Theft of Souls

Linia was Yaston's first and paramount target; by laying low the Elder Triplet, he hoped that a rapidly demoralized Coalition would accept surrender on his terms. Even in the face of continued resistance, Yaston reasoned that the combined might of Vilia and Dalia would not be enough to counter a Void army fed by Linian captives.

Reluctant as they were to cut down those they saw as unwitting hostages, Coalition forces were initially overrun; within three months they were driven back as far as the Manasse Causeway and otherwise completely eradicated from Linia. Small-scale Void forces were sent as scouting parties into southeastern Vilia, but Yaston dared not launch a proper invasion until his control of Linia could be solidified.   With the Linian hinterlands at his disposal, Yaston's void forces nearly doubled their initial strength from 45,000 to 80,000, which was at the time equal to thrice the entire population of Hindomas, the largest city in the Midlands.   King William III of Linia took refuge in Tyriandome along with an overwhelming flood of Linian refugees. William refused multiple orders to move his family northwest to the safety of Yandarma as he would "not suffer to leave" his people alone.

Of the roughly 80,000 civilians captured and imprisoned by Yaston, 50,000 were successfully freed and returned to their bodies over the course of several months' work by the Grandmasters. The remaining 30,000 corpses were too badly damaged in battle with Coalition forces, and could not sustain life with a soul returned.   Intensive work by the Grandmasters — especially those of Earth, Life, and Energy — permitted the magical repair of a further five thousand corpses sufficient to have their souls returned. This took almost a further year of work, and on the basis of practicality and sustainability, especially taking under consideration the loss and replacement of three of their number during the Theft, the Grandmasters reluctantly ceased the endeavour beyond this point. 25,000 souls left in the Staff of Void were set free, and passed to the afterlife.

Immediate casualities from warfare resulted in a severe depletion of national military forces across the Midlands. This left the Three Kingdoms especially vulnerable to intensive raiding by the northern Hingardi people, who seized the opportunity to strike while the kingdoms were weak. It is estimated that about one thousand people were killed across the Midlands in the following decade during Hingardi raids. The number would surely have been higher had the Grandmasters chosen to continue their work restoring souls, rather than aiding in defense.   The Linian countryside was left badly depopulated as much of its citizenry was forcefully conscripted into the service of Void. In the coming years, once King William III had recovered and returned to his throne, diplomatic missives were sent across the Firenze Sea to the eastern city-states, welcoming settlers and merchants to set up nominally autonomous colonies in Linian territory, as a means of repopulating the hinterlands.

Modern Midlander culture and civilization has unfolded in the shadow of the Theft of Souls.   Whole governmental departments were founded to aid in reconstruction and revitalization of Midlander life, some of which survive to the present day as a sort of pre-emptive bureaucratic defense mechanism — or what we might consider the beginnings of a primitive welfare state.   Following the Theft, the Grandmasters became more actively involved in the day-to-day administration of territory in tandem with the kingdoms; thus arose their responsibility for the healthy running of the Vilian capital of Yandarma.

Perhaps the most immediate effect the history of the Theft has on the modern Midlander civilian lies in the calendar. Traditionally, the Midland Calendar's epoch was based upon the date of its own creation, some seven to eight hundred years prior to the Theft. But as years passed and life returned somewhat to normal for the people of the Three Kingdoms, the Order of the Grandmasters began pushing for the era to be redefined according to the Theft of Souls.