After a long delay...
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The 7th century AD can easily be marked as the century of warfare (a distinction that would carry over into the next hundred years). At the heart of the conflict were the Mehrdadian warriors whom exploded onto the world stage after the civil war in Parthia that brought them to power.
The Gallic League will be exhausted by wars during this century – the nation will be consumed with little else though some advances are able to slip through the fog of war (namely the compound microscope which is developed in 680AD). Our warrior code allows for war when threatened, however, as has happened, and as will continue to happen, an insult is as good as a threat. Another theme that is depicted at this time, one that rings true today, is the influence of the High Council – though they can’t always persuade against war they have never been ignored when advising a halt to conflict.
Egypt and Dacia will be greatly influenced by their respective advising councils. In Dacia the House of Bishops will heed the call for righteous vengeance from the Patriarch of Neos Syracuse and convince the King to punish the pagan kingdoms (wars that will begin the fracturing of the Catholic empires). In Egypt the Civic Council will face a couple of set backs but by the end of the century they will have a King who signs away some powers. Dacia, unlike Egypt at this time, will see their kingdom grow. With the conquest of Thrace and Pannonia Dacia will also add to it many steppe tribes. The core of the ruling Hun Dacians is still the lands around the Cheusthie Sea (the Black Sea) but their influence is felt well beyond the Volga.
Scanza will feel that influence. Still suffering from the famines of the last century, a situation which is not alleviated by the war with Breton and only exasperated by the Pagan wars and the loss of territory along the Vistula, Scanza border will continue to be raided even in the short periods of peace.
The Chi Empire will know the sting of constant raids as well. The ever present nomads to the north and west will poke at the empire, making massive incursions in 616, 623, and 656. The Chi will also face a threat from the ocean, the Kamiharou. The floating empire will make their first attack in 628 and will continue to burn and pillage the cost as far as Bactria for the next 200 years. The Kamiharou will leave a lasting mark on Chi and in fact world lititure – their "death first" attitude to war, adventurous sailing, and superior sword making will often be romanticized. To this day, someone who is said to have “red sails†is someone who is driven often without regard for personal safety.
Besides the Kamiharou the Mehrdadian Caliphinate is probably the culture that has inspired the most literary references. Civil war would bring Muhammad Al-Ameen to power but it is sword, influence, and persuasion that shape Mehrdadism into a force to be feared and respected.
600AD: As with many generals in the Parthian armies Muhammad Al-Ameen was the son of a prominent Hun noble (those that were allowed to settle in the north along the Caspian sea during the long fought wars of the previous centuries). He was a trusted warrior of the king, Avicenna (as his name suggests, Al-Ameen does translate as trusted). It was in this year, however, that Muhammad converted fully to Mehrdadism after reportedly having a vision of the Great Prophet.
601AD: Muhammad attempts to have Avicenna convert and name Mehrdadism as the only true religion. Although Mehrdadism was at the time practiced by 2 out of 3 Parthians it was still considered to be a Hun religion by the Royal family and the loyal nobles. Avicenna rejects the idea and, perhaps seeing the future, strips Muhammad of his command (in the following months Avicenna will replace a dozen other officers within the ranks of his army).
602AD: Muhammad begins his war against Avicenna (602-608). The coup will succeed in toppling the Parthian Empire – by 610 the capital will even be moved to the holy city of Marlik (where Mehrdad had lived, taught, and wrote).
606AD: King Hesperos collapses at a celebration honoring 21 years of wearing the double crown. His son Necho will take the throne (606-625).
King Vilhelm II opens his reign of Scanza by declaring war on Breton (606-616). Both kingdoms had been conducting acts of piracy on the other for nearly 200 years – a war was fought in the previous century but little came from its conclusion. The Bretons will land one army in Scanza but it would be defeated by two harsh winters and an inability to resupply. King Vilhelm II will managed three landings, the first two were in Icini lands and were beaten back, the third (accomplished in 612) made landfall to the less populated north. Within two years Vilhelm’s forces had a strong hold in Caldonia (all of which would be seeded to Scanza at the conclusion of the war).
610AD: High Queen Bebinn VII dies in her sleep, the Gallic throne will pass to her son Cocidius (610-622).
Muhammad declares war on Egypt (610-617). It will be a hard fight for Egypt and will see them losing all of their holdings north of the canal by the time peace is declared.
612AD: Muhammad sets his focus on the Axumite holdings in the desert peninsula (where Parthia had periodic trade dealings and Mehrdadism was being practiced). Using their influence among the nomadic peoples of the desert land Muhammad is able to win several victories against Axum.
614AD: Muhammad’s army invades Judea after defeating the last of the Egyptian armies north of the grand canal.
Though the majority of his army battled Egyptian holdouts and Judean cities Muhammad does send an invasion force to the horn of Africa and the heart of the Axumite Empire. Again Parthian ranging influence with indigenous peoples comes in handy. The tribes along the western trade routes had long been under Axum rule – though largely profitable for tribal leaders they were still the subjects of outside rulers. By the end of the year Axum is fighting on two fronts.
616AD: Axum is forced to give independence to those tribes under revolt around Lake Chad. Though loosely cooperative, within the next few years these tribes do appoint their own king and come to be called the Kingdom of Kanem.
618AD: The siege of Jerusalem succeeds in breaching the thick stone walls of that mighty city. Few are spared the sword – and few of the great libraries and universities escape the torch. Muhammad decides to halt his armies at this time and consolidate his gains – this marks the end the Kingdom of Judea.
Ghana and Kanem exchange three years of brutal raids (surprisingly this does not lead to open war between the comparatively more powerful Kingdom of Ghana and the fledgling Kanem – the events that were soon to transpire within Ghana though offer a clue as to that kingdom’s restraint during the conflict with Kanem).
620AD: Over the last few years the Ghana nobles have been exerting greater control over the trade routes and the setting their own prices for goods – against the advising Lusitani, who until this year had the greatest control over goods in this growing African power. In a series of night raids all but a few of the Lusitani were killed – those that survived fled with only what was on their backs back to Lusitania. Over the next few months all but the furthest southern trading posts had to either be abandoned or were taken over by Ghanaian warriors. By the years end not only had Lusitania been kicked out of Ghana but all foreign traders.
621AD: The Trade War (621-623).
Along with Lusitanian merchants Gallic traders were also forbidden access to Ghanaian markets. The Lusitanian Triumvirate sent to Alesia a request for the League to protect their holding and interests in Ghana as well as those outposts along the African cost that were under attack. High King Cocidius and the rest of the Oghma were already willing to go to war with Ghana for the insult of expulsion – the petition from Lusitania was of little influence. Neither would it seem was the High Council who opposed the war, there are few examples of the High Monarch declaring war without the support of the High Council, this was one of those times.
The fleet normally docked in Cartagena was dispatched to the western cost of Africa while Cocidius gathered an army in Carthage for the march into Ghana (there were underway by the end of the year).
In much the same way that Breton’s infighting kept them from mounting a sufficient defense against Scandinavian invasion so to does Zimbawe’s tribal tit-for-tat make them vulnerable to invasion by the Axumite Empire. The first Axumite armies crossed the border in early Mean Fomhair (September) – marching down the cost and crossing from the colonies in Madagascar. Though the Zimbawe warriors would fight on until 625 it would be a losing battle to the end.
622AD: The natural obstacle of the Sahara allowed for only one land route to Ghana, along a narrow strip of hardly habitable scrub and desert along the cost. To quicken the arm supplies were kept to a minimal and instead pre-established supply points were made with the fleet. That narrow strip of land is where the Ghanaian army waited in a fort they called Verlaatberg. Even though most of the Gallic army was made up of units from Greater and Lesser Carthage they were still not as equipped or skilled at desert fighting as the Ghanaian warriors. Using Verlaatberg as the focal point they were able to meet every flanking maneuver and although tactically less advanced their spearmen were a match for the Gallic archers. Cocidius would lead a breakthrough on the gates of Verlaatberg but the assault would be repulsed before much more than a foothold in the inner courtyard could be made. Cocidius was mortally wounded during the withdraw from the courtyard, his body was carried back to his tent were he dictated a letter to his daughter back in Alesia – among his sentiments were orders to continue the fight.
During the night the Gallic army was endlessly assailed by raids and in the morning, the ships that were to bring fresh supplies and warriors never arrived (they were caught up with the enemy fleet – which would turn out to be a major victory but their delay meant defeat for the army outside Verlaatberg.
By the following evening what remained of Cocidius’ army was in retreat. Hardly half of the 15000 that left Carthage returned. When Fiona received her father’s letter it was said she locked herself away for 3 days. When she emerged she presented her father’s wishes to the High Council and the Oghma – the vote was split on whether to continue the war or not, Fiona’s was the deciding voice. She would agree with the High Council and send peace envoys; with the Gallic fleet in control of the ocean her terms for peace were accepted by Queen Ayisha of Ghana.
Lusitania would have to give up control of the resources still in their possession as well as a number of their trading posts. They would be allowed to continue their shipping rights – mainly because much of the Ghana’s fleet had been destroyed during the war. Gallic merchants were allowed to continue traveling to Ghana but only within one port town and the capital.
623AD: The peace envoys from Ghana and the signing of the treaty marked a double event, on a cold night in early Nollag (December) Fiona was crowned High Queen. Her reign was marked with sadness. She dedicated many statues and buildings to her father in cities throughout the League.
625AD: The Gallic League celebrates 1000 years since the formation of the Oghma. The month of Aanoghey (renewal – the 5 day month between Deireadh Fomhair (October) and the new year which begins in Samhna (November) that is usually used for religious observance) was awash in color and festivals from Alesia to Cartagena to Pessinus.
Necho III dies. The Egyptian throne passes to his son Psamtik V (625-633).
An issue that in large part had much to do with the defeat at the hands of King Vilhelm II openly fractures the Breton Republic. Though still formally acting with that title it is decided during the Senate meeting in Bebinnshire that the kingdom be split into four separate lands: Icinia, Brigatia, Catavulania, and Eraninn.
626AD: The 2nd Council of Theodosis is held, delegates from Dacia and Sarmatia decided on several issues; It is written into the cannon that the Ascension of the next Patriarch shall not be ordained until the third day of the passing of the pervious Bishop of Neos Syracuse. The practice of desecrating the dead by cutting into them for scientific knowledge is deemed sacrilege (though few doctors in Sarmatia practiced this research there were many in Dacia whom conducted their own research as well as followed what was being accomplished within the League and Egypt). The third major decision of the Council was to proclaim that priests shall not marry – all men of the clergy currently in wedlock were ordered to devote their lives to God or leave the Church (again, this new church law impacted Dacia more than Sarmatia).
In this year the first of the true double ended boats (with the major advancement of the T-shaped keel) are put to sea by Scanzian builders. In a few years the design is added to by the Lusitani with the side-borne rudder. Though it quickly becomes a favorite design among merchants, war ships will remain with the classical style for some time to come.
627AD: Egypt, in an attempt to re-expand their wounded empire launches an attack on the Axumite Empire (627-630). By the middle of the following year Egyptian soldiers are storming Axum, killing King Dedwen – though the royal family survived and his daughter Kandake would resettle the capital in Aman-Ank (founded by King Arquamani in 243AD), a city on the horn of Africa.
628AD: Muhammad Al-Ameen dies – it is said that his last words were that he regretted not being in the arms of Marlik. He died far from the holy city in Susa, his nephew was by his side (Muhammad’s two sons had died in battle) and would carry his uncle’s banner. Though young and untested in battle Al-Muttalib is honored as his uncle’s successor – it is a short time later Al-Muttalib unearths some “genuine†family documents clearly showing that Muhammad was a descendent of Mehrdad and so his blood too dated back to the Prophet. Real or not Al-Muttalib didn’t wait long for this evidence to be refuted and rushed to secure his new position by taking the title of Caliph.
The Kamiharou launch their first attack on the Chi Empire - these initial attacks are peaceful by comparison to the latter raids. The first attack came at dawn on the first day of Marta and was localized to the main island of Nihon. From capturing warriors, which was difficult since they would rather commit suicide than be taken alive, it is learned that the Kamiharou at this time are led by a man calling himself Emperor Temmu. From further interrogation of these warriors it is discovered that Temmu controls a hundred islands. In truth we know today that at the time Temmu controlled about a dozen islands through intermarriage and intimidation. Temmu himself didn’t reside on any one island. His court and army commanded the sea onboard ships, some of surprising size. Within a dozen years the floating empire known as the Kamiharou will reach out to strike along the whole of the Chi cost as well as up nearly every major river. By the end of the century kingdoms as far as Bactria are being economically bled to death by the swift and viscous attacks of the pirate nation.
631AD: Emboldened by their successes against the Axumite Empire, Egypt declares war on Caliph Al-Muttalib (631-634). By 633 Jerusalem is back under Egyptian control but by the following year the city is lost once more to Mehrdadian armies – joining Al-Muttalib in the war against Egypt was Bactria, a month after Jerusalem was recaptured Egypt also lost Lower Guptaian province.
632AD: High Queen Fiona, who had never recovered from her father’s death, steps down in favor of her daughter Iona (632-652).
633AD: Psamtik V is poisoned by his brother in a coup orchestrated by the Civic Council. Thutmose II (633-649) assumes the throne and immediately orders the construction of a new royal forum to be built as a meeting place for King and Council. The forum is never completed and within a few years Thutmose II is no longer seeking advice from the Civic Council (the Council was unable to react to this betrayal as over a dozen of their members suddenly died).
634AD: A series of small wars commence between the four kingdoms of the Breton Republic (these will continue on and off for the next hundred years). At the request of several Oghma representatives High Queen Iona sends mediators to Breton to help settle the skirmishes there.
The fighting in Breton will carry over to some estates in northern Gaul where family ties still spanned the Veneti Sea. Following the advice from the High Council, who foresaw the danger of quarrelsome families favoring the Breton conflict, Iona will send a further 3 more mediation missions – on the last one she herself will travel to Breton. At that time she surmised that further Gallic intervention would only harm any hope of reconciliation between the smaller kingdoms of the Republic.
Iona and the regional druids would be kept busy for nearly the remainder of her reign in keeping political tensions from boiling over into open conflict. Though the families of northern Gaul would remain cordial towards one another this did not stop them from sending aid to kin in Breton.
637AD: The Caliphinate and Bactria battle each other along the Indus River. The commander of Al-Muttalib’s force is killed in the crossing of the River, afterwards his army is soon flanked and forced to retreat. Two years of war followed the failed crossing of the Indus – nothing was accomplished and borders would return anti-bellum.
640AD: Dana Inney Burgess, a female druid (rare for the day), studying at the University of Vesuvius, writes her book “Scientific Speculationâ€. Wherein she hypothesizes about future advancements namely in the area of optics but she also theorized about projectiles, engines, and flight.
646AD: Al-Muttalib, without a formal declaration of war, advances over the shared border with Sarmatia (646-651). The unexpected ferocity of the Mehrdadian warriors (namely their swift well trained cavalry) overwhelms the Sarmatian armies sent to oppose them – at the best of times during the war Sarmatia is only able to fight to a costly draw.
648AD: Neos Syracuse is attacked and sacked. Mehradadian warriors will occupy the city for 7 days before reinforcements (many sent by Dacia) can reach the city.
649AD: Thutmose II dies while hunting with his son. The official report has Thutmose falling from his horse – several broken bones are consistent with a fall of this sort. However, recent examination of mummified remains of King Thutmose II (on display at the Royal Museum in Memphis) has uncovered several gouges in the upper vertebrae that suggest a different demise. By fall or knife thrust, Psamtik VI is crowned King of Egypt (649-668).
650AD: Neos Syracuse is put under siege (which will last for the remainder of the war).
Al-Muttalib dies while battling in Sarmatia. His son Al-Mansur takes over the armies (650-670).
652AD: High Queen Iona dies and passes the throne to her son Brennus (652-669).
658AD: The First Pagan War (658-664).
This war had more to do with pride than anything else. There was the wealth of conquest and the money be made in captured slaves – and the politically stated reason of doing God’s work – but it was the humiliating defeat at the hands of what were precieved as simple Bedouins that was the real motivation behind Sarmatia’s call for war.
There was unrest in Sarmatia and the Patriarch needed some one other than himself to place the blame. Who better than the Gallic League, a long time object of jealousy and hatred. Under promises of glory to God Ivan III is able to convince the House of Bishops (an advisory group to the King of Dacia) of the need for war – they in turn convinced King Sorin.
On a cool day in early Marta Sorin began his march into League territory. The first battle would come on the plains of Pannonia where fortified camps and local war parties were able to keep Sorin’s army busy until Brennus IV arrived with his own army. The chariots and cavalry of Brennus’ army easily turned the Dacian flanks – a timely warrior charge at the height of enemy confusion was all that was needed to push Sorin back over the Danube into Dacia.
This victory was diminished by the loss at Letnica in Thrace. Pannonia was for all accounts a stupendous blind. The majority of Sorin’s (and what Sarmatia sent) army was focused on taking the Greeklands. Local war parties would manage to keep the invading army from reaching too far into Thrace and Macadonia.
660AD: By Bealtaine Sorin was dead and his son Mozes was king of Dacia. Where Sorin saw the value in conquest Mozes was far more interested in the henvenly rewards. Mozes halted the incursions along the upper Danube that were meant to keep Brennus in check and threw the full weight of Dacia (and Sarmatia) at Byzantium.
Byzantium was easily the richest and largest city in the Gallic League. It was also the most well defended city in the Gallic League. The garrison leader at the time was a warrior by the name of Carrick and through his command and with the aide of warriors and supplies from Anatolia (supplied by Edan, the war chief from Pessinius) Byzantium will not fall. Carrick will even launch the small flotilla of ships under his command to do battle against Sarmatia war galleons.
A second army of about 2000 (mostly cavalry) will venture up the Sava but local war parties, which would eventually be drawn into a farmers army by Donella (later to be named war chief Donella), would force the Dacian into a withdraw. The small army, now down to less than half their original numbers, will be driven into the garrison at Mezek under the command of war chief D’Ary (who will be killed during this encounter).
662AD: Mozes will continue to harry Byzantium with a much reduced siege while the bulk of his force falls back into Dacia to fight Brennus IV who had finally broken through the line of forts along the Danube. The battle would eventually be fought about 20km from the Dacian capital – where due to poison and sabotage the Gallic League will lose. Under the cloak of night nearly a hundred of the captured peasants put to work in the Gallic camp would be rallied together by a man who has come to be a great hero in Dacia, Razvan (a retired soldier who at the time of his capture was thought to be a simple farmer). By morning nearly all of the chariots had been damaged and all the horses sick or dying. Though Brennus was able to make a strategic withdraw it was a costly effort – we can take away from this loss only that Razvan and most of his peasant army were beheaded.
If this wasn’t tragic enough there would be a second defeat for the League at Belgios. The fort, named for the prominent tribe in the area, guarded the lower lands of Macedonia. The garrison leader there was defeated by the only army Sarmatia would send into the war (about 4000). This defeat, even with Mezek and Byzantium still standing, opened all of Macedonia and the heart of the Greeklands to invasion.
664AD: Though Thrace, Greece, and Illyrium would burn, total conquest would be stilted by quarrels within the Dacian/Sarmatian army. After the defeat at Belgios the Sarmatian general began gathering locals and preaching to those whom would listen and torturing those whom bared their ears from God’s word (it is interesting to note that although a minority religion within the League the Greeklands held the majority of the Christian sect calling themselves Fadeyrianists). The slow advancement of the army after the victories of 662 had severely strained the cooperating Dacian and Sarmatian generals – this would halt the war for almost an entire year as King Mozes and Patriarch Ivan III decided on the correct course of action.
Their quarreling would prove to be the downfall of the invasion. Brennus, now resupplied with a new army (made up of Italian and Celtibarian tribes) lands near Athens and begins his drive north. He will meet the enemy at Pella along the coast and win a major victory.
However, before any further action could be taken it is put to Brennus by the High Council to offer peace. The cost in lives and gold for the war had been the highest in Gallic history thus far. There was much that needed to be repaired, regrown, and replenished. The League would keep Byzantium (which had still been under siege) but the new border would run from Mezek, along the foothills of the Balkan Mts., to the Sava River.
667AD: Anatolian War (667-677).
Still bloodied and drained from the First Pagan War the Gallic League found themselves once again under attack - this time by the armies of Caliph Al-Mansur. Caliph Al-Mansur, though powerful and influential, had debts to pay to the tribes of the desert peninsula among others (the religious zeal and small bribes used to unite the peninsula would not maintain the balance of power – he needed money to place further bribes or pay for armies that would have to fight the internal conflicts that would undoubtedly spring up). Byzantium must have been an apple to good to be true – especially since Dacia and Sarmatia and done half the work for him.
Al-Mansur’s army swept into Anatolia striking first at Tarsus. After defeating the garrison there his army moved north to Vanota and another victory.
The garrison at Tavium, north of Vanota, along with segments of the army stationed at Pessinus will win a victory against Al-Mansur along the banks of Tuz Golu.
For much of the next year and a half the war would be fought in mountain passes as each side probed for weaknesses.
668AD: Psamtik VI dies and passes the Egyptian throne to his son Necho IV (668-674).
669AD: Brennus arrives in Limyra with an army of 7000, which is augmented by the local force to nearly 10,000. He set out for Amblada where Al-Mansur had within the previous weeks captured and was planning on using as a staging point. Brennus IV force would easily overwhelm the enemy garrison on watch at Amblada. From here he split his army into columns of 1000 and sent them into the mountains to clear the passes of the rest of Al-Mansur’s army.
The Victory at Amblada was followed by a victory at Vanota. Edan (the war chief from Pessinus) bypassed the large enemy encampment at Tuz Golu and recaptured Vantona and the Caliph’s supply trains. Two weeks later Edan would force the enemy army at Tuz Golu to surrender – which was denied, all those captured were beheaded.
By the end of the year both Brennus IV and Edan are marching towards Tarsus. The battle there was harsh and bloody as Al-Mansur’s forces had retreated and fortified the city. The city would fall back into Gallic hands though Brennus IV would die in the assault.
It would take many weeks to get a message to Alesia about the death of the High King and several more weeks after that for the body of the King to reach Alesia where it was cremated. Keelia, the King’s sister, takes up the crown and the war (669-678). The war, however, would not pick up again until 672.
670AD: Al-Mansur’s son, Al-Amin, takes the title of Caliph upon his father’s death (670-685).
672AD: Caliph Al-Amin renews the war by attacking and taking back Tarsus. Aiding him in this fight was his new navy (which he had spent the last two years buying and building – now more than ever the Caliphinate needed the rewards of conquest). The next city to fall was Limyra, where a number of Gallic ships were sunk, but the battle for Rhodes would halt the enemy’s advance. Al-Amin would be content for the time being with sacking coastal towns and concentrating on his land war.
Given the quickly moving enemy and the success of Byzantium in holding out against Dacia and Sarmatia High Queen Keelia opts for a defensive war. She herself remains in Alesia (the first in many generations to willfully remain so far behind the front) and directs Edan not to commit the army to the field and instead strike with minimal raids. “We will be as a thousand bees,†Keelia is quoted as having said.
Patriarch Ivan III (658-676) begins a massive building project in response to the growing influence of Mehrdadism within Sarmatia (in keeping with their evangelical nature, despite great risks, there is a constant flow of missionaries into Sarmatian lands now under Caliphinate control).
673AD-676AD: During this time Amblada, Rhodes, and a number of other cities and settlements fall to Al-Amin. Pessinius is never attacked but all the surrounding forts are taken, effectively cutting the Anatolian capital off from the rest of the League.
674AD: Byzantium is once again put under siege.
Necho IV dies, his son Psamtik VII takes the double crown (674-694).
676AD: King Psamtik VII and High Queen Keelia sign a new treaty, bringing Egypt into the war against Al-Amin.
677AD: Although the land war against the Caliphinate amounted to very costly draws it is in this year a major sea battle is won by Egypt, forcing an end to Mehrdadian aggression for the time being.
The League is forced to give up all of Anatolia, including Byzantium.
The Council of Sarmizegetusa is convened (by direct order of Patriarch Ivan IV – which was rare, usually Councils are ordered by the Holy See and seconded by the Patriarch). Discussed, though no formal decree is made, is the role of women within the church. Among the Proposals put forth was a motion to regulate the procreation of wedded individuals so that the year is broken up into holy days when copulation could be conducted to insure a good and devote child and holy days of observance when all members of the church must refrain from all activity but prayer. Talks stalled when members of the Dacian church balked at the idea of preventing wedded couples from conducting their rights as a married couple (though, as they already had strict gender roles, many of the other proposals were met with nods of approval).
678AD: High Queen Keelia is forced to abdicate because of her inability to defend the League and her lack of interest in her judicial obligations. Dasos, Brennus IV daughter, who is now of age, is nominated and elected as the new High Queen (678-691).
679AD: The Second Pagan War (679-686).
In a passionate speech given by Patriarch Ivan IV in the weeks prior to the Second Pagan War he said, “There will be no heaven on Earth as long as there are snakes and demi worship. So be it in the land where the sinful are lead by a sinner.†A week later the House of Bishops convinced the King of Dacia to go to war with the Gallic League. Not that King Bodi I needed convincing, raised Catholic as he was he only practiced as often as he needed to maintain the crown.
A Sarmatian army of 3000 lands in Thrace with plans on taking the rest of the Greeklands.
A Dacian army starts their war by invading Scanza along the Vistula.
High King Dasos sends the army from Kelheim to Pannonia where they do battle and are able to take the fortifications Dacia had built since the last war.
680AD: Much of the territory along the Oder had fallen to King Bodi when he was battling King Harlod along the Vistula. Bodi I now set his eyes on the Elbe but High Queen Dasos was ready for him. Though unpopular, Queen Keelia’s idea of thousand bees did have merit. Dasos would strike at Bodi’s army from all directions as he made his way to the Elbe, he would never know when or where the next attack would come. This had the effect of enraging the Dacian King and setting his faculties off center in the dense woods of the Rhineland. By the end of the year, Bodi is forced to pull back to the Oder. Also by the end of the year, the last of the Sarmatian army is retreating back into Thrace – they will not be a hazard for the remainder of the war.
The first compound microscope is built at Cularo (located in the Alps of the Norian lands).
681AD: Similar to her tactics along the Elbe High Queen Dasos now begins her push to retake the Oder – this time going as far as to burn bridges and farms.
682AD: Finally in Feabhra of this year High Queen Dasos gives King Bodi I what he had been longing for, war on an open field. Dasos does not hide the fact that she is marching towards the Vistula and as planned King Bodi is drawn towards the Gallic army. At Marcomnni (a city about 300km from the headwaters of the Vistula where the river begins to arch eastward) the two armies would meet. Angry and eager to fight a tangible battle, King Bodi I launches his campaign with little forethought; by the time he realizes he has been sucked into a trap it is too late.
There would be no major battles after Marcomnni, though the war would continue until 686 when the High Council advises Dasos to end the war. In the end both the League and Dacia were exhausted and ready for peace (I say Dacia because nearly all of the expense in soldiers and gold was theirs even though Sarmatia was theoretically part of the war on Pagans).
685AD: Caliph Al-Amin is the first of his line to die within the walls of the holy city. His son Al-Rashid becomes the next Caliph and reigns over the world’s largest empire (685-707).
691AD: High Queen Dasos dies. Though successful during the Second Pagan War her antics as queen left many longing for a new monarch. Her reported permiscuality was said to have made even some battled hardened warriors blush (she replaced all female members of her Algiz with male warriors – many found themselves posted to her private chambers). The throne will pass to her cousin and long time friend Rhiannon (691-714), the garrison commander at Corinth.
694AD: In an event that was perhaps as foolish as it was bold, Psamtik VIII, the son of the King, murders his father while he slept. With the loyalty of many of the palace guards (who were later paid off with promotions to army commanders) Psamtik VIII proclaims himself the new king and disbands the Civic Council and has several of them arrested for the murder of his father.
697AD: The Civic Council, though defunct, would not be deterred as they were in 633. Biding their time while Psamtik grew less and less favored by the people, they secretly sought a suitable heir. The Council would find their heir, Psamtik’s nephew, a child of Necho IV line, who had managed some how to enlist in the King’s army though he was two years short of the proper age. In another round of assignation, best depicted in the historical account The Night of a Thousand Daggers, Necho V was placed on the throne (697-719). This time the new royal forum would be completed (710) and one of the first acts of government there would be the drafting and signing of The Rights of the Council – a document that laid out the division between the King and the Civic Council.
