The Great Defense

General Nadnial looked out across the field. He saw, hidden in the rocky terrain, his enemy. They had gradually pushed them to this point. The Northerners could only number a few hundred, compared to his 2400 troops, with advanced weaponry. They still resisted mightily. It had to end now. Three companies were ready for a forward assault while two more would flank both sides.
He turned to his aid. "Now."
The aid spoke into an amplifier. "Go! Go! Go!"
Twenty-four hundred men moved as one, most of them shooting armor piercing arrows at the defenders, as they surged forward. The defenders returned fire with their bolts of ice. Despite the slight advantage the unerring accuracy of the bolts, the Northerners would soon be overrun.
But then, disaster! Pockets of men began just disappearing from the battlefield. Ten here, 30 there, 100 from the center of the line.
"What is happening‽"
"I…don't know sir."

Known as Nā Melaivateva /neɪ̯.mɪˈlaɪ̯vaˌtɪva/ among the Nenamī mī Libada, the Great Defense was when they defended their lands (nā Žā Nīda) from the Kingdom of Breglis invaders. The conflict was known by Breglis as Dema bas Pableso, the Great Waste.
Happens early in the Fourth Age, when the Breglis was still trying to grow its power. The Nenamī still hold their hatred for the Breglis, but the people of Breglis have mostly forgotten the battles and their reasons. The Northern Wastes are just a large, mysterious, and dangerous region.
Breglis finds useful material (crystals of some sort? Medicinal plant?) in north. They are rebuffed by the Nenamī and move to take it. As they do the land around them seems to attack.

The Conflict

Prelude

The Nenamī knew that Breglis was planning to assault their homeland well in advance of the actual assault. The reasons were twofold. First, Breglis representatives negotiated poorly and revealed their hand. Second, when they first learned Breglis was searching for new resources within their lands, they implanted a number of spies in the monarchy's court.
Breglis approached the Nenamī requesting access to the resource. But the representatives were either inept or overconfident. Or both. They started the negotiations with an obvious disdain for the northerners and their culture, stating plainly that they believed the Nenamī to be inferior. The northerners flatly refused. The monarchy's representatives attempted to continue to negotiate, but ended up simply threatening the Nenamī with violence.
Prior to that, though, the Nenamī had learned of the monarchy's budding interest in their lands. They quickly embedded a number of spies within the court. Some were already in the court and were easily bought. Some were natives of the monarchy who jumped at the chance to, at a minimum, frustrate the monarchy. The last two were Nenamī well trained in deception and able to alter their appearances enough to fool the natives of Breglis. It was through these agents that they were able to gain ample warnings to prepare their defenses.

Deployment

Nenamī

The northerners prepared several traps for the monarchy's troops. While they were initially conceived as one-time defenses against a far superior force, the aftermath remains to this day, with some of the traps still ready to activate.
The first defense was a series of small explosive packages that were designed to blow holes in the thin barrier between an enormous underground cavern and the ground level. Troops were stationed within the cavern ahead of and behind the explosives. When the above ground troops triggered the explosive, they would drop through to the cavern, where the stationed troops were able to quickly dispatch those who survived the fall.
The second defense was similar to the first, except instead of opening sinkholes, they opened steam vents, as this area has tunnels leading to magma pools deep below the ground. When the vent opened, super heated air was forced up to the surface, causing severe burns to those unfortunate enough to be close to them. The vents weren't large enough for equipment to fall through, but they would be large enough for one or two people.
The final defense was created and operated by number of Vatava Natai, Nenamī ice wizards. When the enemy approached, the wizards tapped into a realm of elemental ice, forcing great spikes of ice up from the ground.
Small squadrons were deployed beyond each defensive trap, intended to be obviously visible and lure the opposing forces through the trap by retreating after a brief engagement. In addition, rapid assault units where hidden in flanking positions in order to disrupt the resupply lines of Breglis' forces.
The bulk of the Nenamī forces remained well within the inner perimeter determined by the final defensive barrier. The intent was for them to defend and repulse whatever remained of the invading troops.
All the Nenami troops were armed with magically empowered weapons based on crossbows. While slow to reload the ice spikes, they were very accurate and someone trained in their use will rarely miss. They shot bolts of ice, pulled from the same elemental realm as the ice spikes. These bolts, however, did not have the staying power of the spikes and melted just as normal ice does.

Kingdom of Breglis

General Nadnial got his post, and the command of this mission, due to his ties to the monarchy, not because of his skill. As such, he planned for a straightforward assault, relying on superior numbers and advanced weaponry. He even planned to maintain a supply line of troops and weapons. Unfortunately, he didn't plan for the advanced tactics and guerilla warfare employed by the northerners and sorely overestimated the ability of his "advanced" weaponry while underestimating the ice bolts employed by his enemy. This despite knowing of their existence.

The Engagement

The assault happened via three main battles, one for each of the major defenses set up by the Nenamī. Each represented a push by the Breglisi forces. While the Breglisi weren't completely repulsed until the third battle, they paused after each of the other two to regroup and resupply. As they progressed, the supply lines got longer, going through more treacherous terrain.

First Battle

Sink holes.

Second Battle

vents of steam violently open up around them.

Final Battle

The third battle ended the monarchy's assault on the northerners. The reasons were two fold.
First, supply chain for the Breglisi forces became long enough that the Nenamī were able to attack it fairly regularly using hit and run tactics. As small band of warriors trained in rapid assault were able to swoop in on a transport, quickly dispatching the protective guard. They'd then either destroy or hijack the transport.
Second, the defense devastated the primary troops. In this battle, the defense was huge spikes of ice thrust up from the ground. The Nenamī retreated to beyond the new barriers, and remained able to still able to protect resource the monarchy was after.

Alternative Names

Dema bas Pableso, nā Melaivateva

Conflict Type

Military Campaign

Battlefield Type

Land

Location

Northern Wastes