INTERREGNUM VOL. V: THE ADRIAN INTERLUDE

[Xarkly 17299]

 

Spoiler

 

 

Previous Volumes

I: The Novellen Twilight

II: The Sinners’ War

III: The Brothers’ War

IV: Scythes & Silver

_______________

 

Foreword

Spoiler

 

Interregnum.

‘Between Empires’.

 

A period when Humanity - and, consequently, all Descendantkind - are without a dominant hegemon. It is a time of chaos, of disunity, and of fracture. Yet, despite that, these times of interregnum are a vital facet of Humanity; they are a necessary contrast upon the Tapestry of Man.

 

Without doubt, Humanity stands at its zenith when the Tribes of Horen are united under a common banner. But, as our mortal bodies age, so too do our empires wither with the passing of time. The feats of glory in which empires were forged fade, replaced with disillusions of what an empire should be, but is not; the memories of era-defining heroes are supplanted with slothful inheritors; and armies whose marches once shook the earth are reduced to parades, unable to take the field against common marauders. 

 

This, however, is a natural thing. 

 

Were it not for the bitterness of winter, we would be strangers to the bliss of summer. So too is the same true of the rise and fall of Humanity’s great empires: it is only in the chaos of disunity that we, as Humans, rediscover the calling of a greater cause, that we recall the dream of Exalted Horen’s kingdom, and accept that greatness cannot be achieved by one Human, but all of Humanity. 

 

In the 19th century, the Holy Orenian Empire - that which we call ‘the Eighth Empire’ - fell. The interregnum that followed was one in which Humanity languished for nearly two-hundred years.  

 

I am Arrolt the Orphan, and this is the tale of how this interregnum began, unfolded, and ended.

 

This is the Chronicle of the Great Interregum.

 

_______________

 

Castle de Vilain, Acre

c. 1885

 

It is the closing decade of the 19th Century.

Humanity has been forever changed.

 

Over the span of 45-years, Humanity has seen more change and upheaval than the preceding 145-years. In that time, the series of conflicts that was the Sinners’ War, the Brothers’ War, the Successors’ War, and the Harvest Rebellion upended every semblance of stability, and every political norm of Humanity. Most earth-shattering of all was the reality that the nation of Oren - both as a Kingdom and an Empire - was dead; it had breathed its last when King Frederick I was cut down in his throne room by the rebels of Acre, and it had been buried when Lord Protector Elric Castille formally dissolved the realm in his surrender to Acre in 1883. Since the inception of the Eighth Empire 108-years ago, Oren had undergone many drastic changes across shifting sovereigns and dynasties, but, even in its waning decades, it had always remained a dominant presence, one whose influence was felt in each and every corner of the continent. 

 

But no longer. 

 

To any astute observer, the Orenian undoing was no sudden twist. It was the product of a slow and deadly poison, one that had first taken root during the Novellen Twilight when the Novellen Dynasty, who excelled at their stable and robust administration, clung to their laurels and failed to adapt to a rapidly-changing world of increasing enemies. While the Aster Revolution of Emperor Philip III and Empress Anastasia I (see Volume I) had staved off that poison for a time, their defeat in the Sinners’ War ultimately prevented them from purging it, and the dramatic reign of their son - King Frederick I - sought the same antidote, but with a reckless abandon that accelerated its fatality. At the very least, it could be said that the Aster monarchs gave Oren a fitting death in battle. Now that that death had finally come, all Humanity - both Oren’s patriots and foes alike - breathed a sigh of relief that the struggle for survival had finally ended. 

 

But any who thought the end of Oren would mean an age of peace would be deeply disappointed.

 

With the fall of a great power comes a great power vacuum, and this was one that the rest of Humanity could not ignore with impunity. Oren’s territories had been vast and rich, and this land hosted many of the late King’s vassals, natural resources, and fertile fields that sustained an enormous population. These were not the only things to be plunder from Oren’s corpse: of arguably greater importance was the de facto role as head of Humanity, a term synonymous with the strongest nation of all Descendantkind. 

 

So it was that Oren would have two heirs.

A spiritual successor, and a physical inheritor. 

_____

 

“By the end of the 19th Century, the words ‘Empire’ and ‘Oren’ had achieved a level approaching blasphemy amongst the Tribes of Horen.

 

In the decades and wars that followed the Sack of Vienne, the notion of reforging an Empire or invoking the name of Oren became akin to a witch-hunt, fuelling distrust and dissent among the Kings & Queens of Humanity would try to resurrect the Empire -- and place them beneath it.” 

 

Memoirs of Eirik Baruch,

Lord Palatine of Hanseti-Ruska, 1849-1873

_____

 

Oren’s spiritual successor was one of the chief architects of its demise:

the Kingdom of Haense.

 

From the fall of Oren, King Karl III of Haense undoubtedly emerged in the most advantageous position. To any scholar, the notion that Haense stood as the strongest Human state was incredulous; historically, the Haensemen had fared disastrously as an independent nation - they had been crushed by Courland in the Great Northern War upon Axios, suffered a death-by-a-thousand cuts at the hands of the Renatians in the Czena Wars of Atlas, and came within an inch of annihilation after their catastrophic defeat in Arcas’ War of the Two Emperors. Now, however, King Karl III stood at the helm of a powerful northern dynasty, with an army that had been tested in battle and a comprehensive network of allies - namely, the Eastern Treaty that had defeated King Frederick I in the Successors’ War. Karl III himself was a cold and cunning monarch, capable of elegant diplomacy and ruthless warfare in equal parts, and although he lay no claim to the imperial title after Oren’s fall, he became the focal point of geopolitics on Almaris for the years that followed, fostering what we will come to know as the Haeseni “anti-empire”.

 

Meanwhile, Oren’s physical inheritor was the one left with the former Orenian lands and people, and they too had been instrumental in Oren’s destruction. In fact, they had been the ones to deal the killing blow. We speak, of course, of the rebels of Acre. 

 

By every metric, the Barony of Acre was a political anomaly. While they had vanquished the strongest nation in the land, they harboured no great political ambitions of their own other than to peacefully govern themselves. Most Acremen were either migrants from, or descendants of, Arichsdorf - Acre’s predecessor as Oren’s breadbasket - and they had raised their banner in rebellion against King Frederick I after growing weary for fighting wars for the ambitions of Orenian sovereigns. Their humility stood in stark contrast with their sheer strength, for they were hardy farming folk amply capable of defending their lands against both beasts and brigands. They had formed the backbone of the armies of both Emperor Philip III and Anastasia I in the Sinners’ War, and of their son King Frederick I in the Successors’ War, and so it was of little surprise that, in a matter of months, they had crushed the Orenian royalist forces in the Harvest Rebellion and ended over one-hundred years of Orenian rule. 

 

But neither strength nor modesty would deliver them to the utopia they coveted, for they were left holding the ‘stick’ that was the enormously complicated aftermath of dissolving Oren. The Acremen had little desire to claim Oren’s lands, wealth, or people, but they were aptly aware that if they did not, another nation would. Whether it was King Karl III expanding his reach, the exiles of Balian attempting to reclaim their homeland, or King Frederick I’s surviving loyalists banding together, Acre’s hand was forced. 

 

In order to preserve their way of life, they had to muddy their hands in that which they despised.

Politics.

_____

 

“My dearest Aga, 

 

The King be dead at our hands - no more will we die in his battles. I was there at Vienne, when we breached walls that were taller than thirty men, when the fires started turning the sky grey-and-orange, and when the Baron stormed the castle. 

 

I don’t think I can forget even the smallest detail. I can still see blood on my hands no matter how many times I wash them, and the scent of ash clings to me even now we’re back in Acre, surrounded by woods and pastures. I think I be changed by it, Aga, and I don’t yet know whether that be for good and ill.  All I know now is that I can’t come home just yet. I need to see what happens next. 

 

To Acre, to Oren, to Almaris.”

 

Extract Letter penned on behalf of the illiterate ‘Fergal’,

A small beet-farmer who enlisted under the Acre levy

_____

 

The man responsible for navigating this aftermath was Hannes de Vilain, Baron of Acre.

He was not to be envied. 

 

Hannes de Vilain was not Baron of Acre by choice. It was his son, Gustaf de Vilain, who had led the Acremen to victory in the Harvest Rebellion, but he had paid for that victory with his life and died from injuries he sustained at the Sack of Vienne (or so it is believed; the Acremen sing tales that Baron Gustaf had been kidnapped by Elven maidens shortly after the Sack). Now, with the people of Acre looking to him, Hannes de Vilain set about meting out the fate of the shattered Heartlands. His solution was to form the ‘Harvest Confederation’, a league of formerly Orenian vassals who would autonomously rule their respective territories, but work as one to deter invaders and enemies.

 

The Confederation was not a novel concept, but rather an evolution of the ‘Harvest Accord’, a pre-existing alliance between Acre and the House of Barclay of Minitz (a cadet branch of the Reinmaren Barclays, who remained a powerful vassal in Haense at the time). Now, this Confederation grew to include three other members: in the fertile basin of the Petra Riverlands reigned the ‘Commonwealth of the Petra’, styling itself as a knightly-republic under Archduke Paul Salvian of House Temesch (which was another cadet of a great House - in this case, Novellen); in the western slopes of Arentania, House von Alstreim - and their patriarch, Baron Heinrich - ruled from their keep of Corwinsburg, and had quiet but stalwart supporters of the Harvest Rebellion; and, on the gentle plains of Lower Petra, the roving exiles of Charles Alstion had finally found a place to settle. The northern territories of the Heartlands, on the other hand, constituted the territories of Acre and Minitz (from its city of Neu Branthof).

 

The Harvest Confederation was a strong alliance, and its lords - who looked to Baron Hannes as their leader, or ‘Harvest Lord’ - were bonded by their shared vision to forge a world beyond Orenian rule. Their collective might - championed by Baron Hannes, who was a proven and level-headed commander - served its purpose to both ward off any who hoped to pilfer formerly Orenian land for themselves, and crush the resurgence of brigands and robber barons (most of whom were the scant surviving loyalists of King Frederick I’s regime). 

 

But there comes a time for reaping every harvest. 

In less than ten years, the Harvest Confederation would be no more. 

_____

 

“Therein lies the bitter curse of which the Lords de Vilain were so blissfully unaware.

 

Most of Humanity covets power for their own ends, and debase themselves in its pursuit. But, once power is obtained, it is so easily shed, either. ” 

 

Foreword to ‘The 30-Year Bloodletting:

A Study on War in the Heartlands, 1849-1923’ Ike von Neu Branthof

_____

 

Though admirable in its ambition and novelty, the Harvest Confederation was flawed from its foundations.

 

The guiding principles of Acre had not been to forge a new imperial dynasty and expand their rule over all Humanity, but instead to cultivate strong, local communities untainted by political aspirations that would lead them to ruin. While the perspective was no doubt different at the culmination of the Harvest Rebellion, an objective assessment of the Confederation yields the inevitable conclusion that only Baron Hannes and his Acremen held true to this belief. For proof of that, we need look no further than the fact that three of the five members of the Harvest Confederation would later go on to create their own kingdoms (those being Petra, Minitz, and the Alstions). 

 

Perhaps the greatest example of this flawed inception, however, was the inclusion of House Alstion in the Confederation, for they were, in a word, antithetical to these principles of Acre. It was true that Charles Alstion and his wayward retinue had fought against Imperial Oren as far back as the Sinners’ War, but their goal had not been to destroy Oren; rather, they sought to restore it to righteousness by installing Charles Alstion on the throne (whose legitimacy was derived from his descent from the most direct male line of the Joannian Dyansty). The Alstions had failed to convince King Sigismund III of Haense and his allies to sponsor their endeavour to claim the throne during the Sinners’ War, and they faded into obscurity until the Harvest Rebellion.

 

Given the reformationist aspirations of the Alstions, it is puzzling as to why Baron Hannes admitted them to the Confederation in the first place, especially when other Houses - such as Jazloviecki and Galbraith - had been barred. Perhaps the fact that Charles Alstion had fought against King Frederick I and his parents took prevalence in the Baron of Acre’s mind, or perhaps he simply mistook the nature of the Alstions, and simply needed a semi-reliable ally to hold the southern borders of the Confederation. Whatever the case, Charles Alstion would soon play one of the leading rules in the undoing of the Harvest Confederation. Alas, that undoing was merely finished by Charles Alstion; it began with House de Vilain itself. 

 

In mid-1893, Baron Hannes de Vilain died. 

Though the world did not know it yet, the Harvest Confederation died with him. 

 

---

 

Velec, home of the Adrians

c. 1910

 

Within the libraries of Valfleur, a letter from the late Baron was preserved.

It laid bare the trauma that he carried with him. It would tragically underscore Acre’s own fate.

 

The man to whom the title of Baron of Acre fell to - and with it, Harvest Lord of the Confederation - was Volker de Vilain, Hannes’ grandson. Little is known about Volker de Vilain prior to his ascension as Baron, and what is known bodes poorly for what was to come - he served as his grandfather’s standard-bearer in the Battle of Acre, the main clash of the Successors’ War, where he panicked and called an early retreat against his grandfather’s orders when the Haeseni-Dwarven infantry of Sergei Barbanov and Sigrun Ireheart pincered their army. He did not redeem himself at the Sack of Vienne, either, where his squadron abandoned their post to plunder the city’s manors.

 

Even in spite of that, Baron Volker’s short reign as Harvest Lord was worse than could have anticipated. 

 

Infamously, Volker de Vilain lacked the temperance of his father and grandfather. He was not content to tend to his hearth in Acre until the end of his days, no matter how hard his kinsman had fought for that privilege. Rather, he was an impatient and hot-blooded youth, who was rumoured to harbor some foul eccentricities. In the autumn of 1893, mere weeks after becoming Baron, Volker could stomach his boredom no longer: while most of the Confederation busied themselves with the year’s grain harvest, Baron Volker gathered his retainers, rode south across the Straits of Savoy, and began marauding throughout Balian (which had recently been elevated from a Duchy to a Kingdom by High Pontiff Tylos III, anointing its leader as King John I). 

 

If there was a cause for this unprecedented aggression, it is lost to history. There are some scant footnotes that mention the Baron hunting a deserter, while others attribute the attack to the Acremen’s open disdain for Balian’s imperial roots (for they were the exiled supporters of Emperor Peter IV, who had been defeated and slain by his younger brother King Frederick I in the Brothers’ War 25-years prior). 

 

While Baron Volker did not fear the ire of the newly-coronated King John I, he ought to have feared the King’s allies. It was barely ten years since the end of the Successors’ War, and the Eastern Treaty - the alliance of Haense, Balian, the Kingdom of Norland, and the Dwarves of Urguan - that had prevailed in that war remained alive and in close concert. As his countryside smouldered, King John I called out to his compatriots of the Eastern Treaty, and they answered.

 

Within days of returning to Acre - his packhorses laden with loot - Baron Volker was summoned by the monarchs of the Eastern Treaty to come before them in Atrus, the Balianese capital, and stand trial for his transgressions. The Harvest Confederation was not a party to the Eastern Treaty, but Baron Volker had little choice but to comply; if he did not, then the Eastern Treaty might seek justice in blood. While Baron Gustaf or Baron Hannes might have been able to navigate that threat, Volker lacked their expertise, and his rampage in Balian had left him deeply out of favour with his contemporaries in Petra, Minitz, Corwinsburg, and Alstion (and many of his Acremen besides). 

 

Volker de Vilain answered the summons, and travelled south once more.

In 1893, the First Convention of Atrus was held. 

_____

 

“What you must consider, goodman, is that a razed vineyard in Balian is of greater severity than some orchard in the Heartlands.

 

Our King planted his standard on southern clayhills amidst a sea of sand and rock. The land may be warm, but it is not fertile, and so the madman Volker’s gallivanting has set Balianese agriculture back by years. Years, I tell you!” 

 

Extract of a letter from a Balianese olive farmer

to his moneylender, seeking a deferral of his loan following the raids of 1893

_____

 

There are few records of what transpired at the First Convention of Atrus.

It is not known if Volker de Vilain mounted any defence.

 

What is known is the momentous outcome: the Resolution of Atrus. In a scathing judgment, the Kings of the Eastern Treaty declared that Volker must abdicate as Baron of Acre, which came as little surprise and was met with little resistance - by this stage, Volker was deeply unpopular with his own countrymen. If the Eastern Treaty demanded nothing more, then it was likely that Human history may have taken a very different course. But their judgment did not stop there: in addition to Volker’s abdication, it was also decreed, without a glimmer of forewarning, that the Commonwealth of the Petra was to cede from the Harvest Confederation and become an independent state. Not only that, but any other member of the Confederation would be permitted to declare independence, if they so wished.

 

This came as a blow that would gut the Harvest Confederation, and it is difficult to make sense of why the Eastern Treaty delivered such a drastic verdict without embarking on some speculation. 

 

If the Eastern Treaty’s sole concern had been justice, then that objective was met with Volker de Vilain’s abdication. If King John I desired recompense for his razed holdings, then a weregild could have been imposed - but it was not. Therefore, the only natural conclusion in mandating the cessation of Petra is the pursuit of an ulterior interest. 

 

As to what that interest could have been, there are two theories among scholars.

 

The first is that the cessation order had been a secret petition by the Pétrines. By 1893, the Commonwealth was flourishing: Archduke Paul Salvian, who would die the following year, had nurtured a bustling metropolis, which was also the first Human state in recent memory to promulgate a functioning constitution. With Petra’s newfound strength rivalling Minitz, establishing itself as a fully sovereign nation seemed like a natural next step, and the scandal that Volker de Vilain mired the Harvest Confederation in was a perfect opportunity for it to do so. If this was indeed the case, then it was likely that the monarchs of the Eastern Treaty obliged Petra to foster goodwill with this up-and-coming nation.

 

The second school of belief is that the Pétrines themselves had no hand in their ejection, and that the Eastern Treaty simply wished to break-up the Harvest Confederation. If it was the goal of the Haeseni anti-empire to weaken the other realms of Humanity, then this was an ideal chance to do so while Acre and the rest of the Confederation, bereft of the unifying leadership of Hannes and Gustaf de Vilain, was weak.

 

Whatever the reason may have been, the result was the same.

The Resolution of Atrus gutted the Harvest Confederation.

_____

 

“If you were to ask me, the greatest of Acre’s sorrows was not the idiocy of that degenerate Volker or the scheming of the Canonist Princes.

 

No; it was that Baron Hannes put too much trust in his fellow Harvest Lords.” 

 

Recorded testimony of Kori Norveldt,

an Acre veteran, when migrating to Karosgrad in the 20th Century

_____

 

The Acremen watched as the political machinations they abhorred rapidly outpaced them.

As Volker went into exile, leadership of the Barony fell to Wolfgang de Vilain.

 

As the younger brother to Gustaf de Vilain, and therefore uncle to Volker, Wolfgang embodied the spirit of Acre far better than Volker ever could: Wolfgang was a dutiful and tame warrior, one who had even squired to King Frederick I before the outbreak of the Harvest Rebellion. Wolfgang’s shortcomings lay in his lack of any desire to govern, but with his nephew’s antics landing Acre in dire straits, the elder de Vilain accepted the mantle. 

 

This time, the title of Harvest Lord did not pass in tandem with the Barony of Acre. Instead, it was decreed that the lords of the Harvest Confederation would convene shortly before the new year and elect a new Harvest Lord to guide them (it was unclear if this was a decision among the nobles of the Confederations themselves, or another requirement imposed by the Eastern Treaty). So it was that in the late winter of 1893, the Confederation convened in the chapel erected on the hill where once the city of Vienne stood.

 

It was on this spot eleven years ago that the militias of Acre and pulled King Frederick I down from his throne and ended 108-years of Orenian rule, and so it was a fitting stage for the next tumultuous milestone of the Great Interregnum. This time, however, it was not to Acre that the lords of the Harvest Confederation looked -- with the Petra now ceded and House de Vilain stained by Volker, Baron Heinrich von Alstreim of Corwinsburg and Duke Leon Barclay von Minitz now saw a more palatable candidate in Charles Alstion. In the aftermath of the Convention of Atrus, Charles had become an outspoken critic of what he termed as the unsustainable structure of the Confederation, and saw the need for a greater level of centralism and cooperation than the Confederation’s loose structure allowed. This, Charles argued, was to prevent the rise of any more loose cannons like Volker de Vilain from thrusting the entire Confederation into war, and to grow their own strength so that they could stand on par with the rest of Humanity (and therefore avoid being controlled by them).

 

This single moment laid the flawed foundations of the Harvest Confederation bare: now that its founders were dead and buried, no longer did the other nobles nod along with the ideals of inwards-focused autonomy. Here, after decades of fruitless wandering, Charles Alstion finally made his move, and called upon his peers to elect him as Harvest Lord. It was not just Baron Heinrich and Duke Leon that gravitated towards Charles, but also King Karl III and King John I (the former of whom was present at the election), who saw a reliable and likeminded ally in the Alstions. While the Haeseni had declined to support Charles’ campaign to be installed as Emperor during the Sinners’ War, they had at least fought side-by-side against Emperor Philip III and Empress Anastasia I, and, perhaps of greater importance, the Eastern Treaty did not see much of a threat in a Confederation guided by Charles. Cementing Charles’ prospects, Wolfgang de Vilain did not contest the election - for now, mending the damage done by Volker to Acre was challenging enough. 

 

In the presence of foreign dignitaries, Charles Alstion was universally elected as Harvest Lord.

As he took the dais to address his fellows, Charles’ very first act was to abolish the Confederation.

_____

 

“Today, it is often said that Humanity has been reduced to a disunited rabble, fit to rule over little more than farms and forests. Some even claim that the Age of Man has come to an end, and that the duty of wise and steady rule has fallen to Dwarvenkind, or even the Elves. Yet there is but one thing that separates this despair from reality -- history.

 

Hear us clear: this Century of Humiliation is nearing its close … We declare that Man must put aside his differences, and assert no longer that one is greater than the other, and thus must be true in many senses. We proffer charity to all, and malice to none, so that we may build a better future for Humanity, free from the grudges and bitter hatreds of our antiquity.”

 

‘Of Harvest & Scrolls; The United Kingdom of Aaun’,

Charles Alstion, 1893

_____

 

It might be said that the world collectively blinked.

Unabashedly, Charles Alstion announced the dissolution of the polity he was just elected to lead.

 

No longer, Charles announced, was the Harvest Confederation fit to protect the Heartlands. In its place, he declared the formation of the ‘United Kingdom of Aaun’, invoking the name of the prehistoric realm of Godwin, son of Horen. Scribes of the period chronicle that no one in attendance knew of Charles’ plans until this very moment, though whether this is true is dubious, as the brazen declaration was welcomed by Heinrich von Alstreim and Leon Barclay (or, at worst, they abided by it). 

 

The same, of course, could not be said for Wolfgang de Vilain. 

 

For the Acremen, this was leaps and bounds too far. Many of the northern countryside had fought, and many had died, to bring down Oren and claim their own freedom as an autonomous people. Wolfgang’s own brother Gustaf had been lost right as their Rebellion succeeded, and his father carried with him deep scars that never healed -- ‘no kings but us’ had been the famous warcry of the Rebellion. To now have the Harvest Confederation undone and replaced by a Horenic kingdom was the very epitome of what the Acremen had against. Wordless, but trembling, the Baron of Acre left the summit, and marched back to Acre.

 

As for Charles Alstion, he could not transmute an alliance of free nobles into a central royal government overnight, and so he convened a final summit of the Harvest Confederation when the snows abated in early 1894. It was here that he intended to formally abolish the Confederation by vote (it is not known whether this was always his intention, or if he agreed to put the matter to vote in response to any backlash), officially create the Kingdom of Aaun, and plan his coronation as King. To the surprise of the nobility, Wolfgang de Vilain did indeed appear at this subsequent summit, but only to make his displeasure known. He delivered a clear message; not only did he appear with the Acre militia, but his contingent was bolstered by armsmen wearing the colours of House van Draco, a mercenary lineage who had recently sworn fealty to King Karl III.

 

Baron Wolfgang did not sic this formidable host on Charles Alstion and his retainers. Instead, the Baron took his seat at the table, and issued his formal vote against the official dissolution of the Confederation and the formation of Aaun. He was the only one to do so; Heinrich von Alstreim and Leon Barclay affirmed their support for the new Alstion Kingdom, and so the Confederation’s fate was sealed. It was then that Wolfgang announced that Acre would cede from the union - utterly unsurprisingly, given Aaun’s repugnancy to Acre - and he invoked the Resolution of Atrus, namely the condition that any member of the Confederation could cede if they so wish.

 

Charles Alstion was eager to see the Acremen go. 

The issue, however, was over how they should go. 

_____

 

“Peace be upon you, sons of Horen in all our World. The Convention of Atrus has come to an end, the United Kingdom of Aaun and the Barony of Acre could not come to terms amongst themselves, and in the face of the sudden departure of the King of Aaun, the duty has befallen the Conventions’ hosts to maintain the peace between Mankind.” 

 

Prelude to the ‘Treaty of Atrus’,

c. 1894

_____

 

Wolfgang de Vilain demanded the independence of Acre’s current lands.

Charles Alstion demanded they leave that land and settle elsewhere.

 

If nothing else, Charles Alstion’s daring ought to be commended - or perhaps it should be called ignorance. With the cessation of the Commonwealth of the Petra and the Acremen staunchly opposed to him, his new Kingdom of Aaun had very little in the way of military forces. Both he and Heinrich von Alstreim commanded only modest garrisons, and they did not possess the funds to hire an army (years of war in the Heartlands had led to inconsistent taxes during the Confederation’s decade of rule). Consequently, they were nearly entirely dependent on Duke Leon Barclay von Minitz, who was very likely reluctant to raise arms against Acre; it had been his predessecor, Viscount Dietrich Barclay, who had first forged the original Harvest Accords with Acre, and that legacy had been inherited by Duke Leon. Yet, even if the Barclay Duke had been willing to drive out the Acremen by force, whether they could was an entirely different question. The purpose of Baron Wolfgang bringing such an intimidating escort to the meeting was apparent: Acre was still amply capable of fighting for its freedom. To boot, the presence of House van Draco - a Haeseni vassal - also indicated the Eastern Treaty might not look so kindly a campaign against Acre. 

 

Without shedding blood, Wolfgang de Vilain returned to Acre, having made it clear that anyone who attempted to displace them from their hard-fought land would meet the same fate as King Frederick I. But Charles Alstion pressed boldly ahead: he issued a decree exiling House de Vilain, and affirmed the only independence he would afford them was if they left Acre and settled elsewhere, as, according to him, Acre was Aaunish land. Wolfgang was unphased, and both sides began to marshal their forces until the summer of 1894 loomed. Once more, it looked like civil war would tear the Heartlands asunder for the third time in 26-years.

 

Then the Eastern Treaty intervened.

 

While King Karl III had been present at Charles Alstion’s declaration of Aaun’s formation, he and King John I had been content to watch events play out, but the genuine threat of another civil war prompted them to summon the Baron of Acre and the would-be King of Aaun once again to the Balianese court at Atrus in the late-spring of 1894. Of note is that King Karl III and King John I were joined in their adjudication by Archduchess Renilde I of Petra, who had succeeded her father Paul Salvian as sovereign of the Commonwealth after he died earlier that year. While Renilde I would cast herself as a colourful and controversial figure throughout the rest of the Great Interregnum, at this juncture she was a young and ambitious monarch, eager to brush shoulders with the continent’s more established Kings. 

 

Negotiations between Wolfgang and Charles proved fruitless; neither would budge. Wolfgang was unwilling to abandon the lands his family had fought so hard for, and Charles was unwilling to let a hostile tribe remain so close to Aaun. So it was that resolution of the dispute fell to the Eastern Treaty alone, who settled the matter unilaterally: in the Treaty of Atrus of 1894, it was proclaimed that Acre would be remain on their lands, free and autonomous, and that the Eastern Treaty would quash any interference with that freedom by Aaun.

 

The Harvest Confederation had been born from hope, but met a tragic end.

At the very least, though, Acre would have its freedom in the end, for better or worse.

 

---

 

The Karosgrad Duma Hall, Haense

c. 1903

 

Charles Alstion was no doubt unhappy with the Second Convention of Atrus.

But, he abided by it - he did not have much choice.

 

Although he certainly did not lack the confidence to do battle with Acre, an objective assessment of his situation points to an inevitable defeat had this come to pass. Even with Minitz’s full support, Charles lacked the means and the manpower to defeat Wolfgang de Vilain now that his protection was guaranteed by the Eastern Treaty. Although bereft of the northern marchlands, Charles was now at least unencumbered by dissidents, and could tend to building his new Kingdom of Aaun. 

 

He wasted no time in doing so. Later in 1894, he was formally crowned as King Charles I of Aaun, and he set about laying the framework for a royal government, though he was largely without an actual seat of power which meant that there was no ‘central’ Aaunish court per se, with most government functions being carried out from Neu Branthof, the seat of the Barclays von Minitz. The new King sent envoys and letters across the land, entreating hedge-knights, burghers, and yeomen to settle in the new Kingdom, which was branded as a land of fresh opportunities after many years of war and instability. Of these new settlers, there was one tribe that would be the unwitting spark to set off the grandest act of the entire Great Interregnum.

 

That act was the Covenant War, and those settlers were the Adrians. It would be many years yet before the outbreak of the Covenant War, but it was this final decade of the 19th Century that sowed the seeds of that world-shaping conflict. 

 

The Adrians were a resilient and prestigious people, championed by the ancient Houses of Sarkozic and Vladov, but one who were haunted by tragedy. At many times throughout Human history, they had proven themselves industrious merchants and statesmen who had built some of Humanity’s most renowned towns, from Brelus upon Vailor, to Belvitz on Atlas, to Ves on Arcas. Like the Haensemen, they too were of proud Raevir ethnicity, tracing their descent from the deified imperial Carrion Dynasty (that of Exalted Emperor Sigismund) and therefore being among the ‘Carrion Vochna’, who carried the Carrion bloodline (alongside other lionized Houses such as Barbanov, Ruthern, Kovachev, Basrid, and Ivanovich). Where they differed from King Karl III and the Haeseni, however, was in their historical association with imperial Heartlands throughout various iterations of Empires. 

 

Yet for all the success and prestige of the Adrians, they had an affinity for misfortune, and each of their mighty settlements seemed doomed to meet a grim fate: Brelus had been razed after Adria’s defeat in the Dukes’ War of 1518-1521, the Burning of Ves lived in infamy, and Renzfeld (the most recent Adrian settlement) had been sacrificed in the name of imperial ambition in the 18th Century - only Belvitz seemed to eschew this curse, though, even then, that town had been no stranger to adversity. As a result, the ‘Adrian Diaspora’ persisted between defeats and exiles, often reuniting after decades or even centuries to attempt to regroup their people and establish a new Adrian settlement.

 

In 1894, that is exactly what happened.

A man named Heinrik Sarkozy raised the red-white banner of Adria, and swore fealty to Aaun.

_____

 

“It pleases the Crown of Aaun to recognise Our leal subject, Heinrik of the House of Sarkozic, as a great servant to the United Kingdom and a protector to the Royal House. Their efforts in the restoring of Our Realm has not gone unnoticed. As such, the Crown of Aaun, with the prerogative vested upon us by Our people, enfeoff the Lord Sarkozic with the County of Valetzia, to hold and pass unto his legitimate heirs forevermore.” 

 

Enfeoffment of Heinrik Sarkozic,

‘Royal Letter for the County of Valetzia’ c. 1896

_____

 

Nothing is known about Heinrik Sarkozic before his appearance in Adria.

His family name, however, tells us enough.

 

As a member of the Adrian Diaspora - and from its ruling family, at that - Heinrik represented a potently powerful ally for King Charles I if he truly could reunite the Adrians, and so the Aaunish King bestowed him with a swathe of land in the Lower Petra (mere miles from where the Sieges of Southbridge and Haverlock had been fought in the Sinners’ War). It was a good fiefdom, affording the Adrians not only fertile land, but it also lay on the Eastfleet Road, one of Almaris’ busiest highways. At the time, it was a fortuitous investment by King Charles: within a few short months, Heinrik had rallied the bulk of the surviving Adrian Diaspora and a good many other settlers. Heinrik christened their encampment as ‘Camp de la Baltas’, named after the river on the banks of which Belvitz had stood, though, following their enfeoffment, began to construct their stronghold of ‘Valetzia’, which was later rechristened as ‘Velec’.

 

Even with the passing of generations, the Adrians held true to their mercantile ways, and soon developed Velec into a prosperous trading hub. Heinrik Sarkozy was not content to stop there, though - what he sought above all else was the title of ‘Duke of Adria’.

 

For the unfamiliar reader, it is necessary at this point to explain this particular title and its complicated history. 

 

While Heinrik was indeed the accepted leader of the Adrians, he did not hold the ancestral ducal title of Adria. This title is amongst the most prolific in Human history, dating back centuries to the inception of Adria on Athera when the Houses of Briarwood, Vladov, and Sarkozic first joined together, and it was unique in that it was an elected title - from its genesis, the leader of the Adrians was always chosen. That custom had continued for hundreds of years across different iterations of Adria, until the Duke Adrian Sarkozy of Adria, a figure of infamy, held the title (his appeared to have been a coincidence). 

 

It was on Arcas that Duke Adrian reunited the scattered Adrian people once more and founded the Barony of Renzfeld, a thriving settlement that did not escape the ‘Adrian curse’. Duke Adrian was driven by ambitions far grander than Duke of Adria, and when Emperor Alexander II died in 1731, leaving the infant Eighth Empire in chaos, Adrian Sarkozy secured the mantle of ‘Lord Protector of Oren’, bringing with it full power as regent. To establish and support his new government, Lord Protector Adrian relocated many of his Adrian subjects to serve the Imperial Court in the capital of Helena, leaving Renzfeld a shell of its former self (of the distinguished Adrian families, only House de Ruyter remained). 

 

Apparently unbeknownst to most of these Adrians, their Duke never intended to return to Renzfeld, and the town was later unceremoniously demolished so that Helena would be the prime metropolis of the Empire. Lord Protector Adrian stewarded the Empire until 1737, when Emperor Peter III rose to the throne after Lord Protector Adrian fell into disgrace and perished.

 

In the wake of Lord Protector Adrian’s death that the elections for the Ducal title became complicated.

For it was at this time that the First’ Dumapalooza’ was held. 

 

_____

 

“Even if the genesis of Aaun may have been dubious, it cannot be denied that King Charles I presented an enticing option.

 

The fields and fens of the Heartlands were fertile and rich in game, lumber, and ore. Paired with the temperate climate of the midlands, the offer of large swathes of land with high autonomy and low oversight was, to most ambitious factions, the best opportunity one could hope for.” 

 

Extract from Chapter IV of ‘The 30-Year Bloodletting:

A Study on War in the Heartlands’, 1849-1923’ Ike von Neu Branthof

_____

 

It should be noted that eight years passed between the death of Adrian Sarkozy and the First Dumapalooza, for the Adrian people had once again lost their home.

 

Without an established gathering of the Adrians, the Dumapalooza - coined and curated by an Adrian man known as ‘Ratibor Ratispora’ - invited a representative of all surviving Adrian families and the Houses of the Carrion Vochna (those being Barbanov, Sarkozic, Vladov, Kovachev, Ivanovich, and Basrid). But even if a Duke was elected, there was no land to call ‘Adria’; worse, Emperor Peter III adopted his father’s policy of curtailing the rise of any metropolis in the Empire that could rival Helena. Faced with these factors, the First Dumapalooza in 1745 settled on electing Joseph Clement Sarkozy (the future Emperor Joseph II, who would sign the Edict of Separation to cede the Kingdom of Haense from the Empire). While the son of Adrian Sarkozy, Joseph Clement was also an imperial prince, and, with him, Adria took on a purely titular form. Some Adrians saw this as a compromise to keep the name of Adria alive, while others claimed the vote to elect Joseph Clement had been fraudulent, and built on promises to restore Adria that would never go fulfilled. 

 

The chief consequence, though, was that the title was no longer treated as elective. In a gross insult to the Adrian Diaspora, the title was left in imperial abeyance after Joseph’s ascension to the imperial throne (through his marriage to Empress Anne I) and his death in 1814, and the Adrian identity faded into obscurity once again. The last man to hold the title in this hereditary fashion had been Philip Aurelian, the son and heir of the despised Emperor Philip II and father of Emperor Philip III. As Emperor Philip II’s ill-fated reign sapped the Holy Orenian Empire of its power and influence, the Adrian Diaspora saw a chance to reclaim what they believed the Novellens had ‘stolen’ 85-years ago, and so it was that an Adrian descendant named Franz Nikolai Carrion-Tuyvic saw an opportunity to call the Second Dumapalooza. 

 

The Second Dumapalooza, held in Savoy in 1837, fared better than the First, but only on paper. While many of Almaris’ established nobility - including the Haeseni Houses - accepted the invitation, the Orenian Empire did not acknowledge the Dumapalooza, and they most certainly did not acknowledge the outcome when Franz Nikolai was elected as Duke of Adria, and Philip Aurelian continued to claim the title until he was assassinated on his brother’s orders in 1849 (the event which sparked the Aster Revolution). Flashy though it may have been, Franz Nikolai’s defiance against the Empire amounted to little - much like in the First Dumapalooza, there was little he could do without any actual land to settle the Adrian Diaspora, and he - and his claim - eventually fizzled out. 

 

But by 1896, Heinrik Sarkozy did not have that problem: he had land, and he had followers.

So it was that he called the Third Dumapalooza. 

 

_____

 

“The Duchy of Adria, a title often attributed to political paper, has not had lands for any of her people or kindred to coalesce for well over a century. As any good Sarkoz should, we bemoan the deprivation of a proper land to call ‘Adria’, one where we may exercise our ancient, vaunted customs.

 

Now, we seek to reunite those who have wandered aimlessly in this time of interregnum - not under the banner of Sarkozic, but under the banner of Adria, that which we may all claim as ours.” 

 

Heinrik Sarkozy,

‘The Third Dumapalooza’, c. 1893

_____

 

Understanding this complex history of the Adrian title is essential to understanding how Heinrik Sarkozy’s campaign for the ducal title laid the groundwork for war.

 

It was the tradition of the Dumapalooza to gather the Carrion Vochna and the prominent families of Adria, but it was the manner in which Heinrik summoned the Dumapalooza that placed him at odds with King Karl III of Haense, who was of the Carrion Vochna himself (as patriarch of the Royal House of Barbanov). Not only had the Haeseni King himself yearned to claim the title of Adria for some time, but he also fret that the rise of Adria could challenge Haense’s relative unity of the Raevir people. On the other hand, Heinrik sought to limit which bloodlines were eligible to vote in the Dumapalooza by imposing a requirement that these bloodlines must be settled in Velec. ‘Adria for the Adrians’, claimed the aspiring duke. From an objective viewpoint, this was a sensible position: unlike the past Dumapaloozas, Adria was a landed settlement now, and so it made little sense that the Carrion bloodlines, many of whom were nobles in other nations, could dictate who ruled Adria. Alas, pride and birthrights are intrinsic to Humanity, and so Karl III and Heinrik argued bitterly through envoys and letters over the eligibility of various voters, which of the many Carrion cadet lines held seniority over others, and even what the nature of the ‘Duke of Adria’ ought to be, with Karl III positing that it should be a cultural title rather than a landed one, and Heinrik contending the opposite. 

 

These tensions were certainly not helped by the historical animosity between Haense and Adria. In the infamous Burning of Ves centuries ago, King Marius II of Haense had been elected Duke of Adria in the hopes that he would protect the Adrians from persecution at the hands of the wrathful Pertinaxi Emperor Antonius; instead, however, King Marius II had stood down as the Emperor ordered his legions to sack the Adrian city of Ves, marking one of Haense’s darkest moments. It was a grudge that the Adrians were not quick to forget, and absolutely not to forgive.

 

Eventually, Heinrik forged ahead with his plans and convened the Third Dumapalooza in Velec in the midsummer of 1896. When Heinrik was duly elected as Duke, King Karl III refused to acknowledge him - even though a sizable portion of the Haeseni-aligned Carrion Houses attended, the King insisted the election had been called illegitimately. While Heinrik may have been content to ignore the Haeseni protests, the one who found himself in an uncomfortable position was his liege: King Charles I. The Aaunish King had kept himself relatively uninvolved in Adrian affairs, though he had affirmed his support for Heinrik calling the Dumapalooza and claiming the Ducal title. However, King Karl III was still the dominant influence over the rest of Humanity, and the Adrian controversy was not the only thorn in the King’s side.

 

One of those other thorns was House Ivanovich. Astute readers may recall that Andrezj Ivanovich had been the ruthless right-hand of King Frederick I during his three wars, and now his son - Sveneld Ivanovich - had inherited that brutal efficiency. House Ivanovich (who, coincidentally, were also a Carrion bloodline) had been among the families that swore fealty to Aaun after its formation, and Sveneld had been enfeoffed as the ‘Baron of Cherskavy’, bringing him with a martial prowess that Aaun had been sorely lacking. But the Ivanovich also brought King Charles trouble; while there are scant texts chronicling the specifics of what occurred, it is understood that by 1896 Baron Sveneld and his armsmen had enflamed tensions with not only the Kingdom of Haense, but also the Commonwealth of the Petra through border skirmishes and apparent acts of brigandry and recruiting for their levy abroad. 

 

Under growing pressure on multiple fronts, King Charles I’s hand was forced.

Once again, he met with the Eastern Treaty on unfavourable terms later in 1896.

 

_____

 

“I. The Kingdom of Aaun and the Lord Sarkozic agree to put the Duchy of Adria once more back into abeyance.

 

II. The Kingdom of Hanseti-Ruska does agree to … oversee a proper Adrian Duma by which laws for the Duchy are discussed, and thereafter a Duke is elected.

 

III. The Kingdom of Aaun offers lands within the Middle Petra, that being the inclusion of the former Barony of Guise and the Cathalon Peninsula thereafter, to the Commonwealth of the Petra which they may fortify.” 

 

Section II of the ‘Treaty of Spilt Blood’,

c. 1896

_____

 

This summit - another one of many during this period - was prefaced by an outright threat of war by the Kingdom of Haense, Kingdom of Balian, and Commonwealth of the Petra against Aaun.

 

The grievances of Archduchess Renilde I (which, asides from the Ivanovich belligerence, included disputes over various borders and titles) were a significant development that staunchly shifted the balance of power in the Heartlands - divided between Aaun, Petra, and what remained of Acre - against King Charles I. This summit was held in the Haeseni capital of Karosgrad, whose cold and imposing halls were a marked shift in tone from the ceaseless sunlight of Balian. It is not known if King Charles intended to deflect the other monarchs’ rebuke, or otherwise negotiate to reach an agreeable compromise; if he did, he was robbed of the chance.

 

In one of the most dramatic moments of the decade, Sveneld Ivanovich was called before King Karl III to answer for his breaches of Humanity’s peace. He responded by drawing his blade, and trying to slay the King of Haense. Baron Sveneld was cut down in a maelstrom of strikes barely after he bared his blade, and among those to intercept the assassination was King Charles himself (a wise move, in the circumstances). Similarly, Charles I did not protest when Karl III rose from his throne, and ordered every Ivanovich noble and Cherskavy armsman present in Karosgrad to be slain. So thorough was the ensuing slaughter, that Sir Jakob Morovar, one of the King of Haense’s knights, earned the moniker ‘Ivansbane’. 

 

In the aftermath of the escalation, King Charles I was left with even less bargaining power. What followed was the aptly named Treaty of Spilled Blood, wherein (alongside various weregilds and title transfers), it was agreed that Aaun would cede some its western marchland to the Commonwealth of the Petra, and that the Third Dumapalooza was invalidated, once again thrusting the Adrian Ducal title into abeyance. There was one condition for this: King Karl III would host a Fourth Dumapalooza in the coming months, where High Pontiff Pontian IV was nominated to act as an arbitrator to define eligible voters. To this, Heinrik Sarkozy agreed (presumably reluctantly at the behest of his King). 

 

Despite succeeding in overturning the Third Dumapalooza, King Karl III still acceded to some of the electoral changes insisted on by Heinrik (perhaps due to the involvement of the High Pontiff as mediator), such as the requirement for the Duke of Adria to be primarily resident in Adria and to hold no higher title (which discounted Karl III himself from being elected). After titillating months of debate over the electorate, with families all across Almaris clamouring to participate on foot of a claim of Carrion blood, the Fourth Dumapalooza finally came to pass in 1903. 

 

For his fortitude, Heinrik Sarkozy was rewarded.

He won the election again.

 

_____

 

“Before attending for duty tomorrow morning, all servantry should attend upon Sergeant Greshik to receive a misericorde dagger for the safety of their persons in the event that the Dumapalooza becomes ‘chaotic’. Sergeant Greshik will provide 15-minutes of training.” 

 

Missive to Palace Servantry in Karosgrad,

in preparation for the Fourth Dumapalooza

_____

 

With Heinrik’s Sarkozy second election as Duke of Adria, the matter was finally put to rest, much to the relief of all involved.

 

King Karl III and his faction’s patience with the issue seemed to have subsided, and, begrudging though they were, Heinrik Sarkozic was finally acknowledged as Duke of Adria. Part of this abating concern can be attributed to the fact that, in 1900, the seasoned King John I of Balian died at age 83, leaving his son King Alexander I to ascend, who, while equally amicable towards his Haeseni allies, was more interested in consolidating his reign in the south (a massive undertaking, given his father had been the man to found Balian) than embroiling himself in Heartland disputes.

 

Another chief cause is that, by 1899, the King of Haense had his hands full with enemies on his own doorstep: shortly after the Treaty of Spilt Blood had been signed, Haense had been beset by a demonic warband of Inferi invaders, who, most unironically, were led by an Inferi Prince who called himself ‘Siegmund Carrion’. Whether the hellish warlord was merely fascinated with the Carrion bloodline, or whether his existence hinted at a very sinister secret in the ancient House’s history, the Haeseni faced the Inferi in engagements from 1895 until 1901, which culminated in the Battle of Karosgrad when Siegmund led his warband against the Haeseni capital. 

 

Beneath an infernal sigil scorching the sky and a rain of hellfire, Karosgrad was very nearly reduced to ruins and thousands of Haeseni met their demise before the infernal Prince’s host was halted right at the foot of Karosgrad’s gates, where King Karl III met him in a duel. Though Karl prevailed over the Inferi invader, it was hardly without consequence - the cost of reconstructing the city, both in time and funds, would take years, but Karl III himself was left with crippling injuries from the fateful clash.

 

Though it would take four years, he would eventually succumb to those injuries. In 1905, King Karl III of Haense died at the age of 56.

 

His passing was not unexpected - given his age and his injuries - but it sent shockwaves through Almaris. Karl III had been a dominating and uncompromising presence in most of Almaris’ geopolitics since the Successors’ War, and, unlike many of his predecessors, Karl III had no qualms leveraging his powerful military to pursue his goals. Doubtless, Heinrik Sarkozy and King Charles I were visited by quiet comfort now that King Karl III’s domineering shadow no longer lay across the continent, whereas King Alexander I and Archduchess Renilde I watched anxiously to see who would rise as de facto leader of Humanity. 

 

That leader would be Georg Sigismund Barbanov, who was crowned King Georg I of Haense in the wake of his father’s death. As an eccentric and jovial prince, there were those who doubted whether Georg I could replicate his father’s uncompromising politics, but Georg I - who would be commemorated in Haeseni history as ‘the Summer King’ - would go on to distinguish himself as one of Haense’s most ruthless monarchs. 

 

But that time was yet to come.

As the new King Gerorg I consolidated his rule, the next upheaval in Humanity was to happen in the Commonwealth of the Petra. 

 

---

 

The Commonwealth of the Petra on the banks of its namesake River,

c. 1894

 

The Pétrine Civil War broke out in 1908.

But, like all conflicts, its roots trace back much earlier.

 

When her father - Archduke Paul Salvian - died in 1894, his daughter Renilde Temesch et Moere inherited a relative jewel in the otherwise war-scarred Heartlands. The Commonwealth of the Petra had ceded from the Harvest Confederation less than a year ago, narrowly avoiding being caught up in the inception of the Kingdom of Aaun, and it now boomed as a vibrant state in the fertile basin of the River Petra. Eager to move beyond the Heartland’s decades of war, its denizens toiled with an energized optimism and industriousness that rivalled the Adrians, and though the Commonwealth had evolved from its genesis as a ‘knightly republic’, chivalric virtues remained a cornerstone of their culture. 

 

Renilde I’s inheritance, ergo, had been a fortuitous one indeed, but one she would prove herself worthy of. The ambitious young Arduchess was both confident and capable, and, within the first few years of her reign, she had stood alongside her sovereign fellows from Haense and Balian in resolving the Acre-Aaun tensions at the Second Convention of Atrus, and had played no small role in the prelude to the Treaty of Spilt Blood being signed in Karosgrad -- in fact, it had been Renilde I who had delivered the ultimatum of war on behalf of Petra, Haense, and Balian before the summit at which the Treaty was signed. Like all rulers of note, Renilde I was blessed with loyal and competent retainers, some of which had served her father and some of which she herself selected, including the likes of Dame Catherine of Furnestock, Grandmaster Maude Monalt, and, of most importance, Renilde I’s own husband: Constanz Anton Novellen, the man who would spark the Civil War. 

 

Born as the fourth child to King John I of Balian, Prince Constanz was a direct relative of some of the late titans of the Heartlands, among them being Emperor Peter IV and King Frederick I (his cousins), and Emperor Philip III (his uncle). While King John I and his immediate family adapted to a new way of life after settling in Balian following their defeat in the Brothers’ War, Prince Constanz struggled to come to terms with his people’s neo-Akritan cultural shifts, which was spurred by his father’s fascination Akrita (a semi-mythological race of southerners who once lived in the bygone lands of Lorraine) and the influence of Rhenyari traders who frequented Balian on voyages through the Straits of Savoy. Prince Constanz’s sense of identity was still firmly rooted in Oren and his House’s imperial history, and so, when the opportunity arose for a marital alliance between Balian and Petra in 1892, Constanz was the perfect candidate, and the two were married later that year (note that this was 2-years before Renilde I would succeed her father as Archduchess). Of further note was that this marriage was strictly matrilineal; though Prince Constanz came from a storied lineage himself, their fathers (or, more accurately, Dame Catherine of Furnestock, who had arranged the marriage) had agreed that, when the time came, Constanz would be Archduke-Consort, and their children would take the name of Renilde I’s House (Temesch). This, though, did not dampen Prince Constanz’s spirit and enthusiasm.

 

Royal and prestigious though it may have been, Constanz & Renilde I’s marriage had a common problem.

It did not end well. 

_____

 

“He would act as though he was humouring me when I would tend to the matters of the realm. As if he was in charge, and he was simply letting me have my little dream.” 

 

Quote from Renilde I (then Archduchess-Emeritus)

during an interview for ‘The Pétrine Civil War: a Haeseni Perspective’, Erika Kortrevich

_____

 

When Prince Constanz relocated to the Pétrine capital of Valfleur, he did so with a host of retainers and courtiers, many of whom had been of notoriety in the Balinese court at Atrus.

 

In fact, the departure of Constanz’s supporters came as a considerable blow to King John I’s government. Even before his wife became Arduchess, Constanz threw himself and his faction into work to bolster Petra’s continued growth, and he became a figure of instrumental support during Renilde I’s early years as Archduchess. Contanz signed international treatises with his wife, orchestrated key domestic functions such as overseeing mayoral elections and the formation of the Pétrine Chancellery, and he even left his mark militarily through his founding of the ‘Sons of Petra’, a militia that offset the Commonwealth’s otherwise lacking defence. 

 

Their marriage was one of political alliance and not mutual affections, but it was a hugely productive one - for a time. 

 

By 1908, the two had been wed for 16-years, and, in that time, the Commonwealth had climbed to even greater affluence. Now, Petra had expanded beyond a pseudo-city state with a network of loyal vassals dappling the Pétrine countryside, it had become a wealthy trading epicentre by virtue of not only its own industries but also because it sat on trade routes between Haense and the Heartlands, and its meritocratic government had become one of Almaris’ most robust. But all was not well; over the last few years, Renilde I had become increasingly of the opinion that her husband was overstepping his station of Consort and making decisions without her input. A particular grievance pertained to the ‘Sedan Incident’ of 1904, where Constanz had unilaterally committed Pétrine troops and support to repel an aggressive Church inquisition into the Principality of Sedan (a tiny city-state) and impose demands on High Pontiff Pontian IV for diocesal reform. 

 

Prudent to note is that this particular incident is subject to some debate; while scholars such as Erika Kortrevich, in her study on the Pétrine Civil War, write that Prince Constanz had embroiled Petra in the Sedan Incident on his own, there are some conflicting accounts that indicate Archduchess Renilde I’s support for the intervention, though we must also consider the distinct possibility this support was ‘saving face’, so as to deflect the perception that her husband had undermined her so publicly. Whatever the case may be, there was a growing division between husband and wife, a prospect not soothed by the fact Prince Constanz exhibited considerable influence over many in Petra, and his own faction of support had swelled far beyond the original retinue had brought with him from Balian. 

 

This division simmered in the back of the Archduchess’ mind: Petra was still strong and unified.

Then, however, Prince Constanz found a certain letter, one that changed everything. 

 

_____

 

“The Archduke has sought to overreach his station beyond his permitted privileges, as agreed to within our instrument of marriage.

 

The Archduke has incited hostile relations against fellow Canonist Princes in an attempt to fulfill his warlike ambitions.

 

The Archduke has attempted to overrule the Archduchess in the selection of the members of her government, at times even in violation of the Constitution and the ideals outlined by Paul Salvian.

 

Most recently, the Archduke has attempted to usurp the Archduchess’ authority within Petra itself, erecting palisades around Valfleur and sequestering himself within the halls of the Archduchess’ keep.”

 

Extract from ‘A Cuckold’s Ire’, Archduchess Renilde I’s

publicised grievances against her husband, c. 1909

_____

 

As aforementioned, the marriage of Renilde I and Constanz Anton was a political one.

Renilde I’s affections lay with another man.

 

In the Commonwealth’s infancy, Archduke Paul Salvian had a powerful friend in the form of King Karl III of Haense, and, through state visits between Valfleur and Karosgrad, their children had become fast friends. In royal circles, friendships such as these rarely transcend childhood and those children grow into duty-bound princes, princesses, or even monarchs. One man defied this trend: Marius Audemar, the son of the late King Karl III and younger brother to the current King Georg I. Even as he grew into maturity and his brother took the throne, the free-spirited Prince Marius frequented the Archducal Court in Valfleur, but, as the years passed, it became apparent that diplomacy was not the sole reason for Marius’ many visits. Similarly, Archduchess Renilde I took the opportunity to make state visits to Haense whenever she could, where Prince Marius was also a fixture in her company. 

 

It is not known when exactly the two fell in love, but it appears to have pre-dated King Georg I’s coronation by some years (scholars such as Erika Kortrevich estimate a timeline of close to a decade). Even when they could visit one another, they wrote letters to one another -- it was one of those letters that Archduke-Consort Constanz discovered on a fateful day in the autumn of 1908. 

 

How exactly Prince Constanz obtained this letter - which laid out in full the extent of the extramarital affair between his wife and Prince Marius - is unclear and suspicious. Renilde I had the good sense to hide proof of her adultery, and thus the popular belief is that one of the Knights of the Pétrine Laurel loyal to Prince Constanz (specifically, one Sir Lucien Ashford de Rouen) had broken into the Archduchess’ chambers to spy on her correspondence, and came upon a veritable jackpot which was promptly delivered into the hands of Constanz. Upon learning that he had been cuckolded, the Archduke-Consort moved with frightening speed: within two hours, he mustered the full might of the Sons of Petra - who were wholeheartedly loyal to their founder Constanz - and had them seize Valfleur. The frightened citizens gathered before the city’s cathedral at sunset, where Prince Constanz announced the Archduchess’ infidelity and proclaimed that he was enacting martial law on the Commonwealth. From this moment, Archduke Constanz went by ‘Consort’ no more. 

 

Renilde I was not in Valfleur at the time of Constanz’s coup: quite ironically, she was on a state visit to Karosgrad, and she was in the company of the Haeseni Court when she learned that Constanz had seized Valfleur. While her absence undoubtedly made it easier for the Sons of Petra to secure the Pétrine capital, Renilde I’s absence on the particular day likely saved her nation, if not her life. While her capital was now held by hostile forces, she herself was alive and free - and she could strike back. 

 

Before we explore how the Civil War unfolded, we ought to take stock of a popular belief among historians that Constanz had been plotting to oust his wife long before he uncovered proof of her adultery. Circumstantial factors like the Consort’s overreach in power are not, in this author’s view, particularly compelling, and while they can certainly be attributed to arrogance, do not necessarily underlie a looming coup. Of far greater value is to ask how and why the Archduchess’ chambers had been broken-into, and how the Sons of Petra mobilised with such speed and efficiency. To this day, scholars remain unsure whether the Sons of Petra were simply exceedingly well-trained, or whether they had planned for this exact contingency. Another factor is some curiosity was the heavy-handedness of Constanz’s response; sinful though royal adultery may have been, it was not entirely uncommon (with King Andrik III of Haense and Emperor Peter III being popular examples), and while the particular scrutiny Renilde I endured can be explained due to harsher treatments of female sovereigns, it is also possible to explain it as Constanz leaping at a perfect excuse to act.

 

The truth of Constanz’s intentions remains lost, but he had played his hand nonetheless.

The struggle for control of the Commonwealth of the Petra was now afoot. 

_____

 

“Spread the truth, Pétrines! 

 

We do not support a false duchess! If she can go out and lie to her own husband, how much has she lied to us? For how long have these sins occurred? Did Petra even matter to her?

 

Good fortune will come to those who support the truth. GOD will reward you in the Seven Skies for keeping true to his books. Adultery is a sin! Remember that!”

 

The Petra Post, Vol. I No. VII,

Evangeline Halcourt

_____

 

Pétrine society found itself divided.

The Archduke or the Archduchess?

 

For a nation of Canonist faith like Petra, adultery was no trifling matter, and the prospects that Renilde I’s children might in fact be Prince Marius’ could cast serious doubt on Pétrine succession - the kind of doubt that led to wars of succession. Archduke Constanz found no shortage of supporters: the Petra Post, the national newspaper, began publishing brazen bulletins in his support, Pétrine nationalists were outraged at the prospect of Haeseni interference, and even the Archducal children proclaimed support for their father. There were those who supported Renilde I, of course, or were at the very least sceptical of Archduke Constanz’s machinations, but, with Valfleur held by the Sons of Petra and the Archduke’s supporters vocal on the streets, many of them held their tongues, especially after one of Renilde I’s outspoken supporters - Bianka Jazloviecki - was executed for her supposed treachery. 

 

In the north, news of the affair met with similar scorn - the Haensemen prided themselves on their honour, and Prince Marius had desecrated his by defiling the bonds of matrimony (albeit not his own). But, with Renilde I now effectively exiled in Haense, all eyes turned to King Georg I, Marius’ elder brother. King Georg I immediately ordered the assembly of his army, the Brotherhood of Saint Karl, with the intention of marching into Valfleur and squashing Archduke Constanz’s insurrection. Arguably, it would have been far easier for Georg I to wipe his hands of the affair, since it was clear the Pétrines were divided, and the Church would no doubt condemn Renilde I for her adultery. In addition, his allies in Balian would have been pleased to see one of their own Princes take a throne in the Heartlands. King Georg I’s actions, therefore, can only be explained by two things (or a mixture of both): one was his bond to his younger brother - he would not see Marius so publicly humiliated, and the woman he loved dethroned. Even so, it is said he had Marius beaten behind closed doors for his recklessness. The second factor was that, if Archduke Constanz was slain, then Marius could legally marry Renilde I, and therefore embed the Haeseni Royal House in Petra. 

 

To this end, Georg I was doggedly committed. Later that year, Constanz, eager to both deter Haeseni intervention in Petra and to legitimise his rule, sent two of his most loyal retainers - Livia Elena d’Anapalais and Sir Brandt Berhal - as envoys to the Haeseni King. To demonstrate his outrage, Georg I had the two Knights duel one another to the death in his hippodrome, forcing Ser Brandt to slay Livia d’Anapalais in an act of barbarism, with Ser Brandt succumbing to his wounds minutes later. “If your Constanz,” Georg I is recorded to have said, “manages to eke out as much as a pyrrhic victory, I will destroy what rump state he manages to build within the hour”. 

 

But his Brotherhood of Saint Karl did not march, at Marius’ and Renilde I’s own petition. The reality was that if Renilde I reclaimed her throne with a foreign army, she would sacrifice Petra’s sovereign integrity, and her own legitimacy as its ruler. Instead, she knew the only way by which she could defeat her husband and keep the faith of her people was to do so with Pétrine loyalists. 

 

Archduchess Renilde I began her counterattack against Archduke Constanz by issuing an edict exiling him from the Commonwealth and listing his crimes (which were not limited to his coup, and featured many of her grievances with his overreach during their marriage). Of note was that Renilde I did in fact deny the allegations of infidelity, but she would accept and atone for it later - right now, there was a civil war to be fought. After the winter snows cleared and the year turned to 1909, Renilde I rode out from Haense (so as not to be seen to be puppeteered by King Georg I), and established her resistance at the loyalist Pétrine castle of Courteis Hale, which she did in the company of Prince Marius and a small honour guard; while the Haeseni army at large could not interfere without tainting Renilde I’s sovereignty, Marius himself was already deeply embroiled in the matter. 

 

Other allies soon gathered at Courteis Hale, most notably two Pétrine exiles: one of them, Sir Paul Montalt, was a skilled field commander and well-known to Archduchess herself, for he had once commanded her household guard before a dispute with his knightly brethren had led him to go into exile. Now, though, he returned to fight for who he saw as the rightful Archduchess. He was joined by another Pétrine exile - Sir Valentin Mareno - who had abandoned the Commonwealth out of distaste for Constanz’s earlier rise in influence. 

 

Both Sir Valentin and Sir Paul had toured with the notorious Ferrymen Band mercenaries during their exile, whose support they now secured for Renilde I. 

 

---

 

 

Valfleur, Commonwealth of the Petra

c. 1910

 

In early 1909, a Knightly Tribunal was called in the Pétrine keep of Castle Moere.

Here, Knights of the Pétrine Laurel called on Renilde I to submit herself to trial to settle the scandal.

 

Archduke Constanz - who held the loyalty of many of these Knights - attended the Tribunal himself. He was content that if Renilde I did not present herself, it would amount to an admission of guilt to the Pétrine people; if she did submit to trial, he was confident she would be convicted. Alas, Constanz drastically underestimated his wife’s tenacity, for it was not her that arrived at Castle Moere, but Sir Paul Montalt at the head of a small warband. The Storming of Castle Moere ended in disaster for the Archduke; Sir Arthur de Lyons, the Knight Paramount of the Pétrine Laurel who had convened the Tribunal, was slain in the fighting, and Constanz himself was taken captive. 

 

Archduke Constanz was brought to Courteis Hale, where the Canonist Church and the aged Dame Catherine of Furnestock - the esteemed Pétrine stateswoman who had arranged the marriage of Constanz and Renilde I in the first place - intervened in the hopes of negotiating a peaceful end to the conflict. Renilde I acceded, in no small part because her force’s victory at Castle Moere had in fact stirred up adverse sentiment against her in Petra: while her intention had been to drive out Constanz with her own loyalists, many in Valfleur saw the Storming as the Archduchess sending Ferrymen mercenaries and Haeseni interlopers to shed the blood of her own people. The only faction to swing in her favour was that of Sir Laurens Halcourt, who commanded the Pétrine Regiment, the city guard of Valfleur, but this did not count for much - compared to the Sons of Petra, firmly loyal to Constanz, the Pétrine Regiment offered little manpower. 

 

The negotiations were mediated by Father Blackwater, a priest of the Church, and they appeared promising at first before the captured Archduke suddenly announced he no longer wished to strike an accord right as they were on the cusp of doing so. Though it is not clear why, there is some credence to the belief that one of Constanz’s followers had smuggled him information that fresh enlistments in the Sons of Petra following the Storming of Castle Moere cemented his advantage. It was only at the insistence of Father Blackwater that Constanz was not killed; instead, Sir Paul Montalt gouged out his eye before unceremoniously throwing the Archduke outside the castle gate. Though it is likely Renilde I would have welcomed his death, only by slaying Constanz in battle could she redeem her legitimacy. 

 

That battle was soon to be upon them. In the final weeks before the inevitable confrontation, both husband and wife scrambled to prepare their forces. In Valfleur, Archduke Constanz commanded the larger force, but many of them were recent conscripts with little in the way of battlefield experience. To compensate, Constanz enlisted in the aid of Sir Edmond de Rouen, a Savoyard who served as one of the commanders of King Frederick I’s forces in the disastrous Battle of Acre in 1880. Sir Edmond had settled comfortably in Petra since the fall of Oren, but now he accepted Constanz’s invitation to organise his forces in Valfleur. By the end of 1909, the Archduke commanded some 2,400 Sons of Petra and local levymen. 

 

In Courteis Hale, Renilde I’s force was smaller. For all her original intentions, this left her with little choice other than to rely on her experienced, but foreign, military advisors. What Pétrine partisans had gathered to her side endured rigorous training under the harsh tutelage of Sir Paul Montalt and the Ferrymen, and when the time for battle finally came, Renilde I’s forces amounted to just under 2,000.

 

The fateful day finally came in the late spring of 1910.

The day of the Battle of Valfleur.

_____

 

“Renilde I, the ‘Parasite of the River Petra’, a woman with no honour who breaks her promise made under the sight of God and his shepherds. She, who in her own fault betrays her people, attempts to gather foreign swords against all of Petra, while its people stand against her.

 

No man nor woman who has worked in service of Petra stands by her side, her plans filled with heathen intent and she has broken the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony by consorting with another than her husband, the Archduke Constanz, Prince of Balian, and the man the people themselves have chosen as their leader.” 

 

‘The Parasite of the Petra’,

An anonymous publication in support of Constanz Anton Novellen

_____

 

Archduke Constanz’s 2,400 troops held the city of Valfleur.

Archduchess Renilde I’s 1,900 approached from the hills ringing the city.

 

Compounding his numerical advantage, Constanz had also fortified Valfleur in anticipation of his wife’s attack. The only way Renilde I could hope to prevail was through superior and cunning strategy, which, fortunately for her, was the specialty of her Ferrymen allies. At sunrise, the loyalists moved into archery range, and exchanged volleys of arrows with Constanz’s garrison in Valfleur for little over an hour, but to little effect - Constanz held the defensive position on the walls. The loyalists moved into their formations in preparation to storm the gate: Prince Marius commanded a contingent of 200 Haeseni sent by his brother as his honour guard (who had taken the colourful name of the ‘Hounds of Don’), and his unit was supplemented by 300 Pétrine loyalists under Joseph Vasile, a former squire; meanwhile, the main 1,000-strong body of the loyalist army formed up under Sir Paul Montalt, while Valentin Mareno of the Ferrymen commanded 400 reserves to Sir Paul’s flank. 

 

In the city, Constanz had arrayed the companies of the Sons of Petra along the walls, placing the veteran squadrons on key gateways and under the leadership of seasoned officers - which included Sir Edmond de Rouen, Gregor Malinov, and a von Draco recorded as ‘Sir Wings’ (and whose presence at the Battle of Valfeur is a mystery) - while the newer enlists were placed along the walls with bows and arbalests. After half-an-hour of regrouping, Sir Paul Montalt’s warhorn blew, and the main army raised the banner of the Archduchess before advancing on the gates with shields raised. The defenders rained projectiles down on them, slowly whittling the attacking forces, but the loyalist stratagem succeeded: with the threat of Sir Paul’s main forces breathing down their necks, the Sons of Petra were too slow to react to Prince Marius’ and Joseph Vasile’s units circling the city on horseback, and attacking the rear gate. 

 

Gregor Malinov held this rear gate with 350 Sons of Petra, and he met the loyalist detachment as they tried to storm the gate with grapples and ladders. Prince Marius and the Hounds of Don proved more ferocious than Gregor Malinov expected, however, and, as his position on the gate became precarious, he sent a request for aid to Archduke Constanz’s headquarters. The request would arrive too late: with supporting fire from Joseph Vasile’s Pétrines, the Hounds of Don carved a daring foothold on the walls, and forced Malinov to fall-back. The Pétrine commander knew abandoning the gatehouse could spell disaster for his Archduke, and so Malinov made a stand in the streets below, only to be defeated and captured. 

 

However, instead of opening the rear gate, Prince Marius and Joseph Vasile advanced inside the city. By now, it was too late for Sir Paul to disengage from his attack; he had already lost more Loyalists than he could afford to in his charge on the main gate, and pulling out now to enter the rear gate would not only expose them to enemy arrow-fire for even longer, but also give Constanz an opportunity to focus on retaking the rear gate. And so, Prince Marius and Joseph Vasile prepared to launch a direct attack on Constanz’s command centre (in the watchtower of the main gate). With his troops spread along the walls, Constanz could not afford to be struck by a concentrated attack on his headquarters; to avoid the killing blow that Marius and Vasile threatened, Sir Edmond ordered all Sons of Petra to assemble in the streets below, which meant abandoning their bombardment of Sir Paul’s advancing force. Even with the loss of Malinov’s squadron, the Sons of Petra still held the numerical advantage, and now Constanz resorted to brute-forcing that advantage to destroy Renilde I’s forces in a direct melee. 

 

With the bombardment lapsing, Sir Paul sent Valentin Mareno’s reserves ahead to scale the main gate and open it from the inside, allowing the main loyalist force to enter the city and regroup with Prince Marius and Vasile. Both armies took a conventional formation - consisting of a central core and two wings - as they engaged in Valfleur’s main square. Sir Paul took the centre of the loyalist forces, with Valentin Mareno commanding the right-wing and Marius and Vasile commanding the left, whereas Sir Edmond led the defender’s middle while Sir Wings took the corresponding right-wing, leaving Archduke Contanz - in the absence of Gregor Malinov - to lead their left. 

 

Just before midday, the two armies staked victory in a bloody melee.

Three hours later, the Commonwealth had its undisputed victor. 

_____

 

“Uncle Razmir,

 

I trust you know the situation in Valfleur, and that the city will soon be a battleground between the harlot Archduchess and megalomaniac Archduke. Theo and I cannot afford to leave the house, lest the victorious army think abandoned and loot it bare, but please - I am leaving the two boys with you.

 

I know it has not been since Mother’s passing since we spoke, but I beg of you; grant them sanctuary in your mill until the civil war passes. ” 

 

Letter from Ana Leceil, a Pétrine baker

to her uncle, c. 1910 

_____

 

The initial clash bode poorly for Renilde I’s loyalists.

Both Valentin Mareno and Sir Paul Montalt were badly injured.

 

In a show of perseverance, both commanders remained at the frontlines to rouse the morale of their troops. Even so, the loyalist assault suffered greatly for their injuries: by one-hour after noon, Sir Edmond was methodically dismantling Sir Paul’s central forces, so much so that he even sent reserves to aid Constanz’s left-wing against Valentin Mareno and prevent the Ferryman commander from regaining momentum. Only Renilde I’s personal presence in the centre kept her Pétrines from losing their grit. With the centre and right-wing in peril, it fell to Prince Marius and Joseph Vasile on the loyalist left-wing to turn the tide.

 

They did just that.

 

Breaking his line formation (an exceptionally dangerous maneuver mid-battle), Marius led the Pétrine Knights and his Hounds of Don in an all-out assault on a weakening fracture in Sir Wings’ own lines. The loyalists carved a breach, and flooded through. Had Sir Wings ordered his line to invert and collapse on the breaching Haeseni and loyalists, Prince Marius might have been cut to mincemeat. However, Ser Wings mistakenly anticipated that Marius’ aim was to take his head and collapse the defender’s right-wing, and so Ser Wings pulled his personal unit back in the hopes of stalling out any attack by Marius.

 

But Sir Wings could only watch in disbelief as Marius and Vasile swung their heavy charge to the right, snaking towards Sir Edmond in the centre and completely ignoring Sir Wings himself. Indeed, Marius and Vasile did not plan to triumph on the left-wing battlefield, but to instead save the loyalist centre and right-wing from annihilation. Though Marius’ charge was haphazard and his assault formation ragged, he and Vasile’s men were mostly heavily-armoured Pétrine Knights and elite Hounds of Don, and so Sir Edmond could not simply ignore them when they began to burrow into the side of his formations. Marius’ unit fought recklessly to force their way inside Sir Edmond’s formation, for they were painfully aware that if they stalled for even a few moments, Sir Wings could regroup and strike their rear. 

 

Having sent some of his forces to reinforce Constanz on the adjacent wing, Sir Edmond found his formation under immense strain, especially when - after Joseph Vasile raised Renilde I’s standard from deep behind enemy lines - Sir Paul Montalt managed to rally his forces and push back against Sir Edmond’s frontlines. The formations collapsed, and Valfleur descended into a chaotic melee. Only the far-wing of the battle, where Archduke Constanz faced Valentin Mareno’s troops, remained intact - but not for long. With the rest of the battlefield in disarray, panic began to spread through Constanz’s wing; it was in that chaos that a loyalist brigade pierced through the free-for-all, with Dame Charlotte Roberta - Renilde I’s sister - at its helm. The charge of these knights smashed through a formation of recent Sons of Petra enlists, and slammed into Constanz’s command unit. His banners disappeared over the heads of thousands of fighting soldiers, and, a moment later, were replaced by Renilde I’s. 

 

The day was not yet won, however. Having regrouped his troops after being left in Prince Marius and Joseph Vasile’s dust, Sir Wings now collapsed into the side of the loyalists, threatening to swallow them all. Joseph Vasile doubled-back to prevent their rear troops - most of whom were exhausted after being rotated out from the vanguard - from being devoured, and it was there he met Sir Wings in a duel to thwart the von Draco’s final attempt to salvage the day in favour of Archduke Constanz. 

 

Surrounded by Pétrine men and women locked in a bloody and mortal struggle, Sir Wings and Joseph Vasile gave the final key battle of the day. They exchanged blows for a little under five minutes, before Vasile’s blade snaked past Sir Wings’ guard, and his rang helmet hard enough to incapacitate the hedge-knight commander. 

 

Finally, by three-hours afternoon, it had been done.

The shouts of the bloodthirsty and screams of the dying were replaced by the cheers of the victors. 

 

_____

 

“I have seen firsthand what sort of wanton destruction the Ferrymen can cause, and many honourable Pétrines such as Sir Arthur de Lyons, Sir Brandt Berhal, and Dame Livia d’Anapalais, died at the hands of their blades or worse, at the hands of darkspawn with your ranks.

 

I rallied the people of Petra to the keep for safety, and yet they still came. Only by the grace of GOD did we survive that day. But I know my people will find no justice at the hands of your governments, and I know you will keep hunting them for crimes they did not commit. So, I leave my fate to GOD.” 

 

‘The Fate of the Second Sons’,

a statement by Archduke Constanz following the Battle of Valfleur

_____

 

On the 8th of Owny’s Flame 1910, the Battle of Valfleur was fought and won.

Renilde I stood triumphant.

 

But there were scant laurels to rest on. As Renilde I surveyed her recaptured city, it was a sight stained by Pétrine blood on the flagstones, Pétrine dead strewn on the streets, and Pétrine cries of despair in the air as the Sons of Petra disarmed. A civil war is never a lighthearted affair, but in the case of the Pétrine Civil War, Renilde I faced a particularly nasty aftermath: the reality had been that, at the end of the day and despite her efforts, more native Pétrines had fought beneath Constanz’s banner, while Renilde I had been forced to supplement her own loyalist forces with foreigners and sellswords. 

 

But anyone who would oppose her now lacked the strength to do so. Now, she was faced with the unenviable task of purging Constanz’s supporters and re-establishing a regime loyal to her, and that meant the loss of many talented civil servants, commanders, and courtiers. While the surviving Knights of the Pétrine Laurel swore their unfaltering fealty to the Archduchess following her victory at Valfleur, Sir Edmond de Rouen was stripped of his titles and exiled, much like when his last liege - King Frederick I - had fallen. The fates of Sir Wings and Gregor Malinov are lost to history.

 

Archduke Constanz had not died; rather, Dame Charlotte Roberta’s unit had captured the renegade consort, and the judgment that awaited him was most poetic. With his aspirations shattered and many of his lifelong allies dead, there was only one thing left for Constanz to redeem: his honour as a married man. So it was that the defeated Archduke challenged Prince Marius to a duel to the death to restore both their honour. Marius agreed; both his brother and the Church thought it would be a fitting punishment for his adultery with Renilde I. 

 

Some six weeks after the Battle of Valfleur - once both Marius and Constanz had healed from their injuries - their storied duel was held in the hippodrome of Karosgrad beneath the clear sky of early summer and the vigil of hundreds of spectators. Highborn princes they both might have been, but they had proven their brawn at Valfleur, and now they fought for their lives. The song of steel-on-steel echoed through the hippodrome, with both men pocking each other with small cuts, until, after over twenty-minutes, the Haeseni Prince sliced through the Balianese Prince’s neck. Constanz Anton Novellen died, joining the many followers who had given their lives in his name. With Constanz dead, Prince Marius and Archduchess Renilde I were wed on the banks of the River Petra towards the end of summer, but not before the Church had imposed penances on the couple for their adultery. When the dust had settled, Prince Marius now stood astride Renilde I as Archduke-Consort. 

 

The Pétrine Civil War was over, but its scars would mark the Commonwealth forever. It is a testament to the depravity that comes with the Great Interregnum that Constanz was capable of securing the majority of Pétrine support for a throne that he, by virtue of his matrilineal marriage, had absolutely no entitlement to. The fact that the would-be Archduke had wholly claimed the Commonwealth as his own, and did not seek to, at the very least, install Renilde I’s legitimate heir on the throne to replace her, does lend itself to the conspiracy that Constanz may had been planning to usurp his sovereign wife long before proof of her infidelity was unveiled. 

 

Yet, could it be said that Constanz’s ambitions were legitimised by his widespread support? Ought the Pétrine people be able to determine their own ruler, whoever that might be? For, indeed, if not for the intervention of Prince Marius and the Ferrymen on Renilde I’s behalf, she would have most certainly lost her throne outright. It is only the darkest depths of the Great Interregnum, when Humanity stands at its most base point, can these questions be confronted, answered, and learned.

 

Constanz Anton Novellen was not the only one to reach for such heights, though.

In 1916, another man would attempt to carve out his kingdom. 

 

---

 

Neu Branthof, seat of House Barclay von Minitz, after a raid

c. 1918

 

It had been 13-years since the Fourth Dumapalooza.

Since then, fortune had favoured Duke Heinrik Sarkozy of Adria.

 

While the Haeseni battled against the Inferi horde of Siegmund Carrion and the Pétrines fought their civil war, Velec burgeoned. Heinrik’s election in the Fourth Dumapalooza had not only iron-clad his title, but it had also come as a blow to Haeseni prestige, cementing Heinrik as an Adrian hero in the eyes of his people (and other Hanso-sceptics). Adrian families of old, such as Varoche and Euler, rose to prominence once more in the thriving settlement, and the Adrians had gradually amassed wealth from the wayfarers and merchants who travelled through Velec on the busy Eastfleet Road.

 

But Duke Heinrik had learned a hard lesson from his near-clashes with the late-King Karl III of Haense over the Adrian title: if Adria did not grow in strength, then it would be forever at the whims of Almaris’ larger nations. 

 

While Adria was garrisoned by its standing militia - the Greycloaks - who were loyal and well-armed, they numbered too few to compete with the likes of the Haense’s Brotherhood of Saint Karl (interesting to note, after his role in the Battle of Valfleur, Joseph Vasile swore to Adria and was appointed Marshal of the Greycloaks). To compensate for that weakness, Heinrik knew that he needed expert commanders and tacticians. The Duke found these not in the form of his Adrian families, but Renatian ones - descendants of the Pertinaxi Emperors and their vassals, often otherwise known as ‘mercenary dynasties’ who had wandered between nations since the fall of the Pertinaxi Dynasty. The two families that Duke Heinrik settled were the House van Aert and House of Vilac, both of whom were clans of seasoned warriors - readers may recall that House van Aert had, under the titleage of the Hounds of Blackvale (or also the Blackvale Vrijkorps), been the most instrumental armed forces of Emperor Philip III and Empress Anastasia I in the Sinners’ War. 

 

Some of Heinrik’s own Adrians chafed against inviting Renatians to join them in Velec; while the Adrians may have begrudged Haense for allowing the Burning of Ves, the Renatians had been the ones to actually set their beloved city to the torch. These protestors relented, though, and most came to share Duke Heinrik’s position that Adria could never withstand those who meant it harm if they did not source new strength. 

 

Adria’s critics abroad, however, were not so easily assured. The Haeseni and Balianese nobility were the descendants of those who had fought to restore the Orenian Empire during the War of the Two Emperors and had been brutally defeated by the Renatians, making the two factions historic nemeses, and there existed an unspoken policy that Renatian bloodlines could not be allowed to take root again. 

 

While Duke Heinrik naturally ignored diplomatic envoys and complaints, they did pause to one man: King Charles I of Aaun.

____

 

“Now, with the Dumapalooza of 1903, our task is different; our path shall be different.

 

We sit at the precipice of the future. To let ourselves be defined by others and the past, or strive upon a different fate. As Duke of Adria, I proclaim for the latter. Let our tenacity and hope define us. Let our great endeavour of rebuilding and rejuvenation define us. Let our willingness for reform and change ready us for hindrances. Thus, with this agenda, I intend, with the support of my people, to enact their will and declaration.” 

 

Extract from ‘Upon a Different Fate’,

Heinrik Sarkozsy’s inaugural declaration, c. 1904

_____

 

In order to expand his infant Kingdom, King Charles I had a simple plan: entreat as many new settlers as possible to come to Aaun.

 

It had produced mixed results. On the one hand, settling Heinrik Sarkozy and the Adrians had brought Aaun more influence than could have been hoped for; but, on the other, settlers like House Ivanovich had almost thrust Aaun into a catastrophic war and forced him to sign the Treaty of Spilt Blood. Now, however, even Charles I worried that settlement in Adria had become unsustainable following the arrival of House van Aert and House Vilac (who were soon joined by House von Draco, who were absolved of their oaths in Haense and relocated to Adria). The Renatian Houses had sworn fealty to Duke Heinrik, not King Charles I, and the Alstions were certainly no friends to the Renatians either. Both from his own court and his allies, King Charles I fell under increasing pressure to do something about the “undesirables” settling in Adria. However, even if Charles I wished to do something, he would have found himself unable. Heinrik was Aaun’s foremost vassal, now likely surpassing even House Barclay of Minitz, and it seemed dubious whether the King could rally an army of his own capable of enforcing any decree against the Adrians. 

 

It seems as if the Aaunish King at first thought he could simply ignore the issue; after all, for all the distrust amongst the Royal Houses of Almaris, the Renatians had yet to openly aggress against their ancestral foes. But the King’s difficulties continued to mount in 1916 when he was approached by a prominent Adrian by the name of Sigismond Varoche. A zealous Adrian nationalist, Varoche had been one of Duke Heinrik’s most ardent supporters and a pillar of Velec’s prosperity. But Varoche had become disillusioned with the Duke of Adria who had once held such universal affection from his people: Varoche’s foremost grievance was the settlement of the Renatian families, which Varoche saw as sacrilege given their ancestors’ crimes against Ves, but he was also convinced that Duke Heinrik was consorting with the Dragonkin (a breed of Shadowspawn) and that he, in the apparent popular trend for Heartland leaders, had committed adultery against his wife. 

 

Though he did not publicise his misgivings, Sigismond Varoche confided in secret with both King Charles I and High Pontiff Pontian IV, and, by the spring of 1916, they were in the advanced stages of planning Heinrik’s removal from power. Alas, of the few of Varoche’s retainers who knew of his designs, one of them betrayed him and delivered Duke Heinrik his own arrest warrant signed by King Charles I. 

 

Heinrik did not hesitate.

Within the hour, he summoned the Greycloaks.

_____

 

“[After the Fourth Dumapalooza] the leader of Adria was welcomed back home to Valetzia with thunderous applause, and Adria began in earnest. A new city was constructed, businesses began to flourish, people moved into the city, and made an honest living in the Dumacracy. These things are impossible to achieve alone and the Duke’s side was the Council of Orel, people with the authority of the Duke, who made these things possible.

 

Thirteen years have passed, and it is the belief of the Council of Orel, and more, that the Duke’s health has been steadily declining. A man who started out strong has been eroded by time, and now his every decision is controversial. Throughout Duke Heinrik’s reign, more and more evidence of his misconduct has made its way to the surface and has been building up -- some of which would make any good Canonist weep!”

Extract from ‘Heinrik’s Folly’,

Sigismond Varoche’s condemnation of Heinrik Sarkozic, c. 1916

_____

 

Almost immediately, the Duchy of Adria rebelled.

Martial law was declared. The Adrian Duma was suspended.

 

In the same declaration, Duke Heinrik declared that Sigismond Varoche had betrayed them, and was conspiring with the King of Aaun - their King - to bring their Duchy to heel. While Varoche’s betrayal - and whether it truly amounted to treachery or not - caused some division, Heinrik’s popularity proved superior, and most Adrians held true to their Duke (though not all; some fled Velec as conflict loomed). Varoche aside, most Adrians did not need much convincing to turn against the Aaunish throne: there was little integration between the Aaunish and the Adrians, and even less respect, with the prevailing Adrian sentiment being that Aaun was a weak state that contributed very little to their relationship. It is not known if Sigismond Varoche was present in Velec when Heinrik enacted martial law, but if he was, he escaped and took refuge in the Commonwealth of the Petra. 

 

The Aaunish Court was left in disarray. The plot to oust Heinrik had been one prepared in secret, and so its revelation - and Adria’s consequent rebellion - came as a similar shock to most in Aaun. But with Adria teeming with elite Renatian warriors, King Charles I resolved to strike swift and hard in the hopes of forcing a decisive battle with Heinrik before the Duke could organise his forces. 

 

On the morning of the 11th of Godfrey’s Triumph 1916, an army was dispatched from Neu Branthof. This army numbered 3,500-strong, composed chiefly of Reinmaren cavalrymen and Alstion men-at-arms, and under the leadership of Johann Barclay von Minitz and Charles I’s own wife, Queen Eleanor Alstion. An army of this size was a stronger showing that might have been anticipated of  Aaun, dwarfing both sides in the Pétrine Civil War, and so the Adrian scouts along the Eastfleet Road delivered their reports back to Velec with alarm. Heinrik Sarkozy shared their unease; in Velec, he had gathered a host of only 3,100 of his own Greycloaks. 

 

When the Aaunish army reached the outskirts of Velec later that afternoon, Queen Eleanor took to the front and called upon the Adrians to surrender and for Heinrik to submit himself to trial. Her plea, of course, fell on deaf ears, and the Battle of Velec that followed was a brief and bloody affair. In the fields outside the Adrian stronghold, Duke Heinrik and Joseph Vasile led a joint central force of 2,600 Greycloaks, accompanied by a detached force of 500 reserves led by Valentin van Aert. Johann Barclay formed the Aaunishmen in a conventional line formation, and hoped to simply whittle down the Adrians with his superior numbers while launching cavalry sorties at their under-defended points. 

 

It was here that Heinrik’s gambit of settling the Renatian families paid dividends. At four-hours afternoon (a remarkably late starting time for a battle), Heinrik and Vasile’s main forces clashed with Johann Barclay’s, with the lines pushing and shifting indecisively over the course of an hour-and-a-half. But, when Vasile’s unit successfully lured a particularly-large cavalry sortie to the fringe of the battlefield, Valentin van Aert took the opportunity to abruptly punch through the left-side of the Aaunish lines, and flooded through with his 500 Renatian elites. They stormed through the rear lines of enemy troops like a hot knife through butter, and the ensuing chaos caused the complete collapse of Johann Barclay and Queen Eleanor’s formations. 

 

Just as the sun began to set, the Battle of Velec came to a decisive end.

The Aaunish army had been repelled.

_____

 

“We write this declaration from Our most Holy Office with naught but sorrow to address the crimes of a man We once held in high esteem as a pious exemplar of the Holy Canonist Faith. Verily, We once looked up to Duke Heinrik Sarkozic, Our kinsman, for having risen to the position of Duke and having brought the Adrians back together after a long period of hardship for our people.

 

However, it saddens Us greatly to admit that in recent years such admiration has completely vanished, and to admit that We are of the belief that the power that he has drawn towards himself has gone to his head and made him mad. Certain vile crimes on his end have come to light …” 

 

Extract from the ‘Excommunication of Heinrik Sarkozic’,

High Pontiff Pontian IV

_____

 

Things began to spiral for the Aaunish.

They had been unable to defeat Adria with a larger army, and now hundreds of troops lay dead.

 

While Queen Eleanor was able to oversee an organised retreat while Johann Barclay maintained an intact rear guard, Heinrik Sarkozy pressed his advantage. Mere days after the Battle of Velec, Joseph Vasile advanced on the Aaunish road fort at Fort Felder with 1,500 Greycloaks, who sacked the Fort after the garrison surrendered following a brief exchange, pushing Aaun’s frontlines back even closer to the central Aaunish holdings. Adria did not just dominate the Aaunish at home, but also abroad, as later that year Joseph Vasile successfully tracked down Sigismond Varoche to the Commonwealth of the Petra, where he and his son were slain by Adrian operatives - naturally, much to the displeasure of the Commonwealth. 

 

Now with the reins of the war firmly in hand, Duke Heinrik plotted to strike at Aaun’s only reserve of manpower: Minitz. If he were to disable the Barclay forces of Duke Brandt Barclay, either through annihilation or taking a hostage to force them to withdraw from the conflict, then King Charles I would be left practically defenceless. In the late summer of 1918, a force of 2,000 raiders led by Valentin van Aert - and supported by Sofya von Draco and Reinolt von Draco as lieutenants - rode to Neu Branthof, and did battle with the garrison (whose number was unknown). The preceding decades had left the warriors of Duke Brandt battle-hardened, but even they could not stand the ferocity of the Renatio-Adrian assault. Valentin’s warband stormed the walls, and bowled through the streets like a tidal wave. While the city’s armsmen had been handily defeated, it was not such a slaughter as to destroy the Minitz army (many of whom were absent with Duke Brandt, attending on King Charles I in the Aaunish townstead of Florentine), and they could find no suitable hostages. Instead, the Adrians settled for insult: they set fire to the Branthof Moothalle, a site bordering on sacred for the Waldenian warriors. 

 

The Adrians may have failed to force Minitz out of the war, but they had still dealt a decisive blow, and Duke Brandt Barclay returned two days after the raid to find Neu Branthof charred, his armsmen slaughtered, and his Moothalle razed. It had become abundantly clear that Aaun now lacked the means to defeat Heinrik Sarkozy on their own; out of options, King Charles I appealed to the rest of Humanity for aid. Most of the Canonist Princes of Humanity were not exactly keen to salvage the Aaunish from what they viewed as a mess of their own making, but King Charles I’s case was greatly helped by the fact that High Pontiff Pontian IV (himself of Adrian descent) had very recently excommunicated Heinrik Sarkozy - thereby branding him as an enemy of all Canondom - on account of his purported ties to the Dragonkin and the Renatian Godfreyists (who were at the time considered heretics for their denial of Exalted Sigismund). Most convincing of all, however, was the fact that Heinrik Sarkozy might well pose a threat to the rest of Humanity’s standing if he devoured Aaun. 

 

In light of this, King Georg I of Haense, King Alexander I of Balian, and Archduchess Renilde I of Petra issued a joint condemnation of Duke Heinrik, in which they called on him to submit to trial before the High Pontiff to answer for the crimes that Sigismond Varoche had originally accused him of. The statement - entitled ‘A Polar Concurrence’ - did not threaten military intervention, but it may as well have. 

 

But Duke Heinrik had time on his side. While it was unclear if an allied enemy army would actually come, it would still take a good deal of time for the Canonist Princes to muster their forces and march them into the Heartlands. All Heinrik had to do was finish off King Charles I before they arrived, and so he forced this ultimatum in early 1918 once the weather warmed enough to allow his troops to march. His full force, now swollen to a staggering 5,500 Adrian militiamen and Renatian skirmishers, set off down the Eastfleet Road, deep into central Aaunish holdings, plundering farms and hamlets as they passed. It was clear that, if left unchecked, the Adrian host would cut straight through Aaun, and so King Charles I was forced to mobilise every soldier and levyman he could, which still amounted to a remarkable 5,700. That was a number far higher than the Adrians - or anyone else, for that matter - expected, but it did not give Heinrik paused; he had already defeated a larger Aaunish host at the Battle of Velec, and he was convinced this time would be no different. 

 

At dawn on the 6th of the Sun’s Smile 1917, Charles I rode at the head of his army from Neu Branthof. 

They marched to determine the fate of Aaun and Adria alike. 

_____

 

“Thus, it is with a heavy heart that his Royal Majesty King Alexander I of Balian, his Royal Majesty King Georg I of Hanseti-Ruska, and Her Grace [Archduchess] Renilde I of Petra, do hereby condemn Duke Heinrik Otto Sarkozic for the crimes he has committed, and call upon him to submit willingly to His Holiness for repentance and absolution as well as sue for peace rather than bloodshed.

 

We hope this wayward sheep is returned to the flock without cost to his kin, or his people.” 

 

Extract from ‘A Polar Concurrence’,

An international rebuke of Duke Heinrik

_____

 

The site King Charles I chose to do battle was Rolley’s Hill.

It was a wise decision.

 

Overlooking a sloped portion of the Eastfleet Road near a memorial arch constructed to commemorate the Brother’s War, the advantageous terrain lent itself well to archery bombardment, which the Aaunish hoped to rely on to thin the Adrian ranks. When the scouts of Valentin van Aert relayed the Aaunish position to Heinrik’s forces, who had camped just a few miles down the road, the Adrians struck their camp and assumed battle formations. Leonid Vilac took command of the central Adrian forces composed primarily of 4,500 infantrymen, while Valentin van Aert and Joseph Vasile each captained a flank of mobile horsemen and rangers that numbered 500 apiece. For them, it was simply a case of the infantry either creating an opportunity for the flanks to strike the Aaunish, or vice versa. 

 

Beneath a bright morning sun and a cloudless sky, the two forces met two-hours after dawn. The bombardment started as soon as the Adrians came within range of Rolley’s Hill, and the Adrian strategy soon proved surprisingly ineffective: the heavy bombardment kept Leonid Vilac’s main forces from making any meaningful advances up the Hill, while contingents of Minitz horsemen under Duke Brandt Barclay and his retainers launched sorties to repel Joseph Vasile and Valentin van Aert’s flanking squadrons before they could reach the Aaunish archers. An hour before noon, Leonid pulled back all his forces to regroup and reevaluate his strategy, before, to his great shock, King Charles I ordered his Aaunish to pursue and prevent the Adrians from disengaging. While it was a boon for the Adrians that the King had abandoned his favourable terrain on the Hill, Leonid Vilac could not make use of that boon while his own forces were unable to disengage. 

 

The free-for-all on the slopes stagnated to a stalemate, but Leonid Vilac soon switched tack. He had Valentin van Aert and Joseph Vasile’s divisions take up a position at the bottom of the hill, before he had his own troops fake a retreat down the hill. Believing the Adrians had broken, the Aaunish pursued in a frenzy absent any formation or tactics of their own. When they reached the bottom of the hill, Valentin and Vasile’s flanks skewered into them, before Leonid’s forces about-faced and rushed back into battle. It was the Aaunish who broke, with King Charles I and his officers unable to restore order. As Aaunish bodies blanketed the hillside, soldiers began to flee, and the Battle of Rolley’s Hill was lost. With his final chance of defeating Heinrik Sarkozy dashed in spectacular fashion, King Charles I retreated to Neu Branthof with what scant survivors of the Aaunish army could be rallied. 

 

King Charles I dispensed with the idea of stopping the Adrians.

He soon signed the Armistice of 1918, granting the Duchy of Adria complete independence from Aaun.

_____

 

“I. The immediate independence of the Duchy of Adria and severance of all servitude and obligations to the Kingdom of Aaun.

 

II. The termination of hostilities on all fronts of war.

 

III. The affirmation of the new borders of the Duchy of Adria, being the territories of the Lower and Upper Petra, included within: the City of Vienne, the Lands of Acre, and the remaining Kingsroad.” 

 

Extract from the ‘Armistice of 1918’,

in which the Kingdom of Aaun acknowledged Adria’s independence 

_____

 

As part of the Armistice of 1918, King Charles I also agreed to petition High Pontiff Pontian IV to lift Heinrik Sarkozy’s excommunication, and for the signatories of the Polar Concurrence to stand down.

 

To that end, an international summit was called in Karosgrad later on the 5th of Tobias’ Bounty 1918. Here, Duke Heinik would come before the High Pontiff to undergo penance for his sins - that being his consortium with the Dragonkin and adultery - in the presence of King Georg I of Haense, King Alexander I of Balian, and King Charles I of Aaun. What followed was the notorious Battle of the Two Churches. 

 

Beneath a pall of tension and unease, the Adrian, Aaunish, Balianese, and Pontifical delegations arrived in the Haeseni capital, together with thousands of spectators from across the continent, including a party of Elves from the recently-formed Elven state of Celia’nor. There, in Karosgrad’s Basilica of St. Otto, High Pontiff Pontian IV declared that there was only one penance through which Duke Heinrik could absolve himself: death. 

 

At the prearranged signal, the Aaunish, Haeseni, and Balianese forces drew their arms and surrounded the Adrians attendees. Dozens of those who resisted were slain as they fled, or even on the polished tiles of the Basilica itself. Joseph Vasile and the von Draco armsmen managed to escape into the Karosgrad sewers, only to be flushed out and arrested by King Georg I’s Brotherhood of Saint Karl later that day. In the pandemonium, Duke Heinrik was spirited away by the Celia’norian Elves (for reasons that remain largely unknown, but likely relate to the Celia’norians regarding the Adrians as a more worthwhile military ally than the Haeseni); they bundled him through a window, where an Adrian rider ferried him out of the city while many of their countrymen were locked in small clashes with Haeseni, Balianese, and Aaunish troops in the streets. The Duke of Adria had escaped, but the men who had tried to slay him were unwilling to let up.

 

Once the bedlam in Karosgrad subsided - with most Adrians either fleeing, surrendering, or dying - the allied forces congregated. They numbered a total of 7,100, whom King Georg I - with the assent of his allies - placed under the command of one of his Knights, Ser Arthur Gant, with Malcolm Gant and Ser Vanhart ‘the Carrot’ Barclay as his officers. As the sun was setting, Ser Arthur led this allied force from Karosgrad, and they marched hard for a day-and-a-half, delaying only to camp for the night near Petra, before they reached the walls of Velec in the afternoon of the 7th of Tobias’ Bounty 1918. Ser Arthur and his army did not know if Heinrik Sarkozy was actually inside the Adrian city - if he was, then the allied forces intended to take him back to Karosgrad, dead or alive; if not, then they would raze Velec to the ground and permanently cripple their Adrian foe. 

 

At the sight of Ser Arthur’s massive host, the Adrian garrison of 4,500 - many of whom were in total disarray after fleeing from Karosgrad - quickly abandoned the city walls and pulled back to Velec Castle where they would have better odds of repelling an attack, allowing Ser Arthur to leisurely invade the town. Most of the civilian population was driven out into the countryside, and Ser Arthur began a siege of Velec Castle that would last nearly two full days. The Adrians made sporadic sorties throughout the ordeal, but when it became clear they had little chance of overpowering the 7,100 invaders, resorted to waiting them out. 

 

They waited, and waited, and waited. As the impromptu siege dragged on and the fighting soon came to a complete halt, the allied forces grew impatient, and that brought with it undiscipline. Despite Ser Arthur’s insistence that the allied force remain on high alert, many of the companies that made up his army became preoccupied with looting houses, indulging in the tavern’s supplies, or even returning to their own homes. And so, just as the food stores in Velec Castle wore thin, the Adrians charged out in earnest and engaged the invaders in the town square, whose numbers are hypothesised to have dropped to as few as 5,500-6,000 by this stage, giving the Adrians the window of opportunity they needed. 

 

Tired and disorganised, the allied forces were decimated, and forced to retreat.

What had begun as a massacre in the Church at Karosgrad ended with a final clash in the Church at Velec.

_____

 

“Once upon a time in the days of the Holy Orenian Empire, lived a poor, lonely duke by the name of Adrian Sarkozic.

 

One day, he started to carve a puppet from wood. “I’ll call the pupper Heinricchio,” he thought. “He will live with me and be like a son. But he won’t be a real Duke”. 

 

First, he carved Heinricchio’s eyes. The eyes opened, and stared at him! Next, he carved the nose and mouth. The mouth began to laugh at Adrian. Finally, he carved the arms and the legs. Then, Heinricchio stood up and said, “I don’t want to be a puppet! I want to be a real Duke. But I don’t want to rule, I want to go to war and reform the Empire!” - “You must rule and be good,” said Adrian, “then you will be a real Duke”.”

 

Extract from ‘The Ballad of Duke Heinricchio’,

King Georg I’s declaration of war against Adria, c. 1920

_____

 

For King Georg I and his allied forces, the Battle of the Two Churches was an unfortunate setback.

But he would not be deterred.

 

As the repelled army of Ser Arthur Gant returned to Karosgrad, King Georg I resorted to the one surefire method he had to uproot Duke Heinrik Sarkozy, who all of Almaris had evidently underestimated: total war. News of Georg I and his allies preparing for a full-scale invasion was enough to dampen the Adrian elation at their recent victory; that was the very last thing Heinrik and his countrymen hoped to hear. While the Adrians could assemble a host of at least 5,000 warriors - spearheaded by their viscous Renatian elites - waging a war against Haense, Balian, Petra (who, notably, had not been present for events in Karosgrad), and the remains of Aaun could mean fighting an enemy army over 15,000 strong. Any tactical or martial advantage Heinrik held would be swallowed by the numerical difference, and his sole option to avoid that would be to convince the Elves of Celia’nor to join his defence. 

 

It would, however, never come to that. 

 

Right as these nations mustered their full martial might in anticipation of yet another all-out war in the Heartlands, the Mori’quessir appeared. This matriarchal tribe of Dark Elves, one who ruled a massive war-wracked empire beneath the ground, had emerged from the Underdark and invoked a prophetic belief that the surface world was theirs to conquer, and launched their continent-wide offensive against Descendantkind. Every nation was forced to commit the better part of their armies to battles with the Mori all across Almaris, and while that meant that a war between Haense and Adria was now impossible, neither Georg I nor Heinrik were quick to forget their rivalry: despite the struggle against the Mori, both Haense and Adria still frequently dispatched warbands into each other’s lands, leading to innumerable roadside battles from 1920 to 1927. So intensive were these raiding campaigns that it became a death-wish to travel the roads of Haense and Adria without a heavily-armed escort, and this state of affairs continued until the Mori forced the Descendant migration to the continent of Aevos in 1927.

 

So comes an end to the Adrian Interlude, a prolonged period of the Great Interregnum which saw no insignificant amount of bloodshed, betrayal, and base pursuit of desires. It can be said with certainty that Humanity now stood at the precipice of its lowest point, where the shared bonds of the Tribes of Horen were now worthless. Oaths to lieges were forsook, blood was spilled in churches, and even the sanctity of marriage had been desecrated. 

 

There was no shortage of powerful rulers in this era that sought to forge Humanity’s way through that darkness - from Baron Hannes de Vilain, to King Karl III, to King Georg I, to Archduchess Renilde I, to Archduke Constanz, to King Charles I, to Duke Heinrik Sarkozy - but the task of realizing their ideals placed them at odds with one another: the Harvest Confederation had been naively idealistic and dependent on Hannes and Gustaf de Vilain to avoid exploitation; the Haeseni “anti-empire”, whilst the most powerful nation of the period, suffered from being largely reactive rather than proactive; Constanz Novellen had acted far too brazenly in attempting to his takeover of Petra and stranded himself to the whims of other nations; Archduchess Renilde I would forever bear the burden of having had to rely on foreign troops to reclaim her throne; King Charles I had sought to reunite the Heartland tribes in a kingdom of law and order, yet wielded only a fraction of the military means necessary to do so; and Duke Heinrik Sarkozy had, by virtue of abandoning diplomacy in favour of fostering his warring capabilities, allowed himself to be made into a pariah among Humanity with whom none would break bread. 

 

It would only be one when one of these powers stood triumphant over all others could they finally enforce their vision for all Humanity, and, in doing so, bring an end to the Great Interregnum. But, as I say, the Adrian Interlude was only the opening act to Humanity’s new moon. What would follow in the decades to come would come the great reckoning through which that supremacy finally came within reach, only for it to slip away once more. 

 

The Adrian Interlude ended with the migration from Almaris to Aevos in 1927.

In 1951, the Covenant War would begin.

 

---

 

This concludes Volume V of Interregnum. Volume IV shall chronicle the events of the Covenant of War, a conflict of monumental proportions between the Covenant of Man and the League of Veletz.

 

---

 

[Rig 17579]

Quote

What Pétrine partisans had gathered to her side endured rigorous training under the harsh tutelage of Sir Paul Montalt and the Ferrymen, and when the time for battle finally came, Renilde I’s forces amounted to just under 2,000.

 

 

 

Sir Paul Montalt can sleep soundly in Hell knowing that he slaughtered the Balianese colonizers and sent them back to whence they came. The trauma of the Balianese' own very existence was so repulsive, that Paul and his descendants forged a half-way decent relationship with the Haensemen in the century afterwards. After all, the Haenseman did what they did for territorial advancement - the Balianese just sought to undermine anybody they could, traveling in the underbrush like wretched serpents and then biting whatever passerby was misfortunate enough to stumble upon them.

 

The Lord of Montalt, Count of Mardon, toasted his Haeseni and Ferryman allies before he again faded from memory. 

 

Rest in Peace,

 

𐠒 Sir Paul Dmitrievich Montalt "The Tongue".

 

Why was he called that? Because he relished in ripping out the tongues of his foes, and it became his knightly epithet. Paul's ghost would always relish in the victory claimed that day, where good triumphed over evil, and the invaders were cast out at sword point.

 

@Halt@Malta@Axeluu

[ferdaboy 3472]

A long dead Titus shudders at the mention of the Lord Protector Adrian.

[Nectorist 12869]

Sir Joseph Vasile touts his 2-0 war record to everyone else lingering around limbo. They all shrug and pass on, moving closer to heaven than he, slow-walking to let everyone behind him know as well.

 

Spoiler

your best one yet

 

[ContestedSnow 1435]

A once-prince of the destroyed Haeseni realm, now an increasingly elderly man, perused the study with his single eye; his expression mired in amusement and woe both. Aleksandr of Barbanov-Bihar-Galahar lamented to the much younger scions of the Galahar family.

 

"Godan, we were strong back then. How far the old realm rose, only to whittle away, fall and crumble to dust. Now, Haense is less than dust, it is nothing at all."

 

He tapped the page before him, and cast a glance askew to his nephews.

 

"Such tragedies ought to be remembered once wrought. To grant our ancestors that honour, at least, would be right."

[MrMojoMordor 2412]

This missive only strengthens the Goblin's belief, that Petra needs a sole Female leader - to stop the Aduniafication & bring forth The Petran Independence.

 

Spoiler

Mega biased but this is an amazing post - what a great way to keep history alive & let people remenicence or learn. I look forward to more & especially to Veletz War & Heartlands Crisis.
( 🔫 u better mention Bon'Ox in Heartland.)