600 - 610 AR: The Sword of Fehér

 

  600  Anno Reipublicae

Dramatis personae

• The Chancellor: Iswed III.
  Rules the Commonwealth under the Oath of the People.

• Hazin son of Biru: Citizen, Count of Vadali. (Blue)

• Zolta the Quaestor: Exile,  Former Consul of  the Dicastery of Galben, now exiled from that land (Yellow ) 

• Fehér: Exile,  Third son of King Baltas V of Elurra,  exiled following a fratricidal civil war in that kingdom (White)

SECR: The Senate and the Chancellor of the Commonwealth

The Chancellor moves to strengthen is his position, bolstering his approval in the Senate and appealing to the noble's ancient allegiance to his bloodline.  He appeals to the common people as well, journeying to the Lush Coast to rally their favor.   Concerned about rumors from the Hinterland, where the Kingdom of Elurra has been torn by Civil War, he establishes elaborate warning systems to alert him to any attacks.  His agents visit the famous Wizards school, seeking guidance from the scholars there.

Count Hazin  remains in his home in the Buried Giant. Although nominally loyal to the Chancellor he is actually in league with the secret societies that are fomenting dissention against the Senate.  Secretly he hopes to supplant the Chancellor.  He takes powerful magic users into his service and begins recruiting spies.

 

Zolta the Quaestor, lately fled from Galben, travels to the Mines, deep in the Hinterland.  He and his followers conquer the region, driving out the bandits.  They establish an independent Commune, with Zolta as Mayor of the Council.

Fehér son of Baltas, with the remains of his following, comes to the Ancient City.  Recently defeated and driven from the Kingdom of Elurra, and hearing rumors that the Commonwealth is weak and divided, he thinks it ripe for conquest.  He bolsters his forces with recruits from the Hinterland and attacks the Ancient City, reviving the old claim of Baltas II to that region.   The Chancellor, warned well in advance by his spies and scouts, is waiting for him.  Reinforced by longbowmen and household troops, the Chancellor takes Feher and his men by surprise and routs them.

Ambition never has its fill.

The impressive military victory bolsters the Chancellor's popularity with his war leaders and the aristocracy in general.

603 AR

The Chancellor recovers the Darkest Secret; his agents infiltrate the most important of the secret societies, deflecting their discontent and channeling their anger towards his opponents in the Senate.  Despite is public support for Ecclesiastical prohibitions against the practice, he secretly takes Alchemists into his service, promising them aid in their research in return for their support. 

Count Hazin continues his plotting; he travels to the Waste and visits the Festival District.  The Chancellor, suspecting his motives, has him watched, but the spies can learn nothing.  Unknown to the Chancellor, Hazin has agents among the leadership of the Dark Priory, a group of dissident monks and the most significant of the societies opposing the Senate.

Treason never prosper, what's the reason?

Zolta increases his treasury with ore extracted from the Mine.  He takes Fire Talkers into his service, allowing them the use of the mines to conduct their dark rituals.  He raises forces from the miners and travels to the Charming Valley.  His agents are active in the Plains, where they are in contact with factions in the urban communes.

Fehér flees the Ancient City and remains in hiding in the Buried Giant.  He gathers support in the Provinces.  Impressed by the speed with which the Chancellor was able to move forces against him he resolves to imitate him, when he has established himself.  He visits the Wizard School in secret.  At the Old Oak he enrolls new troops from among the discontented men in the region.

 

605 AR

The Chancellor, learning of Feher's visit to the Buried Giant, travels there himself.  He visits the Wizard School, but what he learns, if anything, is unknown.  In turn, he visits the Old Oak, re-assuring the people and  recruiting.

Count Hazin's agents in the Dark Priory extend his influence among the opposition groups gathering in secret.  His contacts in the Festival District keep him informed of the activities of the Chancellor's spies within these groups.  The power of his faction grows.   He travels to the Buried Giant and visits the Wizard School.   Rumors reach the Chancellor that some in the School are supporting Hazin.

A conspiracy spreads in secret

After suppressing a mutiny by some of his men who wish to remain in the Charming Valley, Zolta travels to the Plains, where his agents have labored to prepare his way.   In the name of the communes he raises the standard of revolt.  The guild masters and urban nobility rally to him and treason opens the gates of the Cities.  The loyalists are driven from the region.  The Senators flee.  Zolta and his followers establish a Council of Communes under his leadership.  

But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned... (Ezekiel 33:6)

Revolutionary fervor and the collapse of legitimate authority swiftly erode traditional codes of behavior.   Zolta and the council encourage this, allowing the people to indulge in pleasures forbidden under the Chancellors, so long as profit flows into their coffers.  

I was drawn to all the wrong things...

As the Chancellor tries to respond to the sudden collapse of his authority the Plains, Fehér strikes.  He travels to the Great Slum where his agents have labored on his behalf.  Men gather to him.  He attacks the Chancellor's forces in the Slum and along the Lush Coast.  Their garrisons are depleted by the demand for men for the re-conquest of the Plains.  The Chancellor is defeated.  The Commonwealth is in disarray.

606 AR

The Chancellor regroups.  Gathering additional forces from among the loyalists of the Buried Giant he attacks the Plains.   The Cities, disorganized by social upheaval, are slow to respond.  The rural districts are alienated, and few of the famous longbowmen can be mustered.   The Chancellors forces are victorious in the initial battles, crushing the urban contingents and scattering the country folk.  Two of the larger cities are stormed out of hand, and the rest hasten to submit.  Most of the cities collapse into anarchy.  The Chancellor's armies dissolve into an orgy of looting and pillage.  Zolta flees with as many of his followers as can escape.    Under a pall of smoke,  hundreds of corpses litter city streets or dangle from gibbets above the gates.   The Chancellor's standing with the aristocracy grows, but the merchants, the prelates and the Wizard School are appalled.

Crimson spangled glory...

In the chaos of the sack, Hazin sees his opportunity.  Magic users in his service have made contact with dissident colleagues in the Chancellor's court.  Hazin's spell casters detonate a terrifying  spell; a blinding light illuminates the night over the Cradle; fire sweeps across the land.  In the ensuing turmoil thousands flee, among them countless hundreds of the famous longbowmen and their families, seeking refuge away from the Plains. 

Hazin's conspirators strike, recovering the Banner of the Darkest Secret.  His supporters in the Dark Priory have gained him the favor of the Church.  The magic blast is proclaimed an omen, heralding the fall of the Chancellor.  Many Wizards rally to him.  The Count openly challenges the rule of the Senate.  He allows himself to be proclaimed successor to the Chancellor; the only one who can restore order to the Commonwealth.   He calls for the trial and removal of the Chancellor.

...if it prosper, none dare call it treason.

Zolta rallies those of  his supporters who have escaped the sack of the Plains, including a small band of dissident Magic users.  With as much of the treasury as he can gather he flees to the Buried Giant.

Fehér travels in secret to the Buried Giant.  He visits the Wizards School seeking their advice and musters new forces at the Old Oak.  Many previously loyal men join him, dismayed by the actions of the Chancellor.  Seeing little profit in the game of Chancellor and anti-Chancellor, he still refuses to assume any formal title, styling himself instead Lord Protector.  A mighty host assembles in the Great Slum.

608 AR

The Chancellor prepares to move against Zolta.   Short on supplies, he takes skilled archers and woodsmen into his service.  He travels to the Buried Giant.  His agents are in touch with Count Hazin.

Realizing that if the Commonwealth falls, he will fall with it, Hazin makes common cause with the Chancellor.  He travels in secret to the Great Slum

Zolta re-groups in the Wastes, in hiding from the Chancellor.   He visits the Festival District and gathers favor from the local people.  His treasury swollen with profits from his gambling dens in the Mines (the only ones still standing), he recovers the Banner of the Peoples Favor.  From his stronghold in the Mines he raises again the Banners of the Communes, proclaiming the Senate dissolved and himself Oathkeeper and Chancellor of the Commonwealth.

In the name of the Communes!

Fehér, taking advantage of the upheaval in the Cradle, attacks The Wastes.  Most of the people welcome him.  Although he has not openly proclaimed himself, none now doubt that he seeks to make himself Chancellor by right of conquest.

609 AR

The Chancellor, having reached a nominal accord with Hazin, and believing he can defeat Feher with his assistance, now prepares to re-convene the Senate and neutralize the secret societies.  In the Buried Giant he rallies his supporters at the Old Oak.  With aid from those in the Wizard School who still support him, he infiltrates agents into the Dark Priory, plotting to oust Hazin's followers. 

Count Hazin, as distrustful of the Chancellor as Iswed is of him, gathers supporters in the Great Slum and travels to the Waste.

Zolta's prestige grows, and men begin to rally to him as Oathkeeper.  But with his legitimacy weakened by the sack of the Plains, he finds control over the Council of the Communes to be increasingly difficult and expensive to maintain, despite the revenue from the Mines and the wealth he carried with him from the Plains.    He travels to the  Great Slum, seeking support from the dwellers there, and then returns to the Mines.  He enrolls new forces from among the dreaded Fire Talkers.

Fehér bypasses the Chancellor's forces and attacks the Plains.  With the longbowmen dispersed, and the Cities restive under the Chancellor, he meets little resistance.  Indeed many actively aid him.  In the Hall of the Chancellors he proclaims himself Chancellor of the Commonwealth by right of conquest.

The people of the Commonwealth are exhausted, desperate for peace, but the conflict continues.

610 AR

The Chancellor, his preparations complete, now moves against his enemies.  His Alchemists, having labored long in secret, are successful at last.  His treasury overflowing, the Chancellor recovers the Banner of the Peoples Favor.  The Senate reconvenes in the Buried Giant and the Chancellor again assumes the title of Oathkeeper. 

  

The Senate and the Chancellor of the Commonwealth

With Zolta neutralized for the moment, the Chancellor moves against Feher's forces in the Great Slum.   But Feher is forewarned; word of the Chancellors movements races to him and he responds swiftly.  Heavily reinforced, his forces defeat the Chancellor and drive off his armies.   Feher's position is unshaken.

While the Chancellor and Feher are engaged in the Great Slum, Hazin launches the second prong of the Commonwealth's counterattack.  Mustering at the Festival District, press-gangs swell his forces with unwilling conscripts.  It is enough.  The Wastes fall and the banners of the Commonwealth are raised again over the region.    Feher's claim to the Commonwealth is weakened.   Hazin and the Chancellor eye each other warily.

Zolta makes a desperate effort to shore up his claim to the Chancellorship.  Gathering funds once more from the mines, he travels to the Buried Giant.  His magic users attempt to bind the Old Oak to his service.  They hope to force from the Spirit the knowledge of a great treasure, but their effort falls short.  The Old Oak vanishes from its sacred grove.   

 

Despite Zolta's best efforts he cannot recover the Banner of the Peoples Favor.   The estates have lost faith in the Chancellor, but they will not rally to the Communes.   

In his moment of despair, Zolta is contacted by Feher's agents.  In return for his allegiance, they offer him citizenship in the new Commonwealth.  They ask only that he seize the Buried Giant from the Commonwealth, promising him lands and titles in that region. 

Zolta accepts. He musters at the Wizards School, whose faculty have abandoned their allegiance to the Chancellor.  His forces easily drive out the Chancellors men, conquering the province in the name of the new Chancellor, Feher, son of Baltas.

Visionary Victory

Epilogue

Resistance collapses.  Iswed and Hazin flee to the Hinterland.  Fehér is hailed as Chancellor.  He issues a general pardon, and the Senate is re-convened with strictly limited powers.  Across the Commonwealth, men rejoice at the coming of peace.

*                         *                        *

The Long Peace The Boy Kings