War of Hubris

About a century ago, the power of the Mage Sovereigns was finally challenged by the Union, an alliance of divine casters, artificers, non-magical aristocrats and common folk, led by the Sovereigns' own cults of magic, who turned on them as their Sovereigns, even as the Sovereigns once turned on the Regime. The Union planned for years, and secretly mastered the art of disrupting spells as they were cast, as well as dispelling standing effects.
The Lassarate of Belissarion was one of the most powerful sovereignties, with good farmland and access to one half of the Holder Dwarf mines in the Spine. The Lasars were also noted for their piety in the name of their own cult, and each Lasar grew more ruthlessly puritanical then the last. As a result, their Cult of Magic almost spoiled the greater uprising when they launched an assassination attempt ahead of the Union's timetable.
The attack in Aethra - the cult centre of Belissar - took out Lasar Narathia Belissarion XIII's honour guard and many of the other members of her dynasty, but Narathia herself fled to the ancient fortress of Fulminara. Had she been able to summon reinforcements from the southern capital, Belissaria, it might have gone badly, but by chance the Zeranzeri Drow launched an assault on Zeras and southern Belissar which tied up the Lasarate's forces and was joined by an enthusiastic popular uprising.
Adapting swiftly, the Union mobilised its other forces. The Hierophant of Damas was assassinated by his closest Presbyters. Loyalist forces from Stoiga, Acadma and Zeras immediately converged on Damas and slaughtered every Presbyter they could find. They then fell to fighting over control of the city, however, allowing the rebels in the other city states to strike against their Sovereigns' weakened defences, and then gather to surround the seemingly-victorious force in Damas.
The Paragons of Berngaard unexpectedly unseated their own dynasty in the name of the Uprising, allowing the Union to focus on the south, assassinating the remaining Heptarchs before launching a combined assault on the recalcitrant Sovereignty of Donar, which remained stubbornly loyal to the Majistry. Rebels sheltering in Donara's cult centre, the Fortress of Wings, tried to aid the external assault, but found themselves pushed back to their own walls. Forces from the former Heptarchy sailed up the Delta, bypassing the ash elf forces to flank the Majistry's loyalists. Meanwhile, with rebellion in the eastern Sovereignties gaining no real traction, the Union mustered an expeditionary force in Belissar, which was sent across the Spine while a larger force was gathered in Berngaard to support them. Both of these forces stumbled directly into a clash between the God-Queen's faithful and minions of the Undying King. The White Baron, commander of the God-Queen's northern defences, vanished, allowing the flanking force to gain a foothold before clashing with the undead. The battle between these two monstrous foes appeared to be ended in a draw, and both van­ished, leaving the Union to mop up the remaining undead and claim victory.
It was a strong and unified Union force that advanced towards Aino, but the forces of the Poet-King fought with incredible strength and the cool of ice water in their veins. If the bards had not joined the Union cause, Kavala might have held out indefinitely, but they did, and eventually the last of the Poet-King's household we forced back into the lake.
The waters of Aino were cold and deep, and, after the Poet-King's death, wreathed in cool and clinging mist that coiled and grasped like pale fingers. The Union declared their cause victorious, and left the Witch-Queen to her own devices.

Aftermath

In the years following the war, the Union reformed into the civic governments of the Sacred Republic and the Church of the Eightfold Way. Arcane practices were stamped out, with the exception of the Colleges and the Artificers' Guilds, and theological orthodoxy was enforced.

Conflict Type

War