Battle of Ayrith

The Battle of Ayrith was the first large-scale engagement of the Navinian Rebellion, fought between the rebel Navinian Coalition and the royal armies of King Geoff III. It took place on 13 June 6A 723 in the Iadrian Duchy of the Autumnvale, on an open plain near the city of Ayrith. The combined eastern army of Duke Richard Navine, having expelled and purged most of the Royalist forces in the Eastern Duchies, was marching on the Duchy of Vremas prior to the battle. The rebel force’s advance was blocked by two Royal Legions and a levied ducal host led by Duke Jaymes Cobalst of Vremas.

Background
The Navinian strategy following the Declaration of Aedrisos relied on the rapid expulsion of Loyalist forces from Eastern Iadria directly followed by a forceful westward push. Through this immediate offensive, the leaders of the Coalition sought to catch the Arvaits off-guard and destabilize the Duchy of Vremas, the primary Loyalist food source following the defection of the Autumnvale. The primary obstacles to the Coalition's plans were the presence of two Loyalist Royal Legions within the western Autumnvale, which were being actively reinforced by levied troops from Vremas while the rebel army assembled. Duke Richard made the bold decision to advance on the large Arvait host before his own army could fully unite, leaving the rebels outnumbered by over three thousand men. The sudden and quick advance of the Navinians through the Autumnvale took the Loyalists, now commanded by Duke Jaymes Cobalst of Vremas, by surprise. Richard's host arrived at the Ayrith Fields, where Cobalst was assembling his troops, at dusk on June 12th.