Battle of the Plains of Taab

Part of the War of Joran Succession

Part of the Böhmist Wars

Part of the Reckoning of the Zegets

It is spring of 615. Ûystil reflected on the last weeks. The masked king had received a challenge by a foreigner, and could not turn it down without committing political, and literal, suicide. And now he stood before the field of battle, at the head of an army stretching further than the eye could see. Before him, on the opposite end of the field, beside a small walled town, stood a diminutive army of foreigners. Ûystil laughed, and ordered his horde forward. The Battle of the Plains of Taab has begun.

### Context

Following the siege of Brymburk in 614, the victorious Albrecht faced a problem. His supply of gunpowder, necessary to his strategy, had been entirely depleted, and those sources in his domain were incapable of fulfilling his needs. Thus, his eyes turned to the Südzisch city of Grimmau, the Gunpowder City, for the quantity and quality of powder it produced.

This of course led to another difficulty. The Gunpowder City, and the trade routes his powder needed to travel, was under constant threat by the Zegets, a savage group of nomads, from southern Brankonya, who had taken to marauding through southern Juhnvechteya since 612. Weighing his options, and factoring that Johann would land in the north within a few weeks, Albrecht made his decision, and took his army south.

Though crossing through nominal enemy territory, the Böhmist leaders did not dare to attack Albrecht’s force. Albrecht had made it known he was marching south to battle the Zeget horde, which had been terrorizing Toradzland. Indeed, this was such a popular move among the Toradzmen and Kauts that several thousand knights and militia, regardless of allegiance, joined Albrecht’s force

Meanwhile, far to the south in Brankonya, the Zegets were burning the town of Selzabaurg. Following the seizure of the town, the Zegets enslaved all the inhabitants, and sent them south to the slave markets of Atukhen under guard. It was then that the High Chief of the Zegets, Ûystil, received word of a challenger from the north. Ûystil could not refuse this direct challenge to his reign of terror, lest his subordinates sense weakness, and so gathered his vast host from its raids across Brankonya, and set out north to receive Albrecht.

Albrecht, well aware of the Zegets and their ability to outmaneuver any army arrayed against them, issued an invitation to battle outside the walls of the town of Taab, in Ebbenloz. Naturally, the Zegets agreed, and so on the fourty-first day of spring, both forces met at the Plains of Taab.

### The Battle

Albrecht knew through spies and scouts the way the Zegets fought. As light cavalry, they preferred to make use of complex maneuvering actions while hurling projectiles into their target, before charging home with sabres. As such, Albrecht positioned his White Army, as well as the various reinforcements he had received, between the flooded banks of the River Ebben, and the large strong walls of Taab. Naturally, the citizens had not been informed of the battle that would take place on their doorstep, though they could not remain neutral, and so joined with Albrecht’s army.

Meanwhile, the Zegets deployed as they typically did, in several blocks of cavalry, each arrayed behind the other in a line, that they might perform a caracole. In all there were some 100 blocks of Zegets, a mighty force which would surely destroy Albrecht on open ground.

Ûystil gave the order to advance, and the first wave of Zeget warriors charged, bows and javelins in hand, quickly followed by the second and third. The three ranks began to ride in large circles, that each block may pour more projectiles into their target with each pass. However, this did not go to plan, as Albrecht had positioned the most well armored of his soldiers in the front ranks, and all his men were protected by a heavy pavise shield, which would stop anything short of a cannonball.

As the Zegets tired themselves against the wall of Joran shields, Albrecht’s men replied in kind, loosing arrows and bolts of all forms into the attackers, slowly whittling the horsemen down. Eventually, one of the Zeget chieftains, one Chysi the Pyromancer, grew tired of the ineffectual caracole, and ordered his hordes to charge into Jorans.

The charge proved extremely effective. The Jorans at the center, where the charge occurred, were completely overwhelmed and a massive breach was formed in Albrecht’s front lines. Ûystil was the first of the commanders to recover, and ordered more of his horde into the breach. Two thousand horsemen charged into the gap, and began to overwhelm the Jorans there.

Albrecht’s force was only saved by the Toradisch Allies he had brought to the field. A Toradisch Ritter, one Sir Pidoff Hiss, ordered his small retinue to reinforce the White Army’s center, the rest of the Toradzmen saw their chance to take revenge upon the raiders who had savaged their land for so many years. The whole of the Toradisch army, some three thousand heavily armored men, rushed into the breach, closing the gap before the Zegets could break through and flank the White Army.

From his position behind the main force of his horde, Ûystil could only see the Zegets pushing through the enemy. In reality they were being rapidly slaughtered by eager Toradisch spears, but he assumed the attack was going well. Thus, he ordered most of his men into the breach, while he took the remaining 5,000 men he held in reserve, and began to assault the walls of Taab.

Over the next hours, the breach was deepened through sheer weight of numbers, but the Toradzmen held. Albrecht, having recovered from his shock long ago, ordered the unengaged flanks of his army to curve around and fall upon the rear of the Zegets. Thus, he achieved what many assumed to be impossible, the total envelopment of a numerically superior force.

Just as the Jorans surrounded the Zegets, Chysi was slain, though whether by a Joran or one of his own frustrated men, history will never know. It is said among the Toradzmen he was immolated by divine wrath. Whatever the case, with the death of their leader, and the knowledge of the envelopment spreading, the Zegets began to panic.This panic of horses and men led to a massive amount of casualties as they attempted to escape. Hundreds were crushed to death, underhoof or by suffocating during the rout. Thousands more were slain by bolts and spears thrown by Albrecht’s army. A breach would be made to the east of the battlefield, toward the flooded banks of the Ebben. Many thousands further would fall in this swampy ground and would drown in their armor. A few hundred made it into the river’s ford, though they realized their mistake, as the flooding made it impassible, and the Joran heavy cavalry following them cut them down.

Meanwhile, Albrecht ordered his army to advance to the southern gate of Taab, where Ûystil was assaulting the town with his remaining soldiers. Apparently unaware of his subordinate’s defeat, Ûystil was taken by surprise when thousands of bloodied, yet eager, Jorans and Toradzmen appeared on his eastern flank, and was even more surprised to see his army being destroyed along the riverbank.

The Masked King could do little has the White Army fell upon him, and the Ebbenmen of Taab loosed arrows into his force, and so he ordered a retreat. This retreat quickly turned into a rout, and the remaining Zegets fled the field in all directions.

The battle was over. Albrecht an Taepe had won.

### The Aftermath

Following the Battle of the Plains of Taab, the power of the Zegets would be utterly broken. Nearly three-quarters of their warriors had been slain, and while they would continue to raid the region in small numbers, they would not raid another city for some decades, until the Sack of Estraterth in 648.

Ûystil, the Masked King, would be slain in a ritual duel against Szandïla, a disenfranchised Chieftain, enraged at the destruction of his clan. As is the custom of the Zegets, Szandïla would become the Masked King of the Zegets. He would institute a policy of kidnapping children from the settlements raided, to train them to become the Zehetlus, unquestioningly loyal slave warriors, to replenish the ranks of the Zeget hordes.

Due to the perception that Albrecht had saved the whole of southern Juhnvechteya from the Zeget horde, he gained immense popularity among the people of the various countries of the south. Among those who supported him were various lords in Brankonya, the southern Stôranic lordships, the Free Lords, and the people of Toradzland. Indeed, his popularity was so great that, in thanks for saving their lives, many thousands of men, mostly Toradisch and Kaut peasants, joined his recently devastated White Army. The White Army’s numbers would grow from 4,000 to 9,000 during Albrecht’s return to his own realm.

During Albrecht’s campaign in the south, Johann would land at Harda. Albrecht’s forces, particularly the Trînasti, would engage him, though he could not be driven into the sea. He now had a foothold in the country to challenge Albrecht, and loyalist lords would begin to rally around Harda.

The City of Grimmau would, in thanks for Albrecht’s aid, provide him with several tons of gunpowder. Furthermore, they would begin casting several dozen cannon, which would be sent north along the Torad later in the year.