Era of Instability

The **Era of Instability** was a period of turmoil experienced by every nation of Orchestria. It began in 1S 426 and ended in 2S 1.

## Effects on kingdoms

The effects on the kingdoms were varied, the Key Kingdom's government was overthrown, although it was later restored. Some kingdoms were close to falling and others had very minor consequences.

### String Kingdom

The String Kingdom was the least affected by the **Era of Instability**. The only events to happen were a few local rebellions, which were crushed quickly. The reason for this was the String culture. String culture emphasizes unity and loyalty, ensuring that the few revolts that occurred were small and easily destroyed.

### Percussion Kingdom

The Percussion Kingdom was hard hit by the **Era of Instability**. This was due to a plot among the noble families inside the kingdom. It was started by the powerful Cymbal family. The plot's goal was to overthrow King Timpani IX and to limit the power of the Percussion High Council.

Two assassinations were carried out on some of the nobles that were loyal to the Council, forcing them to recruit new nobles to their cause. They planned to take land from nobles not in the plot and redistribute it among themselves. This tactic worked and many nobles joined the plot, almost becoming large enough to launch a coup. When the plotters attempted to recruit the loyal Snare family, the Snares declined and informed the king about the plot.

The king reacted quickly. The Cymbal family's land was revoked and they were exiled. Most of the Cymbals didn't heed this warning of what was about to come and tried to rally the plotters to war. A few rose up in rebellion by, with the king's undivided attention on them, most preferred not to rise up in order to hide their involvement in the plot. The rebellion was swiftly crushed in the one-sided Battle of the Red River.

The Cymbal family was disgraced and were exiled. The land of the rebels was given to new families that were loyal to the king. The Percussion High Council publicly praised King Timpani IX for how quickly the rebellion was crushed. With the new loyal noble families inside the Percussion High Council, the monarchy entered a period of unprecedented power. This is not to say the Percussion High Council was stripped of power. The ultimate power still rested in the hands of the Council, it was only that more nobles families was blindly loyal to the king and the former plotters were cowed by the battle of the Red River.

### Brass Kingdom

For the Brass Kingdom, the **Era of Instability** was not a story of internal strife but instead of external turmoil. Both the Brass Kingdom and the Woodwind Kingdom began colonization of the Soprano Steppes. This resulted in multiple small skirmishes between both the settlers and small armies in the region. This made relations sour between both kingdoms and nearly to the point of war. However, due to the currently ongoing rebellion in the Woodwind Kingdom, this didn't happen, yet.

### Woodwind Kingdom

Due to the defeat caused by the Three Nation Alliance, the popularity of the Oboe dynasty plummeted. This caused the majority of the woodwind nobles to rebel, planning to install a new king. This rebellion was narrowly destroyed at the Battle of Bagpipe Bay, killing King Oboe VI in the process. This left a large power vacuum but due to the damage dealt by the Three Nation Alliance and the rebellion, the Flute family, who remained neutral during the rebellion, managed to seize the throne for themselves peacefully.

### Key Kingdom

The Key Kingdom was the hardest hit by the **Era of Instability**. It was caused by the Three Nation Alliance, when the kingdom gained no land from the war. This caused the people to rise up and ousted King Glockenspiel II, installing Queen Celesta VIII "The Warrior Queen" as sole monarch of the Key Kingdom. The king went into exile in the Percussion Kingdom, where he later died. King Glockenspiel III was welcomed back to the kingdom, when he attempted to return, re-instating the diarchy.

While the **Era of Instability** was the shortest in the Key Kingdom it was also the most influential, completely changing Key politics for a lifetime.