The Last Battle of Septurn Bridge

the end of a war and the birth of a legend

The Last Battle of Septurn Bridge was the resounding and devastating defeat of the muada that finally brought a close to centuries of conflict.
Responsibility for this historic human victory is universally laid at the feet of one man: Tessar Narran, Commander of the Third Legion.

The Conflict

Prelude

The amphibious, tentacled, sentient species known as the muada were first discovered by Septurn explorers in 523AS, north-west of the Lago Della Liberta. The muada were clearly intelligent and communicative, despite having very limited stone tools and no obvious use of magic, but did not seem immediately aggressive. Despite this, the creatures began raiding villages and communes along the northern edges of Septur within the year. With no real military force or any kind, the Septurn people did their best to defend themselves using what few offensive and defensive spells could be found in the old lashaan books of magic. Soon villages were being abandoned and both the Rangers and forces from Lashaan's Vigil were sent north to aid Septur. Hostilities grew with no clear goal, and no attempt or desire to negotiate or communicate from the muada. They raided settlements in ever larger numbers, killing, destroying and occasionally taking seemingly random good and material. Within another year there was a more organized defence of Septurn people and minimal aid from the free towns in the Borderlands, becoming more formal and actual battles between human and muada. The attacks from the muada were utterly random and inconsistent. Sometimes a group of five or six raiding a village, sometimes a group in the hundreds, and everything in between, all with no clear desire for territory or particular resources. The muada fought viciously and brutally, with no magic, wielding only a stone knife in each of their six upper tentacles. The Septurn people began to flee southward, back the old human nations and free cities along the River Rothum. At the same time, begging these them for help. Over the following years, some of the southern nations did send help of various kinds, and the Septurn tried to hold their own. The muada gained more and more ground, pushing the people of Septur further and further south, until eventually they had to declare defeat, and the whole of Septur City and the whole of the surrounding towns and villages were abandoned. The muada, and the war, simply followed.
The towns and farming villages in the Borderlands began to experience what the Septurn people had as their homes were destroyed and whole villages slaughtered. Soon enough, they too fled south. Unfortunately, while the kingdoms, nations, and cities along the Rothum had had occasion conflicts amongst themselves, they were not prepared for large scale war of the magnitude they were faced with. In their favour however, was the River Ora which came down out of the Western Mountains and wound it's way to Therscold lake and then further south and east into the Drylands. As the river wound eastward it became the botom of a corge, far higher on the southern side. While level at some places, this created the best and most defensible line for the quickly unifying human nations to try and stop the slow, chaotic muada advance. All bridges over the gorge were destroyed except the massive one that had been build centuries earlier, the Ora Gorge Bridge. Forces from Sheridan's Rest, Lashaan's Vigil, Rothum's Bay and as far as Landen and the Caalesh Accord cities united to defend the border. Many of the Septurn refugees who had settled along the Rothum returned to aid in the defence, joining whatever defensive force would have them.
The muada raids and attacks continued for years. Even the Skla'vin Queen Mother P'k*cha bred massive warrior caste for the first time in centuries and sent one of her daughter Queens with them to help defend the River Ora. Only the Steel Kingdom, the Zaahani, and the southerners of the Inesh Daan refused to join the defence. Eventually however, this changed. In 550AS, 27 years after the first discovery of the muada, all of Humanity united into a single nation: Austur. The first act of the new national government, The Council of Landen, was to form a national military in memory of small force that defended The Magus a century before the Sunder. Every human fighting force, militia, and military united into the various orders of the Mageguard, dedicated entirely to protecting humanity from the muada threat.
Within a decade, the newly organized Mageguard pushed the muada back, retaking section of the Borderlands, and the muada ceased their attack for a time. But only for a time. Within 5 years, they began raids and attacks again.
Twenty seven years after Unification, Commander Chaka of the former Steel Kingdom, conceived and began building a curtain wall that would stretch the whole length of the River Ora. A long ribbon of stone that would be easily defended Austur should any muada get past the various legions posted north of the river in the Borderlands. Chaka's Curtain would be completed by 586AS. Within another fifty years, it was decided that the Borderlands could never be truly retaken and held safely, and the Mageguard were pulled back to defend The Curtain. All except three legions that would be kept to defend Northguard Keep on the northern side of the Septurn Bridge, the bridge itself, and the Southguard Keep on the Austur side. The border and the bridge were defended successfully against raid, attack and pitched battle for another two hundred years. Over this time, the muada never attempted to communicate or to explain their aggression. Their methods and tactics, such as they were never seemed to change, but their technology and skills did. Whether naturally, or by learning from their remnants of Septur, they developed metal technology. They still used this primarily for the crafting of metal knives instead of stone, but they also created simple leather belts and decorations and would carry many extra knives which they had learned to throw with incredible strength and precision. They had always been larger and far stronger than a human, able to move over land on their many tentacles with impressive speed, but they only got stronger and more skilled. By the 800s, the muada could move with incredible speed and agility over land, brandishing their steel daggers, great war cries bellowed from their huge gaping maws, and even without magic, a single pair could be a match for a whole unit of armoured Mageguard.

The Engagement

In 822AS, the muada descended on Northguard Keep in their thousands. It was the largest assembled muada force any Guardsman had seen or heard of. There were three legions permanently stationed at the Keep, the greatest standing force of Mageguard anywhere along the border, but seen as more than adequate to defend the only crossing over the River Ora. However, as those stationed Guardsmen saw the muada hordes slithering out of the distant treeline at the bottom of the long sloping hill that led to the keep and the Septurn Bridge, they soon realized that three legions would not be enough. A surviving Mageguard officer later referred to the sight as a "rippling flood of tentacles and flashing blades".
Typically, one legion would be manning the walls of Northguard Keep and entrenched on the killing field outside it's gates, with another split between patrol, defensive lines along the bridge itself, and the walls of Southguard Keep, with the third beyond the southern walls ready to relieve and support as needed. This arrangement had lasted for two hundred years, rebuffing every muada attack without one of the creatures only getting past Northguard Keep three times, but never so much as laying a tentacle on the bridge itself. On this occasion however, Tessar Evado Trelan, commanding officer of the bridge, the keeps and all their legions and support, knew their previous tactics would not be enough. He joined the entire first legion in the three rings of defensive ditches outside the gates of the keep, with the second behind the gates ready to relieve and reinforce them, and Tessar Narran's third legion packed onto the walls for defensive cover. Their only goal was to survive long enough for reinforcements to arrive from Edge Keep, Quarry Keep, and the Garrison Keep at Lashaan's Vigil.
As they slithered into range, the first and second legions reigned near endless waves of blue white into their ranks, burned down hundreds of muada as they came up the hill. As they fell however, those behind simply slid over the corpses and moved forward. The muada didn't even bother loosing a single dagger until they were close enough to get through the eye holes of the Mageguard helmets poking up over the ditches to fire. The second legion would pour through the gates, or vault the walls with a leap spell to reinforce the first, one battalion at a time. It took less than an hour for the two legions to be overwhelmed and utterly destroyed, even with cover from Narran and his guardsmen. By the time the third legion were piling muada corpses at the base of the keep walls, he decided to defy his orders. He ordered the keep emptied except for a token force to delay the muada from gaining the wall, then commanded every cook, scribe and porter from Southguard Keep into whatever armour or cestus they could find, and join the defence. Narran planned to enact one of the most extreme tactics only ever discussed in theory and shame: retreat over the bridge and destroy it from the southern side. Narran intended to do just that as soon as he had as much of defensive force in place as he could muster. As he prepared to abandon Northguard Keep though, he saw a new muada development: portable bridges. It was something Narran had never seen, heard of, or considered possible. The muada had some limited technology, language and a primitive culture, but almost never showed signs of actual battle tactics. They were seemingly mindless brutes, seeking personal combat and glory as an end unto itself. Yet now the terrifying prospect of even the Mageguard's tactic of last resort failing, was being carried out of the trees and up the hill. Whole massive trees had been cut down and two or three lashed together. These huge makeshift bridges had been carved to a point at one end and were being carried behind the leading force by dozens of muada each. Dozens of others carried long poles with handles along their lengths. Septurn Bridge had been built at it's chosen spot along the gorge because it was the narrowest and most stable on either side for a hundred kilometres in either direction. It had made building the bridge easier, but had not necessarily been thought out for tactical concerns at the time. There was plenty of room on either side of great stone footings of the bridge. With the hewn ends of the muada bridges wedged into the ground on the north side of the gorge, the incredible strength of the muada could lever and push the bridge up, aided by the long poles until it tipped over and fell across the gorge, the other end of the great trees more than long enough to make the distance. Destroying Septurn Bridge would accomplish nothing.
In a moment of desperation or genius, the solution struck Narran like lightning. It was incredibly risky and would cost Mageguard lives in their hundreds, but if the muada gained the southern side of the gorge, they would roll into Austur in a destructive wave never before imagined. With the small token force left on the Keep walls for cover, Tessar Narran and the rest of the third legion retreated to the north end of the bridge. As the muada flowed over the keep walls, killing the few remaining defenders, they opened the gates for their brethren as Narran was setting up a rotating shield wall defence to slowly retreat across the bridge, supported by the various non-combat members of the Mageguard that had arrived behind them. He then took two battalions of his legion to the south side of the bridge and explained his new tactic.
Forced to fight on the bridge itself, the shield wall only had to defend itself from a half dozen muada at a time, fighting and rotating through as death or exhaustion took them and their shield spells failed. By the time the muada were a third of the way across the bridge however, they had begun setting up their own bridges. Narran waited until the first one was finally pushed up and over to fall across the gorge. As the far end of the great trees crashed onto the southern side, a unit of Mageguard were already in the air, mid leap, firing down into the hordes on the northern side. By the time the muada realized what had happened, the unit was already falling gently to the centre of the new bridge the muada had so thoughtfully provided, firing into confused warriors. As they landed, they conjured their shields, and another unit was already in the air behind them, firing into the muada as they began to rush onto their makeshift log bridge. That unit landed behind the first, with a third already in the air. By the time the muada were crossing their own bridge, it was being defended by a rotating shield wall of Mageguard, just as the Septurn Bridge itself was. As the second muada bridge landed, another unit was in the air, firing into the hordes as they floated slowly down to defend the enemies own crossing.
Eventually Septurn Bridge itself, and three muada bridges were all being held by Mageguard forces, with one of the muada bridges having missed it mark and Fallen to the river below. There was room on the two cliffs edges for perhaps two more muada bridges, but Narran was out of Guardsman, and those he had were flagging. After hours of fighting, even with rests and rotating through the shield walls, it was not going to last much longer. Without the help of the Service Corp and trainees who had been in the Southguard Keep, it wouldn't have worked at all. Thankfully Narran, and humanity, got lucky. The fourth legion had been moving north from Lashaan's Vigil as scheduled relief for the first, and the fifth had been on training manoeuvres only a few kilometres away. The fourth legion had met their messenger sent south, and an outrider from the fifth had been just close enough to see the flair spells launched by the defenders of Northguard Keep. The fifth legion was the first to arrive and in his passion and perhaps panic, Narran simply took control of it, commanding the legions Tessar Otomba as if he were a Leftan on his first patrol. The fifth was brought up to speed and deployed to relieve and reinforce the third just as a fourth muada bridge successfully landed on the southern side of the gorge. As the fourth legion arrived, the third and fifth were defending five muada bridges, and the Septurn.
As muada and humans died and fell from the bridges and the northern cliffs, the horrific creatures advance had stalled, but they seemed either too stupid, or too determined, to even slow their attack. Rangers and patrols began to arrive at Northguard keep and news arrived that three more legions were on the way. A unit of Rangers volunteered to leap the gorge into the enemy force and make their way to the great gates of Northguard Keep. Their goal was to collapse the walls around the gates with a *REDACTED* spell, hopefully slowing the muada's ability to reinforce the bridges. Narran and the other Tessars, now all firmly under his command, reluctantly agreed. One of the Rangers made it through the mass of tentacled beast and was barely able to collapse one wall into the gates before her death. The moment of victory was met with cheers amongst the human defenders along the gorge, but in truth had only a minimal effect.
With reinforcements close, Narran was exhausted but fuelled by desperation and rage. Once again a new tactic occurred to him. He ordered the rear flanks of the bridge defenders, waiting to move forward to relieve the shield wall, to leap in successive order at ever increasing heights, hovering down slowly to the bridge, launching fireballs into the attackers as they drifted down. The result was an ever repeating wave of blue white flame raining down into the masses of muada before they could even get onto their bridges. It was exhausting the guardsmen faster, but it worked. Finally, the muada started to flag. The shield walls, despite their fatigue were actually able to push forward slowly. Another unit of Rangers volunteered to leap the gorge in an attempt to see the full extent of the remaining muada numbers. Two returned alive, but they reported that only a thousand of the muada remained. A thousand muada warriors against the few hundred remnants of five legions and a keep's kitchen staff. But only a thousand.
Years later, Tessar Narran remarked that if he had been asked the day before the battle, he would have declared without doubt that three whole legions could barely be enough to stand against a thousand muada, yet in that moment, when he heard the report from the returning Rangers, the mere two Battalion's worth of Guardsman he had left under his command filled him a sense of impending victory. The day would prove his confidence.
Narran's defenders had pushed back almost fully to the north side of the gorge, when the muada themselves began moving to push their own bridges over the edge and into the depths. They never had the chance. As the seventh and ninth legions arrived at Southguard Keep, the muada finally broke. In one moment the horrific creatures were bellowing into the shield walls with knife wielding tentacles thrusting through any gap, and in the next moment, with a deep thunderous call no human could understand, every grinning maw and every stabbing tentacle whipped around and fled. Some few of the defenders cheered, others simply dropped to the ground from injury or exhaustion, but most, Tessar Narran amongst them, screamed after the muada in sorrow, exultation, and rage. The commanding Tessars of the newly arrived legions congratulated Narran on his astonishing victory. In response, Narran dismissed their praise with a sneer, moved past them, and declared himself in command of their troops without so much as a pause in his step. He then gathered the Battalion commanders of the new legions, along with the random blood soaked defenders still standing, and commanded every single one of them over the gorge in pursuit.
Surrounded by a level of death and destruction none of them had ever seen, by their remnants of their comrades and fellow Austurians, torn to shreds by their thousands, and with Narran's impassioned words echoing in their minds, not a single guardsmen hesitated.
Two legions exhausted from a hard run to the Keep, and a battalion's worth of the greatest heroes Austur had ever seen, poured over bridges of stone and wood alike, leapt the walls of Northguard Keep like a branch Fallen in the road, and chased down the hundreds of retreating muada as they fled northward. Not a solitary member of the writhing horde was left alive.
So ended three hundred years of human-muada war.

Outcome

After the great battle, Tessar Narran's tactics and leadership were extoled even by the fellow Tessars who's legions he had unceremoniously co-opted. Within days he was promoted and made Tessar Evado of Septurn Bridge, then summoned to Landen to be formally awarded the Crown of the Magus by the Curiya himself. On his return to his new command, he then awarded the same honour on the roughly 200 surviving members of the first, second, and third legions, as well as the few living Rangers and members of the Service Corp that had joined the defence.
Word of the horrific battle, the bravery of the legions, and the incredible leadership of Tessar Narran spread to every corner of Austur within weeks. By the end of that year, Narran was being referred to almost universally as "the hero of Septurn Bridge", and his name was uttered along side the near mythical Commander Sheridan, as legendary Mageguard.
After the rebuilding of Northgate Keep, walls were were constructed along the cliff sides of both Keeps, and gates added to both ends of the bridge itself, to ensure that such a tactic from the muada would could never again be successful.

Aftermath

For two years the muada were not seen or heard along the whole length of the River Ora. Then a third year passed. The muada had gone silent before. Every few decades they seemed to have some some sort of internal conflict and ignored humanity until it was resolved. But they almost always returned to raiding within a year or two, escalating to larger and larger attacks. The longest pause on was three years, in the mid seventh century.
At the beginning of the fourth year without a single sign of the muada, Tessar Narran began sending Rangers and exploratory patrols further and further into the Borderlands. Venturing further and further north, there was sign of muada other than disused camps older than the final battle at Septurn Bridge. Carefully and cautiously Narran sent missions to the ruins of the old tower keeps along the Crossing River, with still no sign. An entire battalion was sent as far as the Corso Dwaa, the river of death, still nothing.
By the fifth year, rumour began spreading through the provinces, that the muada were truly defeated. Their massive attack on Septurn Bridge had been every warrior they had, and their defeat had been so brutal and so total that either they were so utterly defeated that they cold never recover, or that they had finally learned to fear humanity, and decided their mindless attacks were simply no matter worthwhile. At least that was the rumour. Tessar Narran, and the most of the senior leadership of the Mageguard did their best to downplay and counter these rumours, but eventually they reached The Council itself.
At the end of the fifth year without attack or sign of the muada, Tessar Narran was ordered to cease all operations and investigations into the Borderlands.
At the Landen Memorium that ended the sixth year of muada silence, and began 829AS, the newly raised Council Curiya officially declared the war over, and the muada utterly defeated.
A year and a half later, Narran was "promoted" to Tessar Evado of all of Hawm Province, the smallest and least influential province in Austur.

"That day was a horror I hope I never have to see again. I only hope the lives that victory cost us were as well spent as The Council insists they were."

- Tessar Narran, Tessar Evado of Hawm Province and The Hero of Septurn Bridge (830AS)

Included under Conflict

The Human-Muada War

Battlefield Type

Land

Ending Date

822AS

Location

Septurn Bridge