The Stormbringer Uprising
The Conflict
Prelude
The Elven Tyranny
Many millennia ago, the city of Toirecíud consisted mostly of elves. These elves were responsible for all layers of the city's function, from the highest noble lord to the lowest street-sweeper. But around four thousand years ago the first humans came to the city, as refugees from the Genasi wars in Akshus. The elves initally kept them at arms length, until Accagold Shalasi, mistress of tax and industrial baroness, realized she could use them as cheap labour. And so began the long tradition of recruiting humans, and other lesser races, in dangerous positions by promising them safety, peace and food, provided that they are willing to work their entire lives and that their children follow suit.
The first desperate groups of humans accepted these terms, but as the generations passed and the people forgot the horrors of their homelands, they turned angry with the elven leadership. This anger slowly turned to categorical anger towards elves, who regarded humans, halfling and dwarves as little more than beasts of burden. There were several unsuccesful revolts, which were beaten down by armed forces of the Juen family. The last such revolt was nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, when the Gold Empire first expanded south of the Godpeak mountains and the human workers thought the Empire would aid them. They did not, and the revolt was crushed under elven armoured bootheel.
The Copper Dragon delegation and father Silvyr arrive in Toirecíud - 23rd of Fire 487 Imperial Age
There has been no large attempt at rebellion since then, but about five years ago a group of Copper Dragon priests came to Toirecíud. There had been missionaries before, but these came as part of the official treaty between Toirecíud and the Gold Empire, and had special rights and immunities that other priests didn't. Arresting them, for instance, would be illegal by international law and if the priests behaved in an untoward manner the Council of Toirecíud would have to petition the Secretariat of the South in Cidamar to have them exchanged. The Copper Dragon church was a natural choice to be the Gold Empire's official delegation, as they are the church of sailors, fishers and all who travel the sea.
The more in-the-know nobles took note of this with displeasure however, as the Copper Dragon church also revere the powers of radical, violent change and on occasion have been known to interfere with the status quo in Free Cities. This displeasure turned to fear as news reached Toirecíud that the leader of the delegation would be the infamous father Silvyr, a known radical and extremist from Eilcíud. Father Silvyr had previously engaged in conspiracy and revolution in other cities, and was known for his abilities as a demagogue.
This fear seemed to be unwarranted however, as father Silvyr and his brothers spent their first years peacefully. They mostly dedicated themselves to converting the human population of the Outer City to the faith in Aurathear Darastrix, represented by Copper-Tyr. They were remarkably successful in this, mostly by virtue of extensive soup kitchen programs, blessings of sailors and ships and aiding them in legal conflicts with their elven employers. The first few years the priests were rather peaceful, mostly helping and converting the human sailors, but by the end of the fourth year, 491, it became clear that the priests had taken a dangerous position in Toirecíudan politics. The priests had united the humans of the outer city, and father Silvyr commanded their respect and love.
It wasn't clear at the time, but hindsight has shown that the uprising was being planned even then. Father Silvyr had in secret approached several able-bodied humans and asked them to begin forming gangs and fashioning weapons. The humans of Toirecíud were banned from having true weapons by their labor contracts, but many of them managed to make improvised spears and clubs . These simple weapons were augmented by stolen imperial arms and armour being smuggled into the city by the Blind Baron, a Toirecíudan crime lord. Silvyr would, after his death, be accused by the band of adventurers and mercenaries who would one day be known as the Owls of orchestrating revolution and armed insurrection. None know for sure where the weapons originally came from, other than that they were obviously imperial in origin.
Father Silvyr's murder - 17th of Peace 492 Imperial Age
The Stormbringers, though they had not named themselves yet, began storing these weapons in caches in the tunnels beneath the city, ready for the time when they would strike at oppression. It seems like this process may well have taken quite a while longer, until father Silvyr was killed by the Owls. The Owls had been on the hunt for a serial killer named "the Pale Man" in the Outer City, and as a consequence of fog of war, had killed father Silvyr in a confrontation underneath the city. This would not be known until weeks later, and the only thing the other priests knew was that father Silvyr had left for negotiations with their smuggler allies and had never returned. Neither had his trusted fellows. They assumed that an elven team of killers had managed assassinate them, and tried to stop the revolution. That would imply that the Council had ordered Silvyr's killing.
This meant war.
Brother Roland's Ascension
When it became clear that father Silvyr would not be returning to them, an internal struggle broke out between the priests. Some lost faith in their cause, as father Silvyr had been the lynchpin of their strategy, but others argued that they should fight all the harder, since the elves never would surrender their grip on the city without the aid of the Dragon God. The latter faction won, under the leadership of brother Roland, Silvyr's second-in-command. They decided that they had to get to the bottom of who had killed Silvyr, and sent word to the bishop of Ælmesleóht, Teodora-Marcela-Sierra, about what had happened in the city. She was an old friend of Silvyr's and when she heard of his demise she sent the best witchhunter under her command, Theowulf, to investigate the matter. His investigations would eventually lead to the Owls, not an elven team of assassins, and they would also reveal that the whole confrontation had been an unfortunate accident. Things had already begun escalating however.
Roland's ascension also had another unforeseen consequence: that the copper dragon priests began focusing almost exclusively on the racist practices against the human workers and pivoted away from Silvyr's dual strategy of organizing both the disenfranchised humans and the poorer elements of elven society.
Father Silvyr's Wake - 23rd of Peace 492 Imperial Age
The priests held a wake for father Silvyr not late after, and just about the entire Outer City attended. Brother Roland spoke with fiery zeal and made it clear that though Silvyr was dead, his cause had never been more alive. The priests were not discouraged by this, they were strengthened in their conviction. His speech, though emotional and unprofessional, struck a chord with the humans of the Outer City. They would no longer live under the heel of their betters. Silvyr had died for each and every one of them, and now they had to break their chains. Brother Roland also said that a witchhunter was coming to Toirecíud, to find Silvyr's killers. Ambassador Leonid Ulkyanov was very perturbed by these tidings, as were the ruling families and Toirecíud.
The Arrest - 24th of Peace 492 Imperial Age
The copper dragon priests began pursuing a much more aggresive strategy under brother Roland's command. They began moving in public, calling for an election of a worker's council, a soviet, to represent the sailors and fishermen in negotiations with the city's elite. One of the priests managed to sneak into the North Port, where the sailors board their ships, and held an impromptu meeting where he called out the lies and double standards of their elven bosses. Lord Castian Juen sent the Thunderguard, Toirecíud's professional city watch, to deal with the situation, which they did by threatening violence on the audience and arresting the priest. This arrest was very quickly undone when the priest pleaded diplomatic immunity and pointed out that he had commited no actual crime. With the council's indecision on the matter and without its support, Castian Juen was forced to release the priest. This had two important consequences:
- it showed the human workers of Toirecíud that the Copper Dragon priests could defy the elven overlords and live to tell the tale
- it showed that the elven elite were willing to use violence, which meant that an escalation of the situation would be neccesary to win freedom
But it was also an important argument for the Threeparty-pact in favor of military intervention, as it showed that popular support for the revolution was growing and that unless it was squashed quickly it would likely grow out of control. Castian Juen would use this as prime argument for what would happen next.
The Election of the Soviet - 29th of Peace 492 Imperial Age
The Copper Dragon priest had spent the better part of a week openly, an many months not so openly, arguing for the establishment of a soviet. A soviet is a worker's council that can trace its origins back to Kreitan. After much work a few candidates had been found, very primitive electioneering, consisting of assemblies in the Happy Fish, a tavern in the Outer City, was held and polls were organized so the workers of the city could vote for a soviet.
Maps
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Toirecíud
Eit kart av området rundt toirecíud. Kvart hexagon representerer ein mile.
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