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BC
546
O Logos "The Word." The Battle of Smyrna Part One The rebels who seized Smyrna last year moved immediately in early spring to consolidate their gains. With weapons pouring in from overseas, their source ably concealed thanks to the tight control Egypt has kept over the naval access to Smyrna, the Council of Nobles set about arming as many of the angry rebels as they could. When the source of volunteers dried up, the Nobles moved on and began conscripting local peasants from the surrounding countryside. Only a fool could think that war was not coming, and coming soon. The issue would only be when and in how much force. Even as the Smyrnan rebels armed, the Ephesus Army of Ionia, which had returned from campaign in Abydus last year to crush the rebellion in Miletus, set out to meet up with the Royal Carian Army which was marching south after subduing Troas. Smyrna lay athwart the way home for the Carians, lying just to the north of Ephesus and Miletus. The Carians brought with them 50,000 men, with siege train, under the personal command of the proven strategist King Mursili himself. The Ionian Ephesus Army had over 23,000 men anchored around a core of 10,000 well-equipped hoplites under the personal command of the renowned Histiaeus. The two forces skirted Smyrna to the east in order to meet up with one another to form a united front. King Mursili of Caria was in overall command, his decision being that the Carian Army would help the Ionians secure Smyrna before marching south and east to return to the Carian capital at Halicarnassus before winter. Mursili immediately dispatched scouts in secret to spy out the situation in Smyrna, notably to see if any foreign troops had landed to aid the rebels. It was relatively easy for the Carian and Ionian scouts to approach the bustling rebel city, as recruits from the surrounding countryside were continuing to stream in to the city. After quietly infiltrating the enemy ranks, the scouts were confronted with the fact that the situation was far more dire than they had been led to believe. The rebel army already had an army of trained recruits comprised of some 25,000 men. The God-Queen had not been stingy with her gold. In addition to these men, a massive army of green recruits, armed with Egyptian equipment, was assembling. This new army, composed of mercenaries, refugees, and local Smyrnans, easily composed another 25,000 men. Then, in addition to those new soldiers, the scouts could see that another new army was being assembled on the fields outside of Smyrna. Somehow, and from somewhere, the Smyrnans had acquired a great store of hoplite weaponry and were rapidly arming any one they could find who was even remotely fit to fight. By all accounts, this force consisted of yet another 25,000 men, although the Smyrnans were having trouble finding enough recruits to fill the ranks. Word also came down to the scouts, who were posing as fellow refugees, that Phennox of Troas, who had vanished after being defeated by a superior Mysian and Ionian force at the Battle of Abydus, had been recruited by the Council of Nobles to lead this grand army. Phennox, a well known and admired strategist, had traveled to Smyrna in the pursuit of Egyptian wealth and, by all reports, a small measure of revenge against the men who had deposed his King. Still, all this aside, the scouts had one central mission: find evidence of any foreign troops and bring this information immediately to King Mursili. Making a careful note of the number of men assembling, the Carians and Ionians carefully began infiltrating the ranks of the newly assembling army. They were quick to discover the presence of some several thousand swarthy Egyptian marines. They estimated the presence of at least 10,000 with more men arriving daily at the docks. Their mission accomplished and fearful of discovery by the God-Queen’s minions, the scouts snuck out of the city at nightfall and returned to the Carian-Ionian camp. All of this, properly done, took close to a month, which King Mursili had used to assemble his forces and make his plans. The situation was dire, but far from impossible. By King Mursili’s count, the rebels had access to some 35,000 trained troops, including the Egyptian Marines, while the additional 25,000 were all green and, by Mursili’s thinking more of a weak spot than any real aid. He was even less worried about the massive, assembling hoplite army. Attacked properly, and with speed, those green conscripts would be of little threat. The situation would have to be resolved quickly, however, so Mursili sent out his orders to his men. The army was on the move. Phennox of Troas had not been idle, however, and was well apprised of the location and general strength of his opponents. He also concluded that his men were not ready to face the force assembled against him, so he resolved to do his best to delay the enemy advance. Even as the armies began to move, the Smyrnans were busy assembling new city walls block by block to secure the city in the event of a siege. Phennox ordered his 50,000 men, trained and green alike, into the field supported by a force of Egyptians that had swelled to some 17,500 men. The fight was more or less even numerically, but Phennox knew his 25,000 green soldiers represented a dangerous weak spot that he could not afford to expose. As such, he resolved to use them as feints, mixed in with the ordinary soldiers to confuse and delay the Ionians. The Carian-Ionian plan called for King Mursili, along with his household lancers and all of the combined army’s light cavalry, to retreat north, citing fear of an Egyptian attack on Troas. The rest of the Carian Army, along with the Ionian Army, would retreat into the interior, hopefully drawing the rebels forward to extend their lines. Phennox spotted the split, but suspected his forces were still no match for the retreating army and did not take the bait proffered to him. Instead, seeing an opportunity, he swung his force to the north, advancing towards Troas as if to launch the attack the Carians seemed so afraid of. At this stage, King Mursili, informed by his able scouts, called a halt to the whole endeavor and sent messengers to the main army still slowly retreating into the interior of Anatolia. He ordered that army to begin advancing again while he swung his own cavalry down to try and blunt the Smyrnan advance. In turn, Phennox aware that his own cavalry was woefully inferior in training and equipment to the Carians, was unwilling to engage in a cavalry duel but also knew he could not afford to actually advance on Troas with enough force to sweep away the annoying King Mursili. While his forces were celebrating in Troas, Smyrna would be ablaze, conquered by the Carian-Ionian army to his south and east. Phennox began a reluctant retreat, as the Carians ruthlessly assaulted his forces, flanking him at every opportunity in an attempt to disrupt his army and cut the Smyrnan supply lines. It was a cavalry duel of historic proportions, as each side sent sweeping groups of men on horseback against each other in the thousands, the Carians and their entourage clearly the superior but the Smyrnans with the main army in easy reach as a safe haven. As the Carians gradually ground down the retreating cavalry, but were successfully held at bay from the main army, the Carian-Ionian force slowly advanced from the east. However, Phennox was allowing himself to be driven further east even as he, in turn, inflicted mounting casualties on the pursuing force led by King Mursili. This move to the east gradually threatened to outflank the advancing main army to the south. Mursili, grown frustrated with the delaying tactics used by his enemy, broke off his pursuit and swung round to the east faster than the Smyrnans could follow. He then moved back to rejoin the main force. By the time this long and grinding dance had been finished it was past mid-summer and already thousands of men lay dead. As summer dragged on, the armies continued to circle one another. Smyrna still had defenders, so Mursili could not order an all out rush towards the city, nor could he move in that direction without exposing his supply lines to attack by the Smyrnans. Histiaeus of Ionia was a logistics wizard, but in a situation this dire and with this large of an army, Mursili knew he could not risk becoming isolated. Furthermore, a series of storms blown in from the coast had made the terrain treacherous and traditional warfare difficult. The fighting was long, arduous, and entirely out of the experience of most of the men on both sides, who (if they had combat experience) were used to front to front battles which lasted a brutal few hours and then mostly consisted of marching back home. This warfare, with the slippery Phennox showing profound skills at evasion ably countered by King Mursili’s own talents in the field of maneuver, was horrifically wearing. Still, the Carians and Ionians were clearly the superior force and were gradually hemming and grinding and pushing the rebels back west towards Smyrna itself. The green Smyrnan troops, even though they were mostly being used for feints and for show, were suffering casualties at an alarming rate and Phennox recognized that his army was slowly bleeding to death. He had to hope that the defenses in Smyrna were well advanced enough to provide him with enough of an advantage to turn the tide. Then, as the grimly focused King Mursili organized his attacks from the Carian-Ionian force, word began to filter in to both forces. There had been a disaster to the south. Ephesus had risen up in revolt, allegedly a result of Egyptian gold and more Ionian traitors. Furthermore, before the roads were closed entirely by the Ionian rebels, King Mursili received word of an uprising in Halicarnassus. His own capital was under attack, and all easy lines of communication had been cut. Anatolian Uprisings! In Ionia, King Thrasyboulos rapidly moved to reassert control over his shattered kingdom. The new plans were largely successful in and around Miletus thanks to the large military presence there as well as the complete purging of rebels last year. Thrasyboulos drafted new enforcers by the cartload and flooded the countryside with his agents. In the center of Miletus the Ionian King ordered the construction of a giant statue showing Thrasyboulos and his chief general Histiaeus, supported by the ranks of the Greeks Gods, bodily striking down the cowering figures of the Egyptian Gods and Queen Aneski of Egypt. However, these projects were accompanied by a complete seizure of all private income and property by Thrasyboulos’ agents. He had certainly earmarked enough funding to accomplish his goal, but the move was widely regarded as theft and, perhaps, a growing sign of the insanity of the Ionian King. Of course, history is replete with examples of the grand successes of insane and brutal Kings, but this was no comfort to the Ionian people. Following these seizures, the King went on to sending out carts to collect loan money from the various rich merchant families left in Ionia. The exact amount of debt accrued in this manner is unknown, but the merchant houses and gold mines were reported to have been drained dry. With so much of the kingdom’s gold flowing directly into King’s coffers, the entire Ionian Kingdom was given another mighty shake. This time, the piece to fall loose from the convulsing Kingdom of Ionia was Ephesus. Egyptian gold continued to flood into Ionia, largely thanks to the dominance of the Egyptian navy at sea. These funds urged revolt in Ephesus and, coupled with the rebels who had fled Miletus last year, created a fertile ground for rebellion. The Ionian Army of Smyrna was listed as being garrisoned in Ephesus but, due to a clerical error, it was revealed that the Army (which was stationed in Miletus last year) had never actually been given money to move to the city of Ephesus. King Thrasyboulos was rumored to have been exceedingly wroth at this grievous error. As Ephesus rose up in rebellion, a similar play was unfolding on the stage of Halicarnassus. Helped along by heavy foreign tariffs, the Carians had also forgone much in the way of social spending or projects designed to appease the mob. With the chaos spreading all over Anatolia as the result of the disintegrating Ionian state, a rebellious noble had seen his chance to seize power while King Mursili was away. Halicarnassus saw chaos engulf its streets as the noble rallied his supporters and bribed formally loyal Carian soldiers, even inciting a riot by paying a group of Thracian mercenaries to attack the city watch. The local Carian militia was called in to restore order. Word was sent to King Mursili of the revolt, but all attempts to send messengers up the road past Ephesus had apparently met with failure. It fell to Mysian agents, deployed throughout the Western Empire in search of foreign agents, to sneak through the countryside surrounding Ephesus to make it to the Carian-Ionian Army. This they accomplished in such a brave and daring fashion that already playwrights in several cities are composing ballads of the “Ride of the Mysians”. Word reached King Mursili that his capital was under attack and Ephesus had fallen, although further communication south of Ephesus was impossible and travelling inland to find an alternate route was time consuming to say the least. Blockade of Western Empire Continues As enemy fleets prowled the Aegean, the Western Empire made no attempt to challenge the Egyptian-led force’s control of the seas. Instead, local traders have taken to avoiding naval travel entirely, sending their goods on more expensive land routes through Thrace to the west and through eastern Anatolia to reach the rich kingdoms of Babylon and Persia to the east. The only real matter of note was that in late spring a massive series of storms wreaked havoc on the Egyptian fleet, severely damaging at least one Trireme, but as there was no fleet waiting to take advantage of this chaos, the effect was largely muted. The Battle of Smyrna Part Two King Mursili, enraged by his multiplying frustrations, considered the situation carefully. The Smyrnan Army was, he judged, too disheartened to attempt any sort of attack to drive away his own force or even the Ionian force on its lonesome. Still, they were a large and potent army under an able commander and would fight if brought to bay at the coast. This situation would drag on for another month at least and even if Mursili won the day at Smyrna, Ephesus was lost and potentially his own throne in Halicarnassus. The alternative was… a retreat from Smyrna. The Ionians did not have the resources or supplies laid out to launch an assault on Ephesus, but his own forces had been supplied with the intent of journeying all the way to Halicarnassus. The Carian force, acting independently, could hope to cut through the Ephesian rebels and reach Halicarnassus to respond to the growing crisis. The Ionians could be left to keep the demoralized Smyrnans bottled up and then the Western Empire could arrive in force next year to reinforce them and press the assault. King Mursili stayed up the entire night pondering his options. They had already reopened the road south provided the situation in Ephesus could be resolved. The Carian-Ionian army already sat well to the west of the main road. Communication and transportation between the component kingdoms of the Western Empire had already been restored, when viewed from the proper angle. Still, he would be allowing the rebels further time to prepare. There did not appear to be a good solution here, merely a choice between lesser and greater evils. King Mursili made his decision. Letting the Smyrnan rebels recover was bad, but losing his Kingdom was worse. Once his decision was made, King Mursili did not delay. He called a halt to the army’s advance, transferred his authority to Histiaeus and pulled the Carian forces from the line and immediately began to organize his supply train. The angry and disheartened Ionians shouted their protest and begged the Carians to return, but King Mursili knew he had greater matters to attend to. The Carians marched south immediately, leaving the Ionians to hold the road. The Smyrnans continued to retreat even after the pursuit had been called off, apparently resolving to rally at the city to take advantage of the morale boosting presence of the new hoplite recruits and the growing city wall. The Smyrnans were bottled up along the coast, but still ably supplied by the Egyptian navy. King Mursili broke south with no delay, heading straight towards Ephesus. The resistance there had yet to formulate into any sort of real army, as most of the real warriors amongst the rebels had already joined Phennox at Smyrna. In fact, the Ephesian rebels were remarkably ill prepared, as the contest for leadership amongst the rebellious factions had dissolved into in fighting. The Ephesians had even failed to link up in any fashion with the Smyrnans, preferring to fight for their own city’s freedom as opposed to joining with any larger kingdom. King Mursili dealt with the situation decisively. Sweeping into Ephesus, he rallied the retreating Ionian enforcers and constables and placed them in his own supply train, barreling down the road and sweeping aside the raiders and mercenaries who had blockaded the road. Advancing immediately towards Ephesus itself, King Mursili, eschewing any attempt to contact Ionian authority as a waste of precious time, forced his way into the wall-less city and tore through Ephesus, summarily executing as many rebels as he could find and restoring Ionian control block by block. Leaving the returned enforcers and magistrates in control of the stricken city, now burning in several places, Mursili sent word to Miletus to inform the Ionians of what he had done. King Mursili then set his sights towards Halicarnassus, desperately sending out messengers and scouts in an attempt to find out what was going on in his city. As he neared Halicarnassus, word began to trickle back. There had indeed been an uprising. The fighting had been bloody and hard, but the Halicarnassus militia had held and, with word of the approaching and wrathful King Mursili, the rebellious noble Tyrese had fled into the countryside with the few supporters still willing to follow him. Smyrna had held on to its independence, but Ephesus had been brutally returned to the Ionian fold. A revolution in Halicarnassus had been crushed and the lines of communication throughout the Western Empire restored. The Imperial forces would have to return to Smyrna next year to fight a prepared and still dangerous foe, but a greater disaster had been successfully contained by the stalwart Ionians blockading Smyrna and the quick-thinking King Mursili who had suppressed would could have proven to be a disastrous rebellion. More Phoenicians Caught in Babylon The High King’s agents reported that they had apprehended a group of Phoenicians outside of Babylon itself. The Babylonians had begun hunting for foreign agents after a report came in that several of the new recruits to the Dragons of Marduk Order had been killed after eating bread made from grain kept in a small granary outside of the city. When the Babylonians investigated, they discovered that the grain had indeed been poisoned. Initiating a search for miles all around, the Babylonians, according to eye witnesses, burst into a small tavern where a group of Phoenician men were holed up. The men, according to witnesses, were much the worse for wear but were indeed in possession of several containers of deadly poison, a collection of coins, and some detailed maps. The Babylonians took the men in to custody and later reported that after several hours of torture the men had all confessed to attempting to disrupt the High King’s new military Order by command of King Hanniel of Phoenicia. The men in question were immediately tried and executed. There has been no response from the King of Phoenicia, nor any further information from the High King Nabonidus of Babylon. Disorder in Egypt This year’s chaos was not contained solely within Anatolia this year, however. Violent attacks spread throughout Egypt this year as rabble rousers incited the mob to violence in some areas, while unidentified culprits set fires in the denser urban districts while graffiti sprung up over night calling into question the judgement of the God-Queen. Anonymous letters, scrawled in paint on city walls, asked how Aneski knew so much of Greek gods, suggesting that she had fallen out of favor with the Egyptian ones. By the middle of the year, the chaos had grown to dismaying proportions, partially due to Queen Aneski’s refusal to cater to the mob with any sort of happiness-encouraging programs. The turning point finally came when several prominent merchants, priests, and even nobles were found dead in Thebes (Upper Nile). The mob took to the streets and words of armed groups of malcontents spread throughout the Kingdom. Finally, as the local enforcers were overwhelmed and it became apparent that these attacks must have been encouraged by outside forces, the God-Queen Aneski I responded decisively. The Third Battle Reavers-- led by the devout follower of Aneski, Akhu the Reborn-- was stationed in the Upper Nile and had an active strength of 92,500 men. Akhu, under strict orders from the God-Queen, took his force into Thebes itself. Throwing out an encircling force of Chariots, Cavalry, and Tyrrhenian mercenary Equites, Akhu surrounded the city with his more mobile units and entered the embroiled streets with 65,000 infantry at his back, anchored on a core of 10,000 Egyptian Marines. Akhu, a massive and well-built warrior known and feared throughout the Kingdom, led the principle contingent of men up the main city street towards the market which, despite all the palaces and grand temples, was the real beating heart of the city. Striding purposefully forward, muscles gleaming in the bright summer sunlight, Akhu did not unsheath his weapons, for none were needed. The angry crowds fled before the God-Queen’s wrath made incarnate. In scattered places throughout the city, some fought back but nowhere was it sufficient to stop the march of the Reavers. Finally, in the market square, the mobs pouring from all over the city collided amidst a swirl of violence and panic. As Mighty Akhu approached the struggling mob, someone in the crowd with a bow fired an arrow straight at the God-Queens' champion. Before anyone could react, the arrow sunk deep in Akhu’s shoulder and a hush fell over the assembled crowd. Without a visible sign of pain or even that he had noticed the wound, Akhu quietly drew his blades and advanced on the angered city residents. The tableau shattered and the mob broke, struggling to find a way out of the plaza as soldiers drew in from every side. A day later, a pall of smoke rising above the stricken city, and order had been returned to the God-Queen’s city. Persia Consolidates While Resentment Grows Support for Cyrus the Great grew in leaps and bounds in Parthia after the widely hailed success of a concentrated Persian effort to convince the local populace, already enamored with the successes of Prince Darius, of the validity of being part of a greater “Persian Nation”. The drive is largely viewed to have been a success as the province of Parthia appealed to Emperor Cyrus to grant them the full status of one of the Persian home territories. Nonetheless, while all this was going on, low happiness spending by Cyrus in other provinces has increased dissent against Persian rule. This trend is the most noticeable in Media, whose people were once rulers of the Persians. Despite this disquieting news, the mood in Susa was ebullient as the first recruits of the new Order the “Blades of Mazda” brought in its first recruits from the ranks of the Immortals. This, along with the conscription of 100,000 more peasants into the ranks of a new Imperial Army helped reassure the wary Persians. This was followed with word that the construction of a new, great fortress in Southern Margiana had been completed and settlers were already using it as a place of safety that they could construct a city around. This marks Margiana’s formal transition to a real territory of the Persian Empire and was greeted with spontaneous celebration in the homeland regions. The reaction in the more rebellious outer provinces was much more muted. 1,000 Carians Greeted by Friendly, and Curious, Cappadocians For reasons unknown, the Kingdom of Caria deployed some 1,000 green mounted infantry to Cappadocia this year. The Cappadocians themselves, confused by the arrival of this token force, greeted their visitors with gifts and feasts. Curious as to why they were hosting the men of Caria, the Cappadocians soon discovered that the Carians did not truly know either, as they were given no specific orders defining any real mission. Cappadocia, which is a geographically large area but boasts a small population with little wealth, still maintains an army several thousand strong that is more than capable of crushing 1,000 fresh recruits from Caria. They concluded that the move was not meant to be a threat and agreed to host the Carian force under the ancient laws of hospitality. The Carian mounted infantry spent the year in Cappadocia, admiring that beautiful land and being treated with all courtesy by their generous hosts. The Battle of Crisa Following the Boetian victories at the Olympics, along with Polynikes’ successful journey to Epirus and subsequent defeat of a mighty Illyrian lord, the city of Thebes was consumed in revelry. Following the huge celebration marking Polynikes’ marriage to Olympia of Epirus, the Theban victor of the Pankration, mighty Gordion, was appointed to head of the new Olympic Regiment being raised in Thebes. A new coin, a ‘Niketerion’ was minted especially for the occasion and the mood in Boetia was one of pride and celebration. Riding this wave of enthusiasm, Polynikes and his boon companion Thorakides, accompanied as always by Agrippa the Horse-master, led the Army of Boetia out of Thebes and rode north. The grand army, composed of 57,500 of Boetia’s finest warriors, rode back up the road from the northern lands of Greece which Polynikes and his companions had so recently traversed. The army made its way to Elatea, chief Polis of the territory of Phokis. Leaving his army well behind to show that he meant no threat, Polynikes and his closest advisors rode into Phokis at the invitation of the pro-Boetian faction within the city. Addressing a collection of nobles, merchants, priests, and members of the fickle mob in the city square, the charismatic Polynikes delivered a stirring speech, extolling the people of Phokis to embrace their destiny, not just for themselves or for their polis, but for all of Greece. Citing the recent expansionism of Athens as an attempt by the richest of the Greek poleis to finally dominate the region, as well as the recent assaults against the Anatolian Greeks perpetrated by the Egyptians, Tyrrhenians, and Phoenicians, Polynikes’ words stirred the heart of many a fiery Greek. Polynikes stepped down from his impromptu spectacle to a great roar of approval, which was then met with shouts of protest from those still opposed to joining the Boetian League. As is typical of Greeks, several small scuffles broke out amidst the crowd even as Polynikes and his men were leaving the city, although the overall response is seen to have been very positive. Still, there was no immediate response to Polynikes’ repeated offer, and the Theban man was in no mood to wait on the city’s bickering. He rode back to the army and turned his sights west, leaving Phokis behind. The Theban warrior’s goal was the polis of Crisa in Lokris. Thorakides, a master strategist, persuasively argued that if Crisa, the beating heart of Lokris, fell, the Lokrans themselves might be open to the sort of deal that Sparta had offered to Achaea. As the Wolves of Thebes, Boetia’s elite scouting regiment, scoured the grounds ahead of the army as they moved in Lokris, the main body of the army moved at a brisk pace down the beaten trail towards Crisa. Word of the Boetian Army’s advance soon reached Lokran ears and set off a panic throughout the tiny confederacy. A quick council of leaders, who barely had any time to plan, concluded that they would assemble what army they could from the confederacy's militias at Crisa to meet the oncoming Boetians. While the army gathered, they would use feints and small raids to try and draw the Boetians off from their course to give the soldiers of Lokris more time. The feints started almost immediately, but largely thanks to the efforts of the expert Theban scouts, the Boetians were able to identify the attacks for what they were: mere distractions. The Boetians easily drove off the small bands and headed straight for Crisa, where the Wolves of Thebes had already found the main army assembling. It soon became apparent that a battle was inevitable. The remaining Lokrans raced to Crisa with all speed to attempt to beat the swiftly moving Boetian army to its destination. Against the mighty Boetians, the Lokrans could assemble no force of any real parity. With 8,000 men at their disposal, a lower number than the Lokrans had hoped largely thanks to the excellent intelligence provided by the Wolves of Thebes that had allowed the Boetians to move so quickly, the Lokrans knew that they had no realistic hope of victory. The Lokran leadership resorted to religion to keep their men standing tall. With priests from all over the small territory being brought in, the army began the process of blessing each and every single soldier in the force. With the hope that this encouragement would allow the men to stand tall, the men of Lokris turned their hope to prayer, trying to call down the Greek Gods against the advancing Boetians. Alas, the Gods did not appear to answer the Lokran pleas, although the priests maintained this was simply because they wished the men of Lokris to earn their God-touched victory through blood and sweat. When the two armies met, they said, a great thunderbolt would crack through the sky and the very legions of Hell would stand and fight against the Boetian invader. As the Boetian Army advanced and finally reached Crisa, the shaking rabble defending Crisa had been replaced by something that at least resembled a real army. Still, all appeals to Gods aside, the Boetians outnumbered the army of Lokris by a factor of seven. They had thirteen times the number of hoplites and with Polynikes the Boetians had the most famous warrior in all of Greece. Still, the Lokrans lined up for battle despite the scoffing and amazement amongst the Boetians. The Boetian soldiers could not see how these men thought they could possibly win this fight, although the more sober men opined that a man does not need to think he will win in order to defend his Polis. The two armies lined themselves up in magnificent splendor, making the required sacrifices to the Gods and singing the sacred songs, although it can fairly be said that the pleas for divine aid were said more sincerely on the side of the militiamen of Lokris. With loud voices singing and cheering as both sides’ hoplites pounded their shields with the butts of their spears, the two armies began their advance. The Boetian Light Cavalry, which while only a small component of the Boetian Army out numbered all the Lokran cavalry by a factor of three, immediately fell upon the Lokran lines and prevented the Lokran cavalry from moving far up field. Already the Boetians had neutralized the enemy’s cavalry. As the light infantry, used as skirmishers by both sides, advanced, the Boetians brought forward the Rhodian Archer unit alongside the Macedonian Peltasts. Composing some 15,000 men all told, these soldiers rained death upon the light infantry of the Lokrans, who began to slow and break even as the Lokran hoplites advanced. With excellent timing, the Boetian Lance, composed of some 5,000 regular cavalry, charged straight into the mass of confused Lokran light infantry and archers, scattering these men and essentially destroying the Lokran support units. Still, the Lokrans held firm and the onlookers in Crisa held their breath. Every battle was decided by the hoplites, even a fool knew that. The Gods still had time to act. Still, while Thorakides of Boetia was certainly a religious man, he put his faith less in acts of Gods and more in the works of men. And as he saw it, his plan was working perfectly. With the Lokran's support routed, and the sides of their army folding in, the Boetians were perfectly positioned. It now fell to Polynikes and his hoplites to win the day. As the Lokran hoplites subtly lost momentum as their support forces were destroyed, and the Boetian javelin throwers stepped in to the gap to begin wreaking their terrible toll on the enemy, the elite units of Boetian hoplites took center stage. The Sacred Band (no relation to the Carthaginians), the Sons of Thespiae and the Thousand of Orchomenus were positioned ably on the front lines. Polynikes himself stood front and center with the Sacred Band, the men rallying around him and marching in as tight and as perfect a phalanx as anyone could ask to see. The two armies met with a mighty crash, but despite the cheers from Crisa it was not a thunderbolt from heaven. It was only the murderous clash of hoplon shields and bronze armor scraping against enemy spear point. Polynikes and the Sacred Band leapt into the fray, flanked by the Thespians and the Thousand of Orchomenus. The rest of the Boetian hoplites followed suit, putting their shoulders against the men in front of them to give added momentum to the hoplite push. The watchers in Crisa groaned as the Lokran line began to sag in the middle almost immediately. A moment later, a mighty push by the Thespians separated the Lokran center from the right and the entire formation began to unravel. The men of Lokris, their faith shaken by the Gods’ silence, broke and ran, the braver men falling facing the advancing Boetians while the cowards earned wounds of shame on their backs as they were ruthlessly cut to earth. The Boetians finished their rout in grim determination, doing the job before them and heartened by the blossoming victory before them. The great dream of every soldier on that field had been to come through this battle alive, and the Boetians could see hope now that it had become clear that they would carry the day. Polynikes continued to lead the way, carving through any resistance the Lokrans could assemble before him and inspiring all the men to great feats of valor. As the rout was finished, and the soldiers took their due in prizes from the battlefield, Polynikes sent for the Lokran leaders who had holed up in Crisa. Several had tried to escape but had been apprehended by the Theban scouts. Confronting these men personally, the still gore begrimed Polynikes gave them the same choice the Spartans had given the Achaeans at Aegium: join Boetia and they would be spared, and allowed to conduct their affairs. In the future, as the tide of history swung this way and that, perhaps they would have their freedom again. Resist and their poleis would be destroyed. There really wasn’t a choice at all. As the Boetian Army collected their wounded and dead while Polynikes organized the Lokrans, Thorakides began to lay in the needed supplies for the journey back to Thebes. Soon the army was ready to depart after empowering like-minded men in Crisa and its neighboring Poleis. The Boetian Army departed in late summer. As the Army reached the crossroads that led to Elatea, a messenger raced down that same road with a message for Polynikes. Word of the Boetian victory at Crisa had spread quickly and the Council of Elders governing Elatea had voted immediately to join the Boetian League. Babylonian Golden Age? The High King of Babylon continued his massive city-improvement projects, improving irrigation, repairing the decaying Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and improving the Royal roads amongst many other new projects. This spending, coupled with the announcement that the “Dragons of Marduk”-- Babylon’s new military order-- was accepting its first 10,000 recruits, has led to widespread talk of a new Babylonian Golden Age. Many analysts believe that the Babylonians could truly rise to the giddy heights inspired by a true Age of Achievement and Prosperity if High King Nabonidus would see fit to flattering the mob with a slight increase in support for theater, festivals, and similar entertainment. Great Road of Africa Nearing Completion The Great Road of Africa, running from the magnificent Nile in Egypt all the way to the great city of Carthage, is nearing completion. The Egyptians have, in fact, finished their half in its entirety, reaching the rough spot on the maps that the Carthaginian and Egyptian engineers agreed on ahead of time. As any construction of this nature is fraught with the peril of mistakes and problems, the Egyptians sent out riders immediately to locate the moving-town of Carthaginians who were continuing to lay down the stone needed for the road. Coordinating through horseback mounted messengers, the Egyptians began to guide the still-distant Carthaginians towards the ending point of the Egyptian road in what should be the final stretch of construction next year. Athenians Refurbish Isthmus Despite a huge array of foreign tariffs hurting the trade-based Athenian economy, there was significant rejoicing in Athens this year as the refurbishing and improvement of the Isthmus was finally completed. Merchants began to return to their previous customs in great numbers, taking advantage of the Athenian facilities which provided them with assistance and services in using the short, overland route which allows merchants to bypass a long sea voyage to get to the other side of Greece. The Athenians charged only modest fees for their services, adopting the age-old policies of the merchants of Corinth, and encouraged use of the ramps and docks with declarations of good will towards all the other Greek poleis. The Corinthians are reported to be livid as they have seen a further loss of trade as merchants abandon their ports on both the east and north coast in favor of the restored land route which once fed the coffers of Corinth itself. Bandits in Persia A major Persian caravan, accompanying one of the chief tax collectors, leaving Susa for Pasargadae was ambushed by a roving band of bandits this year. There have been reports of increased bandit activity throughout the region, mostly targeting tax collectors, wreaking untold havoc on Cyrus’ coffers. Information is hazy, although a dramatic Persian response and investigation is expected next year. Many men have passed along the rumor that these bandits were using Egyptian gear, and one small band of bandits intercepted by a Persian military unit discovered a missive written in the Egyptian script detailing departure times for several local caravans carrying Imperial taxes throughout the Empire. Phoenicians Finish Statue Being celebrated as a new "Wonder of the World," the Great Statue of King Hanniel of Tyre personified as the Bull-God Melqart, was completed this year. The massive, bejeweled statue dominates Tyre and its world-famous harbor, dazzling travelers with its unadulterated majesty. King Hanniel of Tyre is reported to be "well pleased" with the giant, beautiful, and incredibly expensive statue of the God Melqart with his own face upon it. The statue, and the ensuing awe and wonder inspired by its stern countenance, has kept the masses enthralled and impressed despite low happiness spending. This effect is likely temporary. Nonetheless, the prestige of Phoenicia is on the rise despite reports of the first tariffs placed against Phoenician goods in years being finally leveled against the trading peoples’ merchants. Nonetheless, this small loss in trade has been more than offset by the hordes of merchants and travelers heading to Tyre in great droves to view and admire this magnificent achievement of ingenuity and engineering. Anatolian Islands to Join... Carthage? Ikaria, Agathonisi, Lipsi, Patmos, Fourni, Psara, and Lesbos, who agreed to join with Ionia last year but were unable to complete the transition due to the presence of the Egyptian-Tyrrhenian-Phoenician fleets, has apparently changed their mind. While information is limited, thanks to the remaining presence of the hostile fleet in the Aegean, the islands are rumored to now be accepting Carthaginian protection. This bold move from Carthage comes along with news that the Carthaginians have dispatched a large fleet to the Eastern Mediterranean, possibly to support their interests in the islands. A combination of the inability of Ionia to reach the islands, coupled with generous financial incentives by the Carthaginians, a series of fierce threats leveled against the Islands by the Egyptians, and King Mago the Kind’s excellent reputation are considered to be the primary motivators in this case. Corinth Rumored to be Considering Spartan Offer The Spartans, who were otherwise very quiet this year as they solidified their hold on Aegium and its surrounding environs, have allegedly offered to fold Corinth’s defense forces into their own in order to provide for the defense of the Pelopponesian poleis from outside aggression. While Corinth, under the supposed agreement, would still maintain its independence, opponents argue that the independence would be illusory, as Sparta would have the power of command over Corinth’s armies. Even the men of Greece, who are known to harbor intense attachments to their home cities that is unheard of elsewhere in the world, are more likely to follow a great leader than they are to cling to any great ideals of loyalty to their place of birth. Opinion in Corinth remains split on the issue, but it is rumored that the argumentative Council of Elders in Corinth may have leaked word of the talks in order encourage other Greek states to offer them financial assurances that might convince them to reject Sparta’s offer. Egyptians Finish Great Wall: Hailed as Sinister-Looking Wonder of the World Inspiring many dirty jokes in seedy taverns about the “The Womb of the World’s Dark and Forbidding Gates”, the Egyptians finally finish their great, and incredibly expensive wall. The wall, tall and well reinforced all along its length and anchored on both ends by mighty fortresses looking out over the ocean, is being hailed as a remarkable engineering achievement. The land around the narrow stretch of land connecting the lands of Babylon with Egypt is widely considered as inhospitable, especially to construction, but the Egyptians, pouring energy, money, and the blood of numerous slaves into the building, have accomplished what many viewed to be impossible. With this dark wall sealing off the passage east with the single exception of one huge, fortified gate, Egypt is now more or less isolated, by land at least, from the civilized nations further east. Travelers reports are already becoming more muddled and less frequent as the God-Queen clamps down on spies and dissents, although rumors are already emerging that the God-Queen’s military build up is continuing to assemble ever larger armies. Mysians Thrive Unlike their beleaguered compatriots in the rest of Western Empire, the Mysians are in extremely good spirits and enjoying remarkable prosperity. Uninvolved in this years fighting, and with their trade adjusting to the Egyptian-led naval blockade by increasing choosing land routes, the leadership of King Teuthras is widely viewed as 'enlightened'. The enthusiastic Mysians, new owners of Abydus which has dramatically increased their Kingdom’s wealth, have heaped praise upon their King and many are already calling him by his new honorific: 'The Wise'. Lydians Deploy Over 100,000 Men to Lycia In an apparent move to stop an expected enemy landing in Lycia, King Croesus of Lydia deployed over 100,000 men to his coastline in Lycia. With Kandaules and Hipponax, recently returned from the fighting in Troas, in command, the grand army descended from the inland territories to the coastal region, deploying scouts all along the coast. While they could have been simply enjoying the dramatic view of the ocean off the Lycian coast, it seems likely that they were on the look out for some sort of attack. The attack, however, never materialized and the Lydians were left looking somewhat foolish. Back home, the nobles sent quick word to King Croesus, sequestered in his palace, that he should immediately call the army home, as a lack of social spending coupled with high tariffs being placed on Lydia by foreign powers meant that the people were restless. More spending, or a strong military hand, was required if they wanted to keep the chaos in the rest of the Western Empire from spreading. Babylonians Withdraw from the Indus As the Persians hunted along the banks of the Indus for more Babylonian emissaries, and more Babylonian gold, it soon became apparent that the High King of Babylon had withdrawn his support from the northern Princes. Word quickly began to filter out that the Northern Princes of the Indus, well supplied by a foreign party that many are assuming to be Emperor Cyrus the Great of Persia, had turned the tide in the fighting, with new conscripts gradually pushing the forces of their enemy further source. It is rumored that the Southern Princes may have already sued for peace. The end of the campaigning season along the Indus was surprisingly quiet, so it is conceivable that the fighting amongst the Indians may have finally come to a close. Tyrrhenians Finish Candle With the Prince of Veii looking on in proud satisfaction, the Great Candle of Rome, a disgusting construction made from the rendered fat of Roman rebels, slaves, and ordinary civilians, was revealed to the world today in a grand ceremony. While it still remained unlit, the massive candle stands close to twenty feet tall with a diameter of eight feet. As the candle took its final form on its pedestal in the center of Rome, the stream of refugees leaving the city increased. However, shortly after the candle was completed, local constables and elements of the Tyrrhenian army blocked the road south to Magna Graeca and forcibly began returning the fleeing Romans to their home city. As word spread of the blockade, the Romans, who lack any real weapons and who had all their potential domestic sources destroyed in the Tyrrhenian crackdown hunkered down in their home city in fear. Tariff Report: (state: target of tariff / amount) Athens (Attika): Egypt / 4%; Babylon: Persia / 1% Carthage / 5%; Caria: Egypt / 5% Phoenicia / 2%; Carthage: Western Empire States / 4.7%*; Egypt: Ionia / 5% Lydia / 5% Mysia / 5% Attika / 5% Boeotia / 5%; Ionia: Egypt / 2.27%; Lydia: Egypt / 3.9%; Mysia: Egypt / 2.27%; Persia: Babylon / 1% Attika / 5% Sparta / 5% Thessaly / 5% Boetia /5%; Phoenicia: Tariff Free; Sparta (Lakedaemonia): Attika / 5%; Thebes (Boeotia): Lakedaemonia / 5% Tyrrhenia / 2%; Thessaly: Egypt / 1.5%; Tyrrhenia: Ionia / 5% Caria / 5% Lydia / 5% |
