War of Thirst

The **War of Thirst,** also known as the **Rith War,** was a conflict between the Kymurian Army in Anjuin and an alliance of tribes and nations under Sultan Ohlmullar Al-Dalahl, occurring from 861KF to 868KF. It began with a Kymurian attempt to conquer the Rith Desert by establishing a series of forts in the region. These outposts were attacked and destroyed by local tribesmen however, and the weakness of their position became apparent. The Sultan, from his position in El-Azer, took his chance to drive the Kymurians from Anjuin once and for all, launching a campaign across the desert. He went on to drive the Kymurian army from all but the city of Rum, and a combination of turmoil on the Kymurian mainland, military incompetence and poor leadership led to the defeat of what was on paper the most powerful empire in the Panguillan continent.

## Background

Under Cyroth the Great, the newly-formed Empire of Kymuria had launched a successful invasion of Anjuin Island. The province and city of Rum was completely subjugated, and ruled by a governor responsible directly to the Emperor, as was the city-state of Sebeul. The agricultural southern princedoms swore a state of vassalage to the Kymurian crown, and the Great Rith Desert was nominally claimed by Kymuria. Though they did not really control this inhospitable region, neither did the Al-Dalahl monarchy, which had previously laid claim to dominion over all of Anjuin and El-Azer. As such, only the "unconquerable" territory of Khypash remained independent. Aside from the island of El-Azer, the Al-Dahlal Sultanate controlled a long strip of arable land on the eastern coast of the Rith, called Afithia.

Though the initial conquest had met with great success, occupying and ruling the large island proved enormously difficult for the Kymurians. Most of the soldiers that had gone over to Anjuin now wished to return home after so many years of fighting (many of them had volunteered for the Frenntolic War a few years before). The Kymurians had not conquered a barren frontier, but a heavily populated civilisation that did not necessarily take kindly to its new overlords, and so a significant military presence was required. Over 100 separate languages were spoken in the new provinces, excluding the regional dialects that most people used. Though Kymuria now controlled the wealthy and resource-producing areas of the land, extracting and shipping them to Kymuria proved a significant challenge.

To solve the military problem, Cyroth I established an entirely separate Grand Military Command, the Kymurian Army in Anjuin (KAA). This force would be a mixture of infantry and cavalry regiments from the mainland, locally-recruited mercenaries, and the small armies of local vassal-rulers. The most famous and long lasting of the locally-recruited troops would be the Drisham Corps, comprised of ethnic Tol'satich men, from the tribes around Rum City. Soldiers from Kymuria were offered extra pay if they stayed in Anjuin, and their families would be shipped over by the crown. Cyroth's vision was that large numbers of people would emigrate there from mainland Panguilla, and establish a Kymurian ruling-class but this proved to be a folly. Most new arrivals were merchants, who would establish their businesses, bring over a few clerks and overseers, hire native workers, then go back home.

Cyroth's age of prosperity and glory did not last long. His two successors, Ferdinand V and Richard I, would oversee an enormous collapse in Kymurian finances, as well as immense internal unrest. As such, rule over Anjuin became an increasingly less important issue to the government, in terms of both policy and finance. To the distaste of the Kymurian government, the only significant settler movement was the "Luker" movement, comprised of Oshary Zeoris who moved to the farmland around Sebeul City under the leadership of Leopold von Luker. Such was their number and tenacity that they established two new provinces, the Saltire and Grey river "republics" in 838KF. By the time Aristis I took the throne in 859KF, Kymurian rule had survived decades of mainland turmoil, but the governing elite was hopelessly corrupt, and the KAA was in an appalling state.

The Kymurian army as a whole was beset by poor pay, bad conditions, and incompetent leadership. To bolster falling troop numbers empire-wide, Richard I had implemented a conscription policy in 841KF. Each Kymurian family of more than 2 children was bound to provide 1 male at the age of 19 for two years service. This was amended to apply to all males between 19 and 29 three years later. Conscription greatly increased the manpower of the army, but badly impacted quality and morale. Officers remained middle-class and noble men who had graduated from various military academies. Richard attempted to expand this to include colonial service in 850KF, but overwhelming popular and parliamentary opposition blocked this move. Instead, Richard's War Minister, Lord Galfrey, reformed the Kymurian army into multi-battalion regiments, which meant that each regiment could have part of its force in Kymuria proper, and one battalion overseas. In general, only the most patriotic and disciplined regiments were chosen for colonial service, but even so, manpower remained low. The Colonial Penal Service law was introduced in 854KF, which attempted to solve the military and judicial problems of the Kymurian empire in one stroke. Men convicted of certain crimes could be spared imprisonment or execution if they chose instead to serve in the KAA for the duration of their sentence. This provided a significant number of new men to the KAA, but their quality and discipline was appalling.

As a young cavalry officer of the King's Olsra Hussars (then stationed in Hulba-Hulbar, a colonial town just south of the Rith), Lord Thomas Winters recalled the following:

> "That afternoon, we received a consignment of penal men. Such a sorry shower I have never seen. They arrived covered in dirt, grease and sweat, hardly clothed, scorched and parched by the sun. Some poor beggars still wore links and chains around their ankles. How we will make good cavalrymen of them I do not know."
>
>

## Kymurian Advance into the Rith

Upon his ascension to the throne in 859KF, Aristis I was fearful of the disunity that plagued the Empire. Seeking to find a cause that could unite his peoples, Aristis began to fixate himself on a conquest of the Rith desert. Despite warnings from his War Minister about the sorry state of the KAA, Aristis was convinced by the bluster of the Grand Marshal of Anjuin, Sir Michael Harksburg, that his men and resources were necessary for a campaign. The Rith was inhabited by a collection of tribes considered primitive and inferior by the Kymurians, who also wished to contain the hostile province of Afithia, still controlled by the Sultan of El-Azer.

That year, Kymurian forces began to advance slowly into the Rith. At first, water wells were common enough that Kymurian forces could establish a fort or "blockhouse" there and move forward, but soon, wells became few and far between, necessitating constant ferries of water and food from the back of the advance to the front. Kymurian armies advanced on two fronts, one force under Marshal Harksburg himself came up from the princedoms of the south, and another under Major-General Royce Packard advanced from eastern Rum province. Packard, unlike Harksburg, was keenly aware of the problems facing the KAA, and had adjusted his forces accordingly. Rather than advance with the poorly trained and unruly mass of mainland conscripts, Packard wisely left those men on garrison duty in the rear. He advanced with a mix of dependable professional regiments on colonial service, and made sure that the vanguard of his column was comprised mainly of various native units. The most formidable of these were the Drisham Corps, who held long-standing hatred of the desert-dwelling tribes. As competent, professional soldiers from a warrior culture, led by long-serving, experienced Kymurian frontier officers, they proved very adept at combating resistance from locals. Despite his wise decisions, supply still proved an issue for Packard. Like Harksburg, he was forced to rely on poorly-supplied, lice-infested blockhouses to mark his progress; though he made sure these were significantly better placed and manned than Harksburg did.

After three weeks, Kymurian armies had made good progress into the desert, though casualties from heatstroke, disease and ambushes were high. Rith tribesmen had made major attempts to turn back the Kymurians at the battles of Sidi Nubar, Nanowa, and Ulbakar ridge, but Kymurian firepower proved dominant. twenty-one tribes of the Rith united under Prince Jakath Ben-Rabar, who began to reorganise his armies and send envoys to El-Azer requesting assistance. These envoys were met with great enthusiasm by Sultan Al-Dalahl, who feared that the Kymurians would attempt to conquer Afithia, and from there, El-Azer. Prince Jakath forbade his men to engage with the heads of the Kymurian columns, and instead conducted a policy of harassment, targeting commanders and any exposed units. His men put heavy pressure on the web of poorly-defended blockhouses, causing havoc among Harksburg's prisoner-conscripts.

Back in Kymuria, the reaction from the public was not quite what Emperor Aristis had expected. There had been a small swell of support from patriotic groups, conservative politicians and mercantile interests, but little else. Among most of the Empire's subjects, the war was either irrelevant or an outrage. Families with men serving in the colonies protested against the costly war, and many felt a war was inappropriate at a time when the imperial coffers were stretched so thin. Aristis, frustrated with the slow progress made, ordered Harksburg to pick up the pace of his march across the desert, which the Marshal did with gusto, despite the suffering of his men.

## The Disaster of Olmuretta

After eight months of progress, Kymurian forces finally reached their zenith. Harksburg's force occupied the desert town of Olmuretta just before the winter of 860KF. From there, a small advance guard of 34 men occupied a nearby hill position. His army was split into two main parts, the force at Olmuretta, comprised of 5000 men (40% regular infantry, 15% regular cavalry, 30% conscript infantry, 15% penal conscripts), and a force some two miles behind them at Fort Maitland comprised of 3000 mixed regular infantry and cavalry. A further 4000 men were spread out for hundreds of miles behind them in blockhouses, forts, towns and supply depots, leading all the way back to the frontier city of Hulba-Hulbar. Morale remained low, officers showed little but scorn for their men, and disorganization remained rampant.

Just a few hours after the hill position was established, it was attacked by a force of several hundred tribesmen. All 34 men were killed. Soon after, a large force of 4000 Tribesmen attacked the secondary camp at Fort Maitland, and 3000 advanced on the man force at Olmuretta. With supplies very low and chaos all around him, Harksburg panicked and ordered a retreat from the position. Whilst part of the army continued to hold off the Rithians, the bulk of the army retreated in two columns from each camp. Before long however, tribesmen were at their tail, and the column disintegrated into a rout. The Kymurian army, under heavy fire and exhausted by the intense heat, broke into a confused crowd and were shot down or stabbed by the tribesmen. Only one cavalry unit, the aforementioned Olsra Hussars, kept in formation and was able to conduct a fighting retreat, though suffering heavy casualties. They repeatedly charged the Rithian lines in order to buy time for the army, until only 1 squadron remained. Lord Thomas Winters was the only surviving officer.

The overstretched military build-up in the Rith desert crumbled. After the battle, the Rifians advanced westward and overran more than 130 blockhouses. The Kymurian garrisons were destroyed without mounting a coordinated response to the attacks. By the end of that month, Kymuria had lost all the territories that it had gained in the area since 859KF. Marshal Harksburg disappeared and his remains were never found. According to one report, a sergeant identified the remains of Silvestre by his general's sash. A tribal servant from El-Azer claimed that five days after the battle, he saw the corpse of the general lying face down on the battlefield - still recognizable by his sash and epaulettes.

Roughly 2000 Kymurian soldiers, most of them badly wounded or ill, assembled at the ancient town of Bouchar-al-Haith, where they raised a white flag and tried to negotiate with the oncoming army. No quarter was offered, and all 2000 men were massacred, contrary to Prince Jakath's orders. Packard's force began a rapid withdrawal, which, despite being more orderly, still resulted in the loss of 20% of its manpower, and a large numbers of wounded had to be abandoned to the tribesmen. Prince Jakath was unwilling to allow another massacre, and had them all interned in the remains of Olmuretta. Many of these men would be repatriated in the coming years.

The tribesmen were able to capture a vast amount of war material intact, which included thousands of sparkmuskets and ammunition, swords, lances, construction tools, artillery pieces, food, draft camels and cavalry horses. Prince Jakath now essentially had all the things he needed to press an advance well beyond the Rith.

News of the defeat spread like wildfire. Kymurian nationals packed up and sailed for home, while rumors of uprisings by the native princes and peoples were abound. In Kymuria proper, the reaction was terrible. Riots broke out in all major cities demanding an end to the war, and memorials for the dead soldiers were attended by hundreds of thousands. The Emperor tried to deflect blame by dismissing the government and appointing a "war council" government consisting almost entirely of generals. Ironically, many of these generals had opposed the war from the start, and strained somewhat at being "dragged in to clean up the mess." Pro-war members of parliament from both liberal and conservative factions of parliament (most of whom had invested in Anjuin-based companies and businesses) formed a bloc.

The new government's first act was to call up 40,000 reservists for immediate deployment to Anjuin. This was met with vicious opposition from the populace, since most of these men were their families' sole breadwinner, and nobody was confident further action in the colonies would meet with success. Most men point-blank refused to go, and there was little the authorities could do to make them go. The mainland army was itself a force of conscripts, and they refused to fire on the protesting men.

## Kymuria is driven from Anjuin

Sensing weakness, the princes of the southern regions revolted against Kymurian rule, and the Khypash sate, recently unified after Paddashah Emanollah I, invaded from the north. Since Packard controlled the only remaining field army in Anjuin, he was given no choice but to put up a bitter resistance against the tumultuous colony. The south was lost, El-Azeri forces had landed at various coastal cities, and his northern command had been massacred by advancing Khypashis. He was pressed by the now well-equipped Rithi army, which "charged out of the desert with the fury of the gods." The remains of his forces eventually made it back to Rum City.