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Kalirion Fracture: Difference between revisions

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The failures of leadership manifested by the [[shire:Kalirion Dynasty|Kalirion Dynasty]], led by Kaiser [[shire:Ayreon IV|Ayreon IV]], whose administrations lent undue credence to [[shire:Elianist People's Party|Elianist ideologies]], left the vast and sprawling [[Benacia]]n 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 [[shire:Modan|Modan]]. Shireroth, having invested heavily in financing a global [[Allied Production Matrix|military-industrial complex]] and the [[Balance of forces in Benacia|largest armed forces]] of any of the remaining great powers of [[Micras]], for the purpose of resisting [[Jingdao|Jing]] and [[Bassarid]] aggression during the [[Sxiro-Jingdaoese Confrontation|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.
{{Shirerithian article}}The failures of leadership manifested by the [[shire:Kalirion Dynasty|Kalirion Dynasty]], led by Kaiser [[Kaiser Ayreon IV|Ayreon IV]], whose administrations lent undue credence to [[shire:Elianist People's Party|Elianist ideologies]], left the vast and sprawling [[Benacia]]n 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 [[shire:Modan|Modan]]. Shireroth, having invested heavily in financing a global [[Allied Production Matrix|military-industrial complex]] and the [[Balance of forces in Benacia|largest armed forces]] of any of the remaining great powers of [[Micras]], for the purpose of resisting [[Jingdao|Jing]] and [[Bassarid]] aggression during the [[Sxiro-Jingdaoese Confrontation|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 Benacia]]n puppet state, which had cost the lives of countless Imperial bureaucrats and "advisers", most notable of whom was [[shire:Karmen Joonai|Lady Cherokee]], a prominent Elianist and member of the [[shire:High Nobles of Shireroth|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 [[IBFOR|Imperial garrisons]] trapped in Inner Benacia, and merely served to embolden the [[Shiro-Lach Conflict|Laqi insurgency]] to the point where it became a low intensity "holy war" against the Imperial Republic.
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 Benacia]]n puppet state, which had cost the lives of countless Imperial bureaucrats and "advisers", most notable of whom was [[shire:Karmen Joonai|Lady Cherokee]], a prominent Elianist and member of the [[shire:High Nobles of Shireroth|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 [[IBFOR|Imperial garrisons]] trapped in Inner Benacia, and merely served to embolden the [[Shiro-Lach Conflict|Laqi insurgency]] to the point where it became a low intensity "holy war" against the Imperial Republic.
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==Timeline==
==Timeline==
(All times are in Shirekeep time)


===1671===
: See [[Timeline of Modern Benacia (1670–1675)]]
 
====V.1671====
*13: [[Benacian Stabilisation Force]] stood up[https://bastionunion.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1444&p=168909#p168909(1)]. Stated objective to relieve [[IBFOR]] contingents trapped behind frontier in post-revolution [[Inner Benacia]].
 
====VII.1671====
*01: Kaiser Ayreon IV elevates [[Batavia]]n 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 [[shire:Imperial Forces|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 [[shire:Kezan|Kezan]] on a working holiday.
** [[shire:Elianist People's Party|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 [[shire:Elwynnese Popular Front|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 [[shire:Folksraad|Folksraad]] and [[shire:Adelsraad|Adelsraad]] have been reduced to a minority in both chambers.
*08: Elwynnese Popular Front delegation in the Folksraad moves for no confidence in the [[shire:Steward|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 [[Kalgachia]]n 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 [[shire:Raynor's Keep|Raynor's Keep]]. Calls for an IAC meeting for the day after.
** 21:00: By now, Kaiser has had dinner with his catamite ([[shire:Jaap van Pijpervale|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 [[shire:Dirâsat-an-Nûr|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 [[shire:Elw|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: [[Raid on Shirekeep-Foley|An attack]] carried out on [[Shirekeep-Foley Aerodrome]] by [[Benacia Command|unknown assailants]] utilising a mix of [[shire:Imperial Forces|imperial]] and [[Raspur Pact|allied]] equipment, uniforms, and gravimetric vehicles, throws the capital into pandemonium. The [[shire:Scholae Evocati|Evocati legion]], garrisoned at Fort Foley, is the first to respond whilst the remainder of the [[shire:Palatini Corps|Palatini Corps]] and the [[shire:Shirekeep City Guard|City Guard]] enact their deployment orders for placing the old city and [[shire:Raynor's Keep|Raynor's Keep]] into lock-down.
** 07:00: Hostile raiding force retires, after destroying eleven [[F-8 Shrike]]s on the ground. As the site is secured a [[shire:Panopticon|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 [[shire:Esagila of Raynor|Esagila of Raynor]]. The resulting system cascade crashes the [[shire:Benacian Data Network|Benacian Data Network]], crippling those Imperial communication systems not carried on the [[Natopia]]n-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 [[shire:Scholae Sathrati|Saznan Szironeï]] in [[shire:Sakatopolis|Sakatopolis]] following reports of an attempted mutiny being thwarted in the preceding hours concurrent with the attack on Shirekeep-Foley Aerodrome. The city's [[shire:Chamber of the Crypteia|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 ''[https://bastionunion.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1378&t=10347&p=91030&hilit=Kelb#p91030 Kelb]'' of [[shire:Raynor's Keep|Raynor's Keep]] and [[Hoenn]]ese 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 [[Sanilla and Amarra|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]], [[shire:Titus Morvayne|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 [[shire:Palatini Corps|Palatini Corps]] and Shirekeep Garrison assert control in Shirekeep. Titus disappears into the urban snarl of the Old City, supported by his [[shire:Shirekeep City Guard|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: [[Talenore National Assembly election, 1671 |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 [[shire:Kaiseress Kizzy I|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]] [[Allied Production Matrix#1671 Apportionments|releases]] strategic reserves to bolster [[Benacia Command]].
 
==== XV.1671 ====
 
===1672===
 
==== I.1672 ====
 
==== II.1672 ====
 
==== III.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.
 
==== V.1672 ====
 
==== VI.1672 ====
 
* 21: Declaration of Brandenburg, West Amokolia declares itself independent, with support from Elwynn.
 
==== VII.1672 ====
 
==== VIII.1672 ====
 
==== IX.1672 ====
 
==== 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 [[Administrative divisions of Sanama|68 cantons]]. Work started to draft a constitution.
 
==== XI.1672 ====
 
* 9: [[Guttuli Protectorate/Military Operations#Operation Avan|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: [[Guttuli Protectorate/Military Operations#Operation Avan|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 [[Guttuli Protectorate#Utnaræn|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: [[Guttuli Protectorate/Military Operations#Operation Avan|Operation Avan]]: Second wave units establish a new defensive frontier west of the Lowbrook-Lichport Line.
 
* 15: [[Guttuli Protectorate/Military Operations#Operation Avan|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: [[Guttuli Protectorate/Military Operations#Operation Avan|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 [[1672 Elwynnese princely elections|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 [[GAV(P)-6 Zephyr Mark 1a|types]] only [[Allied Production Matrix|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 [[Benacia Command/Military Operations|invasion]] of Mishalan, citing the necessity of controlling [[shire:Red Bear LLC|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:
**[[1672 Elwynnese princely elections|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.
**[[1672 Elwynnese congress election|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 [[Union Defence Force|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 [[shire:Goldshire Regulars|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 [[wikipedia:Railgun|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 [[shire:Assayers|potential culprits]].
 
====XIV.1672====
 
*1
**In response to the Ketsire atrocity, the [[Union Defence Force|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. [[War in Wintergleam|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.
**[[War in Wintergleam|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).
** [[War in Wintergleam|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
**[[War in Wintergleam|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 [[Benacia Command|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.[[File:KalirionFracture1672.png|315px|thumb|right|<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">Benacia on 19.XIV.1672.</div> ]]
*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&ndash;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 [[Tyrannocricetus aliger|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 Social Contract and Constitution|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 [[MCS|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.
*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 [[shire:Palatini Corps|Palatini Corps]], Justin Guadalim, in the Steward's Tower of [[shire:Raynor's Keep|Raynor's Keep]], the discussion proved to be a broadly positive one. Although Benacia Command refused - politely - to reintegrate the Black Legions into the [[shire:Imperial Forces|Imperial Forces]] (at this point limited to the Palatini Corps, Shirekeep Garrison, and a few loyalist patrol boats on the upper stretches of the [[Elwynn (river)|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.
 
====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 [[Operation Stop Right There|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: [[shire:Kaiseress Kizzy I|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: [[shire:Cedrism|Cedrist]] priests in [[shire:Ynnraile|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 [[shire:IRS Medusa|Medusa]], a [[shire:Project Mortis|Grav-Rig Cruiser]], escorted by four [[GV-7 Leviathan]]s, and fifty [[GAV(P)-6 Zephyr Mark 1a|GAV-6 Zephyr]]s, 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 [[shire:Elwynn Class Corvette|Elwynn-class corvette]] ''{{Tooltip|BLS|Black Legions Ship}} 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 [[shire:S.W.O.R.D.|veteran operatives]] who had previously served with Streïkrupp Kasha on the [[IBFOR|Inner Benacian mission]] were inserted on the outskirts of [[The Lodge]] by twenty [[shire:GAV(U)-4 Jackalope|GAV-4 Jackalopes]] accompanied by an eight-man team from the Political Relations Bureau of the [[Benacia Command|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 [[wikipedia:Oscar-class submarine|Type 941]] and two [[wikipedia:Upholder/Victoria-class submarine|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 {{Tooltip|Musika|Musica}} and {{Tooltip|Svalbarh|Aïna}} 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 [[Verionism|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:
**#''"In what fresh hell of jumbled geography is Elsenar now to be considered Elwynnese territory?"''
**#''"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."''
**#''"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.
** [[Guttuli Protectorate/Military Operations#Operation Fanlin|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 [[Black Legions#Eastern Tactical Air Force|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&ndash;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 [[wikipedia:XB-49|B-49 Delta]] and forty-four [[wikipedia:Avro Vulcan|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 [[shire:Vigiles Arcani|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 [[shire:Balgurd|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 [[Guttuli Protectorate/Military Operations#Operation Liven|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 Vessel]]s entered the harbour of Acarid City flying the flags of the [[Raspur Pact]], the [[Black Legions]], and the [[Shireroth|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 [[shire:Imperial Marshals|constabulary]] of Shireroth. Representative detachments from the island's [https://bastionunion.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=523&t=14370 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'' [[shire:Salome|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#Protectorate Military Council|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:
*#The withdrawal of all forces from Barrowfield, Lichport, and Lowbrook and the redeployment of those forces against river piracy and [[Revolutionary Army of Crisco|bandit formations]] operating along the upper reaches of the Red Elwynn;
*#The opening of the Red Elwynn to military and commercial traffic of the [[Raspur Pact]];
*#The commencement of negotiations for a strategic military, political, and economic partnership plan between the Guttuli Protectorate and the Raspur Pact;
*#The Unconditional release of ex-Imperial veterans presently in held in detention, or any form of involuntary servitude, into the custody of the [[Black Legions#Sanitäts Uihmanz|Sanitäts Uihmanz]];
*#The immediate termination of all forms of support for [[Guttuli Protectorate#Utnaræn|terrorist organisations]].
 
====IX.1673====
*2: [[Guttuli Protectorate/Military Operations#Operation Avan|Operation Avan]]: additional labor deployed to the Barrowfield-Lichport region to accelerate the construction of fortifications.
*5: [[Guttuli Protectorate/Military Operations#Operation Fanlin|Operation Fanlin]]: additional home-deployed troops put on anti-partisan patrols throughout the Fanlinunig. Front-line formations redeploying north to extend the frontier.
*17: [[Guttuli Protectorate/Military Operations#Operation Liven|Operation Liven]]: Siege of Ankh initiated. Negotiations initiated with troops located therein.
*24: The [[Ransenar|Kingdom of Ransenar]] is proclaimed at Goldfield. The Kaiser is kept as a figurehead, while a democratic government is built under the leadership of [https://bastionunion.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=161951#p161951 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 [[shire:Hartmut Aldric|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 [[Benacia]]n 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 [[wikipedia:Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses|effort]] to secure air supremacy over Inner Benacia.
*5&ndash;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 [[Nationalist & Humanist Party|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 [[History_of_Elwynn#Verionist_troubles|Verionist troubles]] had calmed down a bit more.
*21: [[Elwynn]] and [[Alduria]] [[Alduria–Elwynn treaty|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 [[Black Legions#Sanitäts Uihmanz|Sanitäts Uihmanz]] is established at Lune Villa, protected by a small detachment of [[Black Legions#General Inspectorate|inspectorate troops]] detached from the Eastern Banner Group of [[Benacia Command]]. Ostensibly the field hospital provides humanitarian aid and assistance for ''Ayra'' and [[shire:Octalune|''Octalunes'']] displaced by the [[Guttuli Protectorate|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 between Sanama and Drak-Modan|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-Jagdverbände Grobba|ESB Security Directorate]] stepped up security at the [[shire:ESB-Jörmungandr Group#headquarters|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 [[shire:Imperial Navy of Shireroth|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&ndash;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 [[Military of Kalgachia|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 [[wiki:German language|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 (city)|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: [[1674 Talenore coup d'état|Talenore coup d'état]]: [[National Assembly of Talenore|National Assembly]] building was surrounded by [[Talenore Defense Force Army|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 [[Central Intelligence Department of Elwynn|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 ([[shire:Aurangzeb|Kaiser Aurangzeb’s]] prison) in the [[Alalehzamin]]i 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 [[Batavia]]n–[[West Amokolia]]n [[Arkadius IV of Batavia|King Arkadius]]'s ultimate ambition to attain hegemony over all of [[Benacia]] via a [[The Micras Chessboard|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 [[1674 Shireroth census|census]] of remaining Regency-held territories, in preparation for elections to [[shire:Folksraad|Folksraad]] and [[shire:Adelsraad|Adelsraad]].
 
[[File:WestAmokolianclaims.png|thumb|left|350px|''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 Amokolia]]n 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 Amokolia]]n–[[Batavia]]n king, [[Elwynn]]ese 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 [[War in Wintergleam|border skirmishes]] and a general chaffing under the presumption of the [[Black Legions]] with regards to the exercise of supreme command over all [[Raspur Pact|allied]] forces in the [[Benacia Command|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 [[Batavia]]n 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 [[Operation Vigilant Resolve|multinational force]] to watch the inter-Amokolian frontier established after the partition of Mishalan in 1673.
*9:
**Assurances of [[Batavia]]n neutrality serve to alleviate some of the more immediate concerns regarding the safety of [[Siyacha Free State|Siyacha]] and the so-called ''[[Litkov]] salient''.
**Utilising members of the old [[Sxiro-Kalgachi Diplomacy|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 [[Military of Kalgachia|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 of Kalgachia#The Kalgachi Defence Force|military]] and [[Kalgachia#The Directorate of Labour and Economic Planning|economic]] organs of the logistical headache of maintaining five field divisions and an entire reserve army at indefinite combat readiness, the Kalgachi [[Kalgachia#The Directorate of the Tumultuous Wastes|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 [[Kalgachia#The Prefects|Prefects]] retain a handful of the more enthusiastic [[Nationalist & Humanist Party|Nationalist-Humanist]] officers and senior NCOs who have been transferred to their care for a programme of mandatory socialising in comfortable conditions with affable [[Kalgachia#The Nezeni|Nezeni]] stool pigeons and 'comfort women' to overwrite or at least challenge the prisoners' entrained notions of [[Deep Singers|Deep Singer]] malevolence before they are released.
*10&ndash;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 [[Slavegate Convention|ceasefire agreement]], with progress only being delayed by the regrettable partiality of the visiting officers to postpone scheduled talks in favour of [https://youtu.be/CQFiKT7rtfs?t=49 "tiffin"].
*13&ndash;24: A flare up in confrontation between [[Revolutionary Army of Crisco|RAC]] and [[Grand Army of Ransenar|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 [[shire:Palatini Corps|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 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX-i3NsZDiI "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 [[Nationalist & Humanist Party|N&H]] ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDaOgu2CQtI 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 [[The Micras Chessboard#Chapter 2: Spy on the Orient Express|alleged shooting]] of an [[shire:Jaap van Pijpervale|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:
::#that the Party will turn federal/trinational with one national branch each in West Amokolia, Elwynn and the Unified Governorates
::#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
::#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: 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 [[shire:Folksraad|Folksraad]] and [[shire:Adelsraad|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 [[Landsraad#Members|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====
 
*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.


==Malarboria==
==Malarboria==
Line 562: Line 54:


==The Sovereign Confederation==
==The Sovereign Confederation==
During the years leading up to and following the mortal death of Ryker Everstone, the semi-state-sponsored cult of personality which survived him in his Kingdom's northern heartlands devolved into a millenarist malaise. Ransenar was uniquely able to revert these trends following the Fracture, while the prior momentum of the Golden Order Party's dominance in Suthergold and Wintergleam allowed for a brief period of true sovereignty for the "Sovereign Confederation" before its integration into Elwynn as an Autonomous Republic in 1681.


==Drak-Modan==
==Drak-Modan==
Line 572: Line 65:
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.  
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.  


==Imperial Verionist Republic of Shireroth==
==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.
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==
==Khaz Modan Isles==
Line 585: Line 80:


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 [[Petition of Nordagaat|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.
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 [[Petition of Nordagaat|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==
==Ransenar==
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[[Category:Shireroth]]
[[Category:Shireroth]]
[[Category:Shirerithian Vulture States]]
[[Category:Shirerithian Vulture States]]
[[Category:Elwynn]]

Latest revision as of 19:38, 1 February 2023

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

See Timeline of Modern Benacia (1670–1675)

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:

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.

The Sovereign Confederation

During the years leading up to and following the mortal death of Ryker Everstone, the semi-state-sponsored cult of personality which survived him in his Kingdom's northern heartlands devolved into a millenarist malaise. Ransenar was uniquely able to revert these trends following the Fracture, while the prior momentum of the Golden Order Party's dominance in Suthergold and Wintergleam allowed for a brief period of true sovereignty for the "Sovereign Confederation" before its integration into Elwynn as an Autonomous Republic in 1681.

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.