Third Torch-Bearer War

D'Lartë Di'Khirtanë they called us. Blood of the Traitor. As if House Diren had even a modicum of influence over that damnable fool's actions. My grandmother's grandmother's grandfather wrote in his memoir that Valaren a'Diren was always a strong-headed woman who could not be swayed from her course. He always said that his greatest regret was that he was unable to teach her the value of listening to counsel and allowing reason to guide her path. House Diren suffered as much for her actions as the rest of the Great Houses, My grandmother's grandmother's grandmother, then matriarch of our House, was killed in Valaren's assault on the Twin Courts.
The First Torch-Bearer War was a tragedy that my old House learned from. We hoped that it might never happen again. But we could only watch as less than a generation later, another House fell prey to the same ambitions. Now, nearly a millennium later, it has happened a third time. Six generations, House Diren bore the shame that Valaren cast upon our name, and will continue to cast upon it for as long as the followers of her twisted view draw breath.
All men are equal in the face of death. That is the truth of our faith in the Nine. Valaren and those who follow her are a stain not only on House Diren's name, but on all of us. On our great empire. It is only through the wisdom and tenacity of brave men and women that we stand here today, stronger than ever, united despite Valaren's attempts to divide us.
It is said that an Imperator should hold allegiance to no House as he belongs to no House, but it is my hope that by affirming the decision of the Twin Courts, today I shall clear the names of House Diren, House Callan, and House Devytorë. It is my hope that by proclaiming the Twin Courts' decision into law, that never again shall Valaren and her ideals gain a foothold in our beloved Dominion.

— Imperator Rasan a'Diren
Prior to affirmation of law barring women from the Throne.

Di'Ninticë De'Khirtanë Kharra in Tretalleri, the Third Torch-Bearer War marked a shift in the tretalleri political landscape that has not been reversed in almost thirty thousand years.
Though a relatively minor conflict in terms of casualties inflicted and damages sustained, the Third Torch-Bearer War marked the tipping point for a sentiment that had been quietly brewing in the empire since the Second Torch-Bearer War set fire to the heartland for twelve long years. Then-Imperatrix Lisarna a'Dovyndë's unsuccessful prosecution of the Third Torch-Bearer War was the final nail in the coffin for the dynastic ambitions inspired by the first Torch-Bearer, Valaren a'Diren.

Background

Prior to the start of the Third Torch-Bearer War, as suggested by the name, two similar conflicts had played out on the tretalleri heartland of Di'Termalttë revolving around a clause in the Law of Lineality, which had been proclaimed by the Imperator Zovynnë a'Devytorrë following the tretalleri Wars of Ascension.
The Law of Lineality had been created to ensure that there would never again be a war over the rightful heir to the Ivory Throne. The First Torch-Bearer War ignited when Imperatrix Valaren a'Diren, interpreting the words of the Law of Lineality as an affirmation of her belief that feminine rule was superior to masculine rule, attempted to proclaim her own law not only barring men from taking the throne altogether, but restricting the throne entirely to her bloodline. To this end, Valaren conspired to dissolve the Twin Courts by force. The plot never materialized due to logistics, and the matter might have faded quietly if not for Keýra a'Callan's betrayal of her Imperatrix, exposing the plot to the Great Houses and the public. The instantaneous schism that formed between Valaren's loyalists and the Great Houses that were insulted by her temerity and threatened by her desire to restrict the throne to her bloodline alone, inevitably led to war.
After the First Torch-Bearer War, Keýra a'Callan took the throne only to die mysteriously a century and a half later. Keýra's daughter, Ordanen a'Callan, was sympathetic to Valaren's beliefs. Unlike Valaren, Ordanen had a much stronger base of support and was able to quickly move to occupy the Twin Courts and corner the Lords and Ladies Superior. Unexpected resistance from the Twin Courts distracted Ordanen's forces for long enough that the Great Houses were able to convene a makeshift session of the Twin Courts during which they proclaimed Ordanen an illegitimate Imperatrix and called upon all able-bodied men and women in the Dominion to fight for the sanctity of the Throne, sparking the Second Torch-Bearer War. The conflict raged for twelve years, only ending once a fragment of Ordanen's forces turned traitor and allowed the forces of the Twin Courts to breach the Imperial Citadel.

The Conflict

Prelude

Eight hundred years after the Second Torch-Bearer War, then-Imperatrix Lisarna a'Dovyndë attempted to do what the first two torch-bearers, Valaren a'Diren and Ordanen a'Callan had been unable to. By then, certain tretalleri sects had romanticized Valaren's views regarding feminine superiority. These sects had been growing in secret, quietly infiltrating the Imperial Household through the years.
Lisarna was radicalized by a tutor following her accession to the throne at a young age, after her mother's abdication due to declining health. During last six moons of 4102 NL, Lisarna gathered forces, slowly bringing a trickle of fighters into the Imperial Citadel. These forces were sheltered in the Ivory Palace, taking advantage of the regular shipments of food that were supposed to go into the empire's stores. Once Lisarna thought she had amassed a sufficient force to carry out the operation, she launched her assault on the Twin Courts, sparking the Third Torch-Bearer War.

Deployment

An hour before sundown on 1.1.3.2.103.4 NL, just as the Twin Courts were attending to the last items on the day's agenda, Lisarna sent her forces out. Lisarna's fighters were split into three groups: 1500 to secure the Imperial Citadel, 200 to storm the Twin Courts, and a further 500 to suppress the response from the Great Houses. An unknown number of Valareni sectarians also took to the streets to rally to their Imperatrix after the fighting commenced.

Battlefield

The battle took place mostly in the interior of the Imperial Citadel following the initial engagement, though the fighting started in the Twin Courts, and the historical record attests that there was fighting in the streets of the Ivory City well into the night, mostly between Valareni sectarians, law enforcement, and groups of individuals opposed to dynastic rule.

Conditions

As the primary engagement of the conflict took place during the Season of Light, the skies were clear and the temperature was balmy during much of the fighting. Light precipitation occurred later in the evening according to the historical record, but was not substantial enough to affect the conflict in a meaningful manner.

The Engagement

The contingent of troops that charged the Twin Courts were immediately met with resistance as the Twin Courts had taken measures to protect their sovereignty following the Second Torch-Bearer War and were warned minutes before the arrival of Lisarna's forces that an attack was forthcoming. The walls of the Imperial Citadel were not seized in time to intercept the message of alarm that the Twin Courts sent to the Great Houses, which meant that the group of 500 initially sent to deal with the Great Houses was met with a far more organized response than was expected.
The contingent of 500 was immediately pushed all the way back to the walls of the Imperial Citadel, where it was reinforced by the group charged with seizing the walls. Fighting at the main entrance to the Citadel was fierce, concentrating the strength of Lisarna's forces where the pushback was strongest. A small force led by the young general Ceýra a'Zo-Hanyll struck the Imperial Citadel from a different direction, smashing through the token garrison that had been left to protect that area of the walls. News of the breach was slow to travel, and by the time Lisarna's forces had mustered to retake the breached section, the position had been reinforced by Houses Callan and Diren, and a much larger force had set off to pincer Lisarna's forces at the main gate.
Lisarna's men were instantly routed when Ceýra's forces were spotted, and the forces of the Great Houses helped to retake the Twin Courts. The survivors from Lisarna's forces, having taken a few captives from the Twin Courts, barricaded themselves in the Ivory Palace by the Ivory Throne. As it would have been sacrilegious to unnecessarily spill Tretalleri blood in front of the Throne, the Great Houses were forced into a stalemate until the Prophet could consult the gods. It was deemed that necessity was a matter for Man to decide, not Gods.
Using deputies to stand for the missing Lords and Ladies Superior, the Great Houses convened the Twin Courts to decide whether it would be necessary to march into the palace to end the war. The Courts decided as their first act to require a vote in Unity for the matter, that is, that a motion to enter the palace would have to pass by unanimous vote in both courts before any action could be taken. It took 15 days of deliberation for a decision to be reached on 7.2.3.2.103.4. On 8.2.3.2.103.4 NL, the Great Houses stormed the palace and, after an hour of fighting, Lisarna officially surrendered to the mercy of the courts.

Outcome

Lisarna and her forces were put on trial before the Twin Courts, and all were sentenced to death for the crime of high treason against the Dominion, violating the sanctity of the Ivory Palace, and perverting the Imperator's divine mandate to rule. On 3.3.1.4.105.4 NL, Lisarna was hanged publicly at the command of her own regretful mother.

Aftermath

The Prophet of the Faith of the Nine declared the Valareni sects, who followed the philosophy and teachings of Valaren a'Diren, heretical, giving power to the Twin Courts to dismantle the sects.
Tired of the infighting, and spurred on by the people, the Twin Courts voted unanimously to abolish the provision in the Law of Lineality that allows women to pass the Throne to their daughters. This was done on a provisional basis as the Throne was vacant at the time of the decision, and the Twin Courts elected to require an Imperial proclamation for the decision to be made into law so as to ensure that the next Imperator would have to state their position on the matter as soon as they take the Throne.
While many were appeased by the Twin Courts' initial decision to prevent passing on the Throne to direct descendants under any circumstances, many remained dissatisfied, believing that the half-measure would not be enough to prevent civil war from sparking once more. Though initially muted, the sentiment gradually gained ground over the years as the increasingly scarce Valareni sectarians grew more and more vocal and hostile against the government. Eventually, the mounting public and religious pressure finally pushed the Twin Courts to a more drastic course of action.
By a landslide in the Court of Ravens and a slim supermajority in the Court of Crows, the Twin Courts amended their initial decision to completely forbid women from taking the Ivory Throne. In exchange for her vote, Sihana a'Deneýrë, then-Lady Superior of House Deneýrë demanded something to be given to women in return. The members of the Court of Crows who supported the motion proposed that the highest seats in the Court of Crows would forevermore be exclusively the province of the Ladies Superior of the Great Houses.
Following the vote for the ban, a vote for the motion to restrict the high seats of the Court of Crows was put before the chamber. It passed with near-unanimous support from the Ladies Superior, including those that had voted against the ban. The Twin Courts also voted on and approved a measure to increase sanctions against Valareni sectarians, criminalizing Valareni philosophy as "spreading divisive beliefs."
Hoping to restore the honor of his House for having started the whole business of the Torchbearers, Rasan a'Diren, the next Imperator to take the throne after Lisarna, reaffirmed the Twin Courts' decisions by proclaiming the amendments to the Law of Lineality into law.

Conflict Type

War

Battlefield Type

Urban

Start Date

1.1.3.2.103.4 NL

Ending Date

8.2.3.2.103.4 NL

Conflict Result

Devastating defeat and unconditional surrender for Lisarna's forces.

Location

Ivory City

Belligerents

Lisarna's Forces

Great Houses' Forces

Strength

~2200 trained soldiers
Unknown number of civilian supporters

~900 trained soldiers and war veterans in initial response
~600 trained soldiers and war veterans who joined the fight at the gates
~200 trained soldiers led by Ceýra a'Zo-Hanyll
~300 green soldiers and 100 trained soldiers from House Callan
~200 green soldiers and 100 trained soldiers from House Diren
Unknown number of anti-dynasty civilians

Casualties

~1200 injuries
~300 seriously injured
~500 fatalities
Unknown number of civilian casualties

~800 injuries, 300 seriously injured
~200 fatalities
Unknown number of civilian casualties

Objectives

Establish a dynasty for Lisarna and her direct descendants

Prevent establishment of dynastic rule under Lisarna a'Dovyndë and protect the sovereignty of the Twin Courts.