Battle of House Burke

The Battle of House Burke was a conflict that occured in the year 403AB between the forces of Defel, and the forces of the Whisperers (House Burke), during the time of the War of the Whisperers. The conflict ended with major losses on each side.

Prelude
In 398AB Defel joined in on the Whisperer purge, also entering in on how it was eventually named 'War of the Whisperers'. House Burke was aware of the potential to be attacked and had previously strengthened their walls and brought many of the followers of the nation close to them, in order to keep them under their protective wing.

In 401AB both the Whisperers and Defel began raising an army and training troops.

In 402AB small conflicts occured between both forces, House Burke began getting reinforcements and support from houses in neutral states.

In 403AB Defel's forces intended to set siege to House Burke's fortress, though was met in the open field.

Day 1
Day 1 saw the setting up of both sides fortifications, giving House Burke the advantage as they had better knowledge of the area and time to set up better defences after being forewarned of the potential siege.

Defel, whom was led by Sir Ana Tula and King Jame Dolan waited the first day to rest and prepare, unlike the Battle of Edgar in which the eager king charged immediately.

Whisperers: 40,000 Soldiers. Under Twop Burke.

Defel: 50,000 Soldiers. Under King Jame Dolan and Sir Ana Tula.

Day 2
Small conflicts arose from the two armies, Defel originally got the better of them during the early morning, using their mounted knights to their advantage. Though when faced with proper Whisperers they began losing quickly. In the end both sides returned to their fortifications and camps with no real victor of the day.

Whisperers: 78 Casualties. 30 Wounded.

Defel: 40 Casualties. 120 Wounded.

Day 3
Day 3 saw another day of small conflicts as each side attempted to get an advantage on the next. The leader of house Burke, Twop, found some success with a small detachments charge on the left flank. But was forced to fall back when the threat of a cavalry charge came from forces repositioned from Defel's reserves.

House Burke was seen as the victor of this day.

Whisperers: 238 Casualties. 80 Wounded.

Defel: 450 Casualties. 130 Wounded.

Day 4
Day 4 saw no conflcit from either side, none willing to attack during the thick fog which had crept up. Attempts were made to dispel it incase of a surprise attack, though none was found.

No casualties.

Day 5
Day 5 saw the first major attack from Defel. With pressure from the population reaching the ears of the King, he ordered for a frontal attack. House Burke was intiatially surprised with the bravery of their enemy, and took the intial loss from a large Cavalry charge. Though they were quickly able to take control of the situation and launch a counter attack against the Defel lines.

The fighting lasted the entire day, seeing the death of many nobles whom had ridden in and charged. Though the day was seen as a slight victory for Defel whom wore down the limited Whisperer army.

Whisperers: 3,044 Casualties. 1,309 Wounded.

Defel: 2,965 Casualties. 1,780 Wounded.

Day 6
Day 6 saw another major day of fighting. Both sides fought from morning to eve where they retreated. No major tactics or strategems were played. Though the Whisperers were able to break through a small amount due to the disorganisation that occured from the death of nobles.

Whisperers: 2,820 Casualties. 1,010 Wounded. Leaving around 31,910 fighting soldiers.

Defel: 3,110 Casualties. 1,243 Wounded. Leaving around 40,162 fighting soldiers.

Day 7
Day 7 saw Defel try and end the fight there and then. Seeing no reason to allow House Burke enough time to think of a proper strategy, they sent the bulk of their force to attack. Fortunately for the Whisperers, Twop and his advisors had expected this. The battle was fought long and hard from both sides, intially with House Burke feignting surprise to Defel's large commitment. Though what actually occured was a bulk of the Whisperer forces attacked Defel's right flank and overrun them in a surprise charge. With a routing right flank, Defel broke into a scrambeled route that left a bulk of their front forces surrounded and slaughtered.

The day was seen a major defeat to Defel.

Whisperers: 4,330 Casualties. 2,406 Wounded.

Defel: 9,827 Casualties. 4,548 Wounded.

Day 8
Losing half the soldiers he had brought, King Jame sent 5,000 of his soldiers to cover their retreat. Though, this was under the guise intially that he would take the rest of the forces to flank. Sir Ana Tula was meant to lead the 10,000 troops, and was expected to slip away during the chaos.

Nonetheless, the lie worked and the 5,000 soldiers went and faced the brunt of the Whisperer army in hopes that their reinforcements and tactics would work lead to the final defeat of House Burke. They never came. House Burke's scouts saw the retreating Defel soldiers and subsequently chased after them with small detachments, along with sending a larger one to completely surround the 5,000 left behind. Sir Ana was found and killed during the battle, causing his men to frenzy a small amount before seeing there was no reinforcements and were killed.

King Jame and the majority of his forces felt the small raids of House Burke but the bulk of his force was unaffected, making a successful retreat back to the Capital.

Whisperers: 2,643 Casualties. 3,009 Wounded.

Defel: 5,069 Casualties. 120 Wounded.

Aftermath
The populace of Defel saw the defeat as embarassing, and when reports came out on what King Jame did it caused general riots, especially among the families whom lost their sons and daughters. By the end of the year the nation had stabilized, though King Jame was assassinated the following year. It is assumed that one of the noble houses who lost their original heir had caused this.

House Burke felt a heavy toll with the deaths, though buried the remaining bodies of Defel respectfully, even allowing families to come collect their dead. The Whisperers whom were killed were burnt during the storm that occured on Day 9.

Total Casualties and Wounded (Combined)

Whisperers: 20,478

Defel: 29,411