Kolar

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Emperor of the Aurian Empire from 1307-1318PE. He was known as the Emperor who presided over the spliting of the Empire in the Wars of Broken Gold and saw the end of the Reagov dynasty.

## Appearance

Kolar was heavy set and muscular in his youth though he gained weight in his later years as he travelled less. He was thick necked and had a square jaw and powerful shoulders. He was known to have had a very loud voicoe that could be heard across a battlefield.

## Reputation

In his youth Kolar was known as a fighter, determined and competative. He enjoyed physical sports such as sparing and lancing.

As crown prince he was dutiful, serving where asked first in the government select councils and later as a general in the Red Protectoran. Later he was quick to marry once directed by his father.

As Emperor he was seen as openly domineering covering a fearful and jealous core. His overreaction to the rising influence of the Dovisa family originated the Wars of Broken Gold. He was also remarked to have a dangerous temper and considered those willing to risk greatly as courageous.

## History

1308PE: Kolar sought to curb the influence of the powerful Dovisa Family by sending a Audit Corporation representative, with a Red Protectoran escort, to the Dovisa Grand House in Gan Tarak. This led to the official sanction of the Dovisa house on behalf of the throne. This sanction was a political slap from Kolar and clearly ended any hope Amarak Dovisa had of engaging his youngest child to the Emperor's son. This sanction by the throne caused outrage and anger and was the first major precursor to the Wars of Broken Gold.

1310PE: Kolar sent his wife the Empress Lastania Reagov visited the west. art if her disasterous visit was to go to Gan Tarak. Some claimed it was her own notion others that she had been directed to make the move by the Emperor. While visiting with Lord Amarak Dovisa she took his youngest daughter without his leave under guard and declared she would now be living in the Imperial Palace in Tor Honarik. As Renala (only a girl at this time) had been intended to marry her own son before the sanction this would previously have been welcomed as a precursor for eventual marriage, but it was clear to all that this would never take place. So the plan backfired as the Lord of the Broken Tower (The Dovisa house sigil) realised his daughter was being taken hostage to ensure his good behaviour. On her way back home to the capital her party was ambushed by Dovisa forces and the empress was taken prisoner along with the heir to the throne Prince Gabor Reagov and they were taken as captives back to Gan Tarak. The Wars of Broken Gold were begun.

1310PE: The Emperor Kolar Reagov reacted predicably to the kidnapping of his wife. In order to show no weakness he mobilised what he called the 'Full Fury' of the Empire. Assembling a huge military force and hurling it against the Dovisa upstarts. Yet he found many of the military in their own lands sided with the local nobles over the crown. Also many of the northern forces sided with the Venthron Family who had married into the Dovisa line. The Empeor's efforts to arrest potential Dovisa allies proved to be a critical error. He had misjudged the personal loyalty of the people to their local lords rather than the Empire as a whole. He split his attention and his forces and it resulted in enemies sprouting up all around him.

1311PE: His key military leaders were Marshal of the Empire Salvador Garinan, Generals Jorlov Vadik Riva Kovol and Lancemark Krathe Stoneshoulder. The main imperial force took the heartlands of the Empire back under Kolar's control apart from Hunger Hill which was the seat of Lord Forge Bogatey Amarak's uncle. This forced the Emperor's forces to split off a major division of troops and began what later became known as the Vile Siege. A blemish on the character of the Emperor as well as his military capability.

The Emperor's main military strikes through the mountains to retake Gilgan and then strike at the Dovisa strongholds in the west failed because of the Blood in the Hills ambushes.Though there were some successes and eventually Gilgan was beseiged till the end of the year. Then the cold and hostile populace forced a break in the offensive.

In the north the Commander in Chief was defeated by Tolic Venthron and his various supporters. Leaving the north outside of Kolar's control. The Emperor declared Venthron a traitor and usurper.

Not leading his troops in the field Kolar led the war with his Vizier in the capital. Towards the end of the year some low key opposition to the civil war was raised in the IMperial Senate. Again the Emperor mistepped and decided on a too aggressive and split response. Instead of splitting the detractors apart and bringing them down individually they were rounded up wholesale. Many were excecuted publically such as Jamel Hanarkof and others were stripped of rank and possessions. This caused outrage and solidified opposition against the war, but in the same moment drove it underground. Rayan Dovisa, who had distanced himself publically from his rebelious family, offered or was pressured help infiltrate these Broken Tower sympathisers.

1312PE: The Empire was officially split the west and north declared as an Aurian Empire under the Dovisa Emperor. The centre south and east under Kolar. His main forces had been forced to pull back due to the winter weather and military defeats.

Rayan Dovisa after long months working revealed the identity of Broken Tower sympathisers in Tor Honarik to the Emperor. This resulted in several public arrests and affirming him as a loyalist despite his name. This led to the Vizier Eldon Drakohov's plan that he be used as the new official head of the Dovisa house. This would have allowed for the culling of the traitors and maintained the family name to maintain the loyalty of their small folk.

Kolar's forces enjoyed some success this year under Marshal Garinan as they changed their approach and focused their efforts on smaller single objectives. Lancemark Krathe Stoneshoulder was assigned away from the front. Krathe was the most vicious of the loyalist officer corps and his men the 3rd and 4th Legions called Ashes and Blood were assigned to defeating Broken Tower forces opperating in loyalist territory. Krathe was a favourite of the Emperor who saw him as someone who got results instead of making excuses. If Garinan hoped this meant his attrocities would no longer affect the war he was grievously mistaken. With the Emperor's blessing Oakland and Torash border were emptied of troops. These were locations normally heavily garisoned and this year and the next were some of the lowest numbers of Protectoran troops in those areas in the entirity of the Empire's history.

It was also in this year that the Emperor's increasiong frustration with the Church of Celer became clear. The church refused to declare the rebels as excommunicated claiming the war was a political and military issue and the faith had no part in it. This had allowed some clerics to ally themselves to both factions. Particularly, the clerics offered healing and succour to the wounded of both sides. The Emperor tried to force the Cardinal's hand. He was politely but utterly refused. Kolar stopped attending services at the Cathedral in Tor Honarik and removed clerics from Select Councils and his own advisors.

Despite many successful attacks the Battle of Broken Gates led to the ambush and capture of the Marshal of the Empire Salvador Garinan. So despite his successes the Emperor was forced to pull back and consolodate in several fronts.

Amarak Dovisa delcared himself Emperor of the Broken Aurian Empire. He claimed that Kolar had acted in a way that was unbearable and that his was ungodly and as such did not qualify to be Emperor. So from this date there were technically two Empires and two Emperors. Kolar reacted with expected rage and made General Jorlov Vadik his new Marshal of the Empire and fully endorsed a very harsh and aggressive command style.

Kolar cracked down heavily on open sympathisers, but found that the Senate was not working properly. A large number of the Senators he had arrested represented places that were no longer under his control. Their replacements were unelected and there were no taxes to pay for them, no people that they could claim to control or represent. Some began to tentatively suggest that maybe having two separate Auriran Empires was a reality he might need to accept. Kolar unsurprisingly found this unacceptable. Yet he did not delcare a new offensive. Several key generals not to mention his wife and heir were in Dovisa custody. So he allowed the separation to continue and sent negociators to arrange for the exchange of prisoners. He also investigated alternative methods for resolving this situation looking outside of the Empire and beyond a purely miliatry solution. Though it seemed that he was reluctant to openly use assassins at this point. Rayan Dovisa was made 2nd Senator and given representation of Gan Tarak and leadership over all Senators respresenting the Broken Empire areas.

1313PE: The two empires continued to exist for some time in an uneasy armistice. There were some exceptions such as the Vile Seige being conducted by Krathe Stoneshoulder.

The Broken Empire and the Vile Seige lasted till 1315PE. During this time both Empires reluctantly traded with each other. Skirmishes took place in the dividing line lands. Constant espionage as well as open/hidden negociations continued throughout. Both Empires tried to involve Elygia and Saracan in their dispute. Free Country utterly refused to treat the two sides differently, Dusken likewise. Though Northport was offered a hidden and private treaty by Dovisa which offered them something they wanted enough to openly side with the Broken Tower side of the Empire.

All the Emperor's attempts to negociate the return of the Empress or the heir failed as the Dovisa Emperor make the recognition of their new empire a key demand. Kolar would not countenance that especially as he was certain by then that Dovisa had no intention of killing his key bargaining chip. Indeed the Empress and the heir were in lovely accommodations in the Dovisa Great House. They were very carefully watched and guarded, but they were only watched and guarded. Yet it was this refusal to trade these key hostages and the clear lack of such hostages on the loyalist side that may have prompted the unleashing of the Knight Stalkers.

Kolar's Knight Stalkers took Amarak Dovisa the grandson of Emperor Amarak Dovisa and the son of Amarak Dovisa (son). Taken with him were his young wife, their son also called Amarak and their daughter. On their way to the capital they were the prisoners of the Marshal of the Empire, Jorlov Vadik. Vadik ordered (or utterly had lost control of his men) the family tortured. One of Vadik's men revolted at what was being done and attempted to sneak out the children. He was discovered and in the fighting the daughter was shot by an arrow and killed as were three of the rescuers. However sympathisers in the city assisted the survivors in getting the boy out of the city. They searched but the fugitives instead of pushing west for the Broken Empire, went north-east instead. Hidden in a wagon full of hay the young prince was taken into Huntersholm and through the seige lines into Hunger Hill where his great great uncle still held out defiant.

The Emperor was incensed and commanded the situation be resolved. Lancemark Krathe who had been assigned to get the young prince was insensed by the deception of the rescuers. His own seige lines breached and once again he had lost out to Hunger Hill and its Lord. The desperation of the Emperor the fury of Krathe and the frustration of the siege came together. Losing all sense of military discipline Krathe forcibly took command of the parents who were still prisoners making their way to Tor Honarik. Instead, of bringing them to the Emperor he matched them to Hunger Hill and threatened to excute them in sight of the city. Krathe would not be stayed and broke all the laws of gods and men. He brought a Quorum of Death Priests to the city and with a Soulcrafter called Insanial they sacrificed the boy's mother and used her soul to summon an Entropic Reaver from the Abyss. The Reaver went in to kill the boy but found him defended by the djinn of the tower. The reaper however freshly empowered by the blood of a mother slew the djinn and broke the circle of priestesses.

As a result Hunger Hill fell but the story of the Vile Siege was a huge blow to the Kolar's image. Many of Imperial loyalist command were furious but it was impossible to centure Krathe openly without admitting to complete loss of military control and giving up the victory of breaking the last resistance in their own lands.

However the siege appalled the Church of Celer and they began to speak out openly in support of the Broken Gold faction in the civil war. The public's opinion swung against the crown of Kolar. Importantly, the great grandson of the Dovisa emperor, who had escaped the fall of Hunger Hill, was taken by his priestess protector to the Vormach in secret. When this came to light Kolar openly demanded the Cardinal turn the boy over and the church openly and adamantly refused. Kolar then threw caution to the wind and adopted the Krathe approach. 'If they will hate me, they will fear me.'

1313PE: The Emperor enacted the Blinding of Auria. Rather than disavowing the Vile Seige and Krathe's use of the darkest of means to achieve victory, Kolar doubled down. He turned on the Church of Celer in an attempt to force the Cardinal's hand. He removed the Theonists from his councils, and promoted the building of temples to other aspects of Knowledge and other Avatars. The church was not outlawed, but their services were policed by Protectoran troopers. The crown recinded the rights of the Cellan Guard and the Golden Knights of the church as well. No churchman could leagally go under arms in the eastern Empire and the clerics had to submit to being watched and overseen by Sarrifs. Some priests resisted, which resulted in many churches and temples being broken into and some being razed. The 16th and 17th Green Legions as well as the 33rd Red Legion were also stationed near Ironhold the fortress at the entry way into the Vormach valley. This was very unpopular though and resulted in many small folk and some loyalist nobles in the country turning against the Emperor.

1314PE: Kolar saw his chances slipping away to win and so he reinitiated the war. He did so on a different level than he had previously. He surrounded himself with new advisors and allies after removing his previous Imperial Vizier, Eldon Drakohov, for the man's objections to his increasing radical commands. The Lady who was called only Obscura became his new religious advisor and he appointed an old friend Travol Marx as his new Vizier who would disagree with him less. Finally he organised his military solidly under the Marshal of the Empire Joval and promoted Krathe Stoneshoulder to First Lance of the Black. Now it was total war with nothing held back and dark forces were unleashed both in the hearts of the warriors and in the arcane and divine abilities of some who fought. Unsurprisingly, this violent and ignoble appraoch was reciprocated by their enemies.

The Tatrak Offensive launched at Kolar's command. The First Lance Stoneshoulder (Someone known for his irreverance for the church) was tasked with bringing the clerics back into compliance. The Emperor sent his cousin Konan Reagov who made another push with the northern host now reinforced with Green Protectoran Legions. Reagov was very successful taking control of town after town and bearing down on Rak Danning and the north of the West Riding.

The Rising of the Danns under Tolic Venthron, Abel Ventron and Jarius Firehand slowed the loyalist forces and then persuaded Konan to change his plans. He ignored the Emperor's orders and diversed their offensive thrust entirely south into the West Riding instead. There he was again very successful which left the Emperor unable to effectively complain about him taking command initiative.

The Emperor sent the so called Hidden Fleet into vbattle late in the year under the new loyalist Grand Admiral. It was a combined fleet of imperial ships (who had curcumnavigated the continent to come around to the west) and a mercenary fleet from Elygia and the islands. The fleet came north and struck at the fleet offshore of Cthol Tarak. The battle was bloody with many ships being sunk, many boarded and captured and many burned. In the end to the surprise of most the Hidden Fleet was victorious despite being outnumbered.

The Battle called the The Waste of Wraiths happened at Cthol Tarak. Where the Empire were eventually successful but once again only by emplying extremely dark tactics an entire legion becoming wraiths during the conflict. A mass break in the Blue lines of the Broken Empire forces resulted in the flight of the called "Broken Emperor's" bodyguard. Yet the wraiths had no interest or even understanding of the value of imprisoning Amarak Dovisa. He was slaughtered where he sat on his horse. Many loyalists also fled from and were killed by the Wraith Legion during the battle and afterward.

The result of the battle was a decisive victory for the Red army of Kolar over the Blue. The false emperor was defeated and a major port on the western coast was back in loyalist hands. THey had a land stronghold and a fleet active in the sea. Now that the 'false' Emperor had fallen the Emperor knew he had a serious chance to change things. The thousadnds dead at the Waste of Wraiths the arrival of the Hidden Fleet and the victories in the West Riding all put the Red or Eastern side of the conflict in the assendancy. Kolar realised this was his chance and so under the pleading of his advisors he offered terms to the enemy.

With the Dovisa Emperor and his direct heir dead on the field of the Waste of Wraiths, Kolar offered amnesty to the west. As long as his son and wife were returned unharmed and their commanders bent the knee and acknowledged no further claims to the throne. As a result Kolar declared a truce.

With the death of Amarak Dovisa and his eldest son the Dovisa were prepared to offer an armistice and to return the living Empress and the heir to the throne to seal that peace. However their terms were more bold than the Emperor expected: Secession. Gan Tarak, Rak Danning, Tatrak, Gilgan and Kolaran would revert to city states with a mutual defence treaty, but they would surrender any claim to the title Emperor and cease to be part of the Aurian Empire.

1314PE: Kolar agreed to an armistice. Tired of war and beset by bad publicity among the small folk and especially the Senate. The Emperor found himself anxious to have his son and wife back and believed he could secure them then return to reclaim what he wanted at a later date. The exchange was made and the war was officially ended with an agreed armistice.

1316PE: The Cardinal who had opposed the Emperor died and Kolar was hopeful his successor would prove more pliable and bring the Church back under Auria's control. Kolar wanted to show initial strength with the new Cardinal later known as the Spear of the Oppressed. He tried to force the church into giving up the Dovisa heir Amarak Dovisa (Great Grandson to the Broken Gold Emperor). The Emperor's demands were not even responded to. Rather than reply to his demands for the Dovisa heir to be turned over the Cardinal sent a Theonist (A man who had himself been dismissed by the Emperor) to make his own demands. The Emperor was called to repent his heresy against Celer and Celer's church. He was instructed to revert the ban on the church's miliary in the Empire, remove the Dark Lady Obscura from his councils and return a Theonist in her place. He also required that the Empire disavow the actions of First Lance Krathe and the soulcrafter Insanial for their crimes in the Vile Seige and either see justice publically enacted upon them or better yet turn them over to the Vormach to be Tried by the Book.

The Emperor angered and afraid to show weakness turned over the Cathedral of Tor Honarik to Obscura and her cohorts. The priests and priestesses still there were put out of the holy site, the treasures of the cathedral looted, its guardian djinn slain. When word of the Emperor's actions spread churchs of Celer became armed camps or were abandoned throughout the Empire. Tor Celer itself was put under seige. Many of the clerics fled. The escalation of the Blinding of Auria intensified the anger against Emperor. He had immense power and forces at his command but some of his most loyal followers were still devout followers of the Avatar of Knowledge. Celer had been the central god of Auria for over a milenia and people could not forget their faith so quickly.

Once again rather than back away from an unpopular move Kolar believed to be strong he had to push through. The Seige of Tor Celer continued with increasing amounts of force brought to bear. Unsurprisingly, the city was extremely hard to take. In the end the seige was turned over to the Emperor's killer Krathe and his Ashes and Blood legions. Months later with the Red Wraiths, undead and Knight Stalkers the battle was joined at the Emperor's command. It was utterly terrible leaving the survivors on both sides traumatised. The result was squared blamed on the Emperor as well as his creature Krathe. This included the deaths of the theonists, the capture and excecution of many bishops and priests as well as rebellious sarrifs and many of the officers of the 4th Red Legion who had fought in defense of the city. The Cellestine Cathedral was occupied and looted, though it was not desecrated as had been the Cathedral in Tor Honarik. The populace were chastised thouroughly as the city was utterly sacked. This event was seen by historians as the key trigger for the beginning of the War of Red, Blue and Gold

End of 1316PE: The War of Red, Blue and Gold began as the Cardinal declared the Emperor an 'anathema'. He claimed the sacking of Tor Celer was more than a political act but that it showed the Emperor had been completely overidden by the evil of the Avatar of Death. He called all faithful to resist Emperor Kolar and all his forces with every breath they had. In response the Emperor marched on Vormach presumably to repeat there, what had been done to Tor Celer but this soon became impossible.

The Dovisa and Venthron Families raised armies the Dovisa under a blue banner and the Venthron under a Yellow/Gold one. Kolar's forces were marked as Red.

1317PE: The Empire had heavily reinforced the West Riding but the Venthron or Gold forces did not attack the West Riding. Cutting south they marched straight into the Middlehaven Protectorate. Unprepared, the Red forces in the outlying towns were overun without difficulty most surrendering before any slaughters took place. This part of the war was fought at the most professional level the Yellow and Red units using orthodox military tactics. In the past the loyalist forces had almost always had the advantage of numbers but this time they did not. This left the Red Empire's Commander in Chief the Master General Konan Reagov stranded in the West Riding cut off from reinforcement. To his credit he responded quickly pulling out his forces realising that the West Riding would not be held especially with Larkstone already in enemy hands. Reagov united his forces and marched east into Weatherdark but it was too late.

Lifsal 1317PE: Middleholm had enough forewarning to prepare for the coming of the comoing of the Gold Army. However this was complicated when the city revolted at the treatment. When the soldiers tried to put out of the city as many useless mouths as possible people simply refused. There were some armed invidents and in the end the city general retreated into the academy and the Black Lance Keep. Yet the city turning on the Red forces meant the battle for Middleholm was already lost. The army under Jarius and Joran Firehand was greeted with open celebration in the streets of Middleholm. The city's resistance had been headed by a hidden priest of Celer called the Cloaked Clerk and a detachment of the city's troops who announced themselves as Cellan Guard. When the Firehands arrived at the head of no fewer than fifteen Yellow Legions he was at the gate to greet them. Of note was that he demanded that Jarius agree in writing that the faith of Celer would be instated as the religion of the city and that land would be set aiside for a Cellen Guard Chapter House inside the city as the price of the army's entry. This was agreed to immediately as the cost of a seige to such a large and well defended city could have been catastrophic.

Tolic Venthron had symultaneously split off from the main force and marched west to meet the Red army marching east under Reagov.

1317PE: The Emperor's forces lost in many areas to both the Blue and Gold armies. The Empress sickened and died in the Palace in Tor Honarik. Riots exploded in the streets of the capital but the Emperor acted quickly and locked down the city with the military. Though this only solidified the belief that her sickness and death were a sign that the Emperor had lost the favour of the Avatars due to his treatmeant of the Church of Celer. There were three assassination attempts on the Dark Lady Obscura. All of these were thwarted and if anything her influence was increased as a result. Most believe that it was only under her influence and at her suggestion that the Emperor made the fateful decision to pull all loyal forces back into the crown lands or the Tor Honarik Trading Area. He then turned all these forces on smashing the Vormach and declared Renis' decree null and void and that the Vormach was part of his Empire.

He became obsessed with ending the Cardinal's opposition believeing if he could destory the Spear of the Oppressed and instal a new Cardinal who would do as he asked the war would turn. The army he assembled he called the Full Fury as he had when sending his first armies against the secessionists. Yet this army gained a darker name of the 'Blasphemous'.

End of 1317-Start 1318PE: The advancing armies of Gold and Blue occupied the rest of Kolar's Empire outside of the Tor Honarik Trading Area. This should not have been possible but more and more the cities and towns accepted the approaching armies and as almost no cities were sacked the word spread.

1318PE: The Blasphamy once assembled attacked Ironhold and engaged in a seies of battles to topple the Vormach resulting in the famous Dancing of Djinn. Kolar's forces were initally able to force their way into the Vormach but then were defeated and neither the young heir nor the Cardinal were taken. This attack was a huge gamble and its result spelled the end of Emperor Kolar.

The enemy armies conquored their way to the capital the populace turned to them as they marched. The Emperor rallied his final forces around Tor Honarik and the Gold forces bypassed Tor Armakan. Neither the wizards nor the Green Protectoran forces from Oakhome attacked their flank. The Dancing of Djinn had been too catastrophic to the Emperor's credibility. Yet the Empeorr had significant forces and it looked like there would have to be a devestating battle for either Tor Honarik or Tor Kalash to be taken by storm. All this changed when a small team infiltrated the palace with help from Auriran nobles in the Senate and amongst the Palace Guard. The seven Golden Knights along with the group called the Wounded Dream came into the royal wing and found the dark lady Obscura with the Emperor and both of their bodyguards. The actual truth around these events is hazy but afterwards it was claimed she was trying to feed on or control the Emperor and in doing so she killed him and his son. While the Wounded Dream imprisoned or killed her.

This resulted in Tolic Venthron announcing himself as Emperor when he marched into the city. With the Imperial family dead, there was no one in a position to refuse him.