War of The Seven Heads

An internal conflict in the Old Empire between the Empress and her allies on the one hand and the seven largest aristocratic families and their allies on the other.

The conflict lasted from about 1630 to 1639 or 1640. The reason for the conflict was the order of the Empress in 1627 to abolish the right of citizens of the Empire to have living people as slaves.

The largest slave-owning families of that time were strictly against it. Every day, messengers arrived in the First Capital with requests and pleas from slave owners from all over the Empire to cancel the decree. The Empress was steadfast and refused every time. Then the largest slave-owning families asked for a certain period of time to replace the current slaves with similar ones from other countries. The Empress was furious, executed the messengers who brought such a proposal and issued a clarification to her decree that “it is forbidden to have any human being as a slave, whether he or she be a citizen of the Empire or a stranger. For violation of this law, we will take away all property or chop off hands.”

There was a lull for a short period. But towards the end of 1629, news began to arrive that in the far eastern parts of the Empire the new law was being ignored. This was confirmed by people who escaped from slavery and managed to get to the center of the Empire. The Empress issued a decree on a small military campaign, which she instructed her own son to lead. Then he was known as Leonard the Red.

Leonard drove his regiments as fast as the roads and the weather allowed. He expected to catch the criminals by surprise, but he only partially succeeded. Having entered the first major city, Leonard's regiments entered into battle with an unexpectedly large group of people who were clearly going on a military campaign. Following the original path of the defeated group, Leonard came across a huge military camp, which gathered soldiers from the far regions of the Empire. Quick reconnaissance reported that these were soldiers who were gathered by local nobles to march on the capital.

The arrival of units loyal to the Empress did not go unnoticed - for the next week, Leonard's group tried to break out of the encirclement, but every day and hour there were fewer and fewer loyal soldiers and places where one could retreat. Only a miracle allowed Leonarodnus to send a messenger with a report to the capital.

On the eighth day, Leonard was captured by the rebels. But his messenger managed to get to the capital and convey the news of the outbreak of the uprising.

The rebels were led by the seven richest slave-owning families - the Seven Heads, as they were called by the people. They were not going to lose their limitless fortunes due to the new law of the Empress. At first, they demanded that the law be repealed in exchange for Leonard's life. To confirm their intentions, they sent Leonard's left hand to the Empress.

According to the legends, the Empress could not speak for three days out of rage and gave all orders in writing.

The fighting, which lasted ten years or more, practically wiped out the entire central part of the Empire, and also completely destroyed the First Capital. Including the archives, the treasury, the great library, the first museum.

In the third year of the conflict, Leonard managed to escape with the help of people loyal to the Empress. This happened just before the Seven Heads publicly promised to sell Leonard into slavery.

In the seventh year of the conflict, the Empress gave her daughter Helena in marriage to a German prince. This alliance helped attract more than 40,000 new soldiers and a million gold coins to help the army of the Empress. The scales began to tip towards the loyalists and their allies.

In the tenth or eleventh year of the conflict, seven heads were captured and their army completely wiped out.

The organizers of the uprising were executed. But before that, their children, including babies, were sold into slavery somewhere at the end of the world.

After the uprising in the Empire, the Supreme Council of the Empire was created from representatives of loyal families. Families who did not publicly support the crown during the uprising were stripped of any titles and privileges. Families who supported the rebels were expelled from the country.