It was in 1697 when the Kingdom of Noftiers split. The entire Visayan and Mindanao group of islands declared independence from the royal government in Sichame, which was in the north. Almost immediately war broke out as the troops sent by the North to compel the separatists faced strong resistance from the breakaway South.
The roots of this conflict can be found not inside the country, but far away overseas. The world itself was undergoing a great turmoil as the Blunish Empire, the oldest, largest, and most powerful nation on earth, was slowly—but violently—being fragmented by scores of separatist rebellions. Armed with radical political ideas and supported by the few nations that have not been gobbled up by the Blunish, the separatists won ground and opportunity. The world as it knew itself was coming to an end. If the rebels had it their way, there would be no Empire to speak of by the turn of the century.
One such nation that supported the rebels – at least initially – was the Kingdom of Noftiers. Not being a rich or powerful nation itself, the Noftierese government refused harbor to Blunish military ships bound for rebellious provinces. It even sent mercenaries to help the nearby rebel provinces oust the Blunish armies.
But such international support was very taxing on a nation like Noftiers. With food production hampered by government corruption, it was easy for any government policy to rouse the ire of many a Noftierese. This fact was especially obvious in the south, whose politicians have to come to Sichame in order to find favor from the King.
Thus in 1697, amidst the already turbulent political atmosphere in Sichame, General Kiyotaki Kawaguchi, a surprisingly pro-Blunish career officer, proclaimed a “Republic of Noftiers” in the city of Bainfeer. Supported by many of his reform-minded comrades in the military, Kawaguchi set up a government composed of representatives of the people. He called on his fellow Noftierese to join the Republic, and demanded the execution of the nobles, many of whom were immediate relatives of the King. Very soon enough, clashes broke out as Noftierese towns proclaimed their support for the Republic or for the King. There were massacres of whole populations of villages. There were a lot of republicans in the north, and there were a lot of royalists in the south. But the three years of war that followed Kawaguchi’s proclamation soon evinced that only the Luzon group of islands were staunchly royalist, whereas the Visayan and Mindanao group would only support the government in Bainfeer.
In the years preceding and during this civil war, the Meizherist party controlled Parliament. In 1700, their longtime rivals, the Nationalists led by four-time prevant Langford Doi, promised to end the war if they win the election. They did win, capturing Parliament and returning Doi to the prevantial seat. In 1701, Doi and Kawaguchi travelled to Rogatorio and signed a peace treaty recognizing the Republic, returning prisoners of war, and demarcating both countries’ borders. With this the civil war was supposed to have ended.
But it didn’t.
A lot of people, not least the King, were unhappy with the treaty of Rogatorio. They were apprehensive because the treaty did not resolve the issue of whether Bainfeer’s support of Blunish troops would be seen by Sichame with hostility. And many South Noftierese didn’t like the idea of supporting the Blunish at all. The Noftierese people had won independence from the Empire only fifty-seven years ago, and memories of that previous war were still vivid to many of them.
Such dissent would inevitably foment the creation of secret groups perpetrating various agendas. Many societies did emerge, some publicly, but most were underground cabals who procured for themselves weapons.
News of these formations reached Bainfeer, and Kawaguchi immediately moved to outlaw what he branded as “Unionists.” He formed a special military force, wherein he drafted a lot of disenfranchised swordsmen[1], who would hunt down these Unionists. He called them the Sabeurreini, or “sword-kings.”
It is this troubled atmosphere that I now find myself embroiled with, and that which the other inhabitants of this singular country must live with.
[1] The Noftierese formerly had a socio-political caste of swordsmen that was officially abolished by the King after the Love Rebellion in 1669.
No comments:
Post a Comment