Miracle at the Tree Wreathed River

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From the hallowed libraries of Malin’s rediscovered city in the lands of Axios, fragments have been discovered. The tales of an ancient battle have been pieced together from several incomplete records and its lessons can now be learned. Whether this battle of Elven legend is a true history of what happened in ages past, or merely a folk legend spawned from years of hand-me-down oral history - we simply cannot know. We cannot even know exactly when, or where this battle was fought. However, what is understandable is that this was a scene almost incomprehensible in the sundered world in which the descendants live.

This extraordinary battle was fought between the diabolical undead forces of the destroyer; Iblees, and the remnants of an ancient Elven army. In the case of almost all historical accounts, the numbers are deific. Estimates in the many tomes read ranged from 15,000 to 75,000 United Elvenkin, facing between 150,000 and 750,000 undead abominations, all lined up on a flat area on the flood plain leading down to the river behind, with hills in the distance. The Elves cornered themselves by the riverbend so the undead could not get around their lines and had to charge frontally. It is likely that the Mali victors in this battle exaggerated the odds which they faced, but we cannot know. The Elven army itself appeared to have been unbalanced in composition; being a defeated force which was retreating from its attackers, in the company of many tens of thousands of civilians. Approximately half of its force consisted of a curious variation of what appears, in the record, to be light mounted deer cavalry, functioning as ‘saddleback’ archers. The remainder of the force consisted of a ragtag mix of heavy and lightly armoured infantry. The majority of the infantry previously marching with this army appeared to have been killed in the previous engagement by an elite formation of Ibleesian heavy cavalry - being unable to retreat as quickly as the cavalry force, they were massacred and routed. The remainder of the army managed to retreat the miles towards the river, however, and they managed to reorganise.

It is at this point we must stop for a moment and discuss these deer-like creatures and their noble riders. A single, strange account consisted of this army’s general retreating through miles of forest after being defeated in the previous battle. It is suggested that by a prayer to Cernunnos, the mounts of the cavalry were, in a way, enhanced and blessed by the aspects with an unusual speed and agility. The riders’ bows, worn from weeks of constant use likewise, were augmented with the Great Hunter’s precision. Their arrows empowered with a seemingly infinite penetration power. The willing sacrifice of this army to the Undead amongst all of its soldiers is said to have been the reason for Cernunnos' intervention. This paragraph is seemingly where the historical narrative comes unstuck, because of its apparently impossibility - but in ages long past, who knows what powers roamed the world?

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Artist's representation of an Ibleesian Heavy Cataphract - A construct of the Dark One which was not alive, but also was not fully undead. An elite of the dark armies of the destroyer.

The army of the undead consisted of around ninety-percent slowly moving assorted light and heavy undead infantry, risen from the dead in previous battles, supported by ten percent of the aforementioned armoured, mounted elites which functioned as heavy-melee horse cavalry - supposedly being autonomously organised and terrifyingly efficient compared to the shambling corpses stumbling forward behind them. Their leader was said to be a mounted undead mage, said by the Elven sources to be so pompous and confident of victory, that he did not even take to the field himself before his defeat. Instead, he sat behind the lines with a moderately sized reserve force, commanding the lines. Behind the Elven line sat an elf apparently named Vayan, an emergency interim commander after the previous general was killed in the pursuit. We know precious little about this Vayan - what he looked like, what his personality was. But we do know that it was he who chose to deploy the Elven mounted archers in the centre, rather than customarily on the flanks - so that the infantry would not have to deal with the enemy's horse.

The Elven army came to a halt in front of the river which now lay behind it. It is clear that the command was aware this obstacle lay in their path, likely via scouts. Because of this, they were prepared to form up and knew the terrain. In the fertile ground near the banks of the river were housed thick trees, where the Elven infantry hid on the flanks in order to avoid any engagement with the heavy horsemen, which they had been decimated by in the previous battles. The deer-cavalry (these deer also are accounted to have been larger than present day fauna - judging by the ferocity of their encounters) were stationed in the centre, arrayed in three lines of battle, with an adequate amount of maneuvering space separating each. This stand was apparently taken in order to give the accompanying civilian refugees time to cross the river and escape, while the army was offered up as a sacrifice. This was before the fully devastating boon the Elves had been granted was revealed. It is my belief that this army fully expected to fall, as it is said that the civilians carried hastily written letters across the river from the soldiers that had previously been escorting them, most likely letters for family.

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An Elven rider during the final charge against the exposed Ibleesian infantry. Having exhausted their arrow supply, they joined their footman brothers in the fray with spear and sword.

It was the heavy undead knights that began the struggle with a terrifying fully-frontal charge towards the lightly armoured Elven mounted archers, whilst the Elven infantry stayed silent in the brush to the flanks. Due to the undead Cataphracts’ heavily armoured nature, they were slow to charge. The Elven deer cavalry, however, also charged much more quickly towards their foe, remaining organised in their three line formation. However, the moment they began to charge, they also began to shower the dead chargers with a deluge of shockingly efficient arrow fire, from which they took significant casualties. This however, was not enough to attain victory before contact with the physically superior heavy cavalry impacted. But when the impact was near, the deer-cavalry twisted about in an almost superhumanly agile and coordinated manner, implied to be the consequence of the mystical Cernunnos-granted boon. In their withdrawal, they continued to sweep the undead cavalry from the field with their arrow fire. This almost impossible maneuver was repeated again and again until, by the time the impact actually took place - the remaining cataphracts were slaughtered with ease.

Back at their original position on the now corpse-strewn battlefield, the archers had a free reign to rain a second death upon the shambling undead infantry. I would estimate that around half of the horde was gratuitously annihilated this way before any massed charge could have an effect on such a titanic force. The sheer size of the horde, however, threatened to throttle the elven cavalry and trap them between them and the river behind them. The placement of the organised and camouflaged Elven footmen on the flanks now came into effect. Both wings of the army now crashed into the horde in addition to the cavalry; who at this point fought with their spears at close quarters. The trap that apparently ensnared the Elven cavalry was now turned onto their foes. Throughout the next hours, the remainder of the primary Ibleesian force was crushed, with the leader and his elite reserves retreating.

The ‘spirit of Cernunnos’ left the field upon the victory of this united Mali victory, presumably ridding the field of his strengths as well, likely to the cavalry’s annoyance. It is said that those who perished on the field of the battle were retrieved and given an honourable send-off, while the civilian refugees and humans from a nearby settlements came and celebrated with the army for its victory. This is where the sources end, however. An artist's reconstruction of the troop deployment and thrusts on both sides is shown below. What contemporaries called this battle is unknown to us, however the nature of its victory for Elvenkind leads me to dub it; The Miracle at the Tree-Wreathed River.