The Median Rebellion

**Barry Goldwater** · May 18, 2016, 10:25 PM

The Medians have risen in rebellion against the Argead Empire, forcing their local satrap Peithon to mobilize to put them down. As his satrapy descends into havoc, his native neighbors sense opportunity, and Mithradates of Persis at least has acted by marching his forces into the region...

**Barry Goldwater** · May 18, 2016, 10:47 PM

Battle of Bayan

The Persian army of Mithradates has marched into Gabae province, where they soon came into contact with the provincial rebel force under Phraortes - and the Macedonians under Peithon - just outside the otherwise insignificant hamlet of Bayan. Peithon does not appear to be aware of any ulterior motive on Mithradates' part, instead believing that he entered Gabae to assist him in suppressing the rebels in an effort to prove the loyalty of the Argeads' new Persian subjects, and has dispatched a small party of riders to Mithradates informing him of his advance from the north: according to Peithon, he will be able to crush the Median rebels in-between his own army and Mithradates' from the south.

Map

Forces involved:

Peithon

Phraortes

**Dirty Chai** · May 19, 2016, 01:48 AM

Map

Gonds = 1000 men
Vashts = 500 men

Spādha of Pāsārgād: led by Mithradāt
- 4 Gonds of Nizagan-i Eranshahr ("Iranian Archer-Spearmen")
- 2 Gonds of Kardaka Arteshtar ("Iranian Hoplites")
- 4 Vashts of Asiatikoi Hippeis ("Asiatic Cavalry")
- 2 Vashts of Khuveshavagan ("Kinsmen Cavalry")

Mithradāt informs the Yauna riders that he will indeed smash the Medians in the rear, hammering them into the sarissas once they're engaged.
The Parsik army then moves forward at a comfortable pace, letting the Yaunas engage the Medians first. When this occurs, the cavalry on both flanks will rush forward as if to smash into the rear of the Medians but instead swerve around and drive deep lances into the flanks and rears of the phalangites. The infantry will rush forward at the same time, presumably to support the flanks and center of the Median infantry and to support any troublesome melee the Persian cavalry find (unless its in the rear of the Yauna army, of course). The nobles leading the mounted attack have been given permission to loot and pillage the baggage train of Peithon as they wish, so long as they completely cut Peithon and his army off. As Airiians helping other Airiians against barbarians who do not bow to kings, it has been made clear to noble and freeman alike that Peithon must not escape.

[OOC: You can do this moderation last, Barry; I'm not in a hurry

]

**Barry Goldwater** · May 19, 2016, 10:26 PM

The Median archer-spearmen brace to receive the Macedonian infantry offensive

Confident that the Persians were on his side and would help him stomp the Medians flat between their armies, Peithon directs his army forward to engage the Medians. The Persian army moved at a leisurely pace as Mithradates commanded, letting the Macedonians bloody themselves against the Medians first (admittedly they were quite effective at this, as the Median archer-spearmen could not effectively resist the heavier phalangites once the latter had weathered their barrages to engage in close combat). However, the tide turned when the Persian cavalry surged forward, not to plunge into the Medians' rear but to assail Peithon's flanks in conjunction with their Median counterparts while their footmen moved to support the buckling Median footmen. While Peithon cried treachery, his confused army began to disintegrate, starting with the native troops: within half an hour only his regular Hellenic phalangites were still fighting, the Pantodapoi and Macedonian toxotai having already surrendered while one unit of Asiatikoi Hippeis unexpectedly switched sides to aid the Persians in mauling the Macedonian rear as the other fled the field entirely. Soon Peithon himself was dead, trampled to death by the Khuveshagan amidst his crumbling phalanx, and his remaining Phalangites surrendered.

Outcome: Decisive Persian-Median victory

Casualties:

Persians/Medians

Macedonians

**Dirty Chai** · May 19, 2016, 11:22 PM

[OOC: Barry, is that what I have left, or what I've lost?]

**Spartan999** · May 19, 2016, 11:26 PM

OOC: It means how much you lost.

Example:

Macedonians

This was during the first round of our battle against the Cappadocians. If

we only had that much left that would have meant we lost the battle.

**Dirty Chai** · May 20, 2016, 12:05 AM

Mithradāt dismounted as the cadaver was dragged before him. It was gruesome, the linothorax of the Yauna smashed and mangled by the hooves of armored Nisayan warhorses. That is a terrible way to meet one's gods, he ponders, looking away and up into the high sun, beating down upon the arid landscape.

"How do the Yaunas treat their dead? Burial?" the Parsik warlord questioned aloud, his nobles staying silent.
"We'll have to entomb him somewhere in Hangmatāna. Or perhaps here," he said, looking around afterwards at the battlefield below his perch on the hill.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Those Yaunas who surrendered and survived the battle, were disarmed and lined up into the submissive columns. Riders rode up all along the columns, parroting out words to them in accented Greek..

"Your leader is dead! End your rebellion! Iskandar's regent will accept your submission, you will be forgiven, and you will be resettled with lands in the south, as good will. Surrender, save your lives, and be rewarded for it."

This was repeated endlessly, for perhaps an hour or two, before the victorious Iranians began to merge into two obvious groups: one aimed north, and one aimed south. The former departed first, while the latter remained with all those captured Yaunas, planning to march south with those prisoners who submitted to the offers parroted to them..

**Barry Goldwater** · May 20, 2016, 09:11 PM

The defeated Macedonians clearly had no idea what was going on - "I thought we were fighting the rebels?" was a common question among those in their ranks who could still speak - but having already disarmed and given up, they evidently decided they couldn't do anything beyond accepting Mithridates' offer anyway.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phraortes himself would not live long to enjoy his victory with the Persians. A week after the Battle of Bayan, an assassin slipped into his tent while he was enjoying his afternoon nap and slit his throat. However the man was captured by the guards while trying to flee the scene, and broke after six hours of torture at the hands of Phraortes' men: he revealed that he had been sent by Kurosh, the Satrap of Dahae to the north.

Assassination roll outcome: Partial success

**Barry Goldwater** · May 24, 2016, 09:14 PM

Kurosh makes his move

Kurosh, the Satrap of Dahae, has joined in on the division of Peithon's lands. He has successfully marched his army in stealth to Derbicca, taking the local Medians there utterly by surprise: they yielded to him without a fight. Even more strangely, he claims that it was Mithradates who murdered Phraortes, in open contradiction to the tortured confession of his agent all the way in Mithradates' camp. While confusion overtakes the Median rebellion, nobles who had only nominally served Phraortes seized control of Ecbatana, which had fallen into anarchy with Peithon's death, and barred its gates to both Mithradates and Kurosh. This council, led by Astyages/Ishtuvigu son of Zahak, has discreetly dispatched messengers to both camps inviting them to ride to Ecbatana to plead their cases & promising to open the gates to whomever they find to not only be telling the truth about Phraortes' death but also prove themselves to be a better leader for the Median people.

OOC: Sorry for not getting back to this sooner, guys.

**Lord Oda Nobunaga** · May 24, 2016, 09:51 PM

Prince Kurosh sends a letter to Ecbatana

"But of course prince Kurosh is the correct ruler for Media. Who is this Phraortes but a lowly goat herder? The man is beneath me. I knew that he was Mithridates' puppet, anyone a stone's throw from Ecbatana knows this. It was but a matter of time for Mithridates to remove this helpless infant (not literally) and claim the throne of Persia.

When Phraortes dwelled in Media he was a foot stool for Peithon and then he he was but a pawn for Mithridates, a mere prostitute... and now he is a corpse. If I did the killing then it stands to reason that Mithridates is an incompetent who cannot protect even his closest allies. If Mithridates did the killing then he is a cheat and a traitor even though for the killing of Peithon all the Yaunas will gladly take his head for he is already both these things as he demonstrated. Does it truly matter who did the killing of Phraortes? The goat herder is dead. Now you have the option of the Achaemenid house or some lowly noble who was raised amongst the tent dwellers of the north. As if I even need to try or make a but the most minute demonstration of my power, the choice is obvious.

But I shall not lie for it is unbecoming for the pride of an Achaemenid Prince, neither of us could fight the Yaunus though like a cup of watered down wine Mithridates seems to have deluded himself to thinking thus, his funeral. But would I say that should it come to it I could not defeat Mithridates? My supporters grow by the day without regard for past affiliations, Medes, Achaemenid loyalists and even the few Yaunas who populate this land like a small raindrop in the Gedrosian desert but fear the wrath of Mithridates.

I say this, nobles will be nobles and peasants will be peasants but if you wish to serve Kurosh then let the state officials be determined by the wisdom of their words and their vast virtue, let the military officers be determined by the strength and size of their blades and let the living populace be determined by their obedience and hard work.
So demonstrate your wisdom by choosing the son of Vakshuvarda, demonstrate your strength by striking down your enemies and demonstrate your obedience by heeding my call. In the times of the great Kurosh and the great Darayaus such virtues were rewarded in excess, do you not see a great Kurosh in me? If not then you are blind and you should not bother to even look east, for that is where I dwell and stupid men who prefer lowly filth cannot be expected to gaze towards the rising sun and discriminate between it and a mere candle.

As for Mithridates: surely you will send soldiers which I will take from you by the sword or by the size of my purse, surely you will send assassins which I will kill, bribe or outlast for even if you kill Kurosh there are many other sons of Vakshuvarda. I suggest that you cease to ignore my envoy for an agreement with me will surely raise you from your mere status. I shall hold Ecbatana and Rhagae and in exchange I am willing to grant you a gift of Bagastana, Aspadana and Gabae, should the people of Media be willing; a great gift which only one such as my forebear the great Kurosh received. Take this offer, stave off defeat and make sense or crawl into a hole and die."

**Barry Goldwater** · May 25, 2016, 09:46 PM

Zadracarta closes its doors to Kurosh

Though Kurosh attempted to move on Zadracarta quickly & discreetly after his bloodless occupation of Derbicca, the people of that town were not taken by surprise as the Derbiccans were. Upon arriving before Zadracarta, he is met by the stony glares and silence of the garrison atop the city walls, broken only by the Median lord who had taken over the city after Peithon's fall. The well-dressed man shouts from a tower, "Prince Kurosh! I, Bahram son of Bakhtiar, greet you. I received your word that Mithradat in the south used and discarded the opportunist Fravartis as a child goes through his toy, so imagine my surprise when I heard that YOU had been the one who murdered Fravartis instead, and that the man's killer confessed to this crime and your involvement." He gestures to the city defenses and adds, "I am a man of honor. Thus, though the blood of the Haxāmanišiya may flow through your veins, and though I had little knowledge and less love of Fravartis, I refuse to serve a murderer unless he proves himself innocent. Have you not heard that many of my fellow Māda notables have assembled in Ecbatana, and issued a call to both you and Mithradat to prove the righteousness of your cause? If they find in your favor, I shall open the gates and accept you as our rightful leader. If not...well, as I have said, I cannot serve a murderer."

Kurosh must choose between waiting for the Medians in Ecbatana to make a decision on which of the Persian leaders to trust, or storming Zadracarta immediately. If he chooses the latter, the below information will be used for the battle:

Map

Bahram's forces

**Lord Oda Nobunaga** · May 25, 2016, 10:14 PM

Kurosh shouts from a hill far enough from the walls: "Ah but you see a murderer who does away with another murderer is a man who metes out justice. Was it not Phraortes who killed Peithon? I have no love for the Hellenes in particular however when a rabble rouser uses another rabble rouser to seize power then that is a crime which deserves worse than eternal torment at the hands of the great god Ahura Mazda. For his misdeeds Phraortes had three executioners at his back and one of them was his enabler. Therefore I say that I am innocent from the crime of murder and if anyone of my men would kill Phraortes then it would be an executioner.
Yet you say you had no love for the man but would rather follow him to his grave than to open the door to me, you see how foolish your thoughts are? If I killed Phraortes and you follow me then you are a hypocrite, but if Mithridates killed Phraortes and you so decide to serve Mithridates then you have doubly betrayed your morals for following a puppet and his puppet master.
This thinking betrays you and does you no justice for this type of thinking would normally lead to execution.

Moreover I remind you good fellow that though you are a Mede you are not in Media are you? Do you see those mountains? Yes they are quite large for you to miss at the top of that wall. Media lies down to the South of here, wherein we lie on Hyrcanian soil. Now do you see the mountains there to the west? On the other side lays Atropates dormant and he will surely come and kill you if you delay your answer to me, for if you choose Mithridates then your death is certain for he will kill you and unfortunately so must I. There was technically no rule from Ecbatana that I could not seize Hyrcania so I very well could besiege this city and no honest man in Ecbatana could levy any accusations of breaking their treaties. Moreover if I am killed then Media, if it is inhabited by honest men, then they would have to follow our banner for it was such murder which condemn that would undo me.

But as your words are sincere I will leave that for you as a word of advice and be on my way. Hopefully you will find your senses Bahram. I will return later but the correct path clearly lies before you. I trust you enough not to attack me from behind and I will take your advice as I am a lawful ruler and also a generous one and will leave Zadrakarta be and take the correct path to Ecbatana."

The army of Kurosh continues to Ecbatana