The Battle of the Black Vale

Military action

Two years after the beginning of the War of Human Attrition, one of the bloodiest battles of the entire war consumed the City of Black Vale, once renowned for its industrial contributions to society. The outlying lands were dotted with numerous mines rich with coal and saltpeter among other rare metals. The entire city was blanketed with the dust of factories and refineries, leading to the name.

Two years after the beginning of the War of Human Attrition, one of the bloodiest battles of the entire war consumed the City of Black Vale, once renowned for its industrial contributions to society. The outlying lands were dotted with numerous mines rich with coal and saltpeter among other rare metals. The entire city was blanketed with the dust of factories and refineries, leading to the name. As a prime target for any army seeking a powerful hold of ample resources, it was only a matter of time before the city was under siege. Originally held by the Becht loyalists, they had fortified as best they could, constructing ramshackle walls of scrap stone, metal, and steel, lining them with makeshift ballista and oil pots. The Empire stationed a thousand troops there including two hundred Hiversteadian troops. Although there was no known proof that there was any interaction between them, the city was laid siege by the forces of two opposing sides simultaneously. On one side, the Orphaned Legion, a small army consisting of former clergy and cast offs left behind by the enormous number of casualties caused by the Blight. On the other, the Archivists, a loosely assembled group of criminals and pirates that used the war as a means to profit and seed destruction. The siege lasted for months, with the three forces battling each other and in some cases, themselves. The walls held for a month, but were breached by the Archivists who attempted to burrow under causing the entire structure to collapse in on the tunnels killing many of the Archivist troops but bringing down enough of the wall allowed access. As the pirate forces spilled into the city the Becht forces pulled back the civilians into the central courtyards of the main market hub of the city and fortified there while the remaining Hiversteadian soldiers held back the opposing forces. While they stood there allowed enough time for the fortification to be made and the civilian population withdrawn, they were slain to the last in the attempt. As the Archivists poured in, they were attacked from the rear by the Orphaned Legion, who also used the break to push into the city. The Orphaned Legion used the initial attack as a distraction and sent the bulk of their forces around the inner wall to fortify themselves in the industrial sector of the city, gaining access to the steel and iron reserves that were stored there. The remaining Becht loyalist troops and civilians, held out for two months before starvation and desperation drove them out in a final surge for victory. The disorganized Archivists were caught unaware and were overrun by the rag tag survivors of Black Vale who, enlivened by victory, turned their attention to the remaining invaders. Revitalized and rearmed from the fallen Archivists, the remaining near five hundred survivors pushed hard into the fortified Orphaned Legion. Though the fighting was fierce and evenly matched, all was for naught. The fighting led to a fire breaking out in the city that quickly caught and spread, trapping all the remaining forces of both armies within. The armies fought unaware until it was too late and all of them were consumed in the inferno of an entire city ablaze. To make matters worse, the fires caught the coal in the mines below and started an unending fire below the surface of the city. The remaining husk is still considered a cursed place, filled with sinkholes into the mines and choking, noxious smoke and invisible flames just beneath the earth. The air is thick with smoke and ash constantly. No attempt was ever made to reclaim the area.