In the year 268 of the Third Era, Uriel V is officially sworn in as Emperor. The first task he gives himself is to restore faith in the Empire. He takes the throne after the death of his father, Sephiroth II, under whose reign Tamriel had seen the devastation of the invasion of the Cameron usurper. As a result, common folk had begun to doubt the power and the safety of the Empire, and had grown distrustful.
Uriel V quickly decides that the quickest way to unite the Empire is to point their swords at a common enemy. Within two years of sitting the throne, he begins planning a full-scale naval invasion of distant and mysterious Akhavir. He spends the next ten years building a navy worthy to the task. Despite all the planning and preparation, what follows is one of the Empire's most devastating defeats.
Years later, as the dust settles, Imperial investigators looked into the campaign looking for someone to blame for the Empire's defeat. Imperial chairman Pottery described the report in which the details of the invasion are laid bare. It's the Elder Lore podcast, and today we are reading Disaster at INF. Part 1.
Preparations. The Emperor's plans for the invasion of Akhavir were laid in the two seventies, when he began the conquest of the small island kingdoms that lied between Tamriel and Akhavir. With the fall of Black Harbor and Ezeron Yett in 282, Uriel V was already looking ahead to the ultimate prize. He immediately ordered extensive renovations to the port which would serve as the marshaling point for the invasion force and as the main supply source throughout the campaign.
At this time, he also began the construction of the many large ocean-going transports that would be needed for the final crossing to Akhavir, in which the navy was previously deficient. Thus, it can be seen that the Emperor's preparations for the invasion were laid well in advance, before even the conquest of Ezeron Yett was complete, and was not a sudden whim as some had charged. When Prince Boshamand yielded Ezeron Yett to Imperial Authority in 284, the Emperor's full attention could be devoted to the planning for the Akhavir campaign. Naval expeditions were dispatched in 285 and 286 to scout the sea lanes and coastlands of Akhavir.
And various Imperial intelligence agents, both Magical and Monday, were employed to gather information. On the basis of all this information, the Kingdom of Vitsashi in the southwest of Akhavir was selected as the initial target for the invasion. Meanwhile, the Emperor was gathering his expeditionary force. A new far east fleet was created for the campaign, which for a time dwarfed for the rest of the navy.
It is said to have been the most powerful fleet ever assembled in the history of Tamriel. The 5th, 7th, 10th, and 14th legions were selected for the initial landing, with the 9th and 17th to follow his reinforcements once the beach had was secured. While this may seem to the layman a relatively small fraction of the army's total manpower, it must be remembered that this expeditionary force would have to be maintained at the end of a long and tenuous supply line. In addition, the Emperor and the army command believed that the invasion would not be strongly opposed, at least at first.
Perhaps most crucially, the navy had only enough heavy transport capacity to move four legions at a time. It should be noted here that the commission does not find fault with the Emperor's preparations with the invasion. Based on the information available prior to the invasion, which, while obviously deficient in hindsight, great effort had been made to accumulate, the commission believes that the emperor did not act recklessly or imprudently. The commission has argued that the expeditionary force was too small.
The commission believes that on the contrary, even if shipping could have been found to transport and supply more legions on the impossibility without crippling trade in the entire empire, this would have merely added to the scale of the disaster. It would not have averted it. Neither could the rest of the empire be denuded of legions. The memory of the Cameron U-Serber was still fresh, and the emperor believed, and this commission agrees, that the security of the empire precluded a larger concentration of military force outside of Tamriel.
If anything, the commission believes that the expeditionary force was too large. Despite the creation of two new legions during his reign, and the recreation of the Fifth, the loss of the expeditionary force left the empire in a dangerously weak position relative to the provinces, as the current situation makes all too clear. This suggests that the invasion of Akavir was beyond the empire's current strength, even if the emperor could have fielded and maintained a larger force in Akavir. The empire may have disintegrated behind it.
Part 2. The Invasion of Akavir. The expeditionary force left Black Harbor on 23rd reigns hand in 288, with fair weather landed in Akavir after six weeks at sea. The landing site was a small Ceti port at the mouth of a larger river, chosen for its proximity to Tamriel, as well as its location in a fertile river valley, giving easy access to the interior, as well as good foraging for the army.
All went well at first. The Ceti had abandoned the town when the expeditionary force approached, so they took possession of it, and renamed it Septimia, the first colony of the new Imperial province of Akavir. While the engineers fortified the town and expanded the port facilities to serve the Far East Fleet, the emperor marched inland with two legions. The surrounding land was reported to be rich, well-watered fields, and meeting no resistance the army took the next city upriver, also abandoned.
This was refounded as Iannath, and the emperor established his headquarters there, being much larger than Septimia, and better located to dominate the surrounding countryside. The expeditionary force had yet to meet any real resistance, although the legions were constantly shadowed by mounted enemy patrols which prevented any but large scouting parties from leaving the main body of the army. One thing the emperor lacked was Calibri. Due to the limited space on the transport fleet, although for the time being the battle mages made up for this, with magical reconnaissance.
The emperor now sent out envoys to try to contact the Tsai Shih King or whoever ruled this land, but his messengers never returned. In retrospect, the commission believes that valuable time was wasted in this effort, while the army was stalled at Iannath, which could have been better spent in advancing quickly, while the enemy was still, apparently, surprised by the invasion. However, the emperor believed at the time that the Tsai Shih could be overhauled by the empire's power, and he might win a province by negotiation, with no need for serious fight. Meanwhile, the four legions were busy building a road between Septimia and Iannath, setting up fortified guard posts along the river, and fortifying both cities' defenses, activities which would serve them well later.
Due to their lack of cavalry, scouting was limited, and communication between the two cities constantly threatened by enemy raiders, with which the legions were still unable to come to grips. The original plan had been to bring the two reinforcing legions across as soon as the initial landing had secured a port, with the fateful decision was now taken to delay their arrival and instead begin using the fleet to transport colonists. The emperor and the council agreed that due to the complete abandonment of the conquered area by its native population, colonists were needed to work the fields so that the expeditionary force would not have to rely entirely on the fleet for supplies. In addition, unrest had broken out in Eneslia, as for the supply route to Akibir, and the council believed the 9th and the 17th legions were better used in repassifying those territories and securing the expeditionary forces' supply lines.
The civilian colonists and their supplies began arriving in Septimia in mid-arthfire, and they took over the preparation of the fields, which had been started by the legionaries, for a spring crop. A number of cavalry mounts were also brought over at this time, and the raids on the two imperial colonies subsequently fell off. Sashiyyemisaries also finally arrived in INF, reportedly to begin peace negotiations, and the expeditionary force settled in for what was expected to be a quiet winter. At this time, the council urged the emperor to return to Tamriel with the fleet to deal with many pressing matters of the empire while the army was in winter quarters, but the emperor decided that it would be best to remain in Akibir.
This turned out to be fortunate, because a large portion of the fleet, including the emperor's flagship, was destroyed by an early winter storm during the Homeward voyage. The winter storm season of 288-289 was unusually prolonged and exceptionally severe, and prevented the fleet from returning to Akibir as planned with additional supplies. This was reported to the emperor via battle-mage, and it was agreed that the expeditionary force could survive on what supplies it had on hand until the spring. Part 3.
The Destruction of the Expeditionary Force. The winter weather in Akibir was also much more severe than expected. Due to the supply problems and the addition of thousands of civilians, the expeditionary force was on tight rations. To make matters worse, the Tsai Shih raiders returned in force and hurried any foraging or scouting parties outside the walls of the two cities.
Several watch-forts on the road between Septimia and Ienith were captured during blizzards, and the rest had to be abandoned as untenable. As a result, communication between the two cities had to be conducted entirely by magical needs, a continuing strain on the Legion's battle-mages. On the 5th of Sun's Dawn, a large entourage of Tsai Shih arrived at Ienith, claiming to bring a peace offer from the Tsai Shih king. At night, these treacherous envoys murdered the guards at one of the city gates and let in a strong party of their comrades were waiting outside the city walls.
Their clear intention was to assassinate the emperor, foiled only by the vigilance and courage of troopers of the 10th, who were guarding his palace. Once the alarm was raised, the Tsai Shih inside the city were hunted down and killed to the last man. Needless to say, this was the end of negotiations between the emperor and the Tsai Shih. The arrival of spring only brought worse troubles.
Instead of the expected spring rains, a hot, dry wind began to blow from the east, continuing with varying strength through the entire summer. The crops failed, and even the river, which in the previous year had been navigable by small boats far upstream of Ienith, was completely dried up by Sun's height. It is unknown if this was due to a previously unknown weather pattern, unique to Akavir, or if Tsai Shih manipulated the weather for magical needs. The commission leans toward the former conclusion, as there is no direct evidence of Tsai Shih possessing such fearsome arcane power, but the latter possibility cannot be entirely ruled out.
Due to prolonged bad weather, the supply fleet was late in setting out from Black Harbor. It finally left port in early second seed, but was again severely mauled by storms and limped into Septimia eight weeks later, much reduced. Because of the increasingly desperate supply situation in Akavir, the emperor dispatched most of his battle-mage corps with the fleet to assist it in weathering the storms, which seemed likely to continue all summer. At this time, the council urged the emperor to abandon the invasion and return to Tamriel with the expeditionary force, but he again refused, noting that the fleet was no longer large enough to transport all four legions at once.
The commission agrees that leaving one or more legions behind in Akavir to await the return of the fleet would have damaged army morale. But the commission also knows that the loss of one legion would have been preferable to the loss of the entire expeditionary force. It is the unanimous opinion of the commission that this was the last point at which complete disaster may have been averted. Once the decision was made to send the fleet back for reinforcements and supplies, events proceeded to their inevitable conclusion.
From this point on, much less is known about what transpired in Akavir. And most of the battle-mages assisting the fleet, communication between the expeditionary force and Tamriel was limited, especially as the situation in Akavir worsened, and the remaining battle-mages had their powers stretched to the limit, attending to all the needs of the legions. However, it appears that the Tsai Shim may also have been actively interfering with the mages in some unknown manner. Some of the mages in Akavir reported their powers being abnormally weak, and the mages of the war college in Sirnil, who were handling the communications for the council, reported problems linking up with their compatriots in Akavir, even between master and pupil of long training.
The commission urges that the war college make a particular study of the arcane powers that Tsai Shih should the empire ever come into conflict with Akavir again. What is known is that the emperor marched out of Iannath in mid-sons height, leaving only small garrisons to hold the cities. He had learned that Tsai Shih were massing their forces on the other side of the mountain range to the north, and he intended to smash their army before it could gather full strength and capture their supplies, of which he was in desperate need. This rapid advance seems to have taken that Tsai Shih by surprise, and the expeditionary force crossed the mountains and fell on their camp, routing that Tsai Shih army and capturing his leader, a noble of some kind.
But the emperor was soon forced to retreat, and the legions suffered heavily on their retreat to Iannath. The emperor now found himself besieged in Iannath cut off from the small garrison at Septimia, which was also besieged. By this time it seems that the efforts of the few remaining battle mages were devoted entirely to creating water to keep the army alive, a scale not normally emphasized at the war college. Fleet had arrived safely back to Black Harbor, thanks to the battle mage core, but all attempts to return to Akavir were frustrated by a series of ever more savage storms that battered Ezeron yet, throughout the rest of 289.
The council's last contact with the emperor was in early frostfall. By evening star, the council was extremely worried about the situation in Akavir in order to fleet to sail regardless of the risk. Despite the continued storms, the fleet managed to press on to Akavir. Hope was raised when contact was made with the emperor's battle mage, who reported that Iannath still held out.
Plans were quickly laid for the expeditionary force to break out of Iannath and fall back on Septimia, where the fleet would meet them. This was the last direct contact with the expeditionary force. The fleet arrived in Septimia to find its garrison under savage assault from the largest Sashiy army. The battle mages with the fleet threw back the enemy long enough for the survivors to embark and the fleet to withdraw.
Few survivors of the expeditionary force who reached Septimia told how the emperor had led the army out of Iannath by night, two days earlier, successfully breaking through the enemy lines, but then being surrounded by overwhelming forces on the road to Septimia. They told of a heroic last stand by the emperor and the 10th legion, which allowed a remnant of the 14th to reach Septimia. Two survivors of the 10th arrived in Septimia that night, having slipped through the enemy lines during their undisciplined victory celebration. These men confirmed having seen the emperor die, cut down by enemy arrows as he rallied the 10th's shield wall.
Part 4, conclusion. The commission believes that the invasion of Aqabir was doomed from the start for several reasons, none of which could have been foreseen beforehand, unfortunately. Despite extensive intelligence gathering, the expeditionary force was clearly unprepared for the situation in Aqabir. The unexpected weather which played the army and navy was particularly disastrous.
After the loss of a majority of the far east fleet during the campaign, the expeditionary force could have been withdrawn in 289. The weather also forced the emperor to assign most of his battle mage corps to the fleet, leaving him without their valuable assistance during the fighting which Sim followed. And of course, the unexpected drought which struck Iannath during 289 dashed for the hopes of supplying the army locally, and left the expeditionary force in an untenable situation when besieged in Iannath. The Tseishi were also much stronger than intelligence reports had suggested.
Information on the size of the army that Tseishi were eventually able to field against the expeditionary force is vague, as the only serious fighting took place after regular communications were cut off between the emperor and the council. Nevertheless, it seems likely that Tseishi outnumbered the emperor's forces by several times as they were able to force four crack legions into retreat and then keep them under siege for several months. As was stated previously, the commission declines to criticize the initial decision to invade Aqabir. Based on what was known at the time, the plan seemed sound.
It is only that the benefit of hindsight does it become obvious that the invasion had a very little chance of success. Nevertheless, the commission believes several valuable lessons can be taken from this disaster. First, the Tseishi may have extremely powerful arcane forces at their command. The possibility that they may have manipulated the weather across such a vast region seems incredible, and it should be noted that three commissioners strongly objected to this paragraph even being included in this report, but the commission believes that this matter deserves urgent investigation.
The potential danger is such that even the slight possibility must be taken seriously. Second, the Tseishi appeared to possess no navy to speak of. The expeditionary force was never threatened by sea, and the far east fleet fought nothing but the weather. Indeed, initial plans called for a portion of the fleet to remain in Aqabir for use in coastal operations, but in the event, there were very few places where the large vessels of the fleet could approach the land due to the innumerable reefs, sandbars, islands, etc., that infested the coastal waters north and south from Septimia.
Due to the utter lack of trees in the plains surrounding Septimia and INF, the expeditionary force was unable to build smaller vessels which could have navigated the shallow coastal waters. Any future military expeditions against Aqabir would do well to consider some way of bringing the means for inshore naval operations in order to exploit this clear advantage over the Tseishi, an advantage that was sadly unexploited by the expeditionary force. Third, much longer term study needs to be made of Aqabir before another invasion can even be contemplated. The information gathered over the four years prior to the invasion was extensive, but clearly inadequate.
The weather conditions were completely unexpected, that Seishi much stronger than expected, and the attempted negotiations by the emperor with the Seishi, a disaster. Aqabir proved alien beyond expectation, and the commission believes any future attempt to invade Aqabir should not be contemplated without much greater knowledge of the conditions, politics, and peoples of that continent than presently obtained. Finally, the commission unanimously concludes that given what we know now, any attempt to invade Aqabir is folly, at least in the present state of the empire. The empire's legions are needed at home.
One day, a peaceful united empire will return to Aqabir and exact severe retribution for the disaster at INF and for our fallen emperor. But that day is not now, nor in the foreseeable future. Thanks for listening to the Elder Lord podcast, and thanks for your continued patience. As I'm sure you've noticed, the time between episodes is telescoping beyond control.
But stay tuned, and new content will be released as soon as Aqabir. Thanks again.