On The Origins Of The Alluvian Revolution
A bit of background for a later project:
On The Origins Of The Alluvian Revolution
Your Majesty;
As per your request, I have put together a detailed report tracing the origins of the revolution in Alluvia and assessing the likely course of future events. This was a challenging task. Many historical records have been deliberately altered or destroyed, while more modern records rely very much on witness statements (often from witnesses who have agendas) and other, equally unreliable, sources. I believe it is accurate in broad outline, but many of the finer details cannot be verified.
The Kingdom of Alluvia has existed as a distinct entity for nearly a thousand years. Our historical records are lacking, but it appears clear that a combination of defensible borders and the presence of the newborn Whitehall School helped the early monarchs to secure their power and establish a kingdom bound together by more than just brute force. The original Royal Family was assimilated into the Imperial family, when the Empire took shape, and is apparently extinct. The Jorlem Dynasty certainly claims to be directly descended from the original family, that such claims are inherently improbable. It seems likely that King Jorlem I, the founder of the new post-imperial kingdom, was nothing more than an aristocrat and warlord who succeeded himself and his family onto a political structure that existed well before the fall of the Empire. The official story put forward by the monarchy is so full of holes that any decent academic would have no trouble pointing them out, if he dared. They rarely did, until recently.
Whatever the truth, it cannot be denied that King Jorlem was an excellent empire-builder who took full advantage of the opportunity placed before him. He secured control of the country before anyone could challenge him, then – as the looming threat of the necromancers took shape – restructured the country, officially to defend the newborn Allied Lands against the mad sorcerers, but unofficially to secure his position. It is clear his restructuring saved his kingdom from collapse, when he died, yet it also laid the groundwork for the uprising that would eventually destroy his descendants when they proved unable to maintain the structure in the face of social strains and eventual revolution.
The geography of Alluvia worked in its favour. To the south, the Craggy Mountains block any major offensive from the necromancers or the newborn Republic of Kuching. North, Alluvia is bordered by Red Rose; east and west, by a number of small princedoms that are largely incapable posing any real threat. The internal geography is almost as convenient: a combination of relatively flat lands allow both intensive farming and rapid transit, while canals and rivers make it easy to convoy supplies around the country. This has prevented most of the cities from becoming effectively independent; The Free City of Vendee is the only city that has any degree of independence, and that is only because of a combination of geography and a long-standing agreement between King Jorlem I and the city’s ruling families. Despite its advantages, and a culture that is very different from the surrounding kingdom, it is unlikely Vendee could defend itself for long if Alluvia decided it wanted to invade.
The post-imperial kingdom rested on three pillars. The original aristocracy was woven into the kingdom’s framework with a series of sticks and carrots, not least the grant of a pension to anyone who could reasonably claim aristocratic blood. The powerful noblemen became the king’s friends and advisers, giving them a stake in maintaining his power, while the lesser noblemen took up positions within the administration and ever-growing bureaucracy that ensured the king could control nearly every aspect of his kingdom. The aristocrats became a de facto caste inherently superior to the commoners it ruled, to the point a wealthy merchant was obliged to bow in the street to a poverty-stricken aristocrat. Over the years, this caste became a severe burden on the kingdom’s finances. While royal pensions help keep the aristocrats from plotting trouble, the cost was staggeringly high and could not be borne indefinitely.
Second, King Jorlem used the threat of the necromancers as an excuse to build a powerful army. The trusted aristocrats were given high ranks within the military, while – unusually for the Allied Lands – the king’s soldiers were effectively treated as a de facto caste of their own, with privileges not granted to commoners. For example, when there was a dispute between a soldier and a common born civilian, the soldier won by default. The aristocrats were also expected to raise troops of their own – the militia – although this custom fell by the wayside as the kingdom grew and developed. The expenditure of maintaining the army was bitterly resented, even though there was no shortage of refugees from the Blighted Lands willing to explain exactly what would happen if the necromancers crossed the Craggy Mountains (as almost happened seven years ago), and the royal soldiers themselves were loathed.
Finally, the guilds drew together skilled craftsmen and merchants and gave them privileges of the road in exchange for serving the kingdom. On paper, this was a worthwhile concept; the average craftsman, the matter how skilled, could not bring suit against the aristocracy, but the guilds as a whole shot and sometimes did. In practice, the guilds rapidly became incredibly corrupt and effectively subverted by the monarchy. A person who was not licensed to practice, or had his licence stripped, could not hope to make a legal living. It was no surprise that an underground system of unlicensed craftsmen came into being very quickly, despite the best efforts of the guilds.
The kingdom held together reasonably well for nearly two hundred years, despite stresses and strains, and until recently the monarchy had good reason to think it would survive much longer. King Jorlem IV had two sons – Crown Prince Dater and Prince Hedrick – and, after his first wife died in childbirth, two daughters with Queen Francoise, his second wife. Jorlem IV was not, however, anything like as skilled a politician as Jorlem I, and he was about to face a test unlike any monarch before him. Unluckily for him, it was a test he would fail.
Alluvia had been designed to remain stable, but it was not prepared for three socio-political blows in quick succession. First, the advent of the New Learning made it possible for dissident factions within the kingdom to communicate with each other, spreading the word as far as possible, and even to consider ways to use guns and gunpowder to counter the royal and aristocratic armies. The guilds tried to prevent the spread, but ultimately failed; indeed, many low-ranking guildsmen actively encouraged it. It was not long before political parties -some peaceful, some decidedly not – started taking shape and form.
Second, the effective defeat of the necromancers last year removed the greatest threat facing the kingdom and the king’s excuse for lavishing money on his army. It was undeniable that Crown Prince Dater had fought well in the war, and he was seen as something a popular hero, but there was no longer any incentive to maintain the military. A sizeable number of troops – experienced in the new way of war – were demobilised, and because of the growing financial crisis, found themselves cheated of the pensions and bonuses they had been promised. They were not pleased and many of them drifted into the revolutionary groups.
Third, and perhaps the most dangerous, the kingdom entered a prolonged period of drought. The aristocratic estates had never been managed particularly well – the aristocrats did not share the wealth with their serfs, who were understandably disinclined to do more than the bare minimum – and all of a sudden food production plunged rapidly. Thousands of farm workers fled the lands or joined revolutionary groups demanding the summary redistribution of land and equal rights for the workers.
This led to a prolonged period of unrest. Questioning the monarch had always been high treason. It was hard for most to break the taboo, at least initially. They responded by attacking Queen Francoise, insisting that she was directly responsible for the drought (her legal theft of commoner-owned lands had made her incredibly unpopular, as had her habit of throwing lavish parties even as the drought tightened its grip) and accusing her of deliberately undermining the kingdom. The stories grew and grew until they became truly monstrous, accusing Queen Francoise of having incestuous relationships with her stepsons, her brothers or even her father. It is unlikely there is any truth in the rumours, but they were spread and often believed widely.
It was not long before the revolutionary groups grew stronger. Initial attempts to crack down simply failed, for several reasons: the kingdom had weakened its military, numerous aristocrats thought they could profit from the chaos, and – perhaps most dangerously – disputes amongst the revolutionaries themselves. Some wanted a reformed monarchy on par with the Kingdom of Zangaria, perhaps with a few minor adjustments; others wanted to abolish the monarchy and aristocracy, perhaps driving them out of the kingdom once and for all. The situation in the country rapidly became dangerously unstable, and in many places the aristocracy lost control. It was reported over three hundred mansions were attacked and often destroyed in less than three months.
It is possible that a policy of concession and conciliation, or one of harsh repression, might have stabilised the situation. King Jorlem IV was not up to the task. He tried to do both, on one hand, making concessions and often granting the revolutionaries things they had taken – for example, complete ban on any sort of government censorship – while trying to build up the army and militia for a crackdown. It made things worse. The policy of arresting the more outspoken revolutionaries, ensured they were succeeded by people far less inclined to compromise; the policy of cutting aristocratic pensions (which were rarely paid now in any case) angered the aristocracy; the militias, supposedly under aristocratic control, rapidly turned out to be dominated by revolutionaries or sympathisers and the king discovered, too late, that he was actually reinforcing his enemies. The entire kingdom was rapidly becoming a tinderbox.
Precisely which spark lit the fire has been hotly debated since. It was clear that something was going to happen. The Crown Prince’s army – perhaps the only loyalist military left in the kingdom – was making its way back to the capital city. Rumour insisted the king, egged on by the Queen, was going to crush his enemies. The daily protest marches and rallies were growing worse with every passing day, the revolutionary leaders not even bothering to hide any longer. The secret police made an attempt to arrest one of the leaders – Althorn, Son of Tyler – that sparked off a riot, which rapidly became a full-scale uprising. Precisely how much planning was done for revolution has never been disclosed, but it is clear there had been some. The city’s defences were overwhelmed very quickly, the Royal Family was captured after a bid to escape, and the entire country exploded into revolution. The vast majority of the aristocracy either fled or died trying to defend their estate.
The first revolutionary government took shape surprisingly quickly. It secured control of much of the country and obtained the allegiance of most of the other revolutionary factions. It was not, however, able to secure foreign recognition, nor was it able to openly challenge the Crown Prince’s army. Nor could it solve all the problems facing the country immediately. The high hopes and ideals of the original revolutionaries started to fade rapidly as they tried to grapple with the problems the former government had left them. It seemed quite likely that the Crown Prince, reinforced by troops from Red Rose (he was betrothed to Princess Mariah), would crush the revolution.
The government struggled to prepare the country for war. Troops were raised and trained with modern weapons. Revolutionary ideology was exported to the surrounding kingdoms, in hopes of encouraging revolutions that might prevent an invasion of Alluvia. Land was formally redistributed, and equal rights granted to all, and – perhaps most dangerously of all – the king was beheaded. While this did allow the Crown Prince to claim he was now the rightful king, it also ensured the revolution could not compromise any longer. It was going to be war to the knife.
At this point, the Alluvian Revolution intersected with the Void War. Lady Emily, who was inadvertently responsible for the revolution and thus regarded as a revolutionary hero even though she had barely visited the country, was asked to meditate, to try to come up with a compromise that would prevent an immensely destructive war. Unknown to her, the chaos was deliberately being encouraged by the Sorcerer Void, who wanted a distraction to keep the Allied Lands busy while he prepared his coup. He succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. The revolutionary council was badly disrupted and a number of members were killed, as was Prince Hedrick, while King Dater was forced to head to Red Rose instead of trying to retake his kingdom; he would later die in the Void War, after fathering a legitimate child on Queen Mariah. However, the revolution proved to be more permanent than anyone had thought and a new council took control, led by Jair. He had effective monarchical power, but styled himself merely the First Citizen. It is not clear how much authority he allows his subordinates.
It is tempting to believe that the revolutionary government will effectively self-destruct. I am not convinced. Many of the original revolutionaries, the ones who might challenge Jair openly, were killed in the fighting. The rightful here to phone is still a baby (and the fate of the princesses, second and third in the line of succession, remains unknown). The aristocracy has been broken and scattered. The remaining factions are either openly supporting the new government or have too many other problems of their own to worry about challenging it. To all intents and purposes, as far as we can determine, Jair has a free hand.
I believe it is only a matter of time before he seeks to export revolution to the neighbouring kingdoms.
I remain, with respect,
Your loyal servant.
