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Virathus Krupp's 40,000 troops (and a small private army of 1,000 by Viduggla) reinforced the Fort Mal defences of Kolton Typhonus's 15,000 troops just in time before the Rië army approaches, with its 50,000 troops in total. Surely, Kolton Typhonus's army would have been utterly wiped out had reinforcements not come. The assault by the Elven force commenced immediately, and was incredibly ferocious. It was obvious in the rhetoric of the Elves and their fighting vigor, that they were once against pressed and whipped with the idea that they were really fighting for the continuation of their species, their culture and their religion. While religious fervor wasn't ever something new or foreign to the Unionist cause, what was different this time was that the Elven army was homogenous and unified in their faith, where-as the Regalian army was a mismatch of Unionists, Olde Fayth believers and Old Gods worshippers, as well as an odd Estel worshiper here and there. Their unified vigor for survival was overbearing against the Regalians.
The skirmish phase was relatively successful for the Regalians, but many casualties were incurred on the walls of Fort Mal. More so, when the shock phase began and the Elves mounted the walls, the Regalians were firmly pushed back into the inner battlements of the fortress. It was only towards the end of the battle that the casualty rate of the Elves started to seriously outbalance the Regalian effort, causing their army to collapse and making them unable to press the battle against the Regalians who would take this victory. The losses incurred on the Elves were massive, a total of 38,000. The casualties suffered by the Regalians wasn't to be understated either however, a total of 14,000 troops died in the defence of Fort Mal, the majority of which were lost during the melee that occurred on the walls and battlements. Of the total tally, 10,000 State troops died, 2,000 Calemberg Levies and 2,000 Krupp Levies.
Roland Heinrich's forces engaged in forward scouting, however, unfamiliar with the terrain, their scouting mission was actually tracked back to the base camp by Avanthar woad raiders. By nightfall, the Regalian camp would be beset by the Avanthar forward horde, riding into the camp and setting ablaze camps and slaying Regalians as they went through. The general staff quickly attempted to set up a defensive line to organize the troops into an effective response, however cut off from their artillery, the army seriously lost the skirmish phase. When the actual shock phase occurred, nothing better happened, in fact the horses charging left and right completely obliterated the regalian shield walls and all conventional tactics and formations proved pointless against the erratic movements of the Avanthar horde. Regalians were huddled into small shield formations which were just picked off from a distance by horse archers, where the ground troops were smashed by the physically more imposing Avanthar axe warriors.
The Regalian side eventually collapsed and fled with having lost 6500 troops out of their 20,000, while inflicting as little as 1000 losses on the 20,000 Avanthar. An approaching Lusits army eventually chased the Avanthar back into the forest realms beyond, but this did propose a serious weakness to the Regalian doctrine: The General staff had no idea how to deal with horse tactics and the erratic movements of the horde columns. Their swift hit and run tactics seemed to outpace the slow formation lines that the Regalians were used to. The Regalians were simply outmatched by a new enemy that they had never faced before, and it showed on the battlefield here.
In Ithanian meanwhile, Olivia Ombre started a charm offensive to win over the Ithanian Sovereign's army, however her charm offensive was met with a cold shoulder. While she was awarded the title swan of the Ithanian Court, a usual prestige trinket given to those with favor from the Ithanian Court, the Sovereign refused to hand over any troops to Ombre's cause or leadership, citing that she had her own people to protect, and that her troops (what little she had) would hold the southern forest gap line to defend the Ithanian silk cities from barbarian Elven invasion. As such, Ombre was offered a local leadership role of the armies, but was told that even if she accepted this role, she would not be able to move her troops from Ithanian soil to engage in the war in the south.
Elsewhere, the Black Armada assaults Fort Al from a distance while securing Regalian control of the Ilü strait. Bombardment of Fort Al pointed out that Al had, in fact, already been abandoned. The officers speculated that the elves had abandoned Al, knowing naval superiority could not be reached, and moved the garrison to the capital of Precaëlle to prevent the Regalians from being able to divide the armies of the weakest Elven state. Krupp's fleet however, did nothing. This was largely because the problem presented itself: Krupp both controlled a Fleet and an Army. Crupp as Admiral or General needed to be present to issue commands live and on-site, and while his army was engaged in Rië, his fleet could not move without his presence in Precaëlle. This did not lead to any problems in the short run since no real engagement was found for either the Black or Krupp Armada, however it might turn into an issue in the future.
Back in Regalia, a fairly shocking event took place On the evening of 31rd of October, the east side of the city shook with an ear shattering crash noise, followed by a rain of red bricks, planks and beams fanning out from the Imperial District. Those who turned to their shattered windows to see the source, would see half the Imperial Palace simply missing, a massive dark dust cloud rising from where once the Imperial chambers and the courtrooms were. Crowds flocking to the Imperial bridge to discover the source would be none the wiser, the Imperial Guards (the few left behind) seemed equally clueless on what had occurred, though from what could be told from some tower guards nearby, was that something deep below the tunnels of the Imperial Palace had forced a massive explosion outwards and upwards, destroying much of the internal palace. Town Criers afterwards fanned out across the city to comfort the people. They said that while the material damage to the Imperial Palace was massive, no real casualties had fallen since the Emperor had already fired most of the Imperial Staff, and that most of the Palace that suffered damage was left unused. They claimed that deep below the palace, an old gunpowder storage had accidently combusted, causing a massive explosion that wiped out a third of the superstructure.
Still, some intellectuals remained unconvinced. The exact epicentre appeared to be below the Scholar's Court (or where once the Scholar's Court was anyway, since it had been completely wiped out), while none of the rubble, bricks or wood splinters showed no signs of burning, soot or other blackness would that accompany a gunpowder explosion. The area around the Palace was eventually cordoned off, and access was extremely restricted, while all great doors of the Palace remained on lockdown. The smoke pillars that rose from the rubble would remain for days, looming over the city and even casting a shadow on the market district, though the people seemed to accept the story brought forward by the Town Criers, and while the loss of hundreds of years old architecture was mourned, the people celebrated the fact that nearly no lives had been lost, the Imperial Family was safe, the Imperial Steward was safe and even the Ekhein and the Imperial Command structure remained intact. There seemed to be no long-term ramnifications from this accident. Supposedly.
The skirmish phase was relatively successful for the Regalians, but many casualties were incurred on the walls of Fort Mal. More so, when the shock phase began and the Elves mounted the walls, the Regalians were firmly pushed back into the inner battlements of the fortress. It was only towards the end of the battle that the casualty rate of the Elves started to seriously outbalance the Regalian effort, causing their army to collapse and making them unable to press the battle against the Regalians who would take this victory. The losses incurred on the Elves were massive, a total of 38,000. The casualties suffered by the Regalians wasn't to be understated either however, a total of 14,000 troops died in the defence of Fort Mal, the majority of which were lost during the melee that occurred on the walls and battlements. Of the total tally, 10,000 State troops died, 2,000 Calemberg Levies and 2,000 Krupp Levies.
Roland Heinrich's forces engaged in forward scouting, however, unfamiliar with the terrain, their scouting mission was actually tracked back to the base camp by Avanthar woad raiders. By nightfall, the Regalian camp would be beset by the Avanthar forward horde, riding into the camp and setting ablaze camps and slaying Regalians as they went through. The general staff quickly attempted to set up a defensive line to organize the troops into an effective response, however cut off from their artillery, the army seriously lost the skirmish phase. When the actual shock phase occurred, nothing better happened, in fact the horses charging left and right completely obliterated the regalian shield walls and all conventional tactics and formations proved pointless against the erratic movements of the Avanthar horde. Regalians were huddled into small shield formations which were just picked off from a distance by horse archers, where the ground troops were smashed by the physically more imposing Avanthar axe warriors.
The Regalian side eventually collapsed and fled with having lost 6500 troops out of their 20,000, while inflicting as little as 1000 losses on the 20,000 Avanthar. An approaching Lusits army eventually chased the Avanthar back into the forest realms beyond, but this did propose a serious weakness to the Regalian doctrine: The General staff had no idea how to deal with horse tactics and the erratic movements of the horde columns. Their swift hit and run tactics seemed to outpace the slow formation lines that the Regalians were used to. The Regalians were simply outmatched by a new enemy that they had never faced before, and it showed on the battlefield here.
In Ithanian meanwhile, Olivia Ombre started a charm offensive to win over the Ithanian Sovereign's army, however her charm offensive was met with a cold shoulder. While she was awarded the title swan of the Ithanian Court, a usual prestige trinket given to those with favor from the Ithanian Court, the Sovereign refused to hand over any troops to Ombre's cause or leadership, citing that she had her own people to protect, and that her troops (what little she had) would hold the southern forest gap line to defend the Ithanian silk cities from barbarian Elven invasion. As such, Ombre was offered a local leadership role of the armies, but was told that even if she accepted this role, she would not be able to move her troops from Ithanian soil to engage in the war in the south.
Elsewhere, the Black Armada assaults Fort Al from a distance while securing Regalian control of the Ilü strait. Bombardment of Fort Al pointed out that Al had, in fact, already been abandoned. The officers speculated that the elves had abandoned Al, knowing naval superiority could not be reached, and moved the garrison to the capital of Precaëlle to prevent the Regalians from being able to divide the armies of the weakest Elven state. Krupp's fleet however, did nothing. This was largely because the problem presented itself: Krupp both controlled a Fleet and an Army. Crupp as Admiral or General needed to be present to issue commands live and on-site, and while his army was engaged in Rië, his fleet could not move without his presence in Precaëlle. This did not lead to any problems in the short run since no real engagement was found for either the Black or Krupp Armada, however it might turn into an issue in the future.
Back in Regalia, a fairly shocking event took place On the evening of 31rd of October, the east side of the city shook with an ear shattering crash noise, followed by a rain of red bricks, planks and beams fanning out from the Imperial District. Those who turned to their shattered windows to see the source, would see half the Imperial Palace simply missing, a massive dark dust cloud rising from where once the Imperial chambers and the courtrooms were. Crowds flocking to the Imperial bridge to discover the source would be none the wiser, the Imperial Guards (the few left behind) seemed equally clueless on what had occurred, though from what could be told from some tower guards nearby, was that something deep below the tunnels of the Imperial Palace had forced a massive explosion outwards and upwards, destroying much of the internal palace. Town Criers afterwards fanned out across the city to comfort the people. They said that while the material damage to the Imperial Palace was massive, no real casualties had fallen since the Emperor had already fired most of the Imperial Staff, and that most of the Palace that suffered damage was left unused. They claimed that deep below the palace, an old gunpowder storage had accidently combusted, causing a massive explosion that wiped out a third of the superstructure.
Still, some intellectuals remained unconvinced. The exact epicentre appeared to be below the Scholar's Court (or where once the Scholar's Court was anyway, since it had been completely wiped out), while none of the rubble, bricks or wood splinters showed no signs of burning, soot or other blackness would that accompany a gunpowder explosion. The area around the Palace was eventually cordoned off, and access was extremely restricted, while all great doors of the Palace remained on lockdown. The smoke pillars that rose from the rubble would remain for days, looming over the city and even casting a shadow on the market district, though the people seemed to accept the story brought forward by the Town Criers, and while the loss of hundreds of years old architecture was mourned, the people celebrated the fact that nearly no lives had been lost, the Imperial Family was safe, the Imperial Steward was safe and even the Ekhein and the Imperial Command structure remained intact. There seemed to be no long-term ramnifications from this accident. Supposedly.
