The Night of Long Nights
A battle between the Ilmarian Imperium (Nation) and The Hand of Orasil resulting in victory for the Imperium.
Imperial numbers were Thirty Eight thousand soldiers and allies in total and the Imperial Army was outnumbered to the cities defenders by at least two to one, maybe more as numbers were unable to be counted for the Hand's forces
During the early reign of Imperator Andreas Ibram Vandersryke the Fifth, a force sent by The Hand of Orasil laid siege to the city of Vandus (City) and decimated the population; killing everyone in the city in the creation of a ritual site.
The mountain that the city had been built into had its peak removed and flattened to a perfect flat level and scribed with ritual marks.
Word was received by the Imperium and an army was sent to siege the now overran city and stop the ritual however the Alrussian Federation (Nation) had begun an offensive on The Front and no experienced forces were available to use.
In an act of desperation, Andreas Ibram Vandersryke took the 2nd and 3rd companies of every unit, fresh recruits about to be sent to The Front and built an army. These rookies and recruits had never seen combat and were supplemented by logistical forces as combat troops and both the Imperial Royal Guard and Imperial Royal Cabal.
On the way to the city via rail, Allies of the Imperator arrived; Dragonkin of both the Tora Clan and the Korath Clan arrived. Andreas had married into both Dragonkin tribes and they came to affirm that bond.
Setting camp the night before marching on the city at a location that would later be named Kings March (Village), the army made break at first light.
The cities defences had been reinforced and the siege would be hard on the Imperial contingent. They had inexperienced troops and a deadline.
The Imperial Entitled advisor to the Imperator, Blake Ransom, had discovered that the ritual was to coincide with an alignment of the planets on that eve. The forces had a day to siege a heavily defended city with fresh troops.
Leading from the front, Andreas Ibram Vandersryke fought with his fresh troops while his wife, Nexanda Tora led the Dragonkin Clans (Nation) as both shock and air superiority troops.
Upon breaking the wall and entering the city, a gruelling street to street battle erupted. Arriving at the summit of the city, the Imperator and his council set up to end the ritual, however, a force had been dispatched from the North of the city and would arrive within the hour.
Now the attackers were defending a ruined city they had destroyed to enter. Leading from the front while Blake Ransom, defended by Nexanda Tora, ended the ritual.
They were too late however, as the morning rose the sky became dark with an eclipse of the moons Vara (Moon) and Lara (Moon). After minutes the eclipse did not end and a rift began to open. A demonic being of some foul kind began to pull itself through from whatever realm The Hand of Orasil had summoned it from.
Luckily Blake Ransom managed to cancel the ritual and force it back.
The forces of the Hand retreated and the battle was won. Thought dead, Andreas Ibram Vandersryke was found by his wife and friend Blake Ransom, cheered as a victorious King; the battle was over.
However the rehabilitation of the city would come slowly. New populations were brought in and the city rebuilt, christened Grostade (City).