With the bulk of the Imperium’s Foregone Army engaged in a prolonged fight on Enpryys, the 23rd Legion, garrisoned on Bordeaux to defend Foregone City, sent three divisions to assault the south-eastern continent Ceyydon. The plan was to travel from port city to port city, defeat whatever token garrison forces stood before them, and burn the ports to the ground rather than capture them.

What immediately awaited the 30,000 troops was an army of 90,000 firryans ready to defend their land to the death.

Our forces fought hard and managed to push their way up the beach, putting the firryan army to route. Pushing inland, they fought another victorious battle, then another, then a fourth. More firryans kept showing up with muskets and advanced training.

It was an embarrassing blunder by Ashguard Intelligence.

By law, each of the 63 Chaccarn States contributes 3,000 soldiers to the UCS army. This equates to 189,000 troops. Because they sent an estimated 140,000 soldiers to Enpryys, we assumed that left just a few thousand soldiers remaining to defend three continents. But our elven common sense poisoned our basic logic.

Firryan soldiers enlist for a few years before retiring. When those soldiers retire, new soldiers take their place. The total number of men with military experience is probably closer to 350,000 nearly the entire adult male population. Each of these soldiers would have trained through campaigns against interior nomads.

The cities on Ceyydon are far from undefended.

Furthermore, the Imperium’s navy let us land on Ceyydon only to erect a blockade to prevent retreat.

Under pressure from constant firryan assaults, the remnants of the three divisions scattered into the Ceyydon wilderness, electing to wage a guerrilla war against any pursuers. An devastating victory for the Imperium; at least 23,000 elven casualties against 70,000 firryan deaths.