BURGVNDIAE TRIUMPHUM

[Vikenz 1162]

 

8th of the Grand Harvest, 228 S.A

After weeks of bombardment and trenchwork, the final order was given: the final assault would commence. Ser Calias Mareno and King Haakon Ruric led the vanguard beneath the cover of night, scaling ladders raised in grim silence amongst the western walls. Norlandic heavy infantry and Burgundian skirmishers surged upward in a daring ascent, meeting the defenders in savage, close-quarters combat. Blood slicked the stone as blades clashed in the narrow parapets—but the wall was taken. Fires were lit atop the towers—a signal to the rear: the siege was now astorm.

Field Marshal Roger de Rouen turned his attention to the castle’s gate as the fighting raged on the battlements. Under his command, a massive iron-capped battering ram was wheeled forward, shielded by wooden pavises and thick tar-drenched hides. After more than an hour of relentless pounding, the gate finally gave way with a thunderous crack, splintering inward and clearing the way for the Savoyard’s elite infantry. With sword drawn and banners raised, Roger of Bourdon led the charge through the ruined entrance and into the castle’s square alongside Hughes Ashes. Resistance inside was fierce but fractured, the Balianite command already in disarray from the breach on the walls.

By dusk, Salia lay in ruins. Every Balianite, from the defenders to the last of those who sought to flee, was put to the sword or drowned in the river below, as ordered by the heir of the Rouennais. Three thousand and four hundred lives were claimed—each one a grim testament to the cost of defiance against the King of Burgundy. 

 

In the aftermath of the siege, the mood had become one of heightened glory, returning to the camp. The crumbling bricks had decorated the foot of the hill where the mighty castle once stood, and anything that had been left standing was emblazoned with the banners of Burgundy. John of Balian committed his men to early graves, and thus, will be the end of Balian. Their monarch played at honor and sacrificed three thousand men for pride. In his final act, he wagered with a pen of legacy that his men would be seen as martyrs of this dying age of man. . .

But pride does not hold a wall, and legacies die with corpses on battlefields.

 

BURGVNDIAE

TRIUMPHUM

 

[subatomic 1497]

The bastard of Drusco sat on a broken stone, his Argentum blade, Nightfall, slick with blood. Its darkened steel caught the first glint of the morning sun. The fires smoldered behind him, the blackened silhouette of the keep sagging like an old soldier too weary to stand. He could still recall the shouts from the breach- the last, desperate charge of Balian's knights, their polished plate glinting briefly before they vanished beneath a tide of blades. They called it valor. Hughes deemed it vanity.

[amyselia 2962]

Rosceline's hair was swept in a wind above the battlements of Alba as she watched for the men's return. She knew nothing of Balian, but she had heard of its history, touching on the legacies of Oren and Novellen, now battered and befouled. She could see the faces of the Balianese soldiers as they laid their final sacrifice to history's annals: their brows held stern yet fearful, indignant yet haunted by a looming death. Her breath exhaled a burden of mercy she had no cause to grant - then drew sharply as the return of the victorious campaign glimmered steel across the horizon. . . 

[sam33497 7356]

Sirius Mareno took a sharpening-stone to the River Crosser, the relic carbarum-blade of his house. He frowned, noticing that it had not dulled overmuch - perhaps the Balianites had not put up enough of a fight. Or perhaps it was the proficiency of the new marshal - things were rarely clear in war.

[Phoebe202 1057]

A cousin of the residents of Salia merely glanced towards the direction of the now-ruined keep and shook her head. 

[Irishmanmichael 504]

Manfred walked the broken ground long after the soldiers of battle had been snuffed out his leather boots being stained a reddish hew from the blood of near 4000 dead mixing with the sandy mud. “We Landsknects sing songs of woe because a victory just means another battle to die in but the end of the war is in sight so tonight I shall sing somber tunes for the fallen, but tomorrow I shall sing for the light that must come.” Manfred thought to himself as he reached his horse that had waited for him, mounting up be began to hum a tune.

 

 

 

Edited April 13, 2025 by Irishmanmichael

[Yeetboy0206 1574]

A dead man reads the missive and finally has had enough. He notes the name of this Marshall and begins to make plans. 

"GOD, I ask you to forgive me for the things I am about to do. But justice must be metted out, or I can no longer look my son in the eye and say that I am a good man."

[Lalosia 988]

A man of d'Arkent pondered about the many memories he had made growing up in the Duchy of Sunholdt.

[Cheese 8874]

The Duchess of the fallen castle wishes that people would at least get the name of Sunholdt right.