I- Introduction of the Empire
The Empire or Saderan Empire which share the same name with it's capital (Sadera) is Falmart's largest military political entity with influence over the continent. The territory of the Empire stretches from East to West of the continent with the rich river deltas, long coastline, ports, cities, dense forests, low hills and mountains.
The JSDF has estimated that from the extreme east to the extreme west of the Empire, the total length is more than 8000 km, which is as wide as the Mongol Empire.
Geographically, the giant Rho River divides Empire into East and West halves with the capital Sadera in the middle. The West of the Empire consists of plains surrounded by large mountains, rich port cities of the Pearl Sea and crowded riverside setlements. Meanwhile the East is an open land with unexplored grasslands and forests. To the south of the western territory lies a long-standing volcanic mountain known as Tuba, which is said to be the place where the legendary fire dragon lived and the north is a large desert uninhabited desert covered by Knappnai mountain range. Part of the southern coast of the Romalia moutain is the territory of four large independent kingdoms but heavily influented by the Empire: Elbe, Agula, Mudwan, and the Duchy of Lindon. The Empire also has 17 other small lands scattered throughout its territory called 17 vassal states
1/ Political organization:
The Empire was led by the Emperor, who had almost absolute power and the highest social and military rank. Under the emperor was the Senate and the other departments. Senate is the most important administrative apparatus in Sadera with diverse functions, from civilian fields such as population management, tax collection, construction, security, trade and agriculture management to mobilizing troops for war. The constituent of the Senate is a member of noble families in or outside Capital of Sadera with a few exceptions. There was a time when members of the Senate were elected by the people through popular vote, but this form of election had ended about 200 years ago. Currently the only way to have a seat in the Senate is through internal voting.
Theoretically, the Emperor had overwhelming power but the truth was that his decisions were dominated by the Senators. Three emperors were overthrown by the Senate and one was killed.
The next level in the administrative apparatus is the Governor. The Empire does not explicitly stipulate the appointment of the governor. Usually a large city or a specific region will have a governor nominated by the Senate or appointed by the Emperor himself, but some areas may not apply this rule. The city of Italica and its surrounding areas are always under the control of the noble family in the form of hereditary and the magical city of Rondel managed by the council of wizards though located in the territory of the the Empire.
2/ Residents
Because the territory was so vast as the consequences of constant conquests for more than 500 years, the Empire's inhabitants were varied and disturbed over time.
Men is the most populous part of the Empire with a diverse range of living: big cities, villages, towns, harbors, plains and mountains. Sadera is the Empire of humankind and it is not surprising that this resident component holds almost all the power of society and other species are considered inferior and must accept the fate of being ruled.
Beastman is a human-like creature which diverse in appearance and name but the most common is still Wolf clan, Rabbits, Harpy, dozen branches of Cat clan living mixed with human inhabitants and doing varied jobs for living from warriors, hunters, craftsmen, farming, servants and prostitutes. Of course because of not being considered as men, the Beastmen is not allowed to hold any position of power in the Empire(There is still a few exception) and is often discriminated against (Nobless families in the Capital do not even hire Beastmen to serve as servants). Rabbits (Previously called Warrior Bunnies) are the newest members of Sadera society after the Empire destroy their Country of the Prairie in the East two years ago, those who survived and not being sold into Slavery cuts their ears to integrate better in their new life. The Warrior Bunnies is quite special because the babies are all always female so every time they want to breed, a male partner from other races is needed.
Elve is the oldest creature in Falmart living in small villages and forests. Elve has a human-like appearance except for longer ears than usual. They excel in cultivation, hunting, crafting, magic, music or fighting if dedicated. Lelei once told Itami that she believed that the reason why Elve was so good was because they had a nearly immortal life to perfect their skills no matter how hard they were. Although most of Elve's living spaces are located in Sadera territory, they rarely relate or are affected by the Empire's authority. Immortal life encourage Elve to live as minimalist with very few valuable proverty, separated from other seltements of Human and Beastmen. Their lacking of the concept of money and trading make them less likely a target for looting while the small amount of population and indifferent attitude make Sadera government ignored them.
Orc, Troll, Goblinare fierce and brutal creatures who mainly live in wild caves and hills. The society of these creatures is extremely violent and primitive, so there are no villages or towns built by them. There was a time when we had a threat of other species, but since the last Morka Moon and his Orc army was defeated by the Sadera Empire, they had to retreat to the eastern forests and caves in Avalanche Mountains. There, Orcs continued the activity that the had been doing for thousands of years , killing each other until the end of the world. Some Orcs and Goblins are smarter than their compatriots and went to the city and become traders but the majority still practice thievery, joining organized crime groups or selling their sword to Empire army.
3/Vizima Peninsula and Niflheim
Before reading the history of the empire, we need to know a little about the peninsula of Vizima, Vizima alliance and Niflheim, one of the most powerful enemies of the Sadera Empire have ever faced. Wars that fought between these rivals change Falmart forever.
Vizima Peninsula is located in the southeastern part of the empire today, a strip of rich land with many famous commercial ports and fertile land. Politically, before the first Niflheim-Sadera war, Vizima had six major kingdoms and many autonomous territories. The six major kingdoms are: Pricia, Anoch, Lorencia, Floinia, Speize and Niflheim. Niflheim is the strongest kingdom but its inhabitants are not the native inhabitants of Vizima. Niflheim sea warriors come from the subcontinent Avalon, located in the south of continent Falmart and just only set their foothold on Vizima soil 50 years before the first Sadera- Niflheim war.
Under the threat of the new empire of Sadera which is hungry for gold, slave, land and blood, the whole Peninsula had united under the name of Vizima alliance led by the most respected and powerful kingdom of Niflheim.
4/The South Romalia kingdoms
The South Romalia kingdoms are the common names of the four countries located south of the giant Romalia mountains that split the Falmat continent in two. During the early period of the Empire, the area was devoid of many inhabitants due to its rugged terrain and poor agricultural land, but when the ancient kingdoms of Crix and Akendale were defeated in 68, the population who survived the collapse of the homeland and massacre perpetrated by imperial legions, refusing to accept living under Imperial law as a subject of the empire, went to the region of South Romalia for refuge. Copper, iron and gold mines were discovered a few years later and turned it into one of Falmat's fast-growing areas.
Four kingdoms formed from small cities and separate territories. Agula took over the land below the South Romalia Mountains, Elbe captured the southwestern coast while Mudwan and the Duchy of Lindon shared the east coast and Thend River. As a descendant of the kingdom of Knights Crix and Akandale in the past, the four kingdoms of South Romalia were the cradle of the spirit of chivalry, honor and the best heavy cavalry in Falmat. The number of famous knights comes from these four countries more than anywhere else on the continent
II-The History of the Empire
According to the calendar of the Empire, this entity has existed for 587 years. The calendar with timeline is the coronation of Aurelius Antoninus, the first Emperor and the great conqueror. More than a third of the Empire's territory was obtained through this man. Between the fourth and the twelfth year, the Sadera Army conducted its first major expansion across the continent and won important victories. One of them was to cross Romalia in the West and occupy Italica as a lauching point for the future military operations. In the East and center of the continent, the army commanded by the Emperor himself captured the coastal cities and repelled the nomadic peoples away from the Great Grassland, setting the stage for the his successor built powerful trade centers, which were the key to operations on the West later on.
After Aurelius died, his descendants continued their conquest. Romulus fought the three kingdoms Crix, Arrun and Akandale over the control of the land under Knappnai and Romalia mountains but failed. The army of the Empire was defeated and even the Emperor himself lost his life on the battlefield. It was not until 68 that Akandale was destroyed, Crix managed to survive for another twenty two years before their legendary cavalry forces was crushed by the Invictus Legion during the Battle of the Hollerheim in 80. The ancient magic kingdom of Arrun takes the opportunity to take over the remains of the old frenemies and negotiate peace with the Empire.
Recession period
The 2nd century saw the decline of the Empire. Emperor Drasus and his nephew Horas were catastrophes to the people of Sadera for more than 63 years. Drasus started the dynasty normally but after a strange illness, he suddenly changed his behaviour. The Emperor always suspected of someone was planning a murder on him, so he rarely appeared in public and always hid behind dozens of guards even when he was in his own palace. Drasus' paranoia was so severe that he did not dare to cut his hair because he feared the barber could be the assassin who was sent to kill him, so for many years the emperor appeared in front of his subjects in a filthy manner. Many people started complain that Drasus was acting like an maniac rather an Emperor and then night murders began to occur throughout the capital. In the last years of his reign, Drasus had executed at least four thousand people but the number of deaths on the street cause by his assassination squad must have been greater. The Senate intervened, they imprisoned Drasus, but due to controversy over his successor, the mad Emperor still ruled for another 12 years in captivity.
Horas succeeded after Drasus death in 173. Horas was not crazy like his uncle but an insatiable man. For twenty-three years of rule, he depleted the treasury five times. Horas often partied lavishly for months and when he was bored he would turn his attention to organizing the tournament or building palaces. It is said that the Emperor wanted a ship made of gold for excursions despite the shipbuilders said that such an object could never sail on sea. The result of this idiocy was forty-two people drowned, even Horas almost lost his life in the accident if not for the bravery of the guards.
The madness and wastefulness of the two emperors were the reasons why the first decade of the 3rd century becoming a nightmare for the Empire. Between 202-245, the nomadic nations defeated by Aurelius had returned and constantly threatened the Northeast border with raids. The system of outport which was weaken during the rule of Horas due to lack of funding could not stop hordes after hordes of nomadic invaders, while another powerful enemy, Niflheim, began to appear and ready fight for their influence on Falmat continent with the Imperial Empire.
The first Sadera - Niflheim war
In 248 Niflheim organized a large invasion force to attack Sadera from sea. At the naval battle of Misty Islands (consisting of three small islands at the mouth of the Sea of Pearl), the Niflheim army was victorious. Two-thirds of Sadera's naval forces were destroyed, making the Empire's most important coastal cities completely exposed to Niflheim's attacks. Aquaticus was captured after a week of resisting, Romulan city was named after Romulus, Aurelius's grandson was burned down to the ground, most of the population was massacred. Niflheim's infantry forces established a base in Aquaticus and began to march to the north while the navy followed the Rho River towards the capital.
12 legion were dispatched to deal with the powerful Niflheim forces consiting of 150,000 infantry and 6000 cavalry, while the capital was forced to prepare for the siege from the Tiris River. The two sides met on the field of Batigon and once again the victory leaned toward to the army from the East. Emperor Adarian was captured at the battle, but all of his princes died on the battlefield. This traumatic event force Lorenthar, Adarian's eldest daughter to receive the title of Emperor in place of her younger brother who wasonly three year old at the time. Due to the lack of a good army, Clementine was forced to summon the expedition troops from the west of Romaila back to defend the capital city. 60,000 soldiers led by the seventy-two-year-old Helius crossed the Romalia in four days, a Miracle feat that was later called "The Divine march"
Helius knew that he was not strong enough to face Niflheim's main force on the open field, so he sent an army of 3,000 men to a town near Aquaticus called Tarvik to create a diversion. He wanted Niflheim army to think that he was about to cut off their supply lines.
Niflheim fell into the trap of the old general, they immediately marched back in a messy formation, stretching more than ten kilometers, Niflheim Cavalry left the infantry behind, turning them into easy prey for Sadera cavalry. Helius decided that the attack took place at noon when the enemy was weakest. The central Niflheim army disintegrated quickly after a brief battle and the rest of it was like a fox hunt, Helius easily surrounded isolated part of the enemy once mighty force and defeated them partly. What left of Niflheim army attempted to flee to Tarvik to organize defenses, but after realizing that Sadera's diversionary army had captured the town and cut off the path to Aquaticus, they immediately surrendered their weapons. In mid-249, Niflheim's ground forces were completely defeated.
Niflheim Navy conducted the siege on Sadera for two months. In the fifth week, they broke the wall opposite the Tiris River and poured into the city but it was not over there. The defensive troops set up barricades on each street, on every inner bridge and fought fiercely to the last man. Many times they nearly pushed the invader back to the wall. Though not a warrior and bearing the title of Empress, Lorenthar still went to the front line to promote the spirit of soldiers. During a small battle in Athenian Square, the Empress lost a hand during the war and that was the reason why people after the war usually said "Lorenthar single hand saved the Empire". By the last week of the siege, receiving news that the army had been defeated, Niflheim's fleet stopped all the attack and sail to the Sea of Pearl in the night.
The Sadera-Niflheim War ended. Lorenthar ruled for another 52 years, she died at the age of 83 and passed the throne to her brother's son, Valerian. At the time Valerian succeeded, the Empire had regained most of it's power after more than a century of war, disease and poor management.
The Western campaigns
Valerian were not keen on vengeance attacks on Niflheim proposed by the Senate and the heads the army, which harmed the relationship between him and the nobility for many years to come and eventually led to tragic death for the Emperor. Instead he proposed a peace with Niflheim and its allied nations in the Vizima peninsula to have time to facilitate the remaining settlement of Kingdom Arrun, the powerful magic nation was now only a shadow of its former shell after a The magical catastrophe caused an epidemic killing half of the population.
After two years of fighting, Valerian captured the entire Arrun, eliminating the last obstacle on the way further to western part of Falmat. However, the aspirations of the ambitious Emperor was not easy to come true if the kingdoms of the southern Romalia such as Elbe, Agula, Mudwan, and Duchy of Lindon still existed. Among these four kingdoms, only the Duchy of Lindon was friendly with Empire due to the benefit it gained through trade, Mudwan was usually remained neutral while Elbe and Agula would fight against Empire to tooth and nail to reserve their independence. In 314, Duchy of Lindon joined forces with Empire to invaded Agula and Elbe.
Thanks to the skill of a seasonal general, Mario El Servius, 15 legion of Sadera easily invaded and occupied Agula within a month. Due to the crushing defeat of its ally, Elbe existence was at risk as the imperial legions now outnumbered them 3 to 1. However, when the victory was firmly in the Empire's hands, an terrible incident occurred.
The fact that the Agula's remnants continued their guerrilla activities forced Mario El Servius to send two 3rd legions "Warthog" and 15th legion "Emperor's hammer" back to protect the supply route across the newly captured territory. When these two legions passed the volcanic mountain of Tuba, they accidentally encountered the legendary fire dragon and suffered heavy casualties. Six thousand people died and the consequences the imperials faced after that were even more terrible. The people of Agula saw this as a sight of victory and started rebellions driving the garrison troop out of their land as well as cut off Mario's supply line completely.
Trapped between two hostile armies, Mario had to choose between attacking Elbe and returning to Agula to crush the uprising, reopen the supply line. Mario chose the second way and began to send troops through the passes between the Agula and Elbe borders. However, his army encountered many difficulties due to bad weather, cholera and enemy ambushes. Upon reaching the territory of the Agula, Mario El Servius had only five legions intact, little of food and less moral to take back the Agula. He sent the Emperor to ask for more troops, but Valerian failed to persuade the Senate, so in late 315, Mario was ordered to return to Italica. Although Mario managed to win a battle against two Agula-Elbe armies month later but his legions was unable to push into enemy land again because winter was near and there was very little hope for reinforcement.
The western campaign ended with the Empire's defeat.
This defeat shattered the reputation that Valerian had been building throughout his life . The Emperor tried to restore his honor by holding another attack but received no support from the nobility and the commoners. The people believed that the attacks of the 3rd and 15th Squadron were a sign that Valerian had lost the blessing of the gods and the two great floods in 317 and 319 in Sadera only reinforced their belief.
Being shunned by the aristocracy and ordinary people for a long time, in the year of 324 Valerian hung himself in the palace.
Second Sadera-Niflheim War (60-year war )
Learning lesson from his father's death, Valerian's son Gaius fully supported a war with rival Niflheim at the discretion of the Senate. In 328, after four years of enthronement, Emperor Gaius declared the Mist isles the territory of the Empire despite protests from Niflheim. Previously, Valerian had promised to make these islands neutral territory and the would be Empire fleet was anchored there. This was how Valerian show his goodwill to the former enemy because the Misty Isles very important in term of military to Niflheim's territorial waters. Gaius's actions seemed to be the end of the peace agreement that had lasted for more than 20 years, but Niflheim couldn't do much with the tangled situation on the Vizima peninsula they were encountering, especially when some important allies were like Anoch and Lorencia were intending to change side when they saw the odd now favored the Sadera Empire.
Although lasting up to 60 years, under the reign of the three emperors, the climax of this war was at an early stage when Gaius was still sat on the throne and with one of the best generals in Sadera's history on the frontline, Anthony El Deconte.
In the summer of 329, 50,000 troops under General Anthony El Deconte attacked Myre province bordering the Sadera regions, north of the peninsula of Vizima, belonging to the principality of Pricia but managed by Niflheim. They quickly gained control of the province for several weeks because the Niflheim defenders were second grade troops which was poorly equipped and organized. Niflheim and its allies immediately organized an army of up to 200,000 men to fight the invader but that number did not last long. During the conference at the Kinix Fortress, the generals of the southern Vizima countries pointed their finger at Anoch and Lorencia and loudly call them out for bringing only 4,000 soldiers while the number should have been 15,000. A quarrel broke out and as a result, the two countries and a few vassal lords immediately led troops back home. Although this was a political disaster, from a military perspective, the Vizima Alliance was still powerful compared to Anthony's force and at the battle of Horn, they crushed the invaders and chased them out of Myre.
In 331, the Empire attacked Myre but with another tactic. Anthony did not try to defend the territory he had just acquired, but proceeded to loot and burn what he could not carry. Two weeks after the Vizima coalition was mobilized again to fight the common enemy but when they reached Myre, Sadera troops had retreated to the border to hide behind their safe fortresses.
In 332, the legion of Empire returned to Myre but due to fierce resistance from the defenders, Anthony decided to retreat after two weeks of fighting. Two years later, he again led his troops to Vizima but this time the goal was Floinia, one of richest country on the peninsula, not Myre. Anthony continued to use the same looting and burning strategy but he took it to next level. The capital Norstein was burned four days after its fall, the villages and surrounding towns were also destroyed, the Floinia royal family was taken prisoner, Anthony even declared his love for princess of Floinia and marry her as the second wife (Some say he raped the bride or the whole marriage was for political reasons).
Too frustrated by the constant encroachment for five years, Niflheim decided to retaliate but the difficulty was that they did not have many valuable target that was worth the effort. The two Imperial regions bordering Myre were all grasslands, forests or swamps with strong outposts and castles, very hard to attack. The only goal that Niflheim's ruling council found worthy was the Misty Islands, the starting point for Sadera's invasion by sea in the future. In the 4th century, the Niflheim navy was still hegemony at sea with experienced admirals and well-trained fleets. In the previous war, they easily defeated the Sadera navy, so Niflheim was completely confident in the victory this time.
The second naval battle of Misty Isles was fierce and bloody that ended with a draw. The Niflheim marine suffered heavy losses so it was impossible to lauch an assault on island while the Sadera Navy did not have enough large ships to strike the final blow to the enemy. Despite some success, Niflheim was shocked by the adversary's progress and found its position as King of the sea began to waver. In the next attack in 337, Niflheim mobilized a larger number of warships, including their legendary Avion fleet, and won a convincing victory in the Third Battle of the Mist.
However, the sea victories were blurred by Anthony El Deconte's fifth invasion into Vizima. Unlike the previous four, this time Anthony brought a huge army to the fight. According to some historian, by the end of 337 about 150,000 infantrymen, 10000 auxiliaries and 6000 cavalry had march into Vizima. Myre was again captured and burned, but this time was the most devastating one, almost all of its inhabitants were massacred or had to flee, the walls, ports, cities, towns were destroyed or was abandoned. It was called this Last Rape because Myre means "Girl" in ancient language. Anthony's army easily recaptured Floinia, then Speize and Fireland. The coalition troops formed in a hurry to deal with Anthony but fail to stop his advance, especially in the Battle of the Red Mangrove, where the five Coalition Kings of Vizima were captured, missing or killed.
Although most of Alliance soldier survived the battle of Red Mangrove Forest, Anoch's departure from the Alliance was a serious blow to Vizima's war effort, causing division among nations. Niflheim as the leader of Vizima peninsula is determined to continue to fight on but the belief in the victories of allied nations began to waver after Anoch surrendered. Lorencia came out to criticize Niflheim's leadership and threatened to leave the Alliance because they would rather have an eminent Emperor Gaius than a fanatic, delusional leader. In this situation, the Niflheim ruling council had no choice but to attack Lorencia and annex the country to its territory before it surrendered to the Empire. This unforgiven punishment worked, hesitating countries all choose to continue fighting because they did not want to share the same fate with Lorencia. However, the view of whole Vizima on Niflheim change forever. it gradually became a different Empire from arbitrary behavior.
Sadera's expeditionary army wintered in northern Vizima in 340 until spring of 341 when the snow had melted. Niflheim realized that the main reason Anthony had delayed his advance for so long was the supply for his army which consisted of 200,000 men was far more complicated than he expect. The Niflheim naval domination at the sea caused Sadera troops to rely entirely on rickshaws and horsepower to transport food, men on a 400-mile long road from the Imperial city of Caucus and when this road was interrupted by weather, Anthony would not risk to take any action
Proposals that cut off the supply line were taken out, from using the navy to landing on the sea to trying to recapture the wasteland of Myre to flanking Anthony's rear army, but none of them were passed by Niflheim ruling council. Peter Wett, one of Niflheim's generals, proposed an allience with Sakkos and Norithos, two nomadic tribes that had formerly invaded the East of Sadera and North Vizima and used them to attack two provinces bordering Myre . Peter Wett thought that finding a way to breach Anthony's defense was a waste of time and too risky when the position of the Sadera army now had superior position and Anthony was definitely setting up a trap for them to attack. Peter Wett believed that when the supply line was threated Anthony would have to give up his position and retreat to Myre.
General Wett was partly correct. It was true that, after the supply road was cut, Anthony did leave his position but not to withdraw. Vizima's number one enemy had all his troops into Frieland, a low plain with small creeks, expressing the intention to fight a battle to determine the fate of the peninsula. This was also seen as a personal challenge to Peter Wett because Frieland was his ancestor's land.
The two armies selected an empty area called Bradford to serve as a battleground. Anthony brought to the battlefield 130,000 infantrymen and 5,000 war horses while Peter Wett had 120,000 infantrymen and 13,000 cavalry soldiers (half of them were all Sakkos and Norithos allied nomads).
Although there was no large difference in numbers of infantry was deployed by both side, Sadera's legions were famous for discipline and equipment, so Peter Wett knew he had to rely on the larger cavalry force on both flank to win the day.
When the first wave of attack was launched by both, the Niflheim Cavalry actively used triangular and charged towards the cavalry column of Sadera. Anthony responded by pulling out the cavalry on the left wing to the right wing and commanded all 5,000 horses by himself to battle the nomadic warriors and entrusting the left wing defense to the two legion. Sadera's troops won an unexpected victory over Sakkos's skilled but undiscipline riders but they lost their left wing. The cavalry of Niflheim proved too strong compared to the two legions of infantry.
Peter Wett immediately launched a second attack after breaking the left wing of the Empire. Later, General Niflheim personally led the reserve troops to strengthen his left wing facing Anthony's direct attack. According to what was said later, the two generals had a fierce duel. Anthony hit his opponent's head twice but his helmet saved Peter Wett's life. President Niflheim responded by breaking Anthony's shoulder bone with a mace, although he himself was injured and bleeding, the worst was the underarm arm injury.
The battle was interrupted when the guards of the two sides broke into and pull them out of the fight. Both commanders, despite of injury had to return to their position to command the third wave.
But the third wave of attacks was never implemented. Saderan Empire lost all of their cavalry forces and had about 100,000 legionnaires (30,000 killed or wounded) left so Anthony decided to wait for enemy to attack. Meanwhile, Niflheim lost between 55,000 and 60000 soldiers in the battle and although they still had about 6000 calvalry ready to be deployed, Peter Wett didn't think such forces was enough to break the enemy line like they had done at the begin of the battle so he wouldn't commit another offensive.
The two generals ordered their army to hold position and sometimes changed their deployment to observe the enemy's reaction until the sun was set. No attack took place at night even though Wett had given Anthony such a chance when he moved his army more than half a mile due to water in the camp was contaminated. Anthony saw the torches moving north in the night but he thought Wett was plotting to cut off his retreat so he also moved his defensive position back for a mile. On the morning of the second day, the distance between the two armies was up to one and a half miles and since no one wanted to attack first, the battlefield that day belonged to the crows and the wild dogs fighting over corpses on the field. On the third day of Bradford's battle, the two sides reached an agreement on collecting their deads and on the fourth night, Anthony called the retreat back to Floinia and then Myre.
Although Bradford did not have a decisive result, Peter Wett was still considered the winner because Anthony had to leave Vizima territory to recover. However, Anthony's withdrawal caused more trouble for Niflheim and its allies than benefits. Sakkos and Norithos, two nomadic tribes who were dissatisfied with the spoils gained from attacking the sparsely populated lands of the Empire, commanded their nomadic troops to pillage the north of Vizima and control all ports left behind by Anthony. Sakkos sacked Pricia in 344 and 345, Norithos raided the east coast of Vizima until the end of 348 . The people of Vizima call it "The continuous war" or "The betrayed of Sakkos". Peter Wett died in 349 when his entourage was ambushed by a group of Sakkos Raiding Party on the way back to Frieland,
The Niflheim War - Sadera continued with small border raids and maritime disputes until Gaius died of measles in 354. Anthony died due to old age four years later when the war had lasted for 30 years.
The remaining members of the Lorencia royal family, backed by the Empire and Anoch, have been conducting resistance for 25 years against Niflheim's occupation. Lorencia regained independence in 379 and proclaimed neutrality in the conflict between Niflheim and Sadera. Anoch rejoined the Vizima alliance for a short time before the organization disbanded in 385 due to disagreements due to member nations with Niflheim.
Sadera recaptured the Mist Islands in 362 but lost it to Niflheim's hands three years later. The archipelago constantly changed owners four times in the next ten years, sometimes it was occupied by a large pirate crew led by the female pirate Ero. Until the peace treaty was signed in 388, the islands were still under Niflheim naval control.
At the end of the war, the unity on the Vizima peninsula was completely broken. Nations was dissatisfied with Niflheim after nearly six decades of constant war, heavy losses in their war with the Empire and the Nomad, formed their own alliances or remained neutral. After 388, Niflheim had to face threats without the backing of the entire peninsula and this led to Niflheim losing Vizima and a counterbalance position to Sadera a century later.
On the side of the Sadera Empire, though it was victory of ages, the price paid was not small. Sixty years of war had change the Empire society, economy, military and politic from root to top which lead the Empire into the Civil War (407-427).
End of Imperial History part 1
The military structure of the Empire
Infantry:
The backbone of the Imperial Army is a heavily armed and well-trained legionnaire. Legion is the oldest force in the history of the Empire, derived from the conquests of Aurelius Antonius. Initially the legionnaires were organized into an army of 4,000 men including auxiliaries called Legion but this structure changed a bit in later periods. During the reign of Romulus, a Legion had only about 4200 soldiers, while in the reign of Gaius or Molt Sol Augustus, the number of soldiers in a Legion sometimes exceeded 7000. Before the invasion of Ginza, the Empire had over 60 legion in service ( about 500000 men) with a considerable number of freecompany, knight orders and babarian troops.
The main weapons of a legionnaire are a short sword and shield, suitable equipment while fighting in a formation and is particularly effective against unarmored enemies. However, after several campaigns in the West, where the Sadera Empire encountered the well-equipped armies such as Crix, Akendale and South Romalia, the Imperial army equipped their soldiers with backup weapons like mace or mace to fight armored enemy.
Crossbows and bows are two weapons used frequently by the Empire's auxiliaries. The Saderan are not good archers so they love to use crossbows because of its convenience, especially after the first war with Niflheim-Sadera. Niflheim's army almost entirely used the crossbow instead of bow in the siege of the capital and they were extremely effective in urban warfare.
Although legions of Sadera Empire are highly standardized, the differences between a legion from the West, Centre and East of Sadera are easy to be noiticed. Legions from the west use a longer version of gladius and deploy mass heavy infatry and calvary on the battlefield while in the East, Lorica segmentata is too costly for the local economy to handle, they prefer chainmail and spears du to the fact that most of their enemy is nomandic horde.
Cavalary:
Because the backbone of Imperial army from the begining is heavy Infantry, most of it cavalry forces are light cavalry used for scouting and chasing enemy archers. Thing only changed after the deafeat of Romulus at the hand of Crix and Akendale in the first century. Infamous legions of the Empire had no counter tactic to enemy's shock cavalry and heavy horse and the result was the lost of Romulus and 20000 men. After the fall of Crix and Akendale, the Imperial Army rebuilt its calvary force based on the model of Crix with a tendency to use heavy cavalry to penetrate enemy lines while light cavalry, archery cavalry will perform harassing and detaching enemy's cavalry. A legion now would have at least 300 heavy horses in its rank alongside with 200 light horses but in the East the number of light calvary and horse archer were larger than normal due to the molbie warfare they faced.
Although its heavy cavalry is based on Crix and Ankendale, the Imperial army dislike the knight so as the result, most of heavy horsemen come from working class and they are considered as professional soldier not knight. The reason is it take a lot of money and time to train a knight so it is very hard to mobilize them in large number when situation demand. Most well trained and well armor knight offten come from weathy and powerful family or have the allegiance to the lord they serve, not the imperial commanders of the legion they are fighting alongside with. This may cause many trouble like conflict of interest or The knights who serve the opposing lords are on the same side. Despite all of this, knights in shining armor is not a rare sign in Imperial Legion. Their skills and valor alway have a place on the battlefield from commanding cavalry attack to facing enemy champion in a duel.
Dragon Rider.
Empire is the country with the most Dragon Rider on the Falmat continent thanks to Emperor Aurelius Antonius soon realized the power of this fierce, hard-to-domesticate animal. Saderan historians say that the Great Emperor had seen people of the Maran tribe in the Romalia mountain train dragons like training dogs and using them to drive away invaders with much larger numbers. Since then the Emperor has dreamed of building elite Dragon Rider units for later legions.
During the war, Dragon Rider's mission varied, from reconnaissance to piercing enemy lines on battlefields and there were times when the Empire army used only Dragon Rider troops to win a war. The superiority of the attack from above and the thick skin of dragon scales made dealing with the Dragon Rider force extremely difficult however. The simplest way for Empire's opponents is to create their own Dragon Rider force. However, this is not easy because most areas where the dragon can be domesticated on the Falmat continent are owned by the Empire (Except the southern subcontinent where the owner lives weak of dragons). However, the dominance of dragons on the battlefield did not last long. During the battle in Batigon in 248, Niflheim broke the Dragon Riders' attack with Ballista using steel arrows. This disastrous defeat along with the decline in the number of reproduction of captive dragons made the Dragon rider force only take on the role of scouting and harassing the enemy.
Mercenary
Falmat continent had a long tradition of using mercenaries since fighting is considered as a valuable skills with many kingdoms employing mercenaries as the main forces protecting their interests. Even the Empire and its policy of using professional soldiers and government loyalists often recruited mercenaries. Money paid to mercenaries is usually paid directly by the commander of the legion corps, which is taken from various sources. This led to many cases of mercenaries essentially fighting for the commander of the army, not the people who actually hired them (Emperor, Senate) during the Empire's Civil War.
The composition of mercenaries is diverse but still mostly veterans of the imperial army, wandering knights, landless farmers and young adventurers. Mercenaries are paid based on their abilities, the Dragon riders, professional archers and heavy cavalry are well-paid while the spearman, foot soldiers are quite cheap. Beast beasts and inferior races like the Orc Goblin were not allowed to join the Imperial army as a legionnaire but could still be hired as mercenaries and paid as well as anyone because in the world of mercenaries, tability is a measure of people, not bloodline. This is why some tribes such as the Tiger, Wolf and Orc, and human from poor families across the continent of Falmat are very excited to leave their homeland and join any mercenary army when they reach the age of mature.
The Empire government did not allow mercenary armies to build strongholds on their territory so those who sold swords had to reside in independent kingdoms or desolate areas that Sadera's government ignored. Some of famous Sellswords army and freecompany : Iron Raven, Sons of Tariz, Yellowman, Ironwood, Bloodclouds, Wreckingtalons