From the Sea of Death, the Gaels were Born

De Excidio Britanniae



Travel-times: The time an army takes to travel from Venta or Isca to Deva is around 4 days. The time cavalry would take could be as low as one day, if they had replacement mounts. Outside of the hilly land of Pagenses, Gwrtheyrn's kingdom is rather well served by roads. Travel by sea around Wales would take as long or longer than a military march (over six days if you only travel during daylight).

The Great Heathen Army (1,2)

The Gaels arrive in the north of Pagenses, and sack the city of Deva Victrix. They are joined by their newfound allies, the Deisi of Deceanglia. The Deisi have an army of 200 Britano-Gaelic Nobles, 2,000 Britano-Gaelic Peasants, and 6,000 Ceithern. Many of the Ceithern are young hot-heads from Eire, or expelled Deisi that have not yet found their fortune. Eager as much for land as for plunder, many take up residence in houses cleared by Loegaire, and the stripped city of Deva itself is seized for the Gaels. The Deisi make slaves of the men, and wives of the women. Those fortunate enough to already have good Gaelic wives might still take a few Britons as concubines. Little time is wasted in making themselves at home, and the presence of Gaelic women causes great alarm amongst the nobility.

Unexpectedly, the large-capacity Keels of the Gaels do not lie in waiting for plunder to come their way, and are ordered to patrol the southern waters and block Gwrtheyrns's access to the sea. The crews are a little concerned that they might miss out on raiding, but work on the assumption that they shall receive their share from the king in return for their service.

The High King Marches North (3,4)

Despite the time-constraints meaning that he is unable to call on any of his network of allies, Gwrtheyrn refuses to let the Gaels roam uncontested, and marches his army north through his kingdom's Roman roadnetwork.

Upon hearing of Gwrtheyrn's movements, Loegaire's plans are put into place. The bulk of the Deisi are ordered to head south, to trap Gwrtheyrn between two forces. They leave 2,000 Ceithern in their newly-founded settlements, and the rest embark on their journey. Not wanting to let a good journey go to waste, the Deisi make frequent rest-stops. They plunder their way along the western coast. Amongst others, they sack a monastic community near Meneva, they pillage the land of Ystrad Tywi, burning one village to the ground entirely (an act that will be remembered by the natives as punishment for their sins, a fate that the young women brought on their village by bathing naked in the river), and the ravaging of the estuary defended by the fort of Leucarum.

It goes without saying that this violent detour will cause some delay to their arrival in Venta.

The Sack of Caer Guricon (5)

The chief city of the High King, Caer Guricon, is plundered by Loegaire's heathen army. The great Church of the city is stripped of its goods, its priests are ritually massacred through beheadings. An effort is made to  hunt down any able-bodied men not already levied by Gwrtheyrn. They are beheaded and mutilated, with crosses carved onto their foreheads. The city's defences are torn down in places to prevent its use against them, but the rest of the town is left largely intact. Only valuable materials are stripped, and slaves taken. The raiders are under strict orders not to overly devastate a land that could one day be theirs.

Bringing the War Home (6)

It seems that by travelling over country, the cavalry of Gwrtheyrn's force has managed to outmanoeuvre the Great Heathen Army. The new settlements being built by the Deisi and their families, and those British homes now occupied by Gaels, find themselves under sudden attack. The Kerns are little match for the 1,500 Teulu and 500 nobles. Matched almost man-for-man with each British man astride a beast, there is little hope for the scattered and unsuspecting Deisi settlers. It seems that the cavalry were hoping to find the enemy ships, not realising that the Irish ships were largely carried on their backs, with the larger vessels sent elsewhere. Nevertheless, the Britons were as happy with the discovery of settlers as they would be with ships, and gladly cleansed their land of pagan filth - man, woman and child. A number of Kerns are able to escape, and find that they are not pursued with much energy. They reach Guricon the following day, and notify Loegaire of the cowardly attack.

Loegaire can send word to the Deisi in the south, hoping that they will arrive in time for a united army to head towards Deva, or he can head with his heathen army and take the fight to the Teulu. It is fairly certain that the peasantry are separated from the cavalry force, and so Loegaire could sacrifice the Deisi in the north for an easy victory against peasants. The sooner reinforcements arrive in the north, the greater the chances that the Deisi survive to settle the area.

The Battle of Brevonium (Brwydr yr Afon Tefeidiad)

The battle of Brevonium, a small hamlet where the Britons made their camp, is not very hotly contested. The commanders of the infantry line up the army for battle, hoping to buy time, believing that their wise king had some brilliant scheme to attack the enemy from the rear. The Gaels line up opposite, with their noble cavalry on the British left. The Gaelic Kerns assault the Britons with a hail of javelins and throwing spears. The Britons throw a little in return, but are far less successful. The bloodied Britons are then subjected to the charge of the Gaelic nobility, and their courage breaks. They flee, hoping to save themselves by fleeing into friendly territory. Most choose to head east towards Ariconium, believing that fleeing south will push them into more Gaels, and that they would not have enough time to flee west into the mountains. Run down by the nobles of Eire, or pierced on the spears of the swift Kerns, the Britons are unable to defend themselves after dropping most of their equipment. Slowed by crossing the river, the usual happens - rivers of blood, bridges of corpses, a spectacle worthy of the book of Revelations. The peasantry of Pagenses is shattered, with 3,500 of their number slaughtered or taken prisoner. Over half of those called on to fight for Gwrtheyrn have fallen. They will never return to their own fields.

The Battle of the Quern Stones

The looting Irishmen, passing the time as they wait for their brothers to arrive from the south, are disappointed by the lack of wealth in the area. It appears that much passes through, but little stops, and with Gaels in the area, it is little better than wilderness. A systematically torn-down Roman fort is discovered, that appears to the Gaels as some suspiciously rectangular earthworks and a small pile of stones in the middle. A disused quarry is found, apparently used as the source for British quern stones. One of the captives says that it is rumoured that the stones give their name to the village, and that the village once was more prosperous. The total pickings from Brevonium amount to little more than the crops planted by the local families, some tatty old pots, much repaired, and a scarlet tunic covered in patches. It seems that even the local nobility aren't particularly prosperous. Scouts report more prosperous settlements away from the village, and say that they have even spotted an important-looking basilica, a sure sign of a Church with valuable boxes full of worthless bones. It is remarkable to many of the pagans that the Christians seem to value rotten chunks of wood, or a single finger-bone, more than the jewel-studded gilded cases they store them in. Perhaps they should try trading with the natives, since they are surely mad enough to trade common knucklebone for their rarest gemstones.

The host of Aed mac Domnall and his Deisi arrives on time, and a few fights break out as the host of Loegaire clamours for a share of the Deisi loot. Order is restored, but the issue remains in the minds of the warriors. 'Maqi Domnalli' as his British followers call him, is scorned by many for sharing loot with his foreign subjects but not his freeborn Eirean brethren.

The Gaelic force are relatively scattered when the Britons attack. They quickly gather together to defend against the Britons. The British cavalry had tried to disperse in order to ambush the Gaels when they rushed to the aid of their brothers in the north. They did not count on the cold calculation of Loegaire, and instead found themselves uncontested in their slaughter, before receiving messages of a parallel slaughter at Brevonium. The Gaels line up and try to skirmish, but the Britons continually try to flank them. A force of five hundred Gaelic nobles is trapped in combat with the British cavalry as the infantry circle to face them. The Gaelic ranks descend into chaos, and begin to break as they are outmanoeuvred by the British Teulu. The Teulu can't believe their luck when they successfully cattle the Gaels against the sheer cliff face of an ancient quarry. They charge in to enjoy a slaughter.

Before long the Britons find that fortune played little part in the course of events. While many Gaels end up impaled on spear and sword, the enemy seems to part against their charges with surprising coordination. The Britons soon find themselves trapped in the quarry themselves. To make matters worse, the sight of 4,000 Kerns now lined the top of the cliff-face. Knowing that they had only defeated a part of the enemy force, it seems that the Gaels had taken time to scout their surroundings, and lay a trap. The Gaels throw huge stones, spears, and less savoury projectiles down at the Britons. A number of Gaels fall as collateral damage, of course, but that does not detract from the pleasure of pissing off a cliff down onto your terrified enemy. Presented with no prospect of escape, the valiant cavalry are forced to fight to the death, and to jump down to join the fray. Their armour and training makes them more than a match Briton-on-Gael, but trapped and outnumbered in a quarry they have no hope. The entire roster of the best men of Pagenses, the Uchelwyr, together with the vast personal retinue of Gwrtheyrn, is massacred in the quarry. Crushed under a quern stone, as the future saying would go.

500 Gaelic cavalry are slaughtered in the early stages, and 1,000 die in the planned rout. A further 4,000 die under their own stones, or killed during the fierce resistance presented by the Teulu and British Nobles. 1,500 Teulu die. 500 Romano-British Nobles die.

All are killed, save a few, who have the misfortune of becoming slaves to the Irish. With the amount of valuable loot and armour taken, the surviving Irish nobles can now kit themselves out in mail and helms, and take their pick from among the fine swords of the Britons.

The lord of Pagenses can no longer afford any resistance to the raiders, though any who stay to settle and conquer will be opposed by any mercenaries, allies and survivors Gwrtheyrn can muster. Gwrtheyrn is still alive, not being in battle in person, but will have to contend with accusations that he is being punished by god for his heresy.

'Their King is not here,' announced a blood-soaked Loigaire, who had recently been reunited with his loyal druid Malgarb.

'No, my King, but it will be many seasons before he can muster an army large enough to land on the fair shores or Eire. It is clear that the Gods are on our side. We can only suppose that, should the Briton heaven exist, our dead shall raid it alongside the de Denann for all eternity.'

'Leave the bodies to rot, get the men to start loading the loot. I shall bid my farewell to the young mac Domnall, then we shall make for home.' Loigaire placed his hand on Malgarb's shoulder, and looked him in the eyes. 'You did good work here.'