The Alborian Civil War

Political event

The Tyranny of Emperor Pierre De Austeron plunged Alboria into a civil war which would last until his ouster in 1665

In 1657, the emperor and his only son died within weeks of one another, and the empire was thrown into turmoil. They were the last known members of the main line of the imperial family, and although a number of families claimed to be descended from the line of Iker, there was no clear heir to the throne. Amidst the chaos, Pierre De Austeron, the high priest of the Cult of Iker, stepped forwards to claim the throne. Claiming to be the inheritor of the will of Iker, he took control of Ephosmos with the help of the cult and declared himself to be Emperor.

Despite rumblings from some of the potential claimants to the throne, De Austeron was able to solidify his position quickly with the help of the cult and it appeared that he would indeed be the new emperor. As he settled into his position, it quickly became clear that he would allow no opposition to his rule, coming down hard on anyone expressing discontent. Quickly becoming an outright tyrant, everything came to a head when the council of kings came before him the following year. They expressed concern over some of his actions since coming to power and he responded by entering a towering rage, arresting two of them and kicking the rest out of the palace.

The next morning, The Emperor announced that there would be no rulers in Alboria other than him, all kings would become dukes under his rule and swear new oaths of fealty to the emperor within the year or be brought to heel. He then brought out the two kings who had lead the delegation questioning his rule and had them burned alive in front of the royal palace. When news of these actions reached the various alborian kingdoms, they were met with shock.

The Cult of Iker had a tremendous amount of influence across all of Alboria and used it to supress the rumblings of discontent for several years, but by 1660 the flames of rebellion had been lit. De Austeron had punished a number of the duchies, formerly kingdoms, where the talk of rebellion had been loudest, in several cases ordering that the families of the former kings be put to death and replacing them with nobles loyal to him. While some regions maintained their loyalty to the emperor, the punished regions and their closest allies seethed over their mistreatment.

Alboria plunged into war, with 'loyalist' duchies deploying their forces to supress the rebellious ones, armies meeting in skirmishes but rarely committing to full battles. For the next five years the civil war simmered, with neither side having enough of an advantage to risk landing a decisive blow. In the end, it was a schism within the Cult of Iker which turned the tide, a significant number of it's members defecting to the rebel side claiming that De Austeron was a heretic who didn't truly worship Iker. With the arcane power of the defectors, they were able to defeat a major loyalist army and push all the way to Ephostos.

The gates of Ephostos were opened by rebel members of the Cult of Iker, and the leaders of the invading army marched on the palace to oust Emperon Pierre De Austeron. Little is known of what happened in the palace, because shortly after they entered, the peak of the palace exploded in flame and a massive great wyrm red dragon erupted from the conflagration. It perched on the remains of the palace, breathed a tremendous stream of fire down into it, and then announced to the city "I am Pethausteros the Holocaust, and you will regret ever having heard my name". With this, it launched itself into the air over the city and began to burn everything it flew over. Fortunately, the city was still fully prepared for a siege and between it's defenders and the rebel army were able to drive the dragon away with siege weapon fire and spells,

Pethausteros began to circle out from the city, burning a number of outlying settlements in an ever widening area of devastation before his reign of terror was brought to an abrupt end in an event which is now known as "le miracle de l'argent" or "The Silver Miracle". As told by an eyewitness, Pethausteros was approaching a large town from high up, when three silver blurs shot down from the clouds above him. They hit him in quick succession, sending him into an uncontrolled spin towards the ground, and as they broke away they unfurled their wings, revealing themselves as immense silver dragons. Pethausteros attempted to right himself, but each time it looked as if he would regain control another would hit him either physically or with a blast of icy breath. Pethausteros hit the ground in the middle of a forested area just outside of the town with an impact which shook the ground and the silver dragons followed him down, disappearing behind the trees. After a few minutes, the silvers took off, and when the locals arrived they found the blasted, broken, frozen corpse of the great red wyrm.

With most of the leadership of the rebellion dead, immolated in the palace, and De Austeron missing and presumed dead as well, the civil war fizzled out. Another viable claimant to the crown was found, some of the officials which De Austeron appointed as replacement Dukes were removed from office, and the Cult of Iker was required to remove itself from politics. The change from kings to dukes remained, however, the momentum to reverse it gone with the leaders of the rebellion.