Tortallan Civil Conflict

In 566 H.E., not even a whole year after returning from the Eastern Campaigns, Jonathan V begins plans to conquer Tusaine and handily snatch up the half of Maren that they had been given. He tells only a few of this. Someone talks, however, and the news spreads like wildfire. No more war, the people cry.

A delegation of nobles addressed the king and put their feet down. They explain that they cannot possibly have another war, and that the king simply must heed their pleas. Thousands of men have died already, the kingdom's been sliding into a steady decline of poverty and famine, and they just plain can't afford another war - there's no money.

The king flies into a rage and names them all traitors. They flee, and the king raises a call to muster. The army rises for the king, and they attack the traitors. After the first skirmish, however, things become gnarly.

In the first instance, most soldiers haven't even paid for a couple of years prior to this. They've been bonded to the army for a certain amount of time, and to desert before the contract is up is to be considered a traitor and to be executed. Thus, the vast majority of the soldiers were unhappy with this. In the second instance, most of the soldiers were sick of fighting. Those that had survived the war had survived numerous horrors. They wanted no more of it. These soldiers broke with the army and joined up with the 'Traitor Army.' A good number of soldiers that would have stayed loyal to the Crown switched sides when the king ordered them to attack their own countrymen. The case was the same with many of the nobles who would have remained loyal; but when they saw the monarch attack their peers, they sided against him.

Having lost many of his soldiers, the king then was forced to employ the use of his Immortals army, those that he had bound to slavery and those that had had treated with. What ensued was a short, four month civil war fought toward the north of Tortall. It ended with the assassination of King Jonathan V, when Richard then became king and a truce was called.

The fighting didn't end until a few weeks after Jonathan died, however, as a number of the Immortals he'd treated with continued to fight. Richard treated with the Immortals that chose peace, asking them to aid in the defeat of these Immortals in exchange for their freedom and a new, human-free home. They accepted, and the hostile Immortals were soundly defeated afterwards.

After the conflicts ended, however, began the process of treating with the nobles and soldiers, a process which contiues even today.