Siege of Kundrall

Artist's Depiction, 6 AF

Following their decisive victory at the Battle of the Kundrall Plains, the Republic of Lakkos pressed its advantage, determined to secure a lasting advantage over Kundrall. The Siege of Kundrall would become a pivotal moment of the Dual Islands War, becoming the symbolic end of the war.

## Battle

### Siege Preparations

With the Kundralli forces in retreat, High General Thomas Wilkinson swiftly moved to encircle Kundrall, positioning his army in a strategic perimeter around the capital city. The siege began with the construction of a network of trenches, and watchtowers, isolating Kundrall from the outside world.

Inside Kundrall, General Publiann prepared his defenses, knowing that the survival of his city depended on his ability to withstand the impending onslaught. He confided in advisors that the only advantage was his naval supremacy and ability to import rations near indefinitely, making an assault the only possible way of Lakkosian victory.

### Siege Tunnels

As the siege drew out into weeks, the Lakkosian forces faced an unexpected challenge: Kundralli defenders had embarked on a daring underground campaign to undermine the siege tunnels and breach the Lakkosian defenses. This subterranean battle added a layer of complexity to the siege.

Fierce skirmishes erupted below the earth's surface as Lakkosian and Kundralli soldiers clashed in the dark, narrow tunnels. The outcome of these underground battles often determined the fate of the siege. General Publiann's engineers displayed remarkable skill and resourcefulness, thwarting many of the Lakkosian attempts to breach Kundralli defenses from below.

### Breach of the Arsia Wall

After two months of siege the Lakkosian army was finally able to receive and deploy heavy siege artillery against Kundrall, delayed by Publiann's maritime raids and the poor quality of roads through the jungle. Once deployed the artillery made remarkably short work of the massive Kundrall walls, creating multiple breaches in the northern curtain wall within two weeks. With the wall breached Publiann initiated "Jaysh Alshaeb", roughly translating to "People's army" in Lakkosian. Publiann sent almost all of his reserve cavalry to attack the Lakkosian lines in a sortie to delay them as much as possible while the entire Arsia district of the city was evacuated and every single man from the age of 20-40 was armed with surplus weaponry, bolstering the manpower of the city by an estimated 60,000 men, more than doubling the existing garrison of 40,000 men. With most of the men in the city armed and being hastily trained Publiann ordered that all men aged 15-19, 40-50, and all women aged 20-40 be conscripted into an emergency labor force to build any and all defenses needed as quickly as possible, giving Publiann roughly 100,000 laborers available. The final part of the Jaysh Alshaeb order was that boys aged 10-14 (~24,000) would be conscripted to preform non-combat support duties such as being powder rats and moving supplies. Overall this order would constitute nearly half of the civilian population of Kundrall being officially conscripted, though it is disputed just how much of this number could actually be mobilized.

### Markellah's Charge

Early in the morning of January 17th Publiann's cavalry, led by Lt. Colonel Markellah al'allus, assembled outside the wall under cover of the early morning darkness. Once assembled Markellah's cavalry, numbering between 800-1,500 began their charge, reaching the Lakkosian camps within minutes and catching the besiegers almost completely off guard. The charge happened to coincide with Lakkosian celebration of Consul Zwęglony's Day of the Phoenix the day before on the 16th, leading to most Lakkosians having to fight with incomplete kit and hungover or drunk. Due to this Markellah's forces were able to push further than anticipated and seize most of the Lakkosian artillery battery. Markellah, now having lost the element of surprise somewhat and completely surrounded deep in the Lakkosian camp, ordered that all of the battery's gunpowder be piled into one stack along with as many cannons as possible as the rest of the cavalry battalion held off the Lakkosians. By around 7 in the morning the Lakkosians had fully organized against the sortie, and Markellah was one of roughly 50 survivors still standing. At roughly 7:30 in the morning Markellah detonated the gunpowder magazine of the Lakkosian artillery battery, causing an explosion that could be heard for miles around, with a fireball easily visible from the walls of Kundrall. The detonation destroyed roughly 80% of the Lakkosian artillery battery and killed an estimated 2,000 Lakkosian troops. The explosion is estimated to have been the loudest in recorded history as of 8AF. In total Markellah's charge killed an estimated 5,000 Lakkosian troops and ended in Markellah being posthumously awarded the medal of honor and the attack being a major tactical and strategic victory for the Kundralli forces, delaying the Lakkosian's ability to assault the city by roughly a week to reorganize, thus giving Publiann time to fully enact his Jaysh Alshaeb plan.

### Assault on Qalea Nasis

On January 25, 6AF the Lakkosian army had fully reorganized and replaced their casualties with reserves from other elements of the army freed up by the full securing of the southern front, now ready for a final assault on the city's citadel, Qalea Nasis. In the morning the remaining artillery opened fire on the gates, managing to blow them open within a few hours. At roughly noon the order was given for the Lakkosian troops to storm the citadel. Thousands of Lakkosian troops stormed into the Kundralli defenses, though initially progress was very slow and subject to extremely high casualties due to the bottleneck of the gate and the Jaysh Alshaeb defenses. Regardless the Lakkosians pressed on, eventually breaking through the gate and into the small field behind it that had earlier had Publiann's only two cannons deployed overlooking it and loaded with grapeshot. As the Lakkosians poured into the field many were shredded by grapeshot as the corp of riflemen attempted to return fire against the Kundralli cannoneers. After many minutes of bloodshed the Lakkosian sappers managed to detonate a powder keg to blow open the doors to the inner sanctum where Publiann himself was, guarded by the elite Guardia Zaharra numbering about 100 strong. As the Lakkosian forces stormed in inner sanctum the Guardia Zaharra fought to the last man in a last stand to buy Publiann enough time to escape via a secret tunnel under the fortress, which succeeded and led to Publiann escaping the city inland to lie low and organize resistance against Lakkos.

## Aftermath

Officially the city of Kundrall was taken on January 26, 6AF, though pockets of resistance in the city lasted until early February. The assault would lead to the liberation of Kundrall, although was characterized by an initial lack of order and mass looting on behalf of Lakkosian soldiers. Thousands were taken prisoner and detained until following the war. Wilkinson, on recommendations by High Minister Goldwater, attempted to capture Publiann alive. Wilkinson ensured no naval vessels left or entered the city for this very purpose. Upon the liberation of the city and subsequent interrogations, it was learned that Publiann had fled the city inland, resulting in Executive Order 59: a massive search effort to bring Publiann to justice.