The Ardunan Revolution

The Ardunan Revolution was a period of political and social revolution across the Kingdom of Ardun, commencing with the establishment of the Transitional Government, following the death of King Brannen IX, and concluding with the establishment of the Commonwealth of Ardun in 145.

History

Background

After the First Heartland War, the Kingdom of Ardun had entered a state of decline. The war reparations paid to Merony had left the royal treasury in such a dire state that nearly half of all veterans in the country saw their pensions severely cut, if not outright cancelled. This was closely followed by a deadly outbreak of Black Fever in the early 20's, and a market crash in 125, which plunged the country into a deep economic depression. With skyrocketing unemployment and an inadequate government response, the vast majority of the population had become completely disenfranchised from the political process.
As the years passed, and the economy remained stagnant, social unrest led to the radicalization of the population at large, with trust in the traditional parties in parliament steadily eroding. Those who abandoned the political establishment generally fell into two broad groups:

Syndicalists

An alliance of socialists, anarchists, social-democrats and trade unionists, the syndicalists viewed the current state of the country as the result of capitalism in decay. They wished for the abolition of the monarchy and the dissolution of Parliament, with the government restructured along trade union lines. To this end, syndicalists led the effort to organize labour unions into one large alliance known as the United Labour Front. Syndicalists drew their ranks mostly from the urban working poor, as well as rural miners and university students. Members of the ULF were known colloquially as "Ulfies".

Nationalists

A loose, reactionary group of integralists, social conservatives, monarchists and fascists, the nationalists viewed the crisis not as born out of capitalism or imperialism, but out of moral decline. In their view, the breakdown of social cohesion mirrored the weakening of not only the authority of the crown, but of the kings themselves, as the last six kings of Ardun had been unpopular, debauched, and disinterested in state affairs. by the year 1239, most nationalists had united around King Brannen IX's second son, Morryn Overland, who was viewed as a stronger, charismatic, and politically involved version of his older brother Faolan. Nationalists found support among rural workers, the small-holding peasantry, and aristocrats in the Ardunan Hinterlands.

Both of these groups had become much more militant and organised by the mid 30's. The United Labour Front, initially a collection of independent yet cooperative trade unions, had been forged into a powerful paramilitary organization under the leadership of Labour MP Jack Lennon. Meanwhile, Nationalists had begun flocking towards Crown Prince Morryn, forming the Runik League, a personal army modelled after the feudalist lances of the Rust Age. Many influential supporters of the Nationalist movement were not nationalists themselves, but industrialists who might have preferred the current Liberal model, but understood the crisis as a major turning point for Ardun, where the center ultimately would not hold.
Outside the fringes of political activism, the Ardunan Parliament was itself divided. Parties to the left of center were becoming increasingly frustrated with the king's executive powers, and believed the royal veto was getting in the way of desperately needed reforms to address the ongoing economic depression. Therefore, as King Brannen IX's health began to deteriorate, members of liberal, social democrat, and socialist parties joined together to form the Finalist Coalition, pushing for a motion to make King Brannen the last king of Ardun. Conservatives in parliament were generally shocked at this notion, and fought back finalist efforts in the House of Commons.
With the 1240 general election resulting in a hung parliament, there were no reforms passed to counteract social tensions, which continued to grow exponentially over the next few years. Shootouts between the ULF and the League became a common occurrence, and labour unions began to put up fierce competition with the state for the workers' allegiance.

The Battle of Succession

The beginning of the Ardunan Revolution is often considered to have begun in the late hours of the 29th of September, 1241, when King Brannen IX suddenly died from a stroke. In the hours following the king's death, conservative MPs escorted his older son, Prince Faolan, into parliament. The king's passing had been unexpected, and the vote regarding the Finalists' demands was still half than a month away, so the conservatives wished to immediately crown Faolan in a small ceremony, to avoid a legal battle with the Liberal Party.
However, King Brannen was being accompanied by his secretary, Maeve Sinclair, who was an informant for the ULF, in the moments prior to his death. As soon as the king was declared dead, Sinclair managed to contact members of the Valken Red Guard in time for them to gather together a significant mob to stand between the conservatives' retinue and the gates of Parliament.
Conservative MPs were being escorted by a small number of policemen, but the Red Guards appeared to outnumber them. Unwilling to escalate tensions, the MPs instead dragged Faolan to a nearby chancel, where the police demanded one of the priests perform a coronation. Under pressure from the policemen, Father Emmanuel Morris agreed to perform the ceremony, and was not given time to get properly dressed, beginning the ceremony in his pajamas.
However, the MPs had been followed by the Red Guards, who now gathered in front of the church. Conservative Party leader Bernard Greeves confronted the mob asking "have you wretched men gone so far astray that would would begin a firefight inside a chancel?", to which known Ulfie Cullen Radcliff responded "We're all pious men, Minister. If you go on with this farce, we'll wait until you lads are all done. Then we'll open fire".
The two groups were caught in this stand-off, when members of the Runik League arrived at the scene to drive the Red Guards away. This started a small firefight in front of the chancel, which led many of the MPs inside the church to panic. Father Morris refused to perform Faolan's coronation until the fighting stopped.
By this point in the night, news of the trouble had reached Prime Minister Donall Buchanan, who alerted the other Finalists. He then sent a detachment from the Parliamentary Garrison to the scene with explicit orders to escort Prince Faolan to the Parliament.
When the soldiers arrived at the scene, the firefight was dying down, but many of the Conservative MPs were still shaken, so there was little protest when Prince Faolan was dragged into a military vehicle. Both groups in the shootout scattered upon seeing the military, who were unable to make any arrests.
Upon arriving at Parliament, Faolan was dragged into a room with a few Finalists and Conservatives. There, they fiercely debated until the early hours of the morning. In the end, the conservatives convinced liberal finalists to maintain the Overland royal family (much to the anger of labour finalists), in exchange for a steep reduction in the king's executive powers. Crucially, the Liberals conceded that the House of Lords should remain intact, which nearly caused a fistfight between some labour MPs and other legislators. When the "session" was complete, and the Succession Reform Act was passed, Father Morris (who had been brought along with the soldiers, still in his pajamas) performed a rushed coronation ceremony, crowning King Faolan XIII, so he could quickly sign the bill into law. The day's debate agenda was rescheduled, and everyone left for their homes at around 6:40 in the morning.
Around that time, the Kingdom of Ardun awoke to find a dead king, a church turned into a crime scene, and a rarely respected prince crowned king with a reduced royal prerogative. Newspapers scrambled to add barely readable summaries of the night's events into the morning issues. The reaction to the "Battle of Succession", as it became known, was a mixture of confusion and outrage.

Transitional Government

In the aftermath of the Battle of Succession, Prime Minister Buchanan announced that the Ardunan government was now in a "transitional stage", and would work to determine exactly what the role of the ardunan nobility would be going forward. The Prime Minister's cabinet would now use the streamlined executive branch to more effectively pass legislation to deal with the economic and political crisis, in a package called the Democratic Recovery Act.
Feeling humiliated by the actions following the king's death, the Conservative Party closed their ranks, joined by the New Nationalist Party, and refused to approve any motion passed by the Liberal government. This backed Buchanan into a corner, as he was forced to work within his rapidly crumbling coalition. Though the Democratic-Progressive Party was still open to negotiating Liberal proposals, the Labour Party called for part of their 1240 platform to be incorporated into the Recovery Act, such as railway nationalization and the establishment of a social security net. Labour Leader Jack Lennon enforced strict party discipline to keep MPs from supporting a recovery act that did not explicitly include heavy protections for the working class. Thus, parliament was stuck passing patchwork legislation that would address specific issues, while sweeping acts of legislation would be caught between the Conservative embargo and the Labour demands.
With the return of the post-election parliamentary gridlock, the economy continued to decline, and unemployment grew. This in turn led to the newly-unemployed finding themselves in the ranks of either the Red Guard or the League, and crime continued to soar. In the union halls of the ULF, more and more workers were becoming restless, and demanding more radical action to ensure recognition of their labour rights. Ulfie leader Owen Booker wrote in his journal that "the tension was thick enough that you could cut it with a knife, yet no one dared to do it, because we knew the blood would come pouring out of the cut, and there would be nothing that could stop it".

General Strike

During the fall, strikes were becoming more common, in response to wage cuts by employers to improve company profits during the depression. Many of them were initially concentrated in the province of Marseton, the industrial heartland of Ardun, but this quickly spread to the other provinces. Notably, September 29 of 1241 saw two strikes declared by two separate dockworkers' unions: one in Abercrook, on the west coast, and another in Shordale, on the east coast. Neither was aware of the others' declaration at the time.
On October 13, one such strike was taking place in the town of Balton, CA, by iron miners of Midwest Miners United, a union that was affiliated with the ULF. Governor Sorley Gibson called on the national guard to quell the strike, with explicit orders to disperse the picket line by any means necessary. The confrontation between soldiers and workers boiled over when national guardsmen opened fire on a group of protesters, which led to a full blown riot throughout Balton as the night set in, which would continue until the morning. By sunrise, over 200 civillians had been killed by the national guard, with many more wounded. The Balton Massacre, as this event became known, was one of the largest riots in Ardunan history.
News and photos of the massacre at Balton spread through the country like wildfire, and workers and students began to fill the streets in indignation at the brutality of the national guard. Three days after the massacre, the ULF announced a general strike, the first in over 5 years, demanding the arrest of Governor Gibson on murder charges, the resignation of Prime Minister Buchanan, and immediate general elections. In a few large cities, ULF members used biplanes to drop pamphlets announcing the strike over the streets. Union leaders met with student groups and influential community leaders to coordinate action.
The Autumn Strike was a testament to the astronomical growth of the ULF and its influence. For the first time since the Gaeler Rising of 1156, the entire country of Ardun was screeching to a halt. Mayors and governors called for curfews, only for local Ulfies to announce and enforce completely contradictory ones. Entire platoons of Red Guards could be seen patrolling sections of Caerun, Valken and Mulder at night. Workers began to meet in councils to debate matters of public administration, in complete disregard for their actual local authorities.
The effects of the strike became even more severe in the countryside, as some villages in Marseton and Cairena found themselves in a state of undeclared civil war. Red Guards, Runik Leaguesmen, and soldiers would practically engage in open combat for control of small towns. In places where the Red Guards were victorious, they would expropriate the lands and assets of large business owners and landlords, distributing them among the populace, as the provincial capitals were in disarray dealing with protesting within urban areas. Small business owners would largely be safe from expropriation, but Red Guard commanders would impose a protection racket on their businesses, taking the money directly to the aforementioned workers' councils, where they would be put into a "people's treasury" and used for makeshift welfare programs.
The upper echelons of the military were appalled at the situation nationwide, and a few generals attempted to organize their armies for a campaign of retribution. However, to their surprise, they were hindered at every step of the way by junior officers, who delayed the delivery of orders, communicated false information, and in some cases outright refused to mobilize troops. The lower ranks of the military were often of working class backgrounds, which put them at odds with the aristocratic high command. These officers formed an underground organization called the Fenwick Column, which over time began to gravitate towards the ULF, due to the two groups' egalitarian tendencies.
In Parliament, the Labour Party called for a vote of no-confidence against PM Buchanan, citing his inability to respond to popular outrage. However, the Conservatives, who just the year before had suggested a vote of no-confidence themselves, refused to join Labour in their calls. With the entire nation in upheaval, the political climate had radically changed, and it was beginning to dawn on many conservatives that a general election would result in major gains for the Left.
However, Buchanan himself saw the writing on the wall, and knew that he would not be able to maintain the country in order with only a third of Parliament. He made one last attempt to form a coalition with the Conservative Party, in a meeting that proved to be more fruitful than previous ones. Conservative Leader Bernard Graves remained extremely belligerent towards the Liberal Party, but he and other conservatives saw in the ascendant Labour Party an existential threat to the kingdom. The two parties ultimately agreed that, while a coalition was a possibility, it was unlikely that they would be able to quell the popular discontent without concessions. Therefore, on November 4, Prime Minister Buchanan announced a snap election, and King Faolan XIII dissolved parliament. Polls would open on December 12, 1242.
It was expected that the announcement of a general election would lead to a cooling of tempers around the country, but the leadership of the ULF saw an opportunity, and decided that it was time to press their advantage. While other parties were in disarray and scrambling to put a campaign together, the ULF began to provide their member unions with lists of Labour candidates to endorse. The rural worker councils began to empty their treasuries in order to fund the Labour campaign, and Jack Lennon began to attend several rallies per day. Once again, Ulfie biplanes flew over major cities, and this time their pamphlets announced simply "Land, Liberty and Prime Minister Lennon". The messaging from the ULF was intended to stir up their rapidly increasing base, but also to intimidate the middle and upper classes, communicating that the only way to end the general strike was to accept a Labour majority in Parliament.
In early November, the Ardunan Labour Party was shown to be polling at 64%, with the Conservative Party trailing far behind at 26%. The Liberal Party was projected to win less than 20 seats.

The post-election parliament, as projected by the National Research Center.

King Faolan's Assassination

In mid-November, the general strike was leading to heavy protesting in the capital. The release of the NRC's polling led many right-wing militias into campaigns of terror around the poorer neighborhoods of Valken, starting fires and firing warning shots into apartment windows, in the hopes of suppressing support for the ULF and mitigating what was turning out to be an impending syndicalist supermajority in Parliament.
On November 13, textile workers from the Weston Outfitting Company seized a factory in Valken's Silk District as part of a sitdown strike. Weston private security, with tacit support from local police, responded by barring the factory doors from the outside, and throwing firebombs through the windows. Due to the textile material inside the factory, the fire spread almost instantly, killing all workers inside. This triggered another wave of riots that completely stopped the city for the rest of the week.
Five days later, on November 18, King Faolan's military convoy found itself caught in the middle of a large crowd of protesters while attempting to leave the city for the Winter Palace. The king's vehicle was struggling to push through the crowd to make a turn, which temporarily left the vehicle's right flank unprotected by the mounted royal guardsmen. In this short span of time, a man clad in a black overcoat and white cloves emerged from the crowd with a pistol and a crowbar. The man broke the car window with his crowbar, and shot the king five times at point blank, before immediately disappearing back into the crowd. The royal driver sped in a panic, running over multiple protesters, and raced to the nearest hospital, but King Faolan was already dead by the time the car arrived.
The king's assassination was perhaps the largest turning point in the Autumn Strike. The triumphant atmosphere in the streets of major cities gave way to a generalized uncertainty, a feeling that "some sort of invisible line had been crossed, a point where there was no longer any return from", according to ULF secretary Maeve Warden. Officially, the country was in a state of mourning, but in actuality the streets and fields were overtaken by a sense of paranoia, and while Jack Lennon announced that the strike would go on "for the sake of a new world, where these terrible wounds might be healed", the organized working class now expected reaction to arise.
This reaction came in the form of General Aaron Crowley, who had recently taken over the Eastern Command. Crowley was a staunch nationalist, and a supporter of Prince Morryn. With the death of King Faolan, Crowley mobilized the army, quickly identifying problematic junior officers and relocating them to other commands, and instituted a province-wide curfew over Asgern. Officially, this was only supposed to last a few days, in preparation for the coronation of Faolan's heir, who would be Morryn. But Prime Minister Buchanan, being aware of Morryn's openly autocratic leanings, and still hoping to piece together a democratically-minded coalition, announced that the coronation would be postponed until the election was over. Buchanan was very distrustful of Crowley, and saw Prince Morryn as the piece of legitimacy the army high command needed to impose martial law.

The March on Valken

On November 19, General Crowley made a radio announcement to the nation, in which he denounced the ULF as a terrorist organization and a "cancer that has been deliberately allowed to grow unchecked". He accused Prime Minister Buchanan of harboring Ulfie sympathies, and allowing their power to grow for his own benefit. In his address, Crowley delivered an ultimatum to the Buchanan administration, based on 3 main demands:

• The parliamentary reforms limiting the executive power of the king were to be rolled back.
• Prince Morryn was to be immediately recognized as King of Ardun by the cabinet.
• The Labour Party of Ardun was to be disbanded, and Jack Lennon was to be arrested.

According to Crowley, if these demands were fulfilled, the general election would be allowed to proceed as planned. Otherwise, the Royal Armed Forces of Ardun were to "occupy the halls of power, and take whatever precautions needed to halt the rot taking over civilized society". Crowley ended his broadcast by giving the administration a deadline of seven days to accept the ultimatum.
Upon hearing the address, Buchanan spent the next few days engaged in meetings. He first met with the Conservative Party leadership, hoping to make their previously discussed Liberal-Conservative coalition official. However, despite MP Graves being more amenable towards Buchanan at that point, a considerable portion of the Conservative party had radicalized towards reaction in the past month, and was now openly supporting a military intervention. He then met with Democratic-Progressive and moderate Labour representatives who were expected to win their seats, inviting them to switch parties on the eve of the election to strengthen the Liberal Party's position enough to stop a reactionary dismantling of democratic rights. However, Buchanan was not able to get the support he would need to hold on to power.
Lastly, he met privately with Jack Lennon, who warned him that the armed forces had already smelled blood in the water, and would attempt to intervene into civilian administration no matter what. Lennon begged Buchanan to join forces with the Labour Party, and use the mobilized masses to stop the upcoming coup d'etat. He predicted that the funding from liberal donors and the mass line of the ULF could unite to halt the wave of reaction, and bring about social-democratic change. However, Buchanan saw this as an invitation of civil war, and refused Lennon's offer, hoping that there was still time to appease the military and broker a peace. The Prime Minister ended their meeting by giving Lennon 24 hours to leave the capital, as a sign of good faith. Lennon responded in kind, by presenting Buchanan with a revolver containing a single bullet, and wishing him luck. That night, Lennon and the rest of the ULF leadership left the capital for Caerun.
One day later, Buchanan announced an executive order from the Ministry of Defense outlawing the Labour Party, citing the party's "support and participation in sedition, conspiracy, and unlawful behaviour". The other 2 demands in Crowley's ultimatum were alluded to, but not directly addressed, as Buchanan was hoping that this gesture of good faith towards the armed forces would buy him time. Buchanan also attended meetings with the leadership of the metropolitan and municipal police forces, to guarantee their support in the defense of the capital from attacks by either the ULF or reactionary forces. The Meron ambassador in Valken also approached Buchanan about two nearby Meron destroyers, and pledged these ships to Buchanan's government in case of mutinies within the Ardunan navy.
On the morning of of the third of December, despite Buchanan's concessions, General Crowley marched on the capital with 8 divisions from Eastern Command. Crowley's forces marched down Royal Avenue in front of thousands of spectators, before splitting into two. One half of the advancing force roamed the streets of the city, stopping at every police precinct and government office to ensure cooperation, while the other half, including heavy artillery, marched directly to the Parliament building, where Prime Minister Buchanan sat with his cabinet, protected by barricades being manned by members of the municipal and metropolitan police still loyal to the government.
Though there were still a few ULF Militias in the city, they were outnumbered and under-equipped, and where quickly dispatched after a few attempts to take on the occupying forces. Crowley used these attempts as justification for a swift persecution of known Labour Party members still in the capital. Though few members of the party leadership remained, hundreds of middle to low-ranking members of the party were found, rounded up, and executed via firing squads in broad daylight.
Attempts were made between Crowley and Buchanan to set up a parlay, but the Prime Minister remained inside the parliament building, refusing to surrender. This stand-off carried on through the night, as Buchanan made phone calls to other military commands and provincial governors. Around midnight, the phone lines were cut, and Buchanan's cabinet was left to wait for their siege to be broken.
In the following morning, more divisions arrived in Valken, in a massive military parade. Prince Morryn was driven in the middle of the parade, and addressed the crowd at Lexington Square in a short, emphatic speech about the dawning of a new age for the Ardunan state. Over the past year, Morryn had managed to distance himself both from his inadequate brother and the gridlocked government, and so he was able to position himself as the outsider who could breathe new life into the country.
Behind the scenes, Morryn had spent the past 24 hours on phone calls with powerful industrialists, where he proposed that the Ardunan Parliament be reshaped under a corporatist structure that would give them more direct power over the legislative branch. He also talked extensively with foreign dignitaries, promising that international trade could only return to the pre-strike status quo if the syndicalists within the government and their enablers were swiftly purged.
Buchanan was warned that he would be given until the following sunrise to surrender. That night, military engineers cut all electricity within Parliament to reduce the morale of those inside, plunging the palace in darkness. Buchanan himself remained uncharacteristically stoic throughout the night, mentioning that "if this is to be the death of democracy, let us face it with the moral fortitude it deserves".
By the morning, Crowley's forces began to slowly push their way into the building. Upon receiving news that Merony would be backing Morryn's coup, Buchanan closed himself inside his office, and committed suicide with the revolver Jack Lennon had given him. The others inside the building finally surrendered to Crowley's men, and were promptly arrested.

The December Revolution

When Buchanan announced the executive order outlawing the Labour Party, the already tense situation in the midwest escalated. As the industrial heartland of Ardun, Marseton had been a Labour stronghold for well over a decade, and the regional political machines were under the control of their MPs and local leaders. The industrial centers around Lake Perken fell into open revolt, as Ulfie militias mobilized to stop national guard divisions from arresting Labour politicians. Paul Rowley, the acting head of the Marseton Red Guard, called on all local militias capable of bearing arms to flood the streets and stop loyalist authorities from performing their duties.
General Crowley's march on Valken on December 3rd caused an immediate wave throughout the country. As provincial governments scrambled to pick their sides in the nationalist coup, several factions within local counties attempted to grab power for themselves. In the western provinces of Faelund and Perkyn, western separatists made advances against their provincial governments, with logistical support from Valentia. Throughout the country, liberals, nationalists and military officers scrambled to establish order within a crumbling government.
As order began to decay, the ULF quickly proved itself to be the most prepared faction in the Ardunan heartland, having been organized and active throughout the general strike, and local leaders started to press their advantage. In Mulder, workers seized a government office that had once been the headquarters of the short-lived Mulder Commune, over sixty years prior. Ulfies throughout the country began to empty their stockpiles and distribute weapons to every healthy worker in sight. Throughout the heartland, a red wave was forming.
The first city to fall to this wave was Gaeler. Workers advanced on city hall, and were met with a regiment of the national guard. A firefight ensued, where the workers overwhelmed the loyalist guards through sheer numbers. Mayor Gavin Bleake, a staunch conservative and supporter of Prince Morryn, was beaten and arrested by the crowd. As the red flag was raised over the building, workers proclaimed the Free Commune of Gaeler, and local union leaders were immediately inaugurated into a provisional government structure.
On the morning of December 7, the country was shocked to find out about the Gaeler Commune, and workers nationwide were emboldened. In Madwick, Bulcairn, and Stanhal, similar communes were proclaimed. Even outside of the heartland, the ULF managed to gain control over Westmore, on the west coast, and Shordale, only a few hundred miles from the capital. After assisting workers in taking control of nearby cities, Red Guards converged on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Caerun.
General Charles MacAfee from the Midwestern Command, who supported Crowley's coup, occupied Caerun with his troops, and took up residence at the Governor's Palace to oversee the defense of the city.
By nightfall, Red Guards converged on a train station on the eastern side of the city. There, they witnessed as one final train arrived from Valken, carrying Jack Lennon and the rest of the ULF leadership. With a rifle in his hand, Lennon addressed the crowd, fiercely denouncing the nationalist coup, and declaring that "we have come to the point of no return. As we walk out of this station, we will face this violent night, and fight for the conquest of a glorious red dawn!"
After a full night of fighting, syndicalist militias led by the Red Guard stormed the Governor's Palace. Politicians and army officers were arrested, and General MacAfee himself was brutally dragged out of the building, lined up against a wall in Alder Square, and shot to death.
The national leadership of the ULF, as well as the rest of the Labour Party, took up residence at the provincial legislature. After a few days of communication with the various recently-established communes, it was agreed that they would coalesce into a single Revolutionary Provisional Government.
The December Revolution caused ripples throughout the world. The uprisings in Marseton almost immediately spread to the neighbouring country of Morwen, where a general strike would overtake the country for a year before finally seizing the halls of power. In several major cities in Lusia, workers occupied local prefectures and established their own communes. In Merony, the Syndicalist Party established ULF-inspired armed worker militias called The Partisans.
Most of these uprisings would be crushed by the following spring, but a few would escalate into their own syndicalist revolutions, which would join the new Ardunan syndicalist government in the International Revolutionary Alliance following the Calderhall treaty.

Civil War

Main article: Ardunan Civil War
With the establishment of the Revolutionary Provisional Government, other radical groups seized the chance to occupy their local halls of power while the royalist military was in disarray. In the northwest of Ronnen, Varlener nationalists took over the city of Katko and established the National Government of the Farlands. In the remote regions of the far West coast and the Gaeler Mountains, military officers consolidated their power over their commands and became de-facto warlords, claiming to be assuming "emergency responsibilities" until the armed forces could re-establish the king's peace elsewhere.
When the dust had settled, the Kingdom of Ardun stood at an impasse, with all factions waiting on Morryn's new government to make the first move. With the vast majority of notable syndicalists having fled for the Heartland, the new King of Ardun went to work consolidating his power and purging the government of all liberals and moderate conservatives, as well as crushing the Eastern Communes before they were able to entrench themselves. In Shordale, a small portion of the Royal Navy mutinied, commandeering three Destroyers. 

Revolutionary Committee

The Officer Putsch

The Winter Purge

The Constitutional Convention

Aftermath

Start date: September 30, 1241
End date: December 17, 1246
Location: Kingdom of Ardun
Stages:

• The Battle of Succession
• Provisional Government
• The December Revolution
• Ardunan Civil War
• Revolutionary Committee

Participants:

• Syndicalists, socialists, communists, anarchists, social democrats, insurgent army
• Nationalists, monarchists, integralists, capitalists, fascists, loyalist army

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