Red Fork Raids

## Factions

Innish citizens of Renthor's Fork

Aldesti citizens of Renthor's Fork

## Events

Raiding and sacking of Western Renthor's Fork by Innish peasants

> I lost sight of my noble wife the very first morning of the Raid. That whole day, I hoped she was still alive, still safe. Then sun turned to moon and moon turned to sun, and fire and blood and a thousand corpses fell upon the city. Then, I hoped she was dead.
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— HIGHLORD HUGH RENFALL

The Red Fork Raids was a devastating event that occured in the city of Renthor's Fork in the northern Imperial Lands. Renthor's Fork is an important Aldesti city, believed to be the birthplace and childhood home of the near-mythological King Renthor I Aeranthyen, the first documented monarch with the Aeranthyen royal name. During the year of the Raids, the city boasted a population of just over 100,000 people. It was ruled by Duke Mylon Linkfauter, the great-uncle of the current Linkfauter duke, Haben Linkfauter. The city's population was around 50 percent Aldesti and 40 percent Innish, with the rest being a mixture of other Imperial cultures and races. The Aldesti nobility and wealthy of the city lived on the western bank and the Innish lived on the eastern bank, by the city's only major gate (at the time).

Aldesti and Innish people have oft been at odds, but the Raid was unprecented in its sheer scale and brutality. It began with Duke Mylon sacking the prominent Innish street of Oragon in Renthor's Fork in order to expel members of a nortorious street gang that had been using the location as a center of operations. Nearly a hundred Innishfolk were arrested that day, half that injured, quarter than executed. Most were innocent, we have now been led to believe.

As a response to this brutality, the Innish began rioting and protesting on the eastern end of the city. Duke Mylon commanded 200 men of the city's constabulary to put down the riots, which only led to more riots, and a grand total of fifty constables were murdered brutally in the streets. After this, the Duke ordered the bridges leading to the western end of the city to be raised, so that the "mob would not get any ideas." But it was that raising of the bridge that would lead to chaos.

As the city's eastern end fell deeper and deeper into chaos, the Innishfolk living in the west became disgruntled as well, as did the Aldesti. A fight outside a local tavern in the western end soon became a brawl, which soon became calamity. There were stories of Innish servants killing their Aldesti masters in their sleep, of storekeepers and peddlers and tradesmen being struck down while at work. And so the nobility and the good citizens of Renthor's Fork began to flee for the city's main gate, across the river to the city's east.

The bridge guardtowers were seized by Innish rebels and the Renthorian constabulary, upon realizing they could not get in, settled outside the guardtower gates for a set of mini-seiges. Due to this the bridges remained raised, so the citizens began fleeing through the smaller western gates and taking boats and ships downriver. But the whole city was in chaos. To reach one of these gates without losing your life would essentially be a miracle.

The river ran red with blood, as desperate people who could not catch boats tried to swim across. Many drowned, many were shot down. It is thought that over a thousand people died just trying to cross the river. This is why the Raid is called the "Red Fork" raid. It is said that the river ran red with Aldesti blood for weeks afterwards.

Help did not come from the capital because, in a rather strange coincidence, Emperor Oron I Aeranthyen had passed away on the same day the riots began. Only a few days later did his successor, Eumon I, look north to Renthor's Fork and send aid there. A carrier was dispatched from Silverstone to a nearby royal stronghold, and 1,000 men were mustered and marched to Renthor's Fork to put an end to the chaos. The royal forces sated the city within a week, though by then the Palace of Renthor had been breached and Duke Mylon and his three heirs had been slain. Luckily, his nephew and grand-nephew had been out of the city at the time.