First Elwynnese Civil War

First Elwynnese Civil War
Part of Humanist Reaction, Benacian Liberation Movement, 1660 General Election, 1665 General Election
Air raid on Eliria, 02.VII.1660
Date 01.VII.1660–11.XIV.1661 & 08.V.1664–18.VIII.1669 Location Elwynn, Shirekeep Status Ended
Belligerents
Southern League (until 1661) Support: N&H (until 1661) ESB(until 1661) ----- Elwynnese Resistance Organisation (after 1665) Elwynnese Workers' Party (after 1665)	Elwynnese Republic (until 1665) Northern Realm (after 1665) Support: AIP (until 1665) Northern League	Imperial Government Support: AIP (after 1665) N&H (after 1665) ESB(after 1665)
Units involved
Army of the Southern League	Republican Guard ----- Banners of the Faithful Tribes	Northern Banner Group Shirekeep Garrison ïa Bivarhins Uihmanz
Strength
275,644	230,594 48,190	230,400
Casualties and losses
2,500+ killed 34 land-cruisers inoperable	3,528 killed	1 Minister assassinated 134 Imperial Forces killed 395 Imperial Marshals killed 3,155 deserted
48,123 civilians killed in political and or organised criminal violence

The Elwynnese Civil War was a conflict arising out of the collapse of the political unity in the Shirerithian nobility which had hitherto enabled the Benacian Reconquest and reached its highest expression in the Auspicious Occasion of 1651.

Timeline

• 01.VII.1660–10.IX.1661 & 06.XII.1661–11.XIV.1661
  • Armin Jamal-Arminzadeh, suffering from a surfeit of liberal virtue, attempts to expel the Imperial Mother from the Elwynnese Senate;
  • 02.VII.1660: Air strike on Eliria by ISAF elements loyal to Imperial Mother combined with cyber attack organised by government sponsored hacker collectives exploiting the Elwnet back door onto the Benacian Data Network knocks out the Elwynnese Senate and Principate;
  • Imperial Mother removed from office by the Steward who subsequently takes personal command of the Ministry of Military Affairs;
  • Daniyal Simrani-Kalirion, Isabella's first born son, defects from the Palatini Corps and raises the banner of revolt in Araxion on behalf of the Army of the Southern League;
  • Icebear fanatics expel the XXIII Corps of the Republican Guard from Vijayanagara. Survivors defect to the Southern League, forming the nucleus of the 8th Army in Agnesia;
  • 19.XIII.1660: Letters of safe conduct granted by the Army of the Southern League to candidates from parties not actively supporting the "Eliria Clique" for the Folksraad elections of 1660. Agnesia remained too disordered to host elections;
  • 13.XIV.1660: Army of the Southern League completes process of organisation and armament;
  • 25.XV.1660: Southern League forces from Vattnaland, raid the city of Frieden in Iserdia - targeting Republican Guard and Cudgeller barracks and prominent local collaborators with the AIP;
  • Imperial Government attempts sanctions upon corporations suspected of affiliation with or sponsorship of parties in the conflict. Lady Dragonmoor perishes immediately afterwards under mysterious circumstances. ESB Group continues operations in defiance of the order;
  • 10.IX.1661: Unilateral ceasefire by the Army of the Southern League as a gesture of goodwill for the Kaiser's coronation. Tentative peace talks follow;
  • Landsraad revokes arrest orders issued by the Steward, effectively constituting an amnesty. Imperial Inquisitors attempt to claim that Imperial Law offers no scope for the Landsraad or any other public body to offer amnesty - some junior members amongst their number are consequently lynched in Shirekeep for their temerity by mobs well remunerated by unspecified corporate sponsors;
  • 06.XII.1661: Army of the Southern League withdraws from its unilateral ceasefire after delegates are ordered to attend an illegal session of the Senate invoked by the Kaiser in Raynor's Keep without guarantees of safe conduct or exchange of hostages;
  • Negotiations in Raynor's Keep continue, albeit the Southern League refuses to recognise the deliberations as a formal session of the Senate. Sticking point remains question of an Imperial Occupation, seen as an opportunistic power-grab by neighbouring Goldshire, question of Wintergleam resurfaces;
  • 11.XIV.1661: Accord of the Leagues of the Elwynnese Republic on the Restoration of Peace signed on a barge at the midpoint between the Elwynnese and Goldshirian banks of the White Elwynn just north of Shirekeep. The Accord appoints three Commissioners of the Peace with responsibility for disbanding the Republican Guard, paying off veterans, and enforcing the peace between factions in a repartitioned Elwynn.
• 10.IV.1664–
  • 10.IV.1664: The Southern League unilaterally seceded from the Elwynnese Republic[1];
  • 21.IV.1664: The Princess of Elwynn denounced Imperial corruption and quitted Eliria for her northern strongholds[2];
  • 08.V.1664: Outraged, the Kaiser deprived Eki Verion of her noble title, effectively deposing her from government in Elwynn[3]
  • 09.VI.1664: Fall Hagg-Ellen began[4].
  • 22.VIII.1664: Ayreonist-dominated rump congress in Eliria elects Abigail Ayreon-Kalirion to Princess, but due to the required Senate approval lacking, titles her "Princess in Elwynn" rather than "Princess of Elwynn", names Karmen Joonai conducator (effectively the one in government) who vows to resist any break-up of Elwynn
  • 22.XIV.1664: Citing the abuse of Cedrists by the Icebear cult in the lands of Eki Verion, Ryker Everstone of Goldshire ordered three corps of the Goldshire Regulars to intervene and secure the remaining Wintergleamish bailiwicks of Agnesia.[5]
  • 23.XIV.1664 Enraged by the threat to Fieldburg Enraged by the threat posed to Fieldburg, Eki Verion mobilised the banners of the self-styled "Holy Realm" and subsequently threatened Suthergold with obliteration.[6]
  • 06.XV.1664: Noting the threats of the Holy Realm made against the King of Goldshire, the Minister of Military Affairs declared the Church of the Divine Icebear and the Cimmerian nation to be public enemies of the state. The Directive ordered the Northern Banner Group onto a heightened state of alert and instructed the auxiliary forces to begin forming "hunting parties". [7]
  • 08.I.1665:
    • Landsraad began debate on the second partition of Elwynn and the dissolution of that Imperial State.[8]
    • The indigenous population of Elwynn, indignant at the betrayal of their nationhood by their elected representatives and the Imperial Government, began staging protests in Eliria.[9]
  • 11.I.1665: The III Corps from Avaldsnes and along the Wall advances into Fieldburg using Wintergleamish rail lines and nearby roadways. A small contingent splinters to widen the front and secure the border with the bailiwicks of Rosmemne and Dharmandi. The IV Corps ,camped in Lostfort and northern Everstone, begins a push along the River up to the jurisdiction of Echo. Forces set up defenses as talks begin to arrange supply lines through the city's large river access.
  • 12.I.1665: Protesters in Eliria occupy a number of sites, including the main university and the bazaar quarter.
  • 20.I.1665: Imperial troops storm the bazaar. Discipline breaks down as legionaries and auxiliaries indulge in an orgy of looting, rape, and murder. 3,183 civilians are killed.
  • 21.I.1665:
    • Order is restored amongst Imperial garrison in Eliria following execution of Lord Lieutenant and the infliction of decimation upon the riotous soldiery.
    • Outraged protesters gathering before Eliria Castle are fired upon by panicking local auxiliaries. 84 deaths are reported.
  • 24.I.1665:
    • Ominous correspondence is received from the Shining Garden of Raikoth, threatening a repeat of the Kai Aphmyarkaiph if Raikoth's mainland colonies are used as a bargaining chip in the dissolution of Elwynn. Imperial officials charged with watching the high north scramble to produce a placatory answer.[10]
    • A general strike, against the partition, against Imperial brutality, and in favour of independence, is called by the Elwynnese Workers Party.
  • 07.II.1665:
    • The Kaiser optimistically granted an amnesty and general pardon to all parties in the conflict.[11]
    • Concurrently the legitimacy of Eki Verion was restored by decree.[12]
  • 09.II.1665: Elwynnese Resistance Organisation is formed in the city of Echo.
  • III.1665: The civil conflict in Elwynn is increasingly subsumed into the normal pattern of endemic violence and corruption associated with an election year in the Imperial Republic. Paramilitaries swap their olive drab fatigues for cheap polyester suits and rosettes as canvasing season begins in earnest.
  • 06–12.IV.1665: Islus Conference; Behsaz-Eluin, ERO, & N&H formalise electoral pact comprising of a joint list in the territories of the Northern Realm whilst in the counties of the Southern League the patronage networks and electoral agents of each party would be transferred to the party assigned the "care" of the respective counties in question.[13]

1665 Folksraad Election

The elections in the Northern Realm were characterised by an unusual level of electoral irregularities. The official results are dubious, and have been declared as unlawful by the Steward (the legality of the declaration of unlawfulness also questionable) . Despite being registered in the elections under the law of the Northern Realm, only a small fraction of voting stations had, ballots with the Imperial Democratic Party on them. Furthermore, the authorities of the Northern Realm are believed to have unduly harassed and influenced voters at the voting stations. An unusual high number of invalid votes were declared.

After the Landsraad declared the elections in the Northern Realm illegal, new elections were held in the Northern Realm under the supervision of the Electoral Commission. Turn-out decreased by a third, largely on account of the active resistance of the Northern Realm to the Electoral Commission conducting fresh elections on its territories, which it denounced as illegal, in the midst of a particularly severe winter. The Electoral Commission was obliged to call upon the assistance of the Lord Lieutenant who in turn called out the Imperial Marshals and the Northern Banner Group garrison. A number of scuffles and minor skirmishes with state troops ensued, further discouraging voter turnout. In this polarised environment the electorate cleaved with the Imperialist and Elwynnese Resistance vote shifting to the Imperial Democratic Party. Nonetheless the strong showing of the Icebears and Verionists still occasioned scorn in Shirekeep and Eliria just as much as the instigation of fresh elections at all had prompted apoplectic outrage in Wolfraven.