Great Orchestra

Flag of the Great Orchestra.

***“**Everyone calls us madmen. Their outrage is hypocritical yet so predictable.**”***
— Floris Gill

The **Great Orchestra**, or simply **The Orchestra**, was a Crestian terrorist group founded by Floris Gill, the estranged son of Fabian Gill, the leader of the League of Whitecrest. Consisting primarily of former members of the Crestian Reform Movement who survived the Purge of Whitecrest, the Great Orchestra ultimately joined the Crestian Syndicate during the War for Whitecrest.

Relying on brutal terrorist attacks and assassinations in broad daylight, the Great Orchestra became infamous across Whitecrest. Ultimately, their assassination of the majority of Fabian Gill's remaining family sparked the Second Purge of Whitecrest, which led to the arrest of Edmond Heyer. The rest of the Syndicate was quick to blame the Orchestra, who subsequently became a target to the Dogs of Whitecrest and Red Serfs, though nearly every gang in the Eastern Districts turned against them. The resulting Dog-Orchestral War would lead to the destruction of their organisation in 1206 AW.

## History

Before the Great Orchestra was the Crestian Reform Movement, a group of mostly non-violent reformers, critical thinkers, and artists challenging the status quo in Whitecrest. They sought to bring an end to or seriously reform the corrupt League of Whitecrest, which had established an authoritarian plutocracy in the centuries before. Ultimately, when political pressure became too great, Fabian Gill, the head of the League, carried out the Purge of Whitecrest. In 1193 AW, the Crestian Reform Movement was decimated overnight, with any members being dragged out of their homes and killed without trial.

One of the targets of the Purge was Floris Gill, Fabian Gill's only son. Floris had become disillusioned with politics in the City-State, and the father and son developed a mutual hatred over the years. He had been a public member of the Crestian Reform Movement and often embarrassed his father with his support of the movement. Floris Gill was presumed to have died during the Purge, but he managed to escape the city, though his lover and the majority of his friends had died.

Floris Gill went into exile in Freistadt, like many other survivors of the Purge. It was here he came into contact with gunpowder weaponry and mastered the use of explosives and firearms. Fühlgart, Western Innyria, and Wyrsia all acted as safe havens for refugees of the Purge, and in the years after 1193 AW, a network of survivors was established. In 1197 AW, Floris Gill returned to Whitecrest, settling down in the Innyrian District while keeping out of sight of any League spies. From the Innyrian District, he began to recruit survivors, convincing them to return to Whitecrest and take back their city. In 1198 AW, they formed the Great Orchestra.

The first couple of years of the Great Orchestra's existence were uneventful. They recruited new members, stockpiled weapons and supplies, and plotted how to best bring the League of Whitecrest to its knees. Ultimately, Floris Gill elected to cause as much fear in the Western Districts as possible, making the city's citizens wonder if the League could still protect them. Ultimately, with the Orchestra's existence still unknown to the League, they chose to step into the light with a significant shockwave.

On the 1st of Greenburst, 1200 AW, the citizens of Whitecrest celebrated the Day of Life, Nyara's religious holiday. Pilgrims flocked to the gigantic Temple of All Divines in the Western Districts. Unbeknownst to all, the Orchestra hid within the crowd, planting explosives and preparing ambushes. Suddenly, great blasts tore through the crowd, killing hundreds and injuring many more, as well as collapsing large parts of the Temple of All Divines and trapping even more people under the rubble. Throughout the crowd, gunshots rang, knives were brandished, and smoke bombs went off. The few mercenary guards stationed in the area were hopelessly outnumbered, and many ran away just like the civilians. When reinforcements arrived, the attackers were already gone, though they had littered the site of the attack with pamphlets and warnings, plainly stating who they were and who was leading them.

The Temple District Massacre, as it later came to be known, caused shock and outrage not only in the Western Districts but also among the various gangs of the Eastern Districts. Learning that his son was not only alive but actively fighting against him, Fabian Gill was enraged and put the highest bounty in Crestian history on Floris Gill's head, though none were successful in claiming it. Shortly after, the Great Orchestra began a spree of regular attacks across the Western Districts, with bombings, arson, and assassinations being their prefered method of operations before slipping back into the shadows.

The Great Orchestra was distrusted by many Eastern gangs but was ultimately recruited into the Crestian Syndicate by Edmond Heyer in 1201 AW. Heyer hoped that the Orchestra would strike fear into the ranks of the League if they were on the side of the Syndicate. However, this was a double-edged sword as the Orchestra was undisciplined and often strengthened Western resolve by committing various atrocities instead of weakening it.

In 1203 AW, Floris Gill found a target too good to pass up, his own family. That year, while on a routine shopping trip in the Market District, Margareth Gill and her two daughters, Hannah and Hope, were ambushed. Floris Gill personally killed all three of them, executing them in the streets despite Second Army mercenaries desperately fighting the ambushers in the background. Ultimately, the Orchestra escaped again, and Fabian Gill was devastated by the loss of nearly the entirety of his remaining family.

The ultimate consequence of the attack was the Second Purge of Whitecrest. First Army soldiers flooded the Eastern Districts, tearing them apart while looking for members of the Orchestra. While Floris Gill managed to evade them, many of his troops were lost. More significantly, the mercenaries discovered and captured Edmond Heyer, imprisoning him in Greihill Keep back in the Western Military District. Without Heyer, the Syndicate lacked a unifying figure and were rapidly at each other's throats. In 1204 AW, the Dogs of Whitecrest, opposed to the Orchestra joining the Syndicate since day one, outright attacked the Orchestra, resulting in the Dog-Orchestral War.

While the Syndicate was disunited during this time, they all agreed that the Orchestra had to go. They were unanimously kicked out of the organization and came under attack by nearly every gang, big or small, in the Eastern Districts. Furthermore, Floris Gill's younger sister and his father's last living child, Rhia Gill, crossed into the Eastern Districts to personally hunt down her brother. While Rhia Gill failed to land the killing blow on Floris Gill, she was responsible for the deaths of at least two dozen Orchestra members, including Floris Gill's second-in-command, Kenneth Heiway.

Finally, an internal defection led by Melody Rowen, who founded the Redcloaks as a moderate successor to the Crestian Reform Movement, devastated the ranks of the Orchestra. With barely twenty men left under his command, Floris Gill abandoned the Eastern Districts altogether and relocated to the Western Districts. Ultimately, Rhia Gill tracked down the hideout and fed the info to her ally Sebastiaan Kenven, the boss of the Dogs of Whitecrest. The resulting skirmish led to the remaining Orchestra members being killed. Floris Gill also died in the fighting, his head being given to Rhia Gill to be delivered to her father for the bounty. Rhia ultimately refused and ended up joining the Dogs of Whitecrest instead, after having built an unlikely friendship with Kenven in the prior months.

The defection of his daughter and final member of his family ultimately caused Fabian Gill to commit suicide, leading to Armin Oligel taking over. Therefore, in a roundabout way, Floris Gill "killed" Fabian Gill by dying, thus finally getting the revenge he desperately sought after for a decade.

## Members

* **Floris Gill †**
* Kenneth Heiway †
* Melody Rowen (defected)