The Heretic's Revolt

Religious war that established the dominance of the Pachuco nation

The air blackened as the Field of Heretics burned before the Zinon's shattered walls. Many hardened warriors wept to see the piteous sight of so many burning bodies writhing in flame, but the High Heirophant's inquisitors remained stone-faced. They chanted orisons to the sun god and the rising dawn whilst the sun set upon the bubbling and scorched flesh of Akhal-Teke and his doomed followers.

— Excerpted from “The Fall of Zinon” in the Annals of Terragar

The Conflict

Prelude

In 903 PCE the rogue firewalker Akhal of Enderwild established a spiritual community in the Ahriman Mountain range. He and his followers built a stronghold of timber and stone and called it "Zinon." Their community became a refuge for firewalker exiles, whom Akhal promised safe haven and the opportunity to develop their psionic gifts for the betterment of humanity.

Over time the growth of an independent city-state of firewalkers posed an emergent threat to the existing social order of Pimaca and Pachuco. The idea of a firewalker utopia contradicted the religious orthodoxy of their respective solar cults and the high priesthoods of Mazta and Ormaz issued a joint proclamation decreeing a spiritual war against the Xinon heretics.

The Engagement

At the outset of hostilities, the High Heirophant's Court of Inquisition fielded a massive army of zealous volunteers and it was believed that their superior numbers would bring about a quick resolution to the conflict; however, due to Xinon's secluded location and the emergence of smaller pockets of Akhalian supporters throughout the frontier of the Deep Zone, the war dragged on for years and had to be prosecuted as a campaign of guerrilla skirmishes throughout the wilds of Azoturia.

After the Inquisition's forces carried out a series of massacres, a number of smaller revolts broke out throughout the Zone causing their early gains to fall back into the hands of Akhalian sympathizers. It would take eight grueling years before the Pimaca-Pachuco Coalition would reach the walls of Zinon and a further year of brutal siege before those walls would finally fall.

Outcome

At the conclusion of the war, the city-state of Zinon was destroyed and its residents burned upon a massive pyre called the "Field of Heretics." Akhal-Teke's surviving followers went into hiding. In order to pursue these survivors, the volunteer army of Pachuco mounted an aggressive campaign of territorial expansion that lasted a further 30 years.

Aftermath

The successful coalition of the solar priesthoods led to their ascendancy throughout the Forbidden Zone of Eldenterra. Some manner of sun worship now dominates nearly every region of the Zone. As a direct result of their aggressive policies of expansion in the aftermath of the Revolt, the nation of Pachuco has come to dominate the political and economic balance of power east of the Rift Mountains.

On the other hand, the survivors of the Zinon massacre eventually resurfaced in the reclusive mountain Kingdom of Terragar and formed a new religion of their own based upon a new mythology of Akhal-Teke's presumed divinity.

Conflict Type

War

Start Date

908

Ending Date

917

Conflict Result

The coalition forces of Mazta and Ormaz achieved a decisive victory.

Location

The Forbidden Zone

Maps

• 

  Forbidden Zone

  The land of fallen Precursor Empires and home of the the People of the Sun

Belligerents

Pimaca - Pachuco Coalition

Led by

Strength

12 000

Casualties

Objectives

Eradication of the Akhalian Heresy

Zinon City

Led by

Strength

3000

Casualties

Objectives

Political and religious independence

Deep Zone Rebels

Led by

Strength

2000

Casualties

Objectives

Political and religious independence