| Siege of High Spiral |
| Date |
Ascending Fire RY546 to Resplendent Wood RY549 |
| Location |
Southwestern Threshold |
| Result |
Victory for the Realm |
|
| Belligerents |
| 9th Imperial Legion & Vermillion Legion (Scarlet Empire) |
Blood River |
| Commanders |
Anoshkar the Drunken
Tepet Tilis Paiza |
Cabal of Craftsmen |
| Strength |
10,000 Realm Legionnaires
5,000 Realm Legion auxiliaries
5 war elephants
50 Trung auxiliaries |
2,500 warrior-craftsmen
25+ Lintha raiders
38,000 local militia |
| Casualties and losses |
5,000 Realm Legionnaires
2,950 Realm Legion auxiliaries
1 Trung auxiliary
1 war elephant |
1,500 warrior-craftsmen
2 Lintha raiders
9,500 local militia |
|
Overview
The Siege of High Spiral is the name given to the Realm's war with the independent Threshold state of Blood River, which arose in response to that kingdom's increasing aggression towards its neighbours and open regection of the Dragonblooded right to rule Creation.
Preparations
Blood River had been undergoing military preparations for some time, and when their forces moved downriver against An-Teng, the Scarlet Empress dispatched two Legions, the 9th and the Vermillion, to put an end to the threat.
Battle
The two Legions marched eastward from the coast, up the floodplain of the Blood River during the dry Fire season. Facing disciplined Legion formations, the invaders were driven back, though they managed an ordered retreat to the Blood River capital at High Spiral, close to the country's western border. The city was surrounded, but its defenses were not directly challenged as the Imperial armies moved through the countryside imposing the rule of the Empress, scattering the militia units raised from the peasant villages.
Imperial Supply lines suffered initially due to heavy raids by Lintha pirates, thought to have been bribed by the Cabal of Craftsmen, but the Imperial Navy soon responded by deploying several squadrons of the Western Fleet to secure the nearby coast.
Due to its westerly location, Blood River ’s capital at High Spiral was placed under siege soon into the war. A major storehouse for crops even in peacetime, and bolstered by nearly all of the land's professional soldiery as well as its political leadership and large numbers of peasant militia who had fled there for shelter early in the war, the city proved capable at holding out, keeping the besiegers back for almost three years until it was left alone against the Realm’s full military presence. The final assaults on High Spiral resulted in the shattering of the outer city wall and casualties of 96% amongst the Vermillion Legion when they were given the honour of being first through the breach.
Aftermath
In the aftermath of the war, Blood River became an Imperial satrapy, placed under the rule of Cadet House Trung, and with the death of its military troops and political leaders the land lost much of its famed skill at bronze-working.
