Bhirn Campaign

The Bhirn Campaign is a warring event that began in **438PR** when Ex-Consul Arruns Calenus invaded Bhirn with 3 legions, citing that the nation had been raiding his province of Agrippa.

## Background

In **436PR** Arruns Calenus successfully ran for Consul, becoming the first of his family to do so. He had a successful consulship which allowed him to pass many laws that benefited both him and supporters.

Once his consulship ended, he was awarded the governorship of the Agrippa province in **437PR** with 3 legions to defend and maintain it. With the Senate's approval he was able to raise a 4th on his own dime. After the legion was raised he petitioned the Senate for approval to defend his lands with a vaguely written law. Still holding influence, the Senate gave him the right.

Gathering his army in **438PR**, Governor Calenus marched on Bhirn with 3 legions, leaving the fourth to defend their Northern border.

## Initial Invasion

The Bhirnians defending the border were taken by surprise initially by the Nirvan movement, forcing them to flee from their positions and leave the Northern lands for raiding. The situation was not helped by their current monarch King Urmnir Thyk, who believed the Nirvans were only here for a short term and didn’t organise any defence to stop them.

Having no one opposing him, Calenus was able to reach the Delac Brook and build a suitable base of operations in the mountains nearby. He then spent the rest of the year raiding and enslaving the nearby people before returning to Agrippa for the winter, leaving his son Gaius in command.

### Winter Fights

Commanding over 3 legions, Gaius was content to set put where he was, building another fortification close by in order to cover a mountain pass. What he didn’t know was that the fortification was the determining factor for King Urmnir, who sent his soldiers to go and harass their enemy.

Through the winter Gaius was under non-stop attack from all directions, both fortifications were hit with waves of enemy every day, giving them little time to rest. The relatively young commander was able to stay composed under trying times, lifting the siege when he led a group of triarii to break through the enemy line and steal many of their supplies, scattering the enemy. Governor Calenus even wrote if it wasn’t for the leadership skills of his son, he would’ve lost his entire army over the winter.

### Arrun's Return

With the siege of the camps lifted, Arruns was able to return to his army, publically rewarding his son and the soldiers for their efforts and survival. Knowing the enemy was now active, he sent many scouting parties to search the region for travel routes and potential defensive points.

He made effort to fortify the route that the Bhirnians took when harassing his forts, placing a sizable garrison there.

Other than the addition of a new fort, not much land was taken for the Nirvan side, unable to gain a decisive victory and losing too many men over the winter fights. Arrun once more returned to Agrippa for the winter.

### Winter Blockade

Just like last time, the Bhirnians began harassing the enemy fortifications whenever they could. This time, Gaius was prepared. Since they were unable to conquer as much land as before, the legions spent most of their time enhancing their fortifications and building more javelins for a range.

It didn’t take the Bhirnian army long to figure this out, taking volley after volley of ranged attacks as they pushed up to the fortifications, requiring different paths now that their main route was blocked. Simply put, during a month the Bhirnians were stuck. When they got too close to the walls they were hit with volleys of projectiles, taking heavy casualties, but when they tried keeping a good range in order to build siege equipment, Gaius or a different commander would harass them with a group of soldiers.

Following the situation closely, King Urmnir changed his tactics. Instead of harassing the enemy he would copy them, building fortifications up in the mountain and nearby to stop any of the Nirvan progress.

## Stalemate

In **440PR**, Arruns returned to the area with replacement soldiers to reinforce his legions, later than usual. He had planned on raising a 5th with the Senate’s approval but believed he could take on the Bhirnians with the three he had.

After taking back command from his son, he was happy to see that the soldiers were still in good spirit, beating back the enemy over the winter. Arruns then decided to take a few weeks to reorganise the replacements within their legions before marching out and claiming more land. He once more used his scouts to get a good idea of the area.

When his scouts returned, they brought back bad news. The Bhirnians had copied their tactic and now had a series of fortifications all the way to their capital in Vagh Bhirn, and many blocking all routes to the city of Zela. Frustrated but composed, Arruns led his soldiers through the countryside and claimed everything they could find. His hope was to starve out many of the fortresses which likely wouldn’t have enough supplies to sustain themselves just yet or to draw out their army.

No Bhirnian army came, forcing the Calenus commanders to have patience and wait for the fortifications to starve, harassing their supply lines whenever they could.

This winter, Arruns did not return to his province, instead weathering with his troops, having spent an extended time there last time to ensure it would survive without him for a year.

### Fort Gaius

During the winter, Gaius devised a plan to antagonise the enemy. Gathering some soldiers, Gaius began construction of another fort near one of the enemies. The construction was done slowly, in order to avoid the enemy noticing until it was completed. At one point they were almost discovered but quick action from the Nirvan soldiers managed to capture the enemy scout instead, giving them a good source of information on the area.

After a few days he was finally able to complete the fort (which usually is completed in a day) and sent soldiers to garrison it under his command. When the enemy finally noticed they were attacked day and night, almost surrounded on all sides if it wasn’t for the other Nirvan fort close by. Once winter ended the fort still stood, now reinforced. Both sides took moderate casualties, more than Gaius would’ve liked.

## Capture of the fortresses

When winter passed, the new campaigning season in **441PR** had begun. Wintering with his soldiers, Arruns was able to immediately start his movements.

The first objective he had was the first fortress, which had already been damaged during the winter thanks to Fort Gaius. With two legions, they were able to take the enemy out quickly, overwhelming them and forcing the Bhirnians to surrender.

Two more fortresses fell in the same way, overwhelming then and capturing it within the day. All was done with little casualties, using the speed of the attack to an advantage. Still having time left in the season, Arruns and Gaius marched on the fourth fortress, the last defence before Vagh Bhirn.

Both sides knew the importance, which is why the Bhirnians finally sent an army out to meet the Nirvans, this battle is known as the Battle of Fort Urmnir.

Falling back to the fortresses he had already conquered, Arruns made the difficult decision to return to his province for the winter. A speech was made for his troops in order to keep morale up, along with giving them a reason that he would not winter with them.

Instead the troops wintered under Gaius, who kept a good amount of recreational activities to keep the troops happy during the cold.

Confident with their victory and expecting the Nirvans to retreat, the Bhirnians did not keep up with their usual winter harassment, instead improving the fourth fortress.

The next year, in **442PR**, Arruns returned to his troops, bringing gifts to rekindle his connection with them. After organising his troops, the Nirvans moved out on the fourth fortress, surrounding it and beginning a siege. Both Calenus knew that the fortification would be too hard to take by force, thus starving them out would be the only option. Command was split, Gaius commanded the more difficult Eastern Side, while Arruns commanded the West, where he could monitor the logistics.

Taking the initiative, Gaius built his own set of fortifications around Fort Urmnir. Blocking off many of the entrances the Bhirnians could use to lift the siege of the city. Further additions were made for defence, including a rotating watch, multiple outposts and listeners on the ground to find any tunnels being made.

While the Bhirnians made efforts to lift the siege, all were stopped by Gaius and his troops, who took only light casualties. Having no way to lift the siege and unable to bring food to the garrison, Fort Urmnir surrendered.

## Encirclement of Vagh Bhirn

Still having time in the campaigning season, Arruns and half of his troops encircled the capital of Vagh Bhirn, building a series of small forts to dissuade attempts at breaking through. While the ex-Consul wanted to join the further movement into Bhirnian land, he kept command of the encircling troops so he could better cover the logistics and run his province away from home.

The rest of the troops were commanded by Gaius, who was able to take more land after the successful Battle of Bhirn Grove.

Once Gaius returned from his campaigns, the encirclement quickly changed into a siege, Arruns using the time from before to supply his troops and keep good hygiene standards.

## Fall of Vagh Bhirn

After two years of sieging, and King Urmnir’s failed political efforts to get Arruns to stop the encirclement, Vagh Bhirn fell. The Nirvans led by the Calenus family marched into the capital triumphantly, hailing both Arruns and Gaius as imperator.

To keep the Bhirnians happy, Arruns made sure to have enough food to help the city, bringing it under the Senate and more importantly, his control.

## Aftermath

### Bhirn

Arruns made sure to keep the Bhirnian people happy, giving them food and a lot of their rights back to them. Raiding was kept calm, costing the Governor a lot of potential revenue but securing his long-term. Though the exhausted peace was short-lived when King Urmnir and his son were captured by the Calenus family to be paraded and sacrificed later on. Even with their anger, the Bhirnians were unable to gather any significant force in order to rebel, simply falling under the governance of the Senate over time.

### Nirvan Republic

The Senate was happy to have another province under their reign, allowing them to improve their economy through further taxes, manpower and a safer Southern border. In a strange turn of events, they accepted both the Triumphs of Arruns and Gaius, giving them a huge amount of fame and boost to their reputations.

The people were excited for a number of reasons, greatly improving the situation in Nirva, such as the uncommon two Triumphs, safer Southern borders and new land for their veterans to claim.

### South-East Arlec

South-East Arlec quickly took notice of the growing Nirvan power, taking out one of the regional powers and significantly increasing their own. The most important nation to notice was Aren, who began building fortifications to greater the defence of their borders. Ilaka also began preparing for a potential Nirvan battle, while the other border nation, the Lorenzen Kingdom was too busy dealing with another major internal dispute.