Conflict of Orders

Consul Furius Pavo has landed in Greece

Lining up opposite eachother that day was the best the Roman and Spartan worlds had to offer. The Spartans it should be noted, are a shell of their former selves. Sparta never recovered its strength after the humiliating loss to Thebes nearly two hundred years ago, and now exists as a mere mercenary state.

The Roman forces and their Greek allies outnumbered the Spartans, although not as much as had been foretold. Gathering his forces from his garrisons, Nabis sought to meet the Romans on even terms. While he failed to do so, he nevertheless gathered an impressive amount of soldiers. The lesson, hopefully that the Romans take to heart, is that you can never quite know how many troops your enemies will gather, no matter how much you pray at the shrine of Mars. The best way to devise this information remains good old fashioned investigation.

Shortly after the two masses crashed into eachother, the battle began to clearly shift in the Roman favor. Roman command, control, and morale was higher. The Greek allies by this point hated Sparta, and regarded it as a dire enemy to be ejected from power.

By noontime, the morale of the mercenary contingents employed by Nabis began to waver, leaving just the Citizen Soldiers in good spirits. The cascading wave of panic overwhelmed all, however, when the Mercenary troops began withdrawing out of the battle and refusing to commit back to the line. Before early afternoon, those of the Spartan army who were not locked in battle had begun to retreat back behind the Spartan walls. The battle was effectively over.

There was a surprise, however. Instead of sieging out Sparta, the Roman army left the field. The Roman commander had promised his allies that he would liberate Gythium as soon as he could. He stuck to his word and bypassed Sparta to march for Gythium. Word has yet to be heard from Gythium.

Word has leaked out of Greece - The Consul has won a great victory. More details are scant.