The Schism War

Revolution

A three-month series of skirmishes that granted the Azmarin Clan partial independence.

Azmarin was running out of room on land, and King Arroyos' solution to this was to build a series of interconnected piers and boardwalks onto the shore of Marin, which would eventually come to be known as the Serenity District. Unfortunately, he couldn't be bothered to get permission from the Azmarin Clan of merfolk living in the cove, which, understandably, angered them greatly. This proved to be the tipping point in the relationship between the clan, which was increasingly seeing itself as a separate entity to the drylanders, and the Alenyath line, which saw the clan as subjects just like all the other inhabitants of Azmarin.   Historians agree that the war began early in the morning when a group of young merfolk cut down key pilons in the construction, causing the entire structure to collapse. When the clan refused to hand the perpetrators over to the police, King Arroyos issued arrest warrants for half the clan leaders, who, in turn, cursed the king and declared war.   The war was waged from ship to sea rather than ship to ship. Initially King Arroyos appeared to be winning until the clan successfully blockaded the Strait of Azmarin, preventing ships from coming or going from Port Serenity and effectively blocking off the island's revenue stream. Two weeks into the seige, King Arroyos was killed in battle. (Some say this was by his own men, fed up with his rule and the increasingly dwindling supplies, though there is no evidence to support this.) His replacement, Queen Clarynn, was much more sympathetic to the clan's plight, and she met with the its leaders the very next day. In exchange for an end to the war, the clan was granted its partial independence, an arrangement which has lasted to this day.   From start to end date, the war lasted a total of three months.