(460 B.C.)

NISYROS, 460 l Once again, word of terrifying news from abroad has captivated the hearts and soul of the Karpathian people. The town of Nisyros, on the neighboring island of Saria, has fell victim to the great Persian fleet. Word has it that a Persian commander by the name of Rashin approached the peaceful settlement with the combined strength of the assembled Persian armada and demanded that the islanders renounce their Karpathian overlords. In the event that the Sarians would refuse, the Persian general claimed that 'the whole of the island would become littered with the corpses of the dead and dying'. Despite these menacing threats, the Karpathian governor of the island refused to give into the Persians demands. As such, Rashin ordered his fleet to disembark several hundred Persian warriors on a beach just outside the town. Once disembarked, Rashin resumed command of his troops and assaulted the poorly constructed defenses of the town. Intense combat then ensued for several hours before Nisyros' small garrison of Karpathian soldiers was all but overrunned. Those soldiers who did not have the honor to fall in battle were nevertheless cut down by the swords of the mighty Persian horde as they attempted to flee into the surronding mountains.

Rashin, now holding Nisyros as his hostage, allowed for his troops to sack the city. Several dozens of Sarian men, women, and children were slaughtered in the chaos that followed. By the time the sun rose the next day, appromiately three quarters of the city had been engulfed in flames and a third of its citizens murdered in cold blood. Rashin then proclaimed a local Sarian nobleman, by the name of Aesop Eustachys, as king of a newly established Kingdom of Mikri Nisyros. Despite Aesop assuring his fellow Sarians that the kingdom is to be simply placed under Persian protection, its citizens are almost certain that this marks the beginning of a lengthy Persian occupation. It is rumored that roughly 450 Persians and 100 Sarian collabators have been garrisoned in the smoldering ruins of Nisyros.

It is only a matter of time before Karpathos will find itself the newest victim of the Persian horde