Battle of Cartesium

The **Battle of Cartesium** was a naval battle fought between the Empire of Sevicia and Duscador on the 2nd of Mandera III, 694 A.S, during the Second Duscadorian-Sevician War. It was one of the only naval battles of the war and by far the largest, and proved a permanent turning point to Duscadorian naval hegemony in the region.

## Background

Fought off the coast of the island of Rosh and named after the coastal settlement of Cartesium that overlooked the site of the battle, it took place over a single day in late Mandera and was the singular defining conflict of the war. Duscadorian naval strategy had meant ships had spent eighteen months prior patrolling the western coast of the South Lothor Sea in an effort to prevent Sevicia establishing any sort of naval presence in the region, but a lack of adequate resupply chains and a lack of information meant that they could not feasibly prevent the creation or adoption of a Sevician navy in the easternmost reaches of Sevicia. Learning from their defeat at sea in the First Duscadorian-Sevician War 40 years earlier, the Empire of Sevicia had quietly spent the better part of two decades drawing up plans for a proposed supreme navy to combat Duscadorian supremacy at sea, as well as on land.

## Order of battle

By the time war broke out the fleet was almost complete, though production delays and a focus on the land-based effort meant it was not ready for combat until three years later. Sevician Admiral of the Grand Eagle Oren Kristiaccus, a veteran of multiple conflicts, was chosen as the supreme commander of the naval forces. The Sevician navy contained 300 twodeckers, 80 threedeckers, three 30-gun gunships, and almost 20,000 infantry. In late Mandera II, the fleet departed Otesia harbour for the first time, heading west.

The Duscadorian grand fleet, under the command of Admiral Arzhelico, who had seen success in the first war four decades earlier, was stationed off the southern coast of Resh. The fleet, which contained the flagship *Jewel of Tyno,* set sail for patrol of the northernmost side of the island three days later, on the 26th of Mandera II. Owing to a rare bout of poor weather for the sunniest time of the year, including a thunderstorm on the 29th that delayed sailing for half a day, reports of the oncoming Sevician fleet were not reported until eight hours prior to the battle. The two fleets met off the coast of Cartesium on the 2nd of Mandera III.

## Combat

By early that morning the wind had picked up and Arzhelico, in command of the combined Duscadorian fleet, held the coastline with his ships. The Duscadorians had the advantage of both quantity and quality; the Duscadorian twodeckers were wider and heavier than their Sevician counterparts, and the hull-armoured threedeckers were much the same. Though this meant an advantage in numbers of marines and infantry onboard, it meant that they were slower in open waters. Arzhelico, fearing this to be true, held the coastline for most of the morning.

Corbal Hannoco held the left flank and Eumes Cliasma, the son-in-law of former Duscadorian monarch Harubal Sisa, held the right flank. Despite the superiority of their ships, by early afternoon the Duscadorians found themselves at a significant disadvantage; the Sevicians had in their possession three state-of-the-art 30-gun warships, which dramatically outranged and outgunned the Duscadorian ballistae.

The Sevician bombardment of the coastal line left more than two dozen ships damaged, a handful irreparably so. Arzhelico, now trapped against the Resh coast and losing control of the situation, ordered his fleet to engage. Early skirmishes proved bloody on both sides, with heavy ballistae fire and bombardment sinking a great number of ships, but by late evening Arzhelico's fears became realised. A number of ships on the left flank of the Duscadorian fleet had managed to get caught in the wind and had drifted wildly off course, leaving them away from the defensive line of the rest of the fleet.

Hannoco himself was killed when one of the Sevician gunships sunk his threedecker, and the left flank, with no leader and no way to navigate out of the elements, collapsed entirely. Arzhelico lost control of the battle; on the right flank, the faster, more easily maneuverable Sevician ships made easy work of boarding, and in close combat the panicking Duscadorian troops were slaughtered. By nightfall Arzhelico and the Duscadorian fleet were in full retreat, and in the ensuing chaos, desperate to escape the coastline, almost two thirds of the entire fleet was destroyed.

## Aftermath

The battle had lasting impacts on both the immediate war and the larger naval picture of Truyea. With a shattered fleet and missing one of its most experienced admirals, Duscador never recovered in the timeframe of the war. Arzhelico stepped away from naval life in 704, leaving what remained of the fleet to rebuild without its supreme commander. Cartesium established Sevicia as the dominant naval power in the South Lothor Sea and beyond, and for their roles in the battle, admirals Gerant Tuso and Miriam Thia were both awarded the Grand Eagle of Sevicia.