Overview
The Siege of Omberion is the 5368 AX Blackcrag campaign in which Garrik's Kaldaryn-led coalition advances on Omberion, the capital of Blackcrag, after Eremion is defeated at Maraveth.
After Garrik defeats Eremion at Maraveth, Garrik advances into Blackcrag itself, Raphael's allies join the capital defense, Omberion suffers heavy damage, and Aurion nearly exhausts his spiral shard.
Description
The Siege of Omberion follows the collapse of Eremion's position around Maraveth. Garrik pushes north through Blackcrag's old defenses, breaks through the wall near Shroudvale with Aurion's shard-powered blast, and drives through fortified Blackcrag cities to Omberion.
Omberion's defense uses layered luminous blue barriers around basalt towers, stormglass structures, wide streets, shielded skyships, and strong mages. Garrik establishes a siege camp near the capital, relies on supply lines stretching back toward Laizhou and Hengzhou, and gathers up to a thousand of his strongest mages for the immediate assault on Omberion.
Garrik initially chooses a cautious siege of Omberion. Long-range mages bombard Omberion's shields, Khoradyn probes underground, Astheron coordinates cosmic-mage barriers, and Splin remains on defense. Garrik expects Omberion's defenders to use traps, hidden skyships, or a flank attack, especially because Eremion's propaganda makes Blackcrag's people hostile to Garrik and ready to resist occupation.
Omberion's defenders include Blackcrag forces, Eliona, Azarion, Ralvon's Rahmavir forces, resources, and modified skyships. Eliona and Azarion move toward Brunholl before the Siege of Omberion. Kjeldan takes command of Omberion's defense, and activity near the black tower redirects Soria, Eliona, and Azarion toward Maraveth.
When Garrik's assault on Omberion begins, Zhang and Khoradyn use lava from the nearby volcano as a diversion against the northwestern side of Omberion. Rhalyn leads the vanguard. Halgarr and the runic and air mages move to counter skyships. The city's shields eventually break, allowing Garrik's troops to enter the streets. The streets contain armed defenders ready to resist Garrik's troops. Civilians are absent from the streets.
Skyships near the royal palace deploy silver-armored troops and then dive toward Garrik's army and Omberion itself. Garrik orders a retreat as the ships become a mass-detonation trap. Aurion stays with Garrik and raises enormous starfield barriers with the spiral shard. Garrik shields, heals, and reshapes the city streets into defensive earthworks. The detonations destroy half of Omberion, kill many of Garrik's troops, topple structures, and drain both Garrik and Aurion.
Garrik withdraws carrying Aurion after the worst explosions pass. He links the trap to Rahmavir because of the silver armor, the planned skyship detonation, unfamiliar tactics, and later information from the returned Order. An essence-undetectable operator directs the skyship dive with origin-like spellwork. The Siege of Omberion fails as a capture attempt and leaves Garrik stalled against Raphael around Cyndarel.
History & Origins
The Siege of Omberion grows out of the Maraveth War and begins in 5368 AX. Once Eremion is defeated and Blackcrag loses its strongest battlefield asset, Garrik advances into Blackcrag and targets Omberion. He is cautious because the people remain loyal to Eremion and Raphael's side is already moving against Garrik's Blackcrag advance.
Raphael's side anticipates the Siege of Omberion. Before Garrik assaults Omberion, Eliona and Azarion position themselves near Blackcrag, Ralvon moves Rahmavir forces and weapons toward the region, and Kjeldan accepts responsibility for Omberion's defense. The same period also overlaps with Brynor and Lysander's recovery of the ancient Order from the Malverand vault, which draws Soria, Eliona, and Azarion away from Omberion toward Maraveth.
The initial siege of Omberion is deliberately slow. Garrik avoids exhausting himself or Aurion before the city commits its full defense. His mages test Omberion's shields with meteors, lightning storms, and other long-range pressure. Once the barriers crack, the coalition uses a volcanic-lava diversion and a frontal push into the city.
The Siege of Omberion fails to become a clean capture. Omberion's defenders sacrifice or detonate skyships inside the city, forcing Garrik to retreat and leaving the battlefield in ruins. Garrik concludes that he needs answers from the ancient Order before attempting another capture of Omberion.