The Caelish-Ithilian War

The Caelish-Ithilian War was a conflict waged from 300 AFT to 306 AFT of the Third Age by the Ithilian Coalition of Ferox, the Orc rulers of the Southern Jungles of Ferox, against the Caelish Princepality, the human nation state of Caelion, in a conquest for domination of Northern Teriam. It was the first recorded major war in Northern Teriam, in which the Ithilian Coalition of Ithil fought to establish dominance over the entirety of North Teriam.

The war marked the start of Caelish dominance in North Teriam, the decline of Ork power and the current cold war between Ithil and Caelum. Tensions grew in the year 300 AFT, when the Orks attacked and slaughtered near the entirety of a Caelish expeditionary force sent to scout the southern areas of Teriam. Previously the Caelish had only discovered the underground Dwarfdom of Gald Alfrell directly below them and the massive island Kingdom of Astrogar. The Caelish had yet to explore the territories directly south of Caelum. The Orks could have killed all of the expeditionary force but purposely spared a few of them so they could take a declaration of war back to Caelum. War broke out a month later. There were two sides. The defenders were the Humans of the Caelish Princepality, aided by the Kingdom of Astrogar and the Dwarfdom of Gald Alfrell. The attackers were the Orks of the Southern Jungles of Ferox. Historians have divided the war into six phases. The First Phase was the first battle of the war, the devastating Battle of Uthun, where both sides took grievous casualties. The battle was so devastating that the battle has been described as a pyrrhic stalemate. The Second Phase was the war of the Border Territories where Sicil and Netri were razed. This phase ended with the Siege of Castle Caelos. The Third Phase started with the war in the Border Territories with the battle of Kapael, Aealiath and the Siege of Dyle Town. The Third Phase concluded with the massacre of Castle Caelos. The Fourth Phase of the war started with the rapid sieges of Castle Caelos, Castle Asurial and Aeritium and ended with the entry of Secundus Lariel and the young Princeps Korvus Castus. The Fifth Phase began with the Caelish victories at Castle Asurial, where the Secundus annihilated Garth Wrathtooth's army before relieving Aeritium and smashing the forces of Gorth Wrathtooth. This phase ended with the victory at the third Battle of Caelos Border, where the Secundus Lariel avenged Caem's death and killed Gor Calamatos in single combat, the midst of a brutal battle. The Sixth and final Phase was the last months of the war. It began with the march into the jungles of Ferox and ended with the honor duel at Ithil, with Korvus Castus defeating M’roth Calamatos in single combat to end the war.

Prelude to War - Circa 300 AFT
The new lands the Caelish found themselves in was vast and so after three hundred years since their arrival, the Caelish had yet to explore the southern part of Teriam. During the three hundred years prior to the war, the Caelish had encountered two civilisations. They were the Dragonborns of Astrogar to the east and the underground Dwarves of Gald Alfrell. Slowly, during this 200 year period, the settlement developed from a small village, to a town, to a large city, to a nation spanning over a dozen settlements and one large city. The population had grown exponentially, from 500 or so survivors, to over two hundred thousand. The city was bustling and flourishing, with no enemies to hamper their progress. Built upon the base of the mountain Tirith, Caelum had command of the massive plains that surrounded it. It was during this peaceful period, the Princeps at the time, Caem Castus, proposed to the Concilium, that while they had settled well and truly in Teriam, the overall knowledge on the lands surrounding them was sorely lacking. He introduced his idea known as the “Great Expedition”. He asked for a team of Arc Rangers (Scouts) to accompany a team of cartographers and venture out into the wilderness and document the surrounding landscapes and if possible, find other people. The resulting proposal passed unanimously and within the span of a month, the “Great Expedition” was under way. The team set out and journeyed southwards, to the distant Jungles of Ferox. It would be months until Caelum received any news at all from the team.

It was on the day of the Rhovorn (day of celebration in honour of the Gods, to thank them for the harvest and protection of the city) that news got back. It was grim. Out of the 10 Arc Troopers, only 3 returned. They had encountered a new civilisation but they were not amiable or peaceful. This new civilisation was one that thrived on conflict. Its people were of the race of Orcs, a savage and barbarous group. The Arc Rangers were ambushed and only the very best made it out, albeit only barely. Upon seeing the skill and tenacity of the Rangers, the Orcs called off the attack and engaged in communication. The Orcs spoke common, in a guttural sort of way. They issued a challenge

“''You have fought well. We want more of it. Go back to your people and let them know that the Orcs of Ithil are coming for them''”.

The challenge was simple. Diplomacy was not an option, nor was it wanted on either side. The Caelish rose to the provocation. The Caelish-Ithil war had begun.

Main article: Battle of Uthun - 301 AFT
With the declaration of war against the Orks, the first phase had officially started. Princeps Caem Castus and Secundus Lariel had mustered a great force of 5000 soldiers to engage the Orc army (who numbered 7000) on the plains of Uthun. The Caelum army, at this point, only consisted of humans, as the Dwarves and Dragonborns had yet to arrive. The Soldiers of Caelum while fierce and disciplined were ill prepared to handle the sheer ferocity of the orcs. They were also shocked to see it was not just orcs that had amassed against them. Ogres and Trolls had been welcomed into Ithil. The raw strength of the Ogres and Trolls could not be matched and many Caelish were brutally slaughtered without prejudice. Many died on that field.

Humans and Orc alike were viciously cut down and on the field, and accompanied by ten of the Caelum Angelus, Caem cut his way through the Orc battlelines to engage the Orc Warchief Gar Calamatos. The two warriors fought, in the middle of the fray surrounded by death. They fought fiercely before at last, Caem’s strength gave out. He was struck to the ground and the warchief stood above them. For a brief moment, Caem saw a battle in the past where a goblin stood above him, ready to end him. The goblin faded away to reveal Gor who then stabbed the downed Princeps in the chest, cutting him down and receiving a roar from his soldiers in pride. Lariel, who had noticed Caem fighting Gor, rushed to save Caem but only arrived as Gor plunged his greatsword into Caem’s chest. Lariel let out a terrible cry as the Angelus were pushed into blind wrath. Lariel clutched Caem’s lifeless corpse and had to dragged by her brother Marius into a retreat. While the rest of the army retreated with Caem’s body, the Angelus stayed behind. They were killed to the last man but not before inflicting terrible casualties, such was the rage of Caelum’s Angels, whose sorrow was enough to transcend ork ferocity. The Orcs had achieved victory, albeit at a horrible loss and retreated back to the border between Caelum and Ithil, to await reinforcements. Out of the 5000, only 500 returned with the corpse of the Princeps. Due to the extensive casualties suffered by both sides, there was not a major battle for two years. There were occasional raids and small skirmishes but nothing exceeding that.

The War Reignites
The war reignites when an Ork force numbering fifteen thousand return and engage Caelish forces by the town of Netri. The war had reached the second phase. Intel from spies hidden in Ferox had alerted the movements of an orc force travelling to Caelum. The Caelish dispatched a force of five thousand to intercept them. The following battle was a slaughter. The Caelish were overwhelmed by Orc martial strength and the might of Trolls and Ogres. Thankfully the citizens of Netri were evacuated to the Outer Territories. Thus the town of Netri was empty and no civilians were killed when the Orks arrived at Netri. The citizens at Sicil were not so lucky. The port town was large and well defended but reinforcements would take a while to mobilise. As such, by the time a Caelish relief force arrived at Sicil, the town had fallen to the Orks. In one month, the Caelish had already suffered two decisive defeats. Despite the two defeats suffered, it does not demoralise the Caelish, who steel themselves for a long and bloody war. The Caelos Border is fortified and heavily garrisoned. Two months after Sicil’s sack, the Orks attack Castle Caelos. The rest of the year is spent with the siege of Castle Caelos.

Siege of Castle Caelos: August--January 303-304 AFT
Behind strong walls and with plenty of provisions to last them many months, the Caelish were confidant of outlasting the Orks and prevent them from entering the Outer Territories. Their confidence quickly melted away as the months went on. The Orks were terrible in battle and though the Caelish had the advantage on their walls, the Orks were bred for war and thus the odds were more or less even. Like most battles of the early Caelish-Ithilian war, the siege favoured orks. The Orks, Ogres and Trolls were too strong for the average caelish soldier. The Caelish generally even the odds through tactical and strategic ingenuity, the use of artillery and mounted units such as the Horse, Eagle, Lion, Rhino and Demigryph units. The uneven and rocky environment of the Caelos Border eliminated the possibility of mounted sorties so the Caelish could only hope to repel each assault as they occurred rather than take the initiative and organise assaults. An sortie led by infantry would only end disastrously so the Caelish could only repel assaults through grit, determination and a generous smattering of cannons. Eventually the ammo ran out so only swords, axes and spears could hold back the green tide. Ammo ran out in November so the fact the Caelish held out until early January speaks volumes of Caelish determination but the Orks could not be held off forever and Castle Caelos fell and every single Caelish fell fighting to the very end and their sacrifice resulted in five thousand orks dead.

The War of the Outer Territories - 304 AFT
Castle Caelos finally falls in early January. Despite losing a third of their forces in taking Castle Caelos, the Orks persevere and begin in their conquest of the Outer Territories. The war had entered the third phase. The Orks split into two forces, each five thousand strong and both armies conquer a separate town. Kapael and Aealiath are sacked within a week of Castle Caelos’s fall. The Orks were merciless and many died in that first week. Despite their rapid fall, the Orks still take some casualties and the ork force numbers at ten thousand after Kapael and Aealiath’s fall. After Kapael and Aealiath fall, the two forces condense into one force again and besiege Dyle Town.

Siege of Dyle Town: February 304 AFT
Dyle town was a large town with both plenty of ammunition and supplies. The people of Dyle town were not just humans but were a mix of different races. There were goliaths, dwarves, and gnomes. The Goliaths were loyal friends of the Caelish and Dyle Town was their home so their natural ferocity in battle was enhanced by their fury at the orks. The Dwarves were the most stubborn race in the continent. Surrender was not an option. The gnomes were stealthy and excellent guerrilla fighters, executing hit and run sorties that would frustrate the Ork force. Thus the Dyle Town Siege was a siege that significantly more difficult than the Siege of Castle Caelos. The garrison force numbered at one thousand but there were two thousand dwarves, one thousand gnomes and five hundred goliaths. However the Orks loved a challenge and the new difficulties faced by a mixed race defence only invigorated Ork morale. Thus the siege of Dyle town was perhaps the most fierce battle in Caelish-Ithilian War. It became a stalemate with neither side being able to defeat the other. The stalemate was only broken when a Dragonborn air force consisting of twenty fire drakes arrive at Dyle Town in May and the raw power of Fire Drakes is enough to rout the orks and push them back to Caelos Border. The Orks took five thousand casualties in the siege and another two thousand were killed when the Fire Drakes arrived. Only three thousand orks remained of the fifteen thousand. They dug in at the remains of Castle Caelos.

Battle of Castle Caelos: May 304 AFT
Following the siege of Dyle Town, the Orks found themselves on the defence for the first time in the war. The Caelish saw an opportunity to finally break the Orks and so mustered a huge army of eight thousand Caelish alongside five thousand Dragonborns, Goliaths, Gnomes and Dwarves. This force was overwhelming and no amount of Ork ferocity could save them. The Orks were massacred with every single one refusing to retreat back to Ithil. The Caelish found themselves overwhelmed with their rage and so they brutally murdered every single ork and put every single ork head on a spike to line the paths leading up to Castle Caelos from the direction of the Border Territories. The bodies were then put on a giant pile and burnt. This victory marked the end of the second phase of the war and resulted in a tenuous break in the war as the Orks licked their wounds back at Ithil for the rest of the year and began to amass a new force.

Fourth Phase of the War - October 305 AFT
Following the massacre at Caelos in May of 304 AFT, the war resumes when a massive Ork incursion begins in 305 AFT. The Fourth Phase of the War had begun. The Orks had amassed a massive army of twenty thousand orks. A veritable green tide had swept pass the plains of Uthun and laid siege to the recently reconstructed Castle Caelos. The following battle lasted less than a week. Twenty thousand bloodthirsty orks, ogres, trolls and a host of dangerous huge arachnids and tamed giant vultures from the inner underground parts of Ithil and even ten huge earth elementals made by the Ork shamans. This army was supremely powerful and even the strong garrison of three thousand could not even dent the Ork army. The Caelish were annihilated and again war was brought to the Inner Territories. The Ork army splits into three forces. Ten thousand orks were left at Castle Caelos while the remaining ten thousand split into two five thousand armies. In November, the two forces go into two different directions. Urgo Daxios and Gorth Wrathtooth leads his army to the northeast to besiege Aeritium while Garth Wrathtooth leads his army to besiege Asurial’s Wall, the massive fortifications built in 303 AFT designed to defend the Inner Territories from incursions while the Outer Territories were fighting off the Orks at Caelos Border.

The Siege of Asurial’s Wall: December-January 305-306 AFT
Asurial’s Wall was amongst the most heavily defended places in the Caelish Princepality. There was only one place better defended and that was Caelum itself. As such, even the addition of the new monsters in the Ork army and the strength of the Orks themselves was not enough for a quick victory like the second battle of Castle Caelos. The Caelish had garrisoned five thousand soldiers here with a huge supply of cannons, ballistae, trebuchets and catapults. As such, it was an even fight. The battle had dragged on until the arrival of Secundus Lariel and Princeps Korvus Castus, the widowed wife of Caem and mother of Korvus Castus, the young Princeps. The arrival of Secundus Lariel and her new army had marked the fifth phase of the war. This new army numbered ten thousand strong altogether with a smattering of dwarven companies and dragonborn cavalry. Also accompanying them were the new cannon and mortar designs given to them by the dwarves and modified by the Arc Rangers. This allied army coupled with the unstoppable nature of the Secundus and the strong garrison of Asurial’s Wall annihilated Garth Wrathooth and his army. In the following Battle of Asurial’s Wall, four out of the five thousand orks were slaughtered while Secundus Lariel engaged Garth Wrathtooth in a quick and brutal fight in which Garth Wrathtooth was killed and decapitated with the head being spiked and left to rot in front of the gate of Castle Asurial.

The Battle of Aeritium: December-February 305-306 AFT
Following the collapse of Castle Caelos, Gorth Wrathtooth led a bloody path to Aeritium. With five thousand orks and a small horde of beastly monsters at his command, there was very little to stop the Orks from surrounding Aeritium and besieging it. For months the lands outside Aeritium were surrounded by a vast horde of bloodthirsty beings. By the time of February, Aeritium was barely standing. Gorth wanted to take the city quickly but his Urgo and his lieutenants wanted to savour the victory and delayed the final siege. This proved to be a fatal mistake.

Following the split of the army after the victory at Castle Caelos, Gorth Wrathtooth led his army to besiege Aeritium. The city was strong but was barely holding out when word had reached of the victory at Castle Asurial. The allied army arrived at Aeritium in early February and met the Ork army outside the walls of Aeritium. Two thousand orks were killed and Gorth himself was brutally beaten and crippled by the merciless Secundus. After Gorth’s brutal defeat, Urgo challenged the Secundus but was liberated of his arms and then beaten to death by the Kaetor Marius. Gorth and the remaining two thousand reunited with the ten thousand orks at Caelos led by Gor Calamatos.

The third Battle of Caelos Border
Following the crushing defeats at Castle Asurial and Aeritium, there were only twelve thousand orks remaining. Gor Calamatos was itching for a fight, alongside the chief of the Ogres, Darog and Chief of the Trolls, Gorog. Twelve thousand Orks, Ogres, Trolls and a host of monsters made an incredibly dangerous army. However the ten thousand allied army on the way to the Caelos Border was even more dangerous. With a host of angry Caelish, Dwarves and Dragonborns and a massive division of artillery, the upcoming third Battle of Caelos would decide the fate of Caelum. If the Caelish lost, they would lose most of their leadership and there would be no army to protect the Caelish. There was much riding on the upcoming battle.

In May, the two armies met on the plains in front of Caelos Border in the Outer Territories. In the ensuing battle, the Orks were overwhelmed. The artillery destroyed the monster horde while the Caelish' fury afforded them power that overcame the Orks. In a cruel mirror of Uthun, Secundus Lariel fought Gor Calamatos in the middle of the battle. Gor was the best warrior the Orks had to offer but the Secundus Lariel was empowered by her rage and she was not to be denied her revenge. In the end, Gor found himself liberated of his head. Caem’s death was avenged. Only two thousand Orks remained. Gorth managed to escape back to Ithil with the remains of the army and prepared for an invasion of Ferox.

The Journey into Ferox: May-July 306 AFT
The march to Ithil was a difficult one. The forests were dangerous and treacherous. The fauna and flora were difficult to handle but the march would not be stopped now. Vengeance must be wrecked on the Orks. It took a full two months to arrive at Ithil.

The Duel of Ithil: July 306 AFT
In July, the unified army of ten thousand Triumvirate soldiers arrived at Ithil. Lariel roared her demand for the city to surrender as she tossed the decomposed head of Gor in front of the gate. To her surprise, an ork delegation came out to talk to her. In the ensuing talks, the Orks offered an honor duel to end the war. If the Orks won, a battle would start. If the Caelish won, they may choose what to do. Only a honor duel would please the Orks. Lariel wanted to sack Ithil and exterminate every single ork in the city but she knew in doing so would condemn thousands to their doom. By accepting the duel, she could spare thousands. She returned to her camp and deliberated with the leadership. They deliberated for an hour and time ran out for the Caelish to choose a fighter. The Orks choose M’roth Calamatos to represent him. He was a ten foot tall ork and the son of Gor. He was eager to fight. The Caelish had yet to choose someone when a blur burst out of a camp. It was a young soldier on a horse. The figure came to a stop before the ork, dismounted and unsheathed their sword. To Lariel’s horror, it was her young teenage son, Korvus Castus. Before she could stop him, the duel commenced. It was clear that while Korvus was competent, M’roth was born for war and he dominated the first part of the fight. The Orks roared their approval as Korvus was thrown around across the battlefield. Eventually M’roth knocked away Korvus’s sword and it seemed victory was at hand. He raised his sword above his head and prepared to bisect the kneeling Korvus. However Korvus became surrounded by a blur of white energy as he burst out and dodged the attack. M’roth’s sword bit deeply in the ground and he was barely able to block a diagonal slice from Korvus who got back his sword. To everyone’s surprise, Korvus’s sword tore M’roth’s own and bit deeply into his shoulder. M’roth fell to the ground on his back, lifeless in defeat. Korvus honoured his fallen foe by wrapping M’roth’s hands around his fallen weapon. With M’roth’s death, Korvus was the victor and now war hero. He declared the war over and so the Caelish returned to Caelum, the winners of a brutal six year war.

Aftermath: 306 AFT
Following the end of the war, the army marched straight back to Caelum where a celebration was held to commemorate the end of the war and their victory. An one day feast was held in honor of the Rhovorn and the victorious soldiers. Afterwards mourning commenced for the fallen in the war. In front of the city, in the great plains that surround the city, were dozens upon dozens of large pyres containing the soldiers who died fighting for Caelum. While the Caelish had won, they had lost over thirty thousand soldiers with double that in civilian casualties. The Caelish lost too many people in this war and it would take a long time for the pain of the war to fully heal. To this day, there is resentment for the Orks still. The Orks do not resent the Caelish for winning but rather feel a distinct respect for them and their fighting spirit. They had finally found worthy opponents.

Following the end of the War, the young Princeps took his place as leader of the Caelish. Despite his youth, he inherited the willpower of his forebears and so he stepped in the place that his father had long filled in.