The Epicurean War

Invasion Map of the Epicurean War

**The Epicurean War** was a global conflict between the emerging powers of the Dinamid Republic and the Perthic Caliphate against an alliance of Prace organized under the Epicurean King Tyranno the Great.

The conflict resulted due to the elves of Prace and chafing under foreign occupation and ambition, as well as the weak colonial reach of the greater powers of Dinam and Perth. Due to a misunderstanding,

## Resisting the caliphate

Tyranno was the son of king Everion of Epicurea (archaic term for broken Ludorian landmass), who was described by Tyranno as being weak and "a betrayer to the values whence all troubles with the cambions [Perthic peoples] have arisen." When Perth requested that 250 ships were to be constructed for a mainland invasion of Prace, Tyranno killed his father and seized the throne for himself in 286 NCE. He continued to construct the 250 ships and mustered multiple armies for the purpose of a surprise attack, all under the watch of Perth, who assumed it was for the purpose of their own upcoming invasion. The Perths were so uninvolved in their Epicurean colonies, they were not even aware of Tyranno usurping the throne until the war began.
Though many Hellastian states had previously fought each other in non-standardized and non-professional armies, Tyranno the Great was the first of the elves to implement drilling, standard equipment, and a paid professional army after following the example of the Dinamid Republic's skilled legionnaires.

King Tyranno himself visited each Hellastian state in Prace and gave a fair warning to them regarding Perth's intent, even showing proof from the caliph Ramir the Salacious, and formally requested for them to join him in a surprise assault on their territories to the south. However, unbeknownst to King Tyranno, the king of Numendor Escateltes was allied with Perth and was promised to be given Baredor as an emir if he assisted in the assault.

Escateltes sent word to Ramir the Salacious, but by the time it reached Perepolis, Tyranno had already convinced the rest of the Hellastians to send him aid and soldiers. By 278 NCE, King Tyranno had mustered a force of 30,000 Epicurenes and 30,000 Hellastian forces, the largest single standing force ever fielded at the time, becoming the Tyrannic Army. This was one of the most eclectic armies in all recorded history, which included thunder-lizard cavalry (including the *tyrannosaur*, receiving its name from its eponymous rider) and an entire wagon train of Ptolemaic diviners, whose sole purpose was to consult the World Dragon for tactical advantages.

## Invading Arcadia

### Tyrannic naval victories

King Tyranno sailed his army almost immediately into an ill-defended Pramidia, which surrendered immediately. Having had an eruption of their largest volcano the year prior, they were not equipped to defend themselves from the likes of Tyranno the Great. Dinamid garrisons were routed easily during the Battle of Raining Stones in March 278 NCE, and sent word to the Senate that they were under attack.

Due to its superior martial abilities, the Tyrannic Army defeated paramilitary forces in the Battle of Starving Waves in September 278 NCE, off the coast of Circea. A contingent was sent to the Baerisian Islands to secure it for future naval use, and many Perthic ships were sunk off the coast of *Ossuria*. Tyranno briefly landed in *Circea*, before retreating north and entering through the rocky coasts of western *Stoavaria*.

### Land invasion

Tyranno's forces marched and captured all of Arcadia throughout 277 NCE and into early 275 NCE, and nearly reached Perepolis, but had to retreat to avoid an unequal conflict with a more numerous armies advancing in the plains of Agabad. There were now new armies composed of Sasceri mercenaries grouped from razed cities in Arcadia and organized into a massive force that now garrisoned the capitol.

Over the next two years, most of the Tyrannic Army was focused around Perepolis, with some detachments launching unsuccessful raids on the Cascadian coastline, though they cost the caliphate a large number of their forces and weakened their economy and military greatly. Despite the massive territory taken by King Tyranno, Perepolis managed to thrive by utilizing their superior navy and receiving supplies and ships from their Tyrrhosi allies.

### Thought process and tactics

The great risks Tyranno the Great took in launching attacks on Dinam, Perth, and the Sasceri appear to be haphazard and careless, but the truth is that Tyranno the Great had very little understanding of other humanoid civilizations. In fact, the reason for his absolute devastation of Arcadia and dismantling of their society was incidental.

Tyranno the Great was not aware that tieflings and humans composed different empires, and it was only during his invasion of Arcadia he uncovered that the Sasceri slaves kept by the Perths were not stewards, but servants. Having discovered the ease at which Arcadian civilizations fell to him, however, Tyranno the Great did not correct course and continued his invasion.

The Tyrannic Army was sophisticated for its time, and the fact that the Sasceri did not have cavalry, were divided among themselves by their Saskens, and had little in the way of strategy made their battles with the elves brief and anticlimatic. In but two years, Tyranno the Great had eradicated their entire society, and they were driven into the central hinterlands, where their wood elf slaves also hid. Tyranno the Great ordered that no wood elves were to be killed, which led to their considerable numbers in the interior of Arcadia.

## Governance of Madelia

In 270 NCE, Tyranno the Great captured the Perthic fortress of Eryx, on the River Sorrow just west of Perepolis. This prompted the rest of the Perthic cities to defect to Tyrrano the Great. King Tyranno was also requested by Madelia, in Dinam, to liberate them from the Dinamid Republic. He himself traveled to Madelia and governed for a brief period, hoping that their griffin cavalry could be utilized against Perth.

However, after he had begun to display despotic behavior towards the Madelians, mainly in response to Dinamid incursions in *Velusia*, popular opinion in Madelia became inflamed against him. Though he defeated the Dinamians in battle, he was forced to abandon Madelia and return to his Perthic ambitions after five years.

## Return to Prace

### Siege of Perepolis

Until 262 NCE, Tyranno the Great managed to maintain a strong hold over Cascadia, though his attempts to besiege Perepolis remained unsuccessful. Though he had capable siege weapons, a veteran army, swaths of cavalry, and better leadership, he was distracted by requests for military assistance in Prace and maintaining his new province of Arcadia, which left only a third of his forces defending Eryx.

King Tyranno's campaign came to an end following the inconclusive Battle of Sorrow in 263 NCE. Having lost the vast majority of his army in Eryx, he decided to withdraw his Cascadian forces to Ludor, which finally resulted in the loss of his Cascadian holdings. The city-states that defected returned to Perth when it was apparent Tyranno the Great was not returning in 262 NCE, and Madelia resumed as it had, though it was never definitively liberated.

### Defeat of the Tyrannic Army

Tyranno the Great, valuing a united Prace before world conquest, captured and killed king Escateltes and arrested multiple Perth-allied kings from all around Prace. He destroyed the city of Mulion and annulled most
 of the former states of Prace. This crucial and decisive
intervention in 260 NCE gave more power to the kings of Tethryndor and Valendor, whom Tyranno the Great seems to have appreciated and trusted completelyand
 who won the cities and the wealth of expelled kings.

The unnamed kings revolted in 257 NCE, and their own forces among the Tyrannic Army decimated their surprised comrades while they slept, in what became known as the Tyrannic Massacre. The two kingdoms besieged Tyranno the Great in the old Ludorian capitol of Ghine. With his entire army destroyed and no route of escape, King Tyranno was forced to suicide, and his entire family
put to death in 256 NCE, save for a single daughter who was spared to become a consort for the king of Valendor.

Before Tyranno's last remaining daughter was to be taken to Prace, the king of Tethryndor betrayed the king of Valendor, and Prace once again began to fight amongst itself until Perth invaded some years later. Tyranno's daughter Nubria II, father of King Tenemo, would quietly take the throne of Ludor once again, and requested Perthic help in defending Epicurea. The Perths annexed the landmass in 255 NCE and would use the island as a base of operations in Prace well into the First Perthic War.