1077 Revolution

The **Great People's Revolution of 1077AE,** usually referred to as the 1077 Revolution, was a political coup that saw the ousting of the Blackthorne Royal Family from power and the collapse of the Monarchic system of government. Thereafter, following the Solemn Covenant on the 22nd of Drake's Moon 1077AE, the Isles were ruled by the Aradian Parliament.

## Background

Queen Talia I succumbed to an illness caused by the Grievous Wound on the 19th day of Lover's Moon, 1075AE; her 79th birthday. She had not declared a direct heir at the time of her death, which caused fears of instability and civil war. Her eldest son Gordon was not popular among the Aradian peoples; he was stubbornly antisocial and humorless, with an apathetic and irritable temperament, and was noted for rarely engaging in public relations during his time as a Prince. He had little ambition or political vision outside of holding up the order established by his mother. The populace had been taught to love his long-dead sister Alyssa as heir apparent; they also feared his elder sister Valoria who had bullied him relentlessly for most of his life, and it was commonly thought that Valoria would seize the throne by force upon her mother's death--the siblings famously hated each other and fought constantly. But Valoria's son was the infamous Dark Prince, who had committed numerous crimes and handled all underlings with brutal, tyrannical autocracy. Gordon's heir was his daughter Gwenavere who was regarded as level-headed and competent while also being the Old Queen's favorite grandchild. And so the Crown's political allies sided with Gordon over Val. After one final explosive fight between the siblings, Val stormed out of the capital early on the 20th day of Lover's Moon, taking her supporters with her--including the Dark Prince and her husband Caradoc Rookwood. All who left were immediately removed from the Royal Council, and her brother was crowned as King Gordon I on the 21st day of Lover's Moon.

Within a week, cases of a plague began to sweep the capital. It was a lethal virus that caused a burning fever and killed within hours of infection; they began calling it the Red Death. At the same time, farmers and crofters across the realm began to report a blight plaguing their crops that killed nearly all of their produce, and their livestock was similarly dying. As this was the outset of spring when most food was expected to flourish, this caused alarm across the realm. The King immediately ordered Bastion to be quarantined to cut the spread of plague, though not before leaving with his family and council, and set up a new court in his satellite palace at Otzengard. There he ordered the convening of an emergency parliament to discuss the best response to these oncoming crises.

However, negotiations quickly broke down. The Parliament, consisting of noble landowners, began to quickly turn against the new King they'd elevated just days before. Under the guidance of his sister in preceding years, Gordon had advocated a form of deficit spending designed to stimulate the economy following the end of the Brecilidian War years prior, which had been tremendously costly for the Crown. To do this he had authorized the borrowing of large sums of money from his banners; but in the present crises, they needed to collect upon their debts, despite the fact the crown had nothing to repay them with. This was in addition to the fact that all of the King's proposals involved upticks in taxation rates, which the landowners were not willing to pay as the oncoming economic crises would now badly endanger their own livelihoods. This pushback caused friction with the King; Gordon had been bullied and belittled for his whole life, and it had soured him--he perceived any pushback and dissent as a deep insult and would often storm from meetings in a fury. As the emergency parliament met and met again over the course of the following weeks, the realm's issues began to spiral out of control, with no coherent political response from its leaders. Eventually, this led to Gordon dismissing parliament, ordering them to return to their holds, and electing to govern the realm entirely by himself with only his Small Council to guide him.

The Red Death soon escaped Bastion's boundaries, unavoidable as it was the realm's central hub of trade, and began to spread around the world. Its death toll was lethal, numbering tens of thousands in its first weeks and rapidly climbing towards millions. There was seemingly no way to protect or mitigate the plague's effects, and it hit everyone, regardless of race or social class. Bastion City itself became a particularly horrific plague-pen, with burnt corpses piled high in the streets patrolled by sinister Plague Doctors. At this time the Anti-Monarchy sentiment began to spread; among the noble class due to their forceful ejection from the realm's governance, and from the lower classes, who saw the King in safe seclusion from the plague while his young wife Anarietta spent luxuriously and resented them for it. Newspapers advocated for political awakening of the proletariat, and lambasted the King, spreading stories about the true demonic nature of House Blackthorne--a truth leaked by Divankul Dul-Sansiska's sharing of his knowledge about Mordaghast to his allies. In prior times of crisis, Queen Talia had been held in high regard, with the failings of her governance blamed on her "incompetent" councillors. However, Gordon had no councillors around him to blame the failing on--and so the blame could only lie with him.

Valoria refused contact with her brother, residing in her ancestral castle the Eyrie Peak while all this was happening alongside her son. As the plague's effects worsened and the death toll climbed, Edmund went on a voyage with some of his most loyal followers in 1076, disappearing into the far-western sea. He did not return. Within months, he was declared missing. Fear of his presence had kept the crown's subjects in line; now, with him gone, they no longer feared resprisal from the Crown, and more serious pushback began in earnest.

## Uprising

-increasing sedition, politicians withdraw support, Fabian unions won't leave & gordon handwaves it showing unwillingness to use violence, yaxley named lawmaster & chief of police, attack on royal palace, yaxley orders blackjackets to stand down & not protect king. astrid death. guillotine for both.