What is left?

  After the battles and the war

  What do we o restore?

  To gain pead prosperity

  We must banish the barbarity.

  And refle what we’ve lost.

  Aore it, no matter the cost.

  All we’ve lost, we ot ignore.

  No more will they ignore

  The people who’ve seey

  Ahe system’s mortality

  They have seen the system’s rot

  Though failed, they’ve shown their part

  -Elias Manfred

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  Part 0: The Green Dagger Rebellion

  | 0:6 | Aftermath of Rebellion |

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  Seifedmis 31st, 856 (7/31/856) - Gren - Royal Territory of Gren - el Adelmar Athanaric

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  Five days ago, the New Model Army defeated the Green Dagger Rebellion after they broke through their defensive lines aook the capital city of Gren. The following day, the King, the Royal Court, and the Nonesian States General returo the city to great celebration by the people. Of course, they alsht with them relief for the suffering and shes that happened during the siege by the New Model Army. This, bined with the massive military presence, snuffed out any attempted revolts by the remaining Green Daggers. So ihan a week, life had returo normal, albeit with a massive military presenbsp;

  Adelmar, for his part, was busy preparing to meet with the Royal Court for a hearing on his request for promotion to Majeneral. He k was jumping a rank, but because of his capture of Strausen and his key role in the victory at Gren, he felt like he ear. Leneral Niko de Diederid several other officers sponsored his request. However, he felt annoyed because he had to do this, solely because the military promotion system had stayed the same for over a hundred years.

  In order to be promoted, the King and his Royal Court, made up of his closest advisors, must grant it to the officer. Usually, they gra without issues, but feneral officer ranks, they had to attend a hearing in person. Adelmar ecial case. Despite a powerful noble adopting him, he still didn’t have the status of a noble, nor was he allowed to take his father’s family name, which means he was still a oner in the eyes of the w. No oner had ever gotten the position that Adelmar was trying to get, so it was a long shot and Adelmar k, but still with the wave of reform spreading across the Kingdom he felt they would grant it.

  Still, it would be difficult, so he was busy running through what arguments he would make to the Court. Deep down, though, he was worried sihe Royal Court had a reputation for being a bastion of servatism in the try attempting to bloy reforms to the try. He still felt that evee that, they would have to grant him his promotion and then future reforms could tinue from that.

  Adelmar looked outside and saw the first lights of dawn as the workers extinguished the streetmps. He k was about to be time for him to head out, so he put on his uniform and started heading over to the Ivory Pace, where the Royal Family and Court are based. Right now, because he was still on active duty, they housed him in the Inner Garrisohe Royal District where gover buildings were located. It was only a short walk, so he decided not to get a carriage, instead he walked. As he walked dowreets, the amount of soldiers patrolling the streets surprised him. As he walked past them, they saluted him.

  Finally, he stood in front of the Ivory Pad, true to its was as white and elegant as ivory. In front of the Pace, were several richly decorated carriages and the staff of various nobles milling around. Adelmar walked inside aowards the main hall where his hearing was supposed to be held. The guard told him that the Royal Court would hear him out soon. He waited, and in the waiting area, he noticed various other people, one of whom wore a rich business suit. No doubt he was making a petitioed to his business. Another person wore the clothes of an aristocrat, and Adelmar assumed he was there to discuss somethied to nd or his holdings. Whatever he wahe Royal Court would probably give him. At least, that’s what Adelmar assumed, based on pret.

  As he was watg people, he heard a guard shout, “el Adelmar Athanaric, the Royal Court will now hear your petition!” So he stood up and walked into the main hall. It was an impressive room with paintings of all Nonesian Monarchs and the ornate chairs of the members of the Royal Court on each side of the room. Above the royal court there ace for spectators, and Adelmar khat his father, Leonhard, his other officers and allies were up there. In the ter of the room was the throhe King was sitting on. Adelmar walked forward, remembering the routine he was supposed to follow. He took 2 steps forward and bowed to the right side of the Court. He then took awo steps forward and bowed to the left side of the Court. Then he walked up to the King and kneeled with his head down.

  The King’s Herald began, “el Adelmar Athanaric, the Royal Court of His Majesty King Albert II de Adalwolf: By the Grace of the Asded Gods, King of Nonesia. Grand Prince of all the nds of the Nonus Dynasty, including the Despotates of Strausen, Luryelung, and Prons. Grand Duke of the Imperial Province of Nonus. Despot of Strausen. Duke of Gren. Defender of Citadel Adalwolf. Defender of the Holy Sanctuary in Harba. Patron of the Oracle of Harba. Head of House Adalwolf. Have rejected your petition.”

  Adelmar didn’t know how to respond. He felt a mixture of emotions and couldn’t stop himself before blurting out, “As a petitioner, I have the right to make my case!”

  “el Athanaric the Royal Court with his majesty’s agreement have rejected your petition and have denied yht to state your case-” the King interrupted the Herald by going into a massive coughing fit before one of his courtiers rushed over to steady him. Once he finished, he simply said, “Please tinue.”

  “Ahem. As I was saying, they have denied your petition and so you must leave.” Seeing no hope of victory, Adelmar stood up a, pletely ign the proper procedure. He stormed out of the Pace itself, paying no mind to the fused gnces he got from the guards. As he stormed back to the Inner Garrison, cursing the Royal Court the whole time under his breath. As soon as he got back to his room, he saw Leonhard was already there, and Adelmar just went off.

  “Those fools in the Court think they just keep everything the same as it’s always been! It’s like they’ve learned nothing from this rebellion!”

  Leonhard stepped back a little, since he had never seen Adelmar this angry before, but Adelmar tinued, “What a pathetic excuse for an anization! ‘We have rejected your petition.’ What a joke!”

  Leonhard finally stepped in. “Adelmar, I uand yer, but give into it. We still have work to finish.”

  Adelmar sighed before saying somewhat dejectedly, “Their attitude is going to drive our try to ruin.”

  “On that, we both agree, but we still ge things for the better. We still have our ranks, and maybe the States General drive ge forward.” Leonhard added.

  “Not as long as the Royal Court holds any power over the try.”

  “Give it time. We only defeated the rebellion a few days ago. Once our try reflect, we uand what happened and reform our try.”

  “Maybe, but I’m worried that day won’t e in time.”

  Partially, Adelmar was right. The four years would be a strange mix of reaary and reformist policies. Secret police like the Third Guard Regiment would dramatically ramp up their activities in Gren and crack down on republi and remaining Green Dagger cells. This included the execution of Ruben Theodoricus after a brief trial by the High Court of Justice. The Nonesian Republi Brotherhood, a promi secret society which had pyed a part in the rebellio into exile in the newly formed Republic of Oshia following their successful revolutio polid the military arrested, assassinated, or forced into exile republi political figures. The nobles in the East gained more autonomy uhe Grand Duke, who became a very vocal supporter of the rights of the nobility to rule their provinces without outside interferenbsp;

  However, even just after the rebellion, reformism started spreading across the kingdom and started influeng policy. Within a month, the ried to shut down the Royal Academy in Gren because they cimed it was full of anti-traditionalist and anti-monarchist ideas and was a breeding ground for future revolutionaries. However, a bination of studeance, pressure from the monarchy, and pressure from the States General forced the o back down. After only a single day.

  After that, the States General led by a reformist named Erhard de Thietmar took a more active role in goverhrough their trol over the budget. With that trol, they made sure that uhe gover gave them more trol, they wouldn’t fund the gover. Naturally, the servatives were angry, but there wasn’t anything they could legally do, so they capituted to the States General and gave them more trol istion.

  Uhe Royal Court, the States General was much more in favor of reform and so passed through reforms to the try. The political repression on republis and reformists decreased, and in a strange alliahey worked with the nobility to limit the secret police’s powers. Their biggest aplishment was raising the amount of delegates to the States General that are directly elected by the people. They were also active on the eic front, with them helping to fund an expansion of the railway from Rechigokoe to Gren and w to build up the try’s industry.

  Adelmar, for his part, didn’t py a role iruggle between the Court and the States General. Instead, he focused on his job as an officer. He was still angry about the Court’s reje, but still he returo his service without issue, and all of his officers stuck with him. And so, like that, Adelmar’s life slowed down for the four years. Still in the shadows, the reaaries and servatives are plotting to return Nonesia to how it was before the rebellion. As are the reformists and republis, plotting to wipe out the st remnants of the old order and create a new order. They remai a deadlock for the four years until a massive ge happened.

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  Harvest 3rd, 856 (8/3/856) - Sfelden - Duchy of Sfelden - Duke Lothar de Sven of Sfelden

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  “Announg, By the Grace of the Twins and Asded Heroes, His Grace Lothar de Sven, Duke of Sfelden and t of Efen.” The assembled crowd rose and cheered for Lothar as he walked towards the throne. He kept his eyes forward and head held high as he walked forward, and out of the er of his eyes he saw his sister Lilli, Arnold, and his other officers and allies. Finally, he climbed the steps to the dais and kneeled before the Archbishop of Nonesia, who pced the ducal et on Lothar’s head. It was heavier than he expected, but he didn’t let that show, instead he calmly sat down ohroo the cheers of the assembled crowd. It had taken him a long way to get here.

  Several months aght after the capture of Bollstadt, Lothar and the Grand Duke had a versation. To his face, the Grand Duke told him that because of his as during the battle, he was going to support him for the currently vat position as Duke of Sfelden. However, Lothar had learned a few things in his time in the Grand Duke’s army and one of those things was that his small ty wasn’t very strong, and he was young. Which meant that if he became Duke, he would owe a lot to the Grand Duke, and he wouldn’t have a very strong power base unless he could massively strehe power of the Duke. He felt that the Grand Duke thought he could easily manipute him. Surprisingly, Lothar didn’t actually care too much about that since he was already going to support the Grand Duke and if it got him a higher position, he wouldn’t pin. So he accepted the Grand Duke’s aid.

  That opened a lot of doors for him as he set out across the duchy, making threats, deals, and promises to gain the support of the nded gentry. To some, he made threats of retribution, with him using his newly expanded private army as a show that he was serious. To others, he id out how he po modernize and grow the duchy’s ey, fog on industrialization and infrastructure development and how he would include them if they joined him. Finally, as he made his st trips around the duchy, he made promises to use his future power as duke to be those who supported him, who hadn’t already agreed to support him. Finally, a cil of nobles of the duchy was called and presided over by the Grand Duke himself and, with a majority, Lothar became the Duke of Sfelden.

  The cheering crowd brought him back to the present and out of his memories. He looked out at the sea of faces and saw all of his new subjects, and he knew he would dht by them. He rose and began his speech, “My loyal subjects, I stand before you as your new duke. The Duchy of Sfelden will undergo ges. After all, we live in ging times. Not too long ago, the inferno of rebellion threatehe order that this kingdom has maintained for several hundred years. We defeated the traitors, but even I have had to e to terms with the fact that we ot survive without ge.”

  He paused for a sed to see the reas of the people. The decration shocked most of them and they were waiting for him to tinue, so he did. “Not the reform that some in Gren are calling for. We, the nobility that have ruled and protected this kingdom, must lead the reform. The radicals who seek to take us out of the decision are mistaken. No self-respeg noble will accept their btant attacks on our society and our way of life. However, we still have the best is of the try in our hearts. So we want to lead the strengthening of our try, but without abandoning our traditions. So as long as we trol the reforms, I see no reason we should stand in its way.”

  He took a sed to look at the crowd after his speech. Many of them were a bit surprised, but many of them seemed intrigued by what his speech was implying. Among the most reaary hough, there was a bit of anger in their faces. Lothar didn’t care though, as long as he held the loyalty of his officers and the support of the Grand Duke. He didn’t have to worry about them. The most curious reas came from the reformist oners and nobles, who were mostly wary but not totally hostile. Still, it was a delicate bance. If he went too far iher dire, he would face a massive backsh from either reaaries or reformists. However, if his pragmatic reforms succeeded, he would turn Sfelden into a model for the entire kingdom on how the nobility could stay in power with some minor reforms.

  After the ceremony finished, he and a few other people went to the cil chambers. With him were Arnold Badurad, his cavalry ander and chief advisor up to this point, Florus de Agapios, his infantry ander, Markos de Hardwin, his steward and his sorius de Hardwin, and finally Lothar’s sister, Lady Lilli da Sven. As soon as they sat down, Markos de Hardwin requested to speak, and so Lothar let him. “Yrace when you first appointed me Steward of Efen and now of Sfelden, I was incredibly grateful for the opportunity to tinue serving your illustrious family. However, I am an old man, ?so I’d humbly ask that my son take my pce as Steward.”

  Lothar looked over at Demetrius. “Why should I pick you over everybody else?”

  “Yrace, I uand I ck the experieny father and other men, but from your speech earlier I see that you’ll need loyal allies. Not only that, but you’ll also need somebody who uands the various groups in our duchy. Let me expin. Any lh-ranking nobles would want to overthrow you or undermine you to improve their own status. If you chose a ohen they would face stant threats and wouldn’t be able to get what you wao get done.”

  “Iing analysis, but why wouldn’t you fall victim to any of these things?”

  “Well, yrace, my grandfather served under your family, my father served under your family, and I am going to tihis tradition under you. My family also holds no nd, and we rely entirely on yours. Finally, I support your reforms as long as we don’t rush into anything ahe status quo intact. In order to do this, you’ll also need a civilian advisor because currently the cil is full of military men.”

  “Hmm, you make a ving argument, but I’d like to hear what my other advisors say.”

  The first to answer was Arnold, “I don’t see an issue with it. We should recruit any loyal men we .”

  Then Florus, “I think the same. He seems to be our best bet for a steward.”

  Lestured at Lilli, who seemed to be lost in thought, “Oh yes, sorry, I agree. We need a steward quickly, and he seems to be the best.”

  “Fantastic, I’ll make the procmation ter, but for now, Demetrius de Hardwin, you’re my eward. Take your pce at the cil table.”

  Markos de Hardwin would stand up and take his leave. With that, the cil meeting began. “This will be a short meeting. I wao get your opinions on what our priority should be.”

  The first to respond would be Arnold, “Yrace, I believe we should first strengthen our internal position by strengthening our industry or our military. Both are good choices, and they’d both be a good pce to begin our reforms.”

  Demetrius added, “Creating industry will enrich our holdings and help equip our army. Now that we’ve defeated the rebels, creating the foundations for new industries is our best choice. It would also help us y the groundwork for future industrial development. After all, there aren’t a lot of industrial regions in the Kingdom. We also have plentiful iron and coal deposits across the duchy.”

  “Instead of waiting for industry to take off, which could take anywhere from months to years, we should instead expand and modernize our army. Rebels or nobles might not directly threaten us, but soon we’ll have to face the issue.” Florus said.

  “If I may, this isn’t an exclusive choice. We work with other duchies, we both work in our industry and our military. If we work with other nobles on joint projects, we could easily do both types of reforms without rog the boat too much.” Lilli added, though she still was thinking about something else.

  Lothar looked over to the clod sighed, “Well I’d like to keep discussing this topic, but I have to go speak with his excellency the Grand Duke. Apologies, but I o take my leave, you all are wele to tihis discussion amongst yourselves.” With that, he left the cil chambers ao the room where the Grand Duke was waiting for him.

  Wheered, he bowed and said, “Your excellency, I’m gd you could make it.”

  “Of course, there’s nothing that could’ve made me miss this. Especially after all the work you put in to make it happen. Anyway, let’s get down to business. I want to know what your pns are for your reforms.”

  “It’s simple. We keep the power, but we still strehe try ahe people on our side.”

  “How would you say we do that, then?”

  ?”Your excellency, we o prevent any political reforms in Gren from weakening the nobility. Along with that, we o i in industry and create a modern military to make our own power base in the east.”

  “I couldn’t have said it aer. Anyway, that’s really all I wao talk about. I’m short on time, I o be in Pfafeomorrow to speak with the new duke. My apologies for taking you away from your cil. I just had to make sure. Until ime, yrace.”

  “Of course, your excellency.” With that, the two parted ways and Lothar returo the cil chamber.

  So for the four years Lothar focused on building up the duchy with rge-scale industrial development only rivaled by Rechigokoe, Gren, and Harba. These projects would endear moderates to him, but they would also alieraditionalists, but because of his military reforms, they didn’t pose a threat to him. With advice from Florus, he made massive reforms to the duchy’s military force, with him establishing a military academy and training a professional officer corps to lead his men. He also made sure that his industrial developments included substantial funding for military industries to produough rifles and ons to arm his rapidly expanding military.

  His reforms didend to the political side outside strengthening himself, though. He pletely shot down the idea of a provincial assembly and arrested those who were openly critical of his regime, calling them radicals. To the rest of the kingdom, he tio promote his ideology of Noble Self Strengthening, whivolved the nobility leading reforms to the ey and military while keeping the political structure the same.

  Four years after the rebellion ended, King Albert II of Nonesia died with no clear heir to the throhree people had cims. The first was the Prince Adric de Adalwolf, supported by the reformists who saw him as the best hope for ref the Kingdom. He’s the most legitimate, though there are rumors he’s illegitimate, leading people to look for other ts. Others, too, poio his mother inally being a oner as a reason to disqualify him from the line of succession. The sed being Princess Amelina da Adalwolf, the champion of the remaining absolutists, who see her and her pns for an absolute monarchy as the only way to modernize and strengthen Nonesia. There are some who balk at seeing a woman on the Nonesian throne, even though there have been queens before. Like her brother, some cim her mother’s former status as a oner as a reason for her not to be ohrone. Finally, the Grand Duke Aldebrand de Adalwolf of Harba is the champion of the traditionalists, who he has led during the Green Dagger Rebellion. His policies are simply for the nded gentry to keep all their rights and privileges.

  Yet, the monarchists and moderate reformists aren’t the only ones pnning. In the shadows, republiism tio spread despite state suppression in preparation to make their move to lead a revolution. Though others prepare, like the many fas ihe Nonesian States General, eaning t their chosen t to the throhe New Model Army, the modernized professional military, isn’t idle, either, with officers secretly pig which fa to join and preparing for the worst while they broadly tio advocate modernizatiion too is feeling the strain of the current times with fas, sects, and cults all vying for trol and influence over the Nonesian people.

  Nonesia is on the verge of civil war, with each fa preparing their military forces and fn enemies looming. One wrong move could ignite a wildfire which could burire try and many others to the ground. In this time, two titans of history will collide, on one side, the aristocratic Duke Lothar de Sven of Sfelden oher side, Adelmar Athanaric. They and their allies will struggle through political maneuvering, spiracies, and tless battles. The chapter of Nonesian history will be written in the blood soon to be shed in the fields of Nonesia.