Lament for Bollstadt
In the fires of war
You were vanquished by the tyrants
So now we nguish
-Author Unknown
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Part 0: The Green Dagger Rebellion
| 0:3 | Sag of Bollstadt |
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Nicaria 2nd, 856 (5/2/856) - Road to Efen - Duchy of Sfelden - t Lothar de Sven of Efen
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Lothar stared at the assembled crowd after his decration. He saw mixed reas. The death of Baron Karl de Sven horrified the ones who had e with him. Meanwhile, some soldiers were watg with excitement, si was the most exg thing going on. The nobles were watg with i, sihey were ner to duels. Many of them were involved in duels, either challenging or being challenged, and often these duels ended ih for one or both sides. So even though the circumstances were different, most of them could uand what’s going on. Many of them now looked at him with newfound i, after they’ve seen what he could do.
As he lowered his small sword, a couple of noblemen came up and gratuted him for his victory. So as his cousin y dead on the ground as his panions carried him away, Lothar was busy accepting the gratutions and praise of other nobles. As much as it didn’t sit right with him to accept praise and gratutions for murdering his cousin, he didn’t say a word and simply accepted their words with grace. Already he was being a true noble; accepting praise for murdering another because of old familial disputes.
After a while, Lilli and Lothar went back to their tent. As soon as they arrived, Lilli had him sit down so she could bandage his arm. As she was bandaging him, she asked him hesitantly, “Is this going to happen to us from now on?”
Lothar quickly responded, “No, of course not. I’m sure after this rebellion is over, we’ll be able to live peacefully.” But even to him, it sounded hollow.
Lilli was still worried, though, “You know, I was so scared while I was watg you duel. Since what would’ve happened if…” She then trailed off, even though both of them knew what would’ve e . Lothar wao hug her and tell her it was going to be alright, but even he wasn’t so sure.
He was still in shock at what happened and that he had made that decration to all those people. He didn’t know what to feel. Of course, it felt good to be reized and respected by other nobles, but at what cost? Was it really right to agree to that duel and kill his cousi? After Lilli finished bandaging his arm and he had id down to rest, he forted himself by thinking that if he had failed, then Lilli and the other men under his and would’ve faced reprisals. Still, he could never be sure, and so he wondered if it was justified to kill him just because something like that could’ve happened.
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Nicaria 4th, 856 (5/4/856) - Efen - Duchy of Sfelden - t Lothar de Sven of Efen
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Awo days of marg and Lettiless. Was this really all that this war was going to be? Lilli didn’t seem to mind it, though, and she mostly speime writing poetry. Lothar was never able to get into it like she could. He remembered once when they were youried to write a couple of poems, but he could never really uand how they were supposed to be structured. So he ried again. He didn’t mind, though. Although he thought that Lilli’s poems were wonderful, it just never seemed like something he was ied in. Besides, he was currently busy trying to learn all the rules and s of being a hat his father had never had the ce to fully teach him.
He saw the same restlessness in the on soldiers as well, with none of them havio war before, with their only ideas of war ing from balds and other forms of popur eai. Those that could read would read exaggerated stories of wars from other tries and empires. What those stories never covered was just how long they spent marg and how life really was in a military camp. It was hard for the men who had to adapt to these ditions. Things like poor tents, low-quality rations and food, as well as the camps being unsanitary. Only a few nobles leading the army joihe Duke of Rechigokoe when the King ordered him to lead a for the 4th Coalition against the Revolutionary oh of Echillecie, making the situation worse since very few professional officers led the army.
Many nobles didn’t serve in the Echille Revolutionary Wars because the Duke of Rechigoke didn’t seek their support in leading his force of thirty-six thousand men. Instead, he relied on oner and low-ranking o lead the men. Naturally, this led to rese among the high nobles, which boiled over whenever he returned from the etitiohe King for the creation of a professional standing military. The King grahis request, and thus the New Model Army was born with the Duke of Rechigokoe as its first anding general. So needless to say, there wasn’t a lot of military expertise with the nobles, and even those who had experienced war had experience from a war which occurred over thirty years ago. This would bee very clear during the soon to occur Battle/Siege of Bollstadt.
Ohey reached Efen, Lothar and his men were on high alert and had volunteered to lead the scouts of the various hrough this area, sihey were from here. Lothar led from the front with Arnold by his side as they led the scouting party to the town of Efen. It was strange being back like this. As a scout guiding a military force to requer his home from rebels. It just felt off, but he forted himself knowing that ohis was all over, he could have pead rebuild this pd help it prosper. But first, he’d have t ao the rebellion.
He quickly snapped out of his thinking when he heard bullets striking the ground near him and gunshots from the treelihis was it, his first real taste of bat. He quickly ordered his men to return fire, which they did with their carbines r as their bullets tore through the trees, striking the rebels. They reloaded, but no more shots came at them. Luessed his men had killed the rebels and moved on. He had no qualms about killing these rebels after what they had doo his family.
Soon they came across a rge group of rebels. In their ter was a green banner, which was the symbol of their rebellion. They didn’t immediately fire on him, ihey shouted at him, “We the people of Efen demand that your lordship leave us in peace. All we wish is to live in peace how we see fit!”
Lothar was having none of it, so he rode forward and shouted back, “As the t of Efen, I demand that you y down your arms and disperse!”
“We ot do that, your lordship, again. Please leave us be, and no harm will e towards you or your party.”
Upon hearing that, he raised his small sword, and this time shouted towards his cavalrymen, “Disperse them!” So his cavalrymen charged forward and only then did the rebels raise their old muskets, but only a couple of them fired off a ragged volley. Fortunately for Lothar, the volley was inaccurate and barely hit anything, with it mostly going above the heads of his horsemen. Within seds of the volley, his horsemen crashed into the rebel force. His horsemen swung wildly with their sabers, finding their marks each time as they cut down or trampled rebels. Almost as soon as the initial shock of the charge wore off, the rebels fled in terror. In triumph, Lrabbed the green banner and po present it to the Grand Duke.
Rebel bodies littered the ground, but Lothar quickly moved onwards. They soon arrived at the burnt-out ruins of his family’s manor. Lothar spent several minutes just staring at it. Memories of his family and childhood pyed through his mind as he looked at the ruined building. He remembered joining his father whenever he went on official busio Sfelden, Gren, or Harba. Then memories of him and Lilli pying together in the yard and him listening to her read him her stories and poems. Feions, his family had lived there, and now it was just a ruin because of this rebellion. He had to move on, though, but not before he made an oath to himself that he would someday rebuild it anew ohis rebellion was over.
So he moved onwards, aually they made it to the town, and they saw the green banners of the rebellion flowing in the air. He wao ght up to them ahem down, but he k would be too dangerht now. Instead, he had his men scatter around the perimeter of the town and observe defenses and rebel troop numbers. After around an hour, they had all the information they needed, so they returo the Grand Duke to present their information and the bahey captured. Their capture of a rebel banner, mostly intact, surprised him. He said that he would reward Lothar and his men for it as well for their work in scouting for him.
Soon after, the army desded on Efen and with little difficulty recaptured the town, with most resistance disappearing ohe nobles used their full might against them. For a battle which Lothar was building up as a major event in his mind, it turned out to be a rather small thing which passed by quickly. After the battle, the Grand Duke rewarded the nobles who performed the best itle.
Lothar stood out among them, and his men received six gold dinars each as a reward, which was equivalent to a year’s worth of ine for on soldiers. Lothar received the title of First Explorator of the Grand Duchy, eighteen gold s from the Grand duke, as well as a new side sword which was more fit for war than his current small sword. Further, the Grand Duke began regarding Lothar as a petent military ahe other standout was the son of the Duke of Pfafengen, Wolfgang de Meginhard. The young ander was slightly older than Lothar but still youhan most of the nobles in the Grand Duke’s army. He led a heavy cavalry charge which destroyed the rebel’s tral ford took a banner as well.
In the brief time that Lothar was in Efen before the army left, he would appoint a man named Markos de Hardwin as the steward of Efen to rule it while he was off on campaign. Lothar picked him because he had served under his father. He inteo repce him ter though, since he was quite old, but for the time, he would serve well enough. Ahing that happened was that many of the remaining household guards of his father volunteered to join Lothar. He had half of them stay and protect his holdings, and the other half join him. This raised his number of cavalrymen to arouy. Many peasants from the town also volunteered to join him in his campaign. Although it was clear though this was more because they didn’t have many options to make a living iown after the destru caused by the battle, rather than personal loyalty.
Lothar accepted them though and bartered with some o buy ons to equip his men, which didn’t e cheap. Of the eighteen gold s he had, he spent twelve of them buying all the equipment, like modern muskets, ammunition, and uniforms and a modern on. It was worth it though, sinow he had arouy cavalrymen and two hundred infantry. This put him on par with medium-sized ts and their retinues.
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Nicaria 14th, 856 (5/14/856) - Bollstadt - Duchy of Gernswald - t Lothar de Sven of Efen
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From Efen to Bollstadt, it was a hundred and twenty miles for the army to march. So it took them ten days to reach the city. Lothar didn’t waste that time. He immediately started drilling his men to get them ready for battle. With Arnold was his sed in and and ander of his cavalry, he felt the o appoint an infantry ander.
So Lothar appointed a minor aristocrat named Florus de Agapios as ander of the infantry and ander of the infantry. He was also a young man like Lothar and Arnold, and during the battle for Efen, he led a militia against the rebels and then volunteered his services to Lothar. Florus had also served as a merary, fighting against bandits in a nearby empire. It was an obvious choice to have him be in and of the infantry. He was relentless in his drills, making sure all his men were awake and ready by the time Lothar specified. He then had them run through stant drills involving hand-to-hand bat, marksmanship, and marg. All of this quickly made Lothar’s men stand out among the minor/medium nobles because of his stant pursuit of professionalism among his soldiers.
Eventually they reached the City of Bollstadt. It wasn’t the richest city, nor the most populous, nor the most industrialized, but it was the intellectual capital of Nonesia. Bollstadt Royal Uy, one of only three in Nonesia, the other two being in Rechigokoe and Gren formed the heart of the city.. As such, it attracted people from all over Western Roquesnd and even further. It was also a hub for the Republi and Reformist movements in Nonesia, which led to anger among the nobility, who stantly wao either shut down the uy or severely curtail its activities. They never got their wish, though, as the King saw it as a vital part of the Kingdom. In the end, though, this led to the current rebellion.
When the rebellion first broke out, the radionesian Republi Brotherhood uheir own rebellion and seized the city, prog the Free City of Bollstadt as indepe. They quickly unched major reforms, creating a cil of nine meed by the people of the city, and they created a new military force which tralized the rebels under a single and structure. The professional military officers who graduated from the Royal Military Academy in Gren, who ahe city’s garrison, made the city a major threat. Finally, they enacted revolutionary terror, exeg traitors and nobles, like during the Echille Revolution. However, they found themselves quickly isoted from outside support because of the oh of Echillecie’s reluce to support them and a general ck of support outside the militant Brotherhood. So their revolution remained fio Bollstadt.
It was the primary duty of the Grand Duke’s army to put down this rebellion, and it wouldn’t be easy. For the past month, the rebels haven’t stood idly by, and instead have beelessly training their troops for this battle and gathering intelligen the Grand Duke’s army. Their army numbered around twenty thousand men, so it was around half the size of the noble army. They made up for, in two major ways, the first being that they had pluhe city’s armory, which had enough ons to equip their army. The sed being that professional officers taught by fn instructors led them. So when they arrived, the rebels decided on a course of a which shocked the hey sallied out to attack the nobles instead of staying iy.
Lothar was busy having his men run through drills as he heard the opening on shots. At first, he assumed it was an actal discharge by some soldiers until he heard bugles bring and banging drums, whinounced an enemy attack. He turo Arnold and Florus and had them gather his troops ahem into formation for the uping battle. They returned rather quickly sihe men were already training, meaning that they already had the equipment they needed. So Lothar quickly led them to where the battle began.
His forces made haste through the camp as fused nobles and soldiers milled around, unsure of what was happening, with some waiting for orders while others went straight for the battlefield. Lothar decided he would send his infantry to the battlefield to get them engaged itle, while he keeps his cavalry batil he gets orders. Flours saluted him and quickly barked orders to get the infantry marg double time towards the frontline.
Lothar first tried to look in the Duke of Sfelden’s se, but he found that the Duke’s men were already engaged itle and the Duke himself was with the Grand Duke. Lothar khat interrupting a meeting of the high-ranking nobles was taboo, but saw that many nobles were fused and wouldn’t act without direct orders so he had no choibsp;
So he threw away any s he might have as he pushed through the nobles waiting for the Grand Duke to exit his tent. Lothar was at the entrao the tent and even though he sidered turning bad waiting like the other nobles; he knew his duty was greater than that, so he entered. As he entered, he heard the tail end of a versation.
“But what will happen if you fall into this battle?” The Grand Duke asked, somewhat ed.
Only for the Duke of Sfelden to respond with a ugh. “Ha, your excellency, if that happens, I doubt I’ll be in the position to pin.”
They quickly noticed Lothar, though, who bowed deeply and said, “My lords, we require orders at once. Many of the nobles are waiting for your orders before they send in their men.”
It was clear her of them wao be interrupted, but regardless, the Grand Duke quickly responded, speaking to the Duke of Sfelden, “Then e a us take our pces itle.” They thehe tent, with Lothar following close behind. The Grand Duke started issuing orders to where the nobles were to send their troops, with the battle unfolding.
He also sent orders to the nobles along the right a fnks of the army to surround the smaller rebel army. The Grand Duke ordered Lothar to keep his cavalry near him while instrug his infantry to fight alongside the White Rose Bannermen. Lothar’s men were already there fighting alongside them, so Lothar took personal and of his cavalry and formed up alongside the household guard of the Grand Duke.
Then they were off and the Grand Duke had them set up on a hill overlooking the battlefield. Looking over the battlefield, the amount of smoke h over the battlefield struck Lothar. He had never really thought about it, but all those soldiers each firing their muskets and the ons created a massive amount of smoke. Not only that, but many of the houses outside the city walls were on fire, c the battlefield in smoke. That made it hard for him to really see what was going on with the battle. He could vaguely make out the battle lines and could see some banners of the White Rose, as well as a few of the revolutiorics.
As the battle progressed, it seemed like the rebels had the upper hand as the bannermen were being pushed back. Lothar saening in the lines, and he looked over to the Grand Duke. He saw it as well. The Grand Duke raised his h his standard affixed to the end and ordered his men to charge. Lothar and his men followed close behind, intermixed with the household cavalry.
Lothar rushed forward down the hill, and the sounds of gunfire in the air filled his ears. There were bullets flying and muzzle fshes cutting through the thick smoke. It was hard for him to see with all the smoke, but he kept up with the other cavalrymen as they surged forward like a tidal wave. Then, out of the er of his eye, Lothar saw the rebel cavalrymen charging. Almost as soon as he saw them, he heard bugles signaling a charge, and then the rebel cavalry were on them.
Lothar brought his side sword up just in time to deflect a blow from a rebel saber. All around him, horsemen cshed as a fused melee engulfed the area. Lothar sed the area for any sign of his men or the Grand Duke, but he couldn’t see anything. He saw and deflected another saber ssh by a rebel rider before tering and stabbing the rebel, who then fell from his horse. Another rebel charged him, but Lothar skillfully parried and sshed the rebel across the chest, slig through his thin armor. Finally, some of Lothar’s cavalry found him and coalesced around him. Arnold had finally joined Lothar with a couple dozen cavalrymen with a mix of men from various units.
Knowing he would o find the Grand Duke, Lothar ordered his men forward as they searched for the Grand Duke amid the chaos of the battle. Finally, Lothar spotted him amid a group of rebel cavalrymen. The Grand Duke was a flurry of movement as he blocked and deflected saber and rikes before skillfully tering and deliveriating rikes to the rebel cavalry. But for every rebel he struck down, another quickly took their pce, and it was taking its toll on the Grand Duke.
“Protect the Grand Duke!” Lothar shouted to his men, who quickly rushed forward. Though as they did, one rebel nded a lucky hit on the Grand Duke, stabbing him through the shoulder with a nce. Lothar was the first to reach him, and he first dispatched the rebel cavalryman, who he cut down with a quick ssh of his sword.
Lothar’s first move after that was to che the Grand Duke. “Your excellency, are you alright!” He frantically asked.
“I’ll survive, but I have to pull back.” His bleeding shoulder showed why through, and at how he could barely hang onto his nce. His wound had been in his right shoulder, which meant it was hard for him to hold anything in his right arm, which was the one he used to wield his nce. Lothar k would be a bad idea for the Grand Duke to fight in this dition, but also that seeing their leader retreat would be horrible for morale. The an idea sier all, with all this smoke, all most people would see of the Grand Duke would be his nless they were extremely close.
“Your excellency, if you’ll permit me, I have a pn for how we turn this around.” The Grand Duke him to tinue, “I’ll carry your nd rally the soldiers by pretending to be you. In this smoke, nobody will tell the difference. While I’m doing that, you’ll be able to follow close behind and then take full credit ohe battle is over.”
The Grand Duke seemed a bit ed about the logistics of it, but he looked down at his arm again and nodded. He handed Lothar his nce, which had his standard hanging on it, and took position behind him while c his face. Lothar turo his cavalry, which had formed a circle around the two proteg them and told them to form a closer formation, giving them a rundown of the pn.
After he finished, he raised the o rally the rest of the cavalry, which had bee scattered nearby. He also had a nearby bugler py the and to rally nearby cavalrymen. This worked fantastically as cavalrymen arrived rapidly as the force became whole again. Though Lothar was careful that nobody saw it was him and not the Grand Duke, since he retending to be the Grand Duke through hiding behind his personal horsemen. Finally, once he had enough cavalrymeook stock of his position.
The cavalry brawl had made it so that the cavalry had been stuck behind enemy lines as the rebel infantry advanced on the bannermen. Seeing that the cavalry wasn’t the foost of the rebel infantry, he took his ce. He ordered a full charge into the rear of the rebel infantry, which had been moving ever forward in pursuit of the bannermen which had routed in the face of the fierd sudden battle.
As such, they hadn’t expected a charge and so when the cavalry smmed into their rear, the noble cavalry cut them down like wheat during harvest. The charge caught the rebel infantry pletely off guard, as they had thought the rebel cavalry had destroyed the Grand Duke’s cavalry. The disruption caused by this was noticeable even to the retreating bannermen and the noble levies, rejuvenating their spirits. They believed this battle may have just turned into a victory. So they quickly reformed themselves and advanced again against the rebel infantry. The rebels withdrew in good order despite the sudden charge, leaving the noble army as the victors.
However, the losses were heavy. Ultimately, the battle resulted in around twenty pert of the army being killed, wounded, missing, or captured. The chief cause of the losses was that surprise, meaning that the nobles didn’t have enough time to prepare. The rebels had caught them out of position and so they took heavy losses, getting into formations to fight. Losses were the heaviest among the bannermen and the cavalry uhe Grand Duke’s personal and. The banook the brunt of the fighting, and the sudden ter charge by rebel heavy cavalry surprised the cavalry. Though in the end, the battle was a victory; it yrrhie. The battle cimed the lives of several officers and minor nobles, including the Duke of Pfafengen, who held the highest rank. Many regarded the Grand Duke as a hero after the battle, as nobody realized Lothar’s role, and as such, fao bme or major criticism for the battle.
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Nicaria 21st, 856 (5/21/856) - Bollstadt - Duchy of Gernswald - t Lothar de Sven of Efen
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It had been a week sihe field battle, and there was no end in sight for the siege of the city. Because of the field battle, the nobles adopted a rategy to starve out the city as well as bombard it with their artillery. So, for the past week, there had been no real a taken by either side. It was now clear that both sides had taken heavy losses during the field battle, with many revolutionary officers being killed during the fighting and many soldiers as well. Ihe walls, however, they were safe, so they were stuside the walls while the noble army was stuck outside the walls. Lothar, for his part, returo training his men, with many of them now taking the training more seriously now that they had seen an actual battle.
Everything proceeded as normal until one day when the Duke of Sfelden summoned Lothar to talk. Of course, Lothar went almost immediately. All he did before he left was tell his sister where he was going. He made it to the meeting pd saw the Duke staring off into the former battlefield. “So why did you ask for me, yrace?”
“Ah, well, since you’re one of my vassals, I wao hear your thoughts about what should happen following this rebellion.”
“Pardon me, yrace, I don’t quite uand?”
The Duke stroked his white beard and said again, “I simply want to know what you think should happen with the realm ohis rebellion is over.”
Lothar thought about this for a minute. He hadn’t really given much thought to the realm. He had mostly been ed about Efen and rebuilding it. Ohing was certain, though, he didn’t want another rebellion like this to break out again. So he expanded on that to the Duke, “Well, yrace, I think the realm should try to prevent any simir rebellions to this one.”
The Duke ughed at that a bit. “Of course, I’m sure even the reformists would say something simir. What kind of specific as would you take, though, if you had the power to?”
Feeling a bit embarrassed at his previous answer, Lave his hohoughts. “Well, we then the power of the nobility across the realm. I mean, look at our situation now. We, the nobles, are the ones putting down this rebellion, while the Royal Court and States General have retreated to Seier. Not only that, but it seems like the New Model Army couldn’t eve this rebellion. The nobility should have the power to build up our nds to serve the people and the King. Of course, we also o build up the military and industry in order to stay ahead of our enemies, but political reforms aren’t the answer.”
The Duke looked at Lothar, who became nervous w if he had said something wrong before the Duke smiled warmly at him and responded, “That’s excellent. I couldn’t have said it aer myself.” He stood up aured at Lothar to follow him. “I’m sure you know this, but I don’t have any children or any immediate family members, and I’ve bee rather old.” He said that st part half jokingly, “During these past few weeks on campaign, I’ve been thinking about my succession. There are no good options for me at the moment because it could easily spiral into a war between the various ts of Sfelden. So I’ve been looking into the various nobles who could repce me. You know his excellency. The Grand Duke told me of your pn, which won us the battle st week. It was a brilliant move under all that pressure.”
The pair reached the top of a hill overlooking the field, with the city walls only about eight hundred meters away. There were reports that rebel sharpshooters had been firing at the roops under simir ditions, so Lothar interrupted him, “Five me, yrace, but aren’t you worried about being shot at from this distance?”
Again the Duke ughed, “Why should I not even the Grand Duke’s hunters could hit something this far away-” Then a single shot echoed across the field as the Duke of Sfelden colpsed. Lothar rushed to catch him, and he immediately saw how bad the wound was. The bullet went right through his temple, leaving a massive exit wound. Lothar knew he was dead. He still dragged him back to the camp, though, and called for a medic. The medics took the Duke away, and Lothar suddenly had to answer a lot of questions about what happened. It all became a blur of questions and him giving answers for what happened.
Iermath, the Grand Duke took trol of the Duke of Sfelden’s army, who also became regent of the duchy until a new Duke came to power. Ialiation, the nobles executed several rebel prisoners in full view of the city, and the Grand Duke allowed the artillery to strike the city, uricted by previous rules he’d set. There was also siderable u among the soldiers of his army who wanted revenge for their ander’s death, and an equal amount of anger from the nobles who were furious at the assassination. Lothar could also tell that the other nobles from Sfelden were scheming to gain the duchy. For his part, he dedicated his time fully to the battle ahead of them. Something which he noticed ter, the Grand Duke appreciated.
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Nicaria 29th, 856 (5/29/856) - Bollstadt - Duchy of Gernswald - t Lothar de Sven of Efen
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Over a week had passed sihe assassination of the Duke of Sfelden and the siege was still stu a stalemate, but the Grand Duke had a pn for how to storm the city. His pn was to dig uhe walls aroy them that way, sihe current artillery he had wasn’t rge enough to break through the walls. They hadn’t thought t siege artillery, sihey didn’t expect to fight a prolonged siege. To get around this, they had adopted this pn of undermining the walls to un assault oy.
So for the past week, the sappers had been digging tunnels uhe walls and were close to finally being able to blow up the walls. Finally, oh, it happened, as the Grand Duke ordered all the nobles and their troops to get into position to storm the city. As Lothar and his men made it into position, they saw the explosion. It rocked the battlefield as a se of the walls burst apart from the bst. Stones and bricks shot up high into the air, only barely missing people below, as the stunned defenders didn’t know how to react. In this haze, the noble army stormed the city.
Uedly, many of the most elite troops uhe rebel’s and were manning the walls, so when they exploded, the bst killed their best troops and officers. This was great for the noble army, which was now only dealing with the irregur rebel infantry, which didn’t pose as much of a threat. The first thing the noble army did was throw opees so that the entire army could ehe city. So within half an hour, the entire army had stormed into the city. That was when the age started.
Almost as soon as they ehe city, the anders pletely lost trol of their men and, without disciplihese men took to looting and other crimes against the civilian popution. Many of them fanned out across the city, breaking into homes to steal or it other crimes to the people who lived there. Both soldiers and rebels alike started massive fires in fighting and looting. The nobles weren’t the only looters, as many of the less disciplined rebels also engaged in looting or other crimes. Massacres were onpce, as order pletely broke down iy, with only a few units on each side not desding to barbarity.
Not eveemples to the Twins and the Asded Heroes were safe from the rampaging soldiers who looted and burhe temples with no care for the precious works within. Soldiers stole or burned both written and artistic works. The soldiers looted and burhe Royal Uy, massag students who had pyed no part in the fighting. In the chaos the buildings of the uy were demolished and their libraries burned. It got to the point of individual citizens being tortured to give up their valuables, with some soldiers even prying gold teeth out of the mouths of citizens or cutting off fingers which held rings.
Lothar, for his part, tried to keep his men from looting and was successful, with only around a dozen or two dozen of his men engaging in looting. He personally executed those who engaged in looting, though this went unnoticed amid the chaos. Through the night a day, the looting tinued until the Grand Duke finally ordered ao the looting and publicly executed any soldiers still engaged in looting. Then he gave out an order that the people could return to their homes unharmed and that their remaining property would be safe. It was a plete farce. After all, most people had lost everything they had. The soldiers had burnt down their homes and looted them, and they had unimaginable crimes inflicted on them and their families. Yet the hought this was suffit and they praised the Grand Duke for his merobody asked the people what they thought.
Bollstadt had a popution of around housand before the battle, but following the sag of the city, that number dropped all the way to thirty thousand. The people either died, fled the city, or went missing, with many of them o return to their homes. Yet for some his was a cause for celebration: they had finally broken the rebels in the east, with total victory not too far off. For the on soldiers, this was also their way of getting rid getting pensated for the campaign. After all, many of their nobles had run into financial issues, raising and keeping the forces funded. So this was the best way to pay their men. Through unimaginable cruelty to the on folk.
Word of the sag would spread across the Kingdom, with travelers paring it to the pilging which took pce during the first crusades of the Nicarian Cyclic Path Religion. The btant cruelty which the nobles and their soldiers took part in helped energize the reformist and republi movements to new heights, even as the rebellion tinued. For many, this was too far, and many denouhe Grand Duke and his noble army and some iates General even tried to get the King to denounce him, but they failed. Ultimately, this would be the defining moment in the Green Dagger Rebellion, as Bollstadt was an example of what might happen to rebelling cities. In the end, it pletely broke the rebellion ihe city and rgely in the east, with the st stronghold being the capital city of Gren.
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The day after the looting ended, Lothar went out onto the streets to see the true extent of the damage. As he walked those soot covered streets littered with broken gss and blood, he saw what looked like a piece of paper on the ground. He bent doicked it up and saw that whoever wrote it had survived the sag and was describing the horrors. Something about it pelled Lothar to hold on to it and so he did.
“I believe the rampaging soldiers killed between thirty to sixty thousand civilians in Bollstadt. I could not believe my eyes at what I saw. It’s beyond words, a nobody seemed to bat a the wanton savagery of this war. By the grace of the Twins, I hope that this is the st of the horrors which will afflict our nds.”
-Unknown Author. Torn scrap of paper found by t Lothar de Sven of Efen.
