The Medean Revolt . The full details of the Medean Revolt are available for popular consumption in the surprisingly excellent volume Downfall of Empire by Fel Awdrey, Astoril 3050, Gombret Press. In terms of producing a history of the entire age it would make more sense to licence use of Awdrey’s text in abbreviated form. I would suggest that the following list of events should form the basis of this section:
The Medeans - Sandar led a group of his peers, named by themselves after the Tribe of the Medes to which most of them claimed descent, on a destructive series of raids on the minor temples of what was once central Medea but was now referred to as the Misin Reach. This culminated in the firing of the Temple and Priests House at New Bacton. This incident marked out a step change in their campaign: the unlooked for deaths of the priests drew a vicious and murderous response from the Temple Guard throughout the region. Sandar vowed to respond in like fashion.
The Deceit at the God’s Kitchen – when Sandar, fearing that his nascent rebellion had been infiltrated by agents-in-secret of the Masachean state, enlisted the help of the itinerant wizards of Errensea training. We will not delve too deeply into the techniques of True Sight and Illusion employed by the wizards but concentrate on outcomes: the purging of the traitors; the involvement of the wizards in the battle of Hannay Reaches.
The Travelling Word – when, after the success at God’s Kitchen, Sandar’s people took to the road, travelling separately or in small groups with the mission to spread the word of that first success far and wide throughout the Western Empire.
The Intelligences of Haslem – whereby the Lord Wizard Haslem Garrassin sought out Sandar with news of the coming Masachean response. Again the use of Sight and of Seekers need only be mentioned in passing, the key point being that it was Haslem’s intervention that allowed Sandar to keep one step ahead of his enemy and to plan his war more effectively.
The Ten Battles of the South – We will hope in the final version of this history to give the circumstances and geography of each of these minor battles but surely the main point here is to show how Sandar carefully created one region of revolt at a time, drawing in the Masachean forces and causing them damage, but leaving them no opportunity of retribution upon the common folk of those regions by moving quickly on to a new arena of confrontation. In this way he showed the people that revolt could be achieved without subsequent brutal suppression. By the time the Emperor Priest could provide major reinforcements to the Temple Guard of the West already the southern regions were roused against them.
The Battle of Tebbisford – the first major battle. It will be important to point out that although Errensea Wizards were involved openly they were not leaders but followers. Sandar required their help and he told them what to do. Haslem did not take part in the fighting but continued in his use of Sight to inform and assist Sandar’s choices. The shock of this complete victory over the trained armies of the Temple Guard was decisive. The Masacheans began to doubt themselves; the suppressed began to have hope. Worth noting too the help given to the Medeans by the Matagordans of Aegarde: a great store of arms was smuggled across the river and deposited at the Caves of Lascalle and so Sandar was able to properly arm his people.
The Demons of Lusk and the Reversal of Segeston –The role of the powerful Blood Wizards of Lusk is of crucial importance in this one great defeat for Sandar. Working in concert they made blind the Sight of Haslem and then brought into the world five demons. Sandar’s army scattered in the face of this threat. The irony is that in response to the demon-calling, Errensea at last decided to send out its entire strength to join with Sandar and Haslem.
The Battle of Dinorlech –The Imperial Guard took the direct route from Nai’vedya through the Aristin defile and rampaged through the towns and villages of Skelldane in all arrogance, only to find that Sandar had deliberately drawn them into a trap at the Dinorlech Banks. With his finest soldiers floundering to their deaths in the quick-sands of the Oswynne this defeat was a mighty embarrassment to the Emperor Priest and pushed him into action more quickly than was perhaps wise.
The Battle of the Footings and the Advice of Polz –If anything is to show the wisdom of Sandar working with Haslem it is in the final forbearance of Sandar at the walls of Polz. It was Haslem who advised Sandar of the huge army of Masacheans (a combination of city militias, Temple Guard, and the remaining regiments of the Imperial Guard) massing in the south of Masachea ready to take the coast road from Polz into Apia; it was Sandar who decided against luring this army to meet him in the battlegrounds north of the Misium (where ancient Gothaen earthworks made for strong defences). Instead he marched his armies southerly at all speed, gathering greater force to him as they went. A vast army of men and women, well armed and confident and carrying an anger driven by hundreds of years of torment and grief, converged in western Apia so quickly that the Masacheans had hardly set out upon their march into the west. Sandar placed a large part of his force upon the coast road but sent also twenty thousand up into the Footings of the Hurgals. The Masacheans were not expecting the road to be held against them, still less the attack on their flank. Their generals were unprepared; they had no wizards with them. Each minor army within their ranks fought their own battles with no regard to pattern.
The Masachean retreat to Polz after such a crushing defeat, with their enemy biting at their heels, was a ragged affair and by the time they reached the walls of the city their plight was desperate. If the Masacheans had not gained the safety of the city they would have been destroyed entirely. The citizens of Polz (and it must be remembered that Polz was in ancient times a city of Apia and not of Masachea) hesitated to open their gates, some arguing that it would be safer to deny entry to the remnants of the army and to claim neutrality, but the sheer size of the army in pursuit changed their minds. At least with the extra soldiers within their walls they might hope to extend their defence until help came. Sandar’s army settled itself outside the walls and awaited direction. But Sandar, supported by Haslem, wanted nothing of sieges; he wanted nothing of attack beyond the borders of his own country; he wanted nothing more than liberty and the safety of the people he called his own. He spoke to the Masacheans in parley saying: “Take back your lives into the heart of Masachea and be thankful that Medeans know a word you have forgotten. Mercy. Think what that word could mean to you and your race. You live ever under the yoke of vile masters, and for that I pity you. But a yoke may be thrown off if you have the strength and the will. Look at this army before your walls, look at this people. Do you see any yoke upon them? There is none, for now they have freedom and they will keep it. Take this message to your masters and to that so called Emperor, that so-called Priest: if you have a notion once more to apply a yoke upon the Medean people, banish the thought. You will cross these mountains again at your great peril. Today, under this bright sun, we show you mercy. Do not risk a dark tomorrow.”
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