Godherja Encyclopedia

Gayhan Campaign (concept)

The Gayhan Campaign was a proto-Öltenic invasion of Kathun-Kai taking place during the Öltenic-Kathuni Wars thirty years prior to the Khayar Seldnii Darn which largely ended them. The Campaign itself started as little more than a minor raid by the steppe warlord Oarachad, who rode east with less than a thousand horsemen.

Despite a small start, utter failure among the Kathuni forces in the western state of Cheyyungjei saw the raiding horde balloon in size and allowed them to easily punch through to the richest and historically more secure heartlands of Kathun-Kai. After the death of Governor Mai Wan of the state of Iayan, Kathuni militia forces collapsed and the Öltenis conquered the entirety of the states that sat on the Gayhan Road, the empire's main trade-route.

Emperor Xu Yaon-Xu Wu, whom had been too afeared of the increasingly infamous Oarachad, was finally stirred to action when he realized he was able to spot the camping Öltenic horde from his capital in Lóen Chaéon. This was a grievous and humiliating insult to the Emperor, Kathuni tradition saying only those pure of spirit and blood who properly supplicated before the Emperor's representatives could even view the beautiful and ancient city. Risking a coup due to his humiliation, Emperor Xu Yaon ordered his First, Second, Third and Fifth personal Banners to strike against Oarachad, the first time he had risked using his personal forces. The following battle would see Oarachad slain and his horde shattered, but greatly destabilize the Kathun-Kai political scene and was a major cause of the Qiniānxà Pànulàn and the eventual Khayar Seldnii Darn.

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