The Brecilidian Rebellion

"angy elves"
-the eccentric historian Kotohr
In the waning days of 1070AE, a High Elf sorcerer crowned himself in his homeland of Brecilidia, naming himself King Ethelion the Third. Brecilidian separatism and antagonism towards the Western Storm Kings was hardly unfamiliar to the peoples of Aradia; the two kingdoms had been quarrelsome neighbours going back centuries, but this was the first time the High Elves had risen against Queen Talia the First's monarchy in her long reign. Ethelion claimed the reasons for his rebellion were based upon gaining rights for the displaced High Elven people, that they had a right to a sovereign kingdom in their homeland and that the human rule over them was unjust. Queen Talia might have allowed the seperatists their peace but their anti-human rhetoric led to fears they might declare war. While the Brecilidian people were few, the High Elven race has various superhuman abilities that make them extremely dangerous warriors and in the wake of the Pirate War many of the Queen's banners were terrified of what another largescale conflict with such a formidable foe might do to the realm.
Queen Talia reluctantly agreed to take personal action and challenged Ethelion to a sorcerer's duel on neutral ground. This might seem to have been a foolhardy move on the Queen's part, but she was considered one of the most powerful magic-users to have ever lived and had never lost any of the battles she had personally taken part in. It was thought that a quick defeat at the hands of the Queen would cripple Ethelion's claim and end his people's support for him. The combatants met over the freezing northern sea, Talia riding her Griffin Garahal and Ethelion gliding through the air with his own magical prowess. Their battle raged in the skies for hours, until the Queen's scouts saw the unthinkable; the figure of Talia, falling from the sky and crashing into the sea below. Her Griffin was dead, the Queen herself defeated, and Ethelion had won on the terms of the duel and named himself King. Queen Talia survived the fight, but not for very long; she had been dealt what the commoners called the Grievous Wound, an unseeable but severe injury that weakened her to the point she could barely stand unaided. She passed away 5 years later, leaving governance to her squabbling children.
The Queen's Hand, her daughter Princess Valoria, refused to stand for it and demanded bloody retribution. As the fear of war had only intensified, the council and bannermen agreed to invade Brecilidia and end Ethelion before he could grow as a political power. The motion was opposed by Talia's heir, Prince Gordon, and also by the Warmaster Ser Arianne West. However, Valoria won out and it was agreed that the armada would set forth at once. Arianne agreed to command the army, believing her oversight would limit the savagery of the Crown's soldiers. But Valoria insisted that her son, Edmund, be given joint command. The 17-year-old Dark Prince already had a sinister reputation and two bastard children; this was to be his first turn at leadership.
At the news the Royal Armada was approaching, King Ethelion retreated to his Pykrite Ice-Palace in the far northern reaches of the White Desert, digging his heels in and daring the Blackthornes to come after him. The invasion started with the seizing of fishing villages on the southern coast, including an attack on the port of Shanehollow. These were the only battles Arianne oversaw. Upon taking Shanehollow with minimal bloodshed, her troops marched east to meet Edmunds and were greeted with a grisly sight. In the tall snowy pines around the village, the children of Ethelion's loyalists had been strung up in what the soldiers called "The Prince's Birds;" the skin on their backs was slit open, the ribs severed outwards from the spine and the lungs pulled up through the back to create "wings" as the victim was then chained up in this position and hanged from the trees. Perhaps the worst thing about this was that the High Elves superhuman physiology allowed them to stay alive for hours after their mutilation, in horrific pain.
Arianne was furious and demanded the Dark Prince cease this activity at once. Edmund told her that if she didn't have the guts to do what was neccessary, his mother would find a warmaster that could. Ari's resentment of the monarchy, of having become a cog in the noble machine she had once detested, had been building for years and this finally made her snap. After a physical altercation with the Prince that left her bleeding, she stormed out of the operation with her loyalist troops and resigned as warmaster. True to Edmund's word,Valoria immediately found another more suitable warmaster; Edmund himself.
The Dark Prince was not content to merely take out Ethelion and leave the nation in peace. He believed in the culpability of every Elf on the continent for his grandmother's demise and declared his wishes to punish every single one of them accordingly "for what they did to our dear Queen." He led some 10,000 Blackjackets into the Great Pinewood Forest with the intention of exterminating every revolutionary within. What followed was nearly two years of absolute hell for the Crown's soldiers, wondering through the freezing conditions and suffering constant guerilla attacks by the skilled High Elven fighters. When there were direct fights, the soldiers were encouraged to inflict acts of disgusting violence on the populace in order to terrify the Brecilidians into submission; burning villages and killing innocent civilians including children. The "Birds" soon became a common sight in the Forest as the Bluejackets strung up every revolutionary they found in the grotesque ritual. Many went mad from the cold and the bloodshed, and even more men froze in the blizzards. When the Prince's army finally emerged from the forests to attack Ethelion's palace, they numbered only around 6000.
That was more that enough, however, for the massacre that followed. The Dark Prince personally slaughtered Ethelion, his wife and children, the whole family dying on the edge of his blue blade Drakalibur. Edmund ordered his men to "mop up" the refugees that had taken shelter in their king's palace. The High Elves were a waning people and had numbered only a few thousand at the start of the war; by the end, there was only perhaps a few dozen left in the entire realm. The extinction of Aradia's chosen people is viewed by many as having angered the Goddess and wrought the plagues that would walk the land for years afterwards.
Many details of the war's background are kept secret from the public, but it is known that before Ethelion declared himself King, Ser Talia Rookwood was sent on a expedition to the Brecilidian frontier along with her squire Prince Ethan Blackthorne. Ser Talia, a publically-revered knight often called the "Pale Raven," was one of the first to die in the War, and Ethan disappeared without a trace before being mysteriously exiled and ostracized from the family thereafter with his name struck from royal records. Their involvement is not clear, but it is often speculated that the High Elves were not the true aggressors of the War and that it was instead orchestrated by the machinations of Caradoc Rookwood in his efforts to obtain the oil wells on Brecilidian lands--which he has been exploiting with impunity since the Rebellion was put down.
== Involved Parties ==
=== House Dalman ===
* Yver Holdenhome - A permanent injury sent Yver home to Homefast in 1072 after losing both legs below the knee.
=== House Heartstone (The Accord) ===
* Asgarth Heartstone - Had a pretty good time. 10/10, would go genociding again.
=== House Holdenhome (The Accord) ===
* Warren Holdenhome - Heading the Holdenhome forces, Warren would be plagued with PTSD going forward. He attempted suicide in 1076 but was foiled.
* Mancel Holdenhome - 
* Magnolia Holdenhome -
* Edith Holdenhome (squire to Magnolia Holdenhome)
* Yvenna Holdenhome -
* Solara Holdenhome - A medic. Died age 24 on 7th of Lady's Moon in 1071.
=== House Klossner (The Accord) ===
* Agnes Klossner - Only joined the war in 1072 due to pregnancy complications keeping her from her husband Ivan's side.
* Ivan Klossner - Permanent injury.
* Maria Klossner (squire to Ivan Klossner) - Met Percival Umbridge and forged a new love.
* Jakov Klossner (squire to Ivan Klossner) -
=== House Ludlow (The Accord) ===
* Bedivere Ludlow - Died age 34 on 6th of Hunter's Moon, 1072.
* Iliad Webb - Signed on with the Ludlow contingent, originally as a squire.
=== House Piers ===
* Ewann Piers - Died age 45, 19th of Drake's Moon in 1071.
* Amara Piers - Witnessed her husband Ewann Piers' death. Committed suicide due to PTSD from the Brecilidian Rebellion. Died age 44, 18th of Drake's Moon 1074.
=== House Rodin (The Accord) ===
* Keyair Rodin - Keyair sustained a permanent injury in 1071 where his right eye was cut out. He continued to fight to the end of the war, but committed suicide in 1078 due to the trauma caused by the Brecilidian Rebellion.
* Mira Rodin - Accompanied her husband Keyair Rodin to war, acting as a nurse. She had an affair with Casim Umbridge while nursing him back to health.
=== House Umbridge (The Accord) ===
* Casim Umbridge - Injured in Lover's Moon, 1071, Casim remained in camp for a time where he had an affair with Keyair Rodin's wife Mira who was nursing him back to health. Permanent injury.
* Percival Umbridge (squire to Casim Umbridge) - Met Maria Klossner and forged a new love.
* Roderic Umbridge (squire to Casim Umbridge) -
* Drillmaster Gannis - A man from Westgate who died only three months in to the campaign, skewered in a pit-trap set by the Brecilidian natives.
* Dwyn Cliff (unofficial squire to Drillmaster Gannis) - Accompanied the body of Bedivere Ludlow back home in 1072, thus exiting the war early.
Category:Event