Battle of Klaton

## Battle of Klato

The Battle of Klaton was a battle during the Lorenzen War, it is significant for being the first conflict between the Lorenzen Kingdom and Kingdom of Nirva since their truce in **406PR**.

## Background

In **392PR**, Torkild Brandt gathered his army and began raiding Nirva, with the other Lorenzen nobles joining in **394PR**.

After the Battle of the Yiburn River in **396PR**, the Nirvans made a series of reforms to their military under King Octan in order to update their tactics and formations to deal with a different enemy.

In **402PR**, Brandt fought Marius again in the Battle of Lentia, leading to the first major Lorenzen defeat in the war.

Getting reinforcements under Titus Julius, the Nirvans were able to get the city of Orolan in **404PR** and win the Battle of the Junak in **405PR**.

A truce was negotiated in **406PR** between King Octan and the newly crowned King Peter, it was mediated by the Aliquam Guild.

In **414PR**, King Octan died from old age, leaving his son King Kaeso, in control. Wanting to mark his name in history, he gathered a large army under Gaius and Titus and made the objective to take the city of Yiburn.

Knowing the truce would eventually end, King Peter had spent the truce quelling unrest amongst the Lorenzen nobles and building up his defences in Yiburn. His goal was to make the Nirvans pay for every inch of land they may take.

## Battle

King Peter was the commander of the Lorenzen forces, choosing a location with his back towards the forest. Hidden there was a large amount of archers, ready to both hit the enemy with ranged attacks and cover the Lorenzens eventual retreat.

When the Nirvans arrived, they attacked immediately. Using a turtle formation they were able to block many of the enemy volleys with little to no deaths. Once they reached the enemy in melee combat, Marius ordered a volley of javelins to be thrown, though was not as successful as previous surprises.

In melee combat things were rough, the Lorenzens under King Peter began employing the same tactics as the Nirvans, swapping out their soldiers in order to rest and heal. This kept things going for a while, with heavy casualties on both sides. Count Birch even had to personally get involved to stop his line breaking.

After hours of fighting, King Peter called for a tactical withdrawal of his troops through the forest. Seeing the enemy retreat, Marius called for his soldiers to follow, hoping to get a decisive victory here. Though instead, he was only met with volleys of enemy archers forcing him to stop his chase.

## Aftermath

The amount of dead from the Nirvans, which was counted with a good degree of accuracy was more than expected. While classed as a Nirvan victory, Commander Marius knew to take things slow, believing correctly that the Lorenzens were not going to give up the city easily. Thus he split his army into two, one under the command of himself and the other under Titus Julius.

King Peter saw it as a victory, they had taken heavy losses but shown they could beat the Nirvans back if needed.

As there was no direct record of the Lorenzen numbers, there are differing numbers. Marius's are likely inaccurate, simply counting the dead, while Livy and Hanne are closer to the truth.