Host of Man

Ablu'sten

Various other Lords, Earls, Dukes and Thanes

The **Host of Man** was a campaign planned and carried out by Valdamir Ikeurium, King of the Empire. Consisting of the full force of every nation of the Old World, it was possibly the largest army ever assembled, more than 400,000 strong. This colossal figure was split into four armies of 100,000: the Western Army, the Middle-Western Army, the Middle Eastern Army, and the Eastern Army. This figure of 100,000 was divided into five sections of 20,000.

### Campaign

The Host set off from the city of Gatteroth, quickly harassed by Teihuan warriors scouring the edge of the Eastern army. Valdamir sent out 20,000 men against them, while another 20,000 marched on Teihuer itself. With 15 siege towers, the latter quickly overtook Teihuer, massacring its inhabitants.

As the Host crawled over the steppe, an outbreak of Lung-Plague killed 20,000 troops, just one of many tests. As this occurred, the First Horde became visible, twenty squares of 10,000 Gakta, herded together. This evolved into a battle on the Grey Heath, which became a disaster for the Western Army, which had to be reinforced by the Middle-Western Army. At the end of the conflict, 85,000 men were dead, and thousands injured.

Angered, Valdamir ordered every sorcerer the Host possessed, more than 1,000 of them, to cripple the Horde. Tens of thousands of Gakta were killed instantly by the blast wave, and far more by the following assault. At the end of the attack, the injured Horde began to *flee,* and the Host pursued.

The Host of Man, confident of victory, neared the derelict fortress of Vangesh. The Horde fled before their onslaught. Valdamir, worrying that the Gakta may escape, sent the sorcerers out again, but this time to *trap*the Horde, so the Host of Man can catch and slaughter it. The terrified Gakta became desperate, then terrified, and finally violent in their will to flee. The Host fell upon it, the full power of the great army unleashed. The Gakta were cut down and slaughtered, close to being annihilated before a lone sorcerer spotted a *Second Horde*rushing at the unheeding Host of Man. Defences and shield walls were hurriedly constructed, as the Second Horde slammed into the Host of Man with immense force. The closest to the attack were killed almost instantly, crushed by the swarming waves of bodies and corpses. Valdamir organised his forces, retreated into Vangesh in the face of this sudden and worryingly silent attack. The men holding the river were pushed back by the overwhelming weight of their enemy. Thousands were killed in the violent abattoir of men and Gakta, cut down one by one, one by one. Worsening the situation, herds of Trolls breached the weakening flanks, allowing Gakta to swarm around and strike at the underbelly of the Host. Now, with no other choice, the sorcerers came to the ground, beginning to switch the luck of battle once again. But this soon changed. One of the three surviving Flesh-Angels, wielding a fabled Weapon of Light, flew above the men battling Gakta in Vangesh, then cast its spear.

The power was so strong it split the sky, and when it hit the first confused men, those almost a mile away were burned. The beam of light sheared the Host of Man apart, terrified troops jumping into the river and drowning. Horses dragged their rides down as they attempted to flee their doom. Valdamir, King of the Empire, ran towards the bank of the river to board a boat, but the beam found him. He was thrown from the vessel and cast into the water, where the boiling water and other men climbing above drowned him. The same happened to thousands of others.

In the aftermath, 130,000 casualties had been sustained, with 165,000 men still alive. With the Host still carpeting the horizon, Boreran named