The Diabol Civil War

The Diabol Civil War was a period of intense internal conflict between various subfactions of the Diabol taking place primarily in Varasia beginning with the assassination of Hadrianus in 503 AU and ending in for good in 539 AU with the execution of Niccolo Caliara, the last Valdevichi Elder still sending "New Shadow" forces to fight the Diabol-loyal Valdevichi. Though the main and most violent period of the War ended around 520 AU when the Diabol under the Leadership of Cardinal Gomez de Gamarra reinforced and took back most lost Diabol territory, defeated all New Shadow forces outside of Anzenia and ended all other Rebellions. The Diabol Civil War was a historical period of great importance to the Diabol and to the supernatural world at large as it coincided with the Second (debatably Third) Inquisition and preceded the Great Conquests of Gomez de Gamarra and the various wars that came with it. Various now powerful demons had a role in the Diabol Civil War.

## Preceding Events

The Diabol before the Diabol Civil War was quite different than the Diabol of Modern Nights. During the Dark Ages and early Medieval Era the Diabol gained the reputation of anarchy and chaos that is still applied to it nowadays but showed more clearly back then when it was far easier to break the Masquerade. Diabol Packs would freely pillage whole villages and towns and they basked in the fear it created, they even entertained the Religious narratives of demons being "Hellspawn". By the late 400s the anarchy of the Diabol was fracturing it as the Convocation barely ever met and Presbyters acted as independent Kings. Tensions rose between Hadrianus, the 4th Generation Valdevichi who was at the time Presbyter of Anzenia and was turning into something of a new Shadow Court and many Anzenian Cities were enforcing Valdevichi only rules for the local Diabol packs. This greatly angered the Quasimodo Presbyter of Tunava Jaromir Jeziorski as many Diabol Quasimodo packs were operating in the great sewer systems of Anzenia and were kicked out. Jeziorski and Hadrianus' rivalry only got worse by the early 500s and in 503 AU Jeziorski lured the overconfident Hadrianus to a meeting at a neutral territory and when Hadrianus arrived Jeziorski used a Stolen Sarsuka artifact to blast holy power at Hadrianus who was especially weak to holy magic due to his intense Abyss corruption and then diablerized him. Unfortunately for Jeziorski Hadrianus's essence was far too powerful for him and he became immensely spirit sick and was ultimately assassinated by Sarsuka priests a few days later when Diego learned that Jeziorski had stolen an artifact from the Cathedral. Regardless, the damage had already been done and the Anzenian Valdevichi now lead by Niccolo Caliara allied with the Allstadter Valdevichi lead by Johann Mittag announced their intention to leave the Diabol.

## The Livogna Pact and Declaration of Secession

The Anti-Diabol Valdevichi elders and power players met in Livogna in the court of Niccolo Caliara who was Metropolitan (and soon to be Prefect) of Livogna. After a few days they signed the Declaration of Secession, written by Caliara, Arcimboldo, and Mittag, and sent it to the Convocation. It read:

> "We, the Clan of Shadows assembled at Livogna, hereby declare our secession from the Diabol. We hereby declare our allegiance to the Tower. We hereby declare our intention to prove our allegiance to the Tower with the dust of any Diabol member who dares resist our secession. We hereby declare all domains of the Diabol currently under the control of the Clan of Shadows independent from the Diabol and it's practices and under the control of the New Shadow. We hereby declare all members of the Clan of Shadows who do not stand with the Tower and the New Shadow traitors to the clan and we hereby declare our intention to destroy all traitorous members of the Clan of Shadows."
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The Declaration of Secession enraged the Diabol and many Valdevichi who were loyal to the Diabol vowed to destroy the New Shadow. Also In Livogna the Elders of the Valdevichi assembled wrote and signed the Livogna Pact which placed all Valdevichi packs in an army under the dual control of Johann Mittag and Niccolo Caliara, creating the New Shadow as a military force.

## Negotiations with the Tower and Early Conflict (503 AU-510 AU)

The plan made at Livogna was to split the forces of the New Shadow in two and send Mittag's army to kick non-New Shadow Diabol packs out of Allstadt and to fight off any Diabol forces from besieging Mittag's cities. Caliara's army (Which included Juana Vejedor as a Commander) was to ward off the forces of Diego Moncaldo who would surely invade Anzenia from the Celonian border. Ludovico Arcimboldo was sent to Anzenia to negotiate with Rufio the Younger, Kargul, and Lauretta Fiorensi on what steps the New Shadow would have to take to formally join the Tower. The negotiations end eventually when Ludovico and Rufio agree that once New Shadow has seized a full city from the Diabol and voluntarily grants it to Kargul to appoint a Prefect Rufio will recognize the New Shadow as members of the Tower. In the early months the conflict was bloody and violent with no clear victors and no cities fallen or gained for either side. This stalemate persisted as the Diabol loyal Valdevichi, eager to prove themselves as truly worthy of the Diabol, passionately fought against their former clanmates. This stalemate persisted quite awhile longer than usual demon wars and it went on 7 years before anything really changed. Most of the "battles" of this period were fought in the tunnels and sewers below major cities mainly at Livogna and Louso where Caliara and Juana's forces held off Diego's forces. In Allstadt the New Shadow under Mittag was primarily fending off Asmodai lead diabol forces from Volgograd.

## New Rebellions, The Inquisition, and Late Conflict (510-517) AU

The stalemate was broken in 510 AU when an impatient Niccolo Caliara implemented a new strategy for the battles in Anzenia. He sent his childe, Juana Vejedor, who had grown into a powerful warrior and assassin alongside displaying "shocking" talent in the Valdevichi clan magic of Umbrafigura. He sent her first to various small towns on the Anzenian-Celonian border and had her assassinate the Sarsuka Diego sent to lead his forces. She also lead the army that took back the near border city of Ferraro which was held by Sarsuka lead Diabol packs. After taking back Ferraro it seemed Diego stopped sending armies into Anzenia though it is unknown why, some say he was not willing to risk as many Sarsuka as he lost for the Valdevichi. Juana was then sent