War of the Tributaries

Although everyone on the Imperial Continent bow to the same banner after the Unification, that did not mean that there were no tensions and hostilities left. Caed and Ion held a strong dislike for one another, Aedé still smarted from how the other Federacy nations had abandoned them, and Ki’Allack considered Zaelech to be sycophantic invaders lacking a backbone. Yet among all this hatred, new and old, there was one that ran significantly deeper than the others, namely that between the Guards of Gant and the Iridescents. Ever since Leopold had invited the faction of the unclean into the Empire and granted them his protection, many guardsmen were vary that the fahnaé-blooded would exercise a corrupting influence upon Leopolara - and while they had proved useful during the war effort, there was no telling what the cost had been for allowing the Iridescents to so freely practice their art. An increase in fahnaé activity shortly after the Unification made the Guards of Gant suspect the Iridescents of foul play; at best, their channeling may unwittingly be attracting the monstrosities, and at worst, the Iridescents may have been in league with their ancestors. Later scholars suspect that the peace that settled over the Continent after the Unification contributed to more reports of fahnaé sightings reached the guardsmen, rather than an actual statistical increase, yet no analysis has been able to strictly confirm whether there was a real increase or not. While none would go so far as to claim that the Guards of Gant fabricated the claim as an excuse to bring suspicion and aggression onto the unclean, it is an idea that is tossed about in less formal gatherings and among the Unclean themselves.
If the War of the Tributaries had a start, it was during a dark and gloomy evening in a remote inn, somewhere on the border of Ion and Vehilé. There, a nameless unclean man had taken shelter, and been given leave to stay the night in the common room. When most other patrons had gone to bed, including the innkeeper herself, a guardsmen patrol arrived at the inn. They were bloodied after a fight with a feral fahnaé that had terrorised the region, and although they had managed to fell the beast, it had claimed some of their number. Stepping inside and noting a covering unclean one in a corner, the Guard was quick to descend on him. Right there in the common room they began to question him, demanding to know if he was a channeling, where he had been practicing his foul art, and how many more of the fahnaé he had attracted to the region. The man claimed to not be a channeler at all, and had no idea there had been a fiend in the region at all. Unfortunately, the guardsmen did not believe him. Even as the innkeeper came down to try and talk them down, for she saw the way this was heading and wanted no bloodshed under her roof, they would not listen, and soon dragged the fellow outside. Right there in the dead of the night, the Guard hung the unclean one from the sign of the inn, staying only until the deed was done, and then departed, refusing to stay at a place which had welcomed one of his kind. Fearing the Guards of Gant, the innkeeper dared not take the body down, yet worrying for the consequences that may befall her if the Iridescents taught her guilty of slaying one of their blood-kin she made sure words were delivered to them as to what had happened. Sure enough, a couple night levels, a group of Iridescents came to the inn a handful of nights later, claiming the body and questioning both keeper and staff to get the full story of the events. Unknown by anyone at the time was that one of those Iridescents was the Matriarch herself.
A short few days a request was made of the Imperial Court: The Iridescents had found that one of their numbers had been murdered, in breach of Imperial Law, and that the Guards of Gant were the culprits. Though the Iridescents did not know their names, they could describe the guardsmen appearance, rank and colour of their crystal like armour - plenty enough information that if the Guard made their patrol logs available to the Court, then finding the culprits would certainly not be an issue. The Matriarch asked nothing but that the murderers be brought to the same fate that they had visited onto her blood-kin: That they be hanged. No further justice had to be delivered, either to the guardsmen or to their organisations as a whole. The Imperial Court delivered a message to the Guards of Gant, asking them to deliver those responsible to Leopold’s Rose for a fair hearing.
The reply complicated the issue. Written by the Grandmaster of the Guards of Gant, Vermion, he expressed regret that the records of the order's patrol in the region had been destroyed in a recent fire, which also claimed the life of two guardsmen. However, he assured the Court that the men and women of his order would never perform an act that was not justified, and if this unclean one had been hanged, then it must be because they had obtained proof that he was responsible for the allegation set against him - if indeed, the events described had ever taken place at all. The Grandmaster expressed scepticism about the Matriarch’s claim. There were only a handful of commoners providing statements as to what had ‘happened’, in a region of the world where the unclean ones were plentiful. Who was to say that these people had not taken justice into their own hands and punished this so-called blood-kin on their own, and then, when the Iridescents had come to claim vengeance, these people had fed them a false story about the guardsmen, knowing well the animosity between their organisations? Or worse yet, maybe the unclean ones had offered to spare the inn and its employees if they testified against the Guards. Were not any of these possibilities far more likely than for the honourable guardsmen to act in such a villainous manner? In either way, the records were destroyed, and the Grandmaster had received no reports that could be of help.
With that, the Imperial Court was trapped. The reply by the Grandmaster was not nearly diplomatic enough to sway the Matriarch into dropping the matter; rather, it added more water to her mill. She made it clear that she viewed this ‘burnt record’ as an obstruction of justice, and that she was tempted to state the Grandmaster was consciously trying to get around Imperial Law, but that perhaps he was simply blind to the corruption within his own order. If he ‘could not find the names of the murders’, however, the Matriarch would be pleased enough if he simply punished every guardsman that had been patrolling the region during the allotted time frame. The Grandmaster, in turn, was enraged that the Matriarch would continue in her attempts to frame his order, dragging its name through the muck. There was simply no possibility that what she said was true, and even if it were, he could not in good conscience punish every guardsman in the regions of Vehilé and Ion. In a gesture of good will the Grandmaster promised that the guardsmen would never assault an unclean one that did not deserve it, and that the Matriarch could not reasonably ask more of him. Her reply was that if the guardsmen were to define which of the Iridescents ‘deserved’ death, then they would all surely be dead. She called for the Imperial Court to strip the Grandmaster of his rank and appoint someone more reasonably inclined towards Imperial Law in his stead. No matter the please of the Imperial Court, she would not rescind her statement. The Grandmaster, in a swift reply, called for the position of Matriarch to be abolished, as the Iridescents were clearly set on using their power to undermine the other great orders. Neither of the two would back down. The Court was stumped, with no ready reply to either claim. Finally, the Emperor was sent for.
Leopold, displeased that the two orders had not been come to any sort of accord, made his statement: For the murder of the unclean man at the tavern, the Guards of Gant would pay a weregild to the Iridescents, as a token of apology. Neither side would seek other retribution. It was, according to the Emperor, as fair a ruling as was possible, given the circumstances. As is common with compromises, neither side was pleased. The Grandmaster was disgusted that not only was his order to be considered the guilty party in all this, but they had to pay this blood debt to the Iridescends, descendants of their enemies. Meanwhile, the Matriarch seethed, for had the one murdered not been unclean, then surely a proper justice would have been wrought against the wrong-doers. Still, neither side would argue with Leopold’s decree, and the weregild was soon paid - begrudgingly.
With that, the issue seemed over and done with… yet such was not to be the case. A mere fortnight passed, and another of the unclean was found hanging from a tree. This time, no traces of the offenders were discovered, and though there was great suspicion that befell the guardsmen, there was no proof they were behind it. Then another of the unclean was found in a similar state, and another, and another, all across the Continent… always within areas thick with Guard patrols. The Matriarch was irate, yet lacked proof, and the Court would not act without it, other than to recommend the unclean to travel in groups. It was not long before a known channeler of the Iridescents, named Itha, was found dead. Finally, the Iridescents and their Matriarch would have no more of it. Almost overnight, it seemed as if fahnaé presences truly had picked up - because many patrol of guardsmen that set out on their patrols did not return. They would set out along their paths in areas presumed to be fairly safe, and then not be heard from again. When the Guards of Gant went looking for these lost patrols, they would find scenes of struggle, yet no bodies remaining, as if they had all been whisked away. And just as the unclean had met so many unfortunate ends close these patrol grounds, those very same areas soon became most unsafe for the guards - yet oddly only those close to a spiral tower. Yet as the Grandmaster indicated such, the Court pointed out that all guardsmen lived a dangerous life, and that the evidence that the Iridescents were behind these attacks was just as strenuous as the evidence that the Iridescents had laid out that the guardsmen were attacking them. The Imperial Court suggested that unless either order wished for the Emperor to involve himself again, they had better resolve their differences.
Alas, anything but that occured. Not only did the veiled conflict continue, but it began to spill out across the Imperial factions. The Guards of Gant, who had long had a good relationship with many of the Continents more martial nations, soon found their patrols assisted on the roads by the cae, irai and harrows, along with many others that considered themselves part of the vehili position. Meanwhile, more and more Iridescents began to gather in Khaluhmn, assisting the coin-priests in their mercantile endeavours by lending the aid of their channelers, enabling the Tally-Keepers to more rapidly traverse the land - which was greatly appreciated by the inhabitants of Ki’Allack, who seldom had such rare goods reach them. Though nothing formal was signed, it was noted that the unclean became more common amidst Storm-Screamer crews during this time, and both factions seemed to form a begrudging respect for one another. Though the western movement may have shifted in support of the Guards of Gant, however, their eastern counterpart did not put its support behind the Iridescents, although it was clear that the unclean was more welcome in nations that swayed more to green than red.
It may have taken some time for the conflict to completely blossom out into the open, but it definitely shimmered beneath the surface. Crime took a worrying spike upwards as the factions involved in the conflict made their stances clear, taking less and less care to hide their assaults upon one another. In some towns, the fighting would break out into the street, with riots the ultimate result. In others, assassination and poisioning would become dreadfully common. The Empire itself seemed to tear at the seams.
It all came to a halt in a small village known as Erivae, in central Ion. Out on the plains a group of the unclean who wished no part of either this conflict, nor any other, had made themselves a settlement where they lived in relative peace, only seldom troubled by bands of bandits. Yet the Guards learnt of their existence, and soon, a coholition force made up from those that supported the Grandmaster was making their way to ‘save’ this village from their bandit problem - although they feared they would be too late. Fortunately for Erivae, it seemed as not all of the guardsmen’s supporters were willing to stoop quite so low, for words of what was about to happen reached the Matriarch’s ear. Seeing the chance not only to prove what the guardsmen were doing, but to protect her kin, she, the Iridescents and their allies took to the field as well. The forces met outside the stone fence that surrounded Erivae, and transformed the plains into a bloodbath.
The forces clashed, guardsmen armed with fahnaé artifacts fighting Iridescents wearing their magic, Storm-Screamers fighting organised squads of soldiers, military commanders trying to outsmart coin-priest mercenary leaders. It was chaos, with both sides enraged and unwilling to back down.
Suddenly, a man in shining armour and blue coat charged out from the village of Erivae, and with his sword, Swiftdeath, the Emperor himself descended on the forces. So great was the carnage he wrought, that both sides were left dumbfounded, then panicked, as they fled to either side of the field, each side trying to escape Leopold and the slaughter he wrought. As quickly as the forces retreated, cowled Whispers of the Orda Necraux streamed down to surround their saint, and the plains grew deadly still.
Only Leopold’s voice could be heard as he ordered both Grandmaster and Matriarch forward, anger evident on his mein. As chastened children, they both approach. The Emperor made sure all could hear him as he spoke to them:
“I warned you to not seek retribution.” Neither of them spoke up, although they both felt it was the other’s fault. “If reason and compromise shall not sway you, then the sword shall have to do what my words could not.” They did not plead for their lives, for they knew it would serve no purpose… yet the Emperor’s next words surprised them. “Extend your arms.” So ordered, they did, the Grandmaster putting forth his right, the Matriarch her left.
With a flick of Swiftdeath, both arms fell to the ground, cut from their shoulders. As the two leaders fell to their knees, clutching at their wounds, Leopold declared: “I have done to you what you sought to do to my Empire. In seeking each other’s lives, you have tried to deprive me of an asset. This conflict ends now, less you have limbs enough for another lesson.”
There, on the fields outside Erivae, ended the War of the Tributaries. Showing that they had learnt their lesson, the Guards of Gant and the Iridescents set out on a new mission to avoid each other, causing a noticeable shift across the Empire as the guardsmen withdrew almost completely from those areas that had supported the unclean, while the Iridescents began to make more permanent homes there. Though the Grandmaster died soon after of natural courses, the Matriarch would serve in her position for many years more, and although she was one arm short, she would prove herself formidable in seeing to her people’s safety as they were further integrated into both Khaluhmn and Ki’Allack.
Since the War of the Tributaries, the expression “let’s lose an arm” has come to mean to reach a compromise.

Conflict Type

War