The Intolerable War

Posted: October 12, 2011 | Author: Dennis N. Santana | Filed under: Fluff/Inspiration, RPG, Spirits Of Eden |Leave a comment »

A defining period in Adelian history was the Intolerable War, between 1701 AC and 1799 AC, though some argument over the specifics of this revolutionary time are still up for debate. Though 200 years in the past of the current Adel, and occupying a whole different millennium (current Adel for our purposes is 2012 AC), this war defined the continuation of Adel as a world and the Adelians as a people. It was a war between oppression and agency, between imperialism and self-determination, between equality and division, between a single culture of cruelty and numerous cultures wishing for release.

In this article we will construct a description of the Intolerable War as well as look briefly at the Aptoan Empire and the spark that ignited the war, as well as the stages of the war, up until its conclusion.

The Aptoan Empire

The Aptoan Empire ruled for 400 years, between 1300-1700 AC (the Adelians do not consider it having been “ruling” during the Intolerable War period). It was established after the Aptoa culture defeated and conquered the two other proto-nations of the Adelian continent, the Kusant and Pierash. Adel’s technology and knowledge made leaps and bounds during the Imperial Age, due to the Aptoa’s rapid expansion into the sites of the Lost World, and aggressive reverse-engineering and documenting of the magic, language and machinery of the Lost World. This is the period during which firearms, engines, fuels, the discarded possibility of steam-based technology and industrial production, and other emergent technologies arose.

The Aptoan Empire’s chief goal was to build up to a level of technology and power equal to what they learned from the fragments of the Lost World. Their scholars unearthed evidence of the great magic and power of the Humans, the Lost People that ruled the Lost World. They could control life and death absolutely, could create great works of architecture in mere days, could end storms and even prevent earthquakes, and had explored all of the oceans and even traveled through the Crawling Chaos Of The Forlorn Void (known to the Humans as “The Outer Space.”) The Imperial Age is sometimes sugarcoated and described as the Age of Discovery, because many beneficial things were learned then. But it was a dark age for many.

As the Aptoa’s power and desire for power continued to grow, a variety of poisonous attitudes became part of their ruling culture. Particularly, the Damakran were used almost as slave labor, and thought by the Hierarchs to be unfit for scholarly pursuits and necessary only for their “brute strength.” Meanwhile in an attempt to boost birth rates the Aptoan command tried to stamp out “childish” or “uncouth” romances (bisexuality and homosexuality, common to Adelians) and to “safeguard” women within families, removing them from armies and positions of power. Only a slight few Hierarchs were women, often made exceptions for because of powerful connections, or put into figurehead positions with no real power.

Though the Empire started out as a mostly beneficial entity, it grew more poisoned as it went along, and more and more alien to the culture of the vast, overwhelming majority of the people it ruled, who found their decisions increasingly inexcusable. At the early stages of the war, it was not known whether even spirit worship, the cornerstone of Adelian life, would survive the cultural and social edicts of the Empire. The rulers from on high were feared and hated.

1700-1721: The First Stages of War

During the late 1690s the Aptoa had become obsessed with the Necropolis, the Arch-Dungeon that existed below Vedaria. They knew that the Necropolis had once been a fortress-city of the Lost World, and they desired it unearthed. To this end much of the Vedarian population was put under the direct grip of the Aptoa, so they could labor to unearth the Necropolis. The Vedarians had heretofore been spared the “societal experiments” of the Aptoa, and to see their once-unseen masters force their cruel notions upon them was too much. The Vedarians rebelled. Though at first outgunned, the Vedarians were far from outnumbered. Their losses were terrible at first, but once they began to get a hold of Aptoan equipment, the tides turned.

Vedaria declared Independence and established The People’s Revolutionary Government and called themselves the nation of Vedaria, led by the People’s Revolutionary Army. Shocked at this rebellion, the Aptoa mobilized their forces to begin to crush the Vedarians – but only sparked revolutions elsewhere. Sargasso was the second nation to declare itself independent, name itself and then rebel, in 1712. This cut off any direct route from Emderuer, the Aptoan Capital, to Vedaria, allowing the Vedarians to destroy the Aptoan military there. The losses for the Aptoa in Vedaria were total.

The Vedarians not only captured Aptoan weapons, they also made spiritual allies. They forged pacts with the spirits of the desert, creatures known as Sandcloaks. Prior to this Vedaria, a mostly desert nation, had no natural spirit allies – it had plenty of Spirits, but none that wished to represent them as other locations had. The Sandcloaks were a morbid bunch, and the blood spilled upon the desert tinged their cloaks red and brown ever since, and they pledged their support. With the stalking wraiths of the desert at their side, the Vedarians made sure not a single Aptoan made it out.

Another innovation early in the war was the use of Golems. Though the rebels lacked the access to Lost World technology needed to make the mostly autonomous machines that the Aptoa employed, they could make golems that arcanists could control, and use them as vehicles. Vedarian arcanists and artificers worked around the clock for this. Though crude at first, they performed their job by allowing Vedarians to quickly develop and use heavy weapons.

Though the beginning of the war had gone badly for the Aptoans, by 1718 they were gaining momentum. Sargasso was next door neighbor to Emderuer, and saw the brunt of Aptoan military might. Because Sargasso’s current leaders were still quite poisoned by Aptoan ideals, much of Sargasso’s population was not brought to bear in the fighting. Sargasso was as patriarchal as much of the Empire, and women were made to languish. The Aptoa were poised to roll them over. To mobilize support within the heartland, the Aptoa used propaganda, causing the people to fear foreign enemies.

1722-1760: The Aptoan Blitz And A New Hope

The Aptoan Empire began to rapidly issue and use many of the technologies they had acquired from the Lost World. Though it is unknown just how much unholy technology was used by the Aptoa, and subsequently destroyed forever upon their defeat, it is known that they used horrific coal-driven War Engines, belching Hellfire (directed energy weapons) and leaving a black cloud in their wake wherever they stomped. These machines were unearthed out of places known as “Horrorforges” in the Wasteland of Noshiki. It is also in the Horrorforges that Lost World birthing pods were discovered that could make copies of soldiers, and these horrific machines were also put to use so that the Aptoa wouldn’t have to use as much of its population to fight back. The Empire could continuously churn copies of the same decorated male soldiers.

Working toward the east, the Empire sought to mobilize an army to establish a second line of assault that could penetrate directly into Vedaria. They found themselves rebuffed when the various monied interests in the Eastern Sea saw the writing on the wall, and declared their own independence. In their mind, any chance to cut the Aptoa and their taxes out of their system was a chance worth taking, and the Oligarchy of Periterim was born. Periterim was as weak a nation back then as it is now, with its squabbling, petty government unwilling to commit its wealth to doing much beyond fortifying and making Aptoan movement into their territory more costly. The Aptoa were slowed, but they would eventually make it to Vedaria. It would merely have to be done through Noshiki at a measured pace, rather than as a blitz through the eastern seaboard.

The Aptoa broke through into Sargasso and made rapid gains. Through Noshiki, they also reached Vedaria. By 1740 it seemed as though the Aptoa might once again have an Empire in their hands, when from the little convents around Sargasso, the marginalized and forgotten women of western sea emerged as the Seraphim Order, empowered by the Freija Procedure. Discovered by Esther Benedictine II, the high priestess of Sargasso’s church, this ritual gave the priestesses enough power to match the Aptoa and drive them back. Though the paranoid King of Sargasso – whose Aptoan-derived ideals drove him to conflict with the church of Sargasso – greatly disapproved of the move, he had no choice but to accept it. He reintegrated the army, but this was a token gesture. Everyone knew the Seraphim were running the show now.

And quite a show it was. Aptoan attempts to apply the Freija Procedure to men showed promising results at first, but every soldier died of horrific mutations soon after, becoming little more than ever-expanding pustules of muscle tissue. The Aptoa found a power they could not match. The Seraphim halted and reversed the Aptoan Blitz, driving them out of Sargasso. The Aptoan Empire would not again set foot in Sargasso, and even feared invasion. Evidence of this can be seen in Imperial propaganda books and fliers, surviving in the collections of eccentrics who enjoy such war memorabilia, depict the Seraphim as mutants who would take over the Imperial heartland. Truly the counterattack of the Seraphim was that fearsome.

Throughout this period there was much innovation in warfare on all sides. Nearly all the Aptoan’s technology would be committed to the Cleansing Fire (destroyed forever and declared unholy), but the technology of the rebelling nations survives to this day, and forms the rather schizophrenic equipment roster that Adelians now take for granted. Things such as Landships had their start here, and the ritual that gave holy power to the Seraphim Paladins was discovered here.

1761–1770: Fall of Sargasso, Rise of Andaliel

Sargasso might have invaded, had not something tragic happened next. King Aundarius Volg, seeing Sargasso’s position strengthened against the Aptoan Empire, decided to consolidate his power within his own nation. He publicly executed Esther Benedictine II and some of the Seraphim Superior for conspiracy against the Throne, and ordered the Seraphim to submit to him. The public was horrified to see their heroines treated so cruelly, but feared the King as much as the Empire. The Seraphim were deep in mourning, their saint and savior having been murdered in front of them for no crime. Some of them believed they still had a nation to protect, and innocent people who needed them in spite of their grotesque king.

But others thought that Sargasso was exactly like the Aptoan Empire, and that all they had fought for was for nothing. During the Greymoon of 1762, these Seraphim organized into a group henceforth known as the Erinys, also sometimes as the Fallen, the Furies, or other such epithets. The Erinys attacked the capital, and slaughtered the king of Sargasso and anybody who could ascend his throne. They would wipe Volg’s lineage from Adel. Once this work was completed, the Erinys turned their eyes to the rest of Sargasso, perhaps with good reason. For most of their lives they had faced Aptoan cruelty from non-Aptoan masters. In their eyes Sargasso was just as poisoned as the Empire. The Erinys set out to burn the whole nation to the ground, trying it by fire for the murder of the only person who ever found them valuable, who ever gave them a chance.

The Erinys, however, were not the only Seraphim left. The other half of the Order, still also mourning Esther Benedictine II, but knowing that their savior would never condone this violence in her name, faced the Erinys in the First Seraphic War. This miniature war is known, outside Sargasso, as “The Fall of Sargasso.” Eventually the Seraphim drove the Erinys into Noshiki, and helped rebuild a better society for all in Sargasso. This, they felt, was the only way to remember Saint Esther – not by murdering in her name, but rebuilding in it, reviving equality and hope. This they managed to do.

Effectively, Sargasso was out of the Intolerable War for good.

In Vedaria, the Aptoan Blitz was more like the Aptoan Wading. Inch by inch the Aptoans moved forces from their Horrorforges in Noshiki and into Vedaria. The Vedarians were many, and more and more of them joined the battle as the People’s Revolutionary Government reached out to the farthest-flung villages and tribes deep in the desert. Using the terrain and unconventional and brutal battle tactics, the Vedarians were on even footing, but the troubles in Sargasso meant that they had lost their greatest ally. Though as the Erinys fled into Noshiki they destroyed many of the Horrorforges that stood in their way, the Aptoa had enough to continue fighting Vedaria. The battle would grind to a standstill for years.

In 1768, the Empire received a new and terrible blow deep in their heartland. The Aptoa had built a nigh-unassailable city within the mountains that they planned to retreat to, should anything occur. This city and the people within grew sick of the horrors perpetuated by their masters, of the unholy things they unearthed, of their lack of veneration for the Spirits, of their treatment of Damakran, of women, and of just honest and normal folk. They also grew tired of their lack of ability to effect any change or influence. This city, Oomash, became the capital for the Republic of Andaliel, which not only declared the independence of half the Aptoan heartland, they also declared War on Emderuer. They established a new form of government, where every man and woman, of any Adelian species, was equal under the law, and had a vote. This powerful message resonated throughout Andaliel, and its people, rejuvenated by these ideals, joined the Intolerable War.

The entry of Andaliel into the war marked the end of the Aptoan Blitz, and the end of the Aptoan Empire. In 1768 the current Aptoan Emperor died of illness, and the crown and most of his wives passed to his son. Young and brash, the new Emperor would lead the Aptoa to utter ruin, but not alone. Defeat was inevitable. Now the Aptoa had only 1/3 they territory they once owned, and their control over Noshiki was always tenuous, as the wasteland and its evils could never be dominated, only momentarily tamed. Andaliel and Vedaria formed the Dual Alliance. The end was nigh.

1771–1800: The Fall of Emderuer

The Dual Alliance rapidly made gains. The Aptoan Empire was forced to split their forces to attempt to recapture what Andaliel quickly consolidated, but were too late. Andaliel’s governing body, The Exalted 1st National Congress, quickly made allies with the dour but empathetic Muikara spirits, and more importantly, with the various villages and peoples of the Southland (which ironically lay just northeast of the central line of the Adelian continent), the breadbasket of the Aptoa. The Aptoa’s forces were brought down in numerous battles at the edges of the Noshiki wasteland. Vedaria and Andaliel moved to destroy the remaining Horrorforges and forever put an end to the Aptoan Empire’s unholy technology.

Meanwhile, the situation back home was worsening for the Aptoa. They were now faced with the war coming home. Until now, the population of Emderuer merely toiled, but were never actively embroiled in war. The horrorforges had produced almost 75% of the Aptoan war machine. Now the Imperial Guard had to act in earnest. No longer could they just manage the repulsive copy-soldiers and the belching War Engines. The Vedarians and Andalians probed the defenses of Emderuer, but the fortified Aptoan power-base had had decades to prepare, and proved too tough to crack.

But innovations continued, despite the destruction of the more unholy (advanced) technology. The Vedarians and Andalians worked together to employ flying vessels, and launched a secret airborne assault on the Imperial Palace. Flying so high up that detection was rendered all but impossible, the Dual Alliance literally dropped out of the sky and upon the imperial capital at Kima. The goal was simple – storm the palace, kill the Emperor. This goal they accomplished, at the cost of the destruction of most of the capital, and death to much of its people, either from indiscriminate bombing or during the tense rush by the airborne troops to attack the palace before the Imperial Guard could slow their momentum.

The Emperor was discovered sitting on his throne, resigned to his fate. He was reportedly dragged out to his courtyard, beaten and butchered in a chaos of bayonets, no bullet ever turned upon him.

Overnight, the Intolerable War was won. Though rogue elements of the Imperial Guard yet existed, and Vedaria took great pleasure in roving Emderuer to find and destroy them, the Aptoan Empire was no more. Andaliel gave Emderuer autonomy and its people installed a new Emperor, and mostly tried to return to business as usual, having never been truly affected by the war except in its final stages. Periterim, having never really contributed much, merely sought to open up business with the new nations, and sign a few nice non-aggression pacts. Sargasso rebuilt and recovered. Vedaria returned to the desert and for many years struggled to figure out what direction it wanted to go in – but now free to choose one.

The bloody business was finally done and the Adelians were free.

The Post-War Period

Though this is nicely referred to as the “Recovery Period” it is more commonly known as the “Age of Mourning.” For 100 years the Adelians had known only war. Their hearts bled for all the destruction, all the loss. Untold billions had died, and though many were artificial flesh, their bodies still piled like everyone else’s. Wreckages of horrible things littered the landscape. The sky was black with the smoke of the War Engines. It was said that for a hundred years the song of the Spirits had been drowned out by the cries of despair, the roar of battle, screams of agony and hatred. Many believed the land was dead.

It took time for all the wounds to heal. Some believe they still are healing. But Adelian society re-emerged. The skies cleared, the dead were taken care of,  the Spirits were again properly revered. Society returned to its roots in community and equality. The pseudo-autonomy of the little villages and their faux-socialism was restored to them, no longer just cogs in the Aptoan machine, and they were again allowed to live peacefully as their ancestors had. Everything was restored to its former beauty, order and for the most part, Adelians of all kinds have never been this prosperous.

And now, there were five Nations in Adel. Though their ties to each other are sometimes tenuous, they each know and remember the roles they had to play in the war for their Independence, which they would have lost alone. For as much as the Adelians wish to forget this period and the Aptoan Empire, it is an integral part of who they are now. Though many enemies still lurk, many terrors still seek blood, and many among them still dream of dangerous power, they are now at peace.

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