Thunderstride

The Thunderstride
Date 7271-7270 BR Location Western portions of The Dze Confederation Result Dze victory
Belligerents
First Dze Confederation	Lûxari City States Amaghi Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Tsotʿaan Quƚaq	Neris Lizanis Durakh I † Ka'ghi III †
Strength
~60,000	Unknown, but several times larger

The Thunderstride was a military campaign conducted by Tsotʿaan Quƚaq against it's neighbouring states as a final response to the raids and conflicts that had occured since the start of The Invasions. The campaign was planned throughout his ascension to power as the singular leader of the Dze and it was the first instance of a planned military campaign.

Background

For around 5 centuries before the campaign the Dze had steadily been driven out of their western lands by waves of invading humans, which began a spiral effect leading to the formation of the First Dze Confederation, which sought to correct these grievances under the rule of Quƚaq, its first tsotʿaan. The steady rise of human kingdoms after the original, small scale conflicts, led to a chain reaction where the Dze, feeling threatened and pressured, began to cooperate and join in more complex political structures, eventually leading to the Alẋtśani clan rising to rule the others by 7274 BR and the creation of the title of Tsotʿaan.

The Amaghi kingdom had arisen to be the prominent human kingdom during the 75th and 74th centuries BR, establishing itself between the western and greater mountain ranges in a region later known as the Mannish frontier, as well as expanding further to the north and west and establishing alliances with several of the Lûxari city states. The northward expansions specifically brought them into direct conflict with Dze clans in the Hammerfall peninsula who would then submit to Quƚaq's domain in 7292 BR, it was this aggression by the amaghi that triggered the formation of the First Dze Confederation.

For the confederation's first years the Dze prepared to launch a campaign of reconquest centered around the Western range and the Hammerfall peninsula, gathering around 60,000 mounted warriors by estimation of the tsǫt'aan as attested in the Tsoḿywaq Stele and then launching a surprise assault on the Amaghi Kingdom.

Early stages

At the beginning of the invasion the Dze would concentrate their efforts on drawing out the Amaghi army, sacking towns and driving the people into the larger settlements. After a month of light resistance, King Durakh managed mustered an army to face them at the Battle of Ghita, which ended in the death of the Durakh and the annihilation of his army, leading to the near collapse of the Amaghi state and the start of the siege of the amaghi capital. With these early victories achieved the attention of the Dze would be focused on the Siege of Enethar, however reports of a lûxari army approaching from the west, composed of soldiers from what the Dze called the Juunywniq or the nine peoples, would force them to temporarily soften the siege, with the tsǫt'aan defeating the lûxari army at the town of Ghahar and quickly turning east again, ending the siege of Enethar and utterly ransacking the city.

Scouring of lûxar

Having heard of the coalition formed by the amaghi and the lûxari after the battle of ghita, an enraged tsǫt'aan would march his army to face the coalition at the battles of Lismea and the infamous Battle of Bones, which would bring about the end of military resistance to the Dze, allowing them to sack several cities before razing the lands previously belonging to the amaghi and turning them into pastures and forests.

Aftermath

Just like the invasions had the effect of pushing the Dze towards unification, this early ravage of bronze age human societies led to the formation of several, more well-organized and powerful states, such as the Jhu'kan or the Gharat, however it also gave the Dze a period of unprecedented peace for the remainder of Quƚaq's reign and most of his successor, tsotʿaan tx̣eńat's reign.