria). He situated his camp on the right bank of the River Akres and also instructed his men to built wooden bridges to cross the river . Just on the other side of the river the Blatians began placing their artillery on the walls. The navy began scorting ship cargos with food from the territories that hadn't been invaded by the enemy.
The numbers of the attackers and the defender varied between the sources but it is estimated that the Blatians had around 7000-8000 men while the besiegers had around 50 or 70.000 men.
The Engagement
One month into the siege, Vagomaros forces began the assault. Vagomaros had spotted a witness on Blati's walls around Ikaria Gate. So he concentrated his assault on that section of the walls. and after a week of heavy bombardment by the barbarian catapults some breaches began to be seen on the walls. A first assault of the outer walls was conducted by Wambiz, lord of the city of Akaios. But they were quickly repelled and the Blatians managed to repair the walls during the night. Finally, at the beginning of the 8th month of 512 AP, Vagomaros's armies we are to get through one of the breaches of the walls forcing the blatians to evacuate that entire section of the outer walls and taking refuge in the stronger and more formidable Inner walls. Vagomaros then decided to move the artillery to a safe distance in order to destroy the inner walls.
Blatian soldiers by Guiseppe Rava
The situation began to worry the Senate and the Emperor Tiberius and his mother Martina who began to think about fleeing from the capital, but Aegidius reassured both stated that he had a plan in case this event happened (he had been preparing the siege for months). One week after the breakout the assault to the inner walls began, but the barbarians were repelled very easily and suffered between 6.000 and 7.000 casualties. Seeing this Vagomaros increased the attack of the catapults in order to crumble the mighty walls but the damage was relatively low.
One night, the Blatians managed a coordinated attack on the Barbarian camp. They sally out from the city from the Eastern Gate carrying light boats and boarding them in order to cross Lake Bareotis from west to east. At the same time, many more soldiers embarked in the galleys anchored at the military port of the city and sailed alongside the shore under the cover of night. That day there was no moon that could highlight their positions. The first who attacked were the soldiers that had embarked on the galleys, who had landed safely on the beaches near the cities and killed the sentinels of the barbarian camp. Hearing the chaos in the camp, the soldiers who crossed lake Bareotis began attacking the camp from the north and the west.
The Blatians set fire to the enemy camp and the enemy artillery and killed another 4000 warriors before returning to their boats and galleys. The day after the assault Vagomaros, still recovering from the attack, wake up only to see the outer walls repaired and captured again by the Blatian soldiers. Despite the advice of their war council, Vagomaros decided to build yet more siege equipment (catapults and siege towers). But Aegidius had another trick under his sleeve, this was a war of deception, and the Blatian Master of Soldiers had planted the seed of chaos at the enemy camp. A Blatian officer that spoke the native crorai language of much of the soldiers and of Vagomaros too, disguised himself as a barbarian warrior. He requested an audience with the War Council and told Vagomaros and his generals that when he break through the walls in that victorious barbarian assault he spotted a weakness in the Blatian defence. The Blatians rotated their soldiers at dawn, so if they attack at that time, they would take them by surprise. The weakest sector where were the less soldiers where the section of the walls facing Lake Bareotis which was beginning to freeze due to the abnormal low temperatures, so he urged the king to attack the walls when the lake was frozen. In reality much of the reserves of the besieged and 10.000 fellow Blatians from Dubris and 2000 Snow Elves had hidden out in the forests near Lake Bareotis, ready to attack the barbarians from behind.
This happened two weeks later and Vagomaros followed the advice of this disguised Blatian officer. The Blatians fainted a retreat to the Inner Walls and let the much of the barbarians enter the perimeter between both walls, suddenly they were flanked on both sides by the Blatian cavalry of the Imperial Guard, while the rest of the barbarian army that was was huddled outside the wall came under the attack of all the armies hidden in the forest. The result was an absolute slaughter, with 20.000 barbarian warriors death or captured.
Seeing this Vagomaros decided to lift the siege and ask for terms.
Aftermath
The Peace of Blati was signed after the siege. According to the peace treaty, Vagomaros had to pay 25.000 myrelion as annual tribute for 10 years and all the Blatian states who had been vassalized had to be set free.
The Blatian kingdom of Corum was annexed two years later after its king died childless. And Vagomaros was assasinated in 535 AP by one of his generals Erik of Talmo. But the Empire was slow to recover from the siege, only showing signs of renowed strenght during the middle reign of Tiberius, now known as Tiberius VI.
Dubris on the other hand, became the most powerful Blatian realm of the Kallian plains during the next century, thanks to powerful leaders such as Vedius Yvianregus . The rest of the Blatian realms of the north wouldn't be safe from Barbarian attacks until the second siege of Blati a century later.
Historical Significance
Legacy
Due to his heroic command of the siege, Aegidius was awarded the consulship of the year 513 AP, and in 527 he would be named Master of Offices (the Imperial Chamberlain or Prime Minister) of Emperor Tiberius VI until his death in 538 AP. He married his daughter Aegidia to Tiberius VI, his grandson, Tiberius VII would moved his remains to the great temple of Blati where he lies.
In Literature
Some religious hymns thanking the Gods for the Blatian victory were composed alongside a Epic cicle called Glorious Deeds of general Aegidius, by the bard Saturninus of Dubris.
Conflict Type
Siege
Battlefield Type
Urban
Start Date
512 AP
Ending Date
512 AP
Conflict Result
The Blatian Empire survives, the kingdom of Sagus is forced to pay war reparations to the Empire
Location
Comments