The Battle of Lyons was a major battle between the forces of the Empire of Emblam versus the human alliance of Western Europe that resulted in a devastating loss suffered to the Human Kingdoms of Western Europe during the War in France, and all but ended the war. Centered around the massive city of Lyons the battle destroyed nearly the entire releaving human force, and after the defeat would lead to the destruction of Lyons which was one of the largest cities remaining in France.
A battle that stood as the last chance for Bretonia to push back the armies of the Orcs, and keep control of France, the battle instead turned into a massacre after the Roman army derailed the plan and allowed the Orcs both the initiative and took away the element of surprise, and this has led to resentment towards the Roman Empire by many of the European Kingdoms. With the loss at Lyons the Orcs went on to completely overwhelm the remaining forces in France with little difficulty, and the mighty Bretonian Kingdom was forced to pull back to its English province.
The Battle of Lyons could be defined as the most impactful action of the Dark Lady Flemeth as through her manipulation of the Roman Imperial Legate Lartius Tiburtius the battle went from a possible turning point in the war to a complete disaster. Flemeth paid a cost as well with four of her daughters being hunted down and killed by the forces of Odin during the aftermath of the battle but the operation of Flemeth was a complete success.
The Battle of Lyons would begin in preparation following the disastrous collapse of the capital of Bretonia in the form of the city of Viche where in the major nations of Europe would come to realize that the threat poised by the Orcs was a great threat to themselves and while originally Orleans was planned for the assault its fall to the Orcs led to the human alliance moving towards Lyons as the site of their counter assault.
Everything about the Battle of Lyons stems back to the initial Fall of Hispania and the subsequent War in France. With the destruction of much of Southern France, the Orcs begin pouring northwards towards the new capital now placed at Paris. In order to get to Paris the Orcs needed to get through the fortress of Lyons, and it was here where the fate of Europe would be decided.
The Siege
"Lyons was their target, and the moment we realized that we for the first time effectively worked as an alliance and prepared a plan."
-Bill Lovie
The Orcs massed a massive army and begin raising every town and castle on the way to Lyons. The forces of Lyons begin sending out runners to tell the surrounding regions this whole area was going to come under siege and that they should head north. As this was happening the defenders were all across the line preparing for what they were beggining to believe was the end, and this was the first time throughout the conflict that Franks begin to on masse retreat from France. This call came quickly enough that many were able to escape and most of the civilian population of Lyons escaped the coming massacre. Despite this fact there were still some one hundred thousand civilians left in the city by the time the Orcs surrounded it, but of that number nearly sixty thousand were conscripted onto the walls as they realized this was a last stand.
The Council
"The council was the first time in centuries that the humans of Europe had met to find a plan to deal with a shared enemy. For centuries they spent their time killing eachother, and in a minute they were asked to forget all that death and just move towards the greater good. For some that came easily, while for others this was imposible."
-Unknown Scribe
With Lyons besieged the forces of Europe met again for the Council of Lyons. At this council the leaders discussed and all agreed that if the Orcs were allowed to take the fortress of Lyons then the way to Paris would be completely undefended. In order to stop this, it was convened that everyone should bring all available forces and they would ambush the Orcs once they assailed Lyons. This meant that the hundreds of thousands of troops from the entire human alliance were directed away from whatever location they were and towards the city of Lyons. This would take time, and thus in order for the plan to work the city of Lyons could not fall before they arrived, and in order to ensure its survival Maltivian Eisenburg would masse some twenty thousand knights and charge his way through the open north eastern gap and make his way into the city with as much food and supplies as he could muster. Maltivian was the king at this point and thus for this reason the forces of the Kingdom of Bretonia moved with extra purpose as if they failed their king would die within Lyons. It is also worth noting that during the Council of Lyons the members assembled would here the words of a fake Magi of whom said he had great information on the Orcs and how to defeat them. Brought to the council in chains the Magi would turn out in the end to give them information on the fact that the Romans were going to break ranks, but this was shouted down by the Roman Senator that was assembled their.
"The coordination it took for ancestoral enemies, and different cultures to work together was something we should be able to point back at and say that we did something were proud of. Sometimes what seems like its going well can fall apart in a moment."
-Karl Franz
The opening to the battle would begin with the Human armies moving into position around the besieged city. The commanders in charge had placed a strategy of encirclement with the largest army in the Romans facing what was the strongest section of the Orcs, and the second strongest in The Empire facing the east side. With this strategy the element of suprise was the most important aspect, and this was mainly due to the fact that the Orc besieging army had well over a million orcs in it. The human alliance was almost six hundred thousand but no where near big enough to compete without an ambush.
The Battle
Initial Moves
The Roman Legions gambit
"I was in the command tent when I heard the first of the cannon shots coming from the Roman lines. The moment they went off I told myself that I had to be dreaming. I had to be imagining the disasterous sounds, but as I slapped myself trying to wake up I found nothing changing. I wanted to weep as I knew this was the end, but I knew I had to give my men some kind of chance, and thus I gave the order to prepare."
-Draco Highmore
There is much speculation as to what happened in the Roman lines, and the fact that very few survived, and those that did do not speak of it doesn't help things. It is believed by most that the Romans believed they could take the army without the Bretonian, Lucernian, and Alcase assistence and because of this they begin bombarding the Orc lines. This attack did heavy damage to the closest Orc forces, but it also alerted the whole sieging force that they were surrounded. Following their bombardment of the Orcish lines the Romans would move forward their entire force towards the Orcish lines of whom had been fully prepared by their bombardment, and thus the badly outnumbered Romans would be charged by the Orcs before they could turn the charge onto the Orcs.
The Gambit fails
Massacre
Aftermath
The Human armies were nearly completely destoyed in the aftermath of the battle, and the only survivors of the battle were many of the actual commanders, along with the most lucky of the men of the armies. Without relief the besieged within Lyons were doomed and the city would fall only a week and a half later, with the loss of its entire 120,000 population.
= Captured
= Fled the Field
