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The Soleilian Civil War was a major internal conflict in Soleil during and after the Great Northern Aquilonis War, pitting the ruling House of Lafayette
and their allies, against the renegade Houses of Adhemar and Bannister, and the republican separatist movement dubbed the Republic of Alsace & Florence. The exact date the war began in unclear, but most agree that the seeds of conflict originated when Roislueur fell after the Umdari Invasion of Soleil during the Great Northern Aquilonis War.
Origins
The war's origins go back to before the Great Northern Aquilonis War. In a plot to seize the throne, the House Adhemar, led by Germain Paul-Antoine de Adhemar, secretly aligned itself with Umdar.
When Umdar invaded Soleil, they caught the Royal Army off guard by launching an amphibious assault via Potiruka, bypassing the defenses Soleil had installed. As the Umdari marched on the capital, Roislueur, House Adhemar turned against House Lafayette in a coup d'état, killing King Justin III in the process.
After the Fall of Roislueur, Umdar installed Germain as King of Soleil, leaving him to rule northern Soleil himself, while they secured the rest of the peninsular nation. A feat not easily done, due to a rebellion, consisting mostly of the remains of the Soleilian Royal Army, being led by Germain's own daughters.
Six years later, just as the Northern Alliance invaded northern Soleil, a persistent separate rebellion outside royal influence liberated the provinces of Florence and Alsace, allowing the alliance to march south to liberate the besieged royal army almost unopposed. However, this rebellion wasn't interested in returning to royal rule: instead, they declared independence and installed their own leaders as a republic, which they called the Republic of Alsace & Florence.
Believing that Umdar and Germain were the more serious and immediate threat, Allied leaders decided to leave them alone and deal with them when the war ended; it would be an inaction they would soon regret.
War
Conflict with House Adhemar
Even before Umdar was evicted from Soleil, hostilities between the alliance and the House of Adhemar broke out.
When the Northern Allies launched their plan to retake Roislueur by the end of the 4542 fighting season, Horace sent a large army to intercept a portion of the Allies at their first target; Garvis.
Siege of Garvis
Liberation of Roislueur
Two months after the Alliance victory at Garvis, House Lafayette and their allies, now led by Edmond Jean-Louis de Lafayette, who had been unofficially proclaimed King of Soleil by the loyalists of House Lafayette, marched north with a host to liberate the Soleilian capital, Roislueur.
However, despite the capture of his son, the loss of so many men, and the loss of House Bannister as an effective ally, Germain stubbornly wasn't about the give up just yet. Marching as large a host as he could muster south to meet the Lafayette loyalists, the two armies clashed on the Herbeux Plains. After four hours of back and forth combat, the Battle of Herbeux Plains ended in a decisive victory for House Lafayette and their allies, and Germain was captured himself. Germain was condemned to a public execution for his crimes against Soleil, and with the route of Germain's last loyal army, Roislueur was left exposed; and so, the Lafayettes and their allies continued their march to the capital expecting loosely guarded, or, hopefully, open gates.
One week after defeating Germain on the Herbeaux plains, the allied army arrived on the outskirts of Roislueur. However, when the army arrived at the outer walls of royal capital, a surprise was waiting for them. It was not a host of House Adhemar loyalists, whom, they assumed, had abandoned the capital in the wake of Germain's final defeat, but a meager force belonging to House Legendre. Leading them was Corinne Olga de Adhemar (née Legendre) of House Legendre, Germain's most recent wife. Instead of opening the gates to the loyalists and allies of House Lafayette, Lady Corinne barred the gates and declared from the battlements that she was now the ruling Queen Regnant of Soleil as Corinne I, and that the reign of House Legendre had begun. She also declared, under her own apparent authority, that her marriage to Germain was annulled and she was once again "Corinne Olga de Legendre". Stunned by the sudden change in the situation, the allies pulled back to set up camp and plan on how to deal with the new self-proclaimed queen.
Later that night, the allied leaders continued discussing possible solutions to their conundrum. As the suggestion of assassination was thrown onto the table, they were visited by a group of men that came bearing an offer of peace. The allies expected it to be an offer of peace from "Queen" Corinne with the condition that they recognized her claim to rulership of Soleil, but that was not the offer they were given. Instead, the men offered peace with House Lafayette's return to the throne. To show their apparent sincerity to the cause of peace, they presented a "gift": "Queen" Corinne Olga de Legendre herself, stripped naked, gagged, and chained. Dropping her at Edmond's feet, they asked for peace. Slightly disturbed by their method, Edmond dismissed the men, along with most of the allied leaders, aside for his family and the Yamato leaders. Edmond then unbound Corinne himself, wrapped her gently in a cloak, and courteously gave the half-starved noblewomen food and wine.
Corinne explained that her marriage to Germain was a relatively recent affair, having only been made official the same day the allies first occupied Garvis, and that she was without any child by Germain or any other man, nor was she pregnant by Germain (though she admitted that it had not been for lack of trying). She explained further that becoming queen of Soleil had been her dream since she was a girl, originally hoping to marry whichever Lafayette became the next king. She finished her explanation by saying that the betrayal of her men had opened her eyes to the many wrongs she had committed in pursuit of the queenship, and admitted that she had acted selfishly in her pursuit of her girlhood dream since Soleil had been thrown into the chaos of war; both by promising Germain the use of her house's wealth and men in exchange for her marriage to him, and by claiming the throne for herself when she heard of Germain's capture. She finished off by offering to surrender and renew her house's oath of fealty to House Lafayette if she was allowed clemency. After Suguha Oda confirmed Corinne's honesty and sincerity via her lunaculus power of empathy, Edmond responded by granting Corinne clemency, and Lady Corinne gave her oath of loyalty then and there, pledging unreserved loyalty to House Lafayette and renouncing all former ties and association with House Adhemar. Edmond also promised Corinne that he would have her marriage to Germain officially annulled, to which Lady Corinne obliged, and the matter was put to rest.
With the scattering of House Adhemar and House Bannister, and the relatively quick surrender of House Legendre, Roislueur was officially liberated. Two days later, as the Soleilian and Lafayette flags flew over the capital for the first time in years, Edmond was officially coronated as King of Soleil as Edmond II by the High Priest of the Sun God, officially restoring House Lafayette to the throne. The same day, Germain was executed by hanging in front of a crowd of nearly ten thousand attendees for the many crimes he committed against Soleil.
And thus, peace was restored to Soleil, though only briefly. The provinces of Alsace and Florence were still under control of the self-proclaimed republic, and the antiroyalist attitude of their new leader would spark the fires of renewed conflict.
Conflict with Alsace & Florence
During the winter of 4541-4542, negotiations for Alsace and Florence to remain part of the realm seemed hopeful; but, as the Great Northern Aquilonis War came to a conclusion in Soleil, the self-proclaimed Republic of Alsace & Florence came under the leadership of antiroyalist Jacques Alphonse de Bonaparte.
Jacques Bonaparte, a commoner by birth, was elected President of Alsace & Florence by direct democratic vote on an antiroyalist stance, just as the Siege of Garvis came to a conclusion. When House Lafayette won the throne back from House Adhemar, Jacques and his antiroyalist followers broke off all negotiations with the reinstated royal house with the intention of establishing a fully independent state.
Regardless, newly coronated King Edmond II, under advise from Veronica Lafayette, tried to reestablish negotiations with the separatist government to ensure peace and eventual reunification. Over the course of five months, thrice King Edmond sent diplomats to negotiate, thrice with negative results; the first two were turned away, and the third was sent back in a coffin as a clear message that negotiations would not happen, and that the provinces of Alsace and Florence would not willingly return to royal rule. Knowing that the new president would not listen to reason, Edmond, Veronica, and their council, made the reluctant decision to take back Alsace and Florence by force.
Enlisting the aid of their ally and vassal houses, the Rose Knights, the dwarven kingdom of Qirlock Trezka, and the Empire of Yamatai, the only foreign power not to vacate Soleil with the conclusion of the Great Northern Aquilonis War, the Soleilian royalists marched their army on the self-proclaimed Republic of Alsace & Florence.
More coming soon......
Aftermath
Trivia
- Despite helping to win the Siege of Garvis, and being granted independence in the wake of the Great Northern Aquilonis War, the newly sovereign, gargoyle-ruled, Kingdom of Garvis remained neutral in the latter phase of the civil war.
- Suguha Oda and Nadia Lafayette also did not participate in the latter phase of this conflict, as they had departed for parts unknown after the Liberation of Roislueur.