Interactive history :The second dacian war

**Rex_Pelasgorum** · 10-08-2006, 22:51

THE CHOICE , TIBISCUM 106 AD

The fires where burning, and the nobleman gathered in the centre of the dacian camp. Nearby, gathered like cattle , despied and hated, stood the roman legionaries. They knew that death awaited them.

Dressed in long valueums, wearing on theyr head the dacian pointed cap, the tarabostes started debating in the old manner about the fate of the prisoniers. Decebalus looked at them... rich man they were indeed, lords of the numerous Davas from Dacia, whith beautifull wifes all dressed in expensive clothes and adorned whith many golden jewelryes. Could he trust these man ? In the first war, some switched sides and joined the romans.

Finaly, a decision was taken, altough not all of the men agreed.The roman legionaries where going to dye by the hand of the roman auxiliaries who joined the dacian cause !

Decebalus laughed:
"They will knew the taste of roman blood even before the true battles will start !"

The auxiliaries where called in.The men of Palmyra, carelesly took out theyr curved swords out...while the Ubians looked to the romans whith great satisfaction.

The slaughter was short, and cinic. The dead romans fell, and imediately they where taken away and incinerated on a funerary pire.

Longinus watched all the scenes, and smiled.

"You will escape death, for now", said Decebalus.

"I knew" answered Longinus.

"But you will have to tell me many things if you want to keep this privilege. I can be cruel"

"You can kill me, either way you will loose"

"What about those fires, Longinus, those fires from the mountain tops... just before the attack"

"They mean you will have to surrender to the power of Rome, as some roman army group, numbering around ~50 000 lead by one of Rome`s best generals just crossed the Danube at Drobeta and heads towards Tibiscum, to take over the south-western Dacia. We want to spend the rest of the winter in your lands"

"I already knew this" , lied Decebalus. He replyed whith a lie, to some words he believed to be nothing more than empty threats. Trajan never campaigned in winter, nor the romans... at least not in Dacia !And the scouts reported as farr as this moment, no major roman movement in the area.

"It is never too late to surender. Consider that i am giving you an unique oportunity"

"I shall not do this"

"Do you serve your personal glory or your nation? You now the romans never loose. Even if we loose and you win, whe will came back and fight again, and eventually we will win ! "

"I do not serve mylself, Longinus.I serve my nation and my god" , answered Decebalus.

"Then, surrender to the might of Rome! Put down all the weapons. That is what he is asking. Trajan can can sometimes be mercifull whith the prisoniers."

"You stood in our lands for 4 years... you had Dacian subjects in Moesia. But still, it seems you do not understand our ways"

"Your ways are as the ways of any mortal... "

"No, you are mistaken. We are not mortals.. Guards ! Take him out !"

The hearth of Decebal darkened. He went to Vezina and Diegis :

"Longinus had filled my hearth whith lies and deceapt.. howewer, whe should make a decision now".

Crucial decisions follow now, both military and politicall. In this case, only the first reply will be taken into account.

I MILITARY DECISIONS:

1. Go and attack the roman fort of Drobeta:
a) Use the ancient road which goes trough Ad Mehadiam, the most easy way of acces.
b) Use a secret way trough the mountains, very dangerous in winter, but more stealthy.Surprise the romans.

2. Wait in Tibiscum while sending more scouts towards Drobeta to get more reports upon roman movement.

3. Retreat towards Sarmizegetusa to regroup and consolidate the main fortresses :
a) Leave a small garrison at Tibiscum.
b) Do not leave any soldiers behind.

II POLITICALL DECISIONS:

1. Send an emisary to Trajan to see if there is any posibility of negociating a decent peace:
a) Offer to the emisary an certain amount of gold to give to Trajan
b) Do not offer bribery, it is usseles

2. Send an emisary to the Parthian king Pacorus, whith numerous gifts, in order to persuade him to attack the romans in Mesopotamia, thus distracting their efforts in Dacia.
a) Send him trough the shortest way, trough Asia Minor. It will need 2 months to reach its destination, but he will go trough roman controlled land, and he might be intercepted by the roman counterspyes and executed.
b) Send him trough the barren lands of Scythia and Sarmatia , a much safer way. Howewer, he will need more than 4 months to reach its destination, and by the time he reaches the parthian court, the war in Dacia might be already lost.

**CountArach** · 10-09-2006, 06:16

MILITARY
OKay well I believe that in a head to head pitched battle we will lose to the Romans, so I will say 1b. THis will ensure that we can get the jump on them, catch them with thei guard down and ensure that we fight on our terms. Also our men's morale will be heightened by our willingness to fight.

POLITICAL
I think that 2a will supplement the first choice the best. While we get into position to ambush them, this time can be used. We need to hit the Romans now, before they can bring up more men and supplies. One man will stand a good chance of getting through the Roman defences.

**Rex_Pelasgorum** · 10-13-2006, 22:13

From this moment I will change a bit the storyline and divide the story into 2 separate plots. One of the plots will follow the dacian emmisary , Callidromus, in his road towards the Parthian king, while the second plot will follow king Decebalus and the Dacian Army. Also, due to the fact that the situation of the Dacian Kingdom at this moment is criticall, i will try to give when it is possible total freedom of choices to the member who will post.

Historically speaking, the Dacians had strong diplomatic relations whith the Parthians, and indeed sent a delegation to the Parthian king, howewer they where at one certain point intercepted by the Romans... ...

THE CROSSING OF CALIDROMUS (january 106 AD)

Calidromus was riding for more than two days trough the deep snows of southern Dacia.Together whith him, where his slave and bodyguard Susagus, seconded by Dada, a wise man who knew many foreign languages and customes.

They where not very farr now from the outskirts of Drobeta. Drobeta was by any means, a large roman fort, sorrounded by many houses in which the native dacians lived. Many roman troops were guarding the entrances, numerous patrols where everywhere ,the entire area looked like a huge roman military camp. Thousands, if not tens of thousands of romans where spread all around the place.

To the south , across the Danube, large and magnificent, lyed the great bridge of Appolodorus... it was truly a wonder, a wonder to amaze both the romans and the dacians ! Below the bridge was the Danube, cold as ice and very deep, flowing slowly trough the misty landscape. Sometimes, large packs of ice collided whith the pilons of the bridge, cracking out in many smaller glass-like pieces, taken away swiftly by the threacherous currents, twisted and broken in an endless dance of death by the wawes of the mighty river.

"How should we get trough the roman guards, my noble master ? ", asked Susagus.

There was not a single way to pass over to the other side on the bridge whithout beeing stoped by roman patrols at least once. Pretending to be merchants ? Merchants for what ,in times of war ? To the east, crossing the river whith a boat would be an posibility, howewer going east would mean traversing trough Drobeta and eventually encountering roman forces and patrols, all vigilant to capture any spies which would attempt entering the Roman Empire. Howewer, Calidromus knew that further west , lightly guarded by the romans, where the mighty gorges of the Danube, the nigtmare of any ancient sailor. Full of hidden cliffs and threacherous currents, they where indeed the Sydereya Pilai, the Iron Gates of Dacia , now even more dangerous due to the large floating ice packs! Crossing the Iron Gates in this period of year, would be totally unwise.

IMPORTANT

THE FIRST 3 MEMBERS WHO WILL POST ABOUT THE "JOURNEY OF CALLIDROMUS" PLOT WILL "BE" CALIDROMUS, SUSAGUS AND DADA (in no specific order) ,AND THEY WILL CHOOSE THE PATH TO BE TAKEN. UPON THEYR OPINIONS AND ADVICE, THE DECISION WILL BE TAKEN ! ONLY THE FIRST 3 POSTS WILL BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.

THE HIDDEN MARCH TOWARDS DROBETA (January 106)

The dacian army left Tibiscum heading towards Drobeta. Howewer, the road taken was not the main road, but a road trough the mountains.

Local guides were taken to show the road... the first day, was a true march in a deep valley, sorounded by dark forests. It was cold... soon, some of the horses fell ill.

Local witches where asked to heal them. They came, ignited great fires and said words of prayer to the spirits to take away the sickness from the horses, but in vain. The horses where slaughtered by the soldiers, and theyr bodies burned.

The second day, the dacians continued to follow the path, and went up climbing on a secondary valley to the ridges... they climbed for hours trough the forests, but they where not tired, they where the nation of the mountains, and the mountains where theyr brothers and protectors in times of evil.

Howewer, again some horses fell ill and died, and many more where lost on the tracks... they simply fall down the cliffs, only to be found dead in cold ,dark valleys, lying whith their legs broken, tears of blood in the white imensity of snowy mountains.

The third day, howewer, the army faced better odd, despite the fact that most of the horses where either ill or already dead. The mountains of South-western Dacia, where strange... in their tops, they had large plateaus, whith no forrest due to the strong winds and high altitude, and one could walk trough these large plateaus tens of kilometers... In summer, these plateaus where used as points of observations, and the shepherds lived on them. They gathered in certain moments in such places to celebrate the rise and fall of the Sun, the mighty servant of Zamolxis and the lover of Bendis, the Pale Moon.

"Not farr from here, is one of the holy mountains", said Vezina ."And at the footsteps of the mountain, in most ancient times Herakles fought whith the serpant women, the Echidna... these are sacred lands to the romans, also, and they will fight well to capture them !"

The news that one of the Holy Mountains was nearby, somewhat rised the morale of the dacian army, which was seriosly dwindling. The cavalrymen especially, where now of little use... even the elite soldiers, the brave and fanatical Zamolxian knights where discouraged, and just walked silently in the terrible cold, without whispering a single word.

During the march, one of the Palmyran auxiliaries simply dissapeared. Altough the dacians watched overthem all the time, he dissapeared in a night.As during the night snow had fallen, his tracks where covered... Rumours started spreading in the dacian army. The rest of the auxiliaries where questioned, but no specific answer could be get from them. They knew nothing. If the one man went away, he probably went away on his own.

The march continued, but whith more caution. The dacians indeed, using an ancient patwhay used by the shephards, where on the mountains above the narrow valley of Tsierna, guarded by a small roman outpost named Castrum Tsiernensis. Nearby, was a place whith hot water springs ,caming out of deep caves, named by the romans Herculanum. The waters, as the legends said, where to cure all the ilness from the hearth and body of a man. Not farr from Herculanum, some kilometers away where the roman forces, guarding Drobeta and the nearby areas.

Decebalus looked towards the valley... capturing the probably ill defended Castrum Tsiernensis would be quite an easy task , but taking Drobeta would be very hard to accomplish, especially since the romans will call for reinforcements from Moesia Superior.

Should the dacians deploy in the valley and attempt luring the romans into an unwise attack ? Or should they go to assault Drobeta, or retreat to Tibiscum, or Sarmizegetusa ?

IMPORTANT

THE FIRST 3 MEMBERS WHO WILL POST In THE "ARMY OF DECEBALUS" PLOT WILL "BE" DECEBALUS, DIEGIS AND VEZINA (in no specific order) ,AND THEY WILL CHOOSE THE PATH TO BE TAKEN. UPON THEYR OPINIONS AND ADVICE, THE DECISION WILL BE TAKEN ! ONLY THE FIRST 3 POSTS WILL BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.

**Gurkhal** · 10-14-2006, 09:38

THE CROSSING OF CALIDROMUS (january 106 AD)

I think that Calldromus should try his luck and cross the bridge openly. When stopped and asked by the Roman patrolls they may pretend to be pro-Roman refugees, possibly former merchents or minor nobility, fleeing from the bloodthirsty Dacian mobs, the gifts to the Parthians can be explained away as the valubles they managed to save before their house(s) were burned and their families butchered. When considering the Roman mentality and that the grunts probably have been fed some propaganda about the Dacian barbarism this should pass as truth to their ears, and in any case wouldn’t sound to unbelivible. Their resons for travelling south can be said that they have friends or relatives in, say Illyrium or Macedonia where they hope they can be given quarter.

This is a chance of course, but better than to act strange and become even more suspected or take the chances with the river.

THE HIDDEN MARCH TOWARDS DROBETA (January 106)

I say we attack Drobeta. We have come to fight and with the mountain route we have hopefully manage to suprise our enemy somewhat. To wait would be prefeerible to the Romans as they can then bring up more troops and make it impossible for us to take them on piece by piece. Also the I can't see any reson for the Romans to come out of the fort insteed of just sitting around untill stronger friends arrives. Retreating will most certainly be a severe blow to the morale, especially with the drop of it from the march over the mountains. We have come to take Drobeta, therefor let us take Drobeta.

**GiantMonkeyMan** · 10-14-2006, 09:48

THE CROSSING OF CALIDROMUS (as Dada)

We should disguise our selves as Galataians from the far east of the roman empire. Our story is that we came through Dacia to aquire amber but the war has persuaded us to return home and unfortunatly our horses have died in the winter. Since Dada can speak Latin and since probably no romans speak the language of the galataians, our story would probably pass. Only we should take the boat across the river, avoiding all patrols if humanly possible. If a patrol sees us, do not run because that will make you seem like the roman's enemy or something.

ARMY OF DECEBALUS (as Deigis)

We have come this far already, so we cannot retreat. Perhaps we should deploy in the valley, hiding as many of our troops as possible, and ambush a few patrols or something similar, just to get the roman's attention. Hopefully this will trick them into thinking that this is only a small but strong dacian army of rebels since, as i previously stated, most of our troops are well hidden.

**CountArach** · 10-17-2006, 10:04

CROSSING OF CALIDROMUS (as Susaga)

I like the idea of pretending to be pro-Roman, but that may not be enough. We will need to find some cart, either through stealing or through buying in order to pull this off. I am all for that one.

ARMY OF DECEBALUS (as Vezina)

I am all for deploying in this area. We should kill some small amount of men in order to get the Romans geared up to try to attack us. Again the Propoganda will come into play here as they will expect us to be no more than weak barbarians. Also winning a battle here will give our men some much needed morale after the trip through the mountains.