Battle of 14 Nations

By the early morning of the battle, about 1,500 Tharrisians had boarded ships preparing to leave for the island while the rest of the force had been building fortifications against an attack. Documents now show that Aenophentari's air dreadnought was to provide protection against any sort of land or naval attack, while the Tharrisian's would prepare to leave.   Meanwhile, 1,000 soldiers and The Wayfarers, along with Nemeia Wise, the commander of the Green Guard Sylshala, Francois Duelion of the Order of the Dead Rose, Galan Dalari, Marcus Idoldran, and Ithali Commander Elarinya, all prepared to leave on smaller and faster boats. The rest of the army marched towards the Tharrisian's head on, and Commodore Pleri positioned her ships to encircle the Tharrisian's and bottle them in for destruction.

The land battle was mostly waged on the sandy and rocky beaches of the Dead Waters and amongst the makeshift fortifications constructed by the Tharrisian Legions.

It was a warm and overcast day along the beaches of the Dead Waters.

The combined army marched towards the Tharrisian Fortifications in force, much to the surprise of the fortified Tharrisians. At the same time, the Virnosian squadron sailed around the battlefield, acting as an escort for the Wayfarer's smaller force. Upon reaching the small bay where the Tharrisian's had set up, the Virnosian squadron opened fire on the docked and anchored ships, causing widespread havoc and chaos. The Wayfarer's forces then departed towards the isle.   Later reports show that seeing the small force heading towards the Island, Aenophentari ordered that the dreadnought prepare to open fire on the enemy while he undid the illusion spell hiding the dreadnought.   The first force to engage the Tharrisian's were camel cavalry led by Sued Sahlei of Straka which pinned the 4th legion in place, soon followed by foot Rycerz led by Rent Milatadies, and Embrellian Knights on Foot. The rest of the force fanned out at Gareth's command as he ordered the artillery to set up and prepare to bombard the Tharrisian fortifications beyond the 4th Legion. He also sent a force of Embrellian soldiers and paladins to the west to begin to encircle the Tharrisian fortifications, though they were soon intercepted by 16th Legion forces and a melee locked them into place.   At this time, the air dreadnought became visible and bombarded the ground. It's massive artillery guns smashed the Strakan forces, and caused the line to begin to splinter almost immediately. Taken aback by the sudden airpower Gareth tried to order the lines to reassemble but the Tharrisian's used concentrated Jarakian siege cannons to burst open the line. During the bombardment by the Tharrisian's Sued Sahlei was thrown from his camel and lost in a wave of advancing Legionnaires. He would later be found dead during the counter attack surrounded by 12 Tharrisian bodies with multiple arrow and stab wounds.   As the land battle turned the air dreadnought, thankfully for the allied forces, departed. For the Tharrisian's it was a disheartening moment as they all thought the air dreadnought would back them up throughout the fight. Though before departing completely the air dreadnought fired upon the V.F.C.S. Valorant and ignited its powder magazine, destroying the battleship completely.   To the amazement of all who could spare to look on, several smaller airships launched from the air dreadnought towards the Wayfarer's smaller group, only to met by Tarkus in dragon form, who ripped apart one airship and destroyed another with his lightning breath. The last airship he destroyed after turning back to his normal form and landing back on his transport with a lightning bolt. The air dreadnought and its further airships departed for the island of the dead, beyond the battle happening on the beaches. During their voyage Tarkus would again turn into a dragon, but retreated when Aenophentari did the same. The Tharrisian's were able to get several airships landed (or crashed) onto the City of the Dead ahead of the Wayfarers.   Back on the shores, the battle went against the allies. The 7th Legion, held in reserve in the shoreline fortifications, charged forth and shattered the remainder of the Strakans and Embrellians, causing a rout. Before the entire line collapsed Rent Milatadies, leading a group of Rycerz Herolda and foot Rycerz charged forth again and held the 7th in a slow retreat battle while the allies reassembled their lines. Later survivors of the battle would go on to commend the Aurelian's, and Rent especially, for their fierce nature during the battle. More than a few commanders and soldiers, Gareth included, have openly admitted that without the Aurelian rear-guard the battle may have been lost. During the rear-guard action Rent was injured by a javelin to the side, but merely broke off handle and kept fighting on with his men.   Seeing the declining situation, Commodore Pleri ordered that her ships get closer to shore, now having cleaned up the the Tharrisian troops. One battleship down, her firepower was greatly reduced and the battleships couldn't get into a proper land bombardment position with Jarakian cannons pointed out to sea without risking her squadron. In response, she boarded smaller vessels and life boats with all of the volunteers and marines she could get her hands on. They headed to the shore, braving cannon fire, arrows, and some gunfire to land on the beaches and storm into the weakened garrison. Another pivotal moment, several songs and art works have been made of the Commodore and her men charging over the sea walls and into the fortifications, which alone inflicted nearly 40% casualties on the Virnosians.   With their fortifications under attack, the legions pulled back to their walls, relieving the allies forces. The Tharrisian's returned to their fortifications on fire in places, and engaged the marines and sailors in a vicious melee. The famous poem, "The Ghostly Red Sands" by ex-Virnosian Marine F.F. Comings, depicts the vicious bayonet/saber to gladius fighting that followed. During the height of this fighting, Commodore Pleri planted the Virnosian flag on the highest battlement of the sea-side fortifications while screaming "Rally!" both to her men and the regrouping allied army. During this sight she was shot by a crossbow bolt through the neck, stopping her battle cry, but she kept waving the flag for several more minutes before falling from blood loss.   Using the reprieve, Gareth ordered the lines reformed and put the Atresan/Virnosian riflemen in front with the heavier armored infantry of the other nations behind them, and ordered the Atresan Lancers to try again to circle around where the Heldirian's failed. This time they weren't met with resistance until they got to the fortifications. The combined forces rushed the sand walls and were met with Poutonese and Foreleni auxilia who had been put to the rear while the real legions fought off the Marine landing force.   With the real army having turned around to hit them, Verro turned her forces around to fight off the new incursion. The few remaining naval forces, which had sustained a staggering 85% casualties, including 100% of their command staff, retreated back to their boats and back to the squadron off shore.   The legionnaires arrived just as the Auxilia were breaking, and fighting once again got fierce, this time on the sand walls facing land-wards. Gareth and his friend, Grug, reportedly ran their horses straight up the sand walls and into the melee. When one of his command staff asked him to reconsider before he charged, Gareth reportedly replied "If I can't charge the same hill that I order men and women to, then I don't deserve to tell them to charge at all." The historicity of this quote is considered apocryphal but Gareth has never confirmed it one way or another.   By now, night was beginning to show. Flares from the Virnosian squadron and light spells from front line mages lit up the moonless night as the chaos continued. Around 10 PM, after over 15 hours of nearly non-stop fighting, both armies began to give space without meaning to. The Tharrisian's began to abandon parts of the walls, while the allied forces began to send more and more soldiers back down their side. By midnight, all fighting had ceased, with the walls covered with nothing but blood, battle damage, and thousands upon thousands of dead.   During the fighting, the Wayfarer's had successfully landed their troops and marched them through the miserable locale that was the City of the Dead. They fought several smaller skirmishes until assaulting the entry gate into the Aithero Monopati, located in the ancient palace of the Torva'Ir. The Tharrisians were ultimately all driven off or killed during the fighting, and Aenophentari himself perished in the fight beyond the portal, which few records truly explain the extent of. Octavia Ghiacciato, Marcus Idoldran, and Elarinya all died in the Aithero Monopati.   The bloodiest day in the war came to a quiet end.

The battle saw the defeat of Aenophentari, the biggest turning point in the war. As the puppeteer behind the scenes, his death would eventually lead to the dissolution of his plans and the end of the militant aspects of Tharrisia.   The battle also saw the death of Octavia Ghiacciato and the dissolution of The Wayfarers as a party, as many of them would go their own ways in the days and months after Aenophentari's defeat.   The Tharrisian's would also withdraw from the Nation of Ghosts following the battle, never to return during the war.

Several more campaigns and battles would be waged in the following months, but most historians agree that The Battle of 14 Nations was the turning point in the war. Aenophentari's death and the closing of the Aithero Monopati would turn the war into a more traditional one. And as the months rolled on and the efforts of Jayllin Tano and Evoda Vitri the Tharrisia will to fight would become sapped as Sernita Verro lost political power.

The battle has become known as one of the bloodiest and fiercest battles in the entire 6th century of Kalin. The massive amount of countries involved in some way and ferocity that the various soldiers and units showed has become legendary.

The battle led to the creation of several important novel and poetic works, and many veterans have written about the battle in great detail. Leading to it being one of the better recorded battles in history.

Though they were scantly used, Jayllin Tano's creation of seaborne mines would be taken back to the various nations, who all made notes and added the bomb type to their arsenal.