Battle of Trantae

The Battle of Trantae is a well‑known engagement on the Plains of Thrania near the town of Trantae. It is commonly dated to Negative 1472. Accounts describe a decisive defeat of Bazian legions under General Oxas after the Sarthian horse‑archers executed a staged retreat that drew the Bazian line into a pincer.

Context and first mention

The battle is invoked during plans for a botanical re‑enactment in a concent meadow, where the riverbank is used to stand in for the River Chontus. Participants consult histories and stake out key sites, including the spot where Oxas—pierced by eight arrows—fell on his sword.

Prelude

• In the cold winter preceding the campaign (Negative 1473), steppe forces led by the Sarthian clan crossed the frozen River Chontus and established bridgeheads on the Thranian bank.
• By the start of the campaigning season, three Sarthian armies were positioned to break out into the fertile Plains of Thrania, the breadbasket of the Bazian Empire.
• General Oxas seized power in a military coup, deposing the Bazian Imperator, and marched out vowing to drive the invaders back into the river.

Course of the battle

• After weeks of maneuver near Trantae, the Sarthians staged a false retreat.
• Oxas committed his legions in pursuit and was enveloped by a pincer movement.
• In the fighting, Oxas was struck by multiple arrows and, according to tradition, fell on his sword.

Aftermath and legacy

• Within months of the defeat, the imperial city of Baz was set ablaze, remembered as the sack and burning of its famed libraries.
• The engagement is treated as a cautionary example of steppe cavalry tactics (feigned retreat leading to encirclement) overwhelming heavy infantry on open ground.
• It remains a touchstone in historical teaching and even informal re‑creations that model its dynamics using advancing and entrenched growth along a river margin.

Location and forces (as described in sources)

• Location: Near Trantae on the Plains of Thrania, south of the River Chontus.
• Attackers: Sarthian clan contingents (horse‑archers), supported by allied forces.
• Defenders: Bazian imperial legions under General Oxas.

Current status: A historical event frequently cited in discussions of imperial decline and military doctrine; no active conflict endures at the site in the present narrative.