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The Crownguard Resistance
In the early morning of the 18th of April 303 AC, the plan of the Crownguard to seize control over part of the city unleashes itself. The Crownguard is a group of resistance fighters of various races, ages and social standing. Having secret support from some of the nobility, they start inciting riots in the bridge district following the hike in bread prices and the increasing hunger in the district as the Qadir seize the food supplies. Few Qadir are present in the bridge district to initially stop the riots as the they make their ways to the gates and the walls. Eventually the orders are issued to make barriers, where the first problems start showing in organization. There are no Qadir or pro-Qadir citizens living in the bridge district and few citizens give up their furniture, causing the riots to resort to taking furniture from people against their will. The barricades are constructed and the district is successfully blocked off from the outside, the Qadir choosing not to fight the riots and pulling back to the bridge.Several hours pass as the rioters believe they have successfully secured the district and cut the Qadir off from the western part of the city. Moments later however, Qadir warships sail into the Crown River towards the bridge and detachments of Qadir march down the bridge to the barricades on the other side. As they reach the barricades they stop, the rioters hurling stones and various tools at them lacking conventional weapons. The leadership of the riot believes the Qadir to be too numerous, and as according to plan, they set the wet burnables alight underneath the barricades, causing them to be set alight. This however turned against the rioters as the Qadir fire mages stepped forward.
Upon the order given by the Qadir commander, the Qadir fire mages used the already burning barricades as a source of fire, burning the blazes up higher and hotter and then directing them inwards towards the bridge district. The dozens of fire mages cooperating their magic together turn the burning barricades in surging fireplaces coursing the fire through the streets behind it. Those unfortunate enough to be within two streets distance of the fire barricades are incinerated almost instantly, the fire igniting the houses around it and funneling through them. Hundreds of citizens both rioters and regular citizens who were hiding in their homes instantly get burned alive. Those lucky enough to be further away have their hair singed or their skin burned, some managed to escape by diving into the sewers, others hid in whatever source of water they could find. The fires raged higher and higher than anything ever seen in Regalia, soon the entire district was ablaze and people were screaming and fleeing in terror in all directions. The barricades at the western part of the district prevented people from getting out initially, dozens of people falling over and getting trampled to death as the bodies piled up against the barricades. Then finally when the piles were large enough, people were able to rush through, climbing over the corpses of fellow citizens.
The fire in the eastern part of the city further confused the western part as smoke filled the sky black in the middle of the day. Qadir in the other parts of the cities unaffected by the fire hastily packed their belongings and made their way to the harbor where large parts of the blockade fleet were evacuating the Qadir from the east. Citizens had already started tearing down the Qadir flags in the central district, the soldiers moved out and retreated to the palatial district. The fire in the Bridge district had effectively shut off the Qadir held Imperial districts from the rest of the city, by all means the western part of the city was free of Qadir occupation. The fire of the Bridge district continued to rage for days afterwards, the Crown river filled with the floating charred remains of citizens, an occasional explosion in the district providing a chilling alternative to the constant and never ending crackling of wood burning. The outsides of the walls were charred black from the fires.
The Qadir had formally retreated to the Imperial districts and were no longer in control of nearly 70% of the city. The fleet had bombarded the bridge connecting the west and east parts of the city, severing the Palace and the richer districts. Thousands of Regalians died those days, many incinerated in the initial fires, many more over the next days as the clinics and healing houses were filled to bursting, people dying from smoke inhalation and burns on the staircases towards the clinics. Half burned bodies littered the street between the east gate and the clinic, eventually the building failed to function as it had fully ran out of poppy milk and medical supplies.
On the fourth day, the Qadir had completely abandoned the Regalian Prison. All prisoners, both noble and common, were released by the mob and set free into the streets. Earl Christopher Black and Ludwig Fuchs walked free after two and a half months in prison, and so did many with them.
On the fifth day, a single Regalian ship skimmed the harbor. The first Regalian flag to gallantly dance in the wind was seen by those who lived near the harbor. It passed by the harbor a couple of times before disappearing out of sight, no Qadir were following. Those in the city now faced a terrifying time. The Qadir ceased food shipments and the vast majority of the city would soon run out of medical and food supplies. The Sewers were madly damaged from the rubble and corpses floating down the waterways. Yet hope remained. That single Regalian bannered ship showed they had not forgotten, and soon liberation would be at hand. But at what a cost.
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