Re-unification - WRE PBM write-ups thread

[econ21]

Attalus’s story

What price victory? We are conquerors, the victors. But was it worth it? Ach, don’t listen to me. I’m an old man, all spent now. I’ve had my fill of battle. I saw it first under Romulus Sertorius. What, you don’t know that name? I’m not surprised. You could say he saved the Empire, defeating the Sarmatian horde in Italy and leading to their people becoming loyal citizens of Rome. You might have noticed their auxiliaries play an increasingly large role in our victories? But no, you probably won’t have heard of Sertorius, as no sooner had he saved the Empire, than he was abandoned by it - suspected of disloyalty, he was stripped of his armies and sent away on some minor governorship in Gaul. I should have learnt from that, perhaps.

But no, I was young and the young often do not learn the most important lessons life teaches. I then served under Rufinus Victor. Now there was a fighter - rivalled our great Emperor in his triumphs. So, yes, I had seen enough war. But in the year of our Lord, 445, I felt the call of battle stir within me once more. As Count of the Saxon Shore, I had worked hard to restore loyalty to the Empire in Londinium and Ebacurum. But all the while, the Celts had been massing north of Hadrian’s wall. It was time for a punitive expedition - to smash their field armies, burn down their camps and then return south.

Our first encounter was a slaughter. At the end of the battle, we counted 472 Celts dead for the loss of only four of our men. So we pressed north, besieging the huge Celt city of Dal Raida in the winter. In response, the Celts gathered an army of 1500 men from the countryside and marched to relieve the city. The garrison of 300 sallied out to join them.

The Celtish army was an impressive sight and I confess I was apprehensive. Most of the enemy army was composed of Gallowglass, fierce northern warriors not unlike the Saxons. The Celts were short of cavalry though, sending a troop onto our right to await a moment to charge in from the flank. Such a threat was intolerable, but luckily the cavalry had come far in advance of the main body of enemy infantry. Consequently, our Sarmatians were able to smash the Celtish horse before the battle proper began.



445 AD outside Dal Raida: as the main Celt line of battle approaches, the Romans neutralise an early threat to their flank.

We had deployed on a hill, with both flanks refused. The Celts strung their relief army out in a long line that threatened a double envelopment.



The calm before the storm…the Celt relief army approaches

But the Celts were too thinly stretched and their lack of armour told as they struggled up the hill under the hail of first our arrows and then our javelins. Their centre appeared to dissolve under our fire. Their flanks escaped most of the missiles, but crumpled under frontal attacks from our infantry combined with rear charges by our horse.



Attalus smashes the right of the Celt relief army. Their second line - the garrison - can be seen approaching on their left.

With the relief army falling back in disarray, some of our infantry pursued the retreating enemy down the hill. This was unfortunate, as they ran into the Dal Raida garrison, advancing on our right. For a moment, it was tense, especially when a band of painted giants appeared to support the Celt gallowglass.



The left of the Celt battle line - fresh troops from the garrison counter-attack the Romans pursuing the relief army.

”The Hounds of Culann”, I believe those painted giants are called. Fortunately, we spotted the threat in advance and our archers concentrated their fire on the giants, with our Sarmatian auxiliaries riding the remnants down in a charge into their rear.



With the relief army in retreat, the sallying Celt garrison are crushed by the Romans.

The enemy were utterly defeated. The Celts lost 1800 men - we lost only one hundred. We then took the city of Dal Raida and razed it to the ground. Our men slaughtered 19000 unarmed men, women and children. What price victory, huh?

But that was not the worst off it. A few rebellious officers demanded we settle in Dal Raida and Romanise it. The Emperor had strictly forbade such settlements, so I refused. We marched further north and east, hunting down the remaining Celt armies and indeed a large Saxon force. But in my absence, the rebel officers broke away and raised a army of 2300 peasants to claim the town. I returned to besiege the town, not meaning to storm it but merely to pass it by and return south.



While Attalus hunts down the remaining opposition, a rebellion breaks out in what is left of Dal Raida.

However, when the Imperial Secretariat heard of the rebellion at Dal Raida, they demanded I crush it. I was forbidden to return south before the town had yet again been stormed and put to the sword. The slaughter of fellow Romans sickened me.



The Roman response is brutal.

I now believe our action was wrong. Upon taking Dal Raida from the Celts we should have occupied it and brought to it the benefits of Roman civilisation. The rebels were right. Our mission is to bring light to the world. Hiding behind walls and frontiers will only ossify us and lead to decay. If the Empire is to endure, it must not be content with historical borders and re-unification. For expressing these doubts, I was stripped of my offices. Like my first general, Romulous Sertorius, I was pensioned off to be governor of some insignificant Gaulish province. So be it. But I notice now that the Emperor’s legions are claiming the land of the Allemanni, the Franks, the Saxons and the Lombards. The old frontier has been crossed; the rules of the game broken. Who knows what the future will bring?

[econ21]

A Priest’s story

Something was not quite right, the scribe thought uneasily. Attalus’s account of the bloody massacres at Dal Raida had made that obvious. Attalus - a hero of the Empire - was clearly a broken man, wracked with self-doubt. So this was the inevitable outcome of the Pelegian heresies Attalus subscribed too - that so-called “free will”. How could the fool believe man was born without sin, after the horrors performed by his own hand? The insufferable self-righteousness of Placus Cerealis’s companions was no better. The Abbess and the Anchoress believed themselves to be superior to the mainstream Church hierarchy. They looked to the reckless Placus to be a matyr and inspiration for their own camp, the Donatists. The scribe feared that the taint of heresy had even spread to the Emperor. Had Asterius not broken with his destiny by ordering his men across the Rhine-Danube frontier? His free-thinking was endangering the Empire and, at best, would lead him - as it had done Attalus - to terrible and pointless blood-letting.

On reflection, it had all started to go wrong with the depletion of the border legions, the scribe decided. Andragathius had bequeathed to the Empire a network of border forts, backed by mighty, full-strength field armies. However, Asterius had not been able to resist plundering these resources to fuel his conquests in the East. He had sent Legio I Italia to storm Kydonia in 439 AD, replacing it with half of Legio II Italia. Likewise, Legio VI Claudia Pia Fidelus had landed outside Salamis a year later, with its senior sister legion taking over its border duties. This weakening of the border defences had encouraged various barbarians to declare war on the Empire, beginning with the Franks. Their assaults on the border forts had been half-hearted and typically ended prematurely, but their siege of Austaga Vindelicorum in 441 AD had stung Asterius into action. Legio II Italia, its bases divided between Gaul and Cisalpine Gaul, had been mobilised to respond.



The spark for the expansion of the Empire in the West: the Franks siege Augusta Vindelicorum.

The scribe looked down at the Cardinal’s testimony again. The Cardinal, an old mentor of the scribe, had sent him journals from a priest, Father Amelius, who had travelled with the army in their expedition against the Franks. The scribe read it carefully:

”Winter, Year of Our Lord 441: We march to the relief of our fort outside Augusta Treverorum. The Frankish cavalry impetuously try to attack over the Rhine, but we drive them across and then confront their infantry. For a time, their shieldwall holds back our legionnaires, but eventually our superior numbers tell. Nonetheless, it is a bloody victory - we lose 85 men; they lose 400.”



Tertius Atinius leads half of Legio II Italia to drive off Franks besieging a border fort.

The scribe studied the details provided by the Father Amelius on the strength of Legio I Italia. Only four cohorts of first line troops - their numbers made up by limitanei and assorted auxilia. How far had the Legion fallen from its from its glory days under Andragathius?

In 43 AD, the Lombards had declared war, so that the entire European frontier, from the Rhine to the Danube was now under-attack. A year later, in a momentous decision, Asterius broke the rules long set down for the limits of the Empire. He authorised his border legions to take the fight to the barbarians, crossing the frontier and occupying their border provinces. As justification, he cited the writings of a historian called Tiberius. Tiberius was a scholarly monk locked away in some remote Abbey, but his work highlighted the Dacian conquests of Trajan and also revealed that Campus Frisii had once been occupied by Rome. Asterius had used these findings as an excuse to order the annexation of the entire swathe of territory on the far side of the Rhine-Danube border, running from Dacia to Campus Frisii.

The scribe turned to a later entry in Amelius’s journal:

”Winter, Year of Our Lord 445: a terrible earthquake has struck the heart of Rome. At the same time, we hear that General Gundobad has stormed Vicus Alemanni. I know the Church warns us against superstition, but I cannot help but think that the two events are connected. Is the earthquake a warning against our new policy of expanding the frontier? What further calamities await us?”



A divine warning?

The scribe skipped further down the journal:

”Winter, Year of Our Lord 441: And so I too must pay the price for our reckless expansionism. They are now all gone - my dear, brave brothers. Slaughtered outside Vicus Franki, the capital of the Franks. Only Father Silvias and I survived the battle. What arrogance! What impetuosity! Our general, Tertius Atinius, was besieging the capital when a large Frankish army marched to its relief. We were outnumbered 2:1.



Legio II Italia awaits the combined assault of the Frankish garrison of Vicus Franki and a large relief force

Our men fought bravely, but were poorly led. We drove off the first wave of the barbarians, but then discipline broke down. The cohort on our left flank was allowed to pursue the retreating enemy and was engulfed by the second wave of barbarians sallying out from their capital.



Legio II Italia holds the relief force off, but the enemy garrison to its left has not yet been committed to the battle.

Great gaps appeared in our line and the enemy poured through. My brothers and I watched from amongst the archers in mounting horror, as the enemy surrounded our cohorts and broke through our lines. Then we saw the Frankish heir himself ride towards us. The archers scattered and ran, but Father Marcus was fearless and ordered us to stand our ground. He was the first to be cut down by the Frankish horse. Only the swift intervention of our own cavalry saved Father Silvias and I.”



The Franks cause havoc in the rear of the Roman lines.

”We marched onto the field with 1050 men - we left with 600. The Franks were even harder hit - entering with 2600 and leaving with less than 300. It was a heroic victory but their capital was not to fall for another year.”

The scribe shuffled uncomfortably in his seat. Was he wasting his time? How could he use this material in his history of the Empire? What chance was there that Asterius would allow the doubts of Attalus and Father Amelius to overshadow the tales of Roman triumphs in the East and against the Lombards in Dacia? Still, he could not stop reading:

”Summer, Year of Our Lord 448: a great flood strikes Rome. The Legion is now marching north into Saxon lands. I am to remain with Brother Silvias, ministering to the garrison in Vicus Franki. I am no longer in any doubt. We are over-reaching ourselves and God is punishing us for our rapaciousness.”



A second warning from the heavens?

Two years later, Father Amelius’s journal came to an abrupt end. The scribe turned to the postscript, penned by his mentor, the Cardinal:

”Summer, Year of Our Lord 450: General Honorianus informed me that his relief force arrived too late at Vicus Franki. The Franks besieging the city had already launched a devastating assault.”



The Franks attempt to reclaim their capitol.

”The garrison commander, Sextus Varus, defended the city heroically. The enemy ram was set on fire. Sextus personally led his bodyguard and auxiliary cavalry to rout the enemy outside the walls.”



Sextus Varus leads his cavalry, repeatedly smashing Frankish troops outside of Vicus Franki

”But it was too late. The enemy had scaled the walls in force and drove our men from them. Sextus was forced to return to the city by a side entrance gate and mount a last ditch defence of the forum. By the grace of our Lord, he was successful. But it was too late for Father Amelius and Father Silias. Survivors inform me they died bravely at the main city gates, trying to keep them open for the return of Sextus and his cavalry.

In other sad news, I learn that Tertius Atinius was killed by a godless Saxon mob in Campus Frisii. The city is still under our control, but the heathens have no loyalty to Rome and only Legio II Italia’s presence maintains order.”

[econ21]

Asterius’s story, Part II

“So, you thought you could mess with me, you little worm!” Asterius shoved the terrified scribe against the wall.

“”We are over-reaching ourselves and God is punishing us for our rapaciousness.”” Earthquakes and floods. Where do you get such sanctimonious tripe?! Do you really think God spends his time fooling round with our weather, like a kid kicking down an anthill? You say you are a Christian, but your God is like those fool gods of our ancestors, who delight in tormenting mortals. And if God did want to muck about with our lives, why on earth would he want to stop us? Every conquest we have made, west or east, we have torn down pagan temples and built churches. My men have been through fire to re-unify this Empire and to spread our faith!”



A depleted Asia legion assaults Philadelphaea - with only one siege tower reaching the walls, it is a close run thing.

“I marched my men from Antioch to Jerusalem; from Philadelphaea to Hatra; from Ctesiphon to Arsakia. For Christ's sake, I even made some of the poor SOBs ride camels. Have you any idea what one of those things smells like? Do you? But the horses - they hate it even more than we do, so they have their uses”



Asterius trains kataphract camels to assist against the heavy Eastern horse.

“Well, I guess it’s better than being charged by an army of them. We faced five squadrons of the beasts outside Ctesiphon. Apparently, Galenus Treboruanus liked ‘em even more than I did.”



The moment of decision at the battle of Ctesiphon, 446 AD. Surrounded on three sides, the flank of the Western army endures while the first cohort rushes to relieve them.

“Galenus Treboruanus. Are you making a note of that name? Oh, I’m sorry - seeing as how I am pinning you against this here wall, I guess it’s rather hard to take notes, huh? Well old Galenus, he was one of the last Eastern Emperors. I reckon you’d have known that, being a scribe and all. But heck, I kept smacking those Eastern Emperors down so hard, I can see as how you would lose track.”



Asterius leads his bodyguard into hand-to-hand combat with the Eastern Emperor Galenus Treboruanus.

“Yeah, I reckon I was wiping out them old Eastern Emperors just as fast as they could elect them. The last I saw was… awh heck, who cares who he was? He’s just a stiff in Arsakia now”



Asterius storms Arsaka in 448 AD. The last Eastern settlement, Dumatha, will fall without a fight three years later, after a prolonged siege by the Caesar, Olympias Flavius.

“All you need care about is that I did it. I re-united the Empire! All your self-doubt and blathering can’t change that. Now you listen up and you listen good. You are going to write the most glowing account on this godforsaken earth of my victories. You are going to be praised as the greatest historian in this land. You are going to bathe in the reflected glory from my achievements. And you are absolutely, positively, definitely, never ever going to bother me again. Have you got that? Are we clear on that? Now get out of my sight and never come back!”