On the Kade rebellion front, soldiers were seen moving south, Ravenstad and Moselberg troops joined them in their march under Reginald V. The first target hit was the Duchy of Dragenthal where the Duke Theo van Overvechtenstein technically did not pledge to fight for the cause of the Anahera, though refused the Kade troops entry to the lands. In fact, they formally declared in support of the Typhonus struggle in Calemberg. The Typhonus had around the same time as the others, declared their support for the Mayor of Lutherstadt rebellion, armed the peasants which were under his command and joined their own troops and commanders to fight against the Vultarins in the south. Despite the fact that the Duke of Dragenthal thus was somewhat against the Anahera Protectorate, the Kades still descended on them. The Duke tried to defend his land but was completely overwhelmed, a single battle near Overvecht was enough to disable his army completely without too many casualties on either sides. The Duke was put under protective house arrest at his castle while the armies moved further south. With Dragethal under their control, only the Duchy of Bergenstein remained strictly under the Anahera control, the Duke announced his coastal batteries would fire upon any ship that tried to spread the rebellion to his isles. With the south bend closed off by Basta and the north bend closed off by the Kades, travel between Regalia and the Girobalda lands became utterly impossible. With the religious war in Basta still raging in what quickly became known as the fourth schism of Unionism, the conflict spilled across the Sinapola strait into Sinapola itself where the Duke Alfredo Mantiovese who was still loyal to the Anahera caused had trouble controlling the religious warfare in his lands, requesting immediate Imperial assistance. In Vultaro meanwhile, the religious troubles worsened after the Lampero’s public writ of sin against the Anahera. Despite the fact that the Vultar Unionists completely ignored this writ because they did not recognize his priesthood. For those who did however stick to Unionism, this was the call to action they needed to motivate themselves to riot against the Vultar encroachment in Vultaro. While the militias fought the Typhonus-Lutherstadt rebels in the north, the conservative Unionists rioted in the south, setting the entirety of Vultaro ablaze. This action also called the Duke Francesco I Biagio into action to pledge support against the Typhonus-Lutherstadt cause while the Duke of Vultaro and Alannia pledged to support one another, starting a two fronted conflict in Vultaro. In Drixagh, the chaos south and the Typhonus being pre-occupied to look north, prompted the Duke Vladislav of Zlostizcy to invade the Earldom of Trzebnica and the Duchy of Brzeg simultaneously, igniting a completely independent Northern conflict that wasn’t even closely related to the troubles in the Regalian capital. In the southern Pays du Sud, the mayors left behind in the wake of the Pileran-Anahera conflict signed a concordat together starting yet another rebellion separate from the Kade, Typhoni-Lutherstadt, Bastia and other assorted conflicts. They called their struggle “The holy plight to restore the Pileran family to prosperity”, using a distant relative of the fallen Pileran family as a mascot to stage a restoration war, invading the Duchy of San Selin in an attempt to reclaim the Ithanian lands under Anahera control. The kingdom of Lusits and Nordskag formally seceded from the Regalian Empire due to the collapsing stability of the state. They did not formally announce their departure from the Regalian commonwealth, but insisted the government was no longer functional and failed to keep up the feudal contract between themselves and the Emperor. The two Kingdoms formally agreed to combat the Daendroque rebels together, taking up the Regalian cause in Ithania as they sent troops to relieve the beleaguered cities. Not all was bad news for the Anahera Lord Protector. From the east, mass numbers of mercenaries and fortune seekers from the Silver Shores and Dorinn sailed west to the city, landing near Lutherstadt to open yet another front on the Vultar conflict. The Dorinn merchant fleet supplanted most of the collapsing Regalian infrastructure, smelling a profit to be made in attempting to seize the opportunity. They managed to alleviate the most immediate shortages of bread and dairy products Regalia was suffering, but made no real dent in the obvious rebellion problems. In the north meanwhile, the Kingdom of Torse formally supported the Kade fight, but the king was unable to send troops as Arlora just declared war on the Torse Kingdom again, still in a weakened state from the previous war with the mysterious fog beings. The Kingdom of Arlora announced it did not consider Torse a part of the Regalian Empire and it would concede reparation payments and troops in service to the Anahera Protectorate should the Anahera close a blind eye to their annexation. Finally, a small fleet of Qadir ships arrived in Regalia, offering military support to beat down the various rebellions and secure hegemony of the Anahera Protectorate. The political struggle between all sides had become so complex now that it was truly difficult to predict in which direction it would swing. Outside of the closed Palace doors of the Imperial Palace, hordes of citizens held a candlelight vigil for days on end, camping on the Imperial plazas and squares in the hopes that the Emperor would wake up and rid them from the nightmare that was descending on the Empire. Yet the Emperor did not wake, and the Palace remained quiet. Not all was quiet in the Regalian capital however. In the western part of the city, the Anahera soldiers had set up cannons aimed at the Viridian castle and had started to barrage the castle repeatedly, hammering the thick walls and smashing cannonballs through the wooden towers. Many parts of the castle collapsed and fire broke out on numerous buildings. The Primae of the Viridian Knights called back the Shield Maidens, breaking protocol by allowing them into the castle to protect them from the falling rubble, but their situation became more desperate by the day. The sky of Regalia was filled with the sounds of cannon fire nearly all day long, only a short period at night did the cannons rest. The influx of religious militias also took its toll on the business within the markets. Many business owners shut their shops down as militias started racketeering and threatening vandalism on businesses who refused to submit to their version of Unionism. By no means was there any killing or excessive violence as the City Guard was still very operational, but there was certainly an air of tension and paranoia in the streets. Such was not felt in Rothenhof however. somehow this small community north of Regalia had become a home of peace and tranquility in the Winter Solstice celebrations. Many citizens from the Regalian City flooded to Rothenhof to celebrate the end of the year and to forget the troubles that were slowly surrounding them.
☼ Niantha Merrit / Merrit Apothecary ☼ "Get the void out of here you hooligans, we don't follow any brand of Unionism!" is what Niantha would have said, had she not known any better. By now the Yanar should have been used to the occasional extremists causing ruckus outside of her apothecary, but the one or two Elven faithfuls were nothing compared to the city-wide outbreak that was occurring now. "Show yourselves! Are you friend or foe?" "Submit or your business is going down with the Emperor!" When the angered threats of violence did not cease come a few nights, Ni knew that something was very wrong within the empire. The order of flowers for a certain new "Lord Protector Anahera", the sudden influx of immigrants and the new-forming riots all seemed to piece together to an unknown cause. She knew nothing of the opposing religions, but the unrest in Regalia and the new regality of the Anahera's was enough to pique her concern and anger. The cannon fire was the last straw. Ztril was already near housebound in terror of the incoming Sultanate ships, and the loud booms that racketed through the city air was enough to near keep them both in a near constant state of panic. In both compliance and defiance against the Vultaro's, the Merrit couple decided to close down their apothecary for the duration of the war and formally resign from the Helsenhaus, thus diminishing the already scarce medical supplies of Regalia. The only sign left of the two in the heart of the city is a crudely scribbled note upon the boarded apothecary door: "Left for Rothenhof. Wont be back until the war ends. Find us in the Safe Haven if assistance is needed. The Anahera's are destroying the empire." Spoiler: Ni & Ztril chillin' in Rothenhof
"Well, I got an overnight bag ready. If thingz go really bad we could alwayz bribe a zmuggler to - What do you mean Zultanate zhipz are in the city?!"
In the meanwhile, Faustina Walerius made a shocking discovery in the occupied earldom of Turall, something that will change how the Empire functions forever. Spoiler: Knowing this if you aren't acquainted to Faustina may lead to metagaming
In the darkness of the night a cloaked figure would walk down the small alleys of Regalia, avoiding the watching eye of the newly formed Order and the old Violet order. The man would take a bunch of pamphlets from his satchel and nail them to walls, doors and trees around Regalia. Those reading the pamphlets would see the following text: The citizens of Regalia, my peers! Our legal government has fallen and this usurper, our "Lord Protector" has taken over the all administrative duties within empire or replaced everyone with Anahera loyalist! Citizens! Rise against our oppressor and return the power to those deserving it! This usurper isn't one of them and should be facing trial and execution by the end of this year! My peers, take up your arms and rise against this man, the one and only traitor within our fair city! For the Empire, Emperor and Regalia!
Guess what! Cecil Empolan!(again)The Shendar grumbled in Elvish, wincing every time a cannon fired. His eyes were bloodshot and struggled to remain open, and a small slightly-grey-but-mostly-dark infant wailed in his arms. Cannons. Morning, midday and evening. His little one could not sleep, so he could not sleep. It was, at that point, the dead of night, and the cannons would be stopping soon. Both he and his son needed some sleep before they both keeled over, but each shot felt as though it was crashing through his head. But then? Silence. Bliss. The ceasefire. He murmured as soft thanks before promptly becoming dead to the world, his son close behind. Boom. Boom. His eyes snapped open, almost in synchrony with his son, and they both screamed, one in anguish and the other in rage. Out of the depths of his tired, enraged, unhinged mind, fluttered a plan, and a deepest need to see this plan completed. That madman Anahera, and his madman soldiers, and their madman cannons, and every last madman who dared stand aside Anahera would rue the day he thought he had good judgement in political parties. (@ShipIt @SilverMercury @victorian398 etc)
"But it's not the Anaheras who are destroying The Empire! It's the rebels who are violently resisting their peaceful rise to power! If anything, it's their resistance to proper rule which breaks The Empire! They started it! All they had to do was let it happen, and none of this would have occurred!" @Kiba Araqnuibo @Perplexed_Aris
The letters were beginning to pile up again, and she had no intention of reading any of them. This whole Regalian conflict was a bit concerning, but it didn't have any direct impact on her. Of course her advisers had urged her to go back to the archipelago and participate in the conflict, but she knew there was nothing to be gained in the process. So she remained stationary, doing what she needed and nothing more. The sale of precious minerals was providing enough of a profit to meet her needs, and she found herself to be content. Though every now and then; she wanted a bit more. She missed the busy life that Regalia had managed to provide her with, and yet she still refused to return. She needed stability, and Regalia would provide the opposite. A servant came in with a morning meal and some letters, and she knew that today she would finally have to do some work. Getting out of bed, she greeted the servant, taking the letters in her hand. "My lady, I think the recent news from Regalia will interest you." The servant said, holding out a letter whose seal had been broken. She laughed and shrugged, indifferent towards the matter. "I won't go back; and there's nothing that will change my mind." "This letter may not change your mind, but I suggest that you read it" he said, still holding the envelope out. She sighed, placing everything else on her bed and taking the letter in her hands. It was mostly just facts she had already been told. The poisoning of Regalia's Emperor, the take over of the Anahera, resulting in an all out war within the empire. It was all horrible, but she knew that getting involved in this conflict would only give her trouble. However, there was a detail that caught her eye. An uprising had been mentioned, and more surprising it was in support of the Pileran family. She hadn't expected that there were still landed individuals who supported the old family, but apparently there were. She put down the letter, not bothering to read the rest of it. Standing up, she nodded to the servant. Grinning, he ran off to fetch her paper and a quill, and she started to think out loud. "They're letting him lead?!?" She said to the empty room, laughing a bit. "He's barley a Pileran, I don't see how he can provide the rebels with any motivation." As the servant came back, she grabbed the writing supplied and started to write the first of many letters. She knew that she couldn't rush this, especially since she didn't plan to notify many other of her plan. She smiled to herself as she finished the letter, putting it into an envelope and giving it to the servant to seal and send. She had so many plans and ideas, but knew she'd have to act cautiously. She wasn't very popular, both within her family and within the courts of Regalia, but she wouldn't be doing this alone. She took a deep breath, standing up when she exhaled. She had to let others do most of the hard work, hoping that she'd get some of the rewards. She knew that she couldn't return to Regalia just yet, but if all went well she'd be back soon enough. As she ate her morning meal, crates were loaded onto ships bound for the duchy of Pays du Sud. While most of these crates contained armor and weapons for the rebels, there were some crates with food as well. The captain of each ship had been instructed to tell all rebels that this was a gift from the former baroness Olivia Pileran, who supported their cause. Olivia had no idea if the Pileran supporters would be able to win this, but she was determined to give them a fighting chance. And if all went well, the Pileran name would once again be a noble one.
Kailani, while normally a brave fighter, quaked at the sounds of the Viridian Castle being bombarded. Regalia was crumbling around her, and she was left behind while the children of her group were safe, far away. She could not follow them now, as the docks were probably closed. Maybe if she didn't light her spots.. and slithered along the bottom of the bay until she was out of notice.. She had to stay though, a warrior does not flee, she stays, and she fights, and protects her fellow fighters. Er- Fellow Jadiras. Not all of them were as combat-orientated as her.
I say, I think its time the querbo mafia takes part in this, dont you think @Squeaker555 @arachnidsGrip88 ?
