Kalirion Fracture

The failures of leadership manifested by the Kalirion Dynasty, led by Kaiser Ayreon IV, whose administrations lent undue credence to Elianist ideologies, left the vast and sprawling Benacian empire of Shireroth singularly ill-equipped to contend with a series of calamities including the Elwynnese Civil War, the White Plague, and the emigration of a large portion of its former ruling classes, particularly from the territories of Modan. Shireroth, having invested heavily in financing a global military-industrial complex and the largest armed forces of any of the remaining great powers of Micras, for the purpose of resisting Jing and Bassarid aggression during the years of confrontation, and burdened with a sclerotic and overly hierarchical system of governance, effectively a neo-feudal and corporatist abomination of a command economy, was unable to pivot adroitly towards the reforms and reorganisation that would be necessary for peacetime development.

The inability of the ruling classes to continue operating the machinery of state with any measure of precision or alacrity was finally exposed by the feeble response of the Imperial Government to a minor but bloody rebellion in Shireroth's Inner Benacian puppet state, which had cost the lives of countless Imperial bureaucrats and "advisers", most notable of whom was Lady Cherokee, a prominent Elianist and member of the high nobility. The decision to meekly accept this atrocity, and Inner Benacia's repudiation of the Raspur Pact, and to limit retaliation to economic sanctions and the sealing of the frontier, left Imperial garrisons trapped in Inner Benacia, and merely served to embolden the Laqi insurgency to the point where it became a low intensity "holy war" against the Imperial Republic.

The situation in 1671 AN

Having survived the White Plague, and having formally suppressed the last remnants of the moribund federal system, the Imperial Republic was, on paper, a highly centralised polity, with vast powers accrued to the Imperial Advisory Council and the Steward, over whom the Kaiser exercised only the power of appointment and dismissal. The ruling Steward's authority was enhanced by coalition majorities in the Folksraad and Adlesraad, the bicameral legislature of Shireroth's multi-party democracy, while at the same time the presiding committee of the high nobility - heir to the ancient title and dignity of the Landsraad - was quiescent following the departure of most dissident lords with the Modanese Migration.

Control over the tumultuous and perpetually squalid capital, Shirekeep, was ensured by the Shirekeep Garrison, a composite force built around the Palatini Corps, the elite imperial guard which consisted of eight heavily reinforced legions supported by auxiliaries, that was largely independent of the administrative control of the army and outside the operational jurisdiction of Benacia Command. Because of the chequered history of the Palatini Corps, a strong security apparatus, answerable only to the Imperial Household, was set up to protect the sacred person of the Kaiser and other critical officials (Sentinels) and to monitor office holders with an open mandate to purge where necessary (Crypteia). The city's contingent of cudgellers (police) - the City Guard - had also evolved to become a paramilitary force answering to the Prefect of the city. This latter force, notorious for skirmishing with the garrison, had been tamed somewhat by incorporation into the Imperial Constabulary answerable to the Ministry of State.

The Ministry, formed during administrative reforms of the late 1660's out a merger of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Military Affairs, exercised administrative direction and oversight over the so-called pillars of control which allowed the metropolitan centre to exercise control over the vast imperial periphery, these being:

1. Control of Force (Imperial Forces / Imperial Marshals)
2. Control of Finance (Office of Bounties and Factorage)
3. Control of Information (Panopticon / Imperial Postal Service / Benacian Data Network)

Officers of the Ministry of State were represented at every level of these pillars of control, creating an integrated "power-vertical" through which the Imperial Government could make its influence felt even down to the bailiwick or village level.

With the dissolution of the states the top tier subdivision of the Imperial Republic was the dominion, an agglomeration of counties, bailiwicks, and cities, within a distinct and usually contiguous territorial jurisdiction. Dominions, headed by a Viceroy, enjoyed strictly limited autonomy but in practice were entirely dominated by the structures of the power-vertical - the size of provincial militias being formally limited to 6,000 men-at-arms meaning that even the most independently minded viceroy would be hopelessly outgunned by the Imperial garrison within his dominion. Moreover Viceroys had become subject to a further administrative oversight, which over time had come to look more akin to direct control, by Lieutenants of the Golden Mango Throne (Lord Lieutenants) appointed to each of the subdivisions by the Steward. Lieutenants had especial responsibility to oversee the local implementation of of Imperial Law and Policy and had received a detachment of Crypteia, supported by personnel seconded from the Palatini Corps, around which to form a rapid reaction force with which to crush any instances of dissent or sedition discovered within their jurisdiction. Under these conditions the remaining Viceroys, with the notable exception of dissident Verionists in Elwynn's high north, had become timid ciphers, capable of only working within precisely defined and narrow remits whilst being wholly terrified of undertaking any action not expressly sanctioned by higher authority, lest the dreaded accusation of disobedience be levelled against them, followed swiftly by a sudden and nocturnal tribunal held before the inquisitors of the Judex.

The independence of the judiciary from the mechanisms of central government, although theoretically still upheld in the Charter, had largely ceased by this time, mostly on account of slow drift of legally trained professionals from the inns of court towards the chambers of the bureaucracy where the pay was almost as good and the threat of assassination by discontented plaintiffs was markedly reduced.

Timeline

(All times are in Shirekeep time)

1671

V.1671

• 13: Benacian Stabilisation Force stood up[1]. Stated objective to relieve IBFOR contingents trapped behind frontier in post-revolution Inner Benacia.

VII.1671

• 01: Kaiser Ayreon IV elevates Batavian King Arkadius IV to Shirerithian peerage as Duke of Brandenburg as a gesture of friendship between the two reflected by the upcoming marriage between Arkadius and Ayreon's sister in law Clara, the creation the city of Vidarstadt in Batavia (named in honour of the Kaiser) and the close relationship between the royal and imperial courts of Batavia and Shireroth.

• 05: Fall Luikur deployment orders put into motion by Benacia Command. General staff relocate to Merensk.

• 06: Provosts report that desertion rate amongst Imperial Forces exceeds 10% for the first time since War of Lost Brothers.

VIII.1671

• 07:
  • Process of assigning personnel and equipment to operational formations assigned to Benacian Stabilisation Force begins to look more and more like the wholesale occupation and or looting of Imperial facilities by Raspur Pact aligned factions within the Imperial Forces. Attempts to raise the alarm are made by commissary officers attached to the Field, Frontier, and Riverine Armies. The placement of Raspur Pact aligned staff officers serving dual duty in offices concerning the administrative function of the Imperial Forces helps to effectively stifle the attempts of those on the ground to warn the Office of Defence and Security that something is seriously amiss. In spite of this some warnings are received by the civilian overseers of the armed forces. Shirekeep however remains silent.
  • Kaiser Ayreon IV, his concubine Lady Isidora IV of Octavius-Teleni, and children Salome, Kir, and Kian, go to Kezan on a working holiday.
  • Elianist People's Party in Amokolia, the Northern Reaches and Akordionnyr, vote to split from the main Elianist People's Party to join the pro-independence Elwynnese Popular Front umbrella party.
  • Elianist People's Party, a government party in the imperial government, criticizes the move, calling Elwynnese independence anachronistic. But by now, the government majority in the Folksraad and Adelsraad have been reduced to a minority in both chambers.
• 08: Elwynnese Popular Front delegation in the Folksraad moves for no confidence in the Steward (Soraya Octavius-Parini). Receives significant support by opposition parties for a first reading of the motion in the Folksraad. Decides not to make a similar motion in the Adelsraad, as the party wants to portray the possible downfall of the Steward a "common man's act" (instead of the nobility's).
• 09:
  • Second reading of the motion in the Folksraad. No debate. Motions of confidence are quite common in the Folksraad but never before have they gone past the second reading. This time they did.
  • Kaiser meets Kalgachian representatives in Kezan.
• 10:
  • 09:30. Third reading of the no-confidence motion in the Folksraad.
  • 09:32–11:45: Folksraad debates the motion.
  • 11:47: Folksraad votes on the motion.
  • 11:48: Speaker Marius Macaby (Imperial Order) announces the result of the vote: that the Folksraad has no confidence in the Steward.
  • 12:05: Speaker Macaby meets with the Lord Speaker of the Adelsraad and the Prætor of the Landsraad (Tinker Sprocket) to discuss the new government formation process. Kaiser is informed.
  • 12:30: Kaiser calls the Steward to inform her that he will relieve her of her office.
  • 12:48: Kaiser issues Imperial Decree 1194, relieving the Steward of her office but tasking her to remain acting Steward until the Landsraad has elected a new Steward. Kaiser decides to return to Shirekeep to meet with the Prætor and Imperial Advisory Council. Concubine and children stay in Kezan.
  • 19:03: Kaiser returns to Raynor's Keep. Calls for an IAC meeting for the day after.
  • 21:00: By now, Kaiser has had dinner with his catamite (Jaap van Pijpervale). The dinner does not go well. van Pijpervale contravenes protocol and departs from the Imperial immediacy without prior leave, returning to the sleeping quarters of the adept pages in the Dirâsat-an-Nûr. The Kaiser's fury is relieved by a mild sedative administered by the court physician.
  • 21:52–23:11: van Pijpervale finds consolation with a coterie of Elw page boys who, ultimately, prove to have something interesting, which they have long contemplated, to reveal to him.
  • 22:45: The Kaiser, with the effect of the sedative wearing off, is reported to have worked himself into a "heightened emotional state". After refusing offers of consolation by the adept pages attending upon the Imperial immediacy at the appointed hour, the Kaiser dismissed his retinue before retiring to have a two-way conference call with Emperor Nathan II of Natopia (the Kaiser's husband), hosted in the Keep's holographic projection chamber. The Kaiser's personnel security detail is excluded from the projection chamber during this time. The breach of protocol is swiftly reported to the Chamberlain of the Imperial Household, herself absent attending to her functions as Count-Palatine of Kezan at the time.
• 11:
  • 05:30: An attack carried out on Shirekeep-Foley Aerodrome by unknown assailants utilising a mix of imperial and allied equipment, uniforms, and gravimetric vehicles, throws the capital into pandemonium. The Evocati legion, garrisoned at Fort Foley, is the first to respond whilst the remainder of the Palatini Corps and the City Guard enact their deployment orders for placing the old city and Raynor's Keep into lock-down.
  • 07:00: Hostile raiding force retires, after destroying eleven F-8 Shrikes on the ground. As the site is secured a panopticon node is discovered to have been tampered with. Running a system diagnostic on the device without isolating it first from critical networks results in the sending of a data spike to the central data repository housed beneath the Esagila of Raynor. The resulting system cascade crashes the Benacian Data Network, crippling those Imperial communication systems not carried on the Natopian-based satellite communication grid utilised by Benacia Command. Within minutes the knock-on effects are felt right the way across Benacia as the operating systems of government facilities, hospitals, factories, and power stations are all knocked out of action by the network crash.
  • 07:10: The tram and metro system of metropolitan Shirekeep ceases operation, compounding the delays caused by the throwing up of additional security checkpoints around the city. Reports of violent jostling by angry commuters, escalating into disturbances requiring the intervention of cudgellers, begin to trickle in from around the old city.
  • 07:32: Rumours of fighting in and around the barracks of the Saznan Szironeï in Sakatopolis following reports of an attempted mutiny being thwarted in the preceding hours concurrent with the attack on Shirekeep-Foley Aerodrome. The city's Crypteia Rapid Response Group is dispatched to investigate.
  • 08:19: A local communications network is created utilising old radio sets taken out of storage in the subterranean portions of the Kelb of Raynor's Keep and Hoennese electronic communications devices belonging to individual officers - flouting a long-standing Imperial ban on the use of the latter for official purposes.
• 12:
  • 01:28: Reports (at this time unconfirmed) of the Kaiser's death reach Kezan. Security around the heir-apparent and members of the Imperial Court in Kezan is upped.
  • 04:32: Kaiser's death is confirmed within the Imperial Government, but information of it not yet released to the wider public. Kezan prepares for regency. Teleconferencing with Li Naomiai (Minister of the Exterior, attending to business in Lindström).
  • 08:45: Kaiser Ayreon IV's death is announced by the Imperial Government (from Kezan via Natopian communications network). Salome proclaimed to have acceded to the throne as the new kaiseress. Imperial Government announces Li Naomiai, the Marchioness of Sentratera and Minister of the Exterior to be Regent for the Kaiseress until she comes of age.
  • 10.00 The Sanilla and Amarra Liberation Army for Democracy declared the independence of the Democratic Federation of Sanilla and Amarra from their headquarters in Nee. In the declaration they stated that their goal is to establish a state in the former county of Amarr, southwestern Lachmodan and southern Highpass, the Sani and Ama homelands. They also sought peaceful relations with their neighbors and a negotiated settlement with the regency in Shirekeep.
• 13:
  • 9:50 The Prefect of Shirekeep, Titus Morvayne, is elected by the Landsraad as Kaiser Verion II of Shireroth in a questionable procedure where he was the only person in the Landsraad. His control over the capital make for a tense situation.
  • 10:45 Imperial Regency denounces the so-called imperial election, reasserts its power. Accuses Titus Morvayne for having hacked the prætor and not followed proper procedures.
• 14:
  • Natopia confirms hack of Prætor.
  • Imperial directive against Titus put in place. Loyalist regiments of the Palatini Corps and Shirekeep Garrison assert control in Shirekeep. Titus disappears into the urban snarl of the Old City, supported by his cudgellers and the infamously riotous mobs of the city.
• 16: Elwynnese Republic declared as an entity with the view of achieving independence. Support from the transitional authorities in the Duchy of Akordionnyr (south Elwynn) and the Northern Realm (north Elwynn), and bailiwicks in east Oleslääd. Although claiming Hyperborea and Leng, no communication with authorities there. Provisional leader is Pedyr Mekaarveq of the Elwynnese Popular Front, titled Conducator of the Provisional Government.
• 20: Shadow Witch Council in Leng announce Leng as a Boreal Kingdom and independent, and sends deployments to a starving Hyperborea. Elwynnese Republic formally protests.
• 22: Akordionnyr seeks help from the Black Legions to secure the border with Shirekeep, and to counter the liberal agenda of the north.
• 23: Hyperborea "annexed" by the Boreal Kingdom, now known as the Boreal Kingdoms in the plural. Elwynnese Republic formally protests once again.

IX.1671

• 4: Isidora gives birth to Kaiser Ayreon's last child, a son, Prince Rubin Leonid Orientalis.

• 13: Akordionnyr and Northern Elwynn begin negotiations on Elwynnese reunification.

X.1671

• 8: Elwynnese Republic political compromise achieved. Conducator Pedyr Mekaarveq steps aside in favour of Firdaus Abdollahi Mehr who is now the new Conducator.

• 9: Elwynnese Republic declares its sovereignty. Maintains some formal cooperation with the Imperial Regency (Imperialists).

• 12: The SALAD proclaims Sanama to be liberated from fascists and imperialists. Announces that elections for local citizens' councils will be held on 15-16.X.1672 and also bars itself from fielding candidates. Launches a massive get-out-the-vote campaign.

XI.1671

• 9: Elwynn's Union Defence Force deploy troops to pacify Cape Farewell and Cimmeria from Boreals.

• 12: National Assembly elections in Talenore, heavily influenced by the events in Shirekeep. Leads to National Development Party increasing its share to a majority.

• 14: Li Naomiai, Regent of the Imperial Republic, visits Talenore on a two-day visit, meets with Speaker Leila Mehraban, charges Speaker to speak with the leaders of the various assembly parties on the matter of new government formation.

• 15: Li Naomiai re-appoints Mahmood Sadri (Count of Pasdaran) to Governor-General of Talenore (head of government).

XII.1671

• 8: Voluntary force from Normark join the UDF in attacking Boreal installments in Leng and Hyperborea. First goal is to secure the Boreal Air Bridge, second goal is to secure Elwynnese sovereignty over Leng, third goal is to secure Elwynnese sovereignty over both Leng and Hyperborea.

XIII.1671

• 5: The first of The Saints CF, having been expelled from Goetia, arrive in Demonsfall under the sanction and leadership of Kizzy Drakland.

XIV.1671

• 3: Elwynnese pacification of the Cape Farewell and Cimmeria concluded. Elwynnese government established in full. Troops remain.
• 11: Joint Military Council of the Raspur Pact releases strategic reserves to bolster Benacia Command.

1672

IV.1672

• 10: Arkadius IV (King of Batavia, claimed King of Amokolia) marries Clara Sundara (sister of Kaiser Ayreon's widow Nathan II). That marriage went ahead seen as tacit Shirerithian recognition of Amokolia and Drak-Modan. Shireroth refrained from sending representatives to the wedding however.

VI.1672

• 21: Declaration of Brandenburg, West Amokolia declares itself independent, with support from Elwynn.

X.1672

15-16: The 1672 Sanaman local elections are held in Sanama, marking the first democratic elections ever in the area. The around 5,500 communes formed federate into 68 cantons. Work started to draft a constitution.

XI.1672

• 9: Operation Avan: Units of the Guttuli Corps enter Lichport and Lowbrook. By the end of the day, both cities issue formal requests to come under the protection of the Guttuli Protectorate. Resisting members of each municipal government are removed to the countryside for execution.

• 10: Operation Avan: City Council of Barrowfield announces that it has put down an attempted coup among the municipal police, who are believed to be members of the Utnaræn. Martial law is declared and a makeshift militia is formed to defend the city. Skirmishes with advance units of the Guttuli Corps in the hills southeast of the city.

• 11: Operation Avan: Second wave units establish a new defensive frontier west of the Lowbrook-Lichport Line.

• 15: Operation Avan: Siege of Barrowfield initiated as second wave units of the Guttuli Corps encircle the city.

• 16: Elwynn and Normark conquer Leng (except for Zi'yeh Kla, the witcher capital, and Mholog, the witcher vassal town). Sets up air and naval bases in enu Kalirioon, and Swordson.

• 18: Kaiser Verion II and his supporters establish the Imperial Verionist Republic of Shireroth on the Skyla islands.

• 19: Elwynn and Normark start bombing Boreal Kingdoms bases in Hyperborea, including Tala (Thule) and Vanyam (Vanaheim).

• 20: Operation Avan: Barrowfield City Council votes to invite the Guttuli Protectorate to extend its protection over their city. Guttuli Corps units took control of city hall and other government buildings. Mayor, City Council, and senior police officials last seen being driven into the countryside by members of the Guttuli Corps.

• 22: Regency declares Shirekeep liberated. Shirerithian control of greater Shirekeep re-established.

• 23: Regency begins negotiations with Elwynn re independence.

XII.1672

• 1: Regency sends out missives to Sanilla-Amarra, United Governorates, Suthergold, Drak-Modan, Guttuli, Tellia and Amokolia, to discuss the fracture and the question of autonomy/independence.

• 2: Li Naomiai moves to Shirekeep and sets up the Regency in Raynor's Keep. Kaiseress remains in Kezan for the time being.

• 3: Regency sends out troops to pacify and bring order to Ynnraile, Monty Crisco, and north Caverden.

• 4: Elwynn and Normark campaigns against Mholog begin (sea, air, and ice/land). Elwynn and Normark suffer unexpected number of casualties, and retreat from Mholog.

• 7: Round 1 in Elwynn's elections for Prince. Conducator Firdaus Abdollahi Mehr (Nationalist and Humanist Party) leads with 42% of the vote, followed by Ander Avon-El (Ayreonist Independence Party) at 36%, and Pedyr Mekaarveq (EWP) with 20%. Former Elwynnese princess Eki Verion, forwarded by the Holy Party of the Divine Icebear, last with less than 2% of the vote. Due to no candidate receiving a majority, a second round between Mehr and Avon-El planned for 9.XIII.1672.

• 15: Elwynn conquers Vanyam (Vanaheim).

• 17: Regency realizes (somewhat belatedly) that the Vulture States will not "go away". Begins internal negotiations on what approach to take with regard to them.

• 18: Elwynn and Normark forces bomb Tala (Thule) and other areas of strategic interest in Raikoth. The use of long-range aviation of types only available to Raspur Pact member-states strongly tips the involvement of Benacia Command and Keltia Command in the campaign.

• 20: Protests in Eliria against the bombings in Raikoth. Conducator Mehr defends the actions, "Elwynn does not negotiate with terrorists".

• 23: Elwynn bombs Mholog with heavy armaments.

• 23: Mholog surrenders to the Elwynnese–Norse forces.

• 24: Mholog is under full Elwynnese control.

XIII.1672

• 1:

• 2:

• 3: Regency agrees to recognize in principle (as in once treaties have been signed with the respective vultures) the independence of Elwynn and Suthergold (and letting them sort out their disputes) with their claimed borders, as well as the United Governorates (the Merensk area), Drak-Modan, Guttuli, Amokolia, Sanama (except for Sanama claims over Lower Highpass) as well as an end to the Mandate of Tellia (with Tellia being the sovereign over Hither Tellia). Invites representatives for a convention to discuss trade, cross-border issues, and a future relationship between them. Regency calls these vulture state territories "pre-independent".

• 4: Regency decides to grant Skyla independence as a county if Kaiser Verion II renounces the kaisership and declares himself count of Skyla with no other titles or pretences to Shireroth, and recognizes Salome as kaiseress of Shireroth.

• 5:
  • Elwynnese representatives arrive at Shirekeep, sets out demand for full independence and sovereignty as well as imperial recognition of Elwynnese claims in Wintergleam (disputed with Suthergold), Leng and Hyperborea. Elwynn suggests Amokolian sovereignty over Mishalan.
  • Black Legions begin the invasion of Mishalan, citing the necessity of controlling armaments industry.

• 6: Regency condemns Black Legion invasion of Mishalan, calling on the Black Legions to remain in Merensk, and suggesting that further Black Legion involvement in territories not designated by the Imperial Government as pre-independent would be unfavourable for the relations between the Regency and the United Governorates and for the possible future recognition of UG sovereignty.

• 9:
  • Elwynnese elections for prince conclude with Ander Avon-El winning 50.37% of the vote against Firdaus Abollahi Mehr at 49.62%. Mehr concedes defeat and vows to work closely together with Avon-El. Term begins 1.I.1673.
  • Congress elections in north Elwynn conclude: Verionist Union becomes largest party. Verionist leader Stephen Lewis given enough support to lead a coalition government in northern Elwynn once the new month begins.

• 12: Elwynnese–Norse forces enter ("liberate") Hyperborean towns of Kalen, Midoth, and Anshir (the towns closest to Vanyam Island). Bombardment of rebel installations in the coastal towns of Tala (Thule), Taras, Sithli, Talisre. Protests against bombings continue in Eliria.
• 13: Representatives of the Planning and Political Directorates of Benacia Command arrive in Eliria.
• 14: Elwynnese government, exasperated with the lack of fruitful discussions with authorities in Suthergold with regard to the Ketsire area where some Suthergoldian control remains, withdraw the peace proposal, and begin the Wintergleam campaign, with the view to restore full Elwynnese sovereignty and order in Wintergleam. Suthergoldian forces classed as "unlawful combatants" and will be subject to terrorist legislation. UDF cudgellers deployed to the outskirts of the Ketsire area.
• 15:
  • Cudgellers with UDF-armbands reappear on the streets of Eliria in response to continuing protests.
  • Ryker OS taken offline temporarily whilst a defragmentation and clean up is run on the old boy's memory kernels. Mother and daughter team Doir Jen Merah and Selardi Jen Daniyal assume temporary command of the state.
  • III (Wintergleam) Corps of the Goldshire Regulars reactivates in the service of the Sovereign Confederation (45,090 militia, 1,127 non-commissioned officers, 376 squadron officers, 38 regimental officers, and 30 field officers report to mustering points)
  • A superheated canister of molten antimony, projected at high velocity by unknown means from somewhere south of the frontier between Wintergleam and Suthergold, ruptures in spectacular fashion above the heads of a band of UDF cudgellers parading on the outskirts of Ketsire. 14 cudgellers were killed and 38 were seriously injured, whilst the remainder, 68 in total, fled from the scene of devastation and horror. The peculiar nature of the attack raised suspicions as to the potential culprits.

XIV.1672

• 1
  • In response to the Ketsire atrocity, the UDF mobilises the 10th Division (Zjandarian Guard) in the Alalehzamini Autonomous Republic and the 3rd Division (Livgardet Elenaran) in Congressional Elwynn. The Union Aerospace Corps and Union Fleet Maritime Corps are placed on alert.
  • The Sovereign Confederation, feeling that it's very survival is now under threat, responds by ordering a full mobilisation on the same day. Conflict in Wintergleam now seems inevitable.
• 2
  • Benacia Command places a temporary ban on the supply of air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles to Elwynn and the Sovereign Confederation. Advisory teams from Northern and Eastern Banner Groups prohibited from entering Wintergleam in support of either party. Urges diplomatic solution.
• 3
  • Froyalanish terrorists carry out attacks in Mürtin and flee to Mishalan.
• 6
  • Amokolian Highlanders invade Mishalan and Mittlere Stadt from the west.
  • Conflict in Wintergleam: Protected by their ground based air defence network, the 8th Division of the SLDD's Wintergleam Corps is able to role up the right flank of the UDF's 10th Divison, forcing it to retire back towards the railhead at Monare which served as the UDF supply hub in the region. The withdrawal opens a gap in the Elwynnese line around Kaliandare which is quickly exploited by the armoured elements of the arriving Suthergold Corps. Cudgeller and UDF Gendarme detachments in Ketsire, Alnavi, and Monare, deprived of UDF air and now artillery support, begin to yield ground in the face of SLDD counter-attacks across the entirety of the disputed bailiwicks in Wintergleam.
• 7
  • Elwynnese–Norse combined force take Taras (in Hyperborea).
  • Conflict in Wintergleam:
    • The gathering momentum of the Confederate counter-offensive takes the Wintergleam Corps westwards and past Monare in pursuit of the retiring Zjandrian Guards. Threatens the Elwynnese city of Echo and takes the attackers beyond the range of the protective umbrella of air defences along the border with Suthergold. UDF airstrikes begin to rip through the advancing SLDD armoured columns only to be countered by the arrival of fighter jets and gravimetric vehicles carrying the markings of the Order of the Golden Spear. UDF accuses SLDD of enlisting pilots from the Black Legions garrison in the Sovereign Confederation. An attritional air battle develops in the skies between Echo and Ketsire.
    • Northern Banner Group issues warning to Sovereign Confederation that forces passing beyond the bounds of Wintergleam would be liable to attack.
• 8
  • Conflict in Wintergleam: Elwynnese maritime forces (12th Naval Division) attempts to land troops ashore along the coast between Asantelian and Tephal, and blockade the harbours. Landing is strongly opposed. By attacking locations along the Norestrian coast the Elwynnese have provided the necessary pretext for the Eastern Banner Group to now intervene openly.
    • Problems encountered by the Elwynnese in undertaking this operation included unfamiliarity with the ex-Imperial Navy ships utilised, ignorance of the logistical complexities of amphibious operations, inexperience of landing parties in conducting said operations, the fact that the landings have taken place in a coastal zone heavily fortified by the previous regime, the fact that the landings took place in an area where the Black Legions garrison in the Sovereign Confederation was resting so as to avoid being embroiled in the conflict in Wintergleam.
    • The attack would quite possibly become an ignominious rout had not the aviation assets of the Eastern Banner Group, pursuing fleeing ships of the UDF's naval division, encountered warships of the Northern Banner Group observing the landings being conducted by their UDF protegees.
  • Both the Northern and Eastern Banner Groups of Benacia Command independently announce that they are conducting live-fire exercises off the Norestian coast.
• 9:
  • Elwynnese–Norse combined forces enter Sithili whilst encountering only sporadic resistance. The blockade upon supplies of food and fuel to the island seem at last to have had a demoralising effect on the resisting populace.
  • Concurrent live-fire exercises off the Norestian coast appear, to the undiscerning eye, to take on the aspect of a fratricidal slaughter. Reinforcements arrive for the Elwynnese landing parties.
• 10:
  • Talisre surrenders to UDF/Norse forces. Tala is the only remaining settlement in Hyperborea outside UDF/Elwynnese/Norse control.
  • Commanders of the Northern and Eastern Banner Groups are summoned to Merensk in order to explain themselves to the Commander-in-Chief.
• 11: Forces of the Northern and Eastern Banner Groups suspend their live-fire exercises and withdraw towards Wolfraven and New Harbor respectively. Surviving Elwynnese landing parties secure Asantelian and Tephal unopposed.
• 12
  • Ceasefire brokered by the Black Legions is announced in Wintergleam. Negotiations on adjustments to the line of control ensue.
  • Elwynn's Union Defence Force enter Mishalan (city) and Concord after observing that the Black Legions have paused in their advance towards the two cities.
• 13:
  • Amokolian Highlanders, outraged to see Elwynnese troops now invading Mishalan as well, sweep into the bailiwick of Mittlere Stadt, located in Elwynese Amokolia, expelling the bailiwick's garrison of startled cudgellers at bayonet point.
  • Advancing Amokolian and Black Legionary scouting parties encounter each other at various points along a roughly agreed line of control. That this line of control had not been exactly demarcated on the ground meant that several formations were obliged to sharply retire westwards or southeastwards upon contact.
• 14: Representatives of West Amokolia, Black Legions, and Elwynn meet in Araxion to discuss the 'Mishalan problem', agree to a protocol on deconfliction, the disarmament of the remaining bands of Imperial loyalists and resistance groups, and to commence the process of negotiating the division of Mishalan into respective zones of control.
• 17: Elwynn and Sovereign Confederation agree to a border between them based on Shireroth's Wintergleam–Suthergold border with the following adjustments: Elwynn receives the wards of Asantelian, Tephal and Orenthaven, while the Sovereign Confederation receives the bailiwicks of Ketsire, Alnavi, and Kaliandare. Negotiations move on to diplomatic, trade, and cooperative matters. Prisoners of war from either side recognised as such and repatriated to their respective state.
  

  Benacia on 19.XIV.1672.
• 18: Fall of Tala. The aerial bombardment of Boreal installations in Tala continues (some 250 civilian casualties), and ends with Elwynnese–Norse troops taking over the city. All of Hyperborea now under Elwynnese sovereignty. Ziyeh Kla in Leng remains the only terrorist outpost. But Elwynnese–Norse forces plan to "starve" the city out by blocking any shipments to and from the city. Sooner or later, fuel and food will run out, the Elwynnese–Norse forces gather.
• 19: Shirerithian forces withdraws from central Benacia. Regency formally recognizes the independence of the United Governorates of Benacia, the Elwynnese Republic, the Tellian Confederation, the Sovereign Confederation, the Guttuli Protectorate, the Bovic Kingdom of Drak-Modan, the Democratic Federation of Sanilla and Amarra. Regency disputes, however, Vulture States claims on the Isle of Benacia and Highpass, as well as refuses to recognize the so-called Imperial Verionist Republic of Shireroth
• 20: Sanama recognises the sovereignty and independence of the Shirerithian regency within its defined borders. Reasserts its claim over Lower Highpass, but with the caveat that the claim only applies to areas with Sani, Ama or Cisamarrese majority that consent to integration into Sanama.
• 22: Regency accepts Sanaman suggestion of referendum. Highpass being one entity in the Imperial Republic should have a referendum on whether to integrate to Sanama or remain in the Imperial Republic. The Regency suggests that the referendum should be binding on both Shireroth and Sanama, and that the referendum should be monitored by representatives from Elwynn and Drak-Modan.
• 23: Sanama rejects the referendum proposal since it would be a guaranteed loss for the minority population. Demands that each local area should be allowed a separate referendum.
• 24:
• Commander of the Northern Banner Group suffers an unexpected heart attack whilst alone in his hotel room in Merensk. A replacement will be announced in due course.
• The Shirerithian withdrawal from the impoverished and lawless portion of Malarboria claimed by Tellia leaves the Tellian authorities, already overstretched by the task of restoring order in the former Mandate of Tellia, as the only recognised claimant of the land despite nominal control. With the region's unimpeded usage by Sanaman and Black Legion forces, and anti-Tellian sentiment from disowned Shirerithian locals, for practical reasons the decision is made to continue to focus resource and effort upon the southern territories.

XV.1672

• 1–17: Black Legions begin to amass armour and infantry in the Gloomburg and Litel regions.
• 10
  • Legions adopt active hunting tactics, utilising heavy armour and air support, against Tee-al population of Upper Lywall.
  • Red Lach and Mishalanski bandits from the eastern regions of Inner Benacia, recruited to the crimson banner by the lure of pay and plunder, are organised into the ESB-Brunïakis-Afzælt and deployed in the Litel region.
• 18: New Sanaman constitution approved by popular referendum with around 88 % of the votes in favor.
• 24: Recruitment for 56 new regiments begins in Mishalan.
• 29: 24,000 carpenters, 9,500 boatbuilders, and 3,700 welders and metal workers mobilised for shipbuilding work in the port of Rothaven.
• 30: Orders for 1,120 four-stroke diesel engines placed with Natopian companies by the Benacian Purchasing Commission.
• 33: Fall of Zi'yeh Kla. Elwynnese–Norse troops conquer the Witch Council compound, and arrest, as unlawful combatants, the Timeless Shadow and the Shadow Witches.

1673

I.1673

• 1:
  • By this point the independence of the surviving Vulture States had received a wider degree of recognition from the international community.
  • The inauguration of Ander Avon-El as Prince of the Elwynnese Republic was held in Eliria - to minimal fanfare, in line with the prevailing mood of republican austerity in the country.
  • At the same time, the Shirerithian Arbiter of the Imperial Judex, Semisa Nakita Nur Pinito Caprici, the Duchess of Goldshire, defects to Sanama and resigns her office as arbiter.
• 2: Prince Ander Avon-El, on behalf of Elwynn, formally applies for full de jure Raspur Pact membership.
• 8: Elwynn applies for MTO membership.
• 9: Constancian delegation to the Permanent Commission proposes joint Constancian-Natopian declaration recognising the Elwynnese Republic, Imperial Regency, Sovereign Confederation, and Unified Governorates of Benacia as successors to the Imperial Republic of Shireroth and inheritors of its membership. The delegate was quoted as saying "Rules and regulations have no weight next to the avowed will of nations, and it is our will that these states, who have remained true to the Pact, even in the midst of adversity, shall be granted seats on the Permanent Commission and Joint Military Council. So let it be said, so let it be done." Proposals were also mooted with regards to offering a "Partnership for Peace" security arrangement, with economic benefits, to Amokolia and Sanama. The discussions come at a time when the potential for overhauling the foundational treaty of the alliance is being investigated - with a view to realigning the text to better reflect the institutions and practices which have actually taken hold.
• 10: Following the customary exchange of guarantees and hostages, a delegation headed by Herlot bi Merensk, the Director of Military Intelligence of Benacia Command, arrived in Shirekeep for the first time since 1671. Meeting with the Steward of the Imperial Regency, Soraya Octavius-Parini, and the Magister of the Palatini Corps, Justin Guadalim, in the Steward's Tower of Raynor's Keep, the discussion proved to be a broadly positive one. Although Benacia Command refused - politely - to reintegrate the Black Legions into the Imperial Forces (at this point limited to the Palatini Corps, Shirekeep Garrison, and a few loyalist patrol boats on the upper stretches of the Red Elwynn), the delegation did agree to dispatch a force to assist with the reassertion Imperial power over a wider area - so as to secure the position of Shirekeep and restore its lines of communication to the outside world. Discussion turned to the situation along the course of the Red Elwynn, particularly to the bandit groups operating on the upper portion of the river and the activities of the Guttuli Protectorate along its lower reaches. Agreement was reached that the Palatini Corps would advance southwards through Monty Crisco, whilst the Southern Banner Group of Benacia Command would enter the estuary of the Red Elwynn and advance northwards along the river's course through the county of Kralizec with the two converging forces intending upon a meeting at Alexandretta. The occupation of Lichport by the Guttuli Corps, and the potential for reversing this, was also discussed.
• 20: Officers of the Central Banner Group greatly upset to learn that the confrontation with Inner Benacia has been postponed in order to prioritise the forthcoming resource needs of the Southern Banner Group over the course of the year. Warnings that this decision will pass the initiative to insurgent forces in the "Litkov salient" go unheeded.
• 22: The Regency is unable to nominate a new arbiter due to the prorogation of the Landsraad (arbiter requires Landsraad confirmation). Supreme judicial power therefore vested in the various regional appellate courts in the country.

II.1673

• 1: Menaced by the Guttuli Protectorate's rapid conquest of southern Caverden and the city of Lichport, the Drak-Modani Defense Force began a build-up of forces along the eastern borders of Capshire and Kizshire (formerly eastern Modan-Lach).
• 2: Southern Banner Group begins concentrating naval assets and chartered merchant shipping at Sabatini station.
• 4: Kizzy Drakland declares herself Kaiseress of the Imperial Daemonic Republic of Shireroth in Demonsfall (now renamed New North Shirekeep). The Saints CF in full charge of the city government after the last imperial authority was "removed" by the Saints.
• 6: XXXIV Salb "Derban" forms up at Raynor's Point. Inspectorate Troops begin establishing supply depots and forward landing strips around Bajkir in Kizshire.
• 7: Cedrist priests in Ynnraile begin preaching for a holy war against the latest daemonic incursion into Benacia. Appeals for aid by local landowners and the rebellious peasantry alike are sent to Eliria, Kingsgate, Shirekeep, and Merensk.
• 10: Ships of the Arcadian Oil Company are plagued by piracy from the Florencia Isles. At the request of the Arcadian king, Gustavus des Vinandy, Arkadius Frederik Gustavus des Vinandy sent his personal military unit to secure the ships and patrol the seas around the isles.
• 11:
  • The Medusa, a Grav-Rig Cruiser, escorted by four GV-7 Leviathans, and fifty GAV-6 Zephyrs, was hastily dispatched to take up station over MoMA Station Sagittarius. Officially this was a shakedown cruise intended to integrate long-range gravimetric vehicles into the Aerospace Forces of the Black Legions prior to their transfer to the Western Banner Group of Benacia Command. That their passage would afford the opportunity to shoot up pirate skiffs, and other doubtful vessels, under the guise of gunnery practice whilst bringing the islands under the influence of the Unified Governorates of Benacia was an entirely incidental benefit.
  • The Elwynn-class corvette BLS Zahnstange slipped its moorings at Marinestation Šlomxala and set course for the Iridian Isles.
  • The Tassity Mansabdar deploy their mobile offshore base southeast of the coast of The Lodge.
• 12:
  • Following consultations with representatives of the Imperial Regency, a one-hundred and twenty man observation force drawn from veteran operatives who had previously served with Streïkrupp Kasha on the Inner Benacian mission were inserted on the outskirts of The Lodge by twenty GAV-4 Jackalopes accompanied by an eight-man team from the Political Relations Bureau of the General Staff's Political Directorate.
  • The crews of the Medusa and the four Leviathan mobile command bases set about securing the dilapidated ex-Imperial naval station at Sagittarius. Five Zephyrs remained at Sagittarius whilst the remainder continued on their long-range patrol towards New Blackstone.

III.1673

• 5: Darwin Research Station is reopened by Amokolia.
• 6: Uncorroborated reports in the Erudition Standard Gazette of Amity state that three U-boats (believed to have been one Type 941 and two Type 2400 U-boats respectively) which were last known to have been in the harbour of Sabatini Station on the night of the 5th were now absent from their berths with the coming of dawn on the morning of the 6th.
• 24: The MV Pearled-Tusk, a 1,745 ton cargo ferry, carrying one-hundred and twenty-eight passengers and forty crew on the route between the Musika and Svalbarh Commands, issued a distress signal whilst passing four kilometres to the south of the island of Origuttula. The message, sent 22:24 (CMT-7), gave the vessel's location, reported that fires had taken hold in the engine compartment, and that the order to abandon ship had been given. The distress-call was repeated only once before ending abruptly.
• 30: The Revolutionary Army of Crisco starts to cause havoc in central Benacia, controlling parts of Monty Crisco and former Goldshire.

IV.1673

• 7: Amokolia, Elwynn, & Shireroth sign free-trade treaty.

V.1673

• 4: MTO admits Elwynn as a member. Elwynn ratifies the General Membership Treaty and the MTO Convention on the Law of the Seas. Ambassador to the MTO is Manoshehr Nivadi.
• 6: Blue Valley Agreement: Shireroth agrees with Talenore to no longer collect protectorate taxes from Talenore in exchange for Talenore's continued allegiance to the Kaiseress (back-dated for the entirety of 1673), promises further to lobby for associate membership in the Raspur Pact for Talenore.

• 9: The Verionist-run Imperial Dominion under the Administration of the Iron Company (the official name of the government of Elsenar) declares that will join the Elwynnese Republic. Immediate condemnation from the Regency. Elwynnese government cautiously optimistic about this and begins negotiations with the Iron Company with regard to a constitutional settlement.

• 10: In the Council of Eliria, the two Alalehzamini (N&H) representatives veto the continuance of negotiations. Negotiations immediately halted. Verionist Union condemns the veto as an N&H insult on Verionism.
  • It was subsequently deemed necessary by the Alalehzamini delegation to preserve their objections for posterity:
    1. "In what fresh hell of jumbled geography is Elsenar now to be considered Elwynnese territory?"
    2. "It makes no geographic or political sense... the Elwynnese nation is the land between the two rivers - Elsenar is so far from the river that it is practically in Jingdao."
    3. "The Verionists should have consulted the map before making the proposal."
• 11:
  • The Sovereign Confederation, wary of potential Elwynnese expansion southward, formally declares itself Protector of Goldshire and its people. Shortly thereafter, Speaker Doir Jen Mera petitions the Elwynnese Republic grant its historically Goldshirean holdings gained in the aftermath of the War in Wintergleam the status and rights of an Autonomous Republic.
  • Elwynn replies that all bailiwicks have autonomy in matters of local government, is, however, concerned with the Elwynnese minorities in the territories of Wintergleam conquered by the Sovereign Confederation in the War in Wintergleam, petitions Speaker Doir Jen Mera for considerable Elwynnese autonomy in the SC-conquered bailiwicks.
  • Benacia Command recognises the protection of the Sovereign Confederation over the territory of Goldshire, including those portions presently occupied by the Guttuli Protectorate in Lunaris, as being necessary for the stability of eastern Benacia until such time as the Imperial Regency is sufficiently stabilised as to be able to reassert authority in the region.

• 12:
  • Acting on its roll of Protector of Goldshire and from respect for the remnants of Shireroth, The Sovereign Confederation, supported by the Eastern Banner Group of Benacia Command, invades Ynnrailli lands held by Kizzy's daemonic Antikaisership based in Demonsfall. The move was justified on account of multiple intel reports describing what Speaker Jen Merah called "Unspeakable acts carried out for unknowable reasons" and several testimonies from refugees fleeing the Demonsfall regime.
  • Fall of Erianamor: forces under Legion LI "Aïreon" successfully complete their maneuver through the northern Nemorosus Salus and begin their attack on the rear of the defenses at Erianamor in the pre-dawn hours. This action leads to a complete rout and allowing for entry into the town by forces under Legion LIV "Ikol". Surviving military and civil leaders imprisoned for demonstrations of submission.
  • Guttuli Protectorate Military Council declares the creation of Command Prata, coterminous with the so-called Freedom Meadow. New government to be installed in the upcoming weeks once resistance is fully-pacified.
  • Acting on reports of Kizzy's transgressions, Goetia forms a new paramilitary group, the Gorillas NF, with the purpose of rescue, extraction, and execution of Kizzy, Babbit, and their followers.
• 13: Large scale bombing raid on Demonsfall, carried out in the hours before dawn by the 4th Bombardment Division of the Eastern Tactical Air Force, sees 2,788 tonnes of incendiary bombs and 20 tonnes of high explosive bombs dropped over the rebel held settlement.
• 14–24: Unassailed, for the moment, by the previously anticipated daemonic swarms that were expected to fill the nighttime skies in opposition to their sorties, the three-hundred and eighty-four B-49 Delta and forty-four B-69 Vulcan bombers of the 4th Bombardment Division returned over successive evenings to deposit alternating loads of incendiary and high-explosive munitions over targets that included the Daemonswood to the east of Demonsfall as well as the barracks of the Vigiles Arcani located on its outskirts. The object of these raids, beyond discomforting the Daemon-Queen and her small band of followers, was to punish the inhabitants of Demonsfall and especially those former Imperial soldiers and officials who had finally and definitively failed in their sole objective of defending a site of unique occult significance. Certainly by standing aside and allowing every cultist and lunatic drawn to Demonsfall, by its notorious reputation of being built over the purported portal to hell, to flock into the city unopposed, the denizens and former soldiery of Demonsfall had marked themselves - in the eyes of Benacia Command as being legitimate targets for collective reprisal.

VI.1673

• 22: Launch of Operation Liven, aimed at neutralizing the threat of piracy from former members of V Corps, who are using the City of Ankh as their base of operations to harass trade across the upper Red Elwynn.

• 24: Amidst ongoing investigations into reports of piracy in the Iridian Isles, two Logistic Support Vessels entered the harbour of Acarid City flying the flags of the Raspur Pact, the Black Legions, and the Imperial Republic. The vessels disembarked and put ashore a mixed force of military officers, diplomats, and reconstruction subject matter experts, supported by a security detachment of 120 personnel drafted from the General Inspectorate of the Black Legions and the constabulary of Shireroth. Representative detachments from the island's militia were mustered for a special parade on the quayside during which the officers received new standards and arrears of pay for their regiments. Those present on parade are led by their officers in rendering their salaams and ritualised adoration to the icons of Kaïsarin Salome and the Szodan, Constantine Loup. Administrators from the Unified Governorates installed themselves in the Palazzo Vecchio, from the balcony of which the standard of the Black Legions was hung whilst an edict was read out to a gathering of curious populace in the name of the Commissioner of the Circuit of Jadid Khaz Modan. The edict detailed that, until such time as order was restored, the newly appointed Chief Administrator of Florencia and the Iridian Isles would exercise the authority of Viceroy and Lieutenant of the Isles on behalf of the Regent. The Chief Administrator would however be reporting directly to the Commissioner, an appointee of the Commander-in-Chief of Benacia Command - the Szodan.
  • Concurrently, proposals were submitted by Benacia Command to the Permanent Committee of the Raspur Pact that the model being trialled in Florencia be expanded to the remaining islands of the Khaz Modan archipelago with each island being assigned a lead nation from amongst the Pact's membership to provide a civil governance reconstruction team tasked with restoring order and providing relief for the populace.

VIII.1673

• 05: Benacia Command announced that the Skyla Isles, along with the harbours of Lichport, Kelb, Musika (Musica), Nuisoren (Novaya Sorensk), Meszor (Mesior), and Svalbarh, are closed to commercial shipping. Any merchant vessels, encountered by warships of the Raspur Pact, that were suspected of having entered those harbours, of conducting ship to shore transfers via boats from those locations, or of intending to transact the same at some future point, would, with effect from this order, be forced to come to a halt and undergo an inspection by boarding party. Where suspicions were confirmed, the crews of suspect vessels would be henceforth arrested and the impounded vessels taken to the port of Twoggle in Drak-Modan for unloading. Any merchant vessel that ignored orders to come to a full stop and undergo inspection would be engaged and sunk without further warning.
• 18: Responsibility for the Benacian Archipelago is transferred from the Central Banner Group to the Western and Southern Banner Groups. In the Southern Banner Group area of responsibility the XXX Salb "Vasilescu" and the XXXII Salb "Popescu" relieved the Streïkrupp Kasha of garrison duties on Benacia Isle and Florencia respectively. Naudia'Diva and the Iridian Isles meanwhile received garrisons of Inspectorate troops from New Blackstone.
• 19: The Tassity Mansabdar dismantle their mobile offshore base southeast of the coast of The Lodge. While an aircraft carrier is anchored north of Naudia'Diva.
• 22: Following the impounding of a merchant vessel outbound from Meszor, the Guttuli Protectorate Military Council transmits a message to Benacia Command, asking what they want, responses to be directed to the Office of the Kraln.
• 23: Subsequent to the exchange of several terse signals pertaining to the identity and credentials of the Office of the Kraln, the Political Relations Bureau of Benacia Command forwarded a list of demands:
  1. The withdrawal of all forces from Barrowfield, Lichport, and Lowbrook and the redeployment of those forces against river piracy and bandit formations operating along the upper reaches of the Red Elwynn;
  2. The opening of the Red Elwynn to military and commercial traffic of the Raspur Pact;
  3. The commencement of negotiations for a strategic military, political, and economic partnership plan between the Guttuli Protectorate and the Raspur Pact;
  4. The Unconditional release of ex-Imperial veterans presently in held in detention, or any form of involuntary servitude, into the custody of the Sanitäts Uihmanz;
  5. The immediate termination of all forms of support for terrorist organisations.

IX.1673

• 2: Operation Avan: additional labor deployed to the Barrowfield-Lichport region to accelerate the construction of fortifications.
• 5: Operation Fanlin: additional home-deployed troops put on anti-partisan patrols throughout the Fanlinunig. Front-line formations redeploying north to extend the frontier.
• 17: Operation Liven: Siege of Ankh initiated. Negotiations initiated with troops located therein.
• 24: The Kingdom of Ransenar is proclaimed at Goldfield. The Kaiser is kept as a figurehead, while a democratic government is built under the leadership of Séan O’Callaghan as Lord High Steward of the Kingdom and Ruadh Eadric as Regent and Lord Protector of the Kingdom. As his first act in Government, O'Callaghan announced Ransenar's accession to the Raspur Pact as one of the successor states of Shireroth.
  • The Black Legions undertake to guarantee the security of Ransenar and provide a garrison for the kingdom in return for 20% of the harvest for the next twelve years and the right to establish anchorages and aerodromes for its maritime and aerospace forces within the territory claimed by Ransenar.
  • The Sovereign Confederation formally recognizes the government and claims of Ransenar calling it "a bastion against Verionist treachery".

XI.1673

• 8: The Iron Company government in Elsenar declares its loyalty to the Verionist antikaiser.

• 9: Stock market in Eliria plummets. The Elwynnese Democrat Party calls for new congressional elections, proclaiming the Verionist Union a party unworthy of the congressional government. Verionist Union affirms that it has no political relations with the Iron Company or the Verionist antikaiser, but remains loyal to the post-Shirerithian peace process in Benacia.

• 18: The Elwynnese congressional government survives a vote of no confidence in Congress, with the AIP and EWP content with the Verionist Union's declaration of no political ties with the Verionist antikaiser or the Iron Company.

• 20: Verionist Union support goes down significantly in Northern Elwynnese opinion polls, with swings to the N&H and Democrats.

XII.1673

• 5: Elwynnese Workers' Party calls on the Verionist Union to declare all its ties with the Iron Company, faces meanwhile strong internal calls to withdraw from the Vanguard coalition in congressional Elwynn.

• 8: The Standing Committee of the Elwynnese Workers' Party adopts a resolution condemning the Verionist Union's passivity with regard to the Verionist antikaiser and its ties to the Iron Company, but reaffirms, however, its support of the Northern coalition, calling it the best way possible, under the current circumstances, to protect workers' rights, equality, social rights, access to health, social insurance, and education. Leaving the coalition would put the Elwynnese working class in much danger with all their rights eroding.
  • A spokesman for the Ayreonist Independence Party, however, declares that Shireroth is a failed state, not worthy of existing, and that he was certain that the Iron Company was acting within the limits of law, and in the interests of its shareholders. He denies knowledge of any Elwynnese organisations or companies owning shares in it. He also puts blame on the political crisis on the N&H, saying that if that party hadn't vetoed Elsenar's accession to Elwynn, the Iron Company would never had felt the need to take these unprecedented steps. As Shireroth is incapable of upholding the law in Goldshire, the Iron Company's moves are logical, even if they may be regrettable. Responding, the Nahust Vazir of Alalehzamin made a series of acute observations regarding the paternity and consequent maternal familiarity of the leadership of AIP before going on to note that the inexplicable and nonsensical offer of the Elsenari rebels to Elwynn would merely have served to draw the Republic into the quagmire of southern Goldshire. The Nahust Vazir went on to wonder whether the offer had ever been made in good faith in the first instance, being so bereft of any semblance of strategic reality or commonsense, or whether it had in fact been a malicious ploy by the Verionists to stir up chaos and set the Republic against the Regency and other members of the Raspur Pact.

XIII.1673

• 2. In response to the Iron Company's change of allegiance to the Verionist antikaiser, the Regency offers the Company complete sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity over the Company-held lands in Goldshire. The only condition on this is the Company's denunciation of the so-called Verionist Imperial Republic.
  • Elwynn, a cautious partner of the Iron Company, calls on the Iron Company to "dump" the Verionist antikaiser and receive international recognition, prestige, trade, and sovereignty instead.
  • In response to the Regency's offer to the Iron Company, the Ransenari Congress begins to consider the removal of the Kaiseress Salome as Queen of Ransenar and instead install the brother of Hartmut Aldric, Ruadh Aldric, as King. The debate raged in the Congress, with many representatives airing a severe dislike for the Regency's concessions to the Iron Company at the expense of the Ransenari people. A brawl broke out where representatives fought with each other, hurling chairs, empty pint cups, and shoes at each other. A measure to create a standing Grand Ransenari Army was tabled.
• 5: The Regency, acutely aware of the situation in Ransenar, and with regard to the Iron Company, and afraid of the prospect of Ransenar's full severance of ties with Shirekeep, issued an offer to the government in Goldfield, which read:

The Regency offers Ransenar full sovereignty of all of Goldshire not currently held by the Iron Company or by a recognized sovereign independent state, with the exception of Ynnraile, the status of which will be determined in coordination with Ransenar, the Sovereign Confederation, and the Raspur Pact. This offer is dependent on the ratification of the government of Ransenar of a perpetual allegiance and support to Our Lady the Radiant Sun as the Head of State of Ransenar, and Ransenar's disavowment of all her pretenders and the usurpers of her crown.

• 6: The Ransenari Congress meets, having received the Regency's proposals. Fiery debate on approval of the proposal went on for six hours. The debate was largely peaceful yet passionate. As voting on the proposal began, a large brawl broke out again amongst the representatives. Once more, the representatives were hurling chairs, empty pint cups, and shoes at each other. When the Speaker, members of the Congressional Guard, and the Lord High Steward tried to pacify the crowd so voting could continue, a representative pulled a knife and attempted to stab a Guard, but instead stabbed the Lord High Steward in the arm. Visibly wounded, the Lord Chief Steward pulled the knife from his arm and stabbed his assailant's left eye. The brawl immediately stopped after the stabbing. After the Lord Chief Steward had proper medical attention, voting continued. The proposal was approved by a margin of 8 votes.
  • The Sovereign Confederation formally guarantees the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Ransenar and sends a diplomatic envoy to discuss the partition of Ynnraile.
• 12: Alduria and Elwynn tentatively agree on a free-trade treaty, signing ceremony expected to be at the end of the year.
• 13: The Sovereign envoy reaches an agreement in Goldfield on a border in the former territory of Ynnraile.
• 20: The Regency declares the Emirate of Sathrati to have not changed Emira since the death of Kaiser Ayreon IV; instead confirming the Emira to be Salome Ylva Octavia; Regency subsequently decrees that the counties of Yardistan, Amity and Mirioth to be joined into the Emirate. The Emirate therefore consists of the Marquessate of Zy-Rodun, and the counties of Yardistan, Amity, and Mirioth. The Kaiseress's siblings named titled nobles of the various divisions. Prince Kir Azariah Vidar is named Count of Yarditan, Princess Kian Aiomide Shahnaz is named Countess of Amity, Prince Rubin Leonid Orientalis as Count of Mirioth. Salome keeps Zy-Rodun as her personal fied. The design here would be for the Emirate of Sathrati to receive agency to act independently from the Regency, given the removal of Regency coastlines off the coast of the Benacian continent.
• 24: The Constitution of Zy-Rodun is extended to the Emirate of Sathrati, in so far as applicable under the recent changes, pending constitutional review. Lord Zulamith Megadaezj, Seneschal of Zy-Rodun, takes on the task to bring order to the three new counties of the emirate.
• 24: Sanama recognises the new status of the Emirate of Sathrati and its independence.

XIV.1673

• 10: An envoy from the Guttuli Protectorate is received at Goldfield to discuss the formation of a joint commission to determine a resolved border between Guttuli and Ransenar and other possible joint operations in the area.
• 17: Regency announces full withdrawal/evacuation of all imperial troops, agencies, authorities and civil servants from the entirety of the counties of Highpass and Shimmerspring.
• 20: Speaker Jen Merah of the Sovereign Confederation condemns the Verionist Republic's control over Elsenar and Northeastern Lunaris as a foreign occupier of Ransenari territory.
• 21: Sanama announces withdrawal of forces from Lower Highpass due to an unmaintainable military situation. Also announces that any native speaker of Ama, Sani or Cisamarrese in the area will receive citizenship upon application.

XV.1673

• 5: Attacking at the onset of the Benacian winter, four legions cross from Litel into Inner Benacia, assaulting Novodolorsk and Benacia Hamlet, whilst a large scale air raid against the Upland Confederation unfolds as part of an effort to secure air supremacy over Inner Benacia.
• 5–9: Kalgachia and Benacia Command mobilise significant forces in order to assert effective control over their respective zones of exclusive interest in Inner Benacia. Benacia Command additionally sends out an appeal to fellow members of the Raspur Pact and the international coalition of N&H parties for volunteers to assist in the defence of Benacia against the "... swarming hordes of transhuman nightmare creatures descending upon the lowlands from their mountain lairs".
• 13: After being denied the chance to restart operations in Ketekgorod, the Ketek company and the Sovereign Confederation by extension, are invited by Benacia Command to take up residence in Bagegeniśort (Stonetree), subject to the Zyk°'eterem Fel'ek°e or "Lovers of the self-driving wagon" being gathered together to disarm or otherwise disperse the Lach bandits who continued to persist in futilely squabbling over control of the shell-scarred Dolmen.
• 15: Elwynn sends envoys to Sathrati and Ransenar to discuss future relations, decides not to send envoys to the Verionist Republic until the Verionist troubles had calmed down a bit more.
• 21: Elwynn and Alduria sign a treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation.
• 22:
  • Ransenari Congress approve preliminary territorial settlements from the Lord High Steward as negotiations with the Sovereign Confederation and the Guttuli Protectorate come closer to finalizing the borders of the Kingdom of Ransenar.
  • A field hospital staffed by the Sanitäts Uihmanz is established at Lune Villa, protected by a small detachment of inspectorate troops detached from the Eastern Banner Group of Benacia Command. Ostensibly the field hospital provides humanitarian aid and assistance for Ayra and Octalunes displaced by the regime established in lower Lunaris.
  • The Sovereign Confederation and Ransenar reach an agreement over the disputed territory of Beccunia.

1674

I.1674

• 3: Mutually agreed border between Guttuli Protectorate and Ransenar finalized. Guttuli Protectorate withdraws assets from Tumulus and northern Vallis.
• 15: Agreement signed between the Guttuli Protectorate and the military leaders of the City of Ankh: seats on Protectorate Military Council for overall leader as well as the commander of its naval component; subsuming of forces under the Guttuli Corps, adoption of Guttuli state cult.

II.1674

• 3: Talenore: Assassination attempt on Governor-General Mahmood Sadri Maleki. Sadri survives but 2 bodyguards die.
• 4: Sanama and Drak-Modan sign a Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Drak-Modan transfers sovereignty over five islands to Sanama.
• 11: naval patrol assets secured from the City of Ankh fully redeployed to Svalbarh to provide escort duty for cargo vessels
• 12:
  • Benacia Command invited the Guttuli Protectorate to dispatch a high level delegation to meet with its commissioners on the island of Zy-Rodun for the purpose of discussing the notes previously exchanged between the two sides.
  • The previous year's accumulated output from the factories of Mishalan begin arriving in the depots of the Black Legions.
• 14: Elwynn and Tellia agree to pacify Thither Tellia. Elwynn's view is that a line of control at the end of the campaign would be the final border between them.

III.1674

• 6: Council of Eliria ratified Alduria–Elwynn treaty.
• 7: Sathrati enters into negotations with the House of Laegel for the pacification of Amity and Mirioth. Amity, being a Laegel–Elfinshi traditional stronghold, is important in the Laegel family mythos, and wishes autonomy over both islands, as well as strong political power in Sathrati's government. Laegel's money would be beneficial in restoring order all across Sathrati.
• 9: The Revolutionary Army of Crisco vows to "destroy the filth of the Opressors of Ran from the earth", and instigates a series of guerilla attacks on Ransenari targets on the west bank of the Elwynn river, including the city of Teldrin.
  • In response to the series of attacks, Ransenar deploys the Riverine Forces and the Grand Army from Fort Erutirn to safeguard Teldrin and surrounding areas.
  • Following the attack on Teldrin, the ESB Security Directorate stepped up security at the headquarters of its Benacian operations, long established in the city. Prominent leftists and trade unionists resident in the city begin to disappear at night only to be fished out of the river with the coming of dawn on the following day.
• 10:
  • Over the objections of the magisters of the admiralty, Benacia Command announces the decommissioning of the last two battleships left over from the glory days of the Imperial Navy. The Aurangzeb's Revenge and the Kaiseress Anandja I will both be scrapped in-situ at Marinestation Sabatini. To the surprise of no-one ESB Benacia was awarded the primary contract for the scrapping of the two vessels. There is talk of the personnel and salvaged armaments being transferred to the mainland for some as yet unspecified purpose.
  • A squadron of Inspectorate troops from the Eastern Banner Group of Benacia Command arrive in Teldrin to assist the ESB Group and the Grand Army in coordinating their response to the terrorist atrocities.
  • Operation Castle, a weapons supply and training program run by the Grand Army of Ransenar, begins supplying money, weaponry, and training to newly established Ransenari paramilitary and militia forces formed by shores of the Elwynn river in response to and against the Crisco insurgency.
• 13–24: Foundational cadres of the Siyacha Corps of the Black Legions have their standing-up parades in Litkov and Daschau. Established to defend the Siyacha Free State in the aftermath of the KDF occupation of the Upland Confederation. Critics aver that these new legions, formed from N&H zealots, Babkhi mercenaries, unemployed naval ratings, and Mishalanski conscripts will have a long journey to travel before they can be considered an even remotely credible force and that, for the foreseeable future, the defence and security of Siyacha remains in the hands of those same third-rate inspectorate troops as were initially dispatched by Benacia Command.

IV.1674

• 5: Negotiations begin on a treaty between West Amokolia, Elwynn and the Unified Governorates. The idea of the treaty is to make a final recognition of the Amokolian nation as shared between the three states and establish common institutions for Amokolian culture and cooperation.

• 10: West Amokolia announces a renaming of traditional Amokolian-language placenames to Germanian calques of the same:

Niü Veña > Neue Vene

Jeanezville > Johannsdorf

Mürtin > Martinstadt

• 12: Demonstrations, organized by the Amokolian Freedom Front, against West Amokolian renamings of traditional Amokolian placenames simultaneously take place in Anun, La Terre, Malexander, Mishalan, and outside the West Amokolian representation in Eliria.

• 15: Ten days into the negotiations between West Amokolia, Elwynn and the Unified Governorates on a treaty between them, the Parties have tentatively agreed on a free-trade regime for most products and services between them, as well as a free movement of people of Amokolian ethnicity across the borders for the purposes of family reunification, work, visit and study.

• 20: With dispute on exceptions to the free-trade regime between West Amokolia, Elwynn and the Unified Governorates, the parties suspend negotiations pending political conversations at home.

V.1674

• 1: Talenore coup d'état: National Assembly building was surrounded by TDF Army units equipped with tanks and other armored vehicles. Several other strategic places on the island were also surrounded or directly taken under control, like the international airport and the harbor. During the coup, personnel based on the Raspur Pact base on the island refused to get involved, despite repeated and increasingly more desperate pleas from the opposition parties in the National Assembly. Units from the Gendarmerie closed of an area of roughly ten blocks from the National Assembly building. The standoff ended in the afternoon when units from the SAS breached the building and arrested the opposition leadership. Charges of treason are pending in the courts. Prosecutors are investigating possible connections between the opposition and foreign agents. Later in the evening, Mahmood Sadri Maleki declared the constitution temporarily suspended in a televised speech.

• 6: The representatives of the CID of Elwynn and the Military Intelligence Directorate of Benacia Command met in a small tea house built under the archway of the Zendan-e Aurangzeb (Kaiser Aurangzeb’s prison) in the Alalehzamini city of Ardashirshahr where, over several cups of tea and innumerable crunched pistachios, they compared notes on the present situation in inner Benacia and, aside from obvious conclusions regarding the Lach and Kalgachi, arrived at the understanding that it is Batavian–West Amokolian King Arkadius's ultimate ambition to attain hegemony over all of Benacia via a campaign of subversion, culminating in his ascension to the Kaisership of a restored Shireroth.

• 10: Somehow the conclusions of the discrete meeting held on the 6th of the month, pertaining to the character and desires of King Arkadius, found their way into newspapers in Elwynnese Amokolia and the Severnaya Gubernya. Privately representatives of Benacia Command rebuked their Elwynnese counterparts for their poor information discipline.

• 16: Amokolian Freedom Front and the Mishalanski Party for Democratic Socialism organize demonstrations against King Arkadius's kaisership designs across Elwynnese Amokolia with the theme that "he's no king of ours!".

VI.1674

• 2: The Regency begins a census of remaining Regency-held territories, in preparation for elections to Folksraad and Adelsraad.

West Amokolian claims on Elwynn and the Unified Governorates (in pink) as announced in the tripartite negotiations on 15.VI.1674.

• 15: Without warning, the West Amokolian delegation to the negotiations with Elwynn and the Unified Governorates makes demands for a territorial resettlement of the West Amokolian, Elwynnese and UGM borders. In so doing, the Western Amokolians demand a stretch of land just south of Elwynnese Mishalan all the way to St Riksburg and the River Elwynn, thus cutting off Elwynnese Mishalan from Severnaya Gubernya. Furthermore, the Western Amokolians demand that Elwynn and the Unified Governorates vow, if West Amokolia ever would be attacked, to come to any aid requested by West Amokolia, but that West Amokolia would be exempt from aiding Elwynn or the Unified Governorates if the tables, so to speak, were turned. Elwynnese government stunned by the stupidity of bringing forth the idea, and begins plans for a no-deal scenario. In a communiqué to the West Amokolian–Batavian king, Elwynnese prince Ander Avon-El writes: "you are clearly breaking the spirit of our previous agreement, as well as the spirit of these negotiations".

• 16: Elwynn sets up extended border controls against West Amokolia. Discussions in the Council of Eliria on suspending the current treaty with West Amokolia with the premise that no advice from the West Amokolian government on the current status of that treaty. West Amokolian consul in Eliria called up to the Council of Eliria to explain himself, but leaves without making any answers of any kind on any matters posed to him.

VII.1674

• 5: With no answers from the West Amokolians, the Elwynnese government regards the previous treaty with West Amokolia suspended. Free-trade regulations with West Amokolia cease. Elwynnese legate in Brandenburg recalled.
• 8: The revelation of the extent of Amokolian ambition and designs for installing the King of Batavia upon the Golden Mango Throne draws the factious Vulture States together in common cause. In spite of border skirmishes and a general chaffing under the presumption of the Black Legions with regards to the exercise of supreme command over all allied forces in the Benacian theatre of operations, the "vultures" swiftly came to a ready consensus that the conquest of the eastern heartlands of the former Imperial Republic by a Batavian was deeply undesirable. In consequence of which they willingly made common cause to meet the newly perceived Amokolian threat and readily endorsed UGB proposals to establish a multinational force to watch the inter-Amokolian frontier established after the partition of Mishalan in 1673.
• 9:
  • Assurances of Batavian neutrality serve to alleviate some of the more immediate concerns regarding the safety of Siyacha and the so-called Litkov salient.
  • Utilising members of the old Military Coordination Council who had been left marooned in an ambiguous and anomalous situation by the events of the Fracture, Benacia Command's Political Directorate made a tentative outreach to the new overlords of the Upland Confederation to propose the formalisation of a truce, the demarcation of a line of control, and the exchange of any captives and corpses that might be in the possession of either side.
• 10: Appraised by military and economic organs of the logistical headache of maintaining five field divisions and an entire reserve army at indefinite combat readiness, the Kalgachi Directorate of the Tumultuous Wastes responds cordially to Benacia Command's truce proposal by suggesting an immediate ceasefire and the cessation of all ground and air raiding across the line of control, followed by a withdrawal of artillery to distances that preclude cross-boundary shelling - the Sovereign Confederation is proposed as an intermediate observer to monitor compliance on both sides. The KDF deploys exhumation parties to the battlefield graves of Black Legionaries in its area of control and provides 'proof of life' of surviving prisoners pending a future exchange; the Prefects retain a handful of the more enthusiastic Nationalist-Humanist officers and senior NCOs who have been transferred to their care for a programme of mandatory socialising in comfortable conditions with affable Nezeni stool pigeons and 'comfort women' to overwrite or at least challenge the prisoners' entrained notions of Deep Singer malevolence before they are released.
• 10–13: Negotiations between Benacia Command and the KDF, facilitated and hosted by the Military Coordination Council, proceed well with both parties working towards a viable ceasefire agreement, with progress only being delayed by the regrettable partiality of the visiting officers to postpone scheduled talks in favour of "tiffin".
• 13–24: A flare up in confrontation between RAC and Ransenari forces sees the insurgent forces redoubling their efforts to establish a presence in Teldrin and Tyrelwynn.
• 23: Goldfield Command Conference - representatives of Benacia Command, the Palatini Corps, the Sovereign Confederation, and the Military of Ransenar meet in Goldfield to discuss the efforts of the Crisco rebels of Brookshire to spread their rebellion into Ransenari territory.
• 24:
  • Amokolia sets up speakers along the border with Elwynnese Amokolia and Severnaya Gubernya that chant the "Song of Vinandy" to the other side of the border. A flag of Amokolia is displayed every 200 meters along the border.
  • The Company de Orient Express announces that the Orient Express timetable will continue despite increasing tensions between Amokolia, Elwynn and Unified Governorates.

VIII.1674

• 1:
  • At 08:15 the following morning the Amokolians first learned of the vulnerability of their digital infrastructure to remote intrusion when, in a steady progression from north to south along the line of control separating the Kingdom of Amokolia for the Severnaya Gubernya, the newly installed propaganda speakers switched over from playing the Song of Vinandy to a looped version of the unofficial N&H cri de cœur.
  • Operations of the Oriental Express in the Severnaya Gubernya are temporarily suspended to allow a thorough investigation of the circumstances surrounding the alleged shooting of an infamous personage whose ability to escape from the furiously sadistic retribution of the Imperial Regency had previously been assessed as ranging from minimal to "vanishingly nonexistent".
  • At 12:00 the speakers along the border with Severnaya Gubernya were restored and the Song of Vinandy started to play again.

• 2:
  • The Kingdom of Ransenar and the Imperial Republic of Shireroth reach an agreement called the Treaty of Teldrin, officially recognizing the Kingdom of Ransenar as an independent nation and confirming the Ransenari territorial claims.

• 3: The speakers along the border with Elwynnese Amokolia and Severnaya Gubernya were turned off. Construction work was started near the tripoint.

• 4: Shireroth's Imperial Advisory Council ratifies the Treaty of Teldrin amidst protests from the Revolutionary Army of Crisco.

• 7: The Congress of the Mishalanski Party for Democratic Socialism (MPDS) resolves:

1. that the Party will turn federal/trinational with one national branch each in West Amokolia, Elwynn and the Unified Governorates
2. that the Party accepts the current division of Amokolia for as long as the Amokolian people in each of the three states so desire, i.e. a change to the status quo would need assent from the majority of the Amokolians in each state
3. that it shall strive for socially equitable democratic and republican societies in each of the states, with a high degree of autonomy for Amokolian communities, with special protections for the North Amokolian and Mishalanese languages.

• 10: Elwynn and West Amokolia resume negotiations on a new treaty, the suspension of the Treaty of Brandenburg is lifted, and free trade is restored.

• 12:
  • The Slavegate Convention is signed between Kalgachia and the Raspur Pact, ending hostilities in the Upland Confederation and appropriating the moribund Sxiro-Kalgachi Military Coordination Council as a permanent communcation channel between the parties.
  • Press in Shirekeep and Eliria announce that the Imperial Family of Shireroth (i.e. the Kaiseress, the Imperial Mother, and the Kaiseress's siblings) are planning to move from Kezan to Raynor's Keep. No confirmation from the Imperial Court.

• 14: Following the MPDS decision to tone down its Amokolian reunification programme, the Amokolian Freedom Front considers doing the same.

• 17: Regency begins a mobilisation to counter the Revolutionary Army of Crisco insurgency in Monty Crisco, but at the same time seeks to open diplomatic channels. Sources within the Regency suggest that Shireroth is willing to grant the RAC land and recognition within a portion of Monty Crisco in exchange for peace.

• 20: Imperial Regency announces that elections for the post-regicide-suspended Folksraad and Adelsraad will be held in the beginning of 1675, and that the suspended Landsraad will meet at the beginning of the next month (5.IX.1674) for its first session since the assassination of Kaiser Ayreon IV. With the Landsraad having been suspended for so long period of time, the Regency made an interpretation that due to the inactivity in the Landsraad of its members during this time, all members, except the Prætor, had, under the rules of the Landsraad, forfeited their seats. This was due to most members having defected to the Vulture States. The Regency then announced the new membership of the Landsraad.

• 22: Regency and the Revolutionary Army of Crisco agree on a territorial settlement, in which the RAC would withdraw from Teldrin. In return the Regency would withdraw from most of Monty Crisco, only keeping control over a northern stretch of land.

IX.1674

• 2: In Sathrati, the government announces that there will be no end to the feudal system. The Kalirionist division of classes into citizens (nobles), denizens, community servants, loyal subjects and protected persons would remain. The cited reasons were that this system is the best system economically, that there is no consensus among the classes to change the system, and that this system, being already in place, would allow people to not worry about their futures. "Everyone, from the noble to the slave, can remain calm. There will be no revolution, everyone will be fine where they are" the Seneschal, Zulamith Megadaezj, announced. In the same speech, however, he outlined that due to the people being accustomed to a legislature, the Government is working on amending the Constitution to allow for a bicameral one, where one chamber for the nobles and one chamber for the denizens.

• 5: Landsraad meets in Shirekeep for the first time since the assassination of Kaiser Ayreon IV. In its first resolution, it confirms all decisions, decrees, regulations, ratifications, etc., of the Regency 1671–1674.

• 6: Reports of the death of Jaap van Pijpervale, the late kaiser's catamite, are politely refuted by the Regency in a press statement, confirming instead that the former catamite is detained by the Regency at an unnamed location.

• 10: The Imperial Regency nominates Lord Varïern bi Łestkin for the position of Arbiter of the Imperial Judex. He is the displaced the Lord of the Łestkin estate in western Monty Crisco (presently under RAC occupation), as well as President of the Imperial Court of Appeals for the County of Monty Crisco. According to Shirerithian jurisprudence, the nominee for Arbiter must be accepted by the Landsraad.

• 11: The Landsraad begins its process of dealing with the Arbiter nomination. In voicing opposition to the nomination, Łudo Thalva, the Viscount Thalva, says:

Eager are the servants who seek to reclaim their mastery.

This so-called Lord Łestkin — so-called because his lordship is over an estate that no longer exists, so-called because his fortunes have turned to dust in the wind of a violent, revolutionary fire, so-called because he has been reduced to tenancy in our Great and Opulent Imperial Capital, ruined as it is — this so-called Lord Łestkin seeks a high office so that his fortunes may yet improve and he can again taste the nectar of power and the firmness of the rod in his hand.

He does not have true service in his heart, service to Her Imperial Magnificence. Rather, his is the hope of an imperial salary, a means to rebuild a personal comfort under the legs of hired men. I fear for Her Imperial Magnificence, should this so-called Lord Łestkin be made the Imperial Arbiter. He will not make justice upon the lands that remain in her orbit. He will extract wealth, then discard our Kaiseress in a similar manner as the last.

There is none worthy to serve the divine person who would be offered by this 'esteemed' hall, none who have service written upon their heart. Instead, I move that we abolish the role entirely. Abolish the role so that the power hungry no longer have that ladder to climb. We have better, more reliable, more humble means to achieve justice in the Imperium.

Let it be so! Please, let it be so! A justice in this land, suffering as it has, now as ever, would be a new and glorious thing. Justice of the land and for the land and by the land!

Anything but this ignoble once-noble, the so-called Lord Łestkin. The land has suffered enough!

As you have all heard me declare before, it is in the land that we shall find a peace and a harmony that can heal the wounds of this Imperial Republic. In the land, and with recognition of the necessities of human ecology, will we find a new Imperial Republic, ready to flourish.

This Łestkin knows nothing of the productivity of the land, nor of ecology of the human heart. If he has grown tired of languishing in the half-abandoned concrete of this city, let him come to one of my communities, where my people can show him the joy of sweat and the honor of humility, so that his heart may become pure. Until that time, he is unfit for such a role in the service of Her Imperial Magnificence. Indeed..." [court recorder stopped here]

The Prætor confirms that the process of examining the nominee will take some three months to conclude. During that time, each member would have a chance to have tea with the nominee in private.

X.1674

The "Pact of Reykjavík": Genuine power-play, or an effort to flush out an Elwynnese spy in Haraldsborg? Only time will tell.

• 11: New rumours begin to circulate in the press, derived from sources of deniable provenance, once again addressing the vaulting ambition of Arkadius IV of Batavia. Disappointed by the Elwynnese reaction to his fervently expressed desire for the Golden Mango Throne, the King of Amokolia, or so it is alleged, decided to take his chess pieces to Reykjavík in a search for new partners willing to play his game. It would appear that his opening gambit was well received in certain quarters where eminent personages managed, momentarily, to bestir themselves from the deadening torpor of lives spent trapped in a perpetual orgy sufficiently to endorse a proposal for the union of Amokolia and Gascony under the personal rule of the Batavian King. The lure with which the King of Amokolia sought to gull the "Generous Giver" into alienating a portion of his grubbingly assembled realm and plethora of titles? The prospect of a belated revenge for a past slight. The new union would see the long traduced name Froyalan plastered once more across the map of Benacia.

• 12: Following an impromptu meeting of the Protectorate Military Council, an Utnaræn number station located in the Near-Guttuli Region began transmitting an unscheduled series of coded messages.

• 23: Kalgachia announces the full closure of its borders with Amokolia.

XI.1674

• 11:
  • Rumours of the detente between the Amokolia and Stormark fuel anti-Amokolian sentiment in Mishalan, where bitter memories of the fleeting Froyalaner occupation in 1651, the inciting incident for the Auspicious Occasion, continue to cast their shadow. After a period of dormancy following the collapse of Imperial authority, the Konkordskaya Bratva, KDF sponsored liberators of Mishalan and subsequent custodians of the worker colonies during the twenty-year period of population management that ensued, re-emerged onto the political scene in Amokolia and the divided portions of Mishalan with the issuance of sombre warnings about the "unforeseeable consequences" of readmitting into Benacian lands the cultural contagion which the veterans of the liberation struggle had scoured clean.
  • Similarly, news of the purported "Pact of Reykjavík" further galvanised the Raspur Pact, and the Vulture States especially, with a new resolve to put aside their differences and maintain a united front against the possible resurgence of the threat posed by an alien theocracy to Benacian civilisation. Ransenar, the Sovereign Confederation, and Talenore each pledged to increase their national contributions to the multinational force assembled in Mishalan. Moreover the numbers were swelled still further by the arrival of volunteer fighters from Alalehzamin but also from further afield. Euran volunteers, recruited by the Euran Destiny Party, and who had begun to arrive in the airports and harbours of Drak-Modan and the Unified Governorates, were now beginning to move inland, by road and rail, towards the Severnaya Gubernya. To the surprise of Benacia Command the half-caste children of those Shirerithians who had settled in Constancia following the Euran War had rallied to the cause of the old country in sufficient numbers to establish two brigade-strength volunteer formations - the Aftokratorikoí Partizánoi tou Káizer Domínous (Imperial Partisans of Kaiser Dominus) and the Legeóna tis Prostátida Liv (Legion of the Protectress Liv Dravot). These volunteers, although welcomed, were assigned to the Multinational Forces gathering in Elwynnese Mishalan and, under the guise of providing some basic training, were kept well back from the frontier, lest their enthusiasm give rise to any mischief.

• 12: Operation Pallbearer - with the attention of regional powers focused on the Matter of Amokolia, the vexing question of the insurgency in Crisco, along with its spillover into Ransenar, had assumed a lower priority than in preceding months. True to form, the Imperial Regency had begun proceedings to negotiate away another portion of its sovereignty to the insurgents. The Ransenari authorities had however been adamant that no effort be spared to ensure the restoration of order along the eastern bank of the river Elwynn, along the mid-course of the river between Shirekeep and the Guttuli Protectorate. Crucial to this was control of the river ports of Teldrin and Tyrelwynn. Teldrin, in particular, as one of the Captaincy ports and the corporate headquarters for ESB operations in Benacia, was judged to be of vital strategic importance to the new Kingdom.

• 13:
  • The construction of the Jessdenkmal is completed near the tripoint of Amokolia, Benacia and Elwynn.
  • As a precaution the Company de Orient Express cancels all Orient Express train services to and from Severnaya Gubernya.

• 22: The Landsraad votes to confirm Lord Varïern bi Łestkin to Arbiter of the Imperial Judex in a 7–2 vote (Lords Thalva and Archer dissenting).

• 23:
  • Landsraad amends legislation for the 1675 Adelsraad and Folksraad elections, by which the size of the Adelsraad is reduced to 100 seats and the Folksraad to 300 seats.
  • A meeting is convened in Lepidopterum comprising the Cultivator General and Umbral Nexus of the local protectorate government and a series of Kalgachi officials: the Director of Health and Public Welfare, the head of KDF Special Operations Command, the Chief of Operations of the Prefects and the Board of Commissioners of the 'Neopreparat' microbiological unitary enterprise. The agenda of the meeting is unknown but it is shortly followed by the abrupt and unexplained removal, from academic libraries, of a series of research papers concerning the engineering of nested microbiological discriminators for I-M253 and 'Dark Triad' genetic markers respectively. At the same time a series of Lepidopteran Deep Singer geneticists, detained in Kalgachia over the preceding years on suspicion of "Doronist extremism", are unexpectedly removed from re-education facilities of the Kalgachi state church and returned to Lepidopterum for a period of "industrious servitude" in a secure underground facility of indeterminate purpose or ownership. Kalgachia's Directorate of Health and Public Welfare, citing an "imminent and unanticipated budgetary burden", instructs the Octavian Import-Export Corporation to intensify its marketing for 'Goodvial' branded Kalgachi pharmaceuticals abroad in order to balance DHPW books.

XII.1674

• 20:
  • Government of Sathrati reported to have entered into negotiations over a Structural Assistance Programme, concerned primarily with the restoration of civic governance and infrastructure, to be overseen by Benacia Command on behalf of the Raspur Pact.

XIII.1674

• 18: In a speech to the Reichstag, West Amokolian chancellor unveils a monument to the victims of the Froyalanish genocide while at the same time avoiding any questions about the Reykjavik Pact rumours. In the same speech, the chancellor declares Amokolië ist das Heimatland der Froyalaner ("Amokolia is the Froyalanish homeland") and calls on Kalgachia to repatriate the Froyalaners it imported as bonded labourers between 1652 and 1656. In response to this speech, Elwynn, Sathrati, the Sovereign Confederation, Shireroth and Talenore begin requiring visas from West Amokolian citizens visiting in these countries. Furthermore, Elwynn declares West Amokolian citizenship incompatible with Elwynnese citizenship, and requires any such dual citizens to choose their nationality within three months.
• 19: Sanama closes its borders to arrivals from West Amokolia, the only exception being nationals of visa-free travel treaty nations. The Federal Council cites national security concerns as reason for the decision.
• 20: The Sovereign Confederation, in coordination with Ketek, formally begins it's occupation of Bagagensort as the stipulated observer-party of the Slavegate Convention. The Dolmen is converted into a base of operations for the government of the occupation zone and refugee-filled slums are reorganized into housing districts by Ketek as construction begins on renovating antiquated Minarborian warehouses and factories to employ local populations.
• 21: In response to the Amokolian Chancellor's speech, Kalgachia announces a programme of voluntary repatriation to Amokolia of its surviving Froyalanish population (who are entirely elderly due to sterilisation on their original arrival). Initial response to the programme among that population, who have spent most of their lives in Kalgachia and established comfortable albeit humble lives within Kalgachi society, is lukewarm; only enough to fill two Florets apply for emigration on the first day. The Kalgachi government's announcement is accompanied by a strongly-worded rescript to Amokolia - notable for being signed directly by the country's ruling Council of Perfecti rather than any diplomat - appraising the Amokolian government of the underlying causes of the suppression of the Froyalanish and warning of the existential dangers of a Benacian state resuming the indulgence of Storish élites.
• 22:
  • Arkadius Frederik Gustavus des Vinandy unveils the official monument "Valfreyja" to commemorate the Froyalanish genocide. And calls on all Micras countries to recognize the genocide.
  • Declaring Amokolia under the leadership of Arkadius to be a "diseased limb, one in urgent need of excision", Benacia Command and the Unified Governorates repudiate all hitherto established agreements and understandings with the Kingdom. Klaes Schultheiss, the Gubernatorial Commissioner of Information, would later direct allied and affiliated media outlets to observe that "If Amokolia wishes to assume the mantle of the Froyalanish, then its present situation - forever confined to the barren tundra that once housed the gelding camps of the Froyalan National Reservation - could not be more appropriate. If the King of Amokolia desires to motivate Benacian patriots to work tirelessly for his destruction, and the effacement of his name and seed from the face of Micras, then he is certainly succeeding."
  • New directions issued to the press in the Unified Governorates stipulate that hostile commentaries concerning any aspect of the Garden, the Heavenly Light, and Deep Singers, must cease from midnight on the 23rd of the month and until further notice. Similar instructions are disseminated to the Black Legions and political cadres via the various offices of Benacia Command's Political Directorate.
  • The Inter-Allied Curation Council, comprised of eminent historians and functionaries reluctantly impressed into its service, is established by the Permanent Committee of the Raspur Pact to review the copious amount of historical narrative generated since the commencement of the Fracture in 1671.
  • Utnaræn number station located in the Near-Guttuli Region transmits a series of encoded messages.
• 23: Aligning herself with the restored Benacian alliance against the West Amokolian history revisionism, Shirerithian regent Li Naomiai Avon-El announces that she has sought the approval of the Imperial Advisory Council to resign from her positions as Regent and member of the Imperial Advisory Council effective upon the commission of a new regent. It is her hope and that of the Imperial Ministry of the Exterior that her retiring from Shirerithian politics would allow restored Kalgachia–Shireroth relations, so that differences may be put aside to face greater threats.
• 24: The Kingdom of Ransenar bans entry to all West Amokolian citizens and requests the exit of all West Amokolian nationals from its territory over the next month.
• 25:
  • A series of explosions destroy an electrical plant in Cherokee and several substations throughout and surrounding the Amokolian Capital Region, temporarily darkening the City of Brandenburg. Police successfully pursue and kill two of the saboteurs. Ammunition bears the makers mark of Brennecke Munitions Factory, unused plastic explosives bear the makers mark of Lumin Fireworks, both located in Gaton, Guttuli Protectorate.
  • Following the Shirerithian regent's resignation announcement one Dr. Shehekhiah Pezaknik, Kalgachia's Chief Resident in Shireroth who had taken refuge on its island territory of Kezan since the onset of the Kalirion Fracture, is interrupted in his routine of leisurely fraternisation with local academia by sudden orders to return to Shirekeep via the Suthergold-Norestria.
  • The curricular and editorial bureaux of Kalgachia's Directorate of Education and Outreach meet to coordinate a "scheduled review of present modes of popular memetic inoculation". The film Underkeep is rotated out of Kalgachi cinema schedules and replaced by a shortlived and little known Laqi-language television series depicting the exploits of the Konkordskaya Bratva in the form of a folk musical, hurriedly subtitled over the original dialogue and spliced into a feature length film from its contituent episodes. The lively soundtrack of the revived work, featuring such memorable songs as "He Who Comes To Us With The Sausage Shall Go Home Without It" and "The Blood Of The Mead Drinker Is Sweetest To The Bear" brings it new popularity throughout Kalgachia.

XIV.1674

• 7: Batavian prime minister Joachim Mackay announces, in a question posed to him whether he will acknowledge the Froyalanish genocide, that the Batavian government has no evidence of any such thing to have happened.

• 8: Soldiers of the Black Legions and the Kalgachi Defence Force hold an impromptu soccer match in the frontier separation zone of the Upland Confederation. The Black Legions win 5-3.

• 9: Shireroth's Imperial Advisory Council announces that it, after heavy deliberations, has accepted the resignation of the Marchioness of Sentratera as Regent of the Imperial Republic, and in her place appointed, after much soul-searching and volunteer-seeking, the Lady Mira III of Octavius-Aryani, the Countess of Shirekeep, to Regent of the Imperial Republic.

• 11:
  • Changing geopolitical realities continue to manifest in unexpected ways, with Jingdaoese popular music suddenly, and without explanation, beginning to appear openly on sale in the flea markets and bazaars of Merensk.
  • Training camps for the Amokolian-Mishalanski paramilitary brotherhood known as the Konkordskaya Bratva are quietly established in the eastern reaches of that portion of Inner Benacia - presently known as Lachdolor - which enjoys the protection of the Black Legions. Ever since the first rumours of of the Reykjavik Pact had begun to swirl, the veterans of the campaign to liberate Mishalan from the Vanic taint, joined now by their children and in some instances grandchildren, had begun to rally to the old fraternal cause. With the sour anti-Amokolian mood prevailing in courts and chancelleries across Benacia these fighters had no difficulty in attracting patronage.

XV.1674

• 1: Elisabeth Asara is born, the eldest child of Arkadius Frederik Gustavus des Vinandy and Clara des Vinandy - Sundara Waffel-Paine.
• 30: After a period of absence from its usual Liberadosan sailing routes, the Jolly Froyalaner appears on the merchant shipping register of the Guttuli Protectorate. The vessel itself - visibly battered by a long oceanic voyage and undergoing repair by its crew - is found to be in the east of that territory, at the tidal wharf of a fishing village on the upper reaches of Torpentus Creek.

1675

I.1675

• 1: Treaty of Boomwatch signed by representatives of Shireroth and Sanama.
• 4: The Ketek Company begins reconstruction and renovation of Stonetree's transportation infrastructure along a grid system where the ancient streets had been shelled away. The design of this new road system places an emphasis on ease-of-use for those using personal automobiles and allows very few amenities for horses and drawn vehicles. The first Inner Benacian Ketek Factory opens in east Stonetree, producing only the "Scrag" model.
• 10: Norestria sets aside it's western salient for development by Goldshireans emigrating from the southern regimes to the Sovereign Confederation.
• 24: The 1st Protocol of the Technical Cooperation Agreement & Structural Assistance Programme Between the Raspur Pact and Emirate of Sathrati is agreed between negotiators from Benacia Command and Zy-Rodun attending an ongoing diplomatic congress in the port city of Erudition.

II.1675

• 2: The Elwynnese government takes up the task to bring about a UGB–West Amokolian–Elwynnese treaty to settle the independence of West Amokolia and matters relating to border. The Treaty of Brandenburg, previously entered between Elwynn, West Amokolia and Shireroth, remains in force. Sends out new drafts to the governments.

• 3: The Kaiseress of Shireroth, along with the Regent the Countess of Shirekeep, leaves Kezan on a disguised sea vessel heading for Ransenar. While in Ransenar, the Kaiseress, as Queen, will be beholden to the government of Ransenar and perform such tasks as the Government there advises.

• 8: Salome, Queen of Ransenar, arrives in Goldfield along with the Imperial Mother (Lady Isadora), the Regent (Lady Mira), her siblings Prince Kir, Princess Kian and Prince Rubin, and a greater entourage. The plan is that the Queen will stay in Ransenar for a month before leaving for Shirekeep.
  • A consecration service and full investiture ceremony takes place in the city of Goldshire Hamlet, to the attendance of over 100,000 people, where the young Queen is first introduced to Ransenar.
  • A series of "town hall"-esque meetings are hosted at different cities throughout Ransenar to introduce the young Queen to the people. Her goodwill tour of the realm was well-received and served as an effective way to bring the people closer to their monarch.
  • Queen Salome I, accompanied by the Regent, the Lord Chief Steward, and the Countess of Shirekeep sign the Instrument of Succession, previously ratified by the Ransenari Congress, that will pass the Ransenari Throne after the death of the reigning Queen to a designated heir from the House of Aldric.
  • The Queen gives a moving Speech from the Throne assisted by the Countess of Shirekeep before the Ransenari Congress outlining the priorities of the Government over the next five AN years.

III.1675

• 10: Voters in the near fractured Shireroth go to the polls for elections to Adelsraad and Folksraad. See 1675 Adelsraad election and 1675 Folksraad election.

• 16: Salome, Kaiseress of Shireroth, along with the Imperial Mother (Lady Isadora), the Regent (Lady Mira), her siblings Prince Kir, Princess Kian and Prince Rubin, and a greater entourage, arrive in Shirekeep to much pomp and circumstance, greeted by the Steward (Lady Soraya) and the Prætor Tinker Sprocket, the Count of Machinaria. Neither the kaiseress nor her siblings had set foot on Benacia since before the death of Kaiser Ayreon IV. His body remains in the Keep's morgue awaiting a state funeral which is planned to be set at the first day of the next month.

• 20: Economic advisors are sent from Norestria to the Ketek Inner Benacian Occupied Zone to create a road map for a diversified economy which could stand on its own with minimal interference from the Sovereign Confederation within a generation.

• 21:
  • Antikaiser Verion II (Titus Morvayne) returns to Shirekeep, encamping across the river with a heavily-armed entourage in the form of, inter alia, the Apollonian Guard. Boats to cross the Elwynn fail to arrive, having been burned by river defenses under the authority of the Palatini Corps. In a speech along the riverbank, he renounces his "kaisership" and declares his allegiance to Kaiseress Salome. He further declares his intention to resume his tenure as Prefect of Shirekeep, which had remained vacant.
  • An attempted landing, using boats pilfered from river anglers, is repulsed through a combination of snipers along the river portion of the Wall of Reynardine and, as the flotilla reached the landing docks of the Commercial District, heavy machine gun fire and rocket propelled grenades. The commander of the engaged Palatini Corps forces, Tribune Ioszka, was knighted by the Kaiseress herself for his deed.
  • The Regency, initially surprised by the unannounced arrival, issued the following decrees:
    • the prorogation of the newly-elected Adelsraad and Folksraad, in light of the dangerous situation at the Imperial Capital
    • additional fortifications to be constructed around the Landsraad and the demolition of those piers in the Commercial District, which had been the intended destination of the landing
    • the appointment of a new Prefect of Shirekeep, to avoid a legal loophole
    • an invitation for Titus Morvayne to be received by the Golden Mango Throne, so long as he did so alone and unarmed, so that he may submit himself to the Kaiseress's authority
    • the postponement of Kaiser Ayreon IV's state funeral.
  • Elements of the Northern and Eastern Banner Groups of Benacia Command, comprised of units garrisoned in support of local forces in Alalehzamin, the Sovereign Confederation, and Ransenar, are brought to a heightened state of alert in response to latest Verionist gambit.

IV.1675

• 5: Elwynn, West Amokolia, and the Unified Governorates agree to the Treaty of Concord.

• 7: Following the Treaty of Concord, Sanama lifts the entry ban on arrivals from West Amokolia.

• 10: The Krull Palace (in Eliria) which was formerly the site of the Elwynnese monarchy and converted to social housing after the since the end of the monarchy, is demolished by Elirian municipal authorities after declaring it unfit for human habitation. The Palace was refurbished in the 1630s with added decorations, giving a faux medieval character to a previously austere construction. Now it was found that the added decorations were a hazard and not fit to the general construction of the building, why the building had to be demolished. It is currently unknown what will happen to the site, though media pundits are suggesting a public park, a new building for the Elwynnese congress, as well as more housing projects in this central part of Eliria.

• 12: The Verionist Republic announces that, following the renunciation of the Kaisership of Titus Morvayne, Kaiseress Salome will be the new Head of State (albeit only a ceremonial title).

• 13:
  • The Northern Tactical Air Force of the Black Legions, dispersed across Alalehzamini airfields in the south of Elwynn, begin flying fully armed combat air patrols over Shirekeep for the purposes of providing reassurance to the Regency. Every pursuit (fighter) squadron of the Black Legions' Aerospace Forces receive orders to have a "Quick Reaction Alert" (QRA) flight, of two aircraft per squadron, available for immediate scramble in the event of unforeseen circumstances. Bases and Depots owned, operated, and controlled by Black Legions are placed on the highest level of alert, with defensive perimeters subject to increased vigilance and patrolling.
  • Concerned by the arrival of an inchoate assortment of Verionists, leftist militia, and renegade guardsmen under the leadership of Titus Morvayne at the walls of Shirekeep, and still more concerned about the failure - thus far - of the Palatini Corps to dislodge them from their encampment in Cabbagefall, the Grand Army of Ransenar dispatched the 3rd Regiment of Light Dragoons to surround Cabbagefall and lay siege upon the force located there. Meanwhile the Riverine Forces of Ransenar moved a hastily assembled flotilla up river from Teldrin in order to isolate the Crisco Flotilla from its own base of operations.
  • [Peripheral] The Black Legions and Natopian Defense Force agree upon the establishment of a joint naval task force, assigned to maritime security operations conducted in international waters off the northern coast of Cibola under the operational control of Natopia via the Cibola Command of the Raspur Pact.
  • Sensationalist news of the "Verionist attempt to abduct the Queen of Ransenar" on Ransenari media run rampant through the country. Running off the large well of public goodwill after the young Queen's recent tour of the Kingdom, tens of thousands of young men begin to arrive in droves to military recruitment stations all over Ransenar to enlist in the defense of the Queen and Realm.
  • Acting as Protector of Goldshire, The Sovereign Confederation Follows Ransenar's lead and sends 2 light armored brigades and a detachment of 50 jetmen to assist Ransenar in securing Cabbagefall.
  • Kizzy Drakland, two years on the run since the firebombing of Demonsfall, is confirmed dead (truly) after being hunted down by the Gorillas NF, the paramilitary of Goetia.

• 14: Stephen Lewis, Conducator of Elwynn, in a speech, praised Titus Morvayne's decision to renounce the Mango Throne. Lewis called it "an act of admirable generosity, a step that now allows this continent to heal. Lewis went on to blast the leadership of Ransenar, the Sovereign Confederation and the United Governorates for "failing to use this moment for unity, but instead dividing us more and more, threatening military action against brothers". The Conducator also stated that the Elwynnese Defense Forces would be ready to safeguard the stability of the continent, and that Elwynn would never allow rogue states to interfere in the affairs of Shireroth.
• 15:
  • The Verionists' allies in Congress Elwynn, the Elwynnese Workers' Party and the Ayreonist Independence Party, cautiously distance themselves from Conducător Lewis's statement, hinting that the surprise act by the former antikaiser might not be so benign as currently indicated, with several questions having arisen with regard to the armed detachment following Morvayne, and the role played by the Revolutionary Army of Crisco and the Iron Company in this. Further questions relate to whether treason may so easily be forgiven, but the parties affirm the right of the Regency to police its own jurisdiction. Finally the parties reaffirm their coalition with the Verionist Union for the Northern government.
  • The Speaker of the Sovereign Confederation declares that all entities tied to Verionist organizations within it's borders are to undergo government investigation in an effort to root out any subversive elements which may present a threat to national security or operations in Cabbagefall.
• 18: Kalgachia's Emissariate to the Tumultuous Wastes issues a statement in support of the Elwynnese Conducator's position, remarking that "it seems the codification of the present truce in the north has been interpreted in some quarters as a cue to demobilise there and resume picking over the bones of the Imperial Republic as if the Common Threat no longer existed. On the contrary, it will only gain greater momentum in the concealing fog of a disunited continent. Now is not the time for Benacia to let its collective guard down and a peaceful resolution to the present misunderstanding in Shirekeep is imperative."
• 19:
  • Air Alduria begins passenger and freight services from Punta Santiago to the capital of Ransenar, Goldfield.
  • A wave of jingoistic fever washes over Ransenar, triggering mass violence and mob attacks upon all Iron Company personnel, assets, and facilities in Ransenar. To ensure the immediate safety of all and following the lead of the Sovereign Confederation, the government of Ransenar nationalizes and fully seizes all Iron Company assets in the country and summarily rounds up all of its personnel and escorts them out of Ransenari territory.
• 20: The Sovereign Confederation places an indefinite travel ban on all citizens of the Verionist Republic and R.A.C. and authorises the seizure of any assets belonging to the Iron Company within on Sovereign territory.

VI.1675

• 06: As a gesture of goodwill on the part of Benacia Command, two-hundred AAM-1 Sonderwang air-to-air missiles are transferred to the KDF from the Black Legions via the Stonetree Neutral Zone. Accompanying the missiles are a small team of UDF avionics technicians and a hastily written manual on the subject of adapting the Sonderwang for launch from the Buzzard C-61.
• 07: Lune Villa Summit: Representatives of the Verionist Republic, the Revolutionary Army of Crisco, and the Kingdom of Ransenar meet in the Rosebud Hotel in the city of Lune Villa to discuss terms for peace between them.
• 09:News breaks on the Ransenari media that terms have been reached in the Lune Villa Summit and that a Treaty is being drafted.
• 10:
  • The Treaty of Lune Villa is signed by representatives of the Verionist Republic, the Revolutionary Army of Crisco and the Kingdom of Ransenar. The treaty is quickly ratified by the respective governments.
  • The Sovereign Confederation, in response to easing tensions between Ransenar and the Verionists, lifts its travel ban and ceases most investigations into Verionist elements within the country.
• 11: The Verionist Republic begins Operation Monty, the anschluss of the Crisco Free State to the Republic.
• 12: The government of the Kingdom of Ransenar restores to the Iron Company all assets seized during the tensions between the Verionist Republic and Ransenar. Travel bans and movement restrictions are immediately lifted.

VII.1675

• 10: In a further sign of gradually returning economic confidence, the Unified Governorates awarded Kerularios & Company a five year contract to operate the commercial container port at Rothaven, the traditional entrepôt of central Benacia dating back to the Ashkenatzan period.
• 16: In fulfilment of its obligations under Article 4 of the Treaty of Lune Villa, the Ransenari Ministry of Public Works and Construction commenced awarding the first tranche of contracts, tendered for under sealed bids, for the construction of the Ransenari section of the so-called Lune Road. Notable early contract awards included the recruitment of work crews and initial clearance work along the projected course of the combined highway and railway. Both of these were awarded to the ESB Group. Concurrently, being as they represented external borders of the Raspur Pact, Benacia Command announced that it had accepted a Ransenari invitation to provide a garrison of Inspectorate Troops from the Black Legions for the Kaiser Mo'll and Viceroy Regina I border crossings. Deployments at either site would not exceed regimental strength (1,200~2,000 personnel) and would be made to support Ransenari border officials in their implementation of RD-X.
• 18: Sanama acquires a large number of military aircraft from Talenore as part of their build-up of the Sanaman Federal Armed Forces.
• 20: After several months of construction and renovations, Ketek factories Stonetree begin manufacturing all automobile models (though at an initially sluggish pace in comparison to Ketsire and Kalgachian factories). The Ketek Company also announces its partnership with Ryker Airships to construct a hybrid Airport which would be capable of handling both airships and planes.

VIII.1675

• 5: The Verionist annexation of Crisco has inflamed the media in northern Elwynn, where Verionism has already been under intense scrutiny since the landing of Antikaiser Verion II outside Shirekeep some weeks earlier. In opinion polls published today for next year's congressional election, were there an election to the Elwynnese congress today, the population would would vote as follows (with 1672 election results in parentheses):
  • Nationalist and Humanist Party, 22% (16%)
  • Democratic Party of Elwynn, 17% (8%)
  • Ayreonist Independence Party, 15% (19%)
  • Elwynnese Workers' Party, 13% (15%)
  • Amokolian Freedom Front, 12% (11%)
  • Verionist Union, 11% (28%)
  • Mishalanski Party for Democratic Socialism, 3% (2%)
  • Others, 7% (4%)
    • Verionist Union leader Stephen Lewis called the publication "spurious and unfounded propaganda, disguised as a news message" and warned that only a strong Verionist Union in Elwynn could guarantee the continuation of the National Vanguard, and a stable government in Elwynn.
• 8: The Conservative Historical Party in East Amokolia is established in Elwynnese Amokolia as an independent sister party of its western counterpart in the Reichstag. The Party presents itself as a conservative, monarchist, pro-Amokolian unity party.
• 9: The Amokolian Freedom Front calls for an extraordinary congress on the question of Amokolian reunification, loud voices in the party to shelve plans of Amokolian reunification.
• 10: By fortuitous coincidence, elections for consultative national assemblies in the Alalehzamini Autonomous Republic, Florencia & the Irridian Isles, Sathrati, and the Unified Governorates, have been scheduled for the same date - 01.VIII.1676. This scheduling synchronicity will bring countries and regions with a combined population of 129 million to the polls on the same day in the largest single manifestation of democratic legitimation since the height of the Imperial Republic.
• 15: A feudal levy mustered at Isenbury in the dominion of Caverden as the lords and communes of the territory, appalled by the fate of Monty Crisco, pledged themselves to the common cause of mutual defence of their ancient liberties against the encroachment of a new autocracy.
• 17:
  • The Vanguard Coalition in northern Elwynn falls as the Ayreonist Independence Party and the Elwynnese Workers' Party walk out and calls for a vote of no confidence in the conducatorship and government of Stephen Lewis. The reasons for the parties' departure were hammered onto the door of Eliria Castle. A summarized version of it alleges:
    • That the Verionists are on a campaign to abolish democracy in Elwynn
    • That the Verionist leader, Stephen Lewis, is authoritarian
    • That Lewis and the Verionists favour a war with Shireroth.
    • That the Verionists are no Elwynnese patriots, if given the chance to create a "Verionist Imperial Republic", such as the one proclaimed by Titus Morvayne, they would not hesitate
  • That for the safety of the Elwynnese Republic, Lewis's government must fall and in its place establish a government of national unity.
  • The Speaker of the Elwynnese Congress, Isa Kaliandarion Qor, scheduled the vote for 22.VIII.1675.
• 18:
  • The Amokolian Freedom Front, having reached a deal with the Verionist Union for the future direction of the government, amounting to more autonomy to Elwynnese Amokolia, announces that it will vote against the motion of no confidence in Lewis's leadership.
  • The Democratic Party of Elwynn announces that it will vote in favour of the vote of no confidence in the leadership of Conducator Stephen Lewis. Democratic leader Nila Valgarai quipped to the press when asked how the Democrats would vote: "Ah, well I think you know how the Democrats would vote on a Verionist Government - bring it down. Bring it all down".
  • Rumours are circling in Eliria that Stephen Lewis, after securing a power-sharing deal with the Amokolian Freedom Front, has met with the congressional leader of the Nationalist and Humanist Party, Frederik Haabye Truls.
• 22:
  • The 1675 Elwynnese Congress vote of no confidence concludes with Conducător Stephen Lewis losing confidence in a 126-112-12 vote. The congressional president, Isa Kaliandaron Qor relieved the Conducător with suspended effect, to be effective on the day Congress confirms a new Conducător. She immediately called in the congressional leaders for discussions on the new government formation.
    • The Ayreonist Independence Party announced that given the congressional arithmetic, the AIP being the largest party outside the Verionist Union (which has lost the congressional confidence), the AIP leader ought to be nominated Conducător by the President. The AIP said that it would be willing to negotiate with all parties on the formation of majority government. If a majority government could not be found, it would seek out supply-and-demand agreements with other parties while heading a minority one-party government. It was of great importance, the AIP noted, that extraordinary elections were avoided, as the next ordinary elections were scheduled for next year. The government to be voted in now would only have a mandate of one year, thus political party bickering should be kept at a minimum. The AIP would be mature enough to head such a government, majority or minority, and guide the congressional counties to new safe elections in one year's time.
    • The Elwynnese Workers' Party said that this unprecedented situation required great compromises on all parties – that the best Conducător is not necessarily found in the largest party of a majority coalition but that he or she should be the one best suitable to unite the warring factions of Congress, for the stability of the Congressional Counties and of Elwynn at large. The Ayreonists, for example, could not be trusted to head a coalition given how deeply divided their party was at the confidence vote on Lewis's Conducătorship. Accordingly, the EWP declared that they are the only party able to build coalitions across party lines, thus the EWP should be given the task in building a majority coalition under the EWP leadership. It would be willing to negotiate with all parties for a government programme that would advance the workers, soldiers, poor, sick, young and elderly of Elwynn.

IX.1675

• 1: The Amokolian Freedom Front's extraordinary conference meets (called earlier on the question of Amokolian reunification, but now also discussing questions of the Elwynnese government formation). After a heated debate, the party narrowly votes to support East Amokolian reunification with West Amokolia, and that negotiations with King Arkadius on the question of constitution should occur at the earliest opportunity. The Party also resolved that until such time, East Amokolia should be granted autonomous republic status within Elwynn (similar to the Congressional Counties and Alalehzamin), and that it would support any congressional government promising with authenticity genuine moves to that end. There was great opposition within the party congress on both matters.
• 2: One third of the conference delegates (including 11 AFF representatives of the Elwynnese congress) of the Amokolian Freedom Front meet the day after the party conference to form a new pro-Elwynnese party, the Amokolian People's Party. The APP would work be a centrist party workign towards Amokolian autonomy within East Amokolia, but loyal to Elwynnese federalism. The goal of the party was to remain within the Elwynnese Republic, not to reunite with West Amokolia unless it is to absorb West Amokolia into Elwynn, and to achieve autonomous republic status for East Amokolia. Accordingly, the Amokolian Freedom Front would now only have 16 seats in congress, with 11 for the Amokolian People's Party.
• 3:
  • The Ayreonist Independence Party welcomed the formation of the Amokolian People's Party and found great interest in the new party's proposed solution to the question of Amokolian reunification. The Party said that it would be happy to bring on the APP in any congressional government headed by the AIP.
  • Frederik Haabye Truls, leader of the Congressional Cadres of the N&H Party, returns from a summit with the party leadership and the Sardar of the Alalehzamini Autonomous Republic, held in Islus, newly empowered to negotiate with opposition and minority parties in order to secure an outcome that maintains the continuation of the present constitutional order and peace in the north until the scheduled elections in 1676.
• 8: The Verionist Union presents to the Amokolian parties (AFF, APP, MPDS) and the Elwynnese Workers' Party a plan in which all three parties would establish their own autonomous region in northern Elwynn, thus moving making the Congressional Counties no more, and causing Elwynn to have four autonomous republic (Alalehzamin, a socialist one, a Verionist one, and an east Amokolian one). The Amokolian parties were immediately on board, while the EWP cautiously optimistic. The EWP released a statement in which they looked forward to further negotiations.
  • The AIP released a statement condemning the plans to "break up" Elwynn, noticing also that any change to the constitutional order of the Elwynnese Republic was not a congressional competence but one that required the assent of not only the Congress, but of the government of Alalehzamin and the Council of Eliria, too.
  • A recording from the N&H congressional leader Truls's office was leaked to media, in which Truls allegedly stated exasperated at the prospect of the Elwynnese Workers' Party as kingmakers, "All I am prepared to offer the communists is an ounce of lead applied to the base of their skulls at a sufficient velocity". The N&H reportedly offered the Amokolian parties, in yet another N&H leak, "autonomy plus material and political support for the liberation of their western territories as far as the border with old Absentia".
    • Horrified by the prospect of being sacrificed to a totalitarian ideology for the sake of Verionist political expediency, conservatives, ethnic minorities, and small business owners each begin to band together to form "lead purchasing clubs" in order to ensure that a sufficient quantity of slugs are cast for each and every EWP and VU activist in Greater Eliria. The sarcastic gesture of support for Aqa Trul's controversial remarks is enough to send some of the more excitable members of the AIP into a momentary panic. Meanwhile the N&H cadres in northern Elwynn receive a small but noticeable bump in donations and membership applications.
  • Commenting publicly on the political jockeying taking place in the aftermath of the passing of the No-Confidence Motion, Aqa Trul replied to questions from the press to the effect that "[...] in trying to shore up his [Stephen Lewis'] tottering position by condemning Eliria to the rule of a basket case ideology is just further proof of the Conducator's amorality and inability to govern effectively. The Verionist Union disgraces themselves in making the offer and the EWP disgraces itself still further by seeming to be swayed. We shall proceed with challenging before the courts the decision of the the President of the Congress to suspend the effect of the No Confidence motion. In our estimation only fresh elections, held at the earliest possible moment, will restore honesty and accountability to our political system."
• 9: A surprisingly long graffito appears overnight, scrawled along the wall of Eliria's central bus terminal. It reads: "Ain’t no party like an Elwynnese party cuz an Elwynnese party leads to massive socio-political/economic upheaval and sizeable loss of life."
• 10:
  • The government of the Kingdom of Ransenar opens a sealed-bid auction for a multimillion erb contract to expand and modernize the Port of Goldfield to receive larger container ships, as well as expand its capacity.
  • Elwynnese government formation. After intense negotiations between the N&H and the Elwynnese Workers' Party, the EWP agrees to support a coalition government between the N&H, the Ayreonists, Democrats and the EWP, in exchange for EWP ministers heading the education, health, culture and infrastructure departments. The EWP congressional delegation reportedly took the news of the outcome of the negotiations with a somber mood, with members afterwards responding to media that "this is only for a year, it is for the stability of our country, our voters will understand", and another member saying "this was a decision between a rock and a hard place, but in the end, we decided that the N&H offer helped the proletariat more than restricting full socialism and communism to only a small part of the country."
    • N&H leader Frederik Haabye Truls met with President of the Congress, Isa Kaliandaron Qor, to inform her of the deals he had made with the Democrats, the Workers' Party, and the Ayreonist Party. Isa Kaliandaron Qor immediately called the Congress to session and informed it that the motion, to be decided in four days' time (i.e. the 14th, in accordance with the constitution) was "that Congress appoints to Conducător of the Elwynnese Republic the Agha Frederik Haabye Truls who intends to form a coalition government consisting of representatives from the Nationalist & Humanist Party, the Ayreonist Independence Party, the Elwynnese Workers' Party, and the Democratic Party of Elwynn".
    • Aqa Truls: "There will be no malice, and no reprisals, in our policies. No-one shall be victimised, or deprived or their rights, on account of their past actions or affiliations. Our duty, for all of us, is to serve this nation which is both our home and our protector. All of us exist under the obligations of loyalty and service to our motherland, but those obligations can only be truly and honourably fulfilled when those who exercise the vital powers of direction of the national community do so whilst remaining subject to the rule of law. Liberty, I need not remind you, is the condition of freedom under the rule of law. Let us put egotism aside and pledge to serve one-another as comrades pursuing a society that is truly harmonious. We look to the Elwynnese Workers Party to help us build a fairer society; we look to the Ayreonists to preserve the rules and procedures that will ensure consistent law making and impartial judgement; we look to the Democratic Party to provide the level headed judgement that will ensure fiscal prudence and a growing economy; and we look finally, of course, to the Nationalist-Humanist movement to ensure that the borders and greater society of Elwynn are defended against all their enemies, and that our state contributes to the peace and stability of Benacia from a position of strength. I hope that those who are at present discontented by the demise of the previous administration will find it within themselves to lend their support to the administration that I hope to form as we embark upon our great purpose. Elwynn Expects! Elwynn Endures! Elwynn Prevails!"
  • An anonymous user of the Elwnet posts a video depicting Stephen Lewis shouting at two EWP representatives and appearing to throw a pen at one of them before walking out of the room.
• 11: The Treaty of Mutual Defence between the Raspur Pact and Sanama is signed by the Federal Council of Sanama and the Deputy High Commissioner of the Raspur Pact Ernesto de la Cruz.
• 14:
  • The Elwynnese Congress votes to confirm the motion "that Congress appoints to Conducător of the Elwynnese Republic the Agha Frederik Haabye Truls who intends to form a coalition government consisting of representatives from the Nationalist & Humanist Party, the Ayreonist Independence Party, the Elwynnese Workers' Party, and the Democratic Party of Elwynn" with 133 votes in favour (AIP, N&H, DEM, 25 EWP), 93 votes against (VU, AFF, HPDI, 4 EWP), and 24 abstentions (APP, MPDS, 8 EWP (including 1 president)).
  • Conducător Truls invites the leaders of all political parties represented in Congress to participate in an ongoing and continuous "National Dialogue" as a demonstration of good faith and a willingness to work alongside all political forces that operate within the law.

• 15: In response to the 11 EWP representatives not voting in line with the party whip, the EWP expels these members from the EWP membership.
• 16: The Council of Eliria decides by acclamation to ratify, for Elwynn, the Treaty of Mutual Defence between the Raspur Pact and Sanama
• 18: The 11 expelled EWP members form the Communist Party of Elwynn.
• 19:
  • The Ransenari Congress ratifies the Treaty of Mutual Defence between the Raspur Pact and Sanama.
  • The DARA of the Sovereign Confederation ratifies the Treaty of Mutual Defence between the Raspur Pact and Sanama. The same day, the Speaker meets with Pact officials concerning the situation in Elwynn.
• 20:
  • The Federal Assembly of Sanama ratifies the Treaty of Mutual Defence between the Raspur Pact and Sanama, after the petition for a referendum failed to gather the required number of signatures.
  • The government of Talenore ratifies the Raspur Pact treaty with Sanama.
• 21:
  • Elwynnese prince Ander Avon-El appoints Mihrzād Gushnasp to Commissioner of Defence.
  • Viceroy Regina Verion of the Verionist Republic declares the political situation in Elwynn a "matter entirely for the Elwynnese government. We all hope and expect that the senior politicians in the country will reach a peaceful agreement.
  • The Command Executive of Benacia Command endorses the Treaty of Mutual Defence between the Raspur Pact and Sanama on behalf of the Unified Governorates. Concurrently the ESB appointed government of Sathrati confirmed its adherence to the treaty.
  • The 3 Air Combat Wing of the Talenore Defense Force Air Force departs Talenore for the Sovereign Confederacy for Raspur Pact exercises.
• 22: The II Air Force Wing of the Federal Air Force of Sanama departs Sanama for the Sovereign Confederacy after being invited for exercises by the Raspur Pact.
• 23: Since the fall of the Stephen Lewis administration, there were secret negotiations in place (headed by the Prince) between the Congressional government, the Verionist Union and the Iron Company. The Verionists and Iron Company expressed a great indignation from the fall of the National Vanguard coalition, and hinted that the Iron Company would put sanctions on the Elwynnese Republic or worse. The Prince, finding the situation too precarious to be taken as a bluff, and well aware how previous Iron Company and Verionist indignation had been expressed, decided that calming measures were necessary on the Verionists and the Iron Company. As such, he outlined the establishment of a Verionist-run autonomous republic in the areas of Elwynn where the Verionists were strong and ran local bailiwick governments. To the Prince's surprise, both the congressional government and the Verionist/Iron Company delegation approved of the changes. Amendments to the Elwynnese constitution were drawn up on the same day and approved by the Council of Eliria on the same day, to be of effective 1.I.1676.
• 24:
  • The legislatures of congressional Elwynn and Alalehzamin approved the constitutional amendments. As such, upon I.X.1675, the new autonomous republic of the Northern Commonwealth of Greater Cimmeria and Kiladôr was established.
  • The Elwynnese congress resolved to hold early elections, in lieu of the planned 1676 elections, to be held on 1.XII.1675, to ensure that the people were accurately represented in accordance with the amended borders of the Congressional Counties.

Malarboria

Across much of the Imperial Republic the continuing loyalty of a given dominion or county was determined well in advance by whether the appointed Lieutenant, designated Imperial representative to the subdivision, had remained at his post or absconded during the months preceding the moment at which the fracture of the state apparatus had become undeniable. In the county of Malarboria, a vast region encompassing the old Minarborian provinces of Lachmeren, Lywall, Novodolor, and Porolia, the situation had begun to unravel almost immediately upon the success of the Inner Benacian revolution becoming widely known. Under these circumstances, the Lieutenant, having endured much in the way of abuse, resentment, and outright resistance from the preceding regime, was amongst the first to depart Sansabury for the east, departing with a retinue of the Imperial Constabulary trailing in her wake. The restive, and ever watchful Lach, quiescent in the province since the repressions of the Prince of Modan, took this as their opportunity to renew their struggle for independence. It was under the cover of confronting this new insurgency that the General Staff began to concentrate reliable personnel, equipment, stores, and command & control assets, around Sansabury, Merensk, and Šlomxala between the fifth and eighth months of 1671.

Between 18.XIV and 06.XV of 1671, Benacia Command deployed four legions in an action intended to open up a land corridor connecting Pact Loyalist forces in Lachmeren-Lywall and the main airfields, depots, and manufacturies of the continent in Mishalan. This entailed the full occupation of the western portion of Malarboria, as far north as Gloomburg, and the dispatch of raiding forces into Inner Benacia to disrupt any insurgent groups or tribes, such as the warring Black and Red Laqi hosts, which might be tempted to intervene. The occasion was also used to cover the withdrawal of the last Pact Loyalist assets from around Stonetree, where they had been effectively marooned ever since the unilateral withdrawal of Inner Benacia from the Pact set the whole process of fracturing into motion.

As the legions were not to be wasted on counter-insurgency operations and policing actions, the Black Legions were withdrawn from around Gloomburg with their exterminating frenzy being then replaced by the more low-tempo and lackadaisical brutality of "Inspectorate-Troops" (auxiliaries and cudgellers drawn from garrisons in Mishalan and Alalehzamin respectively), whose main remit was to keep the towns quiet and the roads open by whatever means necessary.

In an effort to secure strategic and operational depth, Benacia Command mandated the Black Legions to concentrate on securing the former Area of Operations of the Central Banner Group and ensuring their incorporation into the temporary martial law administration known as the Unified Governorates of Benacia. Accordingly therefore the dominions and counties within that region form the "Zone of Immediate Interest" to Benacia Command.

Elsewhere Benacia Command established working relationships with other successor states so as to ensure continued freedom of movement for its forces and or access to strategic resources in return for material aid and guarantees of assistance in defending the territorial integrity of the successors. The Banner Groups therefore are acting as Military Missions in support of the fellow successor states as follows:

• Eastern Banner Group - Military Mission to the Sovereign Confederation
• Northern Banner Group - Military Mission in Elwynn
• Southern Banner Group - Military Mission in Drak-Modan, Military Mission in Sanilla and Amarra

The Eastern and Northern Banner Groups found themselves in an interesting quandary whereby they were both supporting rival parties in a territorial stand-off concerning the control of the western portion of Wintergleam, a territory often contested by Elwynn and Goldshire. Although the Military Mission in Elwynn gamely sought to avoid the conflict by focusing its attentions on supporting the UDF expedition against the Boreals in Cape Farewell, and the Military Mission to the Sovereign Confederation made plain that it would not cross into Wintergleam unless in receipt of positive orders from Benacia Command to engage the UDF, the possibility of a "black-on-black" friendly fire incident remained.

The Western Banner Group, based on New Blackstone in the Madison Isles, was quite removed from the affairs of mainland Benacia, instead focusing on defending Shirerithian, Natopian, and, to a certain extent, Batavian commercial shipping against the depredations of USSO-sponsored global piracy.

The Black Legions remain actively involved in supporting the efforts of Drak-Modan to evict the Yardistani from the isles of So-Sara. Hotheads amongst the General Staff talk of going further than merely re-establishing control over the former MoMA naval stations in the isles but rather of scouring the entire Khaz Modan island chain of every last trace of the Yardistani and confining their ilk to Novi Nigrad.

The rise of the Guttuli Protectorate, formed by deserters from the Riverine Army, is a cause of considerable concern to Benacia Command. Controlling the eponymous islands in the delta estuary of the Red Elwynn, the southern third of Lunaris, and most importantly of all the strategic port of Musica, the Protectorate is in a prime position to dominate the river trade up to Shirekeep, they also managed to secure a greater haul of the Imperial Forces collection of surface-to-air missiles than planners on the General Staff are entirely comfortable with countenancing. The "Guttulins Uihmanz", formed from the VII Corps of the Riverine Army, has shown scant enthusiasm for reintegrating into the allied command structure; indeed hostile rumour depicts the Protectorate Military Council as being a fanatical junta of hard-line and dissident officers who go so far as to speak Præta in their private and everyday conversations - eschewing Istvanistani altogether - pointing to the possibility that their intent is solely focused upon fostering a Brookshirian national revival.

Meanwhile, emboldened by their success in liberating the Mandated Territories, the Tellian nationalists began to push into the eastern reaches of Malarboria, seeking to link up the scattered exclaves and restore the boundaries of the Tellian Confederation to an extent last seen prior to the country's annexation by Ashkenatza in the previous century.

Sanilla and Amarra

The disarray and power vacuum during the Kalirion Fracture presented an ample opportunity for the Sanilla and Amarra Liberation Army for Democracy to seize power. Working from a base of operations in Nee, the SALAD quickly took control of the coastal regions of Amarr, including Fatehpur Sikri and Thanatos island. Encountering little to no resistance, and with support from the local oppressed classes and castes, the SALAD-controlled territory expanded northwards. Its stated nationalist goals for Sanis and Amas gave it a power base within the majority population. The SALAD faced its first real opposition when it reached Base 3-C close to the border with Highpass. Instead of attacking the base head-on, the SALAD encircled it and cut off all supply routes. The base was also hit by numerous desertions from native personnel. Heavily decimated and cut off from supply and communication with Shirekeep, the base surrendered within weeks. All personnel were allowed to leave. In southwestern Lachmodan and on the islands of Z and Azarea, local uprisings among the Sani and Ama populations led to those areas passing under the control of the SALAD.

On 12.VIII.1671, the leadership of the SALAD declared independence from Shirekeep under the name Democratic Federation of Sanilla and Amarra.

Drak-Modan

The rapid fracturing of the Duchy of Modan & Malarboria, a gift from Ayreon IV to Natopian Emperor Nathan II, prompted the Emperor to make a direct claim to the core territory of the duchy and areas of significance to both his family and Natopian history. The entire duchy split apart at its seams almost instantly: the RIB encroaching in the west, the Black Legion asserting control in Malarboria, Laqi revolutions in Amarr, and the sudden resurgence of Yardistan's thirst for annexation. The Duchy of Modan & Malarboria was thought to be a secure and personal investment in the prosperity of Shireroth, Natopia's longtime ally. Natopia had come to rely on Shireroth's military acumen and tradition. The sudden loss of almost all of the duchy, and the possibility of a dramatic or total reduction of Shirekeep's power, was a direct threat to Natopia's security and Nathan II saw the independence of Lachmodan and So-Sara as the only viable solution to maintaining the strength (or at least some semblance of it) of the Raspur Pact's military hegemony over the western hemisphere, which is the cornerstone of Natopia's defense strategy. Remnants of the ducal militia, under orders from the duke quickly secured population centers in Lachmodan, as Nathan II issued a public declaration in Drakorda calling for the peaceful and mutual independence of Drak-Modan from the rapidly fracturing Imperial Republic. The newly self-proclaimed King promised the residents of Lachmodan and So-Sara security and prosperity as a closely allied and supported state of Natopia. The islands of So-Sara are disputed with Yardistan.

Shirekeep

(placeholder: chaos in the aftermath of the assassination of the Kaiser)

Following the downfall of the Shirithian nation, and the power vacuüm that was left after the death of Kaiser Ayreon IV, the city of Shirekeep remained under the tight control of its Prefect, Titus Morvayne, deeming the time ripe for increasing his power, Morvayne had himself elected Kaiser by the Landsraad. Although the City Guard, as well as the Apollonian Guard, supported his claim, he was unable to convince the leadership of the Palatini Corps. This saw Shirekeep being thrown into disarray, with the Imperial Forces located in the Keep containing the Verionists who controlled the largest part of the city.

Verionist Republic

The initial lack of success of what had been deemed a "coup" by the supporters of the Regent caused the Verionists to withdraw from Shirekeep. Within the year that followed, Kaiser Verion's supporters left the city. Verion himself moved to the Skyla Islands together with the largest group of his supporters, where he continued his claim on the Imperial Mango Throne.

In 1674, a deal was struck between the Imperial Regency and the Verionists. The Verionist Republic officially ceased their claim on the entirety of Shireroth, and in turn received recognition of the territories hold: Greater Elsenar and the Skyla islands. Being a hub for the Iron Company, the republic experienced an economic boom following the political stabilisation of the territory.

Khaz Modan Isles

(placeholder: narrative about about Yardistan overrunning the isles)

(placeholder: So-Sara dispute and Operation Massive Wedge)

On 16.VI.1672 the Yardistani Island Council dissolved following their failure to creatively counter Natopian, Drak-Modani, and Black Legion moves against their positions in So-Sara. Having specifically forsworn militarism, the Yardistani government faced a fundamental crisis when confronted by opponents who did not share their scruples concerning the use of force.

A provisional government, composed of hard-line republicans took power in Novi Nigrad and began to explore ways in which the Yardistan Police Agency could be expanded and transformed into a paramilitary force. The prospect of Yardistani extremists spreading their revolution to neighbouring islands caused considerable alarm amongst the feudal lords and civic authorities of Amity, Mirioth, and So-Sara, who, desiring to fall neither under the military dictatorship of the Black Legions, the Natopian hegemony established in Drak-Modan, nor risk the restoration of direct Imperial rule at a time when the new government was unproven, swallowed the bitter pill instead of extending an invitation to Azardokht al-Osman to accept the title of Emira of the Isles. The hope of the nobles and the burgess' was that bringing in an Osmanid princess with a connection to the isles would ensure a measure of sympathetic rule whilst, on account of her blood and familial connections, ensuring that the Raspur Pact would respect the rights of the islanders to home-rule. Unfortunately, as they gathered in Nordagaat to make their declaration, they were unaware that the first wave of a Black Legion invasion force had already slipped out of their anchorages and were on course for the island of Mirioth.

Amokolia

Main article: Amokolia

Because of the great unrest after the murder of Kaiser Ayreon IV, the areas that would form the Kingdom of Amokolia turned out to be insufficiently controlled by the Shirerian government. The Amokolian Highlanders tried to get the areas under control. Because the areas were separate from Shirekeep, the military council ruled that it was better to continue independently. But the areas could only be controlled to a limited extent and were susceptible to incorporation from the other Vulture States. The help was brought in from King Arkadius Frederik Gustavus des Vinandy, king of Batavia. He had access to the Tassity Mansabdar and was warmly welcomed by the population.

The independence of the Kingdom of Amokolia was declared on 21 VI 1672, sometimes referred to as West Amokolia. Arkadius Frederik Gustavus des Vinandy was crowned king of Amokolia. The areas under the flag of the kingdom were stabilized, but terrorism was a burden. To curb this, the Amokolian Highlanders invaded neighboring Mishalan. But the Black Legions and Elwynn were present in that area, where a division was agreed. The goal of combating terrorism was achieved, but the Elwynn River was not reached except for a few kilometers.

Amokolia is an independent and neutral state, which politely declined the offer to join Raspur Pact. With Elwynn and Shireroth, the country has a free trade agreement, the Treaty of Brandenburg.

Ransenar

Main article: Ransenar

As the hold of Shirekeep deteriorated throughout the Shirerithian Empire, the Imperial Democratic Party took control of the counties of Ran and parts of Ynnraile and Lunaris. During the nadir of Iron Company influence in Elsenar, the IDP reached high levels of support due to its well-established electoral strength and organization across all of Goldshire.

As an emerging center for a large majority of Golshirian politics, the IDP built a political machine in Goldshire led by Sean O'Callaghan and a cabal of several Goldshirians from Ynnraile and Lunaris. As the IDP grew in strength across the Empire, its base became centered around Goldshire, Shirekeep, and Brookshire. The IDP came to command the support of a plethora of political interest groups, corps of supporters, and businesses. The IDP also built a vast network of local clubs that appealed to social activists and politically-minded people. O'Callaghan consolidated the latent power of the stricken Goldshirian masses and used it to force into being a disciplined program for rejuvenation. It later became a wonder of a world looking for the means to lift peoples from the stew of poverty and demagoguism, which has become so characteristic of Goldshire. He was the creator, as much as one man could be, of a new status for a whole people and a new relationship among political entities.

The IDP at first emphasized loyalty to the rightful Kaiseress Salome, which meant remaining in the Imperial Republic. As Shireroth unraveled and the Guttuli Protectorate and the Iron Company expanded, the IDP called a series of Ransenari Congresses. These Congresses began preparing legislation and regulations to begin organizing a new Goldshirian order. The first Ransenari Congress met in Goldfield. The next two Congresses met in Goldshire Hamlet.

Concerned about its vulnerability to the growing threats from the Guttuli Protectorate, the Iron Company, and the Revolutionary Army of Crisco, the 3rd session of the Ransenari Congress voted to proclaim the Kingdom of Ransenar, with Kaiseress Salome as a powerless figurehead, and a Lord High Steward as head of government selected by a popularly elected Ransenari Congress as its legislature. In 1673 AN, the long session of the 3rd Congress ratified a Constitution, inaugurated a Provisional Government and local militias. Ransenar joined the Raspur Pact, obtaining support and recognition by the Sovereign Confederation and the Black Legions.

Ransenar entered an agreement with the Black Legions to guarantee the security of Ransenar and provide a garrison for the kingdom in return for 20% of the harvest for the next twelve years. The right to establish anchorages and aerodromes for its maritime and aerospace forces within the territory of Ransenar was also included.