Time of Troubles

> "*If he had known his beloved realm would come to this madness, Saint Athdus never would have left Nesaria.*"
> ― Count Stevras of Plagoles
>
>

The Time of Troubles was a prolonged period of civil war within the Nesarian Empire which lasted from 941, with the coronation of Emperor Mathuris I, to 960, with the coronation of Emperor Amelos. It coincided with a plague known as the Trouble, which was the deadliest plague Inecuria ever suffered and likely had a supernatural artificial origin. The combined effects of the plague, devastation of war and the famines caused by both resulted in severe loss of life; the most common estimates given by historians put the death toll at 1/3 to 1/2 of the entire continent, but there is some evidence to support an even higher figure of up to 2/3.

The Time of Troubles saw the eruption of several separate conflicts into open violence, each of which fed into the other. The fighting began with the controversial coronation of Emperor Mathuris, which caused several pretenders to raise armies to stake their claim to the Imperial throne. This came to an extreme head in 943, when there were 27 pretenders simultaneously fighting for control of the throne, and throughout the entire conflict a total of 43 pretenders took up arms to press their (increasingly dubious) claims. This period also saw the struggle between the throne and the Imperial Council come to a head, and on several occasions this erupted into violence.

The period also included several peasant revolts against the merchant class, which in some cases were encouraged and supported by the traditional aristocracy, in retaliation for the perception that the meddling of merchants was causing the economic issues and famines that were plaguing the Empire. Taking advantage of the chaos were nationalist rebellions seeking independence from Nesarian rule, and criminal gangs and bandits escalating their conflicts into open war. Finally, as is the case with virtually every period of civil strife under Imperial rule, they were joined by demon-worshipping cults doing the bidding of their malevolent masters, and occasionally full-scale demonic invasions. Perhaps encouraged by the Dreadfolk, the Bloodvermin also sensed the chaos and expanded on an unprecedented scale, bringing their murderous savagery to nearly every corner of the continent.

The apocalyptic nature of the period also led to a sharp increase in religious extremism and fundamentalism, with official and civilian forces alike undertaking bloody purges of those they considered to be responsible for the chaos, which may have been heretics, heathens, sinners or those accused of consorting with demons - by which is meant both the Dreadfolk and supernatural evil entities. A great paranoia of Witchery struck the continent, and many people were falsely accused of the practice and put to death, most commonly by burning at the stake. Extreme religious rituals such as self-flagellation and severe self-denial to the point of starvation also appeared across locations and religions as a response to what many believed to be a divine punishment or trial.

By 960, the continent was completely and utterly exhausted by the civil wars, and most of those who sought to take advantage of the chaos had destroyed each other. The conflict ended when Emperor Amelos was crowned as Emperor - not through any action on his part, nor even his own desire to take the throne, but simply because all the other pretenders with a valid claim to the throne had been killed in their pursuit of the crown. Since Emperor Amelos was in Asmocaria when the Imperial Council informed him of their decision to crown him as Emperor, he was crowned in that country, in the traditional Asmocarian way - in the sight of the Old Tree - rather than at the Imperial Palace in Ascaria. This was probably also motivated by the fact that, although he liked his home country, Amelos despised the petty politics that infested it, and he rarely ever visited Nesaria during his reign. The Old Tree gave its blessing to Amelos, the last known instance of it blessing anyone, which greatly strengthened his legitimacy and most likely discouraged any other pretenders who were considering pressing their claim.

## Causes

### Succession Crisis

Emperor Davos II died without any heirs in 941, and he did not name a successor. There were provisions for this in the Imperial constitution; the succession moved onto Davos' siblings, as was standard practice, but the fact that he had none threw a spanner in the works. The succession kept moving further and further away as no valid candidates could be found. Finally, the Imperial Council found Mathuris, Davos' third cousin twice removed, and called upon him to take the throne. He was coronated within a week of the decision.

Mathuris being chosen caused immediate uproar amongst the aristocracy. There were many candidates who had an equal claim to the throne, and the Imperial Council was accused of merely choosing the first valid candidate they found rather than going through the rigorous process of finding the most worthy - or, even worse, they were accused of being bribed by Mathuris. Many also objected to the whole idea of the Imperial Council being able to elect the Emperor in the first place, but these same people also conveniently failed to offer any feasible alternative solution as to how an Emperor could possibly be chosen in the circumstances of the succession crisis.

The conflict began when four people who had equal relation to Davos declared themselves the legitimate Emperors and began raising armies to press their claims; Rotis II, Tados, Athos and Elayi. Upon hearing of this, many other members of the Imperial dynasty decided to press their claim, citing older ancestry from other lines of the House of Capilus. This reached its extreme in 943, when 27 individuals all proclaimed themselves Emperor.

### Economic Troubles

This political crisis was so suddenly exacerbated into civil war by the economic and social troubles of the Empire at this time. A string of corrupt, incompetent and apathetic administrators over the last few decades had mismanaged the Empire's economy, utterly failing to solve the worsening shortages of food and other basic necessaries in Onshi, Ascaria and the more populous of the Calsunarian cities which had arisen out of the urban population being too large to sustain itself. This made most of the urban centres of Inecuria into hotbeds of rebellious sentiments as they became more desperate for a solution to the shortages, and the pressure put on rural populations to produce more food than they possibly could also made them angry at the authorities.

Although the theory has been disputed by historians in the past, it is now generally accepted that the food shortage was greatly exacerbated - and possibly even created - by the merchant class, which began a habit of purchasing farmland and using it to produce cash crops (such as tea, cotton or flax, or plants used to make dyes, or converting the farms into woodland for lumber) rather than using it to produce necesssary food crops like grain and rice. This practice was particularly notable in Onshitama and Rulcaria, where many farms were converted to grow crops that provided better profit margins but produced a negligible food supply. The landowning merchants did realise their mistake soon after the conflict began and switched to grain and rice production, but by then it was too late; starvation, disease and war deprived them of farmers to work the land, and many of the farms were burnt down by furious peasant mobs.

The general perception of the ruling classes as soft, decadent and apathetic due to the centuries of peace also made the population more inclined to revolt, as they believed their rulers to no longer be worthy of ruling them. The nationalist rebels exploited this sentiment to call for total independence, whereas the pretenders to the throne garnered support by presenting themselves as virtuous and wise rulers in contrast to the decadent and aimless aristocracy already in place.