[IB AAR] Spite of Severus

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

Excellent update.

Now, I want to see those Picts fighting Constantine's Legions...That'll be a sight to see.

[Juvenal]

XVIII: PRAESUTAGUS

Deo et regi fidelis
(Faithful to God and king)

I was ruler of Britannia. I controlled the administration of the whole realm and commanded the former army of Angus at Isca Silurum. All I needed was to be formally recognised as Emperor. I was sure that I could achieve this in the cities we had recently conquered, but how to impress the Pictish Nobility?

The army at Isca seemed happy to follow me, but the Mormaers refused, they all left to seek employment with Drest. I could see that Drest was still going to be a problem, even after his recent defeat, so I began making plans to deal with him.

I instructed my assassins Conall and Felix to get close to Drest and try to kill him. Felix, thanks to his association with Angus, was able to travel in the company of the Mormaers as one of them, while Conall had to pose as a servant. Once the deed was done, Felix would retrieve my family from Deva, after all an Emperor is nothing without his dynasty, and I wanted my sons Constans and Romulus set firmly on the road to carrying on my work and glorifying my name..

While I was awaiting developments I attended to the administration of the realm. Christianity was now more or less suppressed everywhere as a public force. I would have preferred a return to the traditional Roman gods, such as my beloved Janus, but given my dependence on the Picts, it was necessary to promote their own barbarian deities.



In most places, I encouraged the worship of Cocidius the god of hunting. This god, who I associated with Mars and Sylvanus, was already widely followed along the Wall of Severus, and his worship encouraged the people in warlike skills, especially archery and javelin throwing.

In the northern fastness of Fortiu there was already the cult of the smith god Goibhniu (surely just an aspect of Vulcan). His followers conducted secret rites and underwent dangerous trials to prove their manhood. Initiates, the Aumue Boai, drank the Mead of Invulnerability, and fought naked, believing that creatures of Goibhniu lived in their hideous tattoos, protecting them during battle.

For Londinium, least loyal of our conquests, I instituted compulsory public worship of the Morrigan, the Triple Goddess (incorporating Badb, the Crow of Battle, and Macha, Maiden of Sovereignty). This had been partly a sop to reassure the late Angus (who also worshipped the Morrigan) but it was also a way to subdue the rebellious folk of the area. Hopefully they would either be scared witless by the Death Crow, or lulled into loyalty to the sovereign by fair Macha.

As the weeks went by and the realm became more productive and cohesive, I began to allow myself to think that my assumption was all but assured, but black news was already making its way to me in the person of Niall.

He arrived at Isca with an escort of Mormaers carrying the banner of Drest. I received him formally and he announced that the coronation of Drest as High King of Alba had already been held at Eboracum. Betraying no emotion, I swore my allegiance to the new King, kneeling and kissing his banner.

Taking Niall aside later while the emissaries were being entertained, I discovered that my man Conall had been caught and executed. Of Felix there was no word, so I assumed that he had been killed secretly to preserve the public honour of the Mormaers. Niall also told me that Drest's sister Esselt, who at fourteen had now come of age, had been married to Cirech son of Erp and nephew to the late King Cinioc of the Taexali.



Cursing my luck, I wondered briefly if Cirech might be a potential ally, but clearly he was completely dependent on the patronage of Drest no matter how opinion might run amongst the oppressed Taexali.

The true reason for Niall's arrival however, was to convey orders from the new High King for me to join him with my army so that we could march against a new foe.

The Saxons, who had been quiet for the last couple of years since the expulsion of Aioulfus, had now decided to support a Celtic rebel, Praesutagus son of Padarn Beirudd (ex governor of Britannia Prima, executed by the Vortigern). He had a large army of Roman rebels and foreign mercenaries funded by Saxon gold. Drest feared he might make common cause with Sennianus, in which case all the warriors of Alba would be hard put to stop him.

It took a week to assemble the army, but this was very fast by Pictish standards. I left a good Roman, Flavius Varus from Londinium to administer Isca and my column marched east along the coast.

We met Drest near Corinium. He had brought his survivors from Mancunium, and newly-raised Chodoaer and Gairlom from Eboracum. Now joined, we marched north along the Fosse Way. Turning north-west along Watling Street, we encountered Praesutagus in the hills near Letocetum.



Praesutagus was known to have a lot of cavalry, yet as we approached he withdrew into a large wood. Drest arranged the army in three lines in the meadow close to the tree-line and waited for the rebels to come out. I was given command of the third line (archers and Dimba militia), as usual none of the Pictish nobles would lower themselves to command such troops.

Time passed and no one emerged. The forest was dark and it was almost impossible to distinguish between swaying leaves and enemy warriors preparing to kill us. Eventually Drest must have felt obliged to force the issue and took his Mormaers trotting into the gloom to try to provoke the enemy into action.



Men seemed to rise from the very floor of the forest in long lines. They drew back their arms and flung javelins at the men of Drest. I must say that I admired his determination. He rode along the whole enemy line at the gallop until he could take up station on our left wing, ignoring the hail of missiles despite losing several of his men.

Now that the affair was started, the enemy seemed to lose their shyness and several bands of warriors could be seen approaching our first line at the run. I saw armoured swordsmen strike our inexperienced Gairlom on the left part of the line and start hacking them to pieces.

Drest must also have seen this, because his Mormaers came rushing back from the wing to hit the enemy swordsmen in the rear.



Seeing messengers galloping along our line, I soon discovered that Drest had ordered a general advance. The whole second line of Chodoaer surged forward, trying to engage and pin down the enemy battle line.

Soon only the men of my own command were still fully visible. I could hear the shouts and screams of battle, the awful racket of sword on shield, and from time to time the terrible shriek of wounded horses. My men fired when there was a clear target, but most of the time it was too dangerous to shoot into the confused mob of men fighting under the trees.

As the fight raged, I began to see increasing numbers of beaten Picts running out of the forest and back down Watling Street to our right. The noise of fighting abated and I ordered my men to brace themselves to receive the enemy. There is nothing to be gained running away from cavalry, so I decided that we were going to stand.



And then Drest himself emerged out of the forest with just a handful of his Mormaers. As men streamed out of the woods behind him, he formed them into a new battle line. But before the line was even fully formed, enemy cavalry were already charging into it.

My men fired for their very lives, trying to bring down the enemy before they could join the fight against our new line, but it was in vain because the line just melted away under the onslaught.



Soon we were alone again, Drest having departed to try to rally his men again a little way down the road. Praesutagus came charging at us at the head of a band of Germanic cavalry. My Elbharu threw down their crossbows and took out their long hunting knives. I said a final prayer to Janus and stood amongst my men (Drest having taken my horse), my sword Excalibur ready to drink the blood of the enemy.

The men of Praesutagus charged into my mass of archers and began to lay about them with their long swords. But my men did not give way. They were experts at dispatching animals, and horses were easy targets. The press of bodies was so tight that the enemy horsemen were unable to move.

I think it was my Dimba pressing into the Rebels' rear that changed their hearts. They suddenly turned and began fighting their way out of the mass. Many fell to our knives before they were free, and one of the last to fall was Praesutagus himself.



When Drest returned with a ragged band of twice-rallied warriors, he found that I had won the battle in his absence. Although he was greatly relieved at our victory, I didn't think that this outcome was going to endear him to me, so I was careful to be effusive in my praise for his bravery and acumen and tried to avoid the subject of my own performance.

My luck seemed to be running badly these days. I could hardly believe that a man who led such a precarious life as Drest could still be alive. And yet there he was, bloody but victorious and squarely blocking the path to my destiny.

[Redolegna]

Ah, of such disappointments life is made. I fear that poor Severus will have to marry his sons to barbarian princesses to get a hold into the Pictish family.

Also, can't you raise more sturdy troops? I always wince when I see how high you casualties are.

[bomberboy]

Looks like severus has had a bad day oh well he can always try next time. Why couln't he had just assassinated Drest before?

[andrewmc]

More twist to the storey such a good read.

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

Poor Severus.

He has Excalibur? That's interesting.

[Kátz]

Better and Better!!!! +rep!

[Juvenal]

@wr1ght - Thanks for the praise and rep. Yes, I am quite satisfied with the way the story is moving toward its conclusion (which I won't reveal just yet).

@Mr. Cursed - He picked up Excalibur from the Vortigern who no longer seemed to need it after that cross-bow bolt to the throat. There is also a plot reason for this.

@andrewmc - glad you like my twists.

@bomberboy - Severus attempted the assassination because Drest had unaccountably survived the battle at Mancunium. Now Drest is on his guard, so further attempts are unlikely to be successful.

@Redolegna - Drest and Severus hold each other in contempt, so there won't be any marriage offers in the near future.

As for the quality of the troops, well the Picts suffer from a poor roster. Very few armoured troops are available and even the cross-bows are short ranged. The elites (naked swordsmen, armoured spearmen and unarmoured champion swordsmen) come in small units of sixty and take four turns to train. Only the Mormaer bodyguards are really good, but the Pictish royal family is very small at present.

I think mercenaries will feature heavily in continental Pictish armies.

[Kallum]

well here I'm back again sorry to have lost track of your AAR but the updates I have been missing are excellent I thought the story would end with the destruction of the Romano British which you don't do and ofcourse an excellent update. + rep for keeping this story excellent

[bomberboy]

@bomberboy - Severus attempted the assassination because Drest had unaccountably survived the battle at Mancunium. Now Drest is on his guard, so further attempts are unlikely to be successful.

Why couldn't my fellow ancient mancs kill him there and then, was it a tough battle? Or did he win easily because of his skills?

[Naturalist]

Severus' time will come, I am sure.

[Legio]

Another stellar update, Juvenal.

[Juvenal]

XIX: HIBERNIA

audaces fortuna iuvat
(Fortune favours the brave)

The army of Drest stayed at Letocetum for a month. My Fleet archers and Elbharu were now mostly old hands, they were veterans of several battles and their spirits were high. But things were very different amongst the survivors of the hand-to-hand warriors.

At the end of the struggle against Praesutagus, Drest had lost most of his bodyguard in the forest fighting. Only a single Mormaer, Nechtan, had remained with him. This same man had also saved the life of his liege deflecting a thrown javelin from its intended target as they escaped from the slaughter in the forest.

The surviving Chodoaer, mostly Romano-British, seemed stunned by the magnitude of their losses. The original six bands were consolidated into one, still understrength even then. Since all of the head-men had died, Drest appointed Nechtan to lead them. The Gairlom had also been reduced to a remnant, but this was not such a problem since all their lord required of them was to hold a spear and stay in line. But Chodoaer had to take the fight to the enemy, they needed self-confidence and an aggressive spirit. Nechtan looked like a good choice.

Even though I had been working hard to create the means to raise more of the elite Gai Aurmahr spearmen, there were still none yet ready. So if Drest was to march against Sennianus, he needed yet more Chodoaer and Gairlom to feed the gods of battle.

While we were encamped, I carried on with the administration of the realm. Isca Silurum was recovering well and would soon be able to supply us with warriors. Eboracum, Venta and Londinium were already back to the level of efficiency they had enjoyed under the Vortigern, and it was my intention to restore them to their days of glory under the Empire.

The Royal Family, somewhat stunted by the losses of the Great Raid, was now starting the fill out as well. Drest's brother Taran had come of age and would undoubtedly have to be given some important command. I looked forward to the inevitable distrust and hatred that was going to build up between Drest's children and his sidelined brothers .

Then news arrived which gave me pause. Cirech, the Pictish ex-enemy to whom Drest had given his sister in marriage had now adopted Gurthin mac Morbet, a minor noble of the Mumainha of Hibernia. Apart from the ludicrous prospect of fifteen year old Esselt having an adopted son of twenty six, it was even stranger to have adopted outside the Picts and Scotti.

The following day, reinforcements reached us and we broke camp. What really surprised me was that rather than marching north against Sennianus, we headed west toward the coast!



As we marched, our new bands of warriors were integrated into the army. We had two more bands of Chodoaer from Eboracum, a third ordo of Fleet archers and a vexillation of Graal Knights. When we reached the coast we were joined by a band of Gairlom from Isca. Drest's cadre of Mormaers was filled out with new candidates drawn to his banner.

While waiting for our ships, Drest held a council to explain his plan for the campaign. Although referred to by us Romans as Picts, the men of the Dal Riata were actually Gaels, a clan of the Scotti tribe of Hibernia. Much of northern Hibernia was controlled by the Dal Riata and their Scotti allies, but they were still subservient there to the High King of Hibernia, and also out of favour since he was of the Ui-Neill.

Dal Riata, Connacht, Mumainha and Ui-Neill had long vied with each other for control of Hibernia, guaranteeing that it never knew peace for more than a few years at a time.

The Ui-Neill and Connacht were currently in the ascendency and Moireabh of the Ui-Neill, was High King at the ancient capital of Tara. It was the Ui-Neill who been raiding the coast of Britannia Prima during the last few years, but now they were riven by discord with Moireabh's faction assailed by usurpers.



The adoption of Gurthin was the token of our secret new alliance with the Mumainha. We were going to destroy Moireabh in a lightning campaign and distract the Ui-Neill with our attacks while the Scotti and Mumainha crushed Connacht.

I was amazed at the audacity of Drest's plan. He was clearly much more sophisticated, and therefore dangerous, than his father had ever been. A chill went down my spine as I pondered my own chances in the confrontations that I knew would eventually come.

Our fleet arrived and we made the crossing mostly in darkness, relying of a series of picket boats carrying flaming beacons to mark our course. The shore of Hibernia was deserted when we arrived at our landing place, and scouts were quickly sent out to prevent the Ui-Neill coming upon us unaware.

It took all day for us to disembark all our men in the narrow inlet which was the only safe place to land, and we camped that night along the shore.

The following day we struck out for Tara. It was strangely quiet in this land of the Ui-Neill. The bulk of their nobility were busy in the south, allowing the sword to decide who would challenge Moireabh for supremacy. We made good time and after just three days march we had completely invested Tara.

My artisans got to work immediately. They built barricades to block the roads, beat out new paths to aid our movement around the perimeter of the town, and began the construction of siege equipment. But in the end all this work went for naught, for we soon received reports of the approach of a relief army from the south.

We were obliged to abandon our barricades in order to concentrate against the approaching Ui-Neill. Of course this meant we were unable to stop Moireabh from breaking out, but at least we could now face the enemy on the field of battle where they could be destroyed in a single battle (should the gods favour us on the day).



Drest positioned the army between the enemy and our landing place, so that the Ui-Neill would be unable to cut us off from our ships. Scouts sought to determine the size and nature of the relief army.

I was actually with Drest when he received the vital report. The relief army was small and no banners of the nobility could be seen! It was clear that even now the Ui-Neill had failed to unite. Drest could also see the opportunity and ordered an immediate advance.

We came upon the erstwhile saviours before they had joined with their High King. I have to say that the luck of the gods was truly with Drest that day, because we found high ground to hand within range of the enemy to post our numerous archers.



From our mound I could see the High King with his garrison still making their way to the rendezvous. I felt a fierce exultation as my men launched a cloud of arrows and bolts into the ranks of the Ui-Neill. A band of Gairlom took the brunt of our fire and they fell dead in neat rows as if performing some strange rite.

The enemy were so provoked by our fire that they were unable to hold themselves back, they broke into a chaotic surge toward my position, the need to wait for Moireabh completely forgotten in their rage and their pain.

As we drew back, Drest sent his battle line forward through our ranks to fix the enemy. Then he galloped off to the left with his Mormaers and Graal Knights to fall upon the hapless Moireabh.

Nechtan commanded the battle line, his three bands of Chodoaer seeming remarkably disciplined for Picts. After their initial rush, the aggression had gone out of the enemy Gairlom. They huddled together like sheep as the axes of the Chodoaer rose and fell, rose and fell, like those of woodsmen clearing a copse.



The enemy were surprised by Drest's charge and made the fatal mistake of receiving him at a standstill. Many Ui-Neill Mormaers went down at first impact, and from then on they were fighting for their lives.

A knot of the enemy formed themselves around their old King, battling heroically to protect him from the savage attack of Drest's men. They must have been heroes all, because they briefly held back three times their number before the Graal Knights charged in from the rear and the last of Moireabh's men disappeared in the press of bodies.



It was the sad fate of Cailtram, leader of the relief army, to have all of his endeavours end in failure. He had initially stood uselessly behind his army, where his pikemen had received the attention of my archers as soon as the opposing lines had clashed. Then seeing the peril of his High King, Cailtram had attempted to come to his aid, but almost all of his men were shot down before they could cross the gap. Having killed the High King, Drest's Mormaers cut him down like a common levy.

We walked into Tara unopposed the morning after the battle. I don't what I expected, but it seemed not unlike settlements in Pictavia. There was even a shrine to Cocidius facing the Great Hall of the High King. Drest took captive all of the holders of high office under Moireabh. Some of the most junior he had publicly executed, the remainder were held as hostages, some for ransom and some to be tokens for our forthcoming peace with the Ui-Neill.



There were other campaigns which I will not describe, what do I care of stories of Gaels killing each other? Suffice it to say that Connacht was divided between the Mumainha and Scotti and that the rump of the Ui-Neill grudgingly recognised Drest as the new High King.

We remained in Tara while the war was resolved. This former domain of Moireabh was incorporated directly into Alba, while the Hibernian lands of the Dal Riata were allowed to give nominal fealty to the Scotti. Captives from Connacht provided a welcome surplus of slaves and the whole of Tara began to echo to the sounds of construction and the shouts of merchants and traders.

Drest's coronation took place at the ancient Hill of Kings, witnessed and confirmed by representatives from all the clans of Hibernia, even from Connacht (although these were hostages). And so it was that Ui-Neill and Connacht were eclipsed and Drest became High King of the United Kingdom of Alba and Hibernia.

[Legio]

Absolutely fantastic, Juvenal.

[bomberboy]

"United Kingdom of Alba and Hibernia" sounds like a super power in the making. Well done Juvenal.

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

Really good!

[Kátz]

good job finally being a powerhouse on the northern known world. May others fear you.

[Selifator]

Great update! Though all that is left in Britannia is to wipe out rebels. So, what does Severus have in mind?

[Juvenal]

@Selifator - Wiping out Rebels may be harder than you think.

@wr1ght - Others will hopefully come to fear us, but currently they don't even know we exist!

@Mr. Cursed - Music to my ears, thank you.

@bomberboy - I thought that having the United Kingdom created in 414 A.D. would be fun.

@Legio Caesar - I shall do my best to live up to your praise.

There is only one episode remaining, but I am going to deliver it in three parts because I have a lot of battle pictures.

As for the Picts invading Gaul, well that would be the subject of a sequel, if I can think of a good story to go with it. :hmmm:

[Selifator]

@Selifator - Wiping out Rebels may be harder than you think.

There is only one episode remaining, but I am going to deliver it in three parts because I have a lot of battle pictures.

As for the Picts invading Gaul, well that would be the subject of a sequel, if I can think of a good story to go with it. :hmmm:

Seeing the battles you have fought in this aar, it's not hard to believe. And if we take a look at your work, a good story shouldn't be too difficult to make.