Merovian Schism

The **Merovian Schism** was the rapid replacement of declining Ascani imperial power with the rapidly growing Illyrian military presence headed by the Robaerigon, simultaneously splitting his lineage from the House of Lorraine and placing new imperial authority with his three legitimate sons as part of the House of Merovia.

The Schism is held as one of the most seamless transitions of power in all of history between two competing factions, and was one of the most important transitions in history for Arborea and human civilization as a whole in western Neuphany.

## End of the Saturnite Wars

### Destruction of Lenorum

After years of bitter fighting, the Jackal King and his forces finally destroyed Lenorum, thanks to the betrayal of the Paladin Cedric the Kuleg, and razed the city. In this period, three Paladins - Arthur, Gerard, and Rainier - were killed in battle defending the city. Robaerigon, whose wealth and military might had single-handedly prevented Arborea from falling at this point, ordered a fortified front in Corrivalia, anticipating another attack there, and made preparations to regroup with his Paladins there.

The remaining Paladins Roland, Alichard, Renault, Octavian, Oliver, Galmes the Bloody, and Azog attempted to beat the April rains to arrive in Certusa before the Jackal King could muster forces and attack, but in the end, only Alichard, Azog, and Renault were successful. Shortly after the arrival of Alichard in Certusa, Azog left with the intent on confronting the Jackal King himself. Unbeknownst to him, the clairvoyant Jackal King foresaw this lone endeavor and they met at the edge of the Broken Gulf, engaging each other in a duel as battle raged around them. Azog was badly wounded, but in turn wounded the Jackal King with his consecrated silver dagger. The battle cost Azog's forces dearly, and they were forced to retreat into the Solernian islands.

With this victory, the Jackal King turned his eyes not to Certusa, but to Lindemith, in Illyria. After another successful naval battle in the Broken Gulf, the Jackal King had a perfect opportunity to launch his final attack on the remaining human resistance to Auber authority. During this time, the Jackal King was still suffering wounds inflicted by Azog's silver dagger, and the war effort would have been forced to retreat had it not been for the sacrifice of all their Lenorum captives, whose blood repaired the wounds of the Jackal King.

An orog warmaster, Lorag, told the Jackal King he saw him as weak and doomed to fail and attempted to
usurp him. However, the Jackal King defeated the coup, and exiled Lorag to Cascadia. For the traitor's life, the Jackal King ordered him to tell the Cascadian Auber to send forces to Illyria in the next week for a final assault. Lorag did as was demanded of him. Several Auber raiding parties also took slaves along the Solernian and Corrivalian coast, who would be used in the war effort as skirmishers and a vanguard to assault the city.

### Siege of Lindemith

Once Auber fleet reached the southern Broken Gulf, the Jackal King and his forces destroyed several naval bases along the Illyrian coast. Within thirty days, the Auber fleet had destroyed most of the unprepared navy and moved south towards Lindemith. The city was bombarded and devastated, overwhelmed by the fire-arm wielding jannisaries and their gunpowder mortars. The Auber armies finally landed and garrisoned in southern Lindemith, experiencing heavy resistance from the defenders which were
led by Roland, Alichard, Renault, and Astolpho. Oliver had yet to arrive, as he was far in the east and unable to arrive in time for the siege.

Vast amounts of silver-blood and orcs in the city already turned their cloak and assisted the Jackal King in the assault. In addition, a large number of demons, including yugoloths from revisited Diets of Dakar, aided in the final siege of Lindemith. Ultimately, the defenders were overwhelmed were outnumbered and the battle for Lindemith turned into a siege
of the Palace of Five Lakes. By the fifty-fifth day, the Auber had reached the walls of the Inner Palace. However, Alichard managed to hold the Lazulum Gate despite a vicious assault led by the Kabandag.

Eventually, Azog was able to return and led a coup by pretending to be an orc commander who thought that the Jackal King was an unfit ruler, much like Lorag two months prior. Azog was slain by the primus yugoloth the Wind-Raker, a dhergoloth from Vostok Manda, but the damage was done: a significant number of Auber had defected and were routed from Lindemith.

The Jackal King, who had
remained in his flagship throughout the siege, was at that point warned that Galmes the Bloody had arrived with an army 15,000 strong and they were fighting their way to the palace itself. If this were to happen, the Jackal King's advantage in numbers would be null and he faced the prospect of attacks to his rear. In
 a final gambit, he approached the Palace of Five Lakes unattended, hoping to draw out Robaerigon. He was flanked only by one oinoloth and three dhergoloths, including the Wind-Raker.

Leaving Octavian behind to guard his wives and the throne, Robaerigon invited his retainer, Renault, and Roland to join his confrontation with the Jackal King, and intended to meet Alichard guarding the Inner Palace to regroup with him as well. However, the Jackal King was able to arrive Lazulum Gate first and shrouded the entire Inner Palace in darkness, which quickly led to the party being separated and disoriented. Alichard stumbled upon the Jackal King and his retainer first. Engorged on the blood of the Illyrians and flanked by horrific demons, the Jackal King was at the height of his power and Alichard was slain. The Jackal King stood over the Paladin's body as Robaerigon found him.

After a long and grueling battle, joined in its final moments with the arrival of Roland, Robaerigon was
successful in slaying the Jackal King, and the pair of Roland and Robaerigon emerged from the darkness with the head of the Wind-Raker and the Jackal King, respectively, and the sight routed the remaining Auber from Lindemith.

## Robaerigon consolidates power

### Silver-blood policy

With only seven of his Twelve Paladins left alive, the Illyrian military was in dire need of leadership, and Robaerigon vowed that despite their misgivings with the Auber, the pious and heroic Azog was proof that they were capable of great deeds. Robaerigon decreed that any leadership from the Auber invasion would be given similar rank in his own army if they were to surrender, and though this did little to replenish his Paladins, many Auber sought a subsistence life free from conflict and thus surrendered. Most were exiled to Cascadia or Arcadia, with some granted amnesty for higher positions of power.

The initial forgiving nature of Robaerigon was short-lived, and his soft approach hardened over time. Robaerigon had little tolerance for the Auber by CE 644, and after his death, any Auber (except those of only some silver blood) were granted no amnesty nor special privileges in Arborea and were thus enemies of the state.

### Succession concerns

Robaerigon had many wives and the legitimacy of his children affected his relationships greatly, as well as troubled his viziers and Paladins. Of chief importance was the impact on the Lorraine estate and the growing reach of the new Illyrian imperial dynasty, which at best could be divided into three sections and possibly spur on the hyper-division that weakened Ascanium.

With the surge of fortune from slaying the Jackal King and essentially inheriting all of the riches of Lenorum, however, Robaerigon disinherited himself from the House of Lorraine to avoid succession claims from his other family members, and created the House of Merovia from his own newfound fortune as a method of ensuring that only his three children could inherit the new Merovian empire. This was much to the chagrine of the House of Lorraine, but there was little they could do or contest in the eyes of the legal precedent and Robaerigon's growing authority.

### Economic power

The destruction of the Ascani Empire had left much of their imperial territory without proper protection or infrastructure. Robaerigon offered reconstruction, paramilitary forces, and slaves to devastated areas in exchange for estates for his Paladins and esteemed generals; the rapid relief was enabled in part by the Paladins themselves, who began to lead their own groups of paladins ("peers") under identical oaths. It was also possible thanks to the great wealth of the House of Merovia and Illyria at large. Although too harmed by Auber invasion, even Lindemith was still quite wealthy as it had not been sacked in the invasion.

For taking up the mantle of the fading Ascani Empire so quickly, Robaerigon was pronounced by the Papetral Pontifect as the new *imperator* of Arborea and Bastria, and all reconciled areas. Robaerigon was named Emperor of Mankind in CE 678, after two decades of helping to develop the war-ravaged regions.

## Split from House Lorraine

Robaerigon was the eldest son of the House of Lorraine's female heir, and thus could potentially take the position in the ruling class should he marry a female relative. However, in taking his many wives, he failed to secure a straight lineage to the Benegeserine, positioning himself as potentially degrading himself from the "Pristine" stock of having an unbroken family line to being debased into the "Pure" stock. As a result, Robaerigon wrote a formal declaration in CE 678 claiming himself the incarnation of Mithradates IV, and split his wealth and succession to his next female heir. This infuriated the House of Lorraine who could potentially lay claim to his wealth, yet resisted they did not; Robaerigon had no equal at the time and thus they relocated from Lindemith to Cantabria, where their secondary estates had been located.