Great Rebellion of 184

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The Great Rebellion of 184 was a large conflict where the combined forces of the Dominion of Poitevine, The Gragelplace and Fionnbryn openly revolted against the rule of Karaz Wyr. The rebellion would see every single significant and populated settlement of the Karaz Wyr Empire damaged or destroyed in a display of brutal total-war mirroring that of The Calamity.

The outcome of the war is a matter of debate. On the one hand, Loyalist forces won several decisive victories over the Rebellion and conquered every Rebel city of strategic importance (excluding Kjahog Gruppel). On the other hand, the Rebellion managed to cause significant damage to Karaz Wyr and effectively ended in the de facto dissolution of the Empire.

In Dagobah it is generally believed that the rebels achieved their goals of independence from the Empire at the cost of their current claims, titles and possessions.

Beginning of the Conflict

By the turn of the 150's, dissent within the Karaz Wyr Empire had reached a boiling point. It had become an open secret that the inhabitants of Fionnbryn and the other forest nations which were forcibly absorbed into the Empire were now plotting for their independence. This plotting was only exacerbated by the fact that flufyking, the Sovereign of the Empire, had lost the Mandate of Mund to all who served under him. Coupled with the risk of rebellion of the southern forest tribes, Poitevine began seeking assurances that the Empire become more democratic and decentralised. Seeing as Poitevine had so rapidly expanded in second century, the point of swearing allegiance to a crown it viewed as increasingly distant was now being questioned. Poitevine secretly made a pact with the dissenting Fionnbryn to coordinate their independence efforts.

Southern Theatre

The southern theatre of war encompassed the entirety of the Great Forest from Mrag to Fionnbryn. The sole Imperial force in the region was the personal retinue (5 recruits, fully equiped) of bcfoss, who was the acting viceroy of Mrag at the commencement of hostilities. The Rebel forces were comprised of the garrison of Fionnbryn Keep, overseen by local landowner Kjolt947 of Kjahog Gruppel.

When jusipat leaked the imminent Rebellion of the Great Forest, bcfoss immediately removed his retinue from Fionnbryn and proceeded posthaste eastward towards Mrag, the sole loyalist settlement in the region. By the time fighting had started in Poitevine, he had only made it as far as the outskirts of The Gragelplace.

Siege of Gragel

After conferring with Emperor flufyking, bcfoss promptly laid siege to Gragel despite being in a state of unpreparedness. Fearful of possible garrisoned rebels, bcfoss requested support in order to maintain the siege while he got supplies from Mrag. Saucy_Tacos arrived soon thereafter on a dragon, though he was delayed somewhat by being unfamiliar with the local geography, landmarks, and place names. After collecting supplies in Mrag and bringing them back to the army, bcfoss's retinue was ready to attempt an assault. By this time Gragel had been under observation for several days and it was clear that no garrison was present, so Saucy_Tacos returned to Karak Wyr in order to assist in the razing of Poitevine.

Gragel was thus sacked, by bcfoss, while offering no resistance, for the second time in it's history. The main complex was burned out after token looting and a TNT minecart was set off in the iron factory. Some effort was made to protect the Library from the flames, and in the aftermath few literary works were lost to the fire.

Having informed flufyking of his successes, bcfoss was ordered to move on to Fionnbryn. The fabric of reality had become unstable by this time (it was really laggy) so the viceroyal retinue's march on the Rebel Capital was slowed to a crawl.

2nd Battle of Fionnbryn

Arriving on the western side of Fionnbryn, bcfoss performed only a cursory inspection of the city before concluding that it too was not being overseen by a player. Birch ramparts were erected near the empty gatehouse and the Imperial army entered the outskirts of the city unmolested. Advancing from the sugarcane fields at a measured pace, bcfoss likewise occupied the town square without facing any resistance. An ad hoc defensive position was constructed here.

Advancing southward down main street, the first signs of resistance were detected when archers stationed on the walls of the keep began taking potshots at the army, forcing bcfoss to fall back to the defensive position at the town square. A request was made for reinforcements, but the fighting around Poitevine was well under way and no forces could be spared.

After some deliberation, bcfoss launched a second assault on the keep under heavy arrow-fire and succeeded in storming the gatehouse. The fionnic archers manning the walls were slaughtered and the viceroyal retinue proceeded into the keep proper, clearing the structure room-by-room. The retinue only faced real peril in the throne-room, where a concentration of elite fionns affected a true melee; bcfoss was almost slain in the chaos, but ultimately loyalist forces prevailed.

After reporting his success to the emperor, bcfoss stationed his retinue on the southern gate to guard against a potential counter-attack from Gruppel and began razing the city. The Great Pig in particular was singled out for destruction, while the Mundic Temple was spared altogether.

As the city was starting to burn a battle erupted at the southern gate. Members of the Fionnbryn garrison, absent from the city for unknown reasons, suddenly returned and assaulted the viceroyal retinue. Fighting was fierce and the fionns briefly retook the gate for a time, during which Sergeant Gregory was killed. With the arrival of bcfoss the battle quickly turned against the fionns, who managed to flee into the city's northern quarter before being cut down. This would mark the end of fighting in the southern theatre.

Eastern Theatre

The Eastern theatre comprised a large part of the rebellion. Poitevine, with all of its tributary settlements and infrastructure posed a great threat due to its proximity to imperial authority.

Battle of Poitevine

Poitevine was destroyed from flying players at this time. Many NPC's were killed, and builds in the city were destroyed. The chaos was exacerbated by the fact that Poitevine's defense force took time to join the rebellion's NPC faction, flufyking took advantage of this by lavaing passive Poitevine soldiers in faction limbo, to the consternation of jusipat.

It was at this time that jusipat elected to pursue a dirt war strategy in reaction to the severity of the attacks against Poitevine. To him, it was obvious that the rebellion would be destroyed so thoroughly, proving reconcilliation impossible with the loyalists. He therefore believed this arbitrary destruction of such a large portion of the Empire's economy would consquently cause the empire to collapse and that this process should be accelerated by engaging in total war. During the total destruction of Poitevine, jusipat managed to sneak into the empire's mountain and destroy everything he possibly could. This began the trend of total war which would marr the server until its closure.

Interference of the Hallowed Vale

Concurrently with the assault on Poitevine, Flufyking was confronted by a force of dragonriders from the Hallowed Vale. It is unknown whether the dragonriders made demands of the Empire or attacked immediately, but soon an aerial battle erupted above Karaz Wyr.

Both the Empire and the Hallowed Vale possessed two dragonriders each. It is difficult to gauge their relative strength, but the Imperials were caught off-guard as they were already invested in the Battle of Poitevine. Despite the Imperials' precarious position, the interlopers suffered the first casualty when one of their dragonriders was struck down by a spell(?). This alone might not have been enough to deter the Hallowed Vale from further attacks, but the aerial battle was ended definitively when Flufyking used a safari net to rip the remaining hostile dragon from the sky and dash the rider to pieces on the mountain slopes below. Having lost two dragons and a wealth of valuable equipment, the Hallowed Vale accepted the Emperor's request for a truce in return for the right to reclaim their lost equipment.

After the truce the dragonriders of the Hallowed Vale did not leave the Empire immediately, but instead loitered in Kjahog Gruppel for several days. Perhaps taking advantage of Kjolt947's ambiguous stance towards the Empire, they attempted to coerce tribute from him and ultimately killed him before departing for the Hallowed Vale.

Arrival of Wikaros

By the time the Fionnic army reached Poitevine, the city was already a ruin. There were dragons in the sky at this time, although it is unclear whether the aerial battle was still in progress. Wikaros was at a loss in the face of the chaos unfolding around Poitevine, eventually deciding to abandon the city to it's fate and march on Karaz Wyr itself.

He approached Karaz Wyr via it's eastern slope, but encountered the Imperial Guard half-way up the mountain. Wikaros was not certain of the identity of the 'twenty to thirty men' holding position on the slope, but ordered a charge anyways. At some point during or immediately before the melee Saucy_Tacos cast a poison mist spell over the Fionnic army to great effect, offsetting the numerical superiority of the rebels. Wikaros was slain in the fighting, along with most of his men.

Assault on Charmon

Following the destruction of Poitevine, the remainder of Poitevine's strength reorganised at Charmon. flufyking arrived to assault the settlement, and was delayed by a now belligerent Poitois retinue. This allowed jusipat time to escape with the rest of Poitevine's most valuable material assets. The town of Charmon, and the Manoir Brenlois were both lightly damaged as the Empire consolidated control of the Poitois hinterlands. jusipat was then forced into hiding.

jusipat then began employing Dirt Warfare in earnest, burrowing into the Karaz Wyr's stronghold and destroying countless machines and chests, before being spotted and slain by SaucyTacos_. This severely demoralised Karaz Wyr's fighting force; as dirt warfare typically causes.

Rest Action

Though the scattered rebel forces were utterly destroyed, the Empire was also completely ravaged. No peace treaty was signed, as the rebel forces once again concentrated over the coming days to regain strength. Conversely, the material losses of the Empire were so significant that its most loyal subjects were demoralised to the point of rarely playing on the server again.

The former rebels would go on to form the DBF organisation, and eventually the formal nation of Slamdunker.