BM - The Legion's Account of the Arnesian War

[KuKulzA]

The Legion's Account of the Arnesian War
by
Decidus Bruti

Dedicated to the advancement of the great Legions' worthiness in the service of the Empire.

---------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 1 - How the War Began
The Arnesian War began with the slaying of a certain caravaner who was later martyred and made Saint Roris. He apparently was a Patron of Furnishers and Caravaners and is likely to have been Hlaalu or Dres in affiliation. This man was pious and affluent and no doubt his death was enough excuse for the hot-blooded Dunmer to wage war against their hated enemy, the Argonians, the People of the Root.
Ironically, it is very likely that much of the tortures that Roris was said to have suffered were exaggerated by the Tribunal Temple. Another point to mention is that the kidnappings and banditry of northern Black Marsh was perpetrated mainly by the Naga, a strong snake-like race that is related to the lizardly Argonians.
However war did commence, and it was brutal to an extent as only the exotic land and people could offer...
Along the southern Morrowind border lives a tough stock of Dunmer. These hardy and hot-blooded peoples have lived there for generations. They are truly descendents of the nomadic Velothi, close to the so-called Cantemeric Velothi, and are one of the examples closest to the culture of Veloth's people, second to the Ashlanders. These small time farmers and hunters make their living by slave-raiding, cutting lumber from Black Marsh, and by maintaining trade routes south to Thorn, a very Velothi city that was said to have fallen to the Black Marsh long ago in the First Era. These Dres Velothi worship Daedra and Ancestors as earnestly as they worship the Tribunal. Thus they are a very belligerent and pious lot - but unlike their more aristocratic cousins in Silnim Dale or Tear, they are poor and marginalized being Velothi. This provides a cultural concoction of a society ready to lash out at their traditional enemies. The northern Argonians are also a very much toughened breed. Unlike their smaller cousins of the inner Marsh or their taller but thinner coastal kin, the northern jungle and wet-plains breed is somewhat short but stocky. Well adapted to the jungle and more inclined to heavily forested areas rather than mangroves and marsh. They have been warring with Dunmer for centuries and have been most heavily raided for slaves by Great House Dres. They would not hesitate to attack any fool-hardy trade-prince attempting a dangerous trade route to Thorn.
And so the war began. Arnesian Velothi, armed with steel and chitin, and armored with hides, chitin, and bamboo, reinforced by proper Dres Warriors in Bonemold, and further strengthened by Redoran mercenaries begin warring on the northern Argonian tribes. No declaration of war was sent. No formal battle-lines. But one day, a small Argonian village near the border found itself on fire. Next, a villa several miles south of Tear was raided. And so the warring escalated. Argonians, lightly armed with bows, spears, blow-guns, and some with clubs and swords, raided and counter-raided and the tempo of the war increased. Any Argonian captured was a slave, any slave recaptured was a fighter, and any Dunmer captured.. was dinner. Atrocities were committed on both sides, however though the Dunmer won every major battle, and seemed to win the war, they gained no lands, they lost several hundred slaves, and they caused a rift to develop between the Dunmer frontiersmen and House Dres proper.

Chapter 2 - The Warriors on Both Sides
The Dunmer are known for their dangerous combination of warrior and spellcaster. Many of their warriors lean more to the lightly armored end and carry sharp weapons, most also know rudimentary destruction spells. Their principle armor materials are Chitin, Netch leather, and Bonemold. It is not unknown for hides from Guars, Kagouti, or Alit to be used but those are not as common. Chitin is made from a variety of large beetles including the Shalk. Bonemold is made from a ground meal of bone, hide, and other materials and molded into a hard armor. The relatively lightweight armor of the Dunmer provides good protection. The southern Velothi are also known for their use of bamboo, cured and hardened, as armor. The Arnesian Dres Velothi wear mainly hides and bamboo for protection and use mainly axes, shortswords, and bows for weaponry. Centuries of warring with the People of the Root have made them competent guerillas and raiders. However they were not the only ones to fight for St. Roris. The Great House Dres (which technically includes the southern Velothi) fields warriors of its own. It has a warrior caste made of lesser nobles, skilled outlanders, and warrior recruited from their commoners. The generals ride large wasps and command their troops from above. As the warrior-class is highly specialized, they are well trained, well armed, and ready for war at all times. Furthermore, the greatest warriors of the Dunmer, the Redoran, arrived in small mercenary companies. It seems that the Redoran appear everywhere where there is a need for a strong warrior, often as hirelings as they can be seen as far away as Sadrith Mora working as private-guards.
Though less well armed and armored, the forces of tribal Argonia were no less formidable. Argonians wearing light vests of fiber, scales, bone, shells, bark, or whatever tough material was around them, armed with spears, light missile weapons, and knives, clubs, and swords were ready to die for their tribes. These people are Tamriel's experts at guerilla warfare. This is also due to the fact that their land is so hostile to conventional armies. Argonians led by veteran Battle Chiefs, and reinforced by Nagas, and other creatures convinced to help out pose a tenacious threat to any invader.
The organization of the armies, however, could not be more different. The Dunmer, being ruled by councilors, clan founders, and nobles had a very hierarchical ranking. Ordinator advisors and the Dres generals were at the top, followed by the small companies of hired Redoran and Temple crusaders, then by the Dres warriors, and then finally the lowly Velothi, but it would be the Velothi that made the greatest impact on the Dunmer successes. The Argonians of the northern tribes quickly appointed a Battle Chief who was chosen by a council of Tribal leaders and could be quickly desposed and a new one appointed if he or she was not successful. Argonians from villages across northern Argonia flocked to the main tribe-towns of Gan-Jugu and Mungomog, west of Thorn. The two armies were split into numerous warbands, and each warband, led by a local chief-warrior would split into small guerilla groups unless the need arose for them to amass. Thus bad leaders were quickly weeded out, armies would not often be decisively beaten by the Dunmer who better understood conventional field-battle, and guerilla warfare was easily utilized in small groups.

Chapter 3 - The War Itself
The War can be split into four parts. The beginning consisted of raids and counter-raids. After that, both armies on both sides had properly gathered and leadership and strategies were assumed, now Dunmer armies charged into northern Argonia (Arnesia) and though they brutally cut down any Argonians in their path and enslaved hundreds, many were killed by hit-and-run tactics and their supplies cut from behind by the stealthy movements of small guerilla bands. The third stage entails an Argonian retaliation that utterly failed but last some time due to the fact that any villa that was captured yielded more manpower in the form of freed slaves. The last stage was the crushing of the amassed Argonians in southern Morrowind and ironically the defeat of further Dunmer invasions.
I would like to talk most about the last three parts of the war, and I will address them in three points.
First, the Dunmer lost in the second stage because of poor planning and blindness due to rage. They charged into Black Marsh, and initially met with much success, but when the shock wore off they began to suffer defeats. The Argonians were surprised at the speed and strength of the Dunmer invasion. However, the Redoran mercenaries and Temple crusaders did not last long in the intrusions. Unused to the heat and the uncanny jungle warfare, they quickly died. The Dres warriors fared better, but they invaded too far in, farther than they were used to. However, at this pivotal time, they failed to consult the local Arnesian Dres for guidance and extra manpower. In fact, though these Velothi did raid Argonians at this time, they were excluded from the main decisive military movements. The Dres generals looked down on these frontiersmen and spurned them. The Dunmer armies, stuck in a vast wilderness often got lost or were lured into traps set by the wily Argonians. Only half of the deployed warriors returned out of the jungle. Half that had died were dead of jungle diseases and the hostile environment.
Second, the Argonians, as can be expected, retaliated. It is said that an ingenious and daring Argonian Battle Chief was chosen for the task of counter-invasion. However the Argonians soon found themselves in the rice paddies and lightly wooded plains of southern Morrowind. There, the retreating Dres warriors found that they had the advantage. They kept harassing the Argonian army which was forced to mass together in the unfamiliar land and it was forced to raid villas and plantations for enough food to sustain itself. However, they did free many slaves, which temporarily added to the manpower of the Argonian army. But scared slaves are not as good as seasoned warriors, and the army slowed. Yet while it was fresh, the Argonians did relatively well considering they were at a disadvantage. Being in a foreign land, those who had not deserted or been enslaved followed their leader without question and fought to the death. They burned plains grass to slow the enemy, made pitfalls and other traps and cut down trees to make mantlets to protect against hails of arrows. Yet they lost every single open battle, and as they retreated back into Argonia, the Velothi quickly fell on their rear. Most of the army went into slavery, but many, being ex-warriors and having learned the paths of southern Morrowind ran away. In fact for some time after the war, slavers complained that their slaves were too mutinous and courageous unlike the usual dull and fearful slaves brainwashed and ?tamed? in the slave pens of Tear.
The last part of the war is least known but the outcome is clear. This is actually the most vicious part of the war, where Dres generals, realizing the potential of the Velothi, and their use as fodder engage in a guerilla war to match that of the Argonians?. The Argonians in turn begin mustering Naga and other creatures to help fight the Dunmer. Much jungle was burned and many died on both sides. However, this led to a rift between the Velothi and the House-folk of Dres as well as a change in the tribal politics of Argonia. As the Velothi invaded further south they began settling, making strongholds protected by palisades in burned clearings. They also began speaking of carving their own land in the frontier and no longer needing the misguidance of the Dres leaders, the recent alliance with Helseth has only justified their conviction. The Argonians however experienced a new change. The old councils at Helstrom were reconvened, and many war-scarred and tired Argonian veterans wandered south and into the interior, thus alerting the inner Marsh of dangers outside of their primeval world.

The Arnesian War is one of the many regional conflicts on Tamriel. Why should the Legion pay special attention to it? It is an account of the mistakes and resourcefulness of two peoples who fought in ways foreign to us. This war proves that the warrior must be shaped by his surroundings and fight accordingly, for the surroundings will not make way for the warrior.

[raggidman]

:yes: A nice approach, and worth three volumes.

[KuKulzA]

Originally posted by raggidman
:yes: A nice approach, and worth three volumes.

I figured not every book in the world is a fiction...

plus Legion's have proffesionally trained and educated officers, they'd like a military guide thing rather a nice novel on Argonians and Dunmer fighting but a very history-battle etc. approach

[raggidman]

Yup

Yer reasoning makes sense in terms of what I know generally there.

If you like I'll look to see if I can polish this one up?