Ten Winter War
The Ten Winter War, also known as the Toshbuzzut Invasion, was a massive invasion of southern Aria by more than 120,000 Orcs that began in the year 107 AF. The war lasted 11 years (in spite of the name most know it by) before the last bands of Orcs were eliminated from within the borders of the Kingdom of Aria. Legend says the name "Ten Winter War" was first used when Count Junian Dechateone of the County of Dunmor met the King at Malamor when he first arrived at the capital with his 5,000 mounted knights and promised that "we'll drive the beasts back by winter!" The King frowned, looked over at the Dunmor knights crossing the bridge into the city and responded "We might not manage that in ten winters!"
The Orc hordes that crossed out of the Arak Mountains were banded together under the control of Ughat of the Toshbuzzut tribe, a huge and powerful Orc warlord that promised food, loot and power to all who would follow him. Those that did not follow him were the first to fall to his hordes.
The three southern-most Counties of Aria were not caught unaware. Probing attacks had been increasing all winter long in 106-107 AF, and some of the regions lords and nobles had mustered cavalry regiments to counter these attacks. What was a complete surprise was the full scope of the hordes they were facing, however.
The invasion began in the early spring of 107 AF with a stream of Orcs crossing out of the Arak Mountains and streaming north in a front that was initally 20 to 30 miles wide and it took nearly five weeks for the entire horde to cross into Aria. Conservative estimates put the number of Orcs at no less than 120,000, and some have estimated significantly more. Most of the County of Daynmor and the County of Killmor were overrun in the first two weeks of the invasion, and thousands died as a result. Tens of thousands more fled the hordes by running north by any means possible. Every boat and ship on the Daynmor coast was packed with refugees and fled to the shores of Fangort and beyond. The banks of the Arial River were packed with thousands of scared and hungry people simply looking to cross the mighty river at its widest point.
The horde's advance wasn't stopped until the spring of 108 AF when the first horde elements crossed the Arial River at several points. The total number of successful crossings is not fully known, but at least three managed to establish footholds on the north bank of the river: one near Manmor, another at the mouth of the Malam River, and the last just 20 miles downstream from the City of Balmor at a place called Ponte du Rochay. The largest of these bridgeheads, and the most dangerous for the Arians, was the one near Manmor, as the force that had managed to cross the river there number nearly 20,000 and most of the local lords, knights and men-at-arms had already mustered and marched off to fight the initial invasion the year before.
This beachhead of Orcs besieged and harried the approach to Manmor for the remainder of the spring season, but a force of well armed and well trained knights and a strong force of Elves of the Prosk'aNara arrived from the Principality of Fangort and relieved the beleaguered Arian defenders. This force, along with several Dwarven Legions of Gorgomoth from the cities of Gihdun and Thorahl were enough to push the last 8,000 Orcs back to the southern bank of the Arial River by the first snowfalls of the winter of 108 AF.
For the next three years, the Orcs maintained a state of control over the southern portion of the Kingdom of Aria that the defenders couldn't break. Forays, raids and incursions were conducted by the Arians almost continuously, but the Orcs remained highly mobile and their ferocity was terrifying. By the summer of 111 AF, the cohesion of the vast horde of Ughat Toshbussutu was beginning to crumble. A large group of Orcs, numbering nearly 5,000, were rampaging across the County of Delmor when they were met by an army of Elves from the Realm of Naru. This army numbered 2,800 and was led by the Autarch of Naru, Kel'a Bron himself. The Autarch and his army eliminated the Orcs in a battle that lasted two full days and covered an area of Delmor more than 20 miles across.
When news of the defeat by the Elves reached Ughat, he raged for hours and was reported to have killed and partially eaten the messenger. He began to march a massive contingent of his remaining horde to the west to face and destroy the hated Elves of Naru. The Orc column that followed Ughat stretched for miles and was thought to number more than 15,000 warriors. The Orcs were attacked and harrassed by Arian forces from the minute they began to move west, with raids and attacks coming from nearly every major city or stronghold still standing south of the Arial River. Delays, detours and periodic retreats caused the Orcs to loose weeks of time before they finally reached the site of the crushing defeat delivered by Kel'a Bron. Rotting unburied corpses littered the prairies of Delmor, but even spending and entire month marching up and down the County, Ughat was not able to find the hated Elves of Kel'a Bron.
By the winter of 111-112 AF, Ughat's force of Orcs was beginning to fall apart. The prairies were empty of opportunities for battle or plunder, and significant numbers of orcs, trolls and ogres began to wander off in search of more profitable and productive endeavors. Ughat's numbers dwindled to less than 9,000 capable fighters, and food and water were becoming increasingly scarce. Ughat decided to march his remaining forces back to the County of Daynmor where resources and reinforcements could be readily obtained. When the Orcs reached the Arukill River near the devestated City of Killmor, they were again faced with a massive combined Arian-Naruian-Dwarven force numbering more than 20,000 seasoned and well-supplied fighters. The battle rapidly became a running rout for the Orcs and lasted for more than a week. By the start of the new year of 113 AF, Ughat found himself with only 3,500 capable fighters and trapped against the fringes of the Foray d'If (Forest of Yews in Arian). On the Arian religious festival of Chansons (or the Feast of Carmena, January 11) of 113 AF, the final battle against Ughat Toshbuzzutu was fought on the southern fringes of the Foray d'If. Over the course of 30 hours, every Orc remaining under his control was killed. Ughat himself was killed after being attacked by one of his own warriors and wounded to a point where he couldn't escape the battlefield. His head was removed and taken on a pike back to the Grand Temple at Killmor as a trophy.
The last remaining bands of wandering Orcs were hunted down and destroyed over the next five years, with the last roving band of some 70-odd Orcs defeated in the spring of 118 AF by the new King of Aria, Marcel I Carrel.
Included Conflicts
Conflict Type
War
Start Date
Spring of 107 AF
Ending Date
Autumn of 118 AF
Belligerents
Strength
Unknown with any certainty, but the number could concievably exceed 200,000 souls by the war's end.
Casualties
Estimated to exceed 90% by the end of the conflict.
By war's end, casaulties could have been more than 90,000 dead and another 90,000 maimed or wounded.
Objectives
Elimination of all Orc threats to Aria and its neighbors.
