History of Shireroth

See also: Timeline of Shirerithian History

DRAFT: WORK IN PROGRESS

Following discussions in the IAC:

1. Prehistory to the Death of Raynor (as per SSHIT with dates corrected for AN plus some scepticism).
2. 1st Era Overview
   1. Raynor I unifies the core territories, assumes the title Kaiser.
   2. Kaiser's authority spreads outward, cadet branches of the family appointed to rule outer areas.
   3. Central authority fails to maintain central power, regional rulers assert increasingly independent authority and fight one another for territory and power.
3. 2nd Era Overview
   1. Descent from Raynor now tenuous, at best, spurious bloodlines are fought. Scribes compiling and refuting competing genealogies are figures in high demand amongst the barons who aspire to dominion over Brookshire
   2. Kaisership is bestowed upon whoever captures Shirekeep for a time
   3. One of these rulers conquers the Shirekeep area (whoever it is that is ruling Monty Crisco), summons demons, and successfully asserts power over them. Daemonic power allows this line to conquer the other states.
   4. The demon-powered line of kaisers is overthrown and the demons are sealed away.
   5. Failure to maintain central control, the various states split apart again. Leading to:
4. Third Era
   1. They are forced to become vassals of various foreign empires (Audentior, Jasonia, Benacia, Alexandros, Tymaria) in turn.
   2. Conquest of Elwynn
   3. From the wreckage of Tymaria emerges an unexpected great power.
   4. Madness ensues.

Periods of the Third Era:

• Colonial
• World-Realm
• High Feudal
• Schismatic
• Federal
• Dynastic

Timeline

Decade	Imperial Events	Elwynnese Events	Goldshirian Events	Events of Overseas Territories	Brookshire/Lichbrook/Malarboria	Major world events
1430s	.	.	.	.	.	1434: Attera breaks from isolationism 1438: Rep of Istvanistan founded
1440s	1443: Coup, "Republic of Shireroth" declared with Provisional Government 1444 Joined Audentior as province 1446 Declared independence from Audentior, war with Audentior 1446 joins Jasonia instead	1442: Hyperborea founded	1440: Old Goldendown vanishes after being infected by the now extinct Mortalis apotheosis virus.	.	.	1441: FIOJ founded 1449: Babkha united.
1450s	1451: Imperial rule restored, independence from Jasonia	1452: Elwynn elevated to duchy	.	.	.	.
1460s	1461: Shireroth joins Tymaria Straylight made duchy	.	I.1468: Thane Eros Darstar of Jaris and the Kitanus fields attempts to buy Goldshire from Kaiser Letifer I with a single Thaler (a local gold coin of exceptional purity)	.	.	1460: FIOJ disbanded. 1468: Baracão Revolution, socialist govt established Madland proclaimed as empire
1470s	1470: Independence from Tymaria Battle of Cimmeria	.	VII.1470: Duke dStryker places Goldshire's vote for Shirerithian independence from Tymaria. XI.1477: The Warrior Jadie, Hero of the Battle of Cimmeria, is awarded the Ducal Throne of Goldshire by Kaiser Raynor X as reward for her role in winning that battle.	.	.	1472: Menelmacar founded 1471: Stormark founded by Harald 1477: Menelmacar divided
1480s	.	Loss of Elfinshi power in Elwynn 1488: Elwynn demoted to barony	V.1480: The First Great Plague of Ease and Boredom reaches its height in Goldshire, decimating the population and wiping out a great swathe of historical records. XI.1482: The Golden Horde Rebellion. A Yardistani-backed revolt by an disgruntled Goldshirian general attempts to unseat the Duchess but is fought to a standstill by a collection of militias from across Shireroth, this messy stalemate finally broken by a mass Babkhan invasion in the Duchess' favour. II.1485: Work begins on construction of the oldest-surviving part of the Goldshire Palace. III.1485: The Duchess delegates rule of a swathe of southern Goldshire to the Treesian artist Eriana Moon, whose domain becomes the Barony of Lunaris. IX.1487: The Great Lunatic Hamster Plague brings the workings of state, society and commerce to a grinding halt across Goldshire.	.	.	1487: Archetype-Menelmacar falls
1490s	.	Babkhan mass immigration, Elfinshi wars	.	.	.	Leng, Cibola and Sypyyr discovered to the chagrin of the Hyperboreans 1498: Madland becomes Alexandria
1500s	.	1509: Elwynn raised to duchy	.	.	.	.
1510s	.	.	.	.	1511: Lac Glacei unclaimed	.
1520s	.	.	.	.	.	.
1530s	1538: Kaiser Hasan I cedes Shireroth to Babkha	1530–1533 Great Famine of Elwynn 1533 Harald becomes Duke First Froyalan era 1535 Tapferite immigration to Elwynn	.	.	.	.
1540s	1539–1542: War of Jeremy's Nose	.	.	.	.	.
1550s	.	1551: People's Academy established 1552–4: Ohl'tar genocide	.	.	.	.
1560s	.	1567: Elwynnese independence	.	.	.	1567: Fall of Istvanistan's government 1562 AN: First contact with the safir.
1570s	.	1572: Amokolia joins Elwynn 1573 Elwynnese union with Hurmu	.	.	.	1577-1582 AN: Safir colony on Micras.
1580s	.	.	.	.	.	.
1590s	.	1597: Lokiist infiltration. Princely elections. Nationalization of assets. Widespread protests 1599: Hurmu leaves Elwynn	.	.	.	1598: Babkhan holocaust
1600s	1600: Elwynn joins Shireroth Cabbage Crisis	1600: Elwynn joins Shireroth Cabbage Crisis Establishment of the Coordinated State Icebear Rebellion	.	.	.	.
1610s	1617: micraswiki:Revolution of 1617	1612: Communist revolution 1618: Return to constitutional democracy Nathaniel declares absolute monarchy	.	.	.	.
1620s	.	1623: Noah's ascension to throne Second Froyalan Era begins	.	.	.	.
1630s	.	.	.	.	.	.
1640s	1644: Oustfest Massacre 1648: Succession to the throne made dynastic	.	.	.	.	.
1650s	1654–1657: War of Lost Brothers	1651: Auspicious Occasion; End of Froyalan era	.	.	.	1654–1657: War of Lost Brothers
1660s	Post-war recession. Livian pogroms see N&H and ESB estranged from the Imperial Government. 1663: Safirian Exodus	1660–1661: Elwynnese Civil War	.	.	1661: Revolt against the Daemon-Queen in Malarboria	.

Third Era

Shireroth's modern founding was in 1442 (the beginning of the Third Era). Foreign recognition of the Kaisership as its paramount institution occurred later, in approximately 1462, with Erik Mortis becoming Kaiser Metzler I. The accurate record keeping in the Imperial Household began with Gaelen II in 1465, and all accession dates after that are taken to be authentic.

Having established dominance of the Benacian continent, the Kaisers of the House of Raynor eventually expanded their reach to Yardistan and Kildare. Despite further acquisitions, these initial territories constituted the core "Ancient Duchies" of Shireroth for many ages.

Although the Duchies frequently rebelled against the Kaiser and fought each other, their unity within Shireroth was maintained by an informal system of quality control wherein the succession of the Kaisership was passed through individuals with proven ability to rule (with occasional notorious exceptions) ensuring that their attitude toward Shireroth's restive fiefdoms, while often less than amiable, was neither harsh enough nor feeble enough to precipitate those territories' complete break from the government in Shirekeep.

Legitimacy rested upon descent from Kaiser Raynor I. After seventeen centuries, much of Western and Central Benacia, as well as a fair smattering of Babkhi and Kildari can claim this boon. Nonetheless the frequently rotating succession remained within the clutches of a dozen or so noble houses who jealously guarded their notoriously intermarried bloodlines. In spite of the the vigilance of the Imperial Republic's noble oligarchs there have been several "sanglorian" Kaisers in the modern era, alongside a half dozen inhuman Kaisers (whether revenants or aliens). As the Third Era wore on, things became progressively stranger, until a measure of sanity was restored by the confirmation of the dynastic succession in the hands of the House of Ayreon-Kalirion, itself being however troubled by some of its dynastic associations.

Intermediate period: Republic of Shireroth

The Republic of Shireroth (often simply abbreviated as the RS) was founded as a significantly different place than it currently is. It was a republic as the name suggests. The Modern name "Imperial Republic of Shireroth" merely retains the name because it was simply never changed. The RS's government was set up in response to the rise of Apollonian nations, the advent of new Political parties, the rapid consolidation of smaller polities, and the tendency of existing states to fracture as provinces sought independence.

The records of the era were poorly maintained, with many lost during the Great Plague of 1480, but from these we find reference to a peasants revolt recorded in the barbaric Praeta of the age as the "Direct Democracy Riots". We cannot be entirely sure when, or even if, these disorders occurred. That these events, occurring 218 years prior to the time of writing, have been almost entirely lost is a damning indictment of the dark age endured in the transition from the Second to the Third Era of our history. What appears to have occurred however is that either because of, or in reaction to, this uprising, which coincides intriguingly with the collapse of the Old Goldendown culture on Goldshire, a coup was mounted in Shirekeep during the reign of Kaiser John II in 1443.

After Erik of Ly'Technomaezj-Metzler forced closed the Gate of Balgurd and prevented the Kaiser from commanding reinforcements to emerge from within, Kaiser John II was cast into the streets for the once-fearful denizens of the city to make of him what they wished. Taking the Kaiser's crown and the Sword of Vengeance for himself, he led an army into Goldshire, when news came that the Followers of Rrakanychan had consolidated a force of mortal men and daemons, led by the notorious Demon Fish of Balgurd.

As these chaotic events unfolded Raynor's Keep, denuded of troops by the antics of various warring kaisers, was seized by a clique of unidentified reformists who sought, for a brief shining moment, to create in eastern Benacia a progressive and democratic utopia that would mark a clean break from the mindless anarchy of the Second Era. The "Provisional Government" as it styled itself appointed, perhaps unwisely, Erik of Ly'Technomaezj-Metzler as its President. Although it was undoubtedly prudent to have the most prominent and successfully warlord in the Elwynn river valley onside, Erik's impetuous temperament, already manifested in his headlong rush into the re-subjugation of Goldshire, would cause a myriad of problems later on.

Influenced by the philosophy of "Direct Democracy" which emerged from Jasonia, the Republic of Shireroth embraced a radical form of democratic centralism that has never been attempted before or since. The electoral franchise of the Republic was to have been universal, the chaotic collection of feuding dominions leftover from the Second Era were to have been swept away and internal subdivisions were consequently prohibited in an attempt to minimise factionalism. Holders of foreign nationality were also banished in order to get rid of possible conflicts of interest. The tenets of democracy were central to the nation; the right of citizens to a vote and the exercise of free-speech were freely granted in the RS, yet political parties - because of the overwhelming fear of factionalism - were sternly prohibited.

Central to the government were a small series of documents: The Articles of Creation, The Provisional Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and The Non-citizens Bill of Rights. The most important of these documents were The Articles of Creation and The Bill of Rights. These two documents give the clearest view of the intended direction of the nation. The Articles set up a number of the policies that would be central to the government as it grew, and the Bill of Rights made clear what freedoms the citizens of the RS would be given. The President in the provisional government was basically a dictator who would have his actual powers fleshed out when the constitution was revised into its final form.

The provisional government of the RS never made it into it's full form as the country was quickly subjected to a rapid, indeed bewildering, succession of foreign occupations during the period 1444–1470. . It would seem that the original incarnation of Shireroth only lasted a few months in 1444 before the country was annexed by Audentior.

The country that re-emerged after 1470, substantially enlarged by territories snatched from the collapsing Tymarian empire, had regressed into the feudal, xenophobic, and isolationist characteristics of the ancestral polity; modified only by the demands of an imperial administration, wherein the powers of the Kaiser had greatly expanded, after the reign of Kaiser Mors II.

Foreign rule

Shireroth in its present form began inauspiciously. The last Kaiser of the second era, John II, a greedy and unscrupulous ruler who had consorted with daemons to further his rule, had been overthrown by Kaiser Erik II and torn apart by the Shirekeep mob. Erik however proved to be a weak ruler who failed to control the populist forces he had unleashed. The so-called Direct Democracy Riots destabilised eastern Benacia, which was at that time under vassalage to Audentior. Erik's provisional government ended abruptly in the seventh month of 1444 when Audentior, tired of the anarchy, formally annexed Shireroth. Erik was allowed to keep his title and history records that his reign continued for another year.

He was succeeded by his son, the eccentric and irascible Kaiser Brrapa V, who in 1446 staged a successful attempt to break away from Audentior's crumbling colonial empire. The effort was perhaps not so successful however as the act of secession was followed immediately by annexation by the Flying Islands of Jasonia in the same year.

The chaos resumed with renewed vigour during the reign of Brrapa's grandson, Gaelen I, during which time Shireroth broke away from Jasonia (1451), found itself ensnared in the Amity Crisis (1451–1452) with its former colonial master, witnessed the final submission of Elwynn (1452), was ruled by Commonwealth of Benacia (1455–1458), embroiled in the Paramount War (1456), became a partner in the Hegemony of Alexandros (1458–1466) and part of the United Republic of Tymaria after 1461. It was a period during which many unstable and declining states sought to ward off collapse by voluntarily merging into ever larger, ever more diffuse, and ever more unwieldy, federations. The last and largest of these, Tymaria, spanned the globe like a colossus. It's federal structure and competing Atteran and Apollonian centres of power however meant that it was a giant with feet of clay.

Whilst the overarching empire spiralled into ever more doomed complexity, the office of Kaiser began to gain the attributes of an absolute monarchy under Kaiser Gaelen II, and recreated a small feudal system with two Duchies, Brookshire and Goldshire. The feudal system was expanded vastly to include a new level, Baron, and the Landsraad became a major organ of government. Shireroth soon became much more important than its subordinate status would indicate as Patrick Foley chose to bequeath the remnants of the UAS to it as the Duchy of Kildare. With a number of military-oriented types like Daniel K and Greg Russell. Shireroth would go on to gain De facto independence from Tymaria (1466) during the reign of Kaiser Mors I (1466–1468). In the year 1467 however Philip Locke set a fire amongst the papers of the government record office. Infamy and a significant lacuna ensued.

Feudalism and empire

Formal secession from Tymaria was deferred until the reign of Kaiseress Viviantia I (1469–1470) and not long afterwards the states of Hyperborea, Yardistan, Jaris, and Akerbjorn fell under Shirerithian rule. It was perhaps unease at this rapid expansion which prompted Kaiser Mog (1472–1473) into his foolish attempt to cede Amity and Mirioth. His reward was deposition and death in the wake of Letifer's Revolt.

The Battle of Cimmeria (1477) is the conventional name given to a partially successful attempt to defend Shireroth against the depredations of a slightly unlikely group going by the name of Anarchy 21. Kaiser Raynor X, who had arrived late to the battle, then declared the day a national holiday, and rewarded its heroes. Robert Belci, a Crandishman, and Harvey Steffke, a Menelmacari, were given honorary citizenship and military awards. Stjepan Aracic, already an honorary citizen, was given double honorary citizenship. More substantially Jadie Mathematician was made the Duchess of Goldshire.

Fracture: secession and federalism

This system began to break down from the approximate time of Kaiser Letifer III (1512-1514 AN), wherein the old reliable noble houses faded from prominence and the Kaisership was passed to increasingly less competent and more self-interested individuals. The ensuing bitterness caused those elements of the old guard remaining to become cantankerous and lose the knack of wise rule themselves, culminating in the notorious House System; an enormous feudal reform which attempted to codify the chaotic situation by making the retention of one's land holdings essentially dependent on one's skill in political skullduggery. Naturally the ensuing mess produced victims, the foremost of whom being the disenfranchised population of Elwynn who responded by seizing control over the greater part of that territory and effecting a secession from Shireroth in 1567. Although this secession was temporary, it forever shattered the myth of Kaiserial infallibility and permanently damaged the unspoken belief in Shirerithian nationhood which had long bonded its many peoples in ways that government could not.

Shaken by the impotence of the Kaisership in maintaining Shirerithian harmony, the political current in Shireroth moved gently in favour of democratisation with the Shirerithian legislature, the Landsraad, ending its ancient nobles-only rule and opening membership to the entire citizenry in 1588. Opinion also moved toward insulating the provinces from the worst failures of Imperial policy by granting them substantial autonomy, in order to restore a sense of trust and wellbeing that would, in turn, keep Shireroth together. This culminated in the Lich Charter of 1595, promulgated by Kaiseress Mira Raynora Major, wherein Shireroth's territories were transformed into a series of autonomous Imperial States with profuse powers to determine their own affairs. This partial restoration of sanity contributed, among other things, to the reunification of Elwynn with Shireroth in 1600.

Unfortunately the Imperial State system depended on a certain level of good faith on the part of the Imperial States toward the Kaiser's government in Shirekeep, as those bonds which were no longer maintained by the Kaiser's power came to depend on the voluntary co-operation of the Imperial States with each other and with the Kaiser. The inability of the Kaiser to deal with the excessive self-interest of Imperial States was explosively demonstrated with the surprise secession of Kildare in 1617. What Elwynn began in demoting the vaunted myth of the Shirerithian Kaisership, Kildare all but finished.

In the aftermath of the loss of Kildare to Jingdao, and the failure of the Neridia colony on Istvanistan, large swathes of the population in Lichbrook and southern Goldshire had resolved that suffering what they perceived as constant disruption by other Imperial States, only to be collectively punished for those states' purported excesses by what they saw as reductions of their own political autonomy, was proof of their systematic expulsion from the Shirerithian political process. Through this contorted reasoning the dissidents had come to the conclusion that the Kaisers of Shireroth could no longer make any demand upon their fealty. Rather than risk battle on the field of honour or in the Landsraad for possession of their ancestral lands, these traitors instead preferred the stratagem of stealth, stealing away in the night and following the smugglers routes and Lach trails leading towards lawless Ashkenatzim lands of the west, wherein they would found Minarboria.

Resurgence: Benacian reconquest, neofeudalism and world war

The Imperial Republic, long dissatisfied by the federal system became ensnared in a series of interconnected conflicts beginning in 1635 AN and finally coming to a conclusion in the year 1644 with the entry of Kaiseress Noor into Shirekeep. The prime cause of the conflict was the unbalanced relationship between a weakened Imperial Government and the over-mighty imperial states, of which Elwynn was the prime offender.

The wars began with the so-called River War (1635), an unsuccessful attempt by hard-line Cedrists and Elwynnese ultra-nationalists to mount a quick decapitation strike on the Monarchy of Elwynn which was led by Princess Margana, the daughter of Kaiser Brrapa VII and sponsored by the patricians of Shirekeep and the Court within Raynor's Keep.

In spite of being well resourced and brutally executed, the attempted takeover of Elwynn by a combination of a coup and 'hybrid warfare' failed spectacularly and rebounded upon the heads of the plotters. Not only were they unsuccessful in their efforts to exterminate the Royal Family of Elwynn but the war ended with the King's father entering Shirekeep as a conqueror.

It was said by some that Brrapa VII was conveniently ill at the start of the war and conveniently dead at its end.

One of the notable aspects of the war, which effectively lasted for two months at most, was the rate at which stockpiles of modern hi-tech guided munitions and missiles were rapidly depleted. The Imperial Shirerithian Air Forces (ISAF) had expended its reserves of cruise missiles within the first week of the conflict and was still trying to acquire and adapt ship launched missiles from the Imperial Shirerithian Navy (which had remained neutral in the conflict) by the time the war ended. Similarly the UDF had been caught short and taken by surprise by the war and was still trying to reactivate the Southron Barrage programme by the war's end. The UDF had also run its stockpiles of medium-range anti-aircraft missiles down to the point of exhaustion during the Battle of Echo. The decision of the Imperialists to hold back their remaining air assets, particularly the UCAVs, after the shocking losses of that engagement proved to be the hinge point that turned what might have been a mere setback into the decisive victory that ensured the survival of the Elwynnese Union and its eventual victory.

By the final weeks of the war even the supplies of unguided 'dumb' bombs were being run down to the point that the Arandur of Alalehzamin and Utasia was obliged to establish workshops to produce crude unguided rockets in order to keep up the rate of fire on the defenders of Shirekeep and the ISAF was giving serious consideration to adapting its remaining UCAV force to drop re-purposed canisters packed with high-explosives.

This experience subsequently informed the strategic and operational doctrines of both the UDF and the reformed (i.e. purged) Imperial Forces in that the technologically sophisticated weapons systems began to be viewed as an exquisitely crafted and expensive blade of tremendous penetrating power that nonetheless blunted quickly through frequent use. For this reason it began to be felt that what was required was a second line of sufficient mass and firepower that would be less sophisticated, and for therefore more affordable, that could get the job done - through blunt object trauma if need be - once the enemy's own, exquisitely wrought, first line of defences had been sufficiently burnt through to provide an opening.

The desire to test this new theory against a representation of an avowedly unconventional opposing force gave rise to the series of military exercises known as Operation Long Haul and all the attendant controversies that ensued when neighbouring Minarboria became thoroughly alarmed.

The Anarchy of Angularis (1635-1640) was a five year period of disorder in which Elw ultra-nationalists and other separatist, anti-monarchist and anti-imperialist groups waged a low level insurgency, gradually extending their influence throughout the Vale of Angularis. These forces were violently suppressed by Elwynnese and Imperial Forces under the overall direction of the Arandur of Alalehzamin and Utasia in the Campaign of 1639, considered by some to be amongst one of the bloodiest episodes in modern Benacian history, second only to the Green Mortality of 1605 in the reign of Kaiser Aiomide, although this record was subsequently overtaken the calamities of the 1650s.

Martial Law in Goldshire (1639) was declared after the assassination of the Goldshirean and Elwynnese Princes Arn and Rostam Ayreon-Kalirion by parties unknown in the year 1639. This being the third such attempt on a member of the Ayreon-Kalirion bloodline in which poison was administered in a secure environment, suspicion quickly turned to the Leonid Guard whose duty was to protect the family of the Emira of Sathrati. This latest failing proved to be final straw and the Royal Government of Goldshire, administered by the ESB-Jörmungandr Group, declared martial law and instigated a purge of suspect individuals and organisations within the Kingdom. That this poisoning was part of a wider conspiracy was proved when the secretive Assayers successfully, albeit temporarily, countermanded the martial law decree.

After two days of confusion, Queen Noor was able to reassert her authority and reinstated the martial law decree - adding to it the proscription of the now openly treacherous Assayers. The Assayers, more formally the Chamber of Assay of the Avakair Mint and Bullion Depository, had a fearsome reputation for being able to instil psychological terror and also a capacity for actual acts of terror, including abduction, torture and assassination, in pursuit of its relentless drive to try and maintain standards of purity in the 'gold standard' Erb and a ruthless determination to destroy any threats to that self same purity. This put them on an inevitable collision course with the ESB-Jörmungandr Group which has, no less ruthlessly, sought to promote its fiat currency - the Teldrin Thaler - throughout the river ports of the the Red Elwynn and beyond.

Faced by such a dangerous and unpredictable foe, and concerned about wavering morale amongst the Goldshire Regulars, the Royal Government, on the 11th of Araroqpinu 1639, invoked its right under the Martial Code of Shireroth to seek the assistance of Imperial Forces. The Imperial Government had already taken steps to order Leonid Guards based overseas to return to ESB run rendition facilities in Goldshire and Zy-Rodun. Now, with an official invitation, it could act with full force. The situation led inevitably to full blown civil war (1639-1643).

The civil war ended with the Armistice of Airle (Reire the 15th of Nomeziooqu, 1643), the terms of which surprisingly generous, by Shirerithian standards. Rebel leaders were castrated and sent to monasteries. Golems, alchemical artefacts and Gnostic grimoires meanwhile were be destroyed. Beyond this there was a prohibition on reprisals. Imperial Constabulary assumed responsibility for peacekeeping in Goldshire while the crimes of the rebels, as well as of pro-government militias were to be investigated equally by judicially appointed inquisitors.

The civil war saw a revival in the ancient Cedrist religion as well as the reintroduction of various practices such as gladiatorial combat, human sacrifice and the mass enslavement of displaced persons. The various factions on both sides sought to make the war pay for itself by resorting to the plunder of the opposing sides territory. Criminality also dramatically increased with the Mercaja side especially resorting to drugs smuggling, extortion, racketeering and the fraudulent transmutation of base metals into gold and silver in order to fund its operations.

Officially the Royal Government of Goldshire acknowledged 43,770 fatalities as a consequence of the civil war. It has however been suggested that these figures were deliberately underplayed to avoid causing embarrassment to the Alexandrian government during the negotiations leading up to the formation of the Sxiro-Alexandrian-Natopian Entente.

An estimate contained in a report by the ESB Group suggested a death-toll of 8,431,770, several orders of magnitude greater than the official tally. The reason for the disparity laid in the omission from official statistics of the victims of chemical weapons attacks carried out by the Imperial Forces and the death-toll from clean-up operations in Lunaris after the collapse of the organised rebellion. The report and its authors were suppressed and pulped by the Jaysh al-Sathrati on the orders of Queen Noor.

Holwinn and Lunaris felt the effects of the war disproportionately, with advance and retreat of first the Jaysh al-Sathrati and then the Army of the Golden Dawn which caught the civilian populations of those two counties in a desperate maelstrom of violent reprisal, where civilians were targeted as much as, if not more often than, the opposing combatants. 25% of the Lunatic population was killed or died of communicable diseases during the conflict whilst a staggering 41% of the population of the County of Holwinn perished as collateral damage after the Technomaezji unleashed its full arsenal of chemical and biological munitions in an attempt to halt the rebel advance towards Cabbagefall.

It was the scale of this slaughter which convinced Kaiser Dominus to initiate war-crimes trials against the guilty parties of both sides in the civil war. A matter of some embarrassment considering the support that the Imperial Government and the ESB Group had lavished on Queen Noor's private army. By the end of the war however the Jaysh was a broken force, discredited both morally and militarily.

1644, the Year of the Four Kaisers, was a tumultuous moment in Shirerithian History which saw the deposition and murder of Kaiser Dominus, and the emergence of three claimants to the Golden Mango Throne.

The next cycle of wars that began with the Struggle for the South (1649–1651), a series of inter-related disputes and conflicts following the Elwynnese confiscation of Mishalan and the collapse, demotion and or dissolution of the Lich Realms of Lichbrook and Minarboria, ending the dominion of the dead over the lands of southern Benacia. The disputes saw an increase in anti-Elwynnese sentiment and the first semblance of opposition to the Ayreon-Kalirion dynastic succession to the Mango Throne.

The Struggle ended with the restoration of Mishalan, the establishment of the Domain of Malarboria and finally the Auspicious Occasion of 1651. This decree marked the beginning of a systemic purge of Storrish influence in the Imperial Republic. More specifically the expulsion of the House of Ettlingar Freyu and the Church of the Froyalanish Ancient Ways from the Elwynnese Union resulted from a double coup in Shirekeep and Eliria which brought to an abrupt end the Froyalanish hegemony over the Imperial Republic that had begun with the abdication of Prince Jonathan Ayreon-Kalirion in 1623 and the River War of 1635.

King Noah disputed the legality of his expulsion but failed to gain any measure of popular support at home or abroad, with the sole exception of the then Emperor of Natopia, Zakyyr. A complete rupture in the Sxiro-Natopian alliance was averted but Noah remained Natopian foreign minister for a time longer, prompting some awkwardness.

The speed of the collapse of Elwynnese resistance, combined with the success of the Imperial Government in delivering a fait accompli had brought the Auspicious Occasion to a swift and decisive conclusion, greatly limiting the destruction and loss of life endured by the Elwynnese. This contrasted strikingly with previous Imperial interventions in Dietsland, Goldshire, Lichbrook, Minarboria, Puritania and Voltrue over the course of the previous sixteen years.

On the Elwynnese side, the centralising of decision making powers into the hands of the King and his court had meant that once Noah was isolated and unable to maintain open communications the once formidable array of forces at his disposal gave a poor account of themselves, in marked contrast to their performance during the Year of the Four Kaisers seven years previously. The selection and advancement of officers noted for their loyalty to the Crown and love of pomp and pageantry over their professional ability had degraded the quality of command and control and led to a loss of the capacity for displays of individual initiative.

The Imperial Forces meanwhile had continued to expand, rearm and professionalise following the defeats endured in the River War and the Year of the Four Kaisers. The Imperial Army was performing at near the peak of operational readiness it had achieved during an abortive war scare with Jingdao in 1647, and its officers were highly motivated to gain revenge for the slights they had endured from the Elwynnese over the years.

The Imperial Forces were, to be sure, still bedevilled by the perennial problems of a creaking and sclerotic logistics chain as well as a command structure of bewildering complexity. Nonetheless the matter was resolved before these issues could make a decisive negative impact.

The Imperial Marshals had finally proved themselves with their involvement in the capture of Krull Palace. Unfettered by the constraints of the Martial Code they had been free to move assets into the city under the guise of rotating personnel out of the Imperial Legations, without the level of domestic surveillance that Imperial Forces transiting Elwynnese territory routinely had to endure.

Debate continues as to whether the establishment of a new period of dynastic rule constitutes a fourth era. In the past, using a discredited historiography and calendar, as many as seven eras were postulated. However, following the Auspicious Occasion, a more rational approach to historical research has taken hold and the process of investigating and verifying the reigns of the Kaisers of the early era, and indeed the nature of their rule, is ongoing.

One of the most notable attributes of the aftermath of the Auspicious Occasion was the systematic repudiation and destruction of much of what had previously been considered integral to Vanic and Froyalanish iconography. In many regards the Royal Government was obliged to legislate to keep up with the popular anger and the tearing down of Vanic monuments.

The smashing and destruction of the "viking helmet crowns" prominently displayed on all royal crests, proved to be an especially popular pastime amongst the masses.

The sudden fall of the House of Ettlingar Freyu threw into sharp reverse the expansionist policy pursued by Elwynn hitherto. Instead, under the terms of an agreement brokered in Eliria, Elwynnese territory was ceded to the Kingdom of Goldshire, the Dominion of Malarboria and the Imperial Republic itself - so as to form new Imperial Dominions.

The much reduced Elwynn would subsequently go on to cast off the last vestiges of monarchical rule and refound itself as a constitutional republic.

Between 1636 and 1655, between the Wars of the Dark Orchid, the Auspicious Occasion, the Alexandrian Flu, famine, emigration, and the War of Lost Brothers the population of Shireroth fell by 21% to 556 million.