Written by Jacinth de la Rochenoire
September 773-July 775
Foreword
Inspired by the work of Monsieur Vince Székely's Le Coup de Revers: The Dementlieuse Civil War, this piece is intended to provide context for resolution of the Third Falkovnian Invasion, the dissolution of the Provisional Government put in place by the Duc d'Ameranthe, Marius 'the Maitrisier' Mortigny, the march of the Jeune Compagnie, the Siege of Ameranthe, and finally the restoration of the Council of Brilliance as headed by Lady-Governor Helene DeSuis. Resource sources include credible reports from several papers, first hand account, and documents issued by the Provisional Government and Council of Brilliance.
Rule of the Provisional Government
News of a Falkovnian invasion shattered the uneasy quiet established in the aftermath of the Solemn Covenant's occupation of Port-a-Lucine and the creation of the so-called 'Provisional Government'. The Maitrisier, nominally the head of state pending elections, rode east to his ancestral fortress to defend his lands against his old foe Falkfuhrer Siegmund von Krauss, leader of the invading Falkovnian force. With most of his forces in Port-a-Lucine, Ameranthe proved too tempting for von Krauss to resist; not only would taking Ameranthe secure Falkovnian supply lines for a deeper push into Dementlieu's heart, but allow for the settling of a grudge that dated back to the Maitrisier's escape from torturous captivity at von Krauss's hands. Battle was joined for the first time on October 13 773 on the Musarde; thereafter, the two countries engaged in small skirmishes as the Falkovnians harried the villages that fed Ameranthe and the Maitrisier's forces counter-attacked without decisive result.
The Maitrisier's ally, the Comtesse d'Azerac Michelle de Froissart was left to rule in his stead; a rule that would prove ineffective in the face of resistance from Council of Brilliance loyalists.
Before his departure, the Maitrisier expressed the Provisional Government's will to see elections carried out to instate a new Council of Brilliance, and purged the courts of allegedly corrupt judges and magistrates. Elections were announced for the 24th of Aout, 773. The march of the Falkovnians postponed these elections. The elections announced for the 5th of Decembre, 773, were likewise postponed to the 10th of Janvier, 774. Then too, this date date passed with only the vague mention of security concerns as justification.
Meanwhile, civil unrest continued to brew. A petition by the Workers' Congress*[1] to the Provisional Government calling for temporary legislation to safeguard the works of Dementlieu. Demands included establishment of a minimum wage, the forbiddance of children under twelve to work, great representation of the common people within the new government, and the abolition of bonded labor.
While this petition would be ignored, two of its signatories would be find themselves in the center of events the Provisional Government could not afford to neglect. After a proclamation issued by Toret Armand Pineau of Ste. Mere des Larmes condemned Maitresse Verinne van Haute as afflicted with 'lycanthropy' and 'unable to control her violent, savage instincts', Warden Agnes Gauthier slew Maitresse van Haute wihtin the Theatre de la Cathedral, accompanied by several Ezrites from a far flung congregation. Allegations would later surface claiming that Warden Gauthier was acting at the behest of the Comtesse d'Azerac.
Certainly these allegations were bolstered by the words of the magistrate presiding over the subsequent trial. Court Judge Gastone de la Vigne offered a lenient sentence for the alleged-conspirators after the intervention of the Maitrisier's ward, Edme Tourette, claiming the Comtesse d'Azerac herself owned a measure of blame for the events in question. The same judge would later be dragged from his bed by agents unknown later that night. Both Maitresse van Haute and Warden Gauthier had been close allies and supporters of the Maitrisier, and this shocking turn of events gripped the nobles and commons of Port-a-Lucine in a paralysis of fear and uncertainty. This state would persist until the calling of the war's second levy, as once more the Duc d'Ameranthe's words moved the nobility to arms.
The Levies
Two extraordinary levees would be called by the Provisional Government. The first, called in Août of 773, affected men and women (unmarried or childless widowers) from 18 to 25 years of Port-a-Lucine. Workers of industry and factories, farmers and associated workers, the clergy of Ezra, public official, and students of the University of Dementlieu were excluded, as were sons and daughters of nobility who provided a sum of 500 solars. The second, announced in Avril of 775, affected all men of noble birth between the ages of eighteen to forty years of age, as well as all retainers meeting criteria for military service. The exclusion for this levy would be far steeper; 10,000 solars for each noble exempted. Women, while not compelled to service, were free to volunteer.*[2] This second levy was spurred by the Maitrisier's letter to the Comtesse d'Azerac, a portion of which was read at the Palais Dirigeant before an assemblage of the nobility.
"The causeway towers have been a focus of their attack, and although we held this connection to the land open as long as we could, we have been forced to yield it; Ameranthe is now fully an island again, and may only be resupplied by boat, approximately two of three of which are sunk or badly damaged by the Falkovnians. Our provisions have been kept laid in for six years since the time of my grandfather, but we did not expect such a large influx of refugees. I have heard some accounts that the Falkovnians allowed them to escape. No doubt they intended to tax our supplies more heavily. I estimate we have now only a few months of provisions remaining. The tireless work of Ezra's healers has kept plague and contagion from becoming too great a threat, but we fear that if we should attempt to stretch our rations too thin, malnutrition will cause an epidemic to spread faster than even they may control it. Significant damage to the Windlass and Mews towers has resulted from Falkovnian catapults, but they are too inaccurate to cause any serious failures of structural integrity. Nevertheless, it is only a matter of time before they manage to force a breach in the walls of the outer bailey. We have in preparation for this exigency moved all arms and stores within the keep itself, but fear what panic and unrest might occur in close quarters were we forced to thence retreat. Still, I cannot speak more highly of the spirit and resolve of the warriors who fight here, both those of the Gendarmerie and those of the Houses pledged to mine. After the bitterness of the last war, to fight again beneath the shining lighthouse is to fight filled with the spirit of our Republique, a beacon of righteousness and order in a world of chaos and depravity. I do not fear that my men will fail in their duty, nor that they will not sell their lives dearly to add to the grim cost of our Republique's freedom. I fear only that the sum of our lives may not be enough to stem this tide entire. But by Ezra's grace, if there is a chance that it will, we can, and will, do no other. Long live the Republique. -Marius de Mortigny."
The Jeune Compagnie and the March to Ameranthe
The forces of this second levy would become known as 'the Jeune Compagnie', a moniker owed to the youth of the noble sons and daughters enlisted in its ranks*[3]. The company would drill for the purpose of lifting the Falkovnian siege at Ameranthe. After a period of unrest marked by the formation of militant groups such as the Quartier Watch and accusations of treason levied against then-Gendarmerie Nationale Sargent Alix Sinclaire Martineau, orders arrived. On the 24th of Juillet, 775, the Comtesse d'Azerac issued orders for the Jeune Compagnie to march. They were to relieve the siege at Ameranthe. With the fortress secure, Sieur Jean-Michel Bedard and additional forces would arrive the following day for a final effort against the Hawks.
Though Sieur Jean-Michel's forces never arrived, the Jeune Compagnie and the Gendarmerie detachment serving with them were successful in relieving the siege. Of notable political importance, Warden Agnes Guathier became Madame la Duchesse d'Ameranthe when she married Marius Mortigny, while Falkfuhrer Siegmund von Krauss was killed at the Maitrisier's hand which resulted in a total route of the besieging Falkovnian forces. This moment of apparent triumph for the Duc d'Ameranthe would be short-lived, however.
The Coup
With a significant portion of the Provisional Government's strength once more engaged in the east, the groundwork laid by Council of Brilliance loyalists over the course of the years-long illegal coup came to fruition. As the fighting ceased at Ameranthe and the City of Lights slept, the Council of Brilliance was escorted in secret from Blaustein and across Pernault Bay aboard La Grâce de Damon, a merchant vessel owned by former Gendarmerie Nationale Sargent Alix Sinclair Martineau. Despite coming under attack by anarchist-forces led by the outlaw Claude, self-styled Queen of the Pirates, La Grâce de Damon made landfall upon Université Bluff. Though the ship and most of its hands were lost, the Council of Brilliance was intact, as was a sizable contingent of Gendarme's loyal to their cause and a pair of foreign arcanist mercenaries. Their march to the the Palais Dirigeant met no meaningful resistance, and to all appearances the Comtesse d'Azerac had fled the city. With the de facto leader of the Provisional Government unable or unwilling to offer resistance, the Council of Brilliance once more occupied the Palais uncontested, and from there exerted dominance over all of Dementlieu.
News reached Ameranthe not long after, followed by an ultimatum:
“Be it known: That the rebellion and insurrection of the so-called Provisional Government has been brought to an end. All forces fighting under the banner of this GOVERNMENT are to present themselves TOMORROW, 27 JUILLET to ask the mercy of the Council. -Hélène DuSuis, Lady-Governor”
The people of Dementlieu held their collective breath as the forces of the Maitrisier marched on the capitol the following day. There, after a brief exchange, the Duc d'Ameranthe agreed to the terms of the Council of Brilliance: he was stripped of the titles of Challignac and Boie, the size of his house forces restricted, and a garrison of forty Gendarmes was installed permanently at Ameranthe. Additionally, Agnes de Mortigny, Duchesse d'Ameranthe, was arrested for the murder of Maitresse Verinne van Haute, to serve a sentence of three years in Pierre du Morte. For his part, the Maitrisier asked clemency for those who served in the Solemn Covenant and the Provisional Government, and that all who fought against the Falkovnians would receive due honors as accorded to them by their valor.*[4]
The Council Restored
The chosen Council of Brilliance of Héléne deSuis once more guides the country uncontested. The many false promises put to ink in the illegal Constitution (unlawfully instituted during the mob rule and unfulfilled by both Revolutionaries or Provisionals) were rescinded. In their place, the legal architecture and framework enacted in the time of Léon was restored. With it came a return to order and an end to the fire and butchery of the Revolution and Civil War. Dementlieu, dimmed by this dark decade, once again shines as an eternally brilliant beacon of culture, prosperity, and freedom across the Core.
Footnotes
*[1] Signatories include: Jacques Varteur (representing the Miners' Association, Dockworkers' Union, Fishermans' Association, and several other groups), Amaury Berthelot (Bellgarde Consortium Board of Directors), Serra Regnard (Vice-constable, La Rue Bas), Lefwin Esbury (Artisan's Guild), Flambeau (Red Vardo Traders), Olivia Aumberden (Tailor's Association, Guild of Cobblers), Maitresse Verinne van Haute (Manager of the Theatre de la Cathedral), Warden Agnes Gauthier, Lieutenant Laurette Élise Trelliard, Caporal Joachim von Schrotter (Gendarmerie Nationale)
*[2] Francette of House de la Rochenoire was the first such volunteer, followed shortly thereafter by Raymonde of House Tremblay.
*[3] Jacinth of the noble house de la Rochenoire was given over command of the Jeune Compagnie with the honorary rank of Sargent within the Gendarmerie Nationale at the insistence of the Baron de Duchbourg, who voiced concern that common-born Gendarmes leading nobility would be a breach of propriety.
*[4] For her instrumental role in returning the Council of Brilliance, Alix Sinclair Martineau was named Dame, and conferred the Seigneurie of Estellier. Jacinth de la Rochenoire, Commandant of the Jeune Compagnie, was titled Baron de Mouisset, affording his wife Sylvie de la Rochenoire nee Coulette the title of Baroness de Mouisset. Roland Steele, for his bravery and singular valor during the siege, was titled Sieur Roland, Chevalier de la Republique. Francette Vaillant was titled Maitresse for her civic work with the Theatre de la Cathedral in addition to her service at Ameranthe, while Alexandre Vaillant was named Maitre Vaillant for siegeworks performed to counter the Falkovnian trebuchets.