Flavius Stilicho and Alaric the Orc King

For an entire generation, people believed that orcs were some kind of advanced pack animals, like goblins, incapable of any sort of political organization. Their terrible, wild attacks, and general repugnance, combined to make humans unable to look more deeply.

Alaric changed all that. Or, to be more precise, the great contest between Alaric and the Roman general Stilicho changed all that. It was Stilicho who first insisted that the orcs were intelligent, and he was the first to negotiate face to face with the enemy. He successfully defended Italia from the invaders, but at last he was brought down by enemies within. Alaric immediately invaded successfully and sacked the City of Rome in 1163.

Stilicho rose to fame as one of Emperor Theodosius’ generals. After the great emperor died in 1148, Stilicho came to Ravenna to serve as the guardian of Theodosius’ son Honorius, Emperor in the West.

Meanwhile, Alaric had been rapdily uniting the orc tribes. By 1149 orcs were raiding all through Greece and the Emperor in the East, Arcadius, asked Stilicho to come and rescue the situation.

The first clash came in 1150, though little actual fighting took place. It appears that it was here that Stilicho first came to respect his adversary and to understand truly the seriousness of the threat to the Free Folk. Another noble, Rufin, despised Stilicho and plotted relentlessly for his downfall. On this occasion, he persuaded Arcadius to order Stilicho to withdraw, claiming that Stilicho was actually maneuvering to seize the Empire for himself.

Stilicho next campaigned in Africa against the newly-arrived kobold invaders (1154-55)in Rhaetia. This campaign brought him into contact with Alaric and a sharp but inconclusive battle was fought between them in 1155 at Pollentia and again at Verona in 1156. Then, in 1158, Stilicho defeated one of Alaric’s chief captains, Radagais, near Fiesole. This victory was sufficient to keep Alaric out of Italia for the next couple of years.

Unfortunately, this also gave Rufin his opening. With Italia seeming to be more secure, he schemed relentlessly with Honorius and Stilicho was arrested in 1161 and was later executed. There was now no one to oppose Alaric. The generals who succeeded Stilicho were all contemptuous of the goblins and were ill-prepared to deal with him.

Alaric invaded Italia again the very same year. He drove down the peninsula, swatting aside feeble attempts to stop him. In a memorable scene, Alaric the King of the Goblins negotiated (through a translator, of course) directly with the Senate of Rome. In return for an enormous wagon train of gold and jewels, he agreed not to attack the city.

The treaty promised more gold, however, and as soon as Alaric was gone, the Emperor refused to honor its terms. Alaric tried to attack in him Ravenna but failed, and that failure led Honorius to refuse to negotiate. So, in 1163, Alaric again led an orc army on Rome. As we have learned, no orc leader can long survive unless he keeps a steady stream of booty flowing; otherwise, orcs will soon disband.

In 1163, then, Alaric made a sudden march on Rome. The Imperial armies, such as they were, stayed at Ravenna to defend Honorius. Rome fell after a short siege and the city was sacked.

Alaric then marched south, to plunder Sicily and Africa. But human wizards conjured a storm that wrecked the kobold fleet, and then Alaric fell ill and died. The Goblins used human slaves to dam the Busento River in southern Italia. They then laid Alaric to rest in the bed of the river, with the most precious items of his loot. They then tied the humans to great boulders in the river bed and undammed the river so that no one could ever disturb their great king.