The Great Rebellion

## Origins of the Rebellion

During its two centuries long reign, the Malorian Empire was incredibly brutal in their methods of subjugating the people of Acios. Public executions were incredibly common in order to strike fear into the hearts of those they had subjugated. Any who spoke out against the Empire or the Emperor were imprisoned. The regime banned all worship of any god besides Kord. If anyone was caught worshipping any other gods, they were arrested and imprisoned immediately. The Malorian secret police, known as the Obsidian Order, often used magic to root out individuals they deemed threats to the nation. The Order was especially violent with their methods. There were numerous rebellions throughout the three centuries of Malorian rule but they were all put down, brutally. The Kingdom of Rysland looked upon their ally with increasing disdain. How long could they allow this system of oppression to continue? While the Ryslanders were technically their own nation, the Malorians still had a stranglehold on what they could do. The Ryslanders resented this and realized that they may not remain somewhat independent for long if the Malorians ran out of uses for them. Currently the Malorians needed the aid of their military. But what would happen when this was no longer an issue? The Ryslanders, always plotting, decided to wait for an oppurtune moment to strike and leave the alliance.

## The Karkothian Powderkeg

The region of Karkoth was the most volatile during the reign of the Malorian Empire. There were numerous Karkothians who did not surrender with their brethren during the invasion and lived within the Stormcrest Mountains. They continued to harrass Malorian and Karkothian troops with guerilla tactics. They were aided in these actions by the Stormcrest Dwarves, who despite being trading partners with the Marauder Alliance, provided the rebels with weapons, both for monetary gain and becasue they wanted to see the Malorians defeated. The Argus Isles also provided weaponry to the rebels as well as mercenaries and volunteers from the Free Cities through smuggling actions.

There was another ally in the rebellion as well. The Elves of Eserion realized that the time to defeat the Malorians was now. They believed that the Wildcrest Kingdom was ready to reborn under the care of Carissa Cilamur, the 34 year old descendant of Julian Cilamur who was saved from the massacre of his family. The Elves provided weaponry, troops, and military leadership that aided the leaders of the rebellion. The Karkothians greatest leader was Stig Snake-in-the-eye. He was a cunning and ruthless leader of men, perfectly suited to practicing guerilla warfare that wreaked havoc on the unprepared Malorians.

The rebels with their newfound weaponry and allies began to grow bolder. This increased brazeness coincided with a coordinated attack known as the Day of Rage. It occurred in 1362 C.E. and led to the freeing of thousands of Orcish and Goblinoid slaves. The Karkothians emerged from the Stormcrest Mountains and the Starkwood in numbers that had not been seen since the first war against the Malorians. The massive, coordinated assault focused on freeing the Orcish and Goblinoid slaves in the largest labor camps across Karkoth. The attack was a huge success that left the Malorians scrambling and the rebel army with thousands of new troops, angry troops to fight back against the Empire with. While originally just a nuisance, the Karkothian rebellion had quickly become a full blown threat to the Malorian Empire. The Malorians had not forgotten how difficult the Karkothians were to put down the first time and feared that because they had not faced a real threat for centuries, their army may not be as powerful as it once was. The Ryslanders realized that this rebellion may be the spark that could release them from Malorian servitude. Meanwhile, in Wildcrest a new rebellion was about to begin.

## Wildcrest and Eserion

For those who lived in the area that was once the Wildcrest Kingdom, they yearned for an end to the brutal regime that the Malorian Empire had imposed. This yearning never waned through the three century long reign of the Malorians as stories were passed from parents to children about the wonders of the former kingdom. They told their children stories of the proud Cilamur family line that was wiped out on one dark and rainy night by the wicked Romarich Strom. However, there was one heir left, Julian, but he would not live to see the rise of the Wildcrest Kingdom. Instead, this duty would fall to Carissa, his half-elf great-great-great-granddaughter. She had been trained in the arts of magic, warfare, and statecraft by the Eserion Elves and they believed she had the best chance in uniting the people of Wildcrest and defeating the Malorian Empire.

Before the Great Rebellion began, the Eserion Elves worked with the group known as the Harpers in Wildcrest. The Harpers began spreading rumors that the Cilamur family line yet lived. The rightful heir to the throne was Carissa and she would come to deliver the people of Wildcrest from the great evil that plagued their lands. They put this information onto posters and pamphlets. They spread it through bards and street graffitti. The campaign was far reaching so that the people of Wildcrest would not be suprised when their saviour was a half-elf woman named Carissa Cilamur, the last of her line.

With the rebellion in Karkoth drawing numerous troops to the frozen south, the Eserion Elves, led by the River King Sylrin Eserion and Carissa Cilamur intiated their attacks on the weakened forces that bordered their nation. The Malorians did not view the Elves as much of a threat. This turned out to be a mistake as the Elves assaulted the Malorian lines in the latter half of 1362 C.E. with superior magical abilities and cavalry troops. The Battle of Roumiers Pass was sealed when the Harpers aided in the attack as they led an uprising of Wildcrestians that assaulted and distracted the Malorians from the back. With Queen Carissa Cilamur at the head of the Elven army, the Great Rebellion had officialy begun.

## Early Defeats for the Marauder Alliance

The Malorians were shocked to see the return of a Cilamur, believing that they had wiped out the entire family line. They were also shocked that the Elves were aiding in this rebellion, believing them to be above petty human affairs. The army and mages had grown complacent in their centuries of unmatched control over Acios and had to quickly respond to two threats that were quickly spinning out of control.

In Wildcrest, the arrival of their Queen and the swift defeat of the Malorians in the Elven armies first contact with them, led numerous Wildcrestians to join the army of Carissa. The army soon besieged the city of Roumiers. The garrison swiftly surrendered, fearing the populace may rise up at any moment and take their revenge on them. The taking of the city led to even more troops joining the army of the Wildcrests, including many who had been conscripted by the Malorians into their army. The Wildcrest army split in half after taking Roumiers. Queen Carissa would lead her army through the Bartois Plains straight to the capital of Montrose. She would rally the people of the Plains to her banner and hopefully inspire the people of Montrose to rise up and overthrow the city from within as Roumiers had done. The River King would lead his army North in order to capture the cities of Orlais and Churneau. He would then join back up with Queen Carissa in Montrose as they began their march into the Malorian Empire. The Malorians learned of this plan, and soon sent a huge army of both Ryslanders and Malorians led by Emperor Florian Strom II himself. The plan was to crush the upstart Queen's armies and show the superiority of the Malorians. They hoped destroying the figurehead of the rebellion would quash it before it spun completly out of control and lead the Elves to retreat from human affairs.

In Karkoth, the rebellion was going quite well for the allied Karkothian forces. Stig-Snake-in the Eye's forces had recaptured the city of Khraal and was due to march on Ardev. The Ryslanders quickly sent forces to reinforce the Malorians, fearing what army of rampaging Karkothians would do to their southern holdings. At the Battle of the Starkwood the combined Marauder Army force met the Karkothians in a pitched battle. The Karkothians, knowing the terrain much better than their Marauder enemies, were able to rout them after days of battle and thousands of losses for both sides. The Karkothians then continued their march to Ardev, while the Malorians and Ryslanders fell back to regroup. The Great Rebellion was quickly becoming a disaster for the Marauder Alliance, and Varushkin Yanovich realized that this may be the chance for the Kingdom of Rysland to once again become independent.

## The Battle of the Bartois Plains

As the Marauder Army led by Florian Strom II marched to meet the combined Elvish and Wildcrest Army, they were obscured by the powerful magic of the Red Mages. Queen Carissa barely had time to get her troops into position before the Malorians were almost on top of her army. The battle was fierce and horrific. Men and women died by the score on both sides as powerful magic burned and scorched flesh and steel weaponry tore it asunder. Queen Carissa realized she was losing the battle as her forces were outnumbered and outmaneuvered. In order to win, she realized she had to destroy the Red Mages who were turning her troops to dust. She led her personal cavalry force, the Phoenix Guard, to attack the backline of the Malorian Army. Her and her Phoenix Guard combined their martial and magical prowess to kill scores of Red Mages. However, they were soon met by Emperor Florian Strom II himself. Queen Carissa knew this was her chance to route the Malorian Army. She had learned from the Elves that the slaying of Lloth had led to the defeat of the Drow. She knew this would be a similar circumstance if she could slay the Malorian's Emperor. After a heated battle, she severed the head of the Emperor from his shoulders. The word travelled swiftly down the lines of the Marauder forces and soon a full rout was in progress. Queen Carissa had shown her power once again, and the forces of Wildcrest knew that victory would soon be at hand. The Malorians were now without their ruler and their armies were in disarray.

## The End of the Marauder Alliance

When word reached King Varushkin Yanovich that Florian Strom II had been slain, he knew the time to leave the alliance was now. The Karkothians would soon be victorious in the south and the Wildcrest Armies were knocking on the doors of the Malorian Empire in the west. The heir to the Malorian Empire was Florian Strom III, a boy of only sixteen years old. He felt he owed no allegiance to the Malorians anymore and wanted to be on the right side of the war so that the Wildcrest Kingdom may leave his country alone after their conquest of the Malorians. Therefore, on Erathi 18, 1363 C.E. the word was magically sent to the leaders of the Ryslanders who were fighting with their Malorian counterparts abroad. "Leave immediately, kill anyone who tries to stop you." Many Ryslanders began to pack up their equipment and march back to their home country of Rysland. Some had to fight their way out of Malorian camps and fortifications. Others were allowed to leave peacefully as the Malorians looked on with dismay, wondering why the gods had forsaken their once great Empire. Other Ryslanders refused to leave and decided to stay with their Malorian allies and officially join their army viewing the Malorians as their brothers in arms. Emperor Florian Strom III, still grieving for his father, betrayed by his allies, and besieged on all sides realized he would have to take drastic measures if his Empire was to survive.

## The Liberation of Karkoth

With the loss of their Ryslander allies, the troops who were fighting in Karkoth were ordered to immediately retreat and find a way out of the Frozen Wastes. Thousands of them never returned to their homes as they were hunted down by the avenging forces of Karkoth, who had suffered brutally under their long reign. Those that did escape Karkoth, either settled in Rysland or returned to the Empire as broken men and women who did not want to serve an Empire that they felt had forsaken them. In Karkoth, the tribes of Orc, Goblinoids, and men celebrated their victory and reformed their tribal government that had existed before their defeat during the Malorian Invasion. Their elected leader was Jarl Stig-snake-in the eye who had led the rebellion with great strategic genius. The Karkothians now turned to rebuilding their nation and planned for a future invasion of Rysland in order to expand their power and obtain revenge on the nation that had aided the Malorians in their horrific enslavement.

## The Blood of Vol and the Emperor

The Malorian Empire was hanging by a thread and was desperate to save itself. The Emperor looked throughout his Empire for aid in these troubling times. What he found was a religion that had been gaining popularity in the western portion of his nation, especially in the areas around the Coromere Forest and the city of Brasvik. It was known as the Blood of Vol and was lead by the charismatic priest Veit Seidl. The Blood of Vol teaches that during the Dark Ages of Man, a woman known as Vol had found a way to cheat death. She was able to grant her followers immortality. Viewing her as a threat to their rule, the gods had destroyed her and her people. Seidl said that the gods had not been able to destroy all of her people, and that the Blood of Vol still coursed through the people of Maloria. Seidl went on to say that those who die are destined to waste away in the afterlife because the Gods, are cruel and uncaring for mortal souls. Therefore, when one dies they should be raised back up and aid their living relatives because their is nothing for them in the afterlife. However, undead are not what a follower of the Blood of Vol wants to become because divinity in the religion is tied to the blood and soul. Those who become undead are martyrs who use their undeath to guide the living to divinity.

Florian may have been young, but he realized he could use the Blood of Vol's teachings to his advantage. If the Blood of Vol had caught on in one part of his nation, why not the others. He brought Seidl to Dierhof and asked him to aid him in bringing the Blood of Vol's teachings to all parts of his nation. Seidl agreed and began to preach in Dierhof and send his priests across the nation. Most of the teachings stayed the same, except for one. Florian Strom III would now be known as the God Emperor. He had studied the teachings of the Blood of Vol and was able to achieve divinity through it. His father rejected the teachings, which is why his head now lay in the Bartois Plains, rather than on his shoulders. The Gods were to blame for the fall of the Malorian Empire as they had forsaken them to be conquered by traitors, barbarians, and the hateful Elves.

The people of Maloria, looking for a reason for their troubles, soon latched onto these teachings. Therefore, they did not bat an eye when their dead relatives and neighbors were soon risen to life by the clerics and paladins of the Blood of Vol to serve as troops in their war against the other nations of Acios. They did not speak out when vampires began to serve as priests in their temples and as soldiers in their armies. The Blood of Vol and the Malorian Empire had become one in the same, and the sixteen year old God King Florian Strom III sought revenge for the death of his father and the loss of his birthright.

## The Wildcrest Kingdom is Reborn

With the defeat of the Malorian Army at the Battle of the Bartois Plains, Queen Carissa was able to easily march to Montrose. The garisson there swiftly surrendered, vieweing their Empire as lost and hoping from clemencey for their actions. In the north, the River King also quickly captured Churneau and Orlais returning them to the people of Wildcrest. The two split armies renunited in Montrose where they were hailed as victors and heroes. The dark cloud of the Malorian Empire had receded from their kingdom and the rightful ruler, Carissa Cilamur had returned. The coronation of Queen Carissa was attended by thousands hoping to get even a glimpse of savior and new ruler. The Eserion Elves also attended and the River King was said to have wept upon seeing his foster daugther reclaim her birthright. Celebrations erupted throughout the newborn kingdom. In the capital, the generals and rulers of Eserion and Wildcrest met up to discuss strategy. They new their campaign against the Malorian Empire was not yet over and they needed a plan to wipe the scourge of Acios off of the map.

## The Final Phase of the War

Before the invasion of the Malorian Empire began, the rulers of Wildcrest, Eserion, The Free Cities, Karkoth, Rysland, the Argus Isles, the Stormcrest Dwarves, and the Hulvern Dwarves met to discuss a joint invasion of the Malorian Empire. The Dwarves agreed to provide the invasion force with equipment, but they refused to send their own troops into the Malorian heartland. The Free Cities and the Argus Isles agreed to provide both ships and troops to the invasion force. The Karkothians, distrustful of the Wildcrests and Ryslanders, nonethless agreed to provide troops to the invasion force. The bulk of the northern army, which would attack Lenfurt, was formed by the troops of Wildcrest and Eserion. The Ryslanders would attack from the south capturing Salzheim and destroying the breadbasket of the Empire, the Strom Expanse. The Karkothians agreed to be transported by sea to take Brasvik from the west, along with the forces of the Free Cities and the Argus Isles. Then all of the forces would meet to take Dierhof, which they knew would be fiercly defended by every citizen who lived there. While the nations of Acios were all distrustful of the Ryslanders, they knew they would need their help if they were to defeat the fanatical fighters of Maloria who would rather die than give up an inch of their land. They had also heard that necromancy had arisen in the Empire, and feared that the Malorian troops despite all the losses they had suffered do to the war, may still outnumber them. The end of the Malorian Empire appeared to be nearing.

The invasion commenced on Peloria 16, 1365 C.E. All the troops of each army force mobilized and began their assaults. The Wildcrest and Eserion invasion forces met fierce resistance on the border of the two kingdoms. It was their first encounter with the undead that bolstered the forces of the Malorian Empire. It was a horrifying sight to see the bloated and rotted corpses of the undead fight side by side with their living relatives. The Malorian Empire's forces were none the less defeated at the Battle of Lenfurt. However, the taking of the city meant that the combined army would have to besiege it because the people of the Empire were fanatical in their devotion to both their God Emperor and their nation. The Ryslanders and Karkothians had much the same experience. They defeated the Malorian armies after hard fought battles, but were then forced to contend with the fortified cities of the Malorian Empire. The armies were in for a long siege that would last from the first month of summer until the dead of winter. This is exactly where Florian Strom III wanted them.

The Malorians knew that they would be assaulted from all sides. They had large stores of food placed in all the cities and told the citizens that this was all part of the plan. While they would be starving and malnourished by winter, that is when the God Emperor would deliver them from defeat. On Shari 1324 C.E., the coldest month of Acios, the God Emperor launched his assault. Knowing that the troops of all three armies would be tired and seeking to go home already due to the horrific conditions, he had planned a secret attack that he was sure would break the morale of the troops. In the Midaburg and Coromere Forests, he had his troops rebury thousands of dead Malorians. On that horrible day necromancers of the Blood of Vol and the Red Wizards snuck into the forests and performed the rites to raise all of the dead back to life. The result was a shambling hoard that shook the earth and rattled the trees of the forest. When they emerged, it threw all three armies into a panic. How could they contend with such a force? And was it still worth it to defeat the Malorian armies? The Ryslanders decided against remaining to fight and retreated from their siege, burning everything in their path hoping to slow the advance of the army of death. The Karkothians and their allies fought back for a while, but quickly realized that it was fruitless and also retreated. The Wildcrests and Eserion Elves realized that the conquest of the Empire would have to wait and also retreated back to their lands. They decided they would stem the tide of undead on their fortified border. The Malorians had lived to fight another day, and the Blood of Vol was officially shown to be the savior of the Malorian people. The God Emperor had proven his worth and soon the Blood of Vol had spread to every corner of the Empire, and only a few Malorians continued to worship the old gods in secret.

## A Fragile Peace

The Malorian Empire's army of death was stopped from advancing into the Wildcrest Kingdom and Rysland due to the heavy fortifications that protected both of their borders. Florian Strom ordered the army back after he realized they would not be able to penetrate the sturdy defenses. His living troops would be needed for an assault to succeed, and they had grown tired of war and suffered too many losses for a counter-attack to be succesful. He therefore called for a peace treaty between all of the nations that would prevent further violence from occurring. The peace treaty is known as the Treaty of Thirgos and still exists to this day.