First Spiral War

The First Spiral War, also known as the Kuan-Seprum War, lasted from 27 PS to 0 SE and ended with the creation of the Spiral Empire.

## Battles

### Battle of Iron Wills

The first battle in the First Spiral War took place on the central island between Seprum, Kuan, and Mauzji. The Seprum army sought to gain a first-mover advantage by claiming the northern tip of the island, close to Mauzji and a frequented trade route. They guarded their base with two legions while reinforcements arrived and Kuan spies realized they needed to stop them before they became entrenched, rushing a small army through the Forest to do so. They met two legions, prepared for their arrive.

Neither armies had faced off against one another before though both had spies that warned them what to expect. The Seprum general underestimated the devastating aim of Kuan longbows, assuming they could defend the base with only two legions, and the Kuan saj underestimated the discipline of well-trained Seprum legions, hoping they would fracture and run as Ju, Diao, and Dhi infantry always did when faced with the cavalry charge.

Though Kuan cavalry made numerous charges against the legionnaires, the tight infantry never broke, though they suffered heavy losses as arrows broke through physical and magical barriers thanks to a small team of Kuan cymancers that arrived a little after the fighting began. The Kuan mistake was to allow a relatively undefended Seprum messenger out of the base to urge reinforcements to come faster. When Seprum cavalry and spiromancers arrived, the Kuan were forced to retreat and concede the land, temporarily, to Seprum. Both sides took heavy casualties, and though Seprum fared worse, they maintained their protected position and considered themselves the winners. Kuan troops retreated to wait for more reinforcements, which moved slowly through the Forest.

### Forest Hill

The Seprum army on the central island kept itself fed and equipped by raiding Mauzji caravans on the nearby trade routes in the Forest, which also cut off supplies headed for Dhi and Guk. Their fortifications and base, which they built up quickly after winning the Battle of Iron Wills, made it difficult for Kuan to prevent the raids. Realizing they needed to maintain trade routes to the triple kingdom, Jamlyn Saj decided to add protection of Mauzji caravan. While they caught the Seprum cohort unawares, Seprum tactics in the Forest were far above those of the Kuan army and they killed every soldier in the first protection unit and most of the second before Jamlyn Saj retreated and regrouped.

### Battle of the Omen

More Kuan cymancers, battle-hardened and disciplined, made it to the central island. At a shaman's advice, a spy observed almost an entire legion leave base to escort reinforcements across the island and opted for a two pronged attack. Remembering the devastating effect of reinforcements during the Battle of Iron Wills, they first cut off the legion from the base. At this point, Seprum spiromancers still planted runes as they traveled or in advance, giving away their position to the Kuan army, which tracked their movement across the island, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

They picked a wide open plain because as the legion crossed it, unaware they were being followed, they spread out, losing the advantage of tight lines and interlocking shields. Kuan cavalry fell upon them in silence and from behind, killing two scouts so the attack came completely unawares. Meanwhile, a second, smaller force protecting a group of cymancers moved a little ways ahead, under the cover of a line of trees and reassured by Kuan scouts that no ambush was waiting. They paused at the obvious regrouping location for a fleeing Seprum army and began planting runes.

Though the Seprums rallied faster than expected, they still faced heavy casualties during their march to better ground, at which point the cymancers sprung their trap and killed the majority of the legion, taking a few specialized or high-ranking soldiers captive for information. While the generals and centurions committed suicide during transport, the engineer, Callum, was such a good source of information for the Kuan army that Jamlyn Saj pardoned and granted him citizenship before the grey and black hand organized his assassination.

The decisive Kuan victory left the Seprum army cut off from reinforcements.

### First Battle of Fort Virtus

Jamlyn Saj sought to press his advantage and attacked Fort Virtus on the northern tip of the central island before reinforcements arrived. News of the defeat farther south had not yet arrived and the Seprum army was caught unawares, taking heavy casualties before eventually leaving a centurion behind to defend the fort while the main army and its supply chains retreated into the Forest, where some overeager Kuan soldiers made chase, suffering heavy losses in the unfamiliar environment. Jamlyn Saj eventually executed many who survived the chase for disobeying orders on the battlefield.

### Spiral Ambush

Emperor Tacitus realized how the Kuan army used the spiral to scout Seprum movements and decided to use it against them. During their long retreat across the island, they had spiromancers plant useless runes in certain choice locations to throw the Kuan scouts off their scent. In actuality, the main army traveled via a different, more dangerous route. The Kuan tümen leaders did not realized the cohort they attacked had too few legionnaires in it and plowed ahead with their plan, forcing the 'cohort' to retreat to a location where their cymancers had already planted the spells needed to end a battle.

When they arrived, however, they found no spells—three auxes has arrived first, killed the small protective force the Jamlyn Saj left his cymancers, and killed or captured all the spiromancers. Originally, Black Hand Dex had suggested sending only one aux, assuming Kuan spiromancers, who were mostly women, would surrender immediately when faced with a larger force. Grey Hand Aristomache Choros, a woman herself, strongly urged him to send more. This saved the day, as the cymancers alone managed to kill an entire aux. Aristomache and Emperor Tacitus also butted heads when it came to prisoner management—she demanded more resources to secure the enemy spiros than he wanted to give. His benefit of the doubt let Aristomache and her apprentice, Agrippina, gain a plethora of information from the cymancers before the battle's end.

### Second Battle of Fort Virtus

Crippled without their cymancers, the Kuan army destroyed the fort before retreating, allowing the Seprum army to retake it with few casualties on either side. Jamlyn Saj focused on maintaining their blockade between Seprum and the central island, while Emperor Tacitus continued raiding Mauzji caravans, starving the triple kingdom of resources until Jamlyn Saj was facing almost a dozen disparate rebellions in his homeland. To return the favor, Jamlyn Saj sent two tümens to northern Seprum and incited rebellion in Lykos.

### Final Battle

By 1 PS, the Seprums had been forced to the very southern tip of the island. Both armies were overextended and under trained. Jamlyn Saj intended to win one last decisive victory on the central island and move on to Seprum, forcing his way in through revolting Lykos and recruiting Henesian rebels to bolster his troops. Knowing this, Emperor Tacitus ordered the majority of his troops to retreat to Seprum and gave up Lykos for lost, hoping that a defensive advantage would let him fight off the Kuan army without losing the capital and his empire. What troops remained had explicit orders to draw the Kuan into the Forest, where their horses struggled.

That never happened, though, because in the middle of the battle, spiros on both sounds found themselves unable to access the spiral anymore. Initially, both sides suspected a ploy, though nothing like this had been done before. General Amatas called for a pause and Bereliyn Rai accepted. The tentative meeting, watched closely by soldiers on both sides, was interrupted by Solas, the Spiral Empire, who explained that no one would be able to access the spiral on the island without his permission going forwards. He offered to broker a peace treaty in exchange for their support creating his Spiral Empire and both sides agreed.