Markos Istoriko II's History of Modern Esshar; Volume I

Foreword

This text represents a history of the period of Esshar spanning from 1660-1669, predominately focused on the region of Osrona and its neighbouring settlements. The author expresses that he has remained as unbiased as possible in this text, and notes that it is entirely possible that there are events that occurred within this period which have remained secret, or have been omitted at the author discretion under the criteria that they do not hold long-term historical importance. The author acknowledges the direct aid of Lady Erika cos Salis, her husband Exarch Eustace lux Salis, Exarch Nemein lux Sparda, and Exarch Nerin, without whom this text would not be complete enough for publishing.

Populism in Osrona

The Sixties represented something of a resurgence in anti-Noble, anti-First Light sentiments carried on a wave of Populism that pervaded much of the first half of the decade, the emergence of which was likely a result of the surge of Rhoynish peoples in Sudbury following the Treaty of Hessalia. As a people who believed leadership should be earned, they were culturally opposed to the Essharan tradition of peerage, where Nobles often held their status from the heroism of their ancestors, the Rhoynish perspective was at odds with the Essharan way of life, and many such disatisfied Rhoynish were vocal about this, the residents of Sudbury -long a disregarded district of Osrona full of corruption and poverty- seizing on this ideology.

Throughout the early years of the decade, populist protests in Sudbury and Messaris were common, and often escalated into violence. Of course, such events turning violent only enflamed tensions between the First Light and commonfolk. The perception of the Order as the lackeys of the nobility, only serving their purposes became stronger and stronger as time went on, buoyed by the role of the Syndicate leader Elevans in enflaming these tensions with widespread dissemination of the illegal newspaper 'The Revolutionary Journal' in Sudbury, despite First Light attempts to crack down on such activities. The Mayoral Election of Sudbury made this worse in some ways, with there being the belief in the disatisfied Sudbury residents that the election was rigged after the disqualification of Candidate Iris Arsali on the grounds of terrorist activity, and the failure of candidates Simon Gelmont and Timothy Espaze to proceed to the next stage of the election, with instead candidates Erick Falstrik -a member of the First Light- and Lord Claude vey Pelleaux -a nobleman- becoming the front-runners, the very type of people the populists were railing against.

However, as the decade progressed, and the Syndicate's threat in Osrona lessened, the populist cause also lost support, and by the end of the decade was not strong enough to be considered even close to genuine political ideology.

The Syndicate

With the victory over the people of Rhoynur following Grimmore's Campaign, and the resulting Treaty of Hessalia, thousands upon thousands of Rhoynish were annexed into the Kingdom of Esshar. Though the vast majority of non-indentured Rhoynish remained in the Tribelands, many also came to reside in areas surrounding the Capital, such as the district of Sudbury and the Free City of Theria. It was perhaps inevitable, as a result, that these peoples would fall in with criminal elements within Osronan society. From this union rose the Syndicate.

While there is evidence of assassinations and general criminality in the late Fifties that may now be attributed to the Syndicate, the terrorist group only truly became more than hushed whispers during the Greater Osronian Gala of Aerandale in 1661, where a group of the terrorists barged into the event, made several threats, declared a populist revolution and were then fought off by several members of the First Light who were attending the Gala. One of the terrorists was captured and revealed as a public figure in the Sudbury district known as Soiree, although rather than face trial and likely summary execution the woman violently committed suicide.

Aside from small assaults upon individuals, the Syndicate did not appear in force until the Summer of 1661, during a Rhoynish Clan Festival held by Rhoynish woman Iris Arsali. In an opening speech, Arsali described the festival as an attempt to allow her people to celebrate a cultural tradition and demonstrate to the people of Osrona that the Rhoynish were not the savages the accounts of the Conquest had had them believe. Whilst the Festival was initially successful, and gathered a large number of attendants despite disallowing the presence of Nobles and requesting any First Light attending wear plain clothes instead of their armour, the celebration was disrupted by the arrival of several members of the Syndicate led by one of their leaders, Crane.

Crane delivered a speech calling for the downfall of the nobility and used skilful rhetoric to assert that the Syndicate were friends to the downtrodden amongst the people attending. The encounter soon devolved into open conflict, with several members of the crowd siding with the Syndicate. Arsali was witnessed weeping as the conflict raged on, crying out that the fighting was 'desecrating the Festival', though current knowledge that Ms Arsali was in fact an influential member of the Syndicate casts doubt on her sincerity.

In the following years, Syndicate attacks continued, including the assassination of Lord Soma cos Duran at the hands of Syndicate leader Elevans in 1662. Syndicate enforcer Ygor also made a name for himself, especially after a brazen attack in broad daylight at the Messaris marketplace, where he subdued three magi only to take two hostage and use them to engineer an escape. However, the First Light were not under any circumstances idle, leading investigations that led to the discovery of a Syndicate safehouse in 1664. The raid on the safehouse -a theatre in Caelfall- resulted in the unmasking of Sudbury Mayoral Candidate Iris Arsali and Watch Captain Stein as the terrorists known as 'Miss Demeanour' and 'Ygor'. A Knight was taken captive by the routed Syndicate, but was rescued soon afterwards in a raid on the Syndicate Headquarters that is commonly accepted as event that resulted in Arsali's death.

While this event did not signal the end of the Syndicate, who are believed to have operated into the next decade, the terrorist group ceased to be considered as significant a threat as the village of Moonfall, which rose to take centre stage in the later years of the decade. Exact details of Syndicate activities during this time are unknown, save for one: the terrorist Ygor was slain by Moonfall for reasons unknown.

Moonfall

Perhaps the series of events that will be most remembered of the sixties is the Osronan-Moonfall conflict. In 1664, the once overlooked village became of interest for reasons uncertain. Fiercely isolationist, the village inhabitants did their best to deny curious Osronans entry, to limited success. The refusal to respect this stance led to an increase in tensions worsened by the harassing of the villagefolk by a group of Knights. After several altercations between the groups, Exarch Nemein lux Sparda was dispatched with a squad of Knights to attempt to smooth over relations. However, the residents of Moonfall were dismissive at best and hostile at worst, and rumours of occultist activity within the village were soon proved true.

A group of Knights were sent to inform the Moonfall leadership of these First Light's suspicions, and were subsequently attacked, an incident that resulted in the injuring of one Knight and the murder of another. Tension had erupted into open conflict, a state only enflamed by attacks of a spiritual nature levied against Osrona by the Moonfallians. Additionally, an imposter claiming to be Jasper -the Knight murdered by Moonfall leader Cornelia- cast additional confusion on the situation. In early 1668, the First Light issued an ultimatum: Moonfall had a year to eliminate the occultic influence within the village, or it would face war.

The Ultimatum was refused, and in 1669 the Order of the First Light marched upon Moonfall Valley. After a final chance to agree to the Order's demands was issued and refused, the First Light attacked. However, as a result of the nightmarish power of the occult, the Order's Knight were forced to retreat, suffering significant losses. Following the defeat, several Osronans taken captive were murdered by Moonfall, and an attempt by the Order to rescue Lady Sophie cos Duran failed. Moonfall remained in open rebellion as the decade ended.

Notable Events

The early Sixties were marred by a shortage of ore as several large veins in the Silverwall Mine ceased yielding significant amounts of ore. This period -nicknamed the 'Great Ore Shortage of 1660-1663' was both bane and boon to the Osronan people. Whilst it led to something of an economic depression for Artificers, the scarcity of ore prevented the Syndicate from equipping itself with equivalent armour to the Order of the First Light for several years, which is speculated to have reduced the terrorist organisation's aggression for a time.

The Sixties were also notable for being a period of increasing private ventures. Perhaps most notable is the Thunderbird Company, a mercenary group founded in 1661 by Riley Howard. Other guilds that rose in this decade included the Knowledge Seekers, founded in 1663 by Lord Cicero cos Morneau and the Bean Emporium, founded in 1665 by Desean Bogbean.

In this period Sudbury also acquired the dubious record of longest Osronan Mayoral election in history. A result of the inefficient bureaucracy present in Sudbury combined with the common occurrence of census takers being assaulted, the election ran for two and half years before the race was narrowed down to two competitors. There is a degree of confusion still over whether the election was decided three or four years after its announcement, as there was never an official announcement, with Lord Claude vey Pelleaux winning the race by attrition as he no longer had any competitors.

In wider news, the reconstruction effort initiated after the Treaty of Hessalia to rebuild the sacked city concluded in 1664, with Hessalia formally moving on from the devastation of the sack in 1650. Several Rhoynish nationalist groups in the annexed Tribelands were also put down through the decade, including the 'Sons of Dayndros', the 'Rhoynur Independence Front', and the 'Shar Loyalists'.