The Adrypnii War

The Adrypnii War was an armed conflict in the year 877 between the powers of Thesia and Kostaenea. The war began principally due to conflicting diplomatic encounters between the nations amidst the worst period of the Kostaenean economic decline in the nation's history, known as the Black Days. Thesian attempts to force a secession of Kostaenean lands due to this were thwarted off by political advisors until the 8th of Trai in 877, when Thesian skirmishers overtook a Kostaenean border fortress. Formal war was declared the following day.

Combat was sparse by standards of the era, with many skirmishes taking the place of large-scale pitched battles. The tired and sickly Kostaenean Army was, for the most part, ill-fit to take on the advancing Thesian forces, who were responsible for the capturing of border fort after border fort and town after town.

The war effectively ended in Duderai of that year following the Kostaenean defeat at Koleta, one of the few formalised large-scale pitched battles fought during the war. Peace was signed three days later after the submission of the remaining Kostaenean government officials and generals, with large territorial successions to Thesia.

## Diplomatic Endeavours 876 - 877

By late 876, the Black Days of Kostaenea had caused a significant crash in economic integrity, and with it political stability. As resources were shifted rapidly away from the military and government projects to aid in public resources, the first of the Thesian feeler diplomats squeezed their way into the political system of Kostaenea.

Their first offers seemed generous, speaking of aid and foreign support through the crisis. However, these proposals were almost always intertwined with mentions of reprimand, often times that of territorial secession. Steadfast in their standings and unwilling to give up pieces of their homeland, Kostaenean officials declined every single proposal handed to them. As time went on and as more deals yet still came up, relations quickly deteriorated rather than improve as it initially seemed they would, while Thesian intents were revealed further.

## War

Diplomatic tensions led to the order of partial mobilisation of the Kostaenean military on the 22nd of Duolan, prompting the Thesian military to respond in turn with their own full mobilisation of forces. It was the move Thesia needed to incite conflict. At the time, large parts of the Kostaenean army had been disbanded in response to the lack of funding due to the a transfer of funding to public aid. What remained was a total contingent of 26,500 Kostaenean troops, mostly pseudo-militia alongside a few veteran units that had been deemed too important and well-trained to disband. Against them by 877 stood 72,000 Thesian troops, formed up in 3 armies along the border. However, it would be a number of weeks between the 22nd of Duolan and the actual beginnings of war on the 4th of Trai.

### Outbreak of the War

At 11:34 on the 3rd of Trai, without a formal declaration of war, 1,500 men and 4 cannon under command of Colonel Vesin Kamar crossed the border of Kostaenea, bound for the Kuis Redoubt, a semi-fort constructed along the border, one of ten principle Kostaenean fortifications between the nations. Manned by only 600 militia, the redoubt was stormed in the dead of night, Kamar instructing his men to "hold your fire until you're within bayonet reach of the poor sod you're targeting". The Battle of Kuis was an astonishingly lopsided defeat for the Kostaenean army, and the defences were overcome within minutes. As the sun rose on the 4th of Trai and word of the battle reached both sides' respective commands, Thesia issued an official declaration of war, and her armies quickly began to march.

### Early Skirmishes

See: The Little War

Following the Battle of Kuis, the Kostaenean high command was largely under the impression that, should they engage in a pitched battle, their army would be entirely destroyed. Thus, it became their primary goal to avoid such a maneuver. Measures were made to achieve this, most prominently withdrawing from four of the fortresses on the border which they felt could be allowed to fall, as well as separating the army into smaller chunks under command of colonels and brigadier generals. With these smaller groupings, Kostaenean forces engaged in a guerrilla campaign that would largely last the entire war, but was at the forefront in the first months. Numerous minor skirmishes and raids occurred during this period, many of which were lost to history. However, few affected the Thesian army's advance in any considerable way.

#### Battles of Forts Kii and Ganapos

The two largest battles of this early period of combat were the Thesian operations to seize the forts of Kii and Ganapos. Two of the largest fortresses along the border, they also flanked either side of the Kuis Redoubt (it should be of note that they were still ~20km away each) and thus threatened the main Thesian advance.

Kii was besieged starting on the 10th of Trai, and would be until the 7th of Quinlan where it was stormed by a force of 7,500 Thesian troops after intense bombardment practically decimated the entire west wall of the old fort.

Ganapos was put under siege on the 14th of Trai, however it would manage to hold out longer due to multiple efforts by the Kostaenean military to relieve it, the largest being the Battle of Ikan Stream. Like Kii, Fort Ganapos was subjected to immense bombardment over several weeks before a bloody assault was launched on the 28th of Quinlan. This first attack however was repulsed by the remnants of the veterans of the 2nd Infantry Regiment, who'd been cooped up in the fort when it was first sieges. A second however finally took the defences for Thesian hands after a bitter three-hour affair.

### Battle of Liknios

Despite Kostaenean efforts to avoid such an event, the 2nd Thesian army under General Romev managed to force a pitched battle on the 16th of Oclan against Brigadier General Aulisko at the village of Liknios. Aulisko had managed to muster three separate guerrilla-orientated armies in the region under his command, totaling some 4,300 men against Romev's 17,000. The Kostaenean army, rather than form battle lines traditionally, yet still tried to avoid being massacred in open combat by taking refuge in the village. After sending his rear echelon to the opposite side of the village to fully surround it, Romev's men bombarded the area with heavy cannon, before ordering a frontal assault. Unlike Kostaenean track records so far, the defence of Liknios' buildings was a bitterly contested affair in which each was fought over one by one. Under persuasion of more cowardly officers, whom thought Kostaenean numbers to be up to 12,000 in the village, Romev ordered a withdrawal of troops three hours after the start of the attacks. Roughly 1/4 of Liknios had been taken from Aulisko's men, and around 1/2 was destroyed or on fire. Had the attacks been pressed further, it is almost certain Aulisko's force would have been annihilated. The combat at Liknios was the first and only sizable Kostaenean victory of the entire war.

### Battle of Ipokos Bay

A particularly interesting encounter occurred on the 20th of Oclan in the form of a combined arms push by Thesia to strike at the northern Kostaenean port of Ipokos. An important trading centre boasting a sizable military dockyard, its capture was deemed necessary to allow Thesian raiding vessels further southeast to terrorise Kostaenean shipping in one of the first accounts of such a tactic being planned. Ipokos was at the time home to two Kostaenean protected cruisers and an old and sickly mastless turret battleship, all of which would take part in the upcoming battle. Thesian command planned for a two-pronged strike against the port, one pincer approaching from the land to subdue the garrison, and another in the form of a flotilla to disable, capture, or destroy the Kostaenean naval assets stationed there.

It would be the land conflict that began first, with an army of 6,700 under command of Brigadier General Bellasair commencing an all-out frontal attack on what was presumed to be a maximum around 800 militia manning the defences of the port. In reality, around 1,400 men were stationed in Ipokos, a mixture of newly-brought-up militia and regulars, and they wreaked havoc on the Thesian advance for quite some time. The first attack was called off completely after losses began to stack, wherein Bellasair ordered a more thorough approach. Attacks resumed in smaller segments, targeting presumed weak points in the line, supported by the Thesian batteries of around 40 guns. This method however likewise failed to produce results, and so, annoyed with a lack of progress and with the naval battle now raging below them in the port, Bellasair ordered another, final, frontal attack. Costly as it was, it managed to break through Kostaenean defences in finality after desperate fighting.

In the Bay of Ipokos, the Thesian navy had lost the element of surprise due to the start of the land-based assaults, and in fact by the time they arrived the Kostaenean forces in port had managed to loose from their moorings and were ready to fight, removing the prospect of an easy victory for Thesia. Composed of 3 protected cruisers and 2 battleships, the Thesian navy began a ranged gunfight with Ipokos' mini-fleet as soon as they entered the bay. The naval battle would last much longer than its partnered land fighting, as fate would have it. Despite their lacking numbers, the Kostaenean seamen put up a valiant struggle in the face of the Thesian navy. Their efforts, however, would ultimately be in vain. By the time the range was closed between the opposing sides, as little as 900 metres at some points, the mastless turret ship of Kostaenea, the KFN *Golasad*, was in flames and listing heavily, its turrets unable to acquire an angle to fire. The protected cruisers battered their Thesian counterparts with accurate and quick fire, and manage to successfully sink one of them whilst heavily damaging one of the two battleships, however could not stand up to the overwhelming firepower of their opponent. One of the Kostaenean cruisers would be heavily damaged to the point of being scuttled before surrender was finally accepted. Despite it being a serious strategical victory, Ipokos Bay was in fact one of the worst tactical Thesian defeats of the entire war, with heavily lopsided land casualties and the loss of two important vessels.

### The Central Border Offensive

Following the stalemate at Liknios, the Thesian offensive momentum achieved in the early stage of the war was intensified in the so-called Central Border Offensive beginning in early Decilai. Despite the name, few open battles were waged during the period, with as little as possibly around 70 dead on either side. Nonetheless, the rapid advance of the full force of the Thesian army into Kostaenean lands left the latter's military completely in shock, unable to stand and fight. General Romev lead the spearhead, advancing at a pace of almost 10km a day in the best conditions.

### Battle of Koleta

See: Battle of Koleta

Despite initial precautions, Romev's army began to slow as an early winter approached in late Undeclan, and his command made a move that could have well proved fatal. Intent on travelling on the shortest route to the Kostaenean capital city of Olynthida, Romev's then 20,000-man army found itself moving through the half-frozen Koleta Marshlands. Thesian soldiers fell to sickness and were burdened by the sudden cold, emboldening the Kostaenean high command, which began to rally a combined army that would come to total 14,000 men in late Undeclan. They mustered 43km south of the marshlands, and began the march north on the 3rd of Duderai.

Romev met the Kostaenean advance, led by General of the Army Mausimus Eiknos, at the Reia Farmstead, where he ordered a hasty defence to be set up. General Eiknos was deliberate but clumsy in his attacks, which he launched one after the other in ignorance. Thesian soldiers used bog ditches as trenches and fortified the farm buildings heavily, leading to brutish combat in horrible conditions. Cannons became stuck in the mud and men drowned in shallow, water-filled depressions as they were crushed under foot by charge after charge. The fight lasted all day, with both sides suffering heavy losses. However, Thesian numbers prevailed, and a counterattack led by Romev succeeded in routing the reserve lines of the Kostaenean army, effectively ending the most important battle yet, and the war.