When the winter of 378 came, the Emperor's Legion was at last ordered to march. Word was given and the newly strengthened Harta Legion, now under the command of Jerusalem's pathetic former governor Ustus "Useless" Flavius, moved out as well. Barely had we left the gates of the city when a runner caught up to us with an urgent dispatch. To his folly, the poor soul rushed right up to Theodosius and informed him that not only had it been discovered the one of the Gothic hordes had remained hidden in the western provinces, but that this very same horde had marched on Thessalonica and besieged the Emperor's own father! Knowing full well that the city was defended by a mere two units of Limitates and a handful of peasant militia, my master screamed in rage, grabbed a spear from a nearby honor guard, and impaled the wretched runner through the bowels. As the man lay dying on the ground, he barked orders for a runner to be dispatched to Manius the Mean and the First Danube Border Legion, ordering them to march to Thessalonica and raise the siege. This order was given not far from the small village of Insanatia and it is from there that the name of the 1,500 mile non-stop race called the Insanathon derived its origin.

In 379, word arrived from Manius that the First Danube Border Legion would reach Thessalonica by the end of the year. If the city could hold out until then, it could be be saved from the horde. Manius also gave word of a great victory over a second Goth force which had found itself trapped at the western Danube crossing. The commander of the Second Danube Border Legion, Captain Rufinius, had agreed upon an attack with the Hunnic leader, Tukhechjen, who was on the other side of the river. Together they determined to assault the trapped foe and eliminate them.



The Legion arrived first and the Goths took up positions on the far bank to defend the bridge.



Expecting this, archers were sent forward to bombard them from across the distance, while the strength of the Roman infantry crossed at a shallow ford downstream.



No sooner had the battle begun than the mass of Hunnic cavalry appeared on the horizon behind the Goths and began a wild charge down to the river. The Goths spun around to face this new attack, exposing their backs to the rain of arrows from the far bank. As the rear ranks fell to the archers and the front ranks quaked at the approaching Huns, the Roman infantry formed up and crashed into enemy from the south; they broke almost instantly.





While most fled to die in the fields, two cavalry units tried in desperation to swim the river and escape on the Roman side. They were easy targets for the Roman archers and soon the Danube was clogged with the corpses of dead horses and men.



That night, Captain Rufinius and Tukhechjen, the Hun leader, drank and celebrated in common bond. In the morning the Second Legion assumed full control of the river crossing and once again waited for battle with any foe who desired to plunder the wealth of the Empire.



Upon hearing of this victory, Theodosius urged his men to move faster. As they hurried down the road to Arsakia, two small delaying armies, one commanded by the four star General Syrus, were ridden down and crushed. Syrus himself escaped with a single bodyguard and was last seen riding at breakneck speed towards Arsakia.

As winter came, the Emperor's Legion reached the new Sassanid capital, dispersing a few small military encampments outside and preparing for a short siege. Theodosius ordered the construction of a large number of ladders to allow his men to assault the city as soon as possible the very next season. It had been some time since Augustus Theodosius had reveled in the rivers of blood that flowed from major battles and I believe that he was eager to view another one.

As the siege equipment was being prepared, Theodosius spared time to receive messengers bearing news from the other forces. The Harta Legion was nearing Artaxarta and was expected to lay siege to the city in 380. Following this was tragic news from the west. Despite the cooperation and fellowship experienced at the Battle of the Western Ford, the Huns had brazenly broken their alliance with the Empire and assaulted the small force of Limitates stationed at the eastern crossing while the First Border Legion was moving south to Thessalonica.



The men had been quickly overrun and the bridge taken, opening the way for the vast steppe horde to ride into the heart of the Empire! Theodosius proclaimed that this betrayal would never be forgotten and proclaimed his intentions to return to the west and exterminate every last Hun, just as soon as he finished bathing in the blood of the Sassanids, of course.

The commotion that followed the arrival of the following news was so great that I confess I am unable to recollect how the information arrived or even the circumstances in which it was received. It seemed that the Goths had heard of the slaughter of their brethren at the Battle of the Western Ford and had decided to wait no longer to storm Thessalonica. With only two units of Limitates and five bands of peasant militia Julianus Flavius, son of one Emperor and father of another, was doomed. He spent his last night in solemn prayer in the small city chapel. It has been said that it was here that he received a vision from God. An angel appeared before him and told him to rely not on walls of stone, but upon walls of men and faith. To this end, Julianus ordered the walls abandoned except for those men manning the towers. All men were ordered to gather in the city square to pray for their salvation from the coming storm.

Quickly the enemy swarmed over the walls and broke down the gates.



The tireless tower archers managed to pick off a sizable number of the poorly armored barbarians, but a full two-thirds of the force was intact and assembled around the chapel in the city for the slaughter that was to come. Julianus ordered the two Limitates units, the only professional soldiers in the city, to a position behind buildings that would shelter them from the enemy horse archers' arrows and allow them flank any force entering the square.



As the first group of Gothic Chosen Warrior entered the square, they stopped dumbstruck by the mass of men calmly praying before them. Suddently, a hail javelins hit them from their left. They turned and charged the Limitates, inflicting horrible casualties on the brave men. Seeing their desperation, Julianus himself charged the Goths, hitting their rear with such force that men were thrown in the air a great distance before falling, crushed. The shock of this unexpected charge and the disconcerting prayers that continued from the peasants instantly broke the warriors and they fled back out of the square. Watching them go, Julianus was dismayed at the mass of cavalry and infantry that appeared in their stead. A flood of steel and horse entered the square and immediately charged the remaining Limitates. Seeing his men fall, Julianus spoke to the praying peasant mass and, with sword held high, led them in a charge to their deaths at the hands of the Gothic horde.



Knowing their place in heaven was secured, the men charged fearlessly into battle with their pitchforks. When one fell, another took his place. Not a man wavered. Not a man ran. The absolute resolution of the untrained foe shocked the Goths, who were used to enemies routing instantly before their fearsome battle cries and barbaric fighting techniques. As time passed and the enemy refused to run, shock turned to fear and fear turned to panic. One by one the Goth warriors broke and ran from the town square.



Seeing a chance, Julianus pursued them, riding over the packed masses in the street outside the square. With only twenty five men at his disposal, the swords swung freely in every direction without fear of hitting a friend. Soon all the men and their horses were bathed in blood. The remaining unbroken Goths, seeing these holy warriors cutting through the mass before them without fear, turned and ran. Julianus and his men followed and the streets ran red in their wake.



When at last it was over and the defenders realized the city had been saved, they broke into a mighty cheer at this heroic victory. While they had lost many friends, the enemy, superior in quality and numbers, had been utterly destroy. Julianus and his bodyguards had themselves cut down 466 of the enemy. The angelic vision had saved the city and from then on, the battle would be know as "The Miracle of Thessalonica." A runner was quickly sent to Manius, on the road with the First Legion. With the city saved and their forces no longer needed, he turned and headed back to the eastern crossing to confront the treacherous Huns. They arrived in the summer of 380 and immediately stormed the bridge, killing the enemy general and routing the force stationed there. Once again they took their places as the guardians of the western provinces, knowing that their strength would almost certainly be tested and tested soon.

Theodosius, his blood up from the news of the great victory by his father, could wait no longer for the carnage and pain he now so craved. After supper one night he ordered the men assembled for a spontaneous assault on the city at that very instant!



With torches in hand, the men grabbed the assembled ladders and rushed the walls.



Horrible losses were taken from the many archers station atop them, but the men pushed through and slaughtered all in their way.



With the gates taken, the spearmen poured into the streets. Five groups of massive armored Clibinarii horsemen inflicted staggering losses on the infantry, but urged on by a raging Augustus and a following group of chanting monks, they pushed forward through the carnage and slaughtered all before them.



In a re-enactment of Ctesiphon, Theodosius turned his men loose on the city that had opposed him. He truly earned his nickname that night as yet another city was put to the sword by his order. Once again, blood-soaked plunder was piled at his feet, this time amounting to some 10,000 denarii. With the city pacified and his bloodlust sated for the time being, the Emperor settled down to enact vicious Roman 'justice' on the people who had opposed the Empire.

News came from the west of a large attack by a Hun force on the First Danube Border Legion.



The enemy cavalry swam the river while the infantry and heavy cavalry stormed the bridge. They were dispatched with ease by Eastern Archers and Plumbatarii what was clearly the finest quality Legion in the entire Empire.



The assault on Artaxarta came the following season. Ustus Flavius and the Harta Legion moved on the city from the west while a small force of Limitates under Captain Jovinus assaulted it from the east with their own ladders.



This diversion succeed in drawing a full one-third of the enemy away from the western walls to which the main attack was destined.



Comitatenses climbed the heights and took their tops with ease, massacring the levies and archers they found on top. However, upon descending into the city streets, they met a harder force.

Three full Comitatenses units were routed and destroyed by a prolonged fight with two of the enemy’s demonic Clibinarii. Reinforcements were rushed through the gate and three full units of spearmen along with Ustus Flavius himself and a secondary general rushed King Ardashir’s bodyguards, the man having stationed himself close to the main gate. The Roman fought fiercely, but Ustus “Useless” Flavius was a poor leader. His men were unable to bring down the mass of heavily armored Clibinarii Immortals. To his credit, Ustus tried to bring down the Sassanid King in single combat, but he received only a crushed skull for the effort. The spear units routed with horrendous losses.

Gainus the Wrathful, the remaining general, now took charge of the men. Ignoring the King still harassing the main gate area, he ordered all forces to the center of the enemy city. There they linked up with three of the six Limitates units from the diversionary attack which had managed to overcome their foes and penetrate the walls. Seeing his town falling, King Ardashir rushed at the mass of men gathered before his palace. Losses were again severe, but eventually the weight of men was too much and the King was slain.



Gainus now redirected his wrath at the inhabitants of the city, who had caused so much death in the Harta Legion. The town was put to the sword. With high levels of unrest in both Arsakia and Artaxarta, the Emperor’s Legion and the Harta Legion were forced to make plans for a length stay. The Sassanids were doomed, with only the city of Phraaspa left to harbor them. The final assault could wait until the Empire’s newest provinces were fully under control.

As time wore on and Augustus amused himself with more cruelty, butchery and bloodletting amongst the inhabitants of Arsakia, a dejected messenger arrived from the west. He bore news of something he called “The Trials of the Crossing.” With a grim expression, he related to Theodosius what had befallen the First Danube Border Legion at the eastern crossing.

The Huns had decided to move in force on the Empire. In the winter of 380, a large force led by a Captain Atakam assaulted the First Legion.



They were destroyed as efficiently as the attack the previous season had been. However, the victory was not without loss. Enemy horse archers helped bleed a full two-hundred men from Legion, including most of Manius’ skilled Eastern Archers.



A refit was needed. However, before this could take place, a second large Hun force under Captain Mete pushed home an attack against those that held the crossing.



They too contributed masses of corpses and horseflesh to the already corpse-clogged shores of the Danube.





Again the First Legion sustained minor losses, though the cumulative toll was beginning to mount. The Legion was now desperately in need of strengthening.



Seeing this weakness, a third Hun force under Captain Karaton moved on the brave men.



Despite an almost complete lack of archers now, the First Legion stood strong and held against the onslaught. By the end, there were a mere 770 men left in the once mighty First Legion, the pride of the Empire.



Finally, the hammer blow came. The Hun Chieften Tukhechjen, who had shared drink with Captain Rufinius at the western crossing, came with a mighty force of heavily armored horse led by no less than four other Hun warlords.



Unlike in previous attacks, there was to be no flanking move. The armored horse drew up and charged across the bridge and into a desperate melee with the remaining defenders.



The fight was long and bloody. One at a time the enemy warlords fell until only Tukhechjen remained. The Roman losses were horrendous though and the enemy fought like demons. They refused to break and run, even when their leaders died before them.



At last, the remaining men of the First Legion could take no more. In panic they broke and ran for safety. The Huns had taken the eastern crossing and only 66 men, fortunately including General Manius, of the nearly 1,300 who had been stationed there in the summer lived to tell the tale.



I was surprised at Theodosius’ reaction when he heard of the eventual destruction of the Empire’s finest legion and the entry of the Huns into the provinces. He considered the situation and recited the following facts. The First Legion had defeated four massive attacks in one year and had only been defeated by the fifth at the cost of much royal Hunnic blood. The 1,268 men of the First Legion had slain 4,158 of the enemy. There could be no dishonor in this defeat, the men had done their duties and died as heroes. The remnants of the army were falling back on Constantinople, where the First Border Legion would eventually be reborn.

When Augustus enquired about the availability of the Second Legion to come to Constantinople’s aid, he received more dire news. Two large Gothic armies, the remainder of that peoples’ strength, had gathered near them and were preparing to assault their position. They could not abandon the crossing even if they had wanted to. The situation was desperate and there were no longer enough trained Romans to hold the western provinces. Conscription of all available mercenary infantry was ordered, though few were available for duty. The fate of the west hung in the balance.

The Goths moved on the Second legion immediately after the New Year. The Gothic Chieften Vinithar personally led the attack.



The Second Legion used massed archers, rushed to the area by the commander of the Sirmium garrison, to drive off the enemy attackers. Vinithar himself was slain as he ran like a coward from the fight. As at the eastern crossing though, the Legion suffered losses. A full 300 men, nearly a quarter of the strength of the Legion, fell at their posts.



In a cruel re-enactment of the assault on the First Legion, another full Gothic army assaulted the Second Legion before it could reorganize and refit.



Let by the heir of Vinithar, the new King Gesalic, the Goths contributed to what was now the seasonal flood of corpses down the Danube. This King’s reign lasted mere days and his army was massacred by the Roman bows, swords and spears. The Second Legion again suffered the loss of a quarter of its force, further diminishing its strength and provoking consternation amongst its men, who feared they would meet the same fate as the First Legion.



This was not to be though, the crème of the Gothic warriors were already dead and the survivors were small and unconcentrated. Having gathered their forces to cross into the Empire, the Hun leader Tukhechjen realized the incredible price of his victory. He no longer had the massive Horde that had surrounded him the previous season and he could not replace his losses. The Romans would be reborn before the end of the year and would crush him. Undoubtedly knowing this, he abandoned his invasion of the Empire and returned north.

Theodosius was also informed that the despised diplomat Valerius Atilius had finally been dispatched by an unnamed loyal Roman. It appeared to all who knew him to be a natural death, but the whispering in the Emperor’s court indicated otherwise. Pleased with these happenings in the west, Theodosius decided to celebrate by tearing down the Arsakian temples and showing the people the true light of Christ. He also ordered the Harta Legion under Gainus the Wrathful, to begin the final move on Phraaspa.

Seeing the Roman army not far from their last bastion, the new Sassanid King Melchior the Harsh, an extremely powerful general, decided to engage our forces before they could pin him inside the city. He sallied forth along with the hated General Narses, the only living Sassanid who could claim victory over a Roman legion.



Despite their leadership, the Sassanid forces were weak and tired from the long war. They easily broke against the strong line of the Harta Legion.



In desperation, General Narses himself charged the front rank of Comitatenses, inflicting horrible casualties. He fought like a man possessed and after a lengthy struggle half of the line broke and ran before him. The rest held firm though and slowly surrounded the enemy of the Empire. With a final charge from General Gainus himself, the hated Narses was at last slain and the Sassanids fled from the field.



The cowardly Melchior never involved himself in the battle, choosing only to fire arrows from safety at the brave Romans. He deserved the death that awaited him now.

In the west Manius the Mean with the partially restored, though still under-strength, First Danube Border Legion returned to the eastern crossing. It was held by a medium sized Hunnic army led by General Thorismund. Manius forced the bridge with massed infantry, slew Thorismund and returned the eastern crossing to Roman control. With both vital chokepoints now safe again, the depleted Legions sent back word to the provinces to send up reinforcements to replace those who had fallen in the previous years’ battles.

As summer ended and the winter of 382 began, a pathetic force of Huns under the powerful General Diggiz tested the Second Legion.



They were repulsed with minor losses and Diggiz himself was slain.



Showing their utter contempt for their own lives, yet another massive Hunnic army assaulted the Second Legion immediately after Diggiz.



This further depleted the already hard suffering Second Legion, but they too were sent to visit Hell, so heavily clogged now with stinking barbarian warrior.



The cream of the Gothic and Hunnic forces now choked the banks of the Danube for hundreds of miles. The strength of these people had been smashed against the immovable wall of the might Roman Empire.

In the east, at last the time for the assault on the last Sassanid stronghold was at hand. Theodosius himself was too busy torturing and bleeding the population of Arsakia, who were not converting fast enough for his tastes, and he missed the final battle. That honor was given to Crispus Flavius, a competent general who had arrived to take over from General Gainus.



Spies had managed to infiltrate the city and open the gates, but Crispus assaulted the walls anyway to silence the tower garrisons. The defenses were quickly overrun and the Sassanid Empire fell in a fitting final battle. Melchior, a six-star general with a full forty-five Clibinarii Immortals reknowned for their “double silver chevron” status fought like demons, knowing their deaths were inevitable.



Melchior’s unit took down a full 220 Roman soldiers before they finally succumbed to their wounds and crumpled to the ground. The Sassanid empire was no more.



These past ten years have taken an incredible toll on this humble servant of the Emperor. I have lived during a time of much change and bloodshed. When I arrived, the borders in the west were weak and threatened by barbarian hordes. In the east, the Sassanids controlled mighty cities with large garrisons and threatened our control of the region. The Empire as a whole was poor with an empty treasury and a mere 6,000 denarii profit per season. The brilliant and terrible Augustus Theodosius changed all of this. I now find myself in an empire that retains undisputed control of all eastern provinces. The western borders are secured and the treasury now stands at the massive sum of 84,000 denarii and pulls in an additional 25,000 denarii each season. There is no doubt that the Empire is now secure and powerful. It is time to look west. It is time to reunite the Roman peoples under the true heirs of Caesar. This is a task for another though, for I am tired and aging. I go now to enjoy the fruits of my labors, leaving behind this chronicle in the hopes that it may assist that who come after me. Glory to Empire!