The Chronicles of Eriuna

[Ayzek]

16 Fein 282 BCE

The days had passed uneventfully. Lyrn's troops prepared ladders, siege shields, and battering-rams from the nearby woods and repelled two night raids on their encampment without significant difficulty. On the third day of the siege, Lyrn and his officers felt they'd enough equipment to take the small hillfort. Indeed, the men had fashioned enough simple arrow shields to cover a first wave, as well as four battering rams and various ladders. In the early morning hours of the 16th, a third of Lyrn's troops advanced--which spurred the hillfort into activity. While the hill fort had only one gate the other rams advanced on other points on the wall, forcing the defenders to disperse along the walls. The Lanlanians had estimated only two or three hundred defenders, not counting women and children.

Lyrn watched from the foot of the hill, a second wave of troops waiting with him. His officers led their own detachments at other points around the hillfort, preventing the defenders from focusing on any particular wall.

The distance did nothing to drown the battle cries of his men and the smashing of wood against wood. While the battering-ram smashed into the gate, Lanlanian archers opened fire on the walls, softening them for the climbers. Lyrn had tried to set them on fire on the second day with little success. The buildings were coated in leather, while the defenders reacted quickly enough to the walls. And it wouldn't do to risk his men now.

Breaching the walls did not take long. The wooden walls were flimsy, and the gates not significantly better. When the Lanlanians opened a hole, their cries exploded and a rumbling marked their relentless charge.

The gate crumbled next and as his men streamed into the hillfort, Lyrn ordered the second wave forward. Lanlanian horns sounded the general advance, and were quickly echoed by more elsewhere around the fort. Lyrn's men began steady advance up the hill, knocking their swords against their shields and leaving only a royal guard to defend the king. Halfway up the hill, a different tune rang out and the troops broke into a cautious jog and a steady chant: "Røn vel. Røn vel. Røn vel." A third tune near the gates signaled the charge, and the troops broke formation with a piercing "Fr dan kïn!" Most charged through the broken gates, while others scaled the ladders onto the walls.

The sun rose before the battle ended. The outlaws resisted bitterly, to the point where even the women joined the battle. Nonetheless, the Lanlanian Hostmen systematically tore into the hillfort, seizing building after building and leaving bodies in its wake. Ultimately, the central keep and Asmund's residence was torched with many inside. It was noon before the king himself entered the hillfort to review his men's work.

[Ayzek]

The islands of Eriuna and Dorinsaïsel were natural fortresses. Nestled a short distance from the Khionnan mainland and located almost halfway between the Ivar Islands and Azreae, they developed into significant Lanlanian military centers.. Their artificial harbors and coves were constantly filled with Lanlanian naval vessels while the multiple forts that dotted the two islands were defended by ethnic Lanlanian Hostmen. By 430, the islands had significant ethnic Lanlanian populations, which developed to support the large number of troops that the High Kingdom constantly moved through the region.

It was consequently no surprise that the island remained firmly in Lanlanian hands even as the mainland rocked with rebellion in the 5th century. The Lanlanians would use the island as a base of operations for centuries to come, from attempting to retake the Khionnan mainland to jockeying for power with the eastern Brigidnan powers. The islands were a major stepping stone in the Lanlanians' efforts exert influence in eastern Brigidna, including Azreae.

By the 16th century, the islands had developed a tourist industry, though hide a military underbelly. Along with the Azreaen islands in its north, the islands of Eriuna and Dorinsaïsel were paramount to Holy Lanlanian control of the Pythian Sea.