Modian Conflict

Modian Conflict
Date 8 March 736 BCE – 11 April 734 BCE (2 years, 1 month, 4 days) Location Sabria Result Modian victory
Belligerents
Modians	Lupercians
Commanders and leaders
Hirpinia Modia Herius Varro Ramutha Hanusnei Veilia Ianzunia  † Kaisie Velimna  † Caia Precuni	Maximus Lupercus  † Sethre Creice  † Pesna Vecus  † Fastia Pacinei Velthur Shalvi  †
Strength
18 Legions (~72,000)	12 Legions (~48,000)

The Modian Conflict was a politico-military conflict fought between 736 – 734 BCE over the contentious election of Hirpinia Modia to the office of Sabrian Legatus.

Politicians and military commanders were divided over their support of Hirpinia’s accession to the role of Legate following the sudden death of Mettius Arcadius, the successor to Atria Aurelia. Many loyalists to Aurelia, who had pledged their support of Arcadius, contended that Modia was both too young and too brash to rule the empire with some members alleging that Arcadius had been the victim of an assassination plot. Of the Aurelians in the Sabrian Senate, only Herius Varro—a veteran of the Italic Wars and former commander of Hirpinia—supported her election.

Modia, who had been effectively dismissed from the Senate leading up to the election, had been quietly gathering support from the reformist-minded younger generation of politicians and had begun focusing her powerbase in southern Sabria. Although she had initially hoped the Senate would accept the results of the election without contest, when news of the dissent came from Sabria, Hirpinia began raising her legions to march on the capital. In response, the remaining Aurelians rallied behind Maximus Lupercus, declared Hirpinia persona-non-grata, and ordered her to disband her armies. When Hirpinia failed to meet the deadline provided, Maximus and his allies called upon their own legions to prepare for war.

The war lasted a little over two years and was mostly fought in central and northern Sabria, then concentrated primarily in the present-day Cacertian Archipelago. While the Sabrian Empire at the time had a handful of overseas territories, many of these provinces did not directly participate in the conflict nor took any side. Early in the war, Maximus defeated Herius in mainland Sarissita, forcing him to retreat south, but this victory was quickly overshadowed by the Lupercian naval defeats at the Battle of Mithanias and the Battle of Hellispont which gave the Modians uncontested control of the seas around Sabria.

Hirpinia spent nearly a year systematically conquering each territory and island of Sabria until finally landing her legions in Sarissita in July 735 BCE, subsequently defeating an army under Sethre Creice that positioned her to siege and eventually take the city of Cesena. The Lupercian loss of Cesena forced their remaining armies to retreat back to Sabria which Hirpinia and her commanders began a month-long siege of following the winter of 735–734 BCE. Maximus attempted to break the siege of the city in April 734 BCE but was killed in action in the subsequent battle.

Modia was officially declared Legatus of all Sabria in the month after and military resistance ceased. While there still remained some elements contesting the election if 736 BCE, she began to significantly reform the Empire and would eventually unite the entirety of the Cacertian archipelago before launching successful invasions of Lirinya, Siduri, and Eracura.