Kaladran was not unlike many human kingdoms except it was founded by a powerful sorcerer king, Kaladran, back in 304 C.F. his descendants (1056 of them at any given time) ruled the Kingdom as if it was their personal fiefdom. The House of Kaladran, headed by King Magus Kaladran, made sure that the subjects of their Kingdom never forgot who their rulers were. Statues of the Kaladrans were everywhere, almost on every street corner, the anthem only mentioned every Kaladran who had ever lived and the ground beneath the Kingdom contained hundreds of tombs containing the Kings and Princes of the Kaladran dynasty. The Kaladrans were deft at the arts of war and each King made sure that the Kingdom's some 2,000 stone castles were constantly ungraded for a potential conflict. Most people would have been happy with such an arraignment but the inhabitants of this Kingdom consisted of two cultures, both strongly independent and proud. The Kaladrans were neither Gelderlanders nor Jutlanders but were from Fromberge, and neither group liked the Fromberge. The founder of the Kingdom was wise enough to leave the merchants and farmers alone but the later Kings began to raise taxes and place the farmers under a complex web of tenantcies and sub-tenantcies which made them into slaves. The increasing load of taxes, fees and tithes from the official church caused the people to groan and complain.
Froan Donnersen, the blacksmith in the manor of Marchmount was hard at work at his forge when he saw the dreaded black-hooded tax collectors from the Exchequer ride up. One of them dismounted and leered at his daughter. "Pay up blacksmith or I'll have my fun." said the hooded thug. The blacksmith could not ignore this insult and he swung his hammer at the head of the hooded thug and smashed his skull. The other tax-collector looked at the blacksmith in horror before drawing his sword. The angry townsfolk gathered and demanded to know what had happened. The blacksmith pointed to the dead offender. "This leech tried to rape my daughter!" and the weary and overburdened townsfolk reacted at once and took the tax collector off his horse and slew him on the spot with the blacksmith's hammer. The local lord came out and demanded to know what had happened and the angry mob turned on him and beat him into a pulp. The angry townsfolk then tossed the bodies into a marl pit.
"This is a terrible thing, we shall all be executed for this!" cried the town elders. "Not if we can help it!" said the blacksmith. "We are the free folk of Marchmount and we shall defend our new found freedom." he said. Word got to the Baron, who himself was a Kaladran, and the Baron sent the sheriff to the manor to arrest the insurgents for murder but the townsfolk ran him off with their pitchforks and shovels and hammers. The sheriff returned with a band of mercenaries and demanded that the townsfolk turn over the blacksmith but the townsfolk resisted and they bravely fought the soldiers until the blacksmith could escape into the woods.
The blacksmith ran to a cave under a cliff and hid there while his family sent him food. The men of Marchmount came to him on the second day and they came with swords made from iron. "Farmers, we need more men if we are to fight for our freedom. Send word to the other manors." said the blacksmith. Thus the Marchmount Revolt was born on that day. After several days, a large group of farmers and merchants joined the small band of fifteen men and increased the number to 134 men. The group talked among themselves and decided to make Darren Tilmont the General and the blacksmith the second-in-command. Darren had been a soldier at one point and had quit the military life after the last war.
The group of rebels continued to receive new recruits daily and much to their surprise, a Prince of the Kaladran family offered to lead them into battle. Prince Eaumont explained that he had seen the decline of the Kingdom more clearly than most and realized that the only future that the Kingdom had was one of falling from within and being conquered from without. The leaders agreed that the Prince would be their leader and in turn the Prince declared the two main men of the revolt to be battlefield knights. The Prince then sent letters to unhappy Barons and was able to secure the help of Baron Plansfeld and Baron Vorrengen. The Barons brought their willing subjects into the fold of the rebels and the army consisted of 54,000 volunteers. Baron Vorrengen brought training and organization to the rebel army while the Prince made the speeches and outlined his vision for a Kingdom based on the rule of law and not on the rule of a King alone.
Meanwhile the old King lay dying from intestinal disease and the Crown Prince was still away at the Royal University. The rebel army, with it's banners flying, made it's move and seized the city of Oldenbourgh. The Crown Prince was finally informed of the revolt and he rode swiftly back to his home Castle and threw down his banner. Not surprisingly, the Barons ignored his summons and several of their number joined the rebellion. Every day the ranks of the rebellion swelled and the reserve strength of the Kaladran family diminished. Each side brought in Red Mages to fight for them and even hired out dwarven thanes to the fight. The two armies met at Riversford-on-Dranmouth and fought a horribly mismatched battle where the rebels enjoyed superior numbers and put the demoralized royal army to flight. Most of the Kaladran family fell on that day, killed by waves of arrows and killed by their horses falling into spiked pits and being killed in magic attacks. The larger rebel army gave chase to the royal army and when the royal army fled to the royal city of Lenchester, the rebel army camped outside and sent carrier pigeons into the city, encourging the merchants to revolt and to behead the King and to deliver his head to the rebel Prince. The Guild Masters of the city met and considered the proposal. After a time of careful deliberation and some angry words, the city gates were opened and the rebel army marched in and captured the King and put him into chains in the Royal Tower.
The other Barons received news of the rebel victory and threw in their lot with the rebel Prince. They gathered their armies and defeated the two other royal armies that year. After the victory was complete, the rebel Prince was declared King at Lenchester. He was given a church coronation and he ordered the army to disband and return to their manors and towns.
The original band of rebels returned to their manor and waited for the reforms such as rule of law and lower taxes but the new King was forced to counter an invasion from a greedy eastern Kingdom. The border war lasted two years while the soldiers again expected relief from the burdens and when the war was over and the enemy King had been captured, the new King announced that judges would be appointed for all the provinces and that lawyers would be trained and he sat down and wrote a legal code. The peasants were grateful for that reform but their taxes were still high and again the blacksmith, who was hailed as a hero by the masses still, gathered some friends and walked to Lenchester to ask the King for a slight reduction in taxes. The new King heard them and said that he would only be able to reduce taxes by 1% and he would look into the issue of removing some of the overlapping lordships. He was privately worried that he would undermine himself if he agreed to anything else and the blacksmith went away content that the King was doing all that he could.
However in Branstide, a fiery young rebel named Samwell Kettering gathered a few men around him with is fiery speeches and denounced the new King as a "total fraud" and a "traitor prince" who forgot the very people whom he rose up to help. The famous blacksmith heard of this and was the first to fire off a letter defending the King. Fate was kind to the new King however, the rebel Samwell was kicked by a horse and died on the spot one day while he was trying to reshoe his horse. The men who followed him went back to their farms. The King then proceeded to fire the Exchequer and appointed a new man and organized a new system of tax collection through merchant/tax farmers. The tax farmers would dress in plain clothes and set up a table in each manor and collect the taxes for the year without a show of force. The new system worked and the peasants paid their share without a grumble. The Barons asked the King to call a Parliament, something that had not been done in centuries. The King quickly agreed and the Barons assembled in Lenchester. At the Parliament, the Barons called on the King to ensure the rights of the nobles. The King agreed and a document was drawn up, signed by the King, protecting the rights of the nobles and the merchants, both of which had been sticking points before the uprising. The old blacksmith was happy to hear the news of the charter and he sent off a letter to the King asking him to allow the manors and the cities to send their representatives to the Parliament to act as a "check" on the lords. The King considered it and spoke with the Barons and agreed to part of the proposal: The cities would send one Guild Master as a representative to a "House of the Commons" which was to communicate with the "House of the lords" when the Parliament was in session. The King ordered the construction of a Parliament House in the city and he appointed a Prime Minister and a Second Minister to oversee the new Government.
Meanwhile the imprisoned King, who was still awaiting his fate in the Royal Tower, bribed the guards and escaped to the Kingdom of Lorrance in disguise. The new King reacted swiftly and sent court officials to arrest the old King and bring him back in chains, which they did because the King of Lorrance was a friend of his. The old King was sentenced to exile to a cliff side monastery and he died there at an old age as a monk, never recanting his former harshness. The old blacksmith, who was now a Guild Master himself, died at a great old age of 102 and lived to see his son serve a term in the new Parliament. When the King heard of his passing, he ordered that a statue of the blacksmith be erected in Lenchester. By that time, all the old statues of the various Kaladrans had been pulled down and the House had renamed itself the House of Lenchester. Many of the castles had also been pulled down, except for the ones needed for defense. The nobles were now forbidden from using the castles as tools of tax and rent collection beyond what was lawful, that practice had been abolished with the revolution and the ban was codified in the new Parliament.
The End for now.
Froan Donnersen, the blacksmith in the manor of Marchmount was hard at work at his forge when he saw the dreaded black-hooded tax collectors from the Exchequer ride up. One of them dismounted and leered at his daughter. "Pay up blacksmith or I'll have my fun." said the hooded thug. The blacksmith could not ignore this insult and he swung his hammer at the head of the hooded thug and smashed his skull. The other tax-collector looked at the blacksmith in horror before drawing his sword. The angry townsfolk gathered and demanded to know what had happened. The blacksmith pointed to the dead offender. "This leech tried to rape my daughter!" and the weary and overburdened townsfolk reacted at once and took the tax collector off his horse and slew him on the spot with the blacksmith's hammer. The local lord came out and demanded to know what had happened and the angry mob turned on him and beat him into a pulp. The angry townsfolk then tossed the bodies into a marl pit.
"This is a terrible thing, we shall all be executed for this!" cried the town elders. "Not if we can help it!" said the blacksmith. "We are the free folk of Marchmount and we shall defend our new found freedom." he said. Word got to the Baron, who himself was a Kaladran, and the Baron sent the sheriff to the manor to arrest the insurgents for murder but the townsfolk ran him off with their pitchforks and shovels and hammers. The sheriff returned with a band of mercenaries and demanded that the townsfolk turn over the blacksmith but the townsfolk resisted and they bravely fought the soldiers until the blacksmith could escape into the woods.
The blacksmith ran to a cave under a cliff and hid there while his family sent him food. The men of Marchmount came to him on the second day and they came with swords made from iron. "Farmers, we need more men if we are to fight for our freedom. Send word to the other manors." said the blacksmith. Thus the Marchmount Revolt was born on that day. After several days, a large group of farmers and merchants joined the small band of fifteen men and increased the number to 134 men. The group talked among themselves and decided to make Darren Tilmont the General and the blacksmith the second-in-command. Darren had been a soldier at one point and had quit the military life after the last war.
The group of rebels continued to receive new recruits daily and much to their surprise, a Prince of the Kaladran family offered to lead them into battle. Prince Eaumont explained that he had seen the decline of the Kingdom more clearly than most and realized that the only future that the Kingdom had was one of falling from within and being conquered from without. The leaders agreed that the Prince would be their leader and in turn the Prince declared the two main men of the revolt to be battlefield knights. The Prince then sent letters to unhappy Barons and was able to secure the help of Baron Plansfeld and Baron Vorrengen. The Barons brought their willing subjects into the fold of the rebels and the army consisted of 54,000 volunteers. Baron Vorrengen brought training and organization to the rebel army while the Prince made the speeches and outlined his vision for a Kingdom based on the rule of law and not on the rule of a King alone.
Meanwhile the old King lay dying from intestinal disease and the Crown Prince was still away at the Royal University. The rebel army, with it's banners flying, made it's move and seized the city of Oldenbourgh. The Crown Prince was finally informed of the revolt and he rode swiftly back to his home Castle and threw down his banner. Not surprisingly, the Barons ignored his summons and several of their number joined the rebellion. Every day the ranks of the rebellion swelled and the reserve strength of the Kaladran family diminished. Each side brought in Red Mages to fight for them and even hired out dwarven thanes to the fight. The two armies met at Riversford-on-Dranmouth and fought a horribly mismatched battle where the rebels enjoyed superior numbers and put the demoralized royal army to flight. Most of the Kaladran family fell on that day, killed by waves of arrows and killed by their horses falling into spiked pits and being killed in magic attacks. The larger rebel army gave chase to the royal army and when the royal army fled to the royal city of Lenchester, the rebel army camped outside and sent carrier pigeons into the city, encourging the merchants to revolt and to behead the King and to deliver his head to the rebel Prince. The Guild Masters of the city met and considered the proposal. After a time of careful deliberation and some angry words, the city gates were opened and the rebel army marched in and captured the King and put him into chains in the Royal Tower.
The other Barons received news of the rebel victory and threw in their lot with the rebel Prince. They gathered their armies and defeated the two other royal armies that year. After the victory was complete, the rebel Prince was declared King at Lenchester. He was given a church coronation and he ordered the army to disband and return to their manors and towns.
The original band of rebels returned to their manor and waited for the reforms such as rule of law and lower taxes but the new King was forced to counter an invasion from a greedy eastern Kingdom. The border war lasted two years while the soldiers again expected relief from the burdens and when the war was over and the enemy King had been captured, the new King announced that judges would be appointed for all the provinces and that lawyers would be trained and he sat down and wrote a legal code. The peasants were grateful for that reform but their taxes were still high and again the blacksmith, who was hailed as a hero by the masses still, gathered some friends and walked to Lenchester to ask the King for a slight reduction in taxes. The new King heard them and said that he would only be able to reduce taxes by 1% and he would look into the issue of removing some of the overlapping lordships. He was privately worried that he would undermine himself if he agreed to anything else and the blacksmith went away content that the King was doing all that he could.
However in Branstide, a fiery young rebel named Samwell Kettering gathered a few men around him with is fiery speeches and denounced the new King as a "total fraud" and a "traitor prince" who forgot the very people whom he rose up to help. The famous blacksmith heard of this and was the first to fire off a letter defending the King. Fate was kind to the new King however, the rebel Samwell was kicked by a horse and died on the spot one day while he was trying to reshoe his horse. The men who followed him went back to their farms. The King then proceeded to fire the Exchequer and appointed a new man and organized a new system of tax collection through merchant/tax farmers. The tax farmers would dress in plain clothes and set up a table in each manor and collect the taxes for the year without a show of force. The new system worked and the peasants paid their share without a grumble. The Barons asked the King to call a Parliament, something that had not been done in centuries. The King quickly agreed and the Barons assembled in Lenchester. At the Parliament, the Barons called on the King to ensure the rights of the nobles. The King agreed and a document was drawn up, signed by the King, protecting the rights of the nobles and the merchants, both of which had been sticking points before the uprising. The old blacksmith was happy to hear the news of the charter and he sent off a letter to the King asking him to allow the manors and the cities to send their representatives to the Parliament to act as a "check" on the lords. The King considered it and spoke with the Barons and agreed to part of the proposal: The cities would send one Guild Master as a representative to a "House of the Commons" which was to communicate with the "House of the lords" when the Parliament was in session. The King ordered the construction of a Parliament House in the city and he appointed a Prime Minister and a Second Minister to oversee the new Government.
Meanwhile the imprisoned King, who was still awaiting his fate in the Royal Tower, bribed the guards and escaped to the Kingdom of Lorrance in disguise. The new King reacted swiftly and sent court officials to arrest the old King and bring him back in chains, which they did because the King of Lorrance was a friend of his. The old King was sentenced to exile to a cliff side monastery and he died there at an old age as a monk, never recanting his former harshness. The old blacksmith, who was now a Guild Master himself, died at a great old age of 102 and lived to see his son serve a term in the new Parliament. When the King heard of his passing, he ordered that a statue of the blacksmith be erected in Lenchester. By that time, all the old statues of the various Kaladrans had been pulled down and the House had renamed itself the House of Lenchester. Many of the castles had also been pulled down, except for the ones needed for defense. The nobles were now forbidden from using the castles as tools of tax and rent collection beyond what was lawful, that practice had been abolished with the revolution and the ban was codified in the new Parliament.
The End for now.
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