Attempting to explain Neretzes Folly.

If I got stuff wrong please explain it to me.

Neretzes folly is a quest you receive during the campaign, requiring you to ask lords about the Battle and such, I’m simply trying to piece together the lore and explain it from a battlefield view rather then a giant abomination of thoughts and small answers.

Basically, Neretzes Folly, as it’s called. Was an absolute nightmare for the calradian empire. It saw the overall collapse into civil war and possibly the worst battle ever fought in the continents history. As one could describe it as a massacre or a shit-show.

The battle involved two sides. Firstly we have the Empire, Khuzaits and then the Aserai. Secondly we have the Sturgians, the Battanians, and the Vlandians.

Now for the battle itself, From what we can guess without diving in too much, we can piece together that firstly-

It was a significant battle-

It resulted in the complete fracture of the Calradian Empire-

It resulted in A LOT, of dead people. (I mean a lot of them too)-

Now for the battle itself, from what we gather from the lords who were ACTUALLY at the battle. I’ll firstly take Pentons version of the battle, as I find that it offers the most details about the battle itself.

Penton was the commander of the Cavalry. And had cut down scores of Vlandians troops along with supposed Khuzait Mercenaries at his side. Then he describes having trouble with the Vlandians knights, slowing the advance of their cavalry

Then came the part that I think caused the imperial defeat, Penton describes Neretzes sending his infantry up the hill at the fortified Battanian / Sturgian defences, hoping to take then before they could be reinforced. However, he possibly failed to realize the force guarding the fortifications was much bigger than he thought, causing the main body of infantry to be massacred in the resulting assault. It’s likely that the assault resulted in the defeat, but we could also potentially see that it was a equally massacre, with the Vlandians Sharpshooters and Cavalry taking a hit, along with the troops sent to take the fortifications, as well as the troops holding the fortifications. There’s also a possibility that the reason why the massacre of imperial troops happened was because of The emperor himself being beheaded by a Sturgian axeman as he led his soldiers, another thing I’ll use to back this claim is how the Roman legionnaires battles went. As the Empire is based of them from what I know. The casualties only began to skyrocket in those battles when the retreat happened, in which terrified troops would flee, some dropping their weapons while others taking of their armor to become faster, in which the other side would run them down. Although it’s likely this would’ve been a slow process due to the lack of cavalry. Most being slaughtered by Penton and the Khuzaits. Then you’re probably wondering.. “Wait, why didn’t the cavalry come and attack the sturgians as they chased the infantry?” Well, my theory suggests that the death/wounding of most of their commanders, along with high casualties rates in short time, affected their morale, resulting in the retreat. As Mesui (don’t get at me if I pronounced the name wrong) Her husband was killed, probably laying in a pile of dead Vlandian knights. Vlandian knights may have outnumbered the imperial cavalry, although lacking in experience, they may have eventually had enough to either kill or wound most of the leadership, or they were lucky enough to have several opportunities to kill off the enemy leadership.

Penton also claims that the only reason they lost was because of the Vlandians breaking their oaths. However. It’s fair to assume it was for several other reasons.

From what I gather, the Empire had a major Cavalry boost, in numbers or experience, maybe both. Which allowed them to easily take down the Vlandians sharpshooters and probably beat the Vlandians knights badly, but not be able to entirely wipe them out.

Overall, it was a major defeat for the empire, involving tactical, and strategical points, as well as a tad bit of luck.

(REMINDER THAT THIS PROBABLY HAS A FEW ERRORS, I’M ATTEMPTING TO EXPLAIN IT.)

submitted by /u/Worried_Fun_1580
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