The Great Bronze Revolution

The Great Bronze Revolution, otherwise known as the Three Great Revolutions, the Years of Chain-Breaking and the Breaker War, within the Bronzimm Concord. The expansion of the Banaethlin Empire had been underway within from the south-western continent into the shores of Aethalassar, the western tropical sub-continent of Aetha'Shar. They had ruled and collected themselves since the end of the Cataclysm, and we're already on the march to expand their empire. However, upon the precipice of the Century of Broken Magic, where arcane magic world-wide became inert and broken, potentially worthless... civilisations reliant on the power of magic failed and a great change came about because of it.
This was one of the factors that led to the subsequent Three Great Revolution.

The Conflict

Prelude

The Hobgoblin Banaethlin Empire had been united by the ruthless Supreme Imperator within the first half-century of the new era after the Gods had sealed the Divine Gate. But to achieve their glorious goal of conquering the world, they must expand and find new lands - the first place which they landed upon was on the south-western coast of Aethalassar. They found the current inhabitants, isolated groups of Yuan-Ti, to be the only credible threat - alongside the dark and druidic clans of Bugbears known as the Sombraden. The early Banaethlin colonisers and warlords advanced, waging war against the hidden Yuan-Ti and the guerrilla fighters of the druidic Sombraden - an unstoppable wave of united warriors and tyrants, consolidating their rule with quickly erected strongholds in key points across the vast river networks connecting to the southern coast. Territory after the territory was claimed, glory was won by the Hobgoblin soldiers - the Yuan-Ti would not be enslaved, but the great dinosaurs of the jungles bowed to their will. The Sombraden cautiously picked and chose their fights, but were ultimately driven into hiding throughout the jungle.
By 50 P.D - the Hobgoblins had established a firm grip within the consolidated and conquered jungle, already at work to strip the land of its resources to fuel the war engines of the Empire. A great Imperator, leader of the advanced armies of the Supreme Imperator, known as Harkatagan, established his own petty kingdom within the jungle - building roads and infrastructure within the jungle through the merciless and cruel enslavement of the Goblins, their little cousins. Hundreds if not thousands died paving the way to building Banaethlins new territory within Aethalassar. However, among the masses, the submissive goblins began to feel a certain connection with the land around them - seeing spirits. The captured Sombraden spoke of old and ancient serpents, older than the Yuan-Ti themselves that dwelt within a great temple lake in the north... the Serpents Sublime. One disgruntled and hopeful Goblin, by the name of Shivo, had been caught within an ambush between Sombraden and Hobgoblin guards... and a mysterious entity of mist had broken their chains and compelled them to flee into the river.
Shivo was met multiple times with visions of a pair of sublime, rainbow-feathered and winged serpents that called themselves Eheca and Atoya. They guided Shivo and his band of freed slaves, promising safety and shelter - guided through the dangers of the jungle until they reached Athlass, the lake temple of the Coatl. The Coatl guided them, and filled them with knowledge, wisdom and freedom - and gave them hope and the means to defend themselves. For five gruelling years, the goblins survived the trials of the Coatl, and through their harsh lessons, grew strong. Shivo, a fearful Goblin, always feared the return of the Imperator and Banaethlin. He feared the whip - but one night, he gazed into the waters of Lake Athlass, and Atoya revealed within his dreams the life that he left behind. His kin and people were ruthlessly beaten, whipped, tortured without impunity, enslaved, working to the bone for the destructive conquest of the Imperator. He saw his newfound friends being chained once more and left as bloody corpses buried under the stone of a world conquered by the Banaethlin. He felt powerless, he wished it to stop, and so, in the dream, he pushed away from the slavers, those that laughed at him and taunted him. What could a little Goblin do against the might of the Empire?
The next morning, he announced that he would return to the imperial strongholds. Surprised, his friends begged him not to go, it was suicide. Stay here, where it is safe, where they can live in peace. But Shivo did not listen. There could be no peace if the Banaethlin were downriver.
He left Athlass in 55 P.D, and directed that the others should go to the other strongholds and spread the word of hope and freedom to other enslaved Goblins... Shivo arrived within the stronghold of Harkartagan, upon which he was captured and left to become part of the slave force building the central stronghold. He and his allies spent the next year, speaking in whispers, spreading the word - that the time will come when the Goblins will rise against their overlords.
Upon the year anniversary of Shivo leaving Athlass, the Imperator had been found assassinated and killed within his bed-chambers. Catching the other warlords off guard, unsure as to who was to blame - some believed it to be the Sombraden, or the Yuan-Ti, others whispered of the other warlords vying for power in their new domain. The Hobgoblins vied for control to become the new Imperator, each one claiming the right of the title for themselves and for the Supreme Imperator. Uncertainty, and the power vacuum that ensued brought a smile upon Shivo's face. Now, the chains would break. In the year he had become enslaved, he had served dutifully, inspiring other Goblins to work hard and train themselves - for they were stronger than they believed. Each day of hard work was training for their bodies, meanwhile each day the Hobgoblins lavished within their fortresses, planning their next conquest and preparing their forces. Each day, the goblins would memorise the streets, the corners, the shadows upon each stronghold, each step a guard took and each time they ate or drank. They knew where they stored their weapons, for they were the ones that made them and stashed them away. They knew where their armour and cavalry were, for they were the ones that polished and maintained them.
As if by some miracle, the wet season arrived and a great rainstorm filled the lands - flooding the rivers and pushing all boats downriver to the southern coast, and breaking the roads that connected each stronghold. Shivo took it as the sign that the Coatl were with them, directing the waters to their aid. Here, the rallying cry struck - Shivo's training and survival within Athlass were put to the test, and his fists strengthened into iron, he broke the chains of his fellow Goblins and rose a rallying cry that spread across all of Aethalassar.

"I am Shivo! I am your slave no longer! Today, I break my chains and stand as a free Goblin! Brothers! Sisters! Rise up! For we bow and bleed no longer to a dead tyrant! Today, and for the rest of our days, we live, and die, as free Goblins!!!"

Shivo the Brave, the first rallying cry that would cripple an empire.

Deployment

Starting within Harkartagan, Shivo rose amongst a number of fifty goblins, and began to break the chains of each of their enslaved members and fighting against the Hobgoblins. Many died, but overwhelmed the surprised and squabbling Hobgoblins - they martialled their counterattack, but many found their weapons and arrows faulty, their bowstrings frayed, their spear shafts brittle, and their shield straps broken. Shivo led them into the city proper, using the rain and mist as cover for their assault - his other companions simultaneously revolted against the Hobgoblins. After 3 days, the city battle ended, and Shivo stood wearing scrapped bronze armour and an obsidian-bladed club and prepared for the revolt across the Banaethlin colony of Aethalassar.

Battlefield

The Breaker War began in 56 P.D, and lasted 4 long years. The Hobgoblins had been divided and cut off, and their strongholds had been sabotaged and their lines broken - but they counter-attacked and reclaimed some of their outposts. The Goblins were driven back into their controlled territories and into the jungle - forced into guerrilla warfare and series of ambushes.
The greatest battle happened at the Battle of the Everglades - the winding rivers and swampland, where the Hobgoblins had entrenched themselves within a hastily built fortress with only one landbridge access and a mud-wall surrounding it in the river. Shivo the Brave led the assault, surrounding them on all sides with the land - but could not falter for long, for reinforcements were set to arrive from the southern river. Shivo set up a series of ambushes around the southern river to counter and delay the southern reinforcements, whilst the goblins laid siege to the Hobgoblins. At the same time, Shivo set his fellow goblins to build another bridge from the other side of the river using stones - they had been used to rigorous labour amongst the Hobgoblins, and would use that punishing labour against them to target their weakest spot. In a matter of two weeks, the Hobgoblins walls were broken and the Bronzebraves swelled within the walls and claimed the heads of all the Hobgoblins that resided within. The delayed Hobgoblins reinforcements arrived, only to find amongst the river, dozens if not hundreds of Hobgoblin heads were thrown into the river, being eaten by rabid razorfins and pirahna... the momentary lapse of judgement gave the Bronzebraves enough time to ambush them, using oil-soaked arrows and barrels of flammable tar dumped into the water to light the glades on fire. The Hobgoblins tried to escape, but ended in becoming part of a bloody feeding frenzy within the Everglades... they had ignored the fact that it was the pirahna's mating season, and they were quite ravenous. Heralded as the Battle of the Burnwater Pirahna.

Outcome

• The commanders of the Hobgoblins had been captured, publically executed, and the hierarchy of the colonial Empire had been fundamentally broken and destroyed. The remaining remnants of the Empire fled into the jungle.
• The Goblins were free - claiming the old territories of the Hobgoblins for themselves - but each one was left to burn and put to ruin in seven days of celebratory fire.

Aftermath

• For the next 20-30 years, different Goblin factions - the Worghests, the Ironfists, the Unbound and Sombraden, vied for control and territories across Aethalassar.
• Due to the war, and the nature of the jungle - disease spread across the ranks of the Goblins and Hobgoblins... the worst affected the Worghests, pleasing for a cure or for a miracle, a dark power answered the call and afflicted them with a lycanthropic affliction known as the Ghesting.
• The Unbound, the groups loyal to Shivo, nurtured a brotherhood and sisterhood under the example and leadership of Shivo the Brave - with the aid of the Coatl, they sought to establish a firm and central society for all goblins to enjoy. After 20 years, law and order and alliances were arranged between the different Collectives that respected one another borders. The constitution and agreed set of laws made by Shivo, would be expanded upon in 108 P.D by Shivo's grandson, Antoc the Bronzebrave, to unify all the Goblin collectives under a Zimmark, a civil war between goblins that eventually led to the total union between all Goblins.
• The Ironfists became spiritual and enlightened followers of the Serpents Sublime, spreading their worship and acting as Coatl'Anzi (Hands of the Coatl) - enforcing the laws and order through the decrees and wisdom of the Coatl from Athlass. Living a spiritual way of life, training under the surviving Tortles, students of Haerod Strongback, a master monk that knew the ways of the Serpents Sublime.
• The Sombradan remained isolated and sought to reclaim the lost jungle broken and torn apart by the industrious Banaethlin imperials - bringing back life into the lands of the southern coastline, led by their great archdruid, Kaizer Longarms.
• By 121 P.D, the squabbling goblins of the Sombradan, Bronzebraves, Aevonfists and Unbound, erected a sacred ground of totems, buried spears, hatchets and clubs - symbolising the end of discord between them, and each swore vows and agreed-upon laws that would form the burgeoning state of the modern Bronzimm Concord.

Conflict Type

War

Battlefield Type

Land

Start Date

56 P.D

Ending Date

60 P.D

Conflict Result

The Bronzebraves emerged victorious, after 4 years of bloody fighting.

Location

Aethallasar

Maps

• 

  Aethalassar

  The jungle regions of Aethalassar, home to the free Goblins, Bugbears and Tortles of the Bronzimm Concord. Once the region was conquered by the Old Banaethlin Empire to the southern-west regions until the Three Great Revolutions brought about freedom for the enslaved and vassalized goblins and bugbears of Banaethlin, who formulated an alliance with the Tortles of Carpe Tortollan and formed the Bronzimm Concord. Now it stands as a thriving civilisation of independent but united mercantile city-states that seek to control and expand their misty jungle domain, spreading their wonderful trade through the developing airships to reach any and all of their trading partners across Aetha'Shar and beyond.

Belligerents

Imperial Aethalassar of Banaethlin Empire

Led by

Strength

Strong military trained forces. Disciplined. Heavily armed and armoured. Rule with fear and terror and martial strength.

Casualties

90,000 Hobgoblins. 780 Iron Shadows (secret police/ monks) 560 Devastators (Hobgoblin war-wizards). 180856 Worgs.

Objectives

• End the revolts and punish all those involved
• Conquer the lands of Aethalassar
• Find and kill the leaders of the revolt

The Unbound

Led by

Strength

Revolutionaries and liberators - backed by the bravery and wisdom of the Chosen of the Coatl. Highly charismatic, inspired, unifying and sparked by generations of slavery, anger, resentment, hatred, sadness - euphoric battle. Armoured in bronze scavenged armour and weaponry. Knowledgeable about the natural terrain & herbal poisons. Tamers of the wild beasts.

Casualties

143,560 Goblins. 3712 Nilbogs. 412 Goblin Shamans. 3409 Raptors. 657 Pterasaurs. 3 Triceratops.

Objectives

• End the rule of the Imperial Banaethlin and punish all those involved
• Free all slaves, burn all symbols of oppression & power related to the Supreme Imperator and worship of Bane.
• Find and kill the leaders of the Imperial Banaethlin

Sombraden

Led by

Strength

Knowledgable of the natural terrain - shapechangers - druidic magic. Ambush and guerrilla tactics. Trained assassins and co-ordinated hunters, striking at the leaders, rather than engaging in open prolonged combat. Beast-riders and beast masters.

Casualties

21,467 Sombraden Bugbears. 8345 Raptors. 2166 Pterosaurs. 67 Ankylosaurs. 89 Triceratops. 215 T-Rexs.

Objectives

• End the invasive rule of the Imperial Banaethlin and punish all those involved
• End the spread of the destructive and tyrannical civilised centres.
• Reclaim the lost lands of nature and restore them back to health.
• Find and kill the leaders of the Imperial Banaethlin