Difference between revisions of "Oritolon (Realm)/Recent History"

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(Updated recent history.)
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A vote of confidence in Khains' role as ruler was called in the senate and went against him, requiring a referendum of all nobles as to his continued rulership. Before the results were returned he called a referendum on the preferred government system and following it's result changed the government system to monthly elections of all government positions, it is assumed that he did this because the system he had created was designed to make it easier to hold on to power than to regain it should it be lost. He declared the system he had created 'failed' and symbolically destroyed the original copies of the articles of the republic and The Seven Pillars which he had written.
 
A vote of confidence in Khains' role as ruler was called in the senate and went against him, requiring a referendum of all nobles as to his continued rulership. Before the results were returned he called a referendum on the preferred government system and following it's result changed the government system to monthly elections of all government positions, it is assumed that he did this because the system he had created was designed to make it easier to hold on to power than to regain it should it be lost. He declared the system he had created 'failed' and symbolically destroyed the original copies of the articles of the republic and The Seven Pillars which he had written.
  
Then came the news that [[Lukon (Realm)]], long federation partners with Oritolon, had broken their federation and intended to invade Oritolon in order to bring stability to the chaos and allow Oritolon again to become trusted allies. There were strong hints that unless the widely respected former Prime Minister, Spearhead Reapers, became ruler of Oritolon this trust would be next to impossible to gain.
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Then came the news that [[Lukon (Realm)|Lukon]], long-time federation partners with Oritolon, had broken their federation and intended to invade Oritolon in order to bring stability to the chaos and allow Oritolon again to become trusted allies. There were strong hints that unless the widely respected former Prime Minister, Spearhead Reapers, became ruler of Oritolon this trust would be next to impossible to gain.
  
 
Khain was protested out of office by those who felt he had put Oritolon at grave risk by his actions. His supporters, who were adamant that opposition to him was unfair, protested the remaining government members from their positions.
 
Khain was protested out of office by those who felt he had put Oritolon at grave risk by his actions. His supporters, who were adamant that opposition to him was unfair, protested the remaining government members from their positions.
 +
 +
There was much activity by individuals loyal to Oritolon behind the scenes and eventually the threat of invasion was lifted.
  
 
Spearhead was soon elected ruler and set about restoring the traditional government system of Oritolon, trying to calm relations with her former federation partners and renew the attempt to take back the rogue region of Irdalni.
 
Spearhead was soon elected ruler and set about restoring the traditional government system of Oritolon, trying to calm relations with her former federation partners and renew the attempt to take back the rogue region of Irdalni.

Revision as of 01:17, 9 June 2011

The Long War

The long, brutal war between Oritolon, her ally Lukon and the theocratic states of Alebad and Alowca raged for many years and cost countless lives on both sides.

The war had it's roots in the conflict between Portion and Lukon. Portion had invaded their neighbours intent on conquest but with help from their new allies, Oritolon, Lukon pushed Portion back to the point that their capital was under threat. Portion's allies Alebad and Alowca eventually launched an ill-fated attack on Oritolon's army in Windaria. A lone Oritolon infiltrator disrupted the enemy advance so thoroughly that their attack was doomed before it began. With their allies crushed by this defeat Portion soon fell to Lukon's forces.

Oritolon retaliated a short time later, aided by Lukon and even Alebad who had turned on their allies over a political disagreement. Irdalni was taken from Alowca after a hard fight and the Alowcans were forced back to their capital in the face of overwhelming force. There they argued and despaired with many fleeing the continent. A lull in the fighting while Oritolon and her allies refitted their armies provided breathing space to Alowca which allowed them to regroup and to rebuild their army. A stalemate ensued with Oritolon and Alowca engaged largely in tactical posturing with the occasional bloody border engagements and numerous raids on both sides of the border. Though their internal problems in Alowca had weakened them significantly as a realm their military power was enough to keep Oritolon at bay.

Shrewd diplomacy on the part of Alowca's ruler then led to the formation of an alliance that brought support from all the other realms against Lukon and Oritolon. However the alliance was half-hearted and riddled with internal conflicts and failed to prevent Oritolon and Lukon from inflicting heavy damage on Alowca and Outer Tilog. Eventually Alowca and Alebad gained some ground in Oritolon but were driven back again.

Towards the final third of the war The Path of Chivalry was founded in Oritolon as a response to the increased use of religion by Alowca and Alebad as a weapon of war and a tool of intimidation and coercion. The Path's intention was to mitigate such subversion of faith by promoting tolerance and freedom of worship within Oritolon's borders and, later, into those regions so long suppressed by the stifling yoke of theocracy.

For years the war raged on with neither side gaining much advantage. The opposition alliance crumbled, leaving Alowca and Alebad to face Lukon and Oritolon unaided. Faith in the leaders of the theocracies and their continued corruption of their religion led to internal struggles. Their numbers depleted by long years of war and infighting Alebad finally fell to the fury of the armies of Lukon and Oritolon.

Alowca held out for some time under various leaders but their internal struggles for control of the power of the church continued to weaken them. Though they fought long and hard region after region began to fall and inevitably their capital was taken in a massive final assault by the armies of Oritolon and Lukon.

By the end of the war most of Alowca and much of Alebad were now held by Oritolon with some northern regions held by Lukon and the stain of theocracy had finally been wiped from The Colonies. Peace, of a sort, settled over the southern half of the continent.

The Founding of Minas Thalion

Once it became apparent that The Long War could not only be won but could result in the eradication of both Alowca and Alebad and the taking of their lands both Oritolon and Lukon had agreed after lengthy discussion that the best way to manage these new lands would be to found a new realm based around the Alebad duchy and populated by nobles from both Oritolon and Lukon, with government positions shared equally between the conquering realms.

Lukon was slow to finalise and enact this plan following the war but with pressure from Oritolon who were feeling the pain of trying to maintain regions so far from their capitol a deal was eventually reached and the realm of Minas Thalion was duly founded.

Tragically the Oritolon noble who had been nominated to rule the new realm was slain upon her arrival in it's capital during a confused and needless battle brought about by a disastrous case of mistaken identity resulting from the chaotic nature of the first few days after the realm's founding.

The Hvrek Treachery

Hvrek Psyche had been the incumbent Duke of Alowca when it fell to Oritolon and had been allowed to retain his position as a noble of Oritolon after the war. Shortly after the founding of Minas Thalion he led a round of protests against Oritolon's Prime Minister, Antonine Willhelm. Hvrek and his supporters claimed that Antonine was a member of 'The Colonial Brethern', a group dedicated to spreading chaos within the most powerful realms on the continent, and was conspiring to ruin Oritolon. Though these allegations were later rejected at trial Antonine had already been forced from office. By careful positioning of his followers in key areas, and the founding of a religion uncannily similar to that of the former theocracy of Alowca, Hvrek had gained enough support to be elected Prime Minister of Oritolon.

This was seen by many as a coup by forces loyal to the fallen realm of Alowca. Suspicion turned to dismay as Hvrek used his position to appoint his followers to positions of power. Any noble thought to oppose him was banned without question by his puppet judge, Katherine.

Outraged, a group of long established Oritolon loyalists mounted two rebellions and eventually forced Hvrek and his followers from power. The exiled nobles were repatriated and Actrial Erendegard was subsequently elected Prime Minister. Though Oritolon was saved from the brink of disaster the chaos of this coup and counter-coup resulted in Oritolon losing control of many of her regions, including the duchy of Alowca which slipped into anarchy as a result of Hvreks final acts of sabotage.

The False Reconstitution

In an attempt to draw the deep divisions between factions in Oritolon into the open and forge a unity among Oritolon's nobles Prime Minister Ash Ketchum stepped down from his position in order to force an election, changing the realm government system to a monarchy as he did so.

The fierce debates that resulted leading up to the election did indeed draw out the factions, perhaps more effectively than he imagined given what was to happen later, and some of the bile and frustration that had been building up in certain places was vented and then subsided to a degree. There was deep distrust on all sides over the motives of many of Oritolon's nobles and much accusation, supposition and plotting.

Khain Dragonborn won the election on a platform of reform and a return to Oritolon's core values of strength, justice and unity through a the founding of a complex and rigid senatorial system. Though he tried to ease their concerns many were still fearful of the possibility of subversion of power in Oritolon and there were many misunderstandings, arguments, debates and protests arising from his election and subsequent announcements as he and others tried to found the new system.

To make matters worse a previously unnoticed group of nobles who up until now had been relatively silent and inactive started to arrest the realm's own priests, causing chaos in Oritolon's regions. Though a weak attempt was made to portray this as some form of protest it was assumed by most to be simple, spiteful sabotage by a previously unnoticed group who had failed to gain power. They were banned and the order given to hunt them down mercilessly. Shortly afterwards the realm's Finance Minister, Doctor Jeckyl, Thirdborn, sabotaged the realm's taxes, in order to steal as much of Oritolon's gold as he could, then fled the realm.

Amid this turmoil, treachery and trouble Khain founded a Senate as well as ministries of Finance, Justice, Diplomacy and War in which any noble could join and have a voice. He also declared that the Nobles of Oritolon would be expected to adhere to the rules set out in The Seven Pillars, a formalised code of expected behavior for nobles. Most nobles of Oritolon eagerly swore an oath to uphold those values and it looked like a fair government system had finally been put in place.

However a flaw in the system was soon to emerge when Khain was put under pressure by allegations of abusing power by acting without the knowledge of the senate in critical matters of diplomacy and internal policy as well as treating some nobles with undeserved contempt. This revealed an ideological split in the senate between Khain and his followers who had believed that the senate were mere advisers to the ruler, to be ignored on his whim, and others who had been led to believe that the senate would make all decisions democratically and the ruler's role was to enact those descisions.

These directly opposing views on the source of political authority led to a split between Khain's followers and the rest of Oritolon who now realised that Khain and his followers considered him an Emperor.

A vote of confidence in Khains' role as ruler was called in the senate and went against him, requiring a referendum of all nobles as to his continued rulership. Before the results were returned he called a referendum on the preferred government system and following it's result changed the government system to monthly elections of all government positions, it is assumed that he did this because the system he had created was designed to make it easier to hold on to power than to regain it should it be lost. He declared the system he had created 'failed' and symbolically destroyed the original copies of the articles of the republic and The Seven Pillars which he had written.

Then came the news that Lukon, long-time federation partners with Oritolon, had broken their federation and intended to invade Oritolon in order to bring stability to the chaos and allow Oritolon again to become trusted allies. There were strong hints that unless the widely respected former Prime Minister, Spearhead Reapers, became ruler of Oritolon this trust would be next to impossible to gain.

Khain was protested out of office by those who felt he had put Oritolon at grave risk by his actions. His supporters, who were adamant that opposition to him was unfair, protested the remaining government members from their positions.

There was much activity by individuals loyal to Oritolon behind the scenes and eventually the threat of invasion was lifted.

Spearhead was soon elected ruler and set about restoring the traditional government system of Oritolon, trying to calm relations with her former federation partners and renew the attempt to take back the rogue region of Irdalni.

Khain and his supporters continued to protest constantly in an effort to undermine the government and regain control for themselves. This resulted in many of his supporters being banned from the realm for abusing the political system. As former royalty Khain could hide behind legal immunity to banishment and snipe at the government with impunity and his previous instability quickly degenerated into outright mania. Now rogues his supporters harassed the borders of Oritolon. Eventually Khain and his remaining supporters within the realm openly rebelled against the government. The rebellion was crushed and Khain and his followers exiled.

The Restoration

With Spearhead Reapers forced out of political retirement to be elected Prime Minister and the last of the disruptive elements purged from Oritolon the realm immediately found a new focus and energy. The traditional government system was reinstated, the old alliances with Lukon and Minas Thalion rebuilt and the notoriously difficult rogue region of Irdalni was finally integrated into Oritolon. This was swiftly followed by the re-taking of Alowca and Warmanoras. Harmony and co-operation reigned as all worked together for a better future.

As he had promised Spearhead stepped down from power as soon as Oritolon stabilised. Crescent Strika was elected Prime Minister and a stable government emerged. With their civil and military affairs put in order Oritolon joined their army in the war on Giblot