New Colchis: History

5429AD The Day of a Thousand Tears

Frustrated by the resistance of the Bose clan, Magnus ordered that they should be neutralised. Hundreds of élite warrior priests made commando strikes across Bose lands. Anthony Bose was killed, along with all of his brothers and sisters. Many minor Lords who had supported him had their children slaughtered. This terrible carnage came to be known as the ‘Day of a Thousand Tears’.

Outraged, the Bose bloc immediately began to marshal their armies. They began a campaign aimed at marching on Croman, the seat of the High Priest, and destroying the city along with its priests. Legions of well-armed warrior priests sprang to their leaders’ defence.

This was New Colchis’ first real war, fought with guns and artillery. Despite the priests’ technically superior weapons, the Bose armies swiftly pushed them back with tactical flair, aided by weight of numbers.

Croman lies in Sujata lands. The war was fought with terrible ferocity, and many civilians were killed. Many towns caught in the fighting were utterly devastated. Lady Sujata was horrified by the carnage. Despite her acceptance of the rebirth principal, she demanded that Magnus surrender.

5430AD The Sovereignty

Sujata managed to convene a peace conference, and eventually an agreement emerged.

Magnus gave up the priesthood and married Lady Sujata, as her junior partner. She put aside her existing husband in order to allow the match. The Sujata bloc was transformed into the “Sovereignty”, with Sujata and Magnus as joint heads of state. The position of High Priest was left vacant, and the Sovereignty became the final arbiter in matters of faith.

The warrior-priests were disarmed, and the state took over the role of defence of religious persons and properties. Bose would now have to face Sovereignty troops.

With Magnus removed from the priesthood and deprived of all real power, and with the warrior priests disarmed, the Bose bloc agreed to give up their war. Peace was restored, for the time being.

Some ultra-orthodox warrior priests rejected the agreement, and went underground. They formed a terrorist group that became known as the “Crimson Hand”. The heresies of the Bose faction were a particular target. Lords who supported inheritance over rebirth were often targeted for assassination.

5432-5456AD Competition Between the Houses

For twenty-five years low intensity war waxed and waned between the Sovereignty and the other two Great Houses. The war was characterised by skirmishes and economic competition, assassinations and plots, rather than large scale battles.

This strife was a great impetus for technical progress. It also drove many commoners to migrate to other parts of the world to escape the violence. These pioneers rejected the Lords’ wars and struck out into uncharted outback. The new frontier communities tended towards religious orthodoxy, despite their rejection of the established priesthood.