Another verse

The battle drums beat louder in Kahraman as more and more warriors come to the dance of war.

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For the Empire!

In Kahraman, Isaella's Dance has been joined by the Fist of the Mountains, the Tusks, and the Valiant Pegasus – the latter having come straight from fighting the scions of Cold Sun in Miaren. The Red Wind Corsairs have marched east and south, to join the fight against the Grendel in Madruga.

Each of the four Imperial armies here is accompanied by a cohort of the Knights of Glory. Supernatural warriors drawn from the Summer Realm, from the fields of Eleonaris herself. In the mountains of Serra Damata, a tower of black ice is raised by Imperial magicians, called from the realm of Eleonaris' rival, the Mistress of Ice and Darkness. Garrisoned by blue-skinned folk with thick-tined antlers, there is little love lost between them and the elfin knights loyal to the Lady of the Pennants. The ice-warriors keep to Serra Damata, protecting the peaks there, pressing the orcs whenever they try to approach the borders, and avoid the forces accompanying the Imperial armies.

It is I, Ivar Dunning your new General! I am honoured to lead you in to battle and will be with you leading from the front. We destroyed the cold suns last season, this season we head to Kahraman to help there. We will fight with Honour like true heroes of the Mark. Now let's go forward together with our Elfin allies. For the Empire!

Ivar Dunning, General of the Fist of the Mountains

Navarr remembers its oaths and the oaths of the Empire, We stand in Kahraman with our brothers and sisters of other nations. I call for a Balanced attack, we sight to remove the armies of the Lasambrians. I call on the Empire to ready itself for campaigns to come. Remember your words.

Cadwell Waystone, General of Isaella's Dance

Jacks of the Tusks! Rejoice! Our nation is bound to its armies like none other in the world! Parade south through the mourn and stand tall as we make a strategic defence of the Kahraman, let no more inches of freeborn land fall to Jotun boots. When we next rest at home it will be in the fields, forests and hills of the Mourn.

Stanley Of Chalkdown, General of the Tusks

Siblings of the Valiant Pegasus, we march to Kahraman to fight the Jotun and their Lasambrian clients. The freeborn are our siblings. They too saw through the Tyranny of the Patricians and sought their freedom. In loyalty to that shared history, onward into Kahraman!

Zadok, General of the Valiant Pegasus

Almost matching the knights of Summer in number are warriors fighting beneath the banners of Imperial captains drawn from many nations but with a strong contingent of Highborn and Winterfolk among them. Almost all fight with the Valiant Pegasus, with a single Navarr contingent choosing instead to fight with Isaella's Dance.

While three armies press west to attack the invaders, the Tusks favour a more defensive strategy. They focus on exploiting the flaws in the enemy strategy – and it may well be that the soldiers enthusiasm for the furlough in the Mournwold the general has promised them gives these disciplined soldiers even more reason to ensure that the Empire is victorious in Kahraman this season.

For Lasambria!

Against them are the armies of the Lasambrian Jotun – the Hierro, the Corazón, and the Escuta – and their Skjaldirborn allies. The thousand-strong warband of Yantan Thetrason still supports the Hierro. Their standards may depict all sorts of weapons and tools but jammed atop each is the horned skull of a massive dire ram. These would-be champions – many the scions of former thralls - represent a new generation of warriors; orcs only recently of age drawn from Lasambria and Narkyst. Their leader was once a shepherd, now answering the call of his ancestors to take up weapons and seek a path across the abyss. Many of these young warriors bear magic weapons from Barien, or blessings from Cathan Canae and Eleonaris. Gifts of the Summer eternals, who stand as patrons of this youthful band of heroes.

There's little change to the barbarian strategy this season. While three armies strive to complete their conquest of the Jade Range, the Corazón raid across the cinnabar hills seizing whatever wealth they can find, engaging in swift strikes against Imperial forces and withdrawing as soon as they face serious resistance. Much of that resistance comes from the Tusks; while the Corazón are able to launch some successful raids against caravans passing through Serra Briante, they're unable to rob the people of the grasslands or threaten the labourers working on the kamkrag.

There are multiple clashes across the territory, including another pitched battle in the grasslands west of Rojota. Last season the Escuta and the Skjaldirborn faced off against Isaella's Dance and the Red Wind Corsairs. This season, however, they face not only the Navarr army but their Highborn, Wintermark, and Marcher allies. The Lasambrians are pushed back decisively, but the Empire pays a heavy price. More than five hundred soldiers die pushing the invaders away from the settlement. It looks, though, as if the new armies will overwhelm the invaders – they are outnumbered after all.

Then, the Lasambrian Jotun receive reinforcements of their own.

Out of the Woods

Down out of Liathaven into Braydon's Jasse come two more Jotun armies – Bear who Swims and Roaring Thunder. Alongside the Bear are several thousand magical warriors – lithe orc-like creatures with a leonine cast to their features in crimson chain and wrapped in ivory white and sun gold furs from animals found nowhere in the mortal realm. Eleonaris does not play favourites with her gifts. The Roaring Thunder have allies of their own – some five thousand warriors fighting under the banners of the Jarl of Alftanes, the guardians of Kierheim, and the walrus banner of the human yegarra Eisa Winterborn. They pause briefly at the great mound raised to honour those who fell at Fort Braydon, then press south through the Jasse.

The Jotun march into Braydon's Jasse from their conquered lands in Liathaven.

Their attack is measured, careful, probing. They clearly seek to flank the Imperial defenders but also to test their commitment to protecting Kahraman. If not for the foresight of the Tusks, they might have taken the Empire by surprise. As it is, the defensive strategies of the Marcher army provide just enough warning of this second force of western orcs. Battle is joined not far from where Fort Braydon once stood. It also helps that, thanks to Imperial heroes, the new general of the Bear who Swims does not have the confidence of many of her champions thanks to losing her banner during the Spring Equinox. If not for that setback, it's likely the army's strategy would have been considerably more aggressive, and much more effective at seizing Braydon's Jasse.

The Jotun decision to split the attack strikes some Imperial commanders as foolish at first, but they have reckoned without the prowess of the Bear Who Swims. The northern army are adept at attacking into unfamiliar territory. They lead the way south out of Liathaven, seeking to establish a second beachhead and potentially cut the Freeborn territory off from the Marches. The Empire is likewise forced to split its forces, just as the Jotun have done, with half of the Fist of the Mountains forces rallying to support the Tusks, while the remaining Winterfolk and the Highborn and Navarr armies continue to put pressure on the Lasambrians in the west.

A Price for Victory

As the season grinds on so does the war here. Yet it's clear that despite the Jotun surprise assault from the north, the Empire has the upper hand. The Jotun are held in the 'Jasse, and pushed back in Jade Range. As the Lasambrian Jotun line starts to crumble and they are forced to retreat again and again, more of the Imperial soldiers are able to join the fighting in the north. The Jotun are forced to give more ground.

In the end there is no climactic battle; if anything there is an air of resignation. The armies in the west retreat through the woods back into Reinos; the armies in the north fail to seize their beachhead and are pushed back into Liathaven.

Kahraman is liberated again. Work can be completed on the kamkrags and the new roads – assuming that the orcs do not manage to take any territory in Jade Range before the Autumn Equinox.

The price has been steep, however. Nearly three and a half thousand Imperial soldiers are dead or unable to fight again. Where possible, both sides allow the other to retrieve their fallen, so a true tally of how many orcs fell in Kahraman is impossible but estimates suggest the barbarians lost almost as many as the Empire. If the two armies marching out of Liathaven had been less careful in their advance, if the Tusks had not anchored the defence, the butcher's bill would likely have been higher – there is even some doubt as to whether the Empire would even have been victorious.

Game Information

Only military units who supported the Valiant Pegasus in Kahraman received shares of the Imperial Guerdon. A standard military unit received five shares, with additional ranks from upgrades or enchantment providing an additional share each.

The roads and kamkrags project is nearly complete. Assuming that Jade Range remains in Imperial hands, and nothing else interferes with the building work or the labourers, it will be finished by the start of the Autumn Equinox.

The Corazón ability to raid Kahraman is restricted by the presence of armies and the defensive strategy of the Tusks but they do have some success. They impact the production of the Great Mine of Briante, the Damatian Cliffs, and the Red Depths. The Cliffs have lost 5 wains of white granite, the Mine has lost 4 wains of mithril, and the Red Depths has lost 3 wains to the Corazón raiders.

The decision of the Fist of the Mountain to Fight with Honour has been obvious to everyone in the territory. The Jotun continue to recognise the tactics of Wintermark, and both accept and offer quarter such that Wintermark casualties are reduced by a tenth.