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« on: August 14, 2013, 05:36:01 AM »
I am penning this communication from my headquarters in Memphis. I received several invitations to reside in the palace, from the generals Dizazelmis and Satres, but I have no desire to get involved in their squabbling, so I set my base of operations in house adjacent to the barracks, where I could get a better feel for the mood of the troops. The owner seemed likely to object, until I took him aside and politely explained that Thracians like to use dissenters and malcontents as ammunition for their artillery. I have been reviewing the military situation, and it seems grim indeed. I shall give a brief summary, which will hopefully give you all a decent understanding of the less then delightful mess we find ourselves in.
The city of Memphis finds herself besieged. Outside of her walls is a significant force, consisting of (according to our patchy intelligence) at least 1100 legionnaires, around 300 auxilia of various sorts, roughly 200 cavalry, and a 300 strong force of elite Praetorians. As far as I know, all these troops are well trained, and supplied with fine weapons. In contrast, within Memphis, we have a newly levied, untrained, and poorly equipped force of roughly 400 pikemen and 500 archers.
To the south, outside of Thebes, we have besieged Thebes, with an army of approximately 600 pikemen, 300 peltasts, and a smallish rabble of barbarians with falxes. Nasty, uncivilized weapons, falxes. Within Thebes is no more then a skeleton force. Outside, and to our rear, is a mercenary band of around 800 Libyan skirmishers, some hoplites, and a few worrying elephants, led by Aulus Varus, a Roman general, of whom we know little. Behind him, is a force equal to his own, although we know nothing of the composition, as of yet. Victory is a very real possibility there, if the Thracian commander in the area can defeat them individually.
Alexandria has a decent force of roughly 700 pikemen, 300 peltasts and archers, and another rabble of unlettered barbarians, with uncouth weapons, and it seems to be safe from the Romans, for the time being at least.
My knowledge of the situation to the east of Egypt is rather less exact, as it has been sometime since any of our couriers made it past the Roman lines.
From what we know, it seems that there is a ceasefire with Pontus, although they refuse to move the considerable armies they have gathered on our border. The Egyptian Pharaoh is marching across the desert outside of Bostra, waiting for an opening, with a large army. However, all those cities have large, well-trained armies, and there seems to be no weak spot for him to exploit as of now.
So the question is, what strategy should I attempt?
Egypt proper is beleaguered, and unlikely to last long without assistance.
The eastern provinces can supply that assistance, but at the risk of losing them to the waiting forces of Pontus and Egypt.
I am open to suggestions as to what my priorities should be. No matter what I choose to protect, there will be some losses. It is merely a matter of damage control for now.
Sincerely,
Lord Blaiddmor, Temporary Marshall of the Imperial Thracian Army, Peer of the Exilian Council For The Strategic Interference In
The Affairs Of Random Nations In Alternate Universes
P.S. I do hope my message arrives in a reasonable amount of time. The trip here really was horrendous. One of our men attempted to explain to me how it works, but he was a native, and there were linguistic issues. He kept repeating the word 'wormhole', and pointing at the tunnel we came through. If one of you could pop down to the Citizen's Library, and look it up in a Thracian dictionary, I would be much obliged.
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I am a pretty huge fan of both of yalls works, and hope I can learn a lot from hanging around here. And yep, I fully intend to stick my nose in just about everywhere.