Bloodmoon Riot

End
Execution of Foran Hills and his band of rioters
Death of Viviana Messys

Dalan Karthmere

Beginning the night of April 17th, 341 AC, the **Bloodmoon Riot** was the most violent riot to fall upon Faercrest, the capital of the Realm of Thyllanor. This riot was, at the time, responsible for the destruction of a good portion of Faercrest's Old-Town district (which was still not completely rebuilt from the destruction of the Six-Day-Siege), and was the direct reason of the death of Viviana Messys, Dalan Karthmere's mother. The riot began over the coronation of Dalan Karthmere, a 15-year old who was now of age to rule on his own without a regent, his Overseer Malric Markwell. Following the riot and the death of his mother, Dalan became very reckless and overly aggressive towards everything he deemed as a threat -- this hurt the relations of his early reign, and gave many rulers a bad first impression of him, something he and all of House Karthmere are still attempting to mend with many other houses.

## History

The Riot began on a mild early spring day within Faecrest, on the coronation day of Dalan Karthmere, when he was to be crowned as Highlord of Thyllanor. The coronation itself was taking place just a day after Dalan's fifteenth birthday, and a week after his own mother's, so everyone in the Karthmere family was in high spirits prior to the riot.

The riot found its initial movement started when a man by the name Foran Hills, a bastard of House Noras, saw Dalan as a repeat of his father and a combination of all of the bad Karthmere traits that had come before him, drawing comparisons to Nobilis Karthmere. His gathering of a mob was also inspired partly from the fact that Foran had been granted an audience by Dalan the day prior -- it was over matters of legitimization, as his father had refused to legitimize him, even himself nearing death and heirless. Dalan, at the time heavily tutored in politics by his uncle Tyralt, turned down the request, claiming that family matters were a matter of House Noras, and not of the government of Thyllanor.

To that end, Foran gathered around two hundred men who held the same view of the Karthmeres as he did, and they formulated a plot to strike the next night. Dalan himself thought nothing of the meeting, which he saw as an exercise in futility. Dalan and the Realm went on to have the coronation the next day on the 17th, and everything seemed to go smoothly, aside from Dalan breaching character and forgetting some of his vows as Highlord. The coronation was still recognized as valid, however, and officially Dalan was to face his first day as the lone ruler of the semi-autonomous nation of Thyllanor.

The Riot began on noon of the 17th of April. The post-coronation celebration had begun outside of the church, where the archpentem Iulios Saely waited to lead Dalan to his station inside. Foran had come to the public viewing, and stood outside, lying in wait. He would not attack until after the festivities, when Dalan had let down his guard. With ten other men, he stood on a roof overlooking a courtyard, and armed themselves with bows. A stray arrow had found it's way into a Karthmere guard's neck, and Foran grabbed his sword, climbing down from the rafters and engaging several guards in close conflict before retreating back to the alleys. Soon the other rioters grabbed every weapon in sight and, in a frenzy, began torching Faercrest's Old-Town District, and along with killing any Karthmere guard and citizen loyal to Dalan. Within an hour, chaos incarnate had erupted.

## Death of Viviana

Soon after buildings were set ablaze, the guards protecting the-now Highlord's mother Viviana Messys were outnumbered, and their training went nowhere beyond street guard experience. Dispatching the guards with superior numbers, Viviana was cornered and frightened, with the rest of her family nowhere to be seen. Alone and covered in the blood of the guardsmen, Viviana screamed for help as Foran suddenly lunged forward and slit her throat, staring at her as her limp body fell to the ground.

- Foran mocking Viviana as she draw her last breath.

The mother of the new Highlord lay dead and the city, for the third time in a long while, had burned, this time from the inside.

## Aftermath

Dalan wanted to fight back against those who had crashed the festivities and killed his mother, but Tyralt and the royal guard deemed it necessary to get Dalan away from Faercrest, as it was clear that this was an attempt on his own life; or at the very least a successful attempt to leave a lasting impression.

It took several hours in the early morning, well until daybreak, until the riot was finally quenched and Foran Hills was captured; Dalan's Overseer, Malric Markwell, had discovered him hiding in the castle gardens. Dalan returned to the city the next day, only two days into his reign and faced with mounting adversity, unchecked grief, and a desire to be alone; away from all of Thyllanor's problems. When he was confronted with Foran Hills, he skipped a trial and instead broke his legs and arms himself, and then ordered him to be thrown in a pit full of cave lions while covered in blood. He didn't last long, and those rioters who were captured alive were forced to watch the gruesome scene, before they, too, faced the same fate. Some still call Dalan cruel for this, but often it is those who are unaware of what truly happened; Dalan lost his mother, and gained a burden greater than any he had faced before.

- Dalan Karthmere at the Second Siege of Dragonspire, 348 AC

The events of the Bloodmoon Riot did, however, help Dalan avoid any future riots of this scale, and since he has taken the crown in 341 AC there have been no rebellions or citizen-organized riots that have degraded to the level of the Bloodmoon Riot, namely in part because of strict protest and uprising laws that Dalan had in place for years after the event, which still remain to this day, albeit a tad more lenient than before.