Background: By the time of the siege, the Bastion-city of Sadar had been a full-fledged vassal within the jurisdiction of the Hesperian Macrofiefdom for over 200 years, having already developed significant ambitions for an independent duchy. Baron Felab de Mad, through a series of successful territorial expansions, had achieved an unprecedented reputation among the viceroyalty and, according to unconfirmed rumors, had every chance of becoming close to the Council of Args. The valor and skill of his command staff were a textbook example of military and political success. This makes the subsequent events, which destabilized the situation in the entire cluster of fiefdoms, all the more tragic. Sadar was located on the distant border with the Entrotenebrian zone—the Scab of Dawn—precisely between the Gotthad and Davrian macrofiefdoms. Its central objective was to contain the creatures of the twilight, which justified significant investments of budgets and effort into multiple security perimeters, the combat training of the feudal army, and a sprawling network of reality stabilizers. Before the Siege, Sadar had approximately three brigades of its own garrison, a battalion of the combined fighter force, five fully equipped Valor spats on duty, and at least a hundred Freeblades. The situation appeared calm, confirmed by the ease of expansion fortification campaigns, the active influx of manpower, and the growing interest of the merchant princes. The Sadar Bastion, which had withstood two "Tides" in its history, was repaired, reinforced, and modernized, taking into account past defense experience. The key points of defense were five forts: Revon, Preven, Agnali, Garaon, and Tilkas. Siege Progress: It all began in September with a sharp shift in the boundaries of the Entrotenebria zone, enveloping the bastion-city in a tight semicircle. Overnight, the nearly kilometer-long buffer zone shrank to a hundred meters toward the forward positions of the outlying outposts, but no further anomalous biological activity followed. The Bureau of Abelers was unable to determine the cause for nearly a month, until the cause finally revealed itself. A deep soil scan revealed geodetic activity from all directions along the border of the Dawn Scab, indicating the impending infiltration of multiple swarms of creatures into the fiefdom's territory. Simultaneously, transport links with neighboring territories and long-range communications were cut off. Emergency encrypted messages were sent in advance to the entire Union of Free States, and even to the Kulesh Principality of Alatyr, as a precaution, but the arrival of reinforcements encountered fierce resistance, failing to break through to the defenders of Sadar. The reinforcements became bogged down in creeping counterattacks against highly organized swarms of twilight creatures, exacerbated by the need to wear down the enemy. However, when echomorph infectors penetrated the administrative boundaries and began cultivating logomioma nests, Sadar's batteries launched a coordinated strike, destroying the creatures' birthing grounds. Bold Valor sorties also harassed the besiegers, forcing the Requiarch of the Tide to reveal himself and commit his main forces to the battle. The identified hostile force was codenamed "Kanu-I." In October, heavy bombardment of the Sadar Bastion began. Placental clods containing mayfly combat creatures immured within destroyed the celliath's location center, which had been providing operational intelligence. It's worth noting that from this point on, the targeted elimination of the routing creature became impossibly difficult. All five Knight Spata were lost due to a lack of information on the Requiarch's location, falling into a trap. The underground war produced even more disastrous results. In November, the burrowing macrobeasts collapsed Fort Agnali, and the following lesser specimens tore apart the disoriented garrison. This signaled a change in tactics. The monsters made two attempts to invade the extensive network of central underground communications, but both were repelled by assault units. After three more failed attempts at ground invasion, Echo continued to exploit their success by expanding and increasing the number of underground tunnels. This time, the northeastern wall of the bastion gave way, collapsing and giving the creatures a direct route into the middle ring. Within 24 hours, two more forts—Previn and Garaon—fell. Meanwhile, the noospheric stabilization circuit, overloaded by proximity to the Entrotenebria, malfunctioned, leading to a cascading shutdown of the calm stations and, in turn, rendering the lion's share of the combat units remaining in the outer and middle rings of the bastion-city incapable of combat. It's probably unnecessary to explain the horrific role this coincidence played in the final outcome. On December 20, siege macro-creatures breached the inner perimeter, and by December 30, Sadar's central ark was lost to the self-detonation of the remaining defenders barricaded within. After six months of heavy fighting, reinforcements from the combined fighter force of the hyperfeuds managed to recapture some of the damaged self-written kas.