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History: War of Liberation
War of Liberation (also known as Elvish Rebellion, Central Civil War, or Die Langohr) was one of the largest conflicts in Central’s history that happened 70 years ago. Starting out as a riot from some unruly elves, it eventually spiraled into a major war between royalists and a rebel coalition known as “Langohren”. The impact of the event not only changed Central, but the rest of the world as well, as many of its legacies can still be seen and felt to this day.
Background
In the past Central had been following feudal system as well as their tradition of racial tolerance. Nobles were granted huge privileges and non-humans are respected, especially the elf, as some elf chieftain are even granted the same right as human nobles to rule their tribes. However some nobility, both humans and elves, eventually started to abuse their power as they started to fight among themselves for territory and brought chaos. Royal ministers couldn’t build any proper roads without some elves vetoing the project because some trees will be chopped. Some nobles even ignored the treaties signed by the king and trespassed foreign borders with their private army, almost triggering an international crisis.
About 80 years ago, the cunning, ambitious new king, Wiljahelmatz I, finally decided to centralize the power and end this shenanigan with an iron fist. He spent the next 10 years carefully prepared several gambits, rallied nobles loyal to him, and slowly stripping power off impudent nobles and elf. After years of brewing, racial and political tensions were at boiling point at the eve of the revolt.
Outbreak
About 70 years ago, Royal Lumber team started operating in the Bitterroot Forest in Southern Central, revered by southern elves as sacred ground and habited by many endangered species. This enraged the local tribes of elves who quickly surrounded the lumber team. During the heated confrontation a lumberjack was killed by elf militias, triggering a bloody riot with both sides accusing the other for starting it.
As the king dispatched a punitive expedition and demanded the culprits to be handed over, the elf tribes in the south discussed what to do. Angered by the king’s desecration on their culture for years, the elves decided to rebel, as they even got the consent from Earth Spirit who also believed the king disrespected the nature. The united elf tribes quickly routed the expedition with their combined force and threatened independence from Central unless the king stops his deforestation policy and respects the autonomy of the elf.
Langohren
The rebelling elves quickly sought support from other factions. Although many northern elf tribes like Ebron refused due to being too close to Aldlyn, most of southern elf tribes joined. Many human nobles, emboldened by the victories of rebels and furious at the king for stripping their power for all these years, also joined the uprising and provided much needed financial, military and diplomatic support. Apart from Earth Spirit, they also obtained the promise of secret support from neighboring countries. Thus a multi-ethnic coalition was formed, whom they called themselves “Liberators” but was often nicknamed “Langohren” by the others. The coalition defeated royalist garrisons and gained complete control on all Southern Central at the height of their power.
The king’s gambit
Unbeknown to the rebels, they had fallen right into the traps that the king had set up for years. By provoking a rebellion, the king gained causes belli to wipe out the insubordinate elves and nobles once and for all. The feigned retreat by the royal army had indeed lured the nobles into joining the fray, changing the rebel’s image from “environmentalists” to “greedy aristocrats”. For the next several months the royalists simply held the defensive line and let the coalition roam at the south, waiting for the right moment to strike and let the coalition tear itself apart. Indeed, without immediate danger the elves and human nobles soon fell into inner struggles for leadership, resources and, ironically, racism.
The supply situation for rebels grew more precarious by the day as the elf’s natural preservation policy proved counterproductive, rendering Southern Central unable to sustain prolonged conflict. Half of Southern Central is covered by tundra which not only is too cold for farming but also consumes extra firewood. Whatever arable lands left were underdeveloped due to elf tribe’s refusal on sacrificing nature for development. Part of inner fighting within the coalition stemmed from human nobles urging some forests to be turned into farms and mines, which elf chieftains rejected. The nobles had no choice but hiring smugglers and taxing heavily on farmers, which only delayed the inevitable and angered local peasants in the process. With stockpile dwindling as stalemate went on and famine imminent, elf chieftains eventually conceded and allowed a part of Bitterroot forest to be chopped down and tilled for farming, but it’s too little, too late.
The scientist from Aldlyn soon met with Earth Spirit and explained that what Royal Lumber team had been doing was actually “forest thinning”, which is crucial in preserving biodiversity in the wild. Realizing the king was actually protecting the nature, Earth Spirit withdrew her support on rebels and personally cleared the king’s name. Public started to view rebel elves as morons after their moral standpoint collapsed. Too late to turn back now, the demoralized rebels can now only hope for the promised foreign aid… which was a lie.
The king had already secretly bought off all surrounding countries because he can provide something rebels never could: The Spirits. Some Spirits had been thinking whether they should move out and help other countries, and the king promised to help convincing some of them to do so after the war. In return, the three counties not only follow the king’s plan and lied to rebels to give them false hope, but also provided clandestine support to the king: Dorgania sent military attaché to help training royal army; Amagal provided espionage and magic expertise; while missionary from Begus helped driving public opinion against rebels.
Just as things were looking great for royalists, something unexpected happened…