The War of the Taidhe
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"The serpent waits and the wolf pursues, yet you must be like the water and learn when to push, and when to lie in wait."
~ King Fionnach of Tiagho to his son Prince Tirnach.
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His dreams were troubled of late...
For here before the walls of Navan, where catapults cast stones like a beating drum against the cities ancient walls and dragon warriors in raiment of green and burnished iron silently stood vigil was a testament to the nature of time. Here was entrapped what was perhaps the greater part of the Raighama host, whom he, the King of Tiagho had decieved into making a stand here, as they were encircled from the north by the thundering cavalry of his noble lords. If all went well it was inevitable that the city would fall, and after Navan all of the lands of the Raighama. Yet as time flowed into nothingness for the Raighama so too was the fate of Tiagho tied to time, or more accurately how much time it would take to reduce the Raighama to submission before the armies of Ochu, Fetlar, Gialla and Sachama defeated his allies in Taidhir, allowing them finally to contest his ambition and cast a mortal spear into his grand designs. Likewise, even as the west made haste to war against him, the Highland States stood silent vigil in the north in uncertain fear and mistrust, as the Ashelai raised the banner of their hegemony in Suchai and proclaimed the mightiness of their power to the east.
Fionnach sat listening to the sounds of siege in his tent, watching his council discuss the events that had transpired, as if by the malevolent whim of some ancient and capricious god, to thwart him. He drank from a golden chalice the taste of accan wine, a rare luxury, rarer perhaps now that rumour had it that distant land was facing a war of its own.
Its redness was a testament to the blood of thousands slain.
To his surprise, Fionnach enjoyed the ceremony of holding court in the field. It was different a change from the ordered ritual of the palace in Tiagho, less filled with the stench of sycophancy and intrigue, of petty power games and noble decadence. Perhaps the Vithana in him, diluted over the centuries by the civilising influence of his imperial Dulama ancestors longed for the taste of blood and the feel of the open wind on the plains. A man is after-all what the world has made him.
"Majesty, the situation in Taidhir is fluid and not at all hopeless" said Emhir his son, one who just happened to be married to the daughter of the King of Taidhir. "The alliance is divided by rifts of mistrust and competing interests which we can exploit"
"So it is, yet at this very hour they remain intent on marching east to our doorstep" said Deiwenn. "you cannot expect words alone to halt that army's passage."
"Nevertheless, our Kingdom has no quarrel with these nations, we must appeal to their interests and to the reality they have made for themselves" said Emhir.
King Fionnach watched his council of generals bicker amongst themselves, his two oldest sons Tirnach and Emhir debating tactics hoping perhaps for his favour, and his older generals, Deiwenn at the forefront called for a strong stand. His sons were men now, not the boys he remembered from what seemed like yesterday, even Horalon, who had always seemed so unsuited for battle, understood the necessity of war and now made a fine warrior as befits a son of a King. Nonetheless they all feared the costs should this host make its way across the Taidhe to the walls of Tiagho, afterall Tiagho the great, mightiest city of the Abrea was mother and home to them all.
"They want the same thing all the princes want," said Crown Prince Tirnach, gritting his teeth in consternation and stabbing his dagger into the middle of a map of the Taidhe casting onto the ground a figuring indicating a unit of Giallama cavalry. "They want power and dream of Empire for themselves, and seeing distraction and feeling free of all restraint as the Trahana war against themselves they join together to fulfil their mutual greedy desires in the long hope that one of them might one day conquer the four quarters."
"Present a blind rat and the eagle will strike from on high" said Horalon
"Precisely so" said Tirnach "And ever is the folly of ambition".
King Fionnach stroked his thin grey beard and noted the assent of his council, and of his generals, somber in the gloom of the royal tent, their shadows flickering upon the cotton walls in the light of oil-lamps and in the vapour of smoke. Not spoken of course was that his own ambition, shared by all his councillors to render his foes powerless had been the catalyst for the current conflagration. It was perhaps inevitable, for if Tiagho had not struck the Raighama they or another would eventually have attempted to subdue it. But nonetheless the age of division which had for so long plagued the Dulama lands ever since the Vithanama Empire fell continued to vex those left to pick up the pieces.
"You all speak wisely, for those who would wage war against us are both divided, and relentless in their aims. We must use all the instruments at our disposal if we are to see this threat undone" said the King.
"Majesty" intoned Deiwenn. not hiding a smile, for he was ever the lover of battle.
"I advise that we send aid to our allies in Taidhir immediately, at the very least some measure of assistance can delay the advance to our own lands while other... instruments, of which the honourable prince speaks, are made use of"
"Precisely so" the King said, not moving his eyes from the map laid out upon the low table before him. In which the four armies of Fetlar, Ochu, Gialla and the Sachama were clearly displayed next to the icon of Taidhir. A sad resistance and yet an admirable one which had done much to bloody the foe. The King moved his gaze again over the Taidhe, and saw that while on parchment perhaps these allied powers were equals, it was clear that some gained more than others and the nature of man being as it is, that perhaps could be their united fronts undoing.
"Emhir, you shall gather a number of the noble lords and their men, and lead them to assist your kinsman the King of the Taidhe, for this is your duty as his son in the eyes of heaven." Emhir bowed as the King continued scratching his beard and poring over the map.
"Tirnach, when you return to Tiagho summon the Grand Secretary, and bid him send letters unto our friends in the Highlands in our name. Like all who guard wealthy and populous lands they clutch their holdings close, reaffirm our position that we mean them no harm and have no intentions to take from them their treasured land. Afterall I did not marry a daughter of Dula, and my eldest son and heir to a daughter of Anraugh with the design to wage war against kinsmen by marriage. Your own sons are of marriageable age as well, perhaps we can show our intent through that avenue."
"What of the Ashelai Majesty" Deiwenn said "Their expedition into Suchai was an outrage and the wolf-prince even has the gall to threaten us in his hubris"
The King placed a figure upon the image of the Ashelai Exatai, noting the numerous figurines attesting to the greatness of its army. He took a sip from a glass of wine, a rare luxury from far off lands, and tapped his finger upon the icon of Magha
"We shall send our son Horalon unto them bearing gifts, for we recognise the strength of the exatas of the High Prince of the Ashelai, and bear the wolf-prince no ill will. Do not forget my general that we share kindred blood through our common ancestors amongst the great Vithana, be it that the blood of Cairl is the stronger part of us and our people"
"Bah" Deiwenn spat "tribute is ill befitting the Tiaghama"
"And yet a tribute we shall give" and they shall know the extent of his benevolence as much as he could spare, thought the King in silence. The men at the table held their tongues. The King could see their displeasure, and yet none could deny the Kings will, or the truths that compelled it. War had a way of dampening divisions, for they who fight eachother shall die together on the morrow, or so the saying went. Horalon spoke...
“Father?”
“What is it, son?”
“Was it necessary for us to wage this war? It seems that if not for our attack on the Raighama our foes in the west would not have rallied against us.”
“No, it was not. We could have chosen servitude and insignificance instead. For whether by consent or otherwise all who live are subject to those who wield the sword. If we do not fight, than we must consign ourselves to being a subject to those with the strength of will who stand up and do so. Whoever the swordsmen may be."
"But this war has brought the death of thousands and all gains are in peril, surely it cannot be right in the eyes of the god of life?"
“The wolf does not feel remorse when he slays his prey and consigns him to death. So too must we be remorseless in hunting the wolf and all who serve him knowingly or unknowingly in the service of the people. For if we are to live we must fight. This is a truth of the God of life, and is the essence of the eternal war waged between the army of light and the servants of the god of death in all the vast expanses of this world. We fight as much in this world as in the next."
“So…we are huntsman?”
"Perhaps, or gardeners, or shepherds. For we prune the garden that life may flourish, and shepherd the sheep while slaying the beasts of the wild. Or maybe we are human and they are beasts, for men create and strive for sublime transcendence and beasts struggle in mindlessness to find their end as food for worms. We should strive to behold the real, not lie our lives denying it and taking succour in illusions"
"And should we fail"
"We shall give a good accounting."
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Horns blew, and the rhythmic chant of the dragon warriors rang out by the cascading waters of the Abrea river. Another day of fighting and another minor victory against the Raighama was won. Catapults cast the heads and bodies of the slain over the battered walls, and the brave defenders looked out when darkness fell day after day upon the countless torches shining upon the field like a sea of fire. And they prayed to the God of life that the inferno before them would not consume them all.
Clearly I should stop doing diplomacy in the thread.
, Its interesting to note how Athis still lacks a city over 100k people despite the current political domination of that island/continent by the Halyrate. I'm also surprised that Krato hasn't reached that benchmark seeing as its the gateway to the entire Yensai basin in terms of riverine and maritime trade.
