Aradian Civil War

The **Aradian Civil War** was a conflict instigated in 1016AE following the coronation of Queen Talia I Blackthorne. The Blackthorne Royal Family claimed sovreign governance over all the Aradian Isles as part of their monarchy, but they were opposed by several factions that had refused to participate in the Final Battle for Everglow City. They were figureheaded by those Western bannermen that remained loyal to King Dominic I, led by Shiera Karhall, Valus Thormund and Axl Waynrite, they joined with Elven allies in the Western Drow and also Antioch Dir Hael, the leader of the High Elves of Brecilidia. The New Senate advocated for a return of the "democratic" rule before the Blackthorne monarchs, criticizing the Queen's autocratic treatment of the aristrocracy as evidence she was aiming to make the rich and the peasants one and the same, all castes beneath her with only the Crown to rule them on top. They also protested the Queen's council and inner circle, comprised mainly of young women such as Ameline Rookwood and Cecily Cogworth--daughters forced into leadership positions following the deaths of their fathers and brothers, which the New Senate viewed as making them unfit to rule. They rejected the Queen's new rules of female primogeniture, which gave daughters the right to inherit as much as sons; the Senate claimed that this would play havoc with succession rights.

The New Senate were known as the Rebels, while those loyal to queen Talia called themselves the Royalists. The war was not one of immediate bloodshed; at first the two sides opposed sanctions on trade against each other and made hostile attempts at land-grabs though neither fielded an army. The Queen hoped to win her father's banners back with diplomacy. However, as she had named her own Lord Thormund, the Rebels had named their own Lord Blackthorne--the Queen's senile great-uncle Edwyle, who held the family ancestral castle the Eyrie Peak and its attached port-city Darkharbour. They held Stormrise Isle and the Whiteoak Plains, while the Rebels still owned the Shadowwood and Longbarrow, the seats of Houses Rookwood and Cogworth respectively. Conflicts were mainly fought along the borders in the Thunderlands, as well as in the Deadlands to the west of the mainland and the western Obscura Mountains. Following the bith of Alyssa Blackthorne, the New Senate began to panic and it was decided that more aggressive measures should be taken. They first fielded an army in the summer of 1020AE, but were soundly defeated by Ser Arianne Wildthorne's troops and even lost the Thormund fortress, Thunderclap Redoubt. Around this time the Rebels were joined by Rafe Spinner, an exile in the Obscura Mountains, who was disfigured from frostbite following his humiliation at the hands of King Jaster but who had reconstructed his famous armor in part and was ready to take his revenge on House Blackthorne as a rebel war-general.

The New Senate made several more attempts to attack the crown's territories over the next few months and were repeatedly humiliated, consistently trumped by the royalist's superior technology, and during one memorable incident being tricked into a retreat by Sir Indoril Druun. At the pass of Vastii-Derada in the spring of 1021, Indoril found himself vastly outnumbered by Valus Thormund's army, as the latter prepared to storm the town the Royalists had fortified. In response, Indoriil sat atop the town gate alone, playing his flute; Valus saw this, suspected it was a trap, and had his men retreat in a disastrous act of cowardice.

Sir Axl Waynrite personally led thirty thousand troops in an attempt to retake the Thunderclap Mountains in the Last Moon of 1021AE, but was shocked to be confronted by a small force led by the Queen herself on her new griffin. An army had not faced a Terramancer in centuries; the freezing rain, towering tornados and roiling stormclouds caused such terror in Axl's ranks that the army broke after mere minutes of combat and scattered. Notably there were very few casualties on the enemy side--even when she rode into battle, Talia chose not to take lives.The rest of the campaign succeeded as such. The last gasp of the rebellion came many moons later; hiding out in brecilidian territory, Axl Waynrite and Rafe Spinner attacked a convoy led by Indoriil that was transporting Princess Alyssa and her father back from peace talks at the Cinderfell Parliament. The duo killed Druun and were able to kidnap the Princess, fleeing across the realm to Fort Hollowhead where the last of their forces had marshalled. The 4-year-old Alyssa was abused by her captors, starved, taunted, beaten and chained to a wall in the dungeons. The Royal Army, led by Talia and Arianne, descended on the castle with vengeful fury; unlike the other bloodless fights, many died to the Queen's lightning-strikes during the fight as she forced her way to her daughter, including Axl. Rafe Spinner was personally slain by Arianne, wielding the Headhunter's own blade Drakalibur. With the heads of Houses Waynrite and Thormund dead, Edwyle dying of dementia with only a bastard for an heir, and Shiera Karhall a captive, the living members of the New Senate issued a formal surrender in the winter of 1024AE, bringing the Civil War to an end an ushuring in a time of peace for the Monarchy.

### Impact

The Aradian Civil War is seen as a huge turning point in Aradian history. The Royalist army was substantially weaker in number than their Rebel opponents but they successfully put down the insurrection; it was to be the first of several large-scale revolutions against the Blackthorne Monarchy, but demonstrated deftly that the new Queen was a capable war-leader and also that her people were willing to stand by her in times of conflict. It also demonstrated the supremacy of firearms over swords as the superior weapon of war, which was later solidified during the industrialized Pirate War in the 40s.