The Mercantile Revolutions

Despite the best efforts of the Cult of the Trinity, the Temples of the Common Faith had become entrenched by the 7th century. By now, almost all of Elvendom had converted, resulting in the mass ex-communication of the Ritters and Gothi. Likewise, mass conversions in the Gnomic and Centaur lands had caused the Montane government real trouble, trouble that would heighten later on.   The Nereid lands had it similarly bad. Commonalism would sweep down the Syl and tumble down the Serento Mountains, giving the firmly Trinitist Nereids a shock. Slowly but surely, more and more Nereids would look upon the Churches they had grown up in with disgust and would spend more and more of their time in stone circles set up in the countryside. This divide was only highlighted by the growing power of the mercantile class in the Nereid Kingdoms. The feudalistic form of government, while in place, did not really work due to the fact that almost every Nereid was huddled along the coast or along the rivers. Also, the importance of the Nereid Sea in intercontinental trade cannot be understated. With this combination of factors, private shipping companies became increasingly powerful, with their fleets dwarfing the Royal Fleets and their wealth far eclipsing that of their rulers. Ocagos would be the only Kingdom spared from this strife, as it was (and is) a poor, agrarian society with very little economic standing.   This angered the Royals of Southeastern Oriens, for the growing power of the merchants only exacerbated their floundering hold over their nations. In their eyes, both the Cult and the Merchants were working hand-in-hand to drag their Kingdoms through the dirt, crushing their liberty. Like sprinkling rain before the downpour, the Kings of Lartaxo, Selguro, and Vallerm began to discretely replace Orthodox court officials with Commonalist ones. Temple Monks were given funding under the table, and finally, in 659, secure in the belief that many Nereids had converted into the new faith, nobles across the Nereid lands announced their official conversions.   While the Commonalist population was big (about 10% of the population), the government did not account for the fact that the Trinitist population did not take too kindly to the new faith. There were pogroms before, yes, but they were on a smaller scale and seldom reported. No more. Soon after the announcements, the peasantry would grab their torches and pitchforks and begin to hunt down these heretics. To start, only common worshippers were targeted. Temples would be destroyed, their stones crushed and flowers turned up. If anyone was unlucky enough to be found in the Temples, they would be thrown onto a pyre and burned alive.   For days, Commonalists lived in fear that they could be next, but the nobles cared not. They just had to convert back to Trinitism and the stupid commoners would forget it all within a month. How wrong they were. The merchants, most of whom did not convert, looked at the pogroms not with disgust, but with joy. This was an amazing business opportunity, and all across the Nereid Sea, the fleets were called back. The great port cities of Odinco, Portiniche, and Selguro City went under lockdown overnight as the very merchants who made them so great turned on them. Gunships blockaded the harbor and mercenaries readied themselves for a fight against Royal forces.   Riders on horseback ran throughout the city, notifying the rioting populace that the merchants had come to their aide. With most poor Commonalists dead or fleeing North to Sylvania, the angry mobs turned their attention to the nobility. Supported by the mercenaries, who wielded pikes, swords, and a new invention: the firearm. The Army and Royal Guard did not much care to stop the mob, allowing them to pass into the palaces and fortresses of the King and the landed nobles alike. While the royals and such were able to flee up the Syl River and through mountain passes, most were not as lucky. For their heresy, they would be put to the rope.   And with that, Selguro, Lartaxo, and Vallerm would be free of their nobility in a bloody orgy of violence. Ocagos would be spared the Revolutions, as the Common Faith would not make its way into the isolated land, and there was no merchant class to challenge the nobility. Speaking of, without the nobility, a power vacuum formed in the Nereid lands, one that was not filled for too long. The richest merchants of the land would declare independent Republics, run by representatives of various companies and conglomerates. This, understandably, made many angry, but the new Republican governments would take swift action to prevent a Counter-Revolution. Firstly, all land formerly owned by the nobility (which was now abolished formally) would be redistributed to individual families. Secondly, the people would elect representatives to a lower house known as the Assembly (a functionally useless branch of government created as a token gesture). These reforms were met with celebration in the streets, and the merchants smiled, for they knew it was the dawn of a new era.   The Mercantile Revolutions, as they become known, would obviously send shivers down the spines of foreign nobles, if only for a moment. While the establishment of Ecumene's first Republics was concerning, it was practically a transition of power from one oligarchic ruling class to another. The real concern was that religion would become the fuel for a growing anti-government fire and as it would turn out, it would be.