Editing Autia (section)

==='''The Ercaenepolis Incursion'''===

Ercaenepolis is considered to be without a doubt the most important colony belonging to Ercaenmedi. It has a relatively high population ready for enlistment, serves as their main source of wyverns and mages and is very well defended from any attackers due to two series of mountains on both sides of Rinolsol helping create a terrain advantage should it ever be attacked from land. This had led to the region becoming a vital point in the ongoing Autian conflict due to its ability to send a new wave of reinforcements, one that would surely be enough to ensure victory for the EU through sheer outnumbering of their enemies. In fact this shipping of reinforcements was going to happen from what intelligence reports sent to generals in the army of the Soukos Republic in a weeks time. Grave news indeed for the Soukans as the allied military of the Western Pact was currently attempting to break through the stalemate that the conflict had boiled into with the Ercaenmedians furiously defending the center of their homeland from the intruders. Action had to be taken and as such, a plan was swiftly made to stop the reinforcements before they could reach Ercaenmedi known as "Operation Swift Wind" to outsiders. The initial steps as suggested by Marshal First Class Phausius Bella would be to lure out the leaders of Ercaenepolis through holding Ercaenmedian mages-in-training visiting Delphus as part of the exchange program between the nations hostage. Under the pretense of negotiation over the lives of these bright students the chief general from both parties would meet in between the borders of their nations to negotiate their release. This would lead into a deadly trap however as an elite cell would be dispatched to intercept and assassinate the leading general of Ercaenepolis as they were travelling to meet the Soukan leaders.

And so it was that as the Ercaenepolis general Pak Sun-Young travelled, a "natural" avalanche from the nearby mountain would isolate him from his men. This occurrence was caused through clever manipulation of the earth by a Soukan mage hidden in a nearby cave and as the general was momentarily isolated from aid a group of Amazon and Satyr skirmishers dashed out from hidden crevices and made quick work of the poor man. The Amazons and Satyrs then fled deep into the mountain passes as the wyverns and honor guard accompanying the general gave chase. Their chase however would lead them into the open fangs of the 84th Field Artillery regiment "Zeupiter's Thunderers" as their dragon killer ballista which were stationed in waiting fired off a salvo into the hearts of the wyverns striking them down and the cannon crew shot up the furious guard in a firefight between the two. The assassination had been a success and the Seventh Host of Ten Thousand Spears captained by Senior Field Marshal Paios Flavius was awaiting orders to send the 21st Aerial Squadron and the 14th Hoplite Company through the pass alongside his personal force of Bronze Boar riders, one of which he was riding himself as a remnant of his days as a Sparathan mounted captain. The orders would have to wait however as back home a turbulent situation was unfolding among the Grand Senate House in Athiens where a war council with representatives from each city-state had been called. The city of Delphus was refusing to send any of its mages to assist in the incursion out of anger for the captured mages who were under their jurisdiction being held captive without any prior warning. They even refused to heed the warnings of Dimitar threatening a revolt against the other city-states if they were made to send their forces to assist in the assault. Infighting at such a vital point in time was clearly going to be the undoing of this whole venture meaning the point was grudgingly conceded.

By this point the city-states could spare no time arguing amongst themselves as precious time was being lost every minute and all city-states who were not opposed to the war dispatched large chunks of their own armies to the border marking the beginning of the incursion. By now the colonial government of Ercaenepolis had received notice of the assassination via messenger monkey and had gone into full alert to prevent this invasion. The mountain passes had been heavily fortified with the 245th Reinforced Gunners, the largest force available to the Ercaenmedians standing guard over the mountain passes confident that none of the outdated hoplites would ever get past their firing line. They were further backed up with the aid of four moving skycannons, the Ercaenepolis levy and the remnants of the 127th Wyvern Riders alongside several more regiments and led by newly promoted general Li Bao taking the place of their deceased general. The Soukans had learned from what little their surviving Satyr scouts who hid in the mountains could view of the enemy army that the Ercaenmedians were using a massive entrenched line of gunners covering every possible mountain pass as their primary strategy alongside wyverns surveying the peaks. They had already intercepted several attempted skirmishes by necromancers and battle mages sent by the Ercaenepolis Mage Academy using a firing line of their own, the renowned Fonias-Pattern Repeater Crossbowmen sent from Athiens meaning that their enemy was anticipating an attempted mountain crossing. Such a thought process would be only natural for the Ercaenmedians, however they didn't know Rinolsol like the Soukans did. This island was their homeland and they knew of a secondary method of traversing the mountains, albeit a far riskier one that would be difficult to pull off even if the crossing was successful. The Labyrinths.

If one was to successfully traverse that eldritch maze they would find themselves right behind the open lines of the gunners and with a bit of luck cut a wound through the line before getting cut down by the melee infantry. Enough of a wound that the main hoplite force would get enough time to head through the passes and destroy the remnants of the firing line with their enchanted weapons and far superior skill. As such the legendary Craetan beastmaster Lynceus Baros was chosen and given this quest. To cross the maze and break the line even if she'd almost certainly perish in the endeavor, either in the labyrinth or against the Ercaenmedians. A great military parade was held in honor of her sacrifice around the nearest entrance into the labyrinth as the warriors of Soukos watched with bated breath as she, alongside her battle hydra and enslaved medusa descended into the maze. Her exact fate is unknown from that point onwards but from what can be gathered, she travelled across the convoluted paths that are the labyrinths and encountered a series of trials, perhaps tests by the Soukan gods to prove her worth and whether their children were might enough to deserve their favor in this engagement? Whatever the result is, from what the prisoners of war taken from the Ercaenepolis militia answered when questioned on what happened in the tense period of waiting that occurred as the beastmaster travelled the labyrinths state is that from seemingly out of nowhere a haggard looking yet furious warrior emerged victorious as a hydra suddenly charged into the lines of the reinforced gunners tearing through the poor souls. The firing lines were devastated by this surprise attack as any wyverns who tried to swoop down and help were turned into stone statues by the baleful gaze of a medusa.

he hydra had wrought a deadly toll upon the Ercaenmedians that day with its multiple heads each chewing on a different soldier and charging body knocking them to the ground as they were trampled but eventually it was overwhelmed by the far greater numbers its enemies had with them. As the hydra fell both the beastmaster and the remaining medusa fought till the end as they were surrounded and eventually slain with the medusa in particular closing the distance between the Ercaenmedians skycannons with horrific speed before they could turn and fire slicing them and their crew apart with its bloodthirsty halberd. The Soukan forces on the other side of the pass were quickly notified of these events through their scouts hidden across the mountains and believing that in these actions their gods were with them charged forwards through the pass as the shields of their hoplites blocked the remaining bullets from the gunners. The Ercaenmedians didn't cede this position easily though as many boulders were rolled down into groups of hoplites crushing them and mages fired down with magic spells riding wyverns above that in turn would be shot down. The forces of the republic did not turn back nor fear in the end as they managed to pour through the pass and engaged the remaining warriors in melee combat as the tide was slowly turning in their favor. During the madness of the battle general Li Bao was said to have died in a duel against Soukan general Onamakritos the sky-master, destroyed under the treads of the pegasus chariot the general gained his title for. By this point Blackadder pass and the surrounding mountain passes had been seized by the Soukos Republic with the remaining militia resorting to guerilla tactics and skirmishes as they waited for reinforcements to arrive. No matter their numbers, the main advantage the Ercaenmedians had throughout this battle of having fortified the mountains had been lost and every minute new Soukan troops were coming through.

By this point the city-states had chose to send in their main armies now that the most challenging aspect of the invasion was over and the main Ercaenmedian force shattered. A few monster tribes had been sent as auxiliaries to stop the Soukans on their way to the capital but by this point the Ercaenmedians had gone into full damage control. Knowing that their main army and strategy had been bested they instead chose to go on with their original goal and evacuated their civilians and important leaders alongside their remaining soldiers/mages to serve as Ercaenmedian reinforcements in the war back in Autia. They might have lost the colony today but their remaining forces, of which a respectable amount of mages had survived would surely turn the tide in the war. The Soukans arrived at the gates of their former cities colonized by the Ercaenmedians but found that the remaining population had fled. Extremely confused, they set to making a garrison inside the cities which would soon be restored as city-states as part of these lands now belonging to Soukos alone. The Ercaenmedian fleet dispatched from Ercaenepolis met quite an unfortunate fate while sailing to their homeland as they had encountered the Soukan reinforcements who had also been sent at around the same time (this isn't out of nowhere, I checked and apparently Soukan reinforcements are coming and I thought I'd have the two meet) as the two immediately tried to get an estimate on the size of each other's fleets. Both had similar numbers of men and ships with the Ercaenmedians sending 200 war junks and 50 ironclads while the Soukans had 150 neo-triremes and 5 sea-forts. The two sides have currently engaged in naval combat with the outcome being unclear.