Molevof Rebellion

In the five years prior to the event, the Grovnikken Stohlevvskyy guild had extended its control to almost all commercial traffic of the province. The guild leader Grovnikk Glössevik had prepared a plan to forge a trade route between Molevof and Edarlaskyy, similar to the Granite Road that connects the northen mountains to the south. This would have required a lot of additional workers compared to the slaves already owned by the guild. Grovnikk pressed hard tsarina Marisha Rodelovisk to enforce their own capitalistic approach to the right of might, forcing Vladimir Molev to raise taxes and starting to capture as slaves even population from the outside woodsman collectives, and thus slaves were taken even from vos population, and their farms confiscated. Anyone opposing or complaining was immediately executed. Grovnikk's minor brother Brottorvik Glössevik was chosen to manage the construction of the road.

This created a wave of discontent that lowered quickly the loyalty of the province. The Belinik Tsarevic in such occasion would push the population towards brigandage or rebellion, However War Master Nikoli Brokeslav ordered the warmongering preachers of the province to stand down and do not raise any commotion. This was the first great mistake as this created disbelief and a loss in loyalty in the Tsarevic itself.

Brigitta Jarlsbane, de facto leader of the Ayairda's Cleansing Home, decided to come help the Brörs of the province, in order to turn the situation towards their favour. She built a plan in a way similar to a military attack. First, she recruited spies, and found out that Molev was not quite content with his share, but wanted the guild out of the province. She then sent bards across the forest around Molevof, speaking songs of miracles and hopes, telling the woodsmen that the hour was dire, but the goddess had not forgotten them - however, their work must spring passion and joy, and it was the guild’s fault that despair and profit had become more important than that in their life. Of course, the zhupan tried to persecute the bards in any way possible, however the few elves living inside the forest helped the bards escape the guards.

The old warehouse outside the town of Molevof was once used to gather all the share of wood that the woodcutters had to cut for the zhupan. Since the coming of the guild, it was used as a slave den and had become a symbol of oppression and misery. With loyalty towards the zhupan and the Tsarevic at its lowest, Brigitta enlisted a band of adventurers to pose as slaves inside the slave den and then had them escape. A week later, they returned to the warehouse and helped some slaves to escape, just to prove that not only they were still alive, but that another life was possible, and they were ready to fight for it, with Ayairda's protection.

The night after the adventurers killed the guards protecting the warehouse and freed between 150 and 200 wartos. When informed, Zhupan Molev sent the coscript guard to look for them in the woods, with orders to either recapture or kill. However, The Belinik Tsarevic told him that the search had to start at dawn, sacred to Belinik, so they wasted the whole night. The conscripts found most of the slaves barricated inside an abandoned farm. When they tried to break in, a small, outnumbered band of elven archers came out of the woods and started firing, while the slaves ran outside the farm screaming and ready to attack. Despite being almost equal in number, this manouver routed immediately the guards, who either fleed or surrendered. The Warmonger priest who followed the guards was killed almost immediately.

Since neither option was remotely acceptable by the Belinik Tsarevic's standards, the conscripts ended up becoming bandits or joined the slaves' ranks. Brigitta left everybody free to choice either to flee or to stay and keep fighting. Most of them decided to stay,with ~70 people trying their chances in the woods or the Mistmoor.

This halted most of the profits for the guild, the church and the zhupan. By the end of Talienir, Mara Ilyiasky, War priest of the southern range, sent Executioners Alaric Baraknov and Raisa Mischanev to judge Molev' worthiness as zhupan and to ensure that the rebellion would be quelled quickly and violently. The executioners organized raid parties in the woods, to capture as many individual slaves as possible, instead of an open battle. Each captured slaves or defector, however, was publicly tortured and hanged inside the old warehouse, which was consacrated to Belinik. The first to be hanged were the warmongering preachers who obeyed Nikoli's order to stand down. Each hanging was accompanied by a fiery sermon preaching hate and fear.

That move made everyone unhappy: Molev was unpopular as ever but could not afford to challenge the Executioners, Brottorvik Glössevik could not access free labor since the slaves were killed, and Nikoli felt that the only thing Ilyiasky was really interested when she sent the executioners was proving that she was more ruthless and unbound. Molev felt that he had no choice than calling in an infantry unit from the capital - the executioners would not be against a bloodshed after all.

The first night of Roelir Brigitta payed a personal visit to Molev, in his bedroom. The zhupan woke up with a poisoned knife on his throat, and never saw her face, but heard her words: “The next month the guild will fall. If you do nothing to help them, in autumn you will see your gains increased. Otherwise, you will die, and I will ask your successor the same question”. Molev agreed without hesitation. Knowing he was spyed by the executioners, he sent a messenger to the capital, but payed an assassin to kill him and blame the rebels.

During the night of Haelynir 8th the rebels attacked Molevof town. Molev had already begun to conscript another militia, and his men were able to push the rebels outside the town gates. However, the real target of the rebels was the warehouse, where the Executioners lived with the manhunters they had brought from Feyulfsky. The Belities used the warehouse as protection up until Brigitta gave the order to burn it to the ground. Most of the manhunters died in the fire, but the executioners lived, and escaped, vowing revenge.

After this event, Molev sent another messenger to the tsarina. He knew that the Vierklevven, without the belinites and the guild to support him, would have Molevof rebel against the tsarina and have him hanged. However, the Brotherhood did no such thing, despite the chances of success, as it would break their vows - they wanted to give people freedom of choice, not a different ruler. Most of the rebels disbanded. Most people simply returned to their homes, most of the defectors either became runaways, got lost in the [wiki="Molevof#The_eastern_hills"]Eastern hills[/H], or became a bandit.

In Anarire Nikoli Brokeslav himself led 200 infantrymen to restore order. when he arrived, Molev told him his version: Brottorvik was not "man" enough to keep its slaves, some wartos escaped, but after the messenger was sent and the executioners fled due to a fight with some bandits it was found that there was no defection or assembled enemy party, it was a small undead invasion from the Mistmoors instead. In summer the undead were gone. Nikoli had the infantry occupy the province and after several small fights with the bandits appointed new warmongering preachers and left.

At the end of the season, Brigitta left the province with Aithne of the leaf in charge, who ordered all free slaves to pray for the land to prosper and heal from the wounds of battle. The next month a huge increase in the woodcutters' and farmers' work led to zhupan Molev gain more taxes, and the Vierklevven received much more donations.

This event had a major impact not only in the province's political balance, but also on the whole internal cohesion of the realm: Grovnikk has saw how much self destructive the rzhlevenian can be in their hate for the guild, so he now weighs the option of supporting other less destructive parties; zhupan Molev knows that a direct confrontation with the executioners would have him outright killed for treason, so he know wonders if supporting the Belinik Tsarevic is really the best choice for his life. The church has showed tsarina Marisha that their internal political struggle would not stop even when they hurt her ties with the realm. They could became a weakness, something unforgivable at the eyes of Rzhlev.

The church of Ayairda's Cleansing Home achieved three goals: they restored a resemblance of equal society (most freed slaves stayed that way), improved its presence in the province (most of the freed slaves are now followers of the cult), and showed the other secret coves of the Vierklevven that Brigitta's method , while more direct and controversial, may lead to better results in less time.

The rebellion is briefly referred in HotGB pp.74-75.