Borean War

Borean War
Symmeria invades Acrean controlled Æþurheim
Date 76-89 CE Location South-West Eracura Result Symmerian control of Eracura expanded Alliance of Bosrei against Symmeria
Belligerents
Symmerian Empire	Acrean Empire
Commanders and leaders
Phanodemos Theramenes	Katurix
Units involved
Ancient Symmerian army Ancient Symmerian navy	Acrean Imperial Army
Strength
Hundreds of thousands	Hundreds of thousands
Casualties and losses
Heavy	Heavy

The Borean War was a 13-year long conflict fought between the Symmerian Empire and the Acrean Empire from 76 to 89 CE.

The origin of the war lay in the Bosrei, the Nordic inhabitants of present-day Górska who formed a buffer between Acrean and Symmerian holdings in south-west Eracura. Both sides had formed alliances with various Bosrei tribes in order to secure their borders, but the frequent internal conflict of the Bosrei eventually culminated in the outbreak of fighting between Acrean and Symmerian aligned tribes, which drew in both powers. After the Acrean-allied Hremmani raided the Symmerian outpost of Patidae, the Symmerians responded by invading the territory of the Hremmani, who sought refuge in Acrean territory. Acrean forces under the command of Katurix responded by attempting to reclaim Hremmani land from the Symmerians. The ensuing raid prompted Symmeria to declare war in May 76 CE.

Phanodemos, Archon of Boreas, gathered a Symmerian army and invaded Eracuran territory the same year and defeated the local Acrean Imperial army garrison. The Acrean general Katurix responded by gathering Acrean and auxiliary forces and met Phanodemos in battle in the modern-day province of Nitra, but was defeated. The reinforcements of Acrean legions from across the empire arrived and dissuaded Phanodemos from further campaigning, and retired to Radomacha on the Górskan coast. Phanodemos offered a ceasefire, but the Acreans raided into Siedlce before it arrived, prompting Phanodemos to resume fighting. The two sides met in a pitched battle for the first time on the near the modern border of Nitra, where the Acreans encountered the Symmerian phalanx formation for the first time and were decisively defeated. The Acreans retreated towards Podolinec on the coast, which the Symmerians laid siege to before abandoning the effort in the summer of 77 CE. The two sides agreed to discuss peace, but negotiations failed after neither side were willing to disavow their Bosrei satraps. In the spring of 78 the Symmerians invaded into Svinia and defeated the Acreans in a series of battles within Nitra and Banovce, laying siege to Dokiychuk, Vahom, and Trnava. Symmerian hopes for a rapid victory faltered amid stiff resistance from the Acrean garrisons, with Trnava holding out until April 79 CE.

Phanodemos then marched north to capture Sveta, but the Acreans were able to resupply the city across the Vel'ke Bay, prompting the Symmerians to abandon the siege and retire in early 80 CE. Faced with a widening conflict the Symmerians turned to drafting Bosrei manpower and resources to sustain the war effort, which alienated many of the previously friendly Bosrei tribes. In 81 CE the Symmerians invaded Acrean holdings in Æþurheim, capturing what is now Tritonsberg. The Symmerians proceeded to advance north into KÆshattr, while another army under Theramenes captured Hrabske and Sveta, which could no longer be supplied by sea. In January 82 CE Katurix gathered a massive army and met Theramenes south of Roznava; the ensuing battle was widely regarded by ancient sources as among the bloodiest in all of antiquity. While the Symmerians won the field, the loss of most of their cavalry and supporting infantry forced a retirement back south which was harassed by the Acreans the entire length of the withdrawal. In the spring of 83 CE the Symmerians attempts to rebuilt their forces by conscripting more troops and wealth from the Bosrei prompted a mass uprising against the Symmerians, which was brutally repressed and resulted in the death or enslavement of some 200,000 Bosrei.

Katurix took advantage of the chaos to push the Symmerians out of Zilinia, retaking Svetna, Hrabkse, and Trnava. Katurix then turned to Æþurheim to drive the Symmerians out, but was defeated at Himminn in 84 CE. Following the subjugation of the Bosrei, Phanodemos returned to Svinia with a large army pulled from across Symmerian holdings in Ruvelka, Mansuriyyah, and Shirvaniya. Phanodemos kept his army close to the coast to allow for resupply by sea, as the Symmerians were able to establish naval superiority in the Vel'ke Bay. Phanodemos was able to recapture Sveta in 85 CE, then Roznava in 86 and Mehic in 87. In 88 CE Phanodemos managed to link Symmerian holdings in Svinia and Æþurheim together, briefly turning the bay into a Symmerian lake, but later in the year Katurix defeated Theramenes in Vel'ka and burned the grain stores of the region, forcing the Symmerians to abandon both Liam and Vel'ka.

Peace was essentially forced on both sides; by 89 CE thirteen years of back-and-forth war, frequent and repeated sieges, and mass conscription of the local populace had devastated western Svinia and depleted the land of resources and manpower. The peace treaty that ended the conflict resulted in Symmeria annexing most of the western Svinia coastline, as well as much of Æþurheim's eastern coast. Acrea agreed to recognize the land of the Bosrei as under Symmerian dominion, while the Symmerians agreed to recognize the rest of Boreagros as Acrea's realm.

The legacy of the war varied. Symmerian holdings in Eracura north of Górska gradually faded in the following centuries as the region became more Nordicized, while Symmerian focus shifted towards Siduri with the onset of the Hegemonic Wars. The Acreans would gradually reassert control over Svinia and Æþurheim as the Symmerians largely abandoned their former holdings to their own fate, with some persisting as independent powers for decades and centuries. The performance of both sides during the conflict became a major source of literary works in the years that followed, becoming the basis for several famous poems, plays, and legends. From a military perspective, the Symmerians had emerged victorious in most of the battles of the conflict, but Symmerian siege-craft proved woefully under-prepared for Acrean fortifications and defensive measures. The most long lasting impact of the conflict however was the sharp decline in Bosrei-Symmerian relations; Symmerian abuses during the war provoked a strong, negative backlash against the Symmerians among the Bosrei tribes, creating a previously unseen level of unity among the Bosrei. For the remainder of the existence of the Bosrei, they would be a continued threat to Symmerian territory in Eracura.