The rebellion of Arnethius
a stance against the vesaja
Cause
During the God-wars a young fire mage with a unique mutation, Arnethius , was recruited in the army of Arkun . Being somewhat of a glass cannon, Arkun decided to ascend his general so that he would be more resillient to potential damage. He grew to be the greatest weapon in the war, and was on the brink of bringing the easterners to their knees when Arkun sent him on a mission to destroy Kartan's observatory . Kartan tried to prevent this, and a fight ensued leading to the vesajan's death. Arnethius was now considered too strong by his master Arkun, who now feared the godkiller. He betrayed his general and orchestrated several assasination attempts. The attempts failed and Arnethius went into hiding to consider his options.
Hiding is not an option
Hiding wasn't easy for Arnethius, given the physicality of the ascended who stood as tall as 2m50. He tried keeping a low profile in the Amthali grasslands, which he knew from his youth. He knew he couldn't stay there forever, and after a while he took a risk by going to Flutton; a big fishingtown in Amthal. The people cheered when he was identified, giving him gifts and kissing his hand. He learned how cruel the vesajan lord was to his own people if they didn't do his bidding, something Arnethius was shielded from back when he still served in the army. Him killing Kartan was a message of hope for many; a message that the tyranny could be stopped. A few days after his arrival a company of soldiers flooded the town. Brutally they forced people to give away his location. Arnethius looked in wonder as simple fishermen took up arms to fight off the soldiers in order to protect him. He now realised he could challenge the vesajan god-lord for dominion over western Theria. A few simple waves of fire and the fight was over; the rebellion had began.
Spreading the word
In the coming years followers of Arnethius, dubbed arnethians, travelled the westlands preaching the word of their new messiah. This was a slow and dangerous progress, as the whole westlands were still under Arkun's control, and far from everybody was keen on switching sides. Public executions of arnethians were common to send a message. During this time Arnethius spent his time hiding, and staying on the move. Aside from a few skirmishes here and there, there were few direct confrontations. Communication between Arnethius went swift through the use of truefire torches.
Amthal incident
It had been 2 years since the start of the rebellion when Arnethius got invited by the steward of Amthal into the city. He would publicly going to pledge allegiance to Arnethius, wich would be a big step for the rebel forces. While his advisors were weary, Arnethius himself took the risk and marched into the capital with little escort. As his advisors feared, it turned out to be an ambush when he was met by an army on the castle plaza. This would have been the end of Arnethius and his rebellion, was it not for a crowd warning him on the last second, and coming to his aid. Something snapped in his head when he took a spear to the shoulder, and was overcome by sadness and anger. Why did his people, citizens of Amthal, his kin, choose the vesaja over him? He lost control as he fought back, burning half the city and many people in it to the ground. This incident would go in the history books as the "Amthal burning". While the damage was big, all the Vesajan loyalists were destroyed, and Amthal was now under rebel control.
The call to arms
Now realizing things would not get any better, he called all arnethians to him; a full mobilisation, the time was now to go to war. Everywere across the Westlands people answerred the call, even in the capital of Arkalon there was a big group of people fleeing the city. Civil war broke out in Durval , where guards prevented the people from passing the gates, which escalated quickly. Many families would end up divided, where one part would support Arkun, and the other would answer Arnethius's call. At the end he would be content with the size of his army, which could be enough to challenge the vesajan lord. Many close to him noticed a difference in his behaviour since the Amthal incident, and they were right. Arnethius now realized that many people would see him as a conqueror, and not a liberator, which meant that he was going to have to kill alot of people. Instead of only seeing the vesajan as the one true enemy, he now considered all those that did not answer his call as enemies.Slow progress
In the beginning supply was an issue since they did not have a nation yet to get the supplies from. Therefore they started the siege on Durval, which would operate as their base when it was taken. Supply lines would be drawn from there as they slowly pushed north. After 2 years the whole south was under Arnethius's command, and the rebel army decided to halt the march north to create more stability. The south was under firm control, and yet there were still alot of people that opposed their new leader. Arnethius knew that as long as Arkun ruled in the north, civil war in the south would always loom around the corner. The next 11 years the arnethians fought the north. The loss of life on both sides was tremendous, and morality was dropping. By now it was the fourth invasion of Arkalon, with the first 3 failing because they ran out of supplies before they were able to take the capital. Arnethius, knowing that also this time they missed their mark, ordered a full retreat to the south. They would regroup, resupply, and simply try again. There would however not be another try.
The vesajan plan
During the war the war Arkun remained between the walls of Arkalon, where it was safe. A direct confrontation with Arnethius was not possible due to the restriction set by Aethos , which stated that the Vesaja could NOT use magic against humans. Arkun knew he was stronger than Arnethius, but also feared his opponent as he had already managed to kill the Vesajan Kartan. He would not underestimate him again. Arkalon was running out of resources and people were losing hope as the rebels seemed to return stronger every time. Arkun knew that a last stand was imminent, and he trusted his vesajan kin, Ykryn , to come with a solution. The scientist had always been busy during the war, somewere in his lab in Roth . Here he created the two drakehounds ; a new species disigned to defeat Arnethius. During the retreat of the rebels after their fourth failed invasion the hounds were ready for deployment.
The end
The sun was setting on a hot summers evening when the hounds attacked Arnethius in his camp by the western mountains. The ascended mage barely survived the attack, but he stood victorious as he destroyed one hound and scared off the other. Arkun, who had been watching the attack, could hold back no longer and decided to finish what the hounds started. As darkness had fallen over the land, the otherworldly spells cast by the Vesajan mage shined brightly in the sky before destroying the whole rebel army. Arnethius, now laying broken in a field of corpses, knew this was the end. "There can only be one, and that one will be vesajan" Arkun said before dealing the final blow.
Aftermath
Aftermath
With the majority of the army dead, and no divine power left alive to defend the arnethian civilians, there was nothing to stop the vengeful Arkun. The vesajan god-lord was quick to retake Amthal and Durval, and reinstate a new anti-arnethian goverment. Then he sentenced all those who supported Arnethius to death, so that nobody would ever dare to challenge his divine right to rule again. And so the extermination of the arnethians began, and while there were many against it there was nothing they could do. Those that did not obey would be sentenced to death themselves. What was left of Arnethius's loyalists, would gather more north in the rocky no-mans land and found the Lioxian empire. The division between the vesajists and the arnethians would forever remain.
Truefire torch
Given by Arnethius to the commanders of his army. When burning with his true fire Arnethius is able to communicate trough the flame. The importance of this item was key during the war, provinding superior communication and quicker reactions to certain events. The torch was also the reason the general was able to reach all of his followers when it was time to centralize their forces. The torch is the symbol of the rebellion.
Conflict Type
War
Start Date
524
Ending Date
540
Comments