Post by Rabite on Dec 22, 2020 1:41:45 GMT -6
[Year 222 of the Zalborian Calendar]
It has been several months after the invaders have been pushed away from Paemir, and securing the borders of the Eastern front, but it had not come without a price. The heir and the King of Zalboria are both dead, leaving an empty throne without a claimant. and two major players as the potential ruler of Zalboria. The two Princess of Zalboria, Keiana and Isabelle, and both have their own set of supporters. Keiana's support base mainly comes from the region of Paemir, where they have increased influence due to their recent victory over the invading Empire. The older princess does have an advantage, and that is her age. Where Isabelle is still slightly under the age of what one may consider an adult, the princess does not have such worries and is well received by the warriors to the East with Margress Asher Rorke as her main supporter. On the other hand, Isabelle is often viewed by both the late King and his subject as the brilliant one, and have two powerful advantage of the control over the royal retinue, and the strong support from Duke James Gransela. At first, the two have avoided direct conflict for different reasons, but the political friction continues to build, and eventually reaches a boiling point when it comes to handing the outcome of the war in Paemir.
Keiana wishes to support Paemir in case another invasion occurs, and she did not misplace her worries as the Empire still has significant forces to use if necessary. The people of Paemir have also suffered significantly from the recent war, and from the internal conflicts in recent years. On the other hand, Isabelle carries out an effective ploy of splitting it up for the different factions that joined the war, such as the Curving Blades, the Kasrymor, and of course, the Granselas. Keiana quickly realizes her mistakes, but it's hard to simply change her opinion to match those of her sister's, so instead, she was rescued by Asher, who had since their former meetings, gained some political experience. Asher first praises the other major clans for their tactical abilities, thank their men for their blood and sweat in assisting Paemir, and before finally promising a proportion of reward for their hard efforts. Thanks to the Margrave's efforts, while the Princess still lost some points in handling the situation, her mistakes were distracted by the Margrave, and the others decide to not dwell on the issue.
However, that was simply the appetizer, as Duke Gransela comes out swinging to question the responsibilities of all the mistakes that were carried out in Paemir. Gransela clearly states that if the Margress would have waited for reinforcements from the other major clans, or have not made such foolish slander, then the Prince would likely to be alive. The Margrave argues that it was to save the people and that it was a sacred part of the duty of a noble. The Duke then brought up the part where Paemirian soldiers actually experienced less combat than the royal retinue and the Granselian forces. Keiana steps in to remind him that it required everyone's efforts for their success, but James simply replies that numbers do not lie and that both casualty and kill counts of the Granselian forces have been higher than those of Asher's own forces. Asher himself couldn't say much about it, because the only other answer he may possibly give is that the Duke and his forces have done a poor job, but that'll lead to a direct conflict between the two, and he hopes to avoid that.
While Asher wishes to cease the conflict between the two factions, his followers might not have as much understanding and political knowledge. Almost immediately, several Paemirian nobles yell back insults towards the Granselian side, which got the minor Granselian nobles to insult back in return. The arguments were mostly flavorless, until James comes out with a heavy blow of adjusting the trade treaty between Gransela and Paemir, and that was a punch that is equal to the force of a pile driver. Even though Paemir's economic situation had somewhat healed within the last three years thanks to Asher's efforts, it was far from a full recovery, and parts of his success had been overturned by the recent invasion. Many of the Paemirian nobles had simply wanted to gloat over their victory, and of the seemingly success over their rival region, but this was definitely not what they were hoping for.
Isabelle however, stepped up to ease the tension, and request for James to rethink of his decision due to the number of people that might be affected. Ultimately, the treaty will be amended, but only the ratio of Granselian goods that have to be purchased are changed, so it will still be enough for Paemir as long as nothing is done under table. The Paemirians are not very happy about this, but at least it won't be too bad of a hit.
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Except it was a very big issue, especially for Asher and Jorge who had been secretly taking parts of the humanitarian aid to rebuild the Paemirian military. The Paemirian forces had suffered less casualties when compared to their Granselian counterpart, but nevertheless they are not in their full force after the war with the Empire. The recent change to the treaty means they wouldn't have much room to squeeze out for the military budget, and who knows if the Empire will march in again. Asher decides to temporary put their spare resources into fortifying the Eastern barriers, spending the ransom payments that they have received from the Empires into building a mighty wall that can keep out those foreign invaders. They'll have to risk more by taking larger cuts of the Granselian aids, and less of it may reach the hands of the regular Paemirians, but it couldn't be helped for the sake of national safety.
At first, it was still acceptable to the peasants, as they had only recently ended an invasion, so they could still hold on to the beliefs that it will soon return to how it was before the war. It soon became clear that it was not the case, as even with Granselian aid, the peasants found themselves poor and hungry. Finally, as the harsh winter begins again, more and more peasants are forced off their land, as economy activity continues to weaken, the number of bandits on the road skyrockets. To make it worse, many of these peasants fought in the defensive war against the Empire, and have enough connections with the military to obtain some weapons of their own. These bandits ended up being trained and armed warriors that knows to evade stronger garrison forces, and rob weaker targets that they could handle. Seeing this, Asher realized his mistakes, and discussed with allies to reduce the military budget in hopes of keeping the people under control, but of course the military heads were not very happy about it, so the Margress found that his hands are actually bounded by his own past decisions. If he continues as it is, it seems likely that the bandits would become a major problem, and will further harm the economic situation in Paemir; on the other hand, if he takes the axe to the military, then who knows if they may raise arms against him.
Asher decides to do as much as he can, first by becoming a role model to the other nobles, and reduce his own spending to minimum. It was what he have learned to do as a commander, to suffer together with his soldiers can help improve their morale and solidity, and he hopes it'll have the same effect on his subjects. He also hire some of the peasants in East Paemir to work on the wall in exchange for meals and shelters, so they could at least not have to worry about surviving the Winter after months of abandoning their farms. He also make use of his military that reduces to stand down, and have them patrol and hunt out the bandits. Lastly, he reopened talks with the Duke of Gransela, and hope that the Duke will be generous and provide aid to the people.
The Margress' first idea have little effect, as while his own circle have followed his examples, it did not seem to have convinced the other nobles of Paemir to do the same. Many of them continues to enjoy their wealth, celebrate their victories over the Empire, and watch as the peasants succumb to the harsh Winter of Paemir. Even if it did succeed, the returns would be minimum, as a few dozen people reducing spending would not be enough to feed the millions of Paemirians. His second idea had some effect, as it can helped in dulling the growth of the bandits that had mostly gathered in the poorer Eastern regions, but little to improve the overall situation.
Bandits continue to raise all across the region, at first avoiding combat from the patrolling military, and later even having the numbers to clash with smaller patrol forces. When the military attempts to use heavier equipment, their opponent would notice this, and flee before the bigger guns could even arrive. To counter this, the Paemirian forces deployed a new invention that are still under testing, and that is the aircraft. The aircraft had been a recent invention by a researcher in Central Zalboria, but had not catch much attention for practical usage. The major nobles however, saw the potential in this invention, and attempted to recruit the researcher. In the end, it was up to Gransela and Paemir as the competitors to recruit the researcher, and it was Gransela with the funds to convince him. The other regions however, received some important design notes, which they used to develop their own aerial units, and thus the Paemirian aircraft was built. The early aircraft were light and poorly powered, it could barely carry a person, and as such are mostly used for scouting. Asher gave the orders to build a few in order to detect enemy movements, and decides to put them to use to spot retreating bandits. With the help of several spotting aircraft, the Paemirian forces were able to smash the larger bandit groups using heavy artillery guns, so at least they were able to stop any immediate threats, and achieve some success in their plans to stabilize the region.
The last plan had some help from unexpected sources. While the Duke himself were at his last straw after the outcome of the war, he allowed Asher to present his case, and the Margress focused his efforts in appealing to the Duke's morality and asks for forgiveness for the sake of the people. James himself was unsure of providing further help to Paemir, as he is clearly aware of the reason why the aid was not sufficient. More than once have he heard from his own subjects that they should simply cancel the financial support, as much of it went into the pockets of the Paemirian military, rather than to the people of Paemir. He was about to send the Margress away with a refusal, but his wife, Duchess Florina Midori of Zalboria, well known for her humanitarian aid through out the Kingdom, suggested to provide aid in forms of food and common goods that would be lower financial cost, and would be less likely to be used for purposes other than to keep the people fed. The young Duchess Ashalia Lamont, who has been staying in Gransela since year 219, plead to James to help the people of Paemir as well, and promises to do her part for her people. With these unexpected assistance, Asher was able to convince the Duke to agree in sending helps, but in forms of aid shipments sent and distributed by Granselian forces themselves due to his lack of trust in the current Paemirian forces.
Returning to Paemir with the successful treaty, Asher was again met with resistances from his own subjects, but this time it was from his closer circles, such as Jorge. Jorge has been a close ally to Asher, and while he agrees that something must be done about the situation, he worries about allowing Granselian forces to enter Paemir. While it is a very reasonable arrangement, everyone in the room is clear of the relationship between the two rivaling region, and allowing Granselian forces in peace times may have negative effects on Asher's prestige. The military also states their objection to this, as it will shed a poor image on the abilities of the Paemirian forces. They do not however have much choices in this situation, and were convinced by Asher to agree, at least they no longer openly express any objections.
Of course, that is only limited to openly, as many of the more traditional nobles were unhappy about the situation. More than handful of them believes that it is a disgrace to accept Granselian demands after such a grand victory against the powerful Empire, and to take such a shame for the sake of the peasants is unheard of. That was when rumors started to fly among both the nobility and the peasants, rumors that ranged from the more laughable ones such as the Margress is luring the Granselian forces over to destroy them, to ones like the Margress is planning to sell the region out to Gransela, but either way it did not help when the Margress is taking a blow for the sake of the region. Bandits seems to become better armed, at times even carrying light artillery, and their sudden comeback after earlier defeats have kept the Paemirian forces more busy than before. Luckily, the new series of Granselian aid have arrived with a large amount of food and other necessities that helps to calm the people. The surge of goods helps to satisfy the needs of the people of Port Magnes, balance the needs of the market, and build a positive image for the Granselians.
Port Magnes is possibly the city in Paemir that is the least hostile to Granselians due to their trade relationship, so those in needed have welcomed the aid. Even if the rest of the region looks on with distrust, they cannot oppose the fact that much needed goods are arriving, and more so when one of the leaders of the aids are the Duchess of Paemir herself. That said, there are still a different in priority among the three cities of Paemir, with the Port receiving the most aid, and the mountain city to the East receiving the least, and there is a very good reason for that, the range and safety of the roads. The Port of Magnes is the closest city to Gransela, and being a port city means fresh supplies can be delivered by the ready navy of Gransela. On the other hand, the other two cities are a distance away, and a dangerous path with the number of bandits that are currently in the region. Caravans to the mountains are rare and few, as such, many of them still retains the anger towards the government and their rivaling region.
This was when further rumors have appeared, that Asher had planned to only save the Port area where the economic situation is the least bleak, and that men that are against his plans are sent to do forced labors at the border walls. While that may not be his intention, it does match the situation, and a number of people actually believed in these rumors. Several of the nobles even questioned him in public, while the peasants became restless, but neither of them raised swords against their leader, who still have the control over a large amount of military forces, and is a famed commander. The leaders of the region however, believed that these rumors would die down as supplies recover, and did not pay the slanders much attention, more so when Port Magnes seems to be supporting Asher after his success in calling in Granselian aid. Valhedge and Wyvernmill also voiced their support after their own aid shipment begins to arrive, and leaving the mountain fortress of Ostborough as the remaining issue.
Asher and his followers have focused too much on the actual policies, but not enough on the marketing part, and that ultimately led to the worse situation that they could have imagined. Refusing to wait any longer, the peasants of the fortress, incited by hidden spies from the Empire, took matters into their own hands, and attacked the local nobles with weapons in hand. The angry band of peasants were armed by not just small arms, but light artillery that are stored for border defense, and managed to overrun the surprised garrison. Led by veteran soldiers, many of the lords were killed in the attack, and the luxury that they have witnessed have just made the peasants more angry. Deciding to head to Valhedge to make their voices known, the rebel forces began to march West with a fairly large army.
Little did they know, a Granselian caravan with goods and supplies were heading towards the city. While the rest of the region did receive news of the peasant uprise, they failed to contact the caravan, and such failure have led to disastrous results. The caravan themselves had a very rough journey, not only because of the rough Paemirian terrain, but that they were attacked by a large band of bandits. The bandits were well armed, so well armed that the bandits were using top of the line weapons from the Paemirian forces. The non combat personnel had to retreat with a handful of escorts after being overrun, they were able to get away from the bandits, but only to come face to face with the peasant rebels. The Granselian caravan mistook the rebels as another group of bandits, and the peasants thought the Granselian forces are armies sent by the nobles to put down the rebellion, the two side exchanged fire until the remaining forces were mostly overran. Many of them were killed or captured, with only a handful of survivors escaping from another direction.
When Asher first caught news of this, he felt like he had fell into the coldest corners of Niffelheim, as the incident have heavier political weight than he could handle. An attack on a caravan that were out for humanitarian aid is bad enough, but this was an aid that he had spent much efforts in organizing. He immediately gathered every one of his inner circle, in order to discuss what they should do about the attack, but more details of the battle have reached his desk before his advisors could arrive. The others found him more pale than they thought was humanly possible.
He reveals the bad news before the members, that not only was the caravan attacked, but it had contained two very important people, and only one of them survived. One is the Duchess of Paemir, who was fulfilling her promise of doing anything she can to save her people, and is thankfully alive; the other, the Duchess of Gransela, however did not. The meeting room became so quiet that even a fallen needle could have been heard, as no one here are fools, and they all understood what kind of response would come from the Duke of Gransela. Jorge then reminds Asher of the recent rumors, with one of them being that Asher planned all of this to destroy Gransela, and as stupid as that may sound, it suddenly became a lot more serious when the rumor came true.
As more and more information is gathered, it was revealed that the bandits that had attacked the caravan in the first place was organized by a local lord, who was robbing traveling merchants for his own pocket money. This presents yet another problem to Asher, as the lord is fairly famed in the army, and was treated like a hero in the recent war. The hero was a well known opponent of any policies to mend the relationship with Gransela, and often announces his hostility to the neighboring region. Asher immediately orders his arrest, who seems to have gave himself up willingly, but at the time, his followers seems to be ready to defend him. The more information he receives, the more Asher seems to understand how Kylan VI felt, but like the former King there was little he could do about them. He's not exactly friends with the Duke of Gransela, but they have fought aside each other, and could accurately guess how the Duke may act. Asher could only hope that no more bad news will jump up to surprise him...
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As expected, the Duke have reacted with a level of anger that have never been seen before. He immediately denounces Asher for his part in this whole incident, and demand that all related personnel be handed over to Gransela to be placed on trial. It was a reasonable demand, but it was one that was widely objected by the Paemirian nobles and officers, stating that it will be a disgrace for all of Paemir, and they argue the war hero is not directly related to the Duchess' death. Asher was in no means ready for a war, so he was about to force his way through the council, only to be told that a fire had started in the prison, and the war hero and 'all' of his followers have perished in the fire. Their pride were met with harsh reality when the Duke severs all aids to Paemir, embargo every type of goods, and expels the Paemirian diplomat to Gransela after cutting off his ears and nose, along with a declaration of war.
The Paemirian nobles still had some confident that they could win, as the Granselian forces had suffered high casualties against the Empire, so the modernized Paemirian forces should win without much problem. While they agree that the Duke of Gransela is a still commander himself, they believe that they should be able to win with careful planning and harden soldiers. Such hopes were quickly shattered two weeks later, when the Granselian army arrives at the borders with not just the standing army of twenty thousand men, but a massive army of three hundred thousand.
For the first time in Zalborian history, the Duke of Gransela issued a decree of total mobilization, and conscripting every able men between the ages of 20 to 55. While one may think normal peasants may be poor at combat, even a fool can be taught to use a gun with ease, so the peasants were taught the basics by their local militias, and are ready for battle in a supportive role. These men may not be very well trained, but their morale sure is high after learning of the incident in Paemir, where the beloved Duchess had been assassinated by the honorless Paemirians. Even the rich Granselian region will have trouble supplying a massive army of this size, but such issues were solved by the mobilization, where the government have full control over productions and ownership. Large amounts of food and munitions are sent to the front lines, by vehicles, by horses, and even by foot.
However, combat did not immediately break out, as Paemir attempts ease the tense situation with helps from the rest of Zalboria. Even Isabelle herself have came to meet with James, and relays his demands to Asher, which was short of having every peasant of the fortress executed for their crime. It was a very harsh demand, coming from one that is well known as "the Magnanimous," and the Margress can only take comfort in that the Duke is still willing to talk.
It has been several months after the invaders have been pushed away from Paemir, and securing the borders of the Eastern front, but it had not come without a price. The heir and the King of Zalboria are both dead, leaving an empty throne without a claimant. and two major players as the potential ruler of Zalboria. The two Princess of Zalboria, Keiana and Isabelle, and both have their own set of supporters. Keiana's support base mainly comes from the region of Paemir, where they have increased influence due to their recent victory over the invading Empire. The older princess does have an advantage, and that is her age. Where Isabelle is still slightly under the age of what one may consider an adult, the princess does not have such worries and is well received by the warriors to the East with Margress Asher Rorke as her main supporter. On the other hand, Isabelle is often viewed by both the late King and his subject as the brilliant one, and have two powerful advantage of the control over the royal retinue, and the strong support from Duke James Gransela. At first, the two have avoided direct conflict for different reasons, but the political friction continues to build, and eventually reaches a boiling point when it comes to handing the outcome of the war in Paemir.
Keiana wishes to support Paemir in case another invasion occurs, and she did not misplace her worries as the Empire still has significant forces to use if necessary. The people of Paemir have also suffered significantly from the recent war, and from the internal conflicts in recent years. On the other hand, Isabelle carries out an effective ploy of splitting it up for the different factions that joined the war, such as the Curving Blades, the Kasrymor, and of course, the Granselas. Keiana quickly realizes her mistakes, but it's hard to simply change her opinion to match those of her sister's, so instead, she was rescued by Asher, who had since their former meetings, gained some political experience. Asher first praises the other major clans for their tactical abilities, thank their men for their blood and sweat in assisting Paemir, and before finally promising a proportion of reward for their hard efforts. Thanks to the Margrave's efforts, while the Princess still lost some points in handling the situation, her mistakes were distracted by the Margrave, and the others decide to not dwell on the issue.
However, that was simply the appetizer, as Duke Gransela comes out swinging to question the responsibilities of all the mistakes that were carried out in Paemir. Gransela clearly states that if the Margress would have waited for reinforcements from the other major clans, or have not made such foolish slander, then the Prince would likely to be alive. The Margrave argues that it was to save the people and that it was a sacred part of the duty of a noble. The Duke then brought up the part where Paemirian soldiers actually experienced less combat than the royal retinue and the Granselian forces. Keiana steps in to remind him that it required everyone's efforts for their success, but James simply replies that numbers do not lie and that both casualty and kill counts of the Granselian forces have been higher than those of Asher's own forces. Asher himself couldn't say much about it, because the only other answer he may possibly give is that the Duke and his forces have done a poor job, but that'll lead to a direct conflict between the two, and he hopes to avoid that.
While Asher wishes to cease the conflict between the two factions, his followers might not have as much understanding and political knowledge. Almost immediately, several Paemirian nobles yell back insults towards the Granselian side, which got the minor Granselian nobles to insult back in return. The arguments were mostly flavorless, until James comes out with a heavy blow of adjusting the trade treaty between Gransela and Paemir, and that was a punch that is equal to the force of a pile driver. Even though Paemir's economic situation had somewhat healed within the last three years thanks to Asher's efforts, it was far from a full recovery, and parts of his success had been overturned by the recent invasion. Many of the Paemirian nobles had simply wanted to gloat over their victory, and of the seemingly success over their rival region, but this was definitely not what they were hoping for.
Isabelle however, stepped up to ease the tension, and request for James to rethink of his decision due to the number of people that might be affected. Ultimately, the treaty will be amended, but only the ratio of Granselian goods that have to be purchased are changed, so it will still be enough for Paemir as long as nothing is done under table. The Paemirians are not very happy about this, but at least it won't be too bad of a hit.
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Except it was a very big issue, especially for Asher and Jorge who had been secretly taking parts of the humanitarian aid to rebuild the Paemirian military. The Paemirian forces had suffered less casualties when compared to their Granselian counterpart, but nevertheless they are not in their full force after the war with the Empire. The recent change to the treaty means they wouldn't have much room to squeeze out for the military budget, and who knows if the Empire will march in again. Asher decides to temporary put their spare resources into fortifying the Eastern barriers, spending the ransom payments that they have received from the Empires into building a mighty wall that can keep out those foreign invaders. They'll have to risk more by taking larger cuts of the Granselian aids, and less of it may reach the hands of the regular Paemirians, but it couldn't be helped for the sake of national safety.
At first, it was still acceptable to the peasants, as they had only recently ended an invasion, so they could still hold on to the beliefs that it will soon return to how it was before the war. It soon became clear that it was not the case, as even with Granselian aid, the peasants found themselves poor and hungry. Finally, as the harsh winter begins again, more and more peasants are forced off their land, as economy activity continues to weaken, the number of bandits on the road skyrockets. To make it worse, many of these peasants fought in the defensive war against the Empire, and have enough connections with the military to obtain some weapons of their own. These bandits ended up being trained and armed warriors that knows to evade stronger garrison forces, and rob weaker targets that they could handle. Seeing this, Asher realized his mistakes, and discussed with allies to reduce the military budget in hopes of keeping the people under control, but of course the military heads were not very happy about it, so the Margress found that his hands are actually bounded by his own past decisions. If he continues as it is, it seems likely that the bandits would become a major problem, and will further harm the economic situation in Paemir; on the other hand, if he takes the axe to the military, then who knows if they may raise arms against him.
Asher decides to do as much as he can, first by becoming a role model to the other nobles, and reduce his own spending to minimum. It was what he have learned to do as a commander, to suffer together with his soldiers can help improve their morale and solidity, and he hopes it'll have the same effect on his subjects. He also hire some of the peasants in East Paemir to work on the wall in exchange for meals and shelters, so they could at least not have to worry about surviving the Winter after months of abandoning their farms. He also make use of his military that reduces to stand down, and have them patrol and hunt out the bandits. Lastly, he reopened talks with the Duke of Gransela, and hope that the Duke will be generous and provide aid to the people.
The Margress' first idea have little effect, as while his own circle have followed his examples, it did not seem to have convinced the other nobles of Paemir to do the same. Many of them continues to enjoy their wealth, celebrate their victories over the Empire, and watch as the peasants succumb to the harsh Winter of Paemir. Even if it did succeed, the returns would be minimum, as a few dozen people reducing spending would not be enough to feed the millions of Paemirians. His second idea had some effect, as it can helped in dulling the growth of the bandits that had mostly gathered in the poorer Eastern regions, but little to improve the overall situation.
Bandits continue to raise all across the region, at first avoiding combat from the patrolling military, and later even having the numbers to clash with smaller patrol forces. When the military attempts to use heavier equipment, their opponent would notice this, and flee before the bigger guns could even arrive. To counter this, the Paemirian forces deployed a new invention that are still under testing, and that is the aircraft. The aircraft had been a recent invention by a researcher in Central Zalboria, but had not catch much attention for practical usage. The major nobles however, saw the potential in this invention, and attempted to recruit the researcher. In the end, it was up to Gransela and Paemir as the competitors to recruit the researcher, and it was Gransela with the funds to convince him. The other regions however, received some important design notes, which they used to develop their own aerial units, and thus the Paemirian aircraft was built. The early aircraft were light and poorly powered, it could barely carry a person, and as such are mostly used for scouting. Asher gave the orders to build a few in order to detect enemy movements, and decides to put them to use to spot retreating bandits. With the help of several spotting aircraft, the Paemirian forces were able to smash the larger bandit groups using heavy artillery guns, so at least they were able to stop any immediate threats, and achieve some success in their plans to stabilize the region.
The last plan had some help from unexpected sources. While the Duke himself were at his last straw after the outcome of the war, he allowed Asher to present his case, and the Margress focused his efforts in appealing to the Duke's morality and asks for forgiveness for the sake of the people. James himself was unsure of providing further help to Paemir, as he is clearly aware of the reason why the aid was not sufficient. More than once have he heard from his own subjects that they should simply cancel the financial support, as much of it went into the pockets of the Paemirian military, rather than to the people of Paemir. He was about to send the Margress away with a refusal, but his wife, Duchess Florina Midori of Zalboria, well known for her humanitarian aid through out the Kingdom, suggested to provide aid in forms of food and common goods that would be lower financial cost, and would be less likely to be used for purposes other than to keep the people fed. The young Duchess Ashalia Lamont, who has been staying in Gransela since year 219, plead to James to help the people of Paemir as well, and promises to do her part for her people. With these unexpected assistance, Asher was able to convince the Duke to agree in sending helps, but in forms of aid shipments sent and distributed by Granselian forces themselves due to his lack of trust in the current Paemirian forces.
Returning to Paemir with the successful treaty, Asher was again met with resistances from his own subjects, but this time it was from his closer circles, such as Jorge. Jorge has been a close ally to Asher, and while he agrees that something must be done about the situation, he worries about allowing Granselian forces to enter Paemir. While it is a very reasonable arrangement, everyone in the room is clear of the relationship between the two rivaling region, and allowing Granselian forces in peace times may have negative effects on Asher's prestige. The military also states their objection to this, as it will shed a poor image on the abilities of the Paemirian forces. They do not however have much choices in this situation, and were convinced by Asher to agree, at least they no longer openly express any objections.
Of course, that is only limited to openly, as many of the more traditional nobles were unhappy about the situation. More than handful of them believes that it is a disgrace to accept Granselian demands after such a grand victory against the powerful Empire, and to take such a shame for the sake of the peasants is unheard of. That was when rumors started to fly among both the nobility and the peasants, rumors that ranged from the more laughable ones such as the Margress is luring the Granselian forces over to destroy them, to ones like the Margress is planning to sell the region out to Gransela, but either way it did not help when the Margress is taking a blow for the sake of the region. Bandits seems to become better armed, at times even carrying light artillery, and their sudden comeback after earlier defeats have kept the Paemirian forces more busy than before. Luckily, the new series of Granselian aid have arrived with a large amount of food and other necessities that helps to calm the people. The surge of goods helps to satisfy the needs of the people of Port Magnes, balance the needs of the market, and build a positive image for the Granselians.
Port Magnes is possibly the city in Paemir that is the least hostile to Granselians due to their trade relationship, so those in needed have welcomed the aid. Even if the rest of the region looks on with distrust, they cannot oppose the fact that much needed goods are arriving, and more so when one of the leaders of the aids are the Duchess of Paemir herself. That said, there are still a different in priority among the three cities of Paemir, with the Port receiving the most aid, and the mountain city to the East receiving the least, and there is a very good reason for that, the range and safety of the roads. The Port of Magnes is the closest city to Gransela, and being a port city means fresh supplies can be delivered by the ready navy of Gransela. On the other hand, the other two cities are a distance away, and a dangerous path with the number of bandits that are currently in the region. Caravans to the mountains are rare and few, as such, many of them still retains the anger towards the government and their rivaling region.
This was when further rumors have appeared, that Asher had planned to only save the Port area where the economic situation is the least bleak, and that men that are against his plans are sent to do forced labors at the border walls. While that may not be his intention, it does match the situation, and a number of people actually believed in these rumors. Several of the nobles even questioned him in public, while the peasants became restless, but neither of them raised swords against their leader, who still have the control over a large amount of military forces, and is a famed commander. The leaders of the region however, believed that these rumors would die down as supplies recover, and did not pay the slanders much attention, more so when Port Magnes seems to be supporting Asher after his success in calling in Granselian aid. Valhedge and Wyvernmill also voiced their support after their own aid shipment begins to arrive, and leaving the mountain fortress of Ostborough as the remaining issue.
Asher and his followers have focused too much on the actual policies, but not enough on the marketing part, and that ultimately led to the worse situation that they could have imagined. Refusing to wait any longer, the peasants of the fortress, incited by hidden spies from the Empire, took matters into their own hands, and attacked the local nobles with weapons in hand. The angry band of peasants were armed by not just small arms, but light artillery that are stored for border defense, and managed to overrun the surprised garrison. Led by veteran soldiers, many of the lords were killed in the attack, and the luxury that they have witnessed have just made the peasants more angry. Deciding to head to Valhedge to make their voices known, the rebel forces began to march West with a fairly large army.
Little did they know, a Granselian caravan with goods and supplies were heading towards the city. While the rest of the region did receive news of the peasant uprise, they failed to contact the caravan, and such failure have led to disastrous results. The caravan themselves had a very rough journey, not only because of the rough Paemirian terrain, but that they were attacked by a large band of bandits. The bandits were well armed, so well armed that the bandits were using top of the line weapons from the Paemirian forces. The non combat personnel had to retreat with a handful of escorts after being overrun, they were able to get away from the bandits, but only to come face to face with the peasant rebels. The Granselian caravan mistook the rebels as another group of bandits, and the peasants thought the Granselian forces are armies sent by the nobles to put down the rebellion, the two side exchanged fire until the remaining forces were mostly overran. Many of them were killed or captured, with only a handful of survivors escaping from another direction.
When Asher first caught news of this, he felt like he had fell into the coldest corners of Niffelheim, as the incident have heavier political weight than he could handle. An attack on a caravan that were out for humanitarian aid is bad enough, but this was an aid that he had spent much efforts in organizing. He immediately gathered every one of his inner circle, in order to discuss what they should do about the attack, but more details of the battle have reached his desk before his advisors could arrive. The others found him more pale than they thought was humanly possible.
He reveals the bad news before the members, that not only was the caravan attacked, but it had contained two very important people, and only one of them survived. One is the Duchess of Paemir, who was fulfilling her promise of doing anything she can to save her people, and is thankfully alive; the other, the Duchess of Gransela, however did not. The meeting room became so quiet that even a fallen needle could have been heard, as no one here are fools, and they all understood what kind of response would come from the Duke of Gransela. Jorge then reminds Asher of the recent rumors, with one of them being that Asher planned all of this to destroy Gransela, and as stupid as that may sound, it suddenly became a lot more serious when the rumor came true.
As more and more information is gathered, it was revealed that the bandits that had attacked the caravan in the first place was organized by a local lord, who was robbing traveling merchants for his own pocket money. This presents yet another problem to Asher, as the lord is fairly famed in the army, and was treated like a hero in the recent war. The hero was a well known opponent of any policies to mend the relationship with Gransela, and often announces his hostility to the neighboring region. Asher immediately orders his arrest, who seems to have gave himself up willingly, but at the time, his followers seems to be ready to defend him. The more information he receives, the more Asher seems to understand how Kylan VI felt, but like the former King there was little he could do about them. He's not exactly friends with the Duke of Gransela, but they have fought aside each other, and could accurately guess how the Duke may act. Asher could only hope that no more bad news will jump up to surprise him...
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As expected, the Duke have reacted with a level of anger that have never been seen before. He immediately denounces Asher for his part in this whole incident, and demand that all related personnel be handed over to Gransela to be placed on trial. It was a reasonable demand, but it was one that was widely objected by the Paemirian nobles and officers, stating that it will be a disgrace for all of Paemir, and they argue the war hero is not directly related to the Duchess' death. Asher was in no means ready for a war, so he was about to force his way through the council, only to be told that a fire had started in the prison, and the war hero and 'all' of his followers have perished in the fire. Their pride were met with harsh reality when the Duke severs all aids to Paemir, embargo every type of goods, and expels the Paemirian diplomat to Gransela after cutting off his ears and nose, along with a declaration of war.
The Paemirian nobles still had some confident that they could win, as the Granselian forces had suffered high casualties against the Empire, so the modernized Paemirian forces should win without much problem. While they agree that the Duke of Gransela is a still commander himself, they believe that they should be able to win with careful planning and harden soldiers. Such hopes were quickly shattered two weeks later, when the Granselian army arrives at the borders with not just the standing army of twenty thousand men, but a massive army of three hundred thousand.
For the first time in Zalborian history, the Duke of Gransela issued a decree of total mobilization, and conscripting every able men between the ages of 20 to 55. While one may think normal peasants may be poor at combat, even a fool can be taught to use a gun with ease, so the peasants were taught the basics by their local militias, and are ready for battle in a supportive role. These men may not be very well trained, but their morale sure is high after learning of the incident in Paemir, where the beloved Duchess had been assassinated by the honorless Paemirians. Even the rich Granselian region will have trouble supplying a massive army of this size, but such issues were solved by the mobilization, where the government have full control over productions and ownership. Large amounts of food and munitions are sent to the front lines, by vehicles, by horses, and even by foot.
However, combat did not immediately break out, as Paemir attempts ease the tense situation with helps from the rest of Zalboria. Even Isabelle herself have came to meet with James, and relays his demands to Asher, which was short of having every peasant of the fortress executed for their crime. It was a very harsh demand, coming from one that is well known as "the Magnanimous," and the Margress can only take comfort in that the Duke is still willing to talk.