Revolt of the Dragonpriest

The Revolt of the Dragonpriest was a rebellion against the Aurean Empire which sought to overthrow the emperor and replace him with theocratic leadership devoted to the dragon god Deyallor. It was led by a dissident priest of Deyallor named Lakar, who in addition to thousands of humanoid followers had gained the loyalty of seven young dragons. Despite initial successes the revolt was mostly defeated three years in during a siege of Aureapolis that would become known as the Battle of the Walls. It was the last time any dragons would participate in an internal conflict within the empire.

Background

During The Age of the Dragon Emperors, when dragons had ruled the Aurean Empire, its stretch had been far greater, based as much in the sky as on land with great gaps between areas under its control. When the dragons abandoned the empire it was fragmented, with distant lands being lost to the core regions. This was followed by a bloody half-century civil war in what was left of the empire, ending with the crowning of Tiberius I as the first human emperor
The dragons who had created the empire where followers of the god Deyallor, and spread his worship to their human subjects. By the time the dragons left, Deyallor was by far the most commonly worshipped god within it, and its church was powerful and tightly managed. After the dragons left, however, the churchs grasp over its members became looser, especially as the church's wealth and power was increasingly used for corrupt purposes by its leaders.
Under the first few human emperors, political and economic power had become more concentrated in the hands of lowland elites in cities along the Paletar River, who had begun to entrench themselves as a class of hereditary nobility. This was resented in the provinces in The Dragonpeaks, once the empires heartland under the dragon emperors but now finding themselves on the edge of a smaller, land-based empire. In particular the old holy cities of Deyallor such Terminus, Sepentum, and Eutoria had become significantly poorer and some of their temples had fallen to a poor condition, with less and less money coming west from the increasingly corrupt church leadership in Aureapolis. Many in the mountains wished for the return of the dragons.

The Rise of Lakar

Lakar began his career as a priest in a remote village near Terminus, where he became disenchanted with the imperial government and the leadership of the church of Deyallor when he was unable to get obtain aid from either for the regions destitute villagers and and derelict shrines. He claimed visions of the dragons return, and eventually brought a small group of followers to a remote area of High Rift, where the web of canyons brought some protection from imperial officials, and began to build a movement against the church and the emperor.
His cult remained small until 2264 when he met the silver dragon Angorax, who was sympathetic to his goals. Angorax was soon joined by more dragons, which in turn brought credability to Lakar's message. Imperial officials, who'd previously thought little of what had been a fringe movement, dispatched a small force that included dragon ballista to deal with them. This force was defeated on the plateau, where there was little ability for the imperial forces to maneuver. The rebels then took Sepentum without a fight.

Course of the War

More revolts broke out across the mountains shortly after. The rebels where able to hold the road across the plateaus and while they secured the provinces on the far side (Hektanpolis, Eutoria Superior, and Eutroia Inferior) over the course of 2264 and 2265. After the snows lifted in the spring of 2266 they met the full imperial army outside Terminus, defeating them and taking the city.
The rebels then marched down The Rise toward Aureapolis, the empire's capital. Seeing the defenses of the city, which at that point in time did not spread far beyond its walls, Lakar decided instead to head north down the Paletar, assuming he could recruit more followers if he traveled to new places.
However, the population of the lowlands was less receptive to Lakar's goals, and as the army passed through the region it took whatever it needed and as a result alienated the local population. Several small battles took place as the army slowly marched up and down the river, the rebels won most but suffered significant casualties, including the loss of two of the dragons. After hearing that a large army was regrouping in Aureapolis in early 2267, Lakar decided to take his chance and attack before a new army could fully form.
The rebels made a as quick a march as they could to the capital. Though most of the rebels were used to colder winters, still almost exclusively originating in the Dragonpeaks, the long march in the depths of winter left the army drained by the time they reached Aureapolis. The cities position on the Paletar made a siege difficult, so Lakar ordered an assult on the walls the next day, not believing it wise to weight any longer despite the armies exhaustion and lack of good siege equipment.
The night the rebels arrived the emperor Leidus, who had long been disliked for his decadence and impiety and was viewed by the military leaders as incompetent, was assasinated by his cousin and general Gadur. Gadur was the crowned emperor at midnight and took the regnal name Tiberius II after the first human emperor, starting tradition of regnal names within the empire. He then led the defense of the city in the morning.
The resulting Battle of the Walls left piles of the exhausted rebels corpses around the cities defenses. Thousands were slain as they tried to scale the walls with hastily built ladders. Four of the five remaining dragons were slain by Dragon Ballista mounted on the city walls, including Angorax. In the aftermath of the battle the remaining dragon, Cykarrak, consumed Larak in front of the army, and proclaimed that they had failed because Deyallor wanted only a dragon to lead them. A small number of rebels followed Cykarrak back to High Rift, where they would continue a guerrilla campaign until her death almost a decade later. The rest scattered, abandoning the cause for good.

Aftermath

The failure of the rebellion led to the entrenchment of the new class of heriditary nobility in the empire, who's decendants would form most of the empires elite for the rest of its existance, with only occasional new entrants. The empire would never again come close to any kind of theocratic government, excepting possibly the emperor cult of Vollinan II. The new emperor also replaced the old, largely dragonborn traditional priestly rulers of the Dragonpeaks cities with appointed lowland governors, a system that would eventually be implemented throughout the empire. The old elite was deported to the lowlands, where many were ultimately integrated into the new nobility, including the ancestors of the Dragonborn Dynasty that would later rule the empire.
The rise of Tiberius II would ultimately result in other major changes. His long and relatively peaceful reign after the end of the rebelion would help stabalize the empire, which had still been recovering economicly and demographicly from the first civil war fifty years earlier. To avoid any further discontent, he introduced reforms to reduce corruption in the priesthood of Deyallor, a move against the church that his predecessors had been unwilling to take. He also invested what funds were left after the conflict in improving infrastructure in the Dragonpeaks, making it easier to send armies there in the future and leading to a surge in new mining that more then covered the cost.

Conflict Type

Civil War

Start Date

2264 AY

Ending Date

Main revolt ended in 2267 AY, light resistance and underground activity would continue in the The Dragonpeaks for close to ten more years

Conflict Result

Defeat of the rebellion