Battle of Satala

Punainen, Duke of Hiiumaa, leading a charge against Serkish camel riders

The **Battle of Satala** was a battle fought between the Serkir Shahdom and the Grand Duchy of Karelia, supported by troops from the Great Haven. The last battle of the Rukousristeily, it was the first major victory of Grand Duke Niklas III Karjalainen and effectively concluded the Karelian conquest of Serkland.

## Battle

In early 748 AFE, Grand Duke Niklas III Karjalainen arrived in Serkland with a 8,700 strong army that implemented several reforms, notably the installation of pikemen in the Karelian battle line. Marching from the captured capital of Weh Antiok Khosrow, Karjalainen intended to take his army to the Serkish rebels' capital of Istakhr. Along the way, he planned to convene with a contingent of around 1,500 men from the Great Haven, who agreed to assist the quelling of the uprising in order to protect their recent territorial gains. The new self-proclaimed Serkish Shah, however, was crafty, and managed to catch the Karelian force near the town of Satala, attacking them with an army of nearly 16,000. After a brief skirmish, the Karelians managed to beat back the first attack, convincing both commanders to withdraw to a better position. The Shah took this opportunity to all but surround the Karelian army, placing the eastern portion of the army under the command of General Perozes, and commanding the western portion himself. Karjalainen placed his army atop a small, level hill, and formed an octagonal shape that was flanked by a thin layer of 3 ranks of pikemen that covered all but the middle part of the formation, which was guarded by a mixture of Tatar spearmen and Saaremaa axemen.

The force from the Great Haven, however, was closer than either side anticipated, and a scout from the contingent was able to alert its commander to the ongoing events. The infantry force then made haste to join the battle, which had, by that point, begun.

The Serkish launched an attack with horse archers, who skirmished with the Karelians' own horse archers. Outnumbered, the Serks won this engagement, but were forced back by the Hiiumaa and Karelian foot archers in the battle line. A main assault was then carried out by Ghulam and camel cavalry on both sides, followed by the Serkish spear infantry. Punainen, Duke of Hiiumaa, led a cavalry charge against the camel riders on the eastern flank, successfully pushing them back. The camels and Ghulams on the other flanks were then pushed back by the pikemen.
Serkish infantry engaged soon after, and bloody combat ensued as the overwhelming numbers of Serkish infantry began to cause the largely inexperienced pikemen to collapse, with only a detachment of 400 Bolenesian phalangites holding strong against the attack.

It was at this point that the Serkish Shah himself, mounted upon his war elephant, personally joined the battle, slamming into the Karelian infantry. Rout was prevented by the Grand Duke, who himself rode within arrow's shot of the Shah's elephant, and the Ducal Guard, with their poleaxes, were successfully able to frighten the elephant so terribly that, in its attempted retreat, was caught in a small crevice and collapsed to the ground. A group of Ducal Guardsmen and Saaremaa nobles then climbed the fallen elephant, ensuring its demise with several stabs to the head, before moving against the Shah and the elephant's rider. Both men were given no chance at self-defence, and brutally beaten and stabbed until no longer recognisable.

It was at this time that the Great Haven's infantry finally arrived to support the Karelians, pushing against the east side of the Serkish army, capturing General Perozes, and forcing the collapse of the nearby Serkish infantry. With both their Shah and their general unable to command, the Serkish troops panicked, and a massive rout began. By the end of the day, 6,000 Serkish troops remained to retreat to their capital, which surrendered within a matter of weeks. The rebellion had been successfully crushed, with 10,000 Serkish dead, 1,200 dead Karelians, and around 500 men of the Great Haven killed. Among the dead Karelians was Duke Eerik of Saaremaa, who was trampled by one of the Shah's elephants, and reportedly left unrecognisable.

## Aftermath

After the battle, the Great Haven's contingent agreed to turn over General Perozes, who was executed by drowning in a ritual to ward of the serpent Iku-Turso.

The surrender of Istakhr a few weeks after the battle resulted in the final defeat of the Serkir Shahdom, and the incorporation of its easternmost territories into the Grand Duchy of Karelia and the Great Haven.