The Twin Coups

The Twin Coups is the term given to two separate coup d'etats that occurred in Domeris at the closing days of The Bleeding War. Over the span of a week General Doran Regnar and Lady Andria Aves seized the reins of the Domerian government. The retreating royalist army, led by the newly crowned King Gerald IV, attempted to defeat the conspirators, but were ultimately crushed.

The Conflict

Prelude

King Andras the fifth was killed in early April at the last major battle of the war, the massacre at Holdfast. The disastrous war pursued by Andras had sufficiently disturbed elements of the military and aristocracy, which allowed General Doran Regnar and Lady Andria Aves to secure support for a coup. A Crux message from a loyalist placed inside the royal army gave General Doran early warning of the Kings death, allowing him to prepare for the coup. General Doran had been placed in charge of the Darchen reserve brigades around the capital, a move that had been made to deny him any battlefield glory in the war, which ultimately allowed him to seize control of the state.
Simultaneously King Gerald the fourth, the heir of the late King Andras, had marshalled the shattered survivors of the royal army, and was heading back to Darchen. While on the way, loyalist Crux knights from the Starfall garrison informed Andras of the coup, allowing him to prepare a response. The fragile state of the shattered royal army gave him few options, and he resolved to try to settle the matter peacefully with Doran and Andria.
On the 20th of April, Andria Aves was informed through Crux message that the king was dead, the royal army shattered, and that Gerald was slowly making his way back to the capital. Andria had been a distant relation of the previous king and had mostly remained inactive on the political scene. But with most of the royal family having either fled or died in the recent months, she found herself in a position of influence amongst the royalists within the capital. Republican sentiment had been growing as the war continued its disastrous course, and royalist elements within the capital desperately needed a royal figure to rally around.
Andria declared herself the acting regent of the kingdom on the 21st of April. This was completely illegal of course, Domerian succession law was quite clear that the crown passed to the designated heir the instant the reigning monarch died. But in times of unrest the law becomes considerably more fluid within Domeris, and Andria quickly consolidated control over the police force and remaining royal guards in the capital. Her position was that the war had to be ended immediately on the sole condition that the monarchy remain, lest a republican revolution upend centuries of royal rule.
While the capital may have been firmly within Andrias grasp, the Starfall garrison was not. Located a few kilometers away from the capital, the Starfall garrison was the largest concentration of fresh forces within the country. While severely depleted by the war, the skeleton guard remaining in the garrison still numbered several brigades, along with a force of Domerian knights. The garrison quickly learned of what was transpiring within the capital, and informed Gerald through Crux communication of the events of the previous days.
On the 24th of April, a communication line for negotiations was established through the loyalist knights within the Starfall garrison, allowing Gerald and Andria to negotiate. Andria demanded an immediate capitulation to Lorand, which Gerald reluctantly agreed to. But her demands that she be appointed prime minister and granted expanded powers to deal with any unrest that might arise from the capitulation soured their relations. In effect this would turn Domeris into a constitutional monarchy, something the house of Aves had tried to avoid for decades.
As Gerald's forces continued their march, Andria walked back her demands after pushback from Gerald. The Starfall garrison remained loyal to Gerald, despite Andria's attempts at coercing them to her side. The garrison had always been intended as a way to check any rebel elements within the capital when the monarch was away on campaign, and it served its role perfectly. By the 26th Andria was seriously considering resigning her position and fleeing the capital. It is at this moment that Doran Regnar enters the picture.
Doran had been placed in charge of reserve brigades around the capital area and had immediately ordered them on a forced march to the capital upon hearing news of the king's death. Doran's forces were not as well trained as the Starfall garrison, but their numbers were larger in total, though they had been dispersed around the capital region. Doran had also secretly been hiding away several pieces of heavy artillery and a small stockpile of small arms, having long since reported them either missing or shipped to areas already fallen to the invading Lorandian free forces.
Doran approached Andria posing as a member of the royalists, placing his forces at her disposal. Though tired by their forced march, his battalions had started to arrive within the capital. Seeing no other way out and thinking Doran a royalist like all the rest, Andria immediately accepted his offer, and charged him with the defense of the capital. Doran immediately began filling the city with his troops and ordered his artillery pieces to pre-sight their guns on the main roads which Gerald's shattered army would approach from.
On the 27th Andria and Gerald reached an agreement, whereby she would be appointed prime minister with reduced powers, in exchange for resigning her position as regent and acknowledging Gerald as the legitimate monarch. Weather this settlement was real, or just a deception by Andria remains unknown. Whatever the truth of the matter, Doran held a meeting with Andria late during the night and persuaded her to take a different course. He convinced Andria that she was the only one she could trust to simultaneously end the war and prevent a revolution.

Deployment

On the 28th of April the shattered remains of the royal army finally limped into the capital region. While the main force of the army struck camp to recover from their march, Gerald and an honor guard numbering about 500 soldiers marched into the city and towards the royal castle within the eastern portion of the city. Gerald himself was on horseback and had not been able to properly bond with Majesty yet, and thus did not have the supernatural protection provided by Cruxes.
Simultaneously Doran had maneuvered his forces within the city to occupy buildings near the approach the castle. The rest of his forces outside the city were given orders to find and approach the camp of the shattered royal army and prepare their artillery crews.

The Engagement

When Gerald finally arrived at the entrance to the castle, he found the gates closed. He and his soldiers stood still for several moments, before a gunshot rang out. The shooter is unknown, though some allege that Philip Voigt fired the fatal shot. Gerald collapsed from his horse, his head cracking on the pavement as his guards descended into panic. Seconds after more shots ring out from the buildings around the late kings' forces. It was not a battle so much as it was a hunt, and a one sided one at that. Minutes later 500 men and women that had come into the city relived to have made it through the war with their lives lay dead or dying on the stone pavement of Darchen. Doran himself led a squad of Crux knights aligned with Andria to kill any stragglers, and to recover Majesty.
The shattered remains of the royal army fared better. Doran had no intention of allowing them to retreat into the walls of Starfall, and thus had ordered an assault on their camp. The royal army was informed of the hostilities through the sound of artillery shells flying at them. Dorans forces followed this up with a direct assault on the camp but found that their artillery barrage had been less effective than they hoped. The royal army regrouped, and a charge by Crux knights shattered a whole battalion of troops loyal to Doran. While tired from their long march, the royalists still possessed an advantage in terms of Crux knights.  
Despite surviving the initial assault, the royal army was not fated to win that day, as Doran arrived with the Crux knights of the royal guard. A second artillery bombardment proved far more effective than the previous one, but nothing could have prepared the royal army for what came next. Majesty was known not only as the signifier of the house of Aves, but also as a terrifying weapon that could unleash devastating blasts of fire should the Crux deem it's wielder worthy of holding the throne.
When Doran Regnar took the field wielding the Crux, he made his presence clear by incinerating half a battalion of the royal army. This proved too much for the tired and demoralized remnants of the army, who broke down upon seeing the signifier of royal authority in the kingdom turned against them. The army dissolved into a mob of terrified people desperately trying to escape death and was quickly eradicated by the emboldened forces royal to Doran.

Start Date

Late April, 50 AR

Ending Date

Late April, 50 AR