The Selonian Wars

The Selonian Wars, also known as the Wars of the Rivers were a series of conflicts fought in the years 1018-1022, between the Kingdom of Prasia and two alliances of different eastern tribes; the Lubascalvian alliance and the Bartian alliance. The war started arguably when King Tautas III of Prasia allowed armed emissaries who had crossed the Tausall earlier, to proceed further north. The emissaries sacked many Selonian communities while trying to get to the city of Vymyr, and eventually faced resistance. Having harassed the marching believers during the winter already, the Selonians finally mustered an ambush attack on the host when it was crossing the river Nemuna, on the spring of 1006. Bolstered by the alliance of Lubavians and Scalvians, the emissaries were routed and retreated to the Tausall. The Lubascalvian alliance followed to the river and sacked Prasian colonies by the river in vengeance. Once King Tautas heard of this, he gathered an army to repel the northern invaders.

When King Tautas' army was raised by the final days of spring and had gathered at Tyring, they marched north and crossed the Tausall. Tautas ordered the building of a fortress where they had landed, which upon completion was named Tautaborg. Meanwhile the heathen alliance was still raiding the upper river, but was quickly amassing under the warrior Skalvas, warlord and forefather of the Scalvians, at Lake Selas. While the King of Prasia led a host along the coast, he ordered his bannerman Waldas Mastimas to lead a host north-east and establish an outpost there, so an attack sweeping over the heathen realm could be launched.

Tautas reached the mouth of the Nemuna, pillaging heathen villages on the way and securing the area, but Waldas Mastimas came to blows with Skalvas' army. Having learned the heathen's position by the Lake Selas, Waldas launched a surprise attack at first light. The Prasians descended towards the beach from hills, while archers had an excellent vantage point over the heathens. Skalvas, seeing his unfavorable position, immediately called a retreat over the lake to the opposite shore, where they could go hide on the hills. Despite heavy casualties, the Lubascalvian alliance managed to take many of their troops and goods stolen from the Tausall to the hills, where they had established reinforced positions.

Mastimas regrouped on the eastern shore of Selas to prepare to capture the Lubascalvian hillforts one by one. The attack was launched in the middle of summer, when the land was still dry and favourable to traverse. Waldas' host was subject to several ambushes, skirmishes and was often low on supplies, and autumn was coming. By the end of the summer they had captured two heathen strongholds, but lost more than three thousand men in their attempts. Waldas decided to brace for winter in these strongholds, though they were not at all large enough to house the entirety of the hosts. Though not authorised to do so, many Prasian soldiers left the strongholds and found local farms and villages which they took for their own. Some of them still returned to the strongholds when their commander called, but many went rogue and deserted, becoming heavily armed bandits. King Tautas, on the other hand, commanded a high morale army along the river Nemuna, taking bounty far and wide and placing small garrisons in local hillforts to collect taxes for the Prasian crown. By the end of the summer he was at Fahaken Isle, and he crossed the river there to take the island and use it as a defensive position against the heathens. However, a smaller band of Scalvians had had the same idea, and the much larger Prasian host clashed with them on the isle. The Scalvians were taken prisoner, and Tautas claimed the isle and all the lands south of where he had dwelt.