The Horned War
The Horned war between the crown of King Razmus Falstheath III and the rebel armies of Queen Samara Karmaline I got it's name from the crests of the two sides, Razmus III being a bull and Samara I being a stag.
Early on in Razmus III reign he introduced the Récolte Carta, a ratification to the tax laws of Evermere which imposed a 'royal levy', an additional tax which went directly to the crown. It was intended to boost the crowns coffers but caused unrest in both the nobility and common man.
In the first year the king questioned the money he had gathered, as it did not match the estimates his advisors had given for some parts of the country. Now this was to be expected, population was estimated, and consumption of crops varied depending on how much had been grown. On top of that people started consuming less of the taxed products because of the additional cost. The king, in a fit of rage that had become an increasingly common occurrence in his latter years, ordered the poorest performing noble, a low level baron from Saldon to be executed and accused of treason. This caused the other nobles to tax the people more highly than required, so they would ensure they'd meet the 'estimates' of Falstheath's advisors.
The Récolte Carta was an arduous complication for the lords who had to collect it, and an unbearable cost for the common man. Starving and desperate the people turned to Duke Dolston Purlock of Gloomhearn, as he was famously supportive of the working classes. He visited the king to discuss the matter in the Autumn of 1996 but did not return. Eventually word came back to the people that he had also been executed for treason.
Led by a number of nobles including a Baroness Samara Karmaline, the rebellion gathered traction. In 2001 Razmus III discovered to his delight that Samara was in fact a direct descendant of Queen Ailahr, one of the defeated rulers in the The Triarchy Civil War. He thought this news would turn the people against the rebellion, but it had quite the opposite effect. Now the rebellion was led by a person with a legitimate claim to the throne. That meant it wasn't just the common folk supporting it; noble, merchant and military classes saw that as something they could get behind too.
Razmus III was too stubborn to surrender and this led to his death at the hands of Samara during the final invasion of Evvorgard in 2003. So ending the Falstheath Royal Dynasty, and hailing in the The Karmaline Royal Dynasty.
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