Historia Akarinnorum

The Following is the founding history of the Akari Commonwealth as written by Septimus Serforus.

Volume 1:
The fleet sets off, those in command, notable families on the voyage, shortage of water, the great storm, the scattering and reconsolidation of the fleet, food shortage, the discovery of new lands. It was in the reign of Imperator Honorius Tetricus that the last flame of the old empire was set afloat upon the calm seas when all the land lost its shape in the high flames. Unstoppable by sea, the empire fell to an ocean of invaders whose waves were its flamboyant banners on the plains. Two hundred and fifteen were the ships who began the voyage, ships of every size and caliber. The logs of these ships that were able to be recovered all agree the man who the refugees of old looked to was the Primus Trierarch Claudius Farro whose renown is so commonly cited it would be superfluous to re-record them here. However, some surviving oral traditions which are recounted to this day speak of the Trierarch Octauianus and his Optio Severus. These two outside of oral tradition can only however be found in fragmented quotations from the works of earlier historians reflections on refugee accounts. It is the contemporary consensus that Octauianus and Severus were high-born men in command of one or multiple naval bodies in an unknown portion of the old empire's overseas holdings, coming now that all had been lost, and to salvage what and who they could. As it is well known that the first refugees to the capital city were from the empire’s farthest territories, whose sorrowful lamentations were the first to siren the death of the empire. Therefore it can be soundly reasoned that the colonists of the Imperial outlands looked to the more familiar faces of Octauianus  and Severus, rather than Claudius Farro whose leadership only extended to the Home Fleet.

It may not surprise the learned reader to know that the richest and noblest of men had in their possession ships great and small who now loaded their families, relatives, servants, slaves, and any other possession worth keepsaking. This was much to the disappointment of the stray low-born family whose potential place aboard the wealthy ships were occupied by lavish furniture and prized horses. Suffice to say those at sea when the great city burned were in the ranks of the wealthy and the lucky. Among these families there stood the gentes Februcius, gentes Ambrosius, gentes Constantus, gentes Druthi, gentes Atticus, and the gentes Tetricus, the emperor's own clan; however, he was not onboard the ship with his relatives. Many more minor houses were present though for the purposes of brevity I name only the most notable and ancient of houses. Among the most notable of merchant families are the gens Veili whose fortune was made from maritime shipping. The gens Cosmunos in the trade of thoroughbred horses, and lastly gens Curanus who were slave traders and flesh mongers.

For thirteen days the seas were calm and the seagulls stayed with the ships, the wind was cool and the fish were so plentiful that the stores of food were hardly touched. But as food was neglected, the rain gave them no favor and the vessels of water began to deplete. Strict rationing was implemented and a few men of wealth, it was rumored, would push their slaves into the sea in the dead of night so that the ration would be a little less taxing for the following days. One such instance was allegedly perpetrated by a patrician's first son Giaus Abrosius but I shan't sully an honorable household with accusations of crime long since passed. Eventually all things must pass and the Goddess of Rain compensated the parched refugees with a downpour. Much to the relief of noble and slave alike, they awoke on a quiet morning to find themselves in a drizzle among thick fog. The weary men and women licked the growing dew from the wood so fervently that many needed splinters to be plucked from their sore tongues. For a short time with the mist and light rain many believed they had finally been delivered, but their jubilation was only contrasted by the trepidation of the mariners who were well acquainted with the omens that his weather brought. In credit to their pessimism they were correct. Joyous refugees placed basins and jugs on the top deck drinking generously to the defiance of the mariners who desperately attempted to sway them back below deck for their safety. Little by little, marginally the rain grew harder, the waves became higher, and the wind became fiercer. It is only due to the writings of Auger Metellus that we know any of the happenings during the storm. The fog blinded the great fleet and in between crashes of waves many sailors were said to have heard the masts of their neighbors collapse and hulls shatter as if impaled on jagged undersea boulders. One slave becoming so distressed bolted from the underdeck to the chaos above and returned sapped of sanity telling whoever would listen of massive centipede-like creatures swimming alongside the ship. The people wailed and lamented appealing to their many gods, the stag horned and the sun faced alike.

When the storm subsided after three days and nights the people merged to the top deck discovering to their horror vastly fewer ships then they started with and others in still smaller groupings many leagues separated only barely visible in the high visibility weather so comforting the day following a great storm. Slowly over the course of days sails were raised and lowered to allow for a regrouping which was successful save for one party who had the misfortune of a second storm many leagues from the main body. The mists enveloped them and it is stated that they were simply never seen again. With this chapter of the journey at an end we can now look back upon a myriad of sources to determine lives lost, in this there is surprising consistency among them. The noble gentes Constantus and Druthi were not found in the regrouped ranks of the living, save for some bastards and pretenders who sought the reputation of the ancient houses to bolster their own station. But the greatest number of missing were of the plebeians who in their desperation grappled for the smallest chance of safety finding themselves most commonly aboard the fishing vessels and coastal traders whose construction did not intend for use in deep ocean environs.

For two weeks more the seas were calm, wind favorable, and rain light. It is never said explicitly in our sources but tangential evidence indicates the rationing of food at this point, as supplies began to dwindle among even the ships with the largest storage holds. Knowing the later ambitions of Octauianus and Severus it seems likely that these reports may have been suppressed to maintain the morale of the people. But the mood was chronically grim and worse still the bellies of many slaves and lowborn women began to swell with children conceived at the beginning of the voyage when all resources were very much in abundance. Silent heralds of anxiety sounded day and night as the prospect of more mouths to be fed in this period of scarcity haunted the dreams of many. As the days mounted men with sullen expressions whispered in the ears of some expecting mothers of a great beauty in the night sky, going above deck never to return to their families. But it is here where cruel fate strikes again, after much sacrifice where a few must be forsaken to save the many, land appeared on the horizon, Some readers may expect much rejoicing but for many there were only silent tears for all they had lost in the burning of their homeland and the drowning of many true companions. Desperate for salvation in reach, the ships were anchored a hundred meters from the shore and the disembarkment taken swiftly. Primus Trierarch Claudius Farro gathered who remained of the Home Fleets’ Exploratores and Speculatores, dispatching them in all directions with two days worth of food to each man. These men carrying orders to create maps, seek landmarks and to contact any populations discovered for trade. The results from these first scouts and the continued welfare of the Imperial refugees shall be discussed at length in the second and third volume of this work.

Volume 2:
Farro sends the scouts, Factionalism of the Akari’s, Contact with the Ikkan’s, Ikkan ultimatum, Farro and Octauianus fracture. The initial landing site that our weary ancestors set their sea-legged feet on took the unofficial title of Firmfoot. From this point we have multiple sources that must be taken note of if the reader seeks to ascertain a stable context for the following events. These sources are the account of Auger Metellus, the diary of Claudius Farro, and the correspondence of Octauianus, though many more alleged sources still remain in the oral traditions. When Claudius Farro gathered about him the ranks of the Exploratores and Speculatores, he bid them go near and far, as far as their supplies and capacity for foraging will carry them on sore water-logged feet. He paired them in twos and fours, sending them hither and thither, until many men were drowned in the great forest that lay around Firmfoot. The first night was fast approaching, it became an objective that needed no words to articulate to establish shelter for the people. Thus, they took to the forest with the tools and supplies that survived the journey. Some dug holes in the ground and placed their old rugs above the rudimentary shelter, others cut down trees and made lean-to’s. The wealthier and noble men returned to their ships using the scant wine and luxuries shipped with them to host lavish celebrations with their families and retinue. Claudius Farro and the few fighting men he had left, according to his diary, took watch guarding the resting refugees. The men of this town-watch would be dubbed the ‘Precursatores’, being the first to encounter any danger. Thus is the tradition from which Akari guards are known by that title. For the part of Octauianus and Severus, they worked in shifts beginning the construction of a palisade around the beachhead. In this small period Farro and Octauianus consulted eachother on many matters, however relations would soon sour.

Slowly and steadily over the following days, storehouses, homes, and myriad other essential establishments were founded within the ever stretching palisade of Firmfoot. Many old sailors whose ships were in need of repair instead cannibalized them to build their homes, some vessels of middling size even beached themselves on the shore to live inside them permanently instead of destroying it to avoid spending the labor time building a new home. The men of Octauianus and Severus now isolated men for a construction of the settlements holdfast, many made their houses in close proximity to take advantage of its protection. In the modern day this section of the settlement is known as ‘Old Town’ where the first buildings were erected. These trends continued positively for many days, the lands that had been cleared for construction and the palisade were rapidly tilled and the work of cultivation could begin. Small ships glided on and off the shore returning to land with nets full of energetic fish. When a secondary interior palisade was established around the elevated holdfast area, Octauianus moved his retinue into the space, demanding reasonings of all those seeking to petition him. Among these men within the interior palisade was Auger Metellus, taken to be an Oracle and soothsayer for that Militia Admiral. It is from his accountings that we can glean what nature Octauianus and his deputy Severus really consisted of. He treated those who looked to him as a Lord would do his subject and would do them favors and works of public service to gain their loyalty and thus he proved effective at demagoguery. Farro for his part showed his competence in administration, creating zones habitation and cultivation, invested in the repair and refitting of his ships and handled the rationing when resources were light. All the while anxiously awaiting the return of his many scouts.

The scouts of Farro, would not return however before the next crisis would grip the fledgling settlement. On multiple occasions whilst those tilling the fields were outside the palisade, claims arose of strange figures watching them from within the trees. As it so often happens in history, these events would unfold very slowly until coming undone at once in great concert. For many days after the first Akari made landfall, these reports formed a pile on the dining table of Farro. On a bright and pleasant morning nearly three weeks after making landfall the people were awoken by the clamoring and shouts of the Precursatores. Farmers were hurriedly rushed behind the palisade and every man Farro could bring to bear manned the walls with whatever weapon remained in their possession. It is said in the oral tradition a serving woman brought up a pot of boiling grease that had accumulated in the cooking of breakfast. The men who diffused from the woods were of a fashion the Akari had never seen before with flowing gowns that extended to their knees and some even further beyond. What was obvious is that the men were of two parties, one in hides dyed in the green of the forest and the other in the blue of the ocean. As the Precursastores watched, a man atop a brown and shaggy horse with the ears of a cat rode forth, holding in his hands a rolled parchment. He spoke to them in a language they had never heard and used sounds of the mouth that the people found unnatural. After a few minutes of holding the parchment high and speaking in a raised voice he fell silent and looked at the men on the wall, holding the parchment at each end as if they were meant to be able to read the words. When silence was met with silence in reply, he raised his voice again, a man in blue robes shot an arrow of bright flame into the sky and men of the green robes strode forth and began to trample the fields.

The Precursatores began to clamor and knock their arrows, in return the blues and the greens knocked their own. In the standoff that followed more greens ran to trample the farm fields and in urgency arrows were fired. Officers of both combatants hurriedly restrained their men but the damage was done. Two of the blues and the greens lay bleeding in the dirt and a veteran marine under Farro was killed on the spot with an arrow taking him in the center of the forehead. The accounts of what transpired after the short exchange of arrows are both recorded by Claudius Farro and Octauianus but differ in key aspects and perceptions. What is constant among both accounts, the blues and greens pull from their ranks one of Farro’s scouts, bound at the hands. If Octauianus’ account is to be believed, this Explorator displayed obvious signs of torture with lacerations over non-vital portions of the body and clothes soiled with blood and dirt. Farro does not corroborate this witnessing but his message is agreed upon. With a hoarse voice, he addresses the men on the palisade, speaking to no one in particular. The Explorator states that these men call themselves the Ikkans, the men of the green robes are of the Osi family who have a monopoly on agriculture. The Blues in turn are of the Usgwiga family and have a monopoly over the sea and its cultivation. Furthermore, he says the people of Akari are in violation of fishing and farming without being in compact with the families of Ikkana and these ventures therefore must be stopped and an indemnity paid in compensation for the unauthorized value prized from the land and the ocean. Finally stating that the Akari have one week to yield unto them the value of sixty four ingots of Gold. After his translation of He was pulled by the rope lashed around his hands and dragged back behind the ranks of the Ikkans. Fading back into the forest, an alarm was raised on the seaside of Firmfoot. The witnesses therein tell of great ships of blue sails screening the coastline.

In the aftermath of this first encounter, the scouts began to return, some in good spirits and others who gave the appearance that they did not meet a positive recession. Large cabinets were constructed to house the many accounts of the Speculatores and Exploratores. Scribes were assigned to every several men to generate a written record of eye witness accounts. The reports that were most common were of the people having the ears of cats opposite of the Ikkans, a strict hierarchy where families concentrated in different trades, and esoteric happenings within the hostile mountains and caves all over the land. One team of Exploratores even reported a hideaway of elves within the crevices of a mountain face. These reports and more were greedily retranscribed by Octauianus and Severus, oral tradition has it that the lights of the holdfast still under construction remained lit until the early hours of the morning, planning and scheming. Since the first formal interaction between the Ikkans and the Akari, the divide between Farro and Octauianus grew deeper and deeper with each passing day. They consulted one another less and less and took very different stances on how the Ikkans may be dealt with and their security assured. Octauianus and his supporters endorsed the policy of war. Expanding the Akari domain little by little through border skirmishes and utilizing the lands therein for deriving wealth for the people. Claudius Farro alternatively favored a compact and trade, making peaceful intercessions with those who wished to be translators and forging a niche for themselves to make the Akari not only tolerated, but essential to the indigenous peoples. The supporters of either party rapidly began to sour on each other and street clashes between the groups of supporters became commonplace. In the next volume the conflict between the Akari and the Ikkans, and the tension between Farro and Octauianus will erupt simultaneously, and then for the time being be reconciled.

Volume 3:
The welfare of the Akari settlers, the expeditions of Octauianus, The Treaty of Firmfoot, Civil conflict. One Year after the ultimatum given to the Akari by the Ikkan, the two powers of Farro and Octauianus split into tense factionalism. Though Farro retained a stance of adaptability and non-escalation, the fiery ambition of Octauianus was enough fervor to keep the conflict alight. Many expeditions of the Speculatores and Exploratores have since come and returned but the ones at the forefront of the minds of the people were of the ones who did not return at all with a monument placed in their memory. New expeditions formally established relations with a race of people with the ears of a cat farther out from the Ikkans, greater context began to clarify the existing relationship between the indigenous peoples on the land the Akari were now forced to call home. Makeshift roadways were established between the Akari, the Ikkan’s and the cat folk who dubbed themselves the Hanabirans. Although the Hanabirans were a much more amenable people, the Ikkan’s refused to trade with the Akari settlers whatsoever. Ikkan ships flying their deep blue banners screened the coastline infrequently but still sent all Akari ships fleeing to the safety of the shore with every pass. As relations with the Hanabirans normalized, many traders and those seeking an opportunity for land ownership moved beyond the palisade and set up their own farms along the road to their settlements. A second town was established halfway between Firmfoot and Kuzugawa, the closest Hanabiran settlement. This cooperation was abominable to Octauianus and his supporters, actively discouraging interactions with the other people groups.

It was less common for the scouts who traveled in the direction of the Ikkans to return, after the disappearance of Octauianus’ favored man Gallus Garnimede. He vowed he would undertake a grand expedition to raid the people of Ikkan and rescue its prisoners. As he and his men marched out of the front gate, Farro met him there and attempted to persuade him to keep peace. Upon hearing him speak Octauianus atop his horse marched silently by. Sources on this expedition are sparse, according to Auger Metellus, Octauianus demanded that no reports or whispers were to be said about the happenings of the expedition to Farro and his supporters. This would be a mute effort however as Farro under his own power would send his own loyalists to trail the expedition and report back. We can thank Scribe Erasmus Carbo for assembling these reports into one book and providing an educated analysis. The expedition of Octauianus is as follows, according to the reports collected. Octauianus rode for three days making camp in open areas before reaching the frontier territory of the Osi family. At this site on the treeline, his men worked shockingly fast to clear the forest to build a great border fortress. Osi warriors, alarmed by the massive movement on the edge of town, rushed out to confront the expedition. Octauianus, seeing the Ikkan warriors approaching him at speed, ordered his swordsman into formation while positioning his archers behind them. The formations of the expedition caused the Osi warriors to break into a sprint to take advantage and break the Akari formation before it was complete. However, it was a forlorn hope as arrows rained down upon them and scattered them before making contact with their Akari enemies. Seeing the advantage Octauianus advanced into the village and set it to the torch. Unfortunately for later historians the name of this village was lost to time as up to the time of writing it was never rebuilt. It goes beyond the purview of this record to degrade the legacy of Octauianus, but it ought to be inferred by the readers that his style of campaigning followed the same format.

Half a moon's turn later an organized Ikkan force gained a particular advantage on Octauianus as they camped in a mountainous expanse known today as the Broken Vale, this force, thanks to later interviews was led by an Asanaga tribe chieftain but contained elements of all the major Ikkan tribes. This chieftain known only today as Lava-Eater dubbed his great warband the ‘Braves of Iron’ who, already in a fervor over the aggression of Octauianus, marched with great haste over the fields and the highlands to seek the location of the Akari host. They found them encamped surrounded by cliffs in the previously mentioned Broken Vale. Late in the hours of early morning the Akari camp awoke screaming, arrows and bombs in great numbers dropping on the heads of groggy manipular soldiers. Octauianus was late to respond, his servants putting together his armor as the large conspicuous tent received particular attention. The first Akari’s to respond were his cavalry contingent not content to wait for their armor. Charging out of the pass and up the deer trails to the cliff top they clashed with the surprised Ikkan archers, appearing out of the darkness’ heavy shroud still clad in only their spears and night clothes. The Cavalry broke the unformed ranks of the ambushing archers before they could properly engage, only reforming behind the lines of their infantry. The Akari infantry now streamed to make ranks outside of the vulnerable Vale, some armored and some still only clad in their night clothes where arrows protruding from their wailing forms inhibited them from dawning their plated cuirass. Both armies were divided fighting on both sides of the crater where the Akari’s had made camp. Behind the Ikkan infantry the archers forced the Akari cavalry to retreat from the exposed terrain between the two armies. Still the Akari moved forward forming an advancing layered testudo, receiving volley after volley. As the Akari began to close the distance Ikkan grenadiers threw sticks of explosives towards the ranks of the Akari, charging headlong as the explosions shuddered the Akari formations.

Strike for strike, the Akari and Ikkan soldiers blended in the heat of battle, neither wide able to re-coordinate their formations. Farro’s observers staying far off both report Octauianus and Lava-Eater shouting commands that go unheeded. The momentum however turned to Octauianus as he realized Lava-Eater having no cavalry on the field committed his last reserves of men putting the Akari at a manpower disadvantage. The Akari were slowly losing ground but not losing a moment, he ordered the cavalry to loop around the left side of the Ikkan army and harass his archers. The cavalry now amassed looped around both armies and skewered the Ikkan archers as they attempted to flee. The Ikkan Men of Iron seeing the Akari cavalry rout their archers and gut their army from the rear began to break and flee, first in a trickle and then in a flood the Men of Iron broke and fled into the woodline at the north end of the Vale. Some encouraged Lava-Eater to try again for another advance, taking into account the casualties he had sustained, he refused to do so. What developments became of the Men of Iron is unknown as it was not the objective of Farro’s scouts to trail them. What is known however is that Octauianus marched his beleaguered men out of the Vale and camped again closer to Akari territory to give his army several days to recuperate and rearm before heading out again for  another expedition. This battle, pyrrhic for combatants, absorbed the name of the Ikkan soldiers and the ambush in which the battle began, being known from then on as the Iron Assault on the Broken Vale. This second expedition and the third and forth met with similar and destructive fates. After the retreat of Laval-Eater and his great warband, they resolved to fight as guerrillas. For every town and fort Octauianus burned the Ikkan’s would be present before, during, and after to ambush the Akari before disappearing once again to the misty forests. Though bloody and broken the soldiers of Octauianus pressed on while the gradual sacking of settlements and attrition reduced the Ikkan forces in turn. This cycle of mutual misery only came to climax when Octauianus reached the capital of the Ikkan’s. Initially Ikkan confidence in their fortifications of piled earth around their capital was high. But morale soon began to decline quickly when the engineers among Octauianus’ army began to dig tunnels underneath the No Man’s Land. The siege lasted only three weeks before a rider under a flag of truce met with Octauianus.

The terms of the peace were light as both had fought much and bled much. Octauianus knew he did not have the manpower to break the siege through force of arms and the Ikkans believed if the Akari burrowed up into their city they could not competently contain the flow of soldiers that would emerge at speed from these burrows. The treaty itself is locked away within the Akari museum in Firmfoot, away from the prying eyes of anyone wishing to do such a document harm. The terms paraphrased as follows, upon condition of peaceful relations and the prospect of trade with the Akari, the Akari would be allowed to apply to be a junior member of the confederation, the status of Ikkan guild monopoly would be annulled for the people within said confederation, and the monetary indemnity against the Akari would be annulled. In return for this the Akari would have to pay slight tariffs on traded goods being sold to them and selling items to the Ikkans, the Akari would be expected to provide military support to the confederation in times of national defense and lastly, the Akari would be obligated to provide an advisor to live in the court of the Ikkans in order to solidify communication and avoid further conflict. These terms being fair yet not too light on either combatant, was signed by Octauianus, leaving behind Severus to act in the services of the Ikkans.

When the bloodied and dragging bodies of Octauianus’ army reached the gates after a two week march back through the Ikkan back-country they came upon the closed gate of Firstfoot with Farro standing atop the palisade. Octauianus atop his horse demanded the gates be opened and a great welcome for the heroes of the Ikkan expedition. Farro did not budge and rebuked Octauianus harshly for returning the Ikkans harsh posturing with violence without communicating to his countrymen. He chastised Octauianus for spilling too much blood on a fruitless endeavor and obligating the Akari people to conditions they had no hand in consenting to. Lastly and most harshly he forbade Octauianus and his army from reentering the city and cast them into exile beyond the palisade. Upon hearing this a few of the men with Octauianus attempted to force open the gate, but Farro, with a motion of his hand gave his archers the signal to fire, killing the men who tried to force their way inside. Many of the men began to weep and wail but in time slowly slithered around the palisade and to the coast following until they were away yet still in sight of the Firmfoot, setting up their own settlement at a location they named ‘The Silver Coast’.

Volume 4:
New generation of nobility, Terror on the borderlands, the Akari retaliate, Battle of Karliogne Ridge, The Farro reforms, The Silverian conspiracy. For the next one hundred years a status of prosperity and harmony existed within the three members of the confederation, the members of the founding had long since passed, Farro and Octauianus both had statues commemorated in their honor and the settlers of the Old Empire multiplied. Now new factions operated throughout the fledgling nation. A republic was established after the hegemonic yet magnanimous overlordship by Farro. Now consuls reigned, the many great families of the prominent citizenry vied for position and reputation among themselves. Among these houses were the Serforus clan, the Vetellii, the Castii, the Trebonii, and the Eudomii, with many other houses of equal honor besides. Much can be written about the period of peace between the days of the expedition of Octauianus and the Second Ikkan conflict, however for the purposes of curation it has been relegated outside of the scope of this work. Daily the government officials met to discuss the matters of the day, the people gathered outside the state house and the heralds everyday to hear the news, the winnings and the defeats of their patrons. But this peace and complacency can never last forever as is the nature of time and politics.

In the spring of 70BU, the winter snow piles were melting away from the door frames of the Akari farmers in the borderlands when reports began to arrive first as a trickle and then as a flood of relatives going to see their loved ones only to find them slain in their homes. The cries for justice were overwhelming, prompting the Consuls of the day, Decius Publius Tarquin and Gaius Vetellius to dispatch increased garrisons to the borderlands of all neighbors in the confederation. The bodies of the slain were gathered and returned to Firmfoot for a state funeral to honor those who had suffered injustice. But not before many of the bodies were examined in secret by both Consul’s hand selected Frumentarii. Each one was examined in extreme detail and much to the frustration of the Frumentarii scribes nothing could be ascertained other than that the gashes had been made with a sharpened object other than metal as it left very small fragments in the victim as it was dulled against the victims flesh. A breakthrough came after many days to the frustrated and demoralized scribes as within the lacerated neck of an elderly farmer stood the key to the tragedy. A large tooth serrated at the edges, which would have been mistaken for simply an attack of an animal if found in an isolated case. Indeed, the serrations and the widdle marks told the tale, a bone knife, a staple weapon used by the Ikkan Tansi Kwĕna. The scribes returned to their gathered information to the Consuls and the people were martialled to defend their lands, and avenge those lost. Those who asked why the Ikkan’s would do this were drowned out by the beating of the manipular horns and cries for revenge. Man's reasoning was lost watching the bodies of their relatives burn on the great pyre.

The justifications for the Ikkan slaughter of Akari farmers would only be known after the war and for the sake of narrative I shant make mention of it until the end of this volume. From henceforth the primary sources regarding the second Akari-Ikkan conflict would be written through the lenses of three men. Decanus Solinus Pullus, Legatus Aeneus Farro descendent of the great Trierarch Claudius Farro, and a Hanabiran observer Takahira Tanehiro. All of these sources provide very different interpretations of events but remain remarkably consistent in the record of events. From the Journals of Legatus Farro the men of Akari were martialed and arrayed before the campaign commenced, being separated into three cohorts, commanded by two Tribunus Laticlavius each. Here these volunteer soldiers were outfitted and armed before their march began. In the mornings and evenings before the Custodis of the baggage train would disassemble the palisades of the camp the volunteers would eat and then drill before the daily march. At night when the volunteers would arrive at the next point of encampment, they would fortify their perimeter with natural objects until the baggage train arrived so the Custodis could reassemble the palisade, under the protection of which they would once again eat and undergo more training. According to the dispatches of Observer Tanehiro this process persisted for two weeks at a slow pace for the soldiers to familiarize themselves with their kit and for the officers to practice their cohort and century maneuvers before any battle could catch them in the throws of military ignorance. As this was not nearly enough time for a volunteer army to gain any semblance of professionalism, it was agreed upon to settle for competence within the specialization of rank. It was on this fifteenth day that on the march the lead cohort encountered the tip of the Ikkan army which had been obscured by sight and sound by the small Karliogne ridge, a long hill on the border of Akari and Ikkan territory.

It was recorded by Legatus Farro that upon making contact with the Ikkan forces, the volunteers were ordered to spread out, the first cohort at the head, wrapping rightward around the road opposite the hill to urge the Ikkan forces to contribute more men and outnumber the Akari to bring an opening for the second and third cohorts. These second and third cohorts charged up the ridge, the second cohort was met man for man at the crest but the third met with middling resistance and overran them, circling back to the second cohort and landing in the rear of the Ikkans fighting them. With both flanks sandwiched between the Akari, the Ikkans fought valiantly for a time screaming their demands for justice in the face of the Akari who returned their cries in kind. In short order however, feeling the pressure the Ikkan forces sandwiched between the two cohorts routed from each end of the hammer and anvil maneuver. By this time the first cohort was nearly surrounded and rapidly taking casualties. The four tribunes ordered a general charge in unison without communications and the Akari slammed into the Ikkan lines, in their frenzy some even kneeling just before making contact with the enemy so that another volunteer could jump off their back landing in the midst of the jumbled Ikkan formation. Now the Ikkan forces began to panic, there was an Akari in front of them, behind them, and at their side. The formation broke and crumbled, the first cohort was saved, but there was not much left of them. Among them was Decanus Solinus Pullus, who rallied what was left of his two Contumbernia which now numbered to four volunteers. Beaten and bloodied he helped to their feet those who could still walk. According to his later writings it was not the amount of Ikkan forces that dwindled their numbers but the exhaustion that soon dragged the soldiers into fatigue until slowly they began to be bested.

Now reformed, the Ikkans redressed their lines and in the fields on their side of the Karliogne ridge and began to advance again. According to Tanehiro some of the Akari volunteers began to break and run, however no other source confirms this. The three cohorts in their last strain of strength pushed themselves onto the top of the ridge and awaited attack. Instead to the relief of the Akari the Ikkans retreated in good order to fight in strength another day. Late that night and early into the morning, in the great tent of Farro curses could be heard. Complacency and lack of attention had decayed the Akari’s ability to meet their current threat. Faded away were the ranks of the professional soldier, the Exploratores and the Speculatores all gone with little replacement. Their only remnant being the Frumentarii, the personal scribes and learned men of the Akari leadership. After the battle at Karliogne Ridge Farro was fervent in maximizing efficiency, the men he had were not enough to fight a protracted war and a full campaign. Farro himself through his journals made it abundantly clear that adaptation and the maximization of efficiency was key. The following morning he arrayed all his forces and arranged a portion of the baggage train to carry the corpses of the dead back home. Furthermore he subdivides all the cohorts into formal centuries and further into Contubernia wherever the centuries of the first cohort were too depleted. He renamed them the Precursatores with the objective to hover around every flank of the century strike groups to skirmish and guard their flanks. Along with these reforms he sent many letters back to the Consuls in Firmfoot with strongly worded suggestions on the rehabilitation of the Akari military. This reorganization of the military was known as the Farro reforms and in the perspective of those on the ground the fate of the Akari military stood in a state of limbo as the command staff wondered if their reports and suggestions would be taken seriously by the powers in Firmfoot.

Over the next several months the campaign continued in probing strikes and reconnaissance in force. Akari raids on Ikkan towns and forts kept the civilians on both sides if they ought to migrate out of the area until the war was formally over, or if they may get through one more harvest season. It was not until three months into this reformed campaign that professional reinforcements reached the fort atop the Karliogne Ridge. With these small cohorts he began to recall his centuries for a renewed campaign headed by the legionnaires. Here we must be brief, things continued in this manner for generations, attempts to resolve the dispute failed whether it be mediated by the Hanbirans, the Kumashi who were another junior partner of the confederation, and the illusive Llyn’s. For decades prejudice and mistrust between the Akari and the Ikkan’s passed from father to son and the second conflict became a hereditary affair. But as is the nature with politics through war, things go very slowly before going very quickly. It was in the 26th year of the conflict when a revelation was made by an Akari century conducting a surprise raid on a meeting of the regional Ikkan military administration only to find a parlay between Ikkan officers and the Silverians. This development shocked the state and diplomatic relations between the Akari and their Silverian cousins ground to a halt. The administration of the state was reeling as the Silverians being the heirs of Octauianus had been trusted partners even to the point of being given military intelligence to better keep their lands safe. In the last and final volume we shall end the second conflict and resolve the shattered trust between the Akari and Silverians.