Post by Trippy Hare on Oct 6, 2006 6:10:28 GMT -5
Though most of the War of Oblivion consisted of enormous columns of Dragoon-led armies pouring over the countryside and obliterating any city-state that did not convert, there were a few climatic battles that stemmed the tide of Dragoon advance. Overall, six entire Races perished in the fighting, each one fighting tooth and nails against their Dragoon aggressors. Though they lost their lives and their entire peoples, they handed out enormous amounts of punishment and casualties to the Dragoon forces. Stories of these genocidal campaigns persuaded many to go along with Dragoon conquest, still others to defy the Dragoons in an effort to survive. Every instance of defiance was followed by swift Dragoon retaliation, usually with no mercy given and no quarter granted.
One such battle, between the Empire of Dracon and the city-state of Marquis, blunted the Dragoon march to conquest, and very nearly ended it altogether. The Marquian people, though not formed of a single Race, demonstrated the effectiveness of multi-racial cooperation that would, eventually, bring down the Empire. This important lesson would come at a terrible price, as every single living creature in Marquis, from women and children to livestock, poultry, and even rats and insects, would perish.
It is impossible to say exactly when the battle began without looking at some of the underlying aspects of the Dragoon conquest and the conflicts it left in its wake. Though many merchants and cities grew prosperous providing resources to the enormous Draconic military machine, still others foundered as their own goods and economies were undercut by the preponderance of foreign city-state merchandise, sold at ridiculously low prices to tempt the Dragoons into leaving them alone. Marquis' economy was severely impacted by such tactics, as the chief buyer of both their agricultural products and timber as well as their manufactured goods, armor, and ammunition had been the Empire of Dracon. Now, as smaller city-states sold their goods at prices far lower than Marquis', the city began to feel the pains of a depression.
The populace first began murmuring against the Empire in the year 134 PNA, nearly fifty years after the Dragoons had obliterated the Elders and well into the years of Draconic conquest and expansion. Marquis was not strategically vital: though it controlled a small portion of the Alamy river, Draconic conquests controlled the river further up and downstream, as well s many tributaries and creeks. Marquis was not located on any sort of high ground or pass, further diminishing its strategic importance. Perhaps the only thing Marquis had in its favor strategically was Marquis Road, a two-mile-wide stretch of paved road that led from the city gates to the ferry at the Alamy, a 28-mile stretch. Roads were common in Eshathar, but paved roads were not. This road allowed Marquis to continue trade operations, as well as ensuring its water supplies, in all weather and all seasons. Marquians were, on the whole, far wealthier than any other city-state of the period.
The Empire of Dracon did not think a ribbon of rock and sand was important enough to attack, but they did realize its potential for raising funds. The cost of the long and bloody conquests were enormous, and the Empire quickly found itself on the verge of bankruptcy, even despite the taxes and plunder pouring in. As an effort to raise money for the war effort, tariffs were imposed at key river crossings, and a tax was levied onto the Marquis Road in 130 PNA. The Marquians were furious, as the tax levied was high, sapping their own wealth and prosperity even as it bolstered the Empire's dwindling reserves. The people suffered on for a further three years, all the while the tax imposed steadily increasing, even as tributes of grain, war materials, and conscripted servitude increased.
In 127 PNA, all these restrictions, sanctions, and taxes were too much for the Marquians to take. A city convention was called, and as tempers flared and rage against the Dragoons climbed, some moderate leaders proposed that they attempt diplomacy. The crowd would have none of it, and after all the votes were in, the city had decided to repeal the tax, by force. Marquian militia marched out of the city and arrested Dragoon tax collectors and port authorities, a few of which tried to resist and were accidentally killed. The ports and road open again, Marquis enjoyed an economic revival, even though it was short-lived.
In 126 PNA, word reached the seat of government for the Empire in God-City about the Marquian seizing of ports and freeing the road (news traveled slowly in those days, even slower than today). The Council decided that, instead of obliterating the city which had been so instrumental in funding and supplying the war effort, they would simply station a military presence around the river ports and crossings, and along the tax collection sites of the Marquis Road. A force of 8,000 Dragoons was deployed to the area surrounding Marquis, at key points of the river Alamy, and along the Marquis Road. Marquis militia, vastly outmatched, fled back into the city.
At this point, Marquis was too valuable to the empire to invade outright...not for its strategic value or its military might, but solely for its economic value. Much of the Empire's ability to make war relied on funds gained in Marquis, so initial response to the Marquis 'revolt' was not very aggressive.
Until the Marquis fought back against the militarized roadblocks and ports. Using both its own militia and support drummed up from rebels and bandits, the Marquis coalition of poorly trained and poorly armed troops inflicted heavy losses on several Dragoon military camps, before retreating back into the city walls. Now the Empire faced a difficult decision: war against Marquis would be a difficult, drawn-out prospect, not to mention expensive, especially without Marquis' economy bringing in funds for the war effort. However, if they let the Marquis 'rebels' continue, the Empire would lose a great deal of morale, and its enemies would see it as too weak to quell insurrection from a primarily nonmilitary town.
The Council decided, after lengthy deliberations, to go to war, but without using the brutal and destructive tactics that had been so successful elsewhere. 2,000 Elite Dragoon units, the finest in all the Empire, were dispatched to Marquis to quell the uprising and execute the dissidents. The whole battle was projected to take a matter of days, with minimal losses on both sides as the general populace realized what they were up against and turned over the dissidents.
That is not how it played out. The populace of Marquis had been quite busy in the six weeks after the first Dragoon forces had been ousted from around the city. Enormous trenches, lined at the base with sharpened sticks and foul masses of sewage, ran all around the Marquis borders, a few feet from the city's main walls, in every direction. The main road, though left intact, had large ravines dug out on both sides, making it a narrow strip of passable land surrounded by miniature cliffs. Every citizen in Marquis old enough to hold a weapon was trained in the arts of swordsmanship and archery, armed with a bow, a sword, and a few arrows, and armored with whatever they could find or make themselves.
The Dragoon Elites marched on Marquis in 124 PNA, and after a series of minor skirmishes with bandits and lightly armed militia, expected to breeze through any defenses Marquians thought up. Even when they saw the great ravines dug out from the sides of the road, they marched on in confidence. It wasn't until, after fully half the Elite Dragoon force was across, that any doubts of their victory arise- due to the Marquis having dug a great hollow underneath the main road and filling it with lamp oil, then setting it ablaze. The heat from the fire caused the stonework of the road to expand and crack, even as it warped the foundations. In mere minutes, the road collapsed, taking with it some 600 Elite Dragoons. Others were injured by the debris and flaming wreckage the road's collapse threw in every direction. Hail after hail of arrows poured over the Elite Dragoons as they struggled to regain cohesion as a unit. As the day wore on, the Elite Dragoons were forced back, through the still-smoldering crevasse the road's collapse had left. After the day's fighting, 1300 Elite Dragoons were dead or missing, while only 251 Marquians having fallen, due mostly to dehydration, fatigue, and friendly fire than any concerted effort by the Elite Dragoons.
The Elites redoubled their efforts, and their methods were brutal and terrifying. They catapulted live people over the cities' walls to demoralize it's defenders. They'd also catapult waste into the city to propagate diseases, or catapult jars of flaming oil to burn down homes and defenders alike. After all these methods failed, they cut a long trench around the city, just out of range of the arrows, and there they sat to starve out Marquis' defenders. It took nearly a year, but the people, starving, sick, and desperate, finally surrendered in 123 PNA. Thinking the surrender was a feint to lower their defenses, the Elite commanders decided to use a feint of their own: sending entire caravans of food rations and water into the city, in exchange for whatever weapons its defenders had. Unfortunately, both the food rations and the water were poisoned, with a plant toxin that was tasteless and colorless. Within two days, most of the city's populace was dead, and those that were still alive were in no shape to resist as Elite Dragoons stormed through Marquis, burning it to the ground and salting the land to prevent any plants from growing.
The economy of the region was all but destroyed, and without a network of roads, troop movement was severely hindered. Though the Dragoons were victorious, their armies could not move over land nearly as effectively as before, and often many soldiers died of hardships or exposure on long marches through rough terrain. The Empire's ability to wage war suffered from the economic loss of Marquis, and the longer the wars of conquest went, the more bankrupt the Empire became. The Marquians had lost, but had forced the Empire to lose more...small comfort to the relatives of anyone that once lived in the dead city.
One such battle, between the Empire of Dracon and the city-state of Marquis, blunted the Dragoon march to conquest, and very nearly ended it altogether. The Marquian people, though not formed of a single Race, demonstrated the effectiveness of multi-racial cooperation that would, eventually, bring down the Empire. This important lesson would come at a terrible price, as every single living creature in Marquis, from women and children to livestock, poultry, and even rats and insects, would perish.
It is impossible to say exactly when the battle began without looking at some of the underlying aspects of the Dragoon conquest and the conflicts it left in its wake. Though many merchants and cities grew prosperous providing resources to the enormous Draconic military machine, still others foundered as their own goods and economies were undercut by the preponderance of foreign city-state merchandise, sold at ridiculously low prices to tempt the Dragoons into leaving them alone. Marquis' economy was severely impacted by such tactics, as the chief buyer of both their agricultural products and timber as well as their manufactured goods, armor, and ammunition had been the Empire of Dracon. Now, as smaller city-states sold their goods at prices far lower than Marquis', the city began to feel the pains of a depression.
The populace first began murmuring against the Empire in the year 134 PNA, nearly fifty years after the Dragoons had obliterated the Elders and well into the years of Draconic conquest and expansion. Marquis was not strategically vital: though it controlled a small portion of the Alamy river, Draconic conquests controlled the river further up and downstream, as well s many tributaries and creeks. Marquis was not located on any sort of high ground or pass, further diminishing its strategic importance. Perhaps the only thing Marquis had in its favor strategically was Marquis Road, a two-mile-wide stretch of paved road that led from the city gates to the ferry at the Alamy, a 28-mile stretch. Roads were common in Eshathar, but paved roads were not. This road allowed Marquis to continue trade operations, as well as ensuring its water supplies, in all weather and all seasons. Marquians were, on the whole, far wealthier than any other city-state of the period.
The Empire of Dracon did not think a ribbon of rock and sand was important enough to attack, but they did realize its potential for raising funds. The cost of the long and bloody conquests were enormous, and the Empire quickly found itself on the verge of bankruptcy, even despite the taxes and plunder pouring in. As an effort to raise money for the war effort, tariffs were imposed at key river crossings, and a tax was levied onto the Marquis Road in 130 PNA. The Marquians were furious, as the tax levied was high, sapping their own wealth and prosperity even as it bolstered the Empire's dwindling reserves. The people suffered on for a further three years, all the while the tax imposed steadily increasing, even as tributes of grain, war materials, and conscripted servitude increased.
In 127 PNA, all these restrictions, sanctions, and taxes were too much for the Marquians to take. A city convention was called, and as tempers flared and rage against the Dragoons climbed, some moderate leaders proposed that they attempt diplomacy. The crowd would have none of it, and after all the votes were in, the city had decided to repeal the tax, by force. Marquian militia marched out of the city and arrested Dragoon tax collectors and port authorities, a few of which tried to resist and were accidentally killed. The ports and road open again, Marquis enjoyed an economic revival, even though it was short-lived.
In 126 PNA, word reached the seat of government for the Empire in God-City about the Marquian seizing of ports and freeing the road (news traveled slowly in those days, even slower than today). The Council decided that, instead of obliterating the city which had been so instrumental in funding and supplying the war effort, they would simply station a military presence around the river ports and crossings, and along the tax collection sites of the Marquis Road. A force of 8,000 Dragoons was deployed to the area surrounding Marquis, at key points of the river Alamy, and along the Marquis Road. Marquis militia, vastly outmatched, fled back into the city.
At this point, Marquis was too valuable to the empire to invade outright...not for its strategic value or its military might, but solely for its economic value. Much of the Empire's ability to make war relied on funds gained in Marquis, so initial response to the Marquis 'revolt' was not very aggressive.
Until the Marquis fought back against the militarized roadblocks and ports. Using both its own militia and support drummed up from rebels and bandits, the Marquis coalition of poorly trained and poorly armed troops inflicted heavy losses on several Dragoon military camps, before retreating back into the city walls. Now the Empire faced a difficult decision: war against Marquis would be a difficult, drawn-out prospect, not to mention expensive, especially without Marquis' economy bringing in funds for the war effort. However, if they let the Marquis 'rebels' continue, the Empire would lose a great deal of morale, and its enemies would see it as too weak to quell insurrection from a primarily nonmilitary town.
The Council decided, after lengthy deliberations, to go to war, but without using the brutal and destructive tactics that had been so successful elsewhere. 2,000 Elite Dragoon units, the finest in all the Empire, were dispatched to Marquis to quell the uprising and execute the dissidents. The whole battle was projected to take a matter of days, with minimal losses on both sides as the general populace realized what they were up against and turned over the dissidents.
That is not how it played out. The populace of Marquis had been quite busy in the six weeks after the first Dragoon forces had been ousted from around the city. Enormous trenches, lined at the base with sharpened sticks and foul masses of sewage, ran all around the Marquis borders, a few feet from the city's main walls, in every direction. The main road, though left intact, had large ravines dug out on both sides, making it a narrow strip of passable land surrounded by miniature cliffs. Every citizen in Marquis old enough to hold a weapon was trained in the arts of swordsmanship and archery, armed with a bow, a sword, and a few arrows, and armored with whatever they could find or make themselves.
The Dragoon Elites marched on Marquis in 124 PNA, and after a series of minor skirmishes with bandits and lightly armed militia, expected to breeze through any defenses Marquians thought up. Even when they saw the great ravines dug out from the sides of the road, they marched on in confidence. It wasn't until, after fully half the Elite Dragoon force was across, that any doubts of their victory arise- due to the Marquis having dug a great hollow underneath the main road and filling it with lamp oil, then setting it ablaze. The heat from the fire caused the stonework of the road to expand and crack, even as it warped the foundations. In mere minutes, the road collapsed, taking with it some 600 Elite Dragoons. Others were injured by the debris and flaming wreckage the road's collapse threw in every direction. Hail after hail of arrows poured over the Elite Dragoons as they struggled to regain cohesion as a unit. As the day wore on, the Elite Dragoons were forced back, through the still-smoldering crevasse the road's collapse had left. After the day's fighting, 1300 Elite Dragoons were dead or missing, while only 251 Marquians having fallen, due mostly to dehydration, fatigue, and friendly fire than any concerted effort by the Elite Dragoons.
The Elites redoubled their efforts, and their methods were brutal and terrifying. They catapulted live people over the cities' walls to demoralize it's defenders. They'd also catapult waste into the city to propagate diseases, or catapult jars of flaming oil to burn down homes and defenders alike. After all these methods failed, they cut a long trench around the city, just out of range of the arrows, and there they sat to starve out Marquis' defenders. It took nearly a year, but the people, starving, sick, and desperate, finally surrendered in 123 PNA. Thinking the surrender was a feint to lower their defenses, the Elite commanders decided to use a feint of their own: sending entire caravans of food rations and water into the city, in exchange for whatever weapons its defenders had. Unfortunately, both the food rations and the water were poisoned, with a plant toxin that was tasteless and colorless. Within two days, most of the city's populace was dead, and those that were still alive were in no shape to resist as Elite Dragoons stormed through Marquis, burning it to the ground and salting the land to prevent any plants from growing.
The economy of the region was all but destroyed, and without a network of roads, troop movement was severely hindered. Though the Dragoons were victorious, their armies could not move over land nearly as effectively as before, and often many soldiers died of hardships or exposure on long marches through rough terrain. The Empire's ability to wage war suffered from the economic loss of Marquis, and the longer the wars of conquest went, the more bankrupt the Empire became. The Marquians had lost, but had forced the Empire to lose more...small comfort to the relatives of anyone that once lived in the dead city.