Battle of Pelkosnjarga

Background
The Hiidet, or the equivalent of youkai in Northeastern Europe, had long resented the presence of shamans and sorcerers among their ranks, who had protected humans from being eaten or tricked when traversing through the vast, snowy taiga of Lapland. Their anger had welled up for nearly one thousand years, and as an increasing number of humans became learned in the ways of magic, the Hiidet felt as if they were being oppressed. Indeed, many of them that were passive were becoming increasingly feared by humans. Louhi, a great Hiisi sorceress who led Lapland at the time, realized that the numbers of the older and more powerful sorcerers was oddly dwindling as the numbers of younger and less-learned magicians increased. The previous individuals that had trod upon the soil of Lapland/Pohjola nearly one thousand years before had not been seen by her eyes in quite a while, so this was a good time to release the reckoning of a thousand years upon the people of the South for their actions of the past.

Louhi gathered together as many Hiidet she could find that either already held resentment against humans or could be easily swayed to do so, and drew up a great plan of attack, dubbing their forces the "Hiiden Collective". They would start by riling up and sending into confusion the townsfolk all over Finland by a string of seemingly-unrelated attacks, all the while gathering their forces from Karelia, the northern Gulf of Bothnia, Estonia, and even Jämtland in the West. This multi-pronged force would demand subjugation from all of the humans who they met, or else they would simply let loose the Hiidet into all of the forests, free to eat whoever they desired. The Hiidet had begun their great push at the beginning of the 11th century AD, initially turning some of the populace of Southern Finland against each other due to unexplained disappearances of townsfolk. Confused and unaware of what was happening, the townsfolk were highly disorganized, and when hordes of Hiisi met them, there was no way that they could form a conglomeration or draw up battle tactics. Worse yet, Nišergurǧe, the age-old wizard who defeated a wicked adversary several thousand years ago, had joined the Hiiden Collective in a leading position. Nišergurǧe felt a duty not to the humans of the land, but to his kindred Hiidet.

The Hiiden Collective was able to secure an increased amount of control in Finland for a few years - that is, until the god of protection, inspiration, and the forge returned to the Baltic. Also, in the tumult of the situation, small amounts of people in Tartu had managed to gather together, and called for help from their neighbors to the South - the Baltic peoples. The Balts, especially those of the North, had bred some wickedly efficient generals in their time, and were known for their prowess as mercenary defenders. Luck would have it that Dzintars Lielais, a highly-intelligent and powerful Latvian general, stepped up to the task. Nearly one thousand years before, Dzintars was known as "Kurbads", one of the four great sorcerers of the South Baltic. With the return of Garmē Āutrās to the Baltic, Heaven's finest Baltic javelin-infantry would be put in the hands of Dzintars - such was one of the greatest combinations of troops and generals ever purported. To the more westerly areas, the old giant of the land named Antero Vipunen agreed to assist this new collection of human resistance, due to the fact that Hiisi were intruding far too often upon his territory and destroying the land in their wake. Thus, Antero gathered his brood of magical spearmen from the western coast of Finland, demanding all unruly Hiisi out of the premises. Antero and his forces easily ousted the weak Hiisi that had stumbled into his own territory, though far more were to come from across the sea in Sweden. A great biskupin hewn from spiked wooden poles was built along miles of Finnish coastline, and given heavy enchantments by Antero in order to prepare his army for whatever adversary awaited them to the west. Along with this, working alongside all of his human forces, the shaman-giant constructed a barrier of nature stronger than he had ever made before, multi-layered and denser than the greatest forest of the world. Such a thing was expected to hold off advances from Sweden, at least for a time.

Prelude
As Antero's forces began their long and winding concourse up the Kemijoki River, long range reconnaissance units from Dzintars' battalion had found out that the Collective was sending a large force from the Kola Peninsula to join with an apparent stronghold on the peak of Pyhätunturi. However, the force from the Kola Peninsula was still somewhat far away, and even at the pace that it was perceived to have been traveling, the Ihminen army in Kemijärvi could easily reach the peak before they did. This was also an excellent opportunity to draw up battle tactics, which the heavily disciplined troops of Dzintars could key onto as if it was second nature to them. Even though Garme's force in Kuusamo had not joined up with that of Dzintars just yet, the army at Kemijärvi could never have found a better opportunity to ambush their adversaries, no matter how much larger the opposing army was in size. Under the devious veil of the magic of Dzintars, the celestial javeliniers crept their way north, spreading themselves out among the forest in ever-changing formations.

In terms of the Collective, the bold and rash Uđđi was growing impatient with Nišergurǧe's army, for they were at least about a two-days' travel from the Kola Peninsula. Ahkejuoksa had been discussing with him the merits of meeting up with Ajatar's horde instead, who had been spreading disease, pestilence, and destruction in Northern Sweden, leaving no survivors in their wake to relay back their presence. This left any Ihminen forces in the southwest vulnerable to a decisive attack on flank sections, and combining their already-huge force with another that was moving more quickly was bound to have better consequences. Ajatar had long known of Antero's movements and tactics - she was rather accustomed to his presence in Lapland and Sweden, and connections with various earth spirits allowed her to pinpoint where he was taking his army. Nevertheless, Ahkejuoksa ultimately decided to wait for reinforcements from the Kola Peninsula, apparently underestimating the advantageous position that Ajatar's forces were in.

The Opposing Forces
The frantic nature in which the Ihminen Hand was thrown together caused some issues in the initial skirmishes, where the reinforcements from the south could not join up with the other three groups until long after the actual battle was over. Thus, the Hand was somewhat outnumbered, though their tactics that they utilized made such differences in numbers irrelevant after some time. The Hiiden Collective still outnumbered the Ihminen Hand throughout the war itself.

The Ihminen Hand
The forces of the Hand were put under the command of Garmē Āutrās, as the god had a history of leading troops into battle since the Bronze Age. For his personal guard, he brought forth 250 of his finest war shamans (Shamaanit) and 250 hand-picked sorcerers (Velhot) that had never failed him in the past. Garmē had also been allowed the use of 800 javeliniers (Ietninkas) from the Baltic World Tree - these were time-tested human warriors that had successfully climbed the Debeskalns. Dzintars Lielais was chosen to lead this relatively massive horde of missile-weapon-throwers. Dzintars had gained the trust of Garmē, so he was tasked with guarding one of the more dangerous sectors - the lowlands facing the peak of Pyhätunturi. Lastly, the nature giant Antero Vipunen situated along the coast of Finland his forces of human spearmen (Keihäsmiehiä) armed with enchanted spears and axes. Some of the better-trained and wealthier individuals possessed swords and seaxes as well as spears. Antero's force numbered 810 in total, entering the battlefield via river all the way from Kemi.

The Hiiden Collective
Nišergurǧe, the old Hiisi wizard, brought together a force 2750 strong at the onset of the battle. His forces could count among them a menagerie of different Hiisi and even many spirits of the land that had joined the Hiiden Collective. In the southwest, a band of 500 werewolves (Stuorra-Jovnna) and a menagerie of other Hiidet was handed to an extremely powerful spirit of nature named Ajatar. Her group was to meet up with the 1100-strong organized legion of Hiisi commanded by Ahkejuoksa and Uđđi Agálaš Duollu. Both of these Hiisi leaders spread their force up around the peak of Pyhätunturi, where they awaited both the arrival of Ajatar's detachment and any human armies. From the Northeast, Nišergurǧe's army met up with a brigade numbering 900 that formerly belonged to another powerful Hiisi leader. This army's leader had to stay behind due to injuries incurred by an uprising of native Sami shamans around the Kola Peninsula. Nišergurǧe had also approached Louhi some months before, and requested a flying ship to be built. Louhi's carpenters were the best anyone could find in Northern Europe, so a great flying drakkar ship called the Nuórahtu was promptly built, outfitted with all manner of magical weaponry.

Strategic and Tactical Considerations
From a strategic standpoint, both the Ihminen Hand and the Hiiden Collective were in advantageous positions of their own, but in remarkably different ways. The Hand had already set up an ambush directly in the path of where the Collective would be taking their primary force, allowing them to take the first violent move. However, the Collective had set the stage for a massive counterattack aimed at a flank, though both opposing forces involved were quite some way from their comrades. The numerical superiority of the Collective also had some role to play in the combat, though their largest conglomeration of troops was set upon a short mountain peak, and relegated to a mere defense-reconnaissance role until they could meet up with the army from the Kola Peninsula. In contrast, all three armies of the Hand had been highly mobile, but at the same time significantly removed from one another in distance. It would all boil down to who struck the enemy first and most decisively, or if the Collective could sufficiently mass their forces.

The Collective held most of the high ground from the onset, with most of their forces traveling on or situated upon snowy peaks. Attacking Pyhätunturi with the Hand's strongest force would have been difficult, due to their relative distance from the area, troop fatigue, and a disadvantageous position they would put themselves in from having to deal with two commanders at once, even if Garme and his personal guard could succeed in leveling the peak itself. Thus, it was deemed far better to whittle down the Collective's main line with an initial attack, and cause it to fall into disarray. If they could prevent the core army from joining with Nišergurǧe and his venerable airship-drakkar, Garme's army could then join with that of Dzintars and wreak havoc upon the remaining forces.

Topography of the Battlefield
The area around the small mountain of Pyhätunturi and the locale of Pelkosnjarga (modern-day Pelkosenniemi) was filled to the brim with what one would expect from an Arctic Taiga ecosystem, though greatly influenced by the diversity of the shape of the landscape in Lapland. Pine and spruce trees littered the landscape as far as the eye could see, with some clearings in the form of slopes of tall hills or small mountains. It was winter, so the land was blanketed in a thick layer of snow, making the elevation of some areas slightly higher. Bitter cold and biting wind was rife in the area, threatening to rapidly break the resolve of the unprepared. The weather could change into a terrifying storm with little warning, as well. Winding rivers made their concourse for the entirety of the fifty-mile-plus area, draining into some small lakes around the hills. Silty shoreline lined with dense forest would meet the gaze of anyone who traveled by water.

The Battle
One day after Dzintars hid his forces among the great forest in front of Pyhätunturi, Ahkejuoksa decided to heed part of the words of his co-commander, and moved in the direction of the Hiisi wizard. Unknown to most people at the time, the Nuórahtu had actually run aground in a great arctic storm, unable to take proper flight. Nišergurǧe and his army were still able to weather the storm with relative ease due to their adaptation to the environment, but they had to leave behind the vessel, slowing them down significantly.

Ahkejuoksa's Folly
Now that Ahkejuoksa had given the order for his force to move north and through the valley, Dzintars ordered his javeliniers to form a dual wedge in order to provide as much engulfing fire as possible. Two wedges of javeliniers were absolutely hidden among both sides of the trees at the bottom of the valley, and waited for the first few Hiidet to reach the ground. Now, Ahkejuoksa would have truly wished for better scouting units - before he could even perceive what was happening, a javelin that tore the very Earth connected with his body, exploding in a brilliant glow of lightning. Dzintars was the being who threw such a javelin, channeling great physical might into the projectile. Many of the Hiidet had no idea what was occurring, either, until they barreled into the redoubled blizzard of hundreds of javelins that the Embodiment of Ski-Archery was utterly destroyed by. The Yellow-Eyed Giant-Strong Wizard had also ordered his troops to alternate between their formations in a disciplined manner, greatly confusing the surviving Hiidet and Uđđi. The Living Permafrost tried to shout orders to his forces, but it proved futile. Such was the severity of the javelin-storm that his words were drowned out by the screams of dying Hiidet all around him. In a frantic last-ditch effort to smoke out the foemen who lay before him, Uđđi focused the power of the snow- and icebound landscape into his ever-stalwart hands, releasing a near-absolute-zero beam of frost, rushing to the invisible adversaries far in front of him. A few hundred were wounded by his frantic effort, an effort that could have slain the entire force, but too well were the troops hidden. The gallant and brash Hiisi weathered hit after hit of javelin, shrugging them off, but Dzintars had already appeared in front of him and agreed to an honorable bout to destruction. The two did battle, until Dzintars proved his might by utterly smashing Uđđi's body.

Results of the Disintegration of the Collective's Main Line
The ambush had caused truly wanton destruction to be wrought among the Collective. Around 1000 Hiidet had lost their lives in Pyhätunturi's valley, against the loss of only a few dozen javeliniers who succumbed to injuries incurred after Uđđi unleashed his wrath. The great amounts of blood that had seeped into the snow was now covered up within less than half a day after the fact, for a violent snowstorm had reached the peak. The wounded Hiidet that were left alive were simply buried and suffocated under the driving snow, their lives ending from a combination of the brutal elements and torn bodies. Around the same time frame, Nišergurǧe had found out that Ahkejuoksa and Uđđi had failed, and their army had been systematically slaughtered. The old, shamanic Hiisi was forced to change his course somewhat, and headed straight for Pelkosnjarga, where he planned to set up a giant, mobile garrison of projectile weapons and troops in formations to counter opposing javeliniers. Ajatar's forces were still too far from the other armies, hampered somewhat by the frozen Gulf of Bothnia, and did not change their course.

Dzintars and his army were quite tired from tossing so many javelins and destroying such powerful beings, but the lack of opposing armies close to them called for a time for much-needed rest. They were aware of the storm that delayed Nišergurǧe's army, and they were too fatigued to continue marching. Even if Dzintars had used quite a large amount of magic to disguise his entire army for a few days, the trees would certainly provide great cover against any army that came through the area. To reiterate, and fortunately for them, their adversaries were still several kilometers away. Hence, a time of rest and planning was taken.

Momentary Turnaround
In fact, why would Ajatar change the course of her army? She was pursuing Antero and his forces, and his flanks were all but undefended. On the 7th, Ajatar finally witnessed the barrier that Antero had hewn from the forest, and saw that it reached far into the sky. It was certainly a strong barrier, stronger than any she had seen him make in the past, with its twisted and enchanted trees thicker than the bones of the most massive giants. Would it hold, she pondered? Would the Shaman-Giant's magic be able to weather her power? Could the defenders at the outpost stop her and her alone?

Not even by a hair.

Ajatar commanded the Stuorra-Jovnna, Earth spirits, and Hiidet that accompanied her to stand as far back from the barrier as possible. Similar to what Uđđi had done before, she pooled the powers of her aspect of nature into an object, this time being her mouth. Pestilence and disease wrapped collectively around her, already causing the defenders a few hundred meters away to become greatly ill. Only a few had briefly seen Ajatar's form, but then, something absolutely terrible occurred: a giant sphere of pestilence and disease crashed into the barrier, withering away the vegetation in mere seconds. The defenders were annihilated by this, engulfed in swarms of bacteria and toxic curses. Not only were the individuals standing upon the wall effected, but the entire town of Kemi was, all the same. The Demon of the Forest's vile sphere kept going, until it crashed upon the banks of the Kemijoki River. The river itself was terribly poisoned by this, afflicting the populace of North-Central Finland with all sorts of plagues.

When the toxins and diseases reached the town of Rovaniemi, where Antero's army had reached after a difficult trek through ice and snow, their worst fears had been realized. Antero recognized the strains of bacteria and the types of toxins that Ajatar saved for mass killing, and he promptly sent a detachment of messengers to Dzintars' army to tell them of what was to come. Fear would then tightly grip Antero's brood of spearmen, though not necessarily trivial fear of death - they feared the terrible agony that was characteristic in anyone who managed to survive a battle with the Devil of the Woods. They possessed a somewhat greater number of troops than Ajatar, but the knowledge that their leader's magic had failed against her was quite harrowing and disheartening. Nevertheless, Antero turned his forces around, and aimed to deplete as much of Ajatar's force as possible, in order to buy time for Garme to combine his force with that of Dzintars.

Ajatar drove her army in a straight line, eliminating any human being that stood in her path. She knew that Antero would come to face her, but if she could destroy his army as quickly as possible, the armies in the north could also be taken by surprise. When the forces would eventually collide, Ajatar was the one to act first - she looked forward at the army set before her, and drowned it in a sea of flesh-eating bacteria. Her brood of Earth spirits swallowed up all but Antero and a few hundred of his humans in the fray, the Shaman-Giant still standing strong despite his obvious and painful injuries. Antero and his remaining army continued to fight Ajatar for nearly two days, until she finally rotted away the rest of the giant's body. Several of his forces had lost the will to fight Ajatar, and they dispersed themselves among the deep forest.

The Hiidet, Earth spirits, and Ajatar had not lost too much stamina from their battle, and continued northeast to meet Nišergurǧe's force. In addition, Ajatar had lost relatively few troops to Antero, and quickly took the initiative right after Antero was killed. Her army moved with the same speed as it had moved before, and was moving dangerously close to that of Dzintars. Nišergurǧe had also finally arrived at Luosto, and began shelling Pyhätunturi with impunity. Dzintars' army, no matter how well it was hidden, was now subject to encirclement from two armies that came to battle with relatively fresh and well-supplied troops. The snowstorm was incessant, still present from two days before, which was beginning to grate upon the nerves of Dzintars' forces. At this point and on the ninth day of the battle, it was the Collective's turn to dictate the conflict.

Melee on the Shore
Dzintars knew that two armies were closing in on his own with worrying haste, and was well aware of the shells and bolts falling around his own men. He dispersed his army into two groups as to present less of a target for projectiles: one that stayed behind on a relatively safe side of the small mountain, and one that was to join with Garme's army. Garme's forces had been affected somewhat by strong winds in their speed at which they traveled, but Garme's magic melted the snow that they trod upon, making the trek of the wizards and shamans far less taxing upon their energy. They situated a few dozen of their kind along the shores of the Kitinen River, and delivered counter-strikes upon Nišergurǧe's army by sending destructive magic in ballistic trajectories. The Hiisi wizard's forces were technically in plain sight of the counterattackers, and were now left with a few options: to continue shelling Pyhätunturi until the mountain was completely decimated, to break off into alternate formations, or to engage the Smith-God's skilled force. It was a difficult decision for old Nišergurǧe, but he decided to directly meet Garme and his magicians in combat.

While in the form of Kauko, the same individual as Lemminkainen, Garme saw that Nišergurǧe was sending his whole thousand-strong force towards his own force that was around half the size, but Dzintars' detachment had successfully reached him by now. The two opposing armies approached each other with great caution, somewhat aware of their respective powers. The Hand had a rather direct plan, now - to allow Garme's shamans and wizards to do battle with the Hiidet, while Garme himself would cut a swath through the Hiidet, and hopefully eliminate Nišergurǧe, who had no idea that Kauko was really a god. Then, he would single-handedly destroy part of Pyhätunturi, and lead his forces over the newly-created plain to engage and defeat Ajatar. Ajatar's army encountered some difficulty in finding Dzintars' main force, who were still under the veil of his conceptual power, so such a thing was at the very least less of a concern for the Hand.

The Hand's plan was soon orchestrated, and row upon row of shaman and sorcerer shot bolts of magic upon the slowly approaching Hiidet. Their suppressive covering fire turned out to work in their favor despite the numerical disadvantage, as the Hiidet found it difficult to counterattack in the face of the projectiles launched at them. The very sky lit up in a multitude of colors of magic, similar to an aurora borealis, mixing in with the colors of the vaporized bodies of Hiidet. Nišergurǧe was able to dodge this onslaught, and delivered his own destructive magic in the direction of Garme's forces, killing dozens. However, Garme now had an opportunity to move between his own force and the devastated Hiidet. He drew Waisnankalabijan, and charged forward to engage the Hiisi wizard in battle. Their confrontation was spectacular, lighting up the sky in an unprecedented way, until Nišergurǧe succumbed to Garme's control over a caldera that exploded upon the northernmost part of Pyhätunturi. If anyone who is currently reading this fancies a more in-depth account of this confrontation, look here.

Conclusion
After Garme had apparently killed (or at the very least trapped for eternity) Nišergurǧe and imprisoned the rest of his army, his force and Dzintars' army that had been running from Ajatar closed in on the Devil of the Woods' army from both sides, overwhelming her Earth spirits, werewolves, and other Hiidet. Ajatar attempted to put up a violent struggle against the onslaught of armies and the two highly skilled individuals, but the spirit was successfully sealed with a number of runes provided by all of the individuals working in concert.

The Hand then went ahead and rounded up as many remaining Hiidet they could find in the area as possible, and spared them with their lives as long as they would not continue fighting.

Aftermath
The newly-combined forces of the Hand traveled somewhat southwest, and found a number of scattered human warriors that were suffering from all sorts of diseases and wounds. These were the remnants of Antero's force, and they were taken to healing shamans as quickly as possible with the current energy of Garme's and Dzintars' forces. While they were carried to medical help, these warriors recounted the absolute bravery that their commander had shown in front of a being that could likely kill him and most of his force. Garme had known Antero personally as far back as when he first came to Finland, and planned to prepare a special ceremony for the giant, the giant who had become one with nature in his shamanistic studies, and who had more than upheld both the honor of his army and of himself.

Upon returning to their base of operations in Tartu, the Hand noticed that Ajatar had already begun to crack the rune-seal that she had been fettered with. In truth, this seal was not the strongest, for Garme and Dzintars were both somewhat drained of stamina by the time they managed to seal the lindworm spirit. Ajatar was also becoming a noise issue, due to the fact that she constantly yelled her "intent to dispose of the two that imprisoned her as soon as she would break free". They both decided that Ajatar was better off in the custody of Louhi, who they had intended to visit to speak of negotiations, anyways. Traveling to Louhi's residence in Northern Lapland, the Hand presented an unsealed Ajatar to Louhi - the Hiisi witch had been annoyed at Ajatar, and not in a small way. She was not supposed to blindly spread destruction among humanity in the travels of her army, and she would have to be punished in some way. Pohjola's Mistress sent her to lead and work amongst her own skilled carpenters, where the Devil of the Woods supposedly resides to this day. Louhi also agreed to halt any further uprisings in Finland, but sent the guests off with strong words - several Hiidet in the world indeed loved to attack and kill humans, but that did not mean that all of them were so-called "evil". To oppress them out of simple fear was not a proper course of action.

Significance
The tactical maneuver executed by the Hand in the beginning of the battle was and is a classic example of why an army should always be properly disciplined in its formations. Similar to the Romans in the Teutoberg Forest and Alexander the Great's army through Thrace, moving a large army in a mostly-straight line through a valley lined with ample forest on each side is an extremely dangerous move. The importance of keeping an army properly mobile is also heavily expressed by the events recounted here, for the army of Ahkejuoksa and Uđđi Agálaš Duollu could have completely annihilated Antero's forces if they had joined with Ajatar earlier in the fight, and Dzintars would have lost the opportunity to ambush them if they left Pyhätunturi beforehand. Again, the relative distances between the armies of the Hand put them at a disadvantage throughout the battle, but a combination of adverse weather and indecisiveness stalled the advances of the Collective.

For the next hundred years, relations between the Hiidet and Garme's newly-formed Romuva-Suomenusko Alliance would still be spotty, but inklings towards a future of understanding and peace were not far-fetched.

Any remnants of Antero Vipunen's main body were never found, but a grove of trees that had been planted from his original body were eventually discovered, and one was brought high up to the Debeskalns. There, it was ritually burned, with some of Antero's worldly possessions, ensuring that if his spirit somehow found its way there, it would successfully climb the mountain.