Feather Tree Massacre

The Feather Tree Massacre was an incident that occurred on the second day of Tullena III, 707, outside the small village of Weyground, on the southern border between the Empire of Sevicia and Duscador, not far from the Sevician city of Candar. The massacre occurred when, the night before, a number of Duscadorian citizens that lived south of the border killed four Sevician farms from the village of Weyground over a land dispute.
=== Background ===
Tensions between Duscador and Sevicia had been at a breaking point since the end of the Second Duscadorian-Sevician War in 697. Weyground was a village of strategic significance, in that it straddled the border between the two realms, though officially belonged to Sevicia. Situated in the middle of temperate land that consisted of many plains and fields, arguments over who owned the farmlands surrounding the village had become common between the Sevician citizens of Weyground and the surronding hamlets and the southern Duscadorians across the border. On the last day of Tullena II in the year 707, a number of Duscadorian farmers, who had been arguing for most of the preceding week with Sevician farmers from Weyground, murdered four Sevicians on the road to the east of the village. The bodies were found the next morning and were given full burials.
=== The massacre ===
By the next day the news had spread to the nearby city of Candar. Outraged at the offence, and despite warnings from members of Candar's council to not escalate matters, a group of Sevician militamen comprised of guardsmen and city watch marched south on the following day. In a Duscadorian hamlet close to where the incident had taken place the militiamen slaughtered 31 people, including 26 men and five women, and injured a number more, before sacking what remained of the hamlet and leaving.
=== Aftermath ===
The massacre caused an outrage among the populace of Duscador, and it served as the latest in a long line of incidents between the two realms that seemed to be coming to a fever pitch. With tensions mounting, and facing extreme political pressure both from opponents and allies, the Presidian of Duscador used the massacre as impetus to declare war on Sevicia, which they did six weeks later.
Category:Conflicts and Wars
Category:Events