The Bastard's Rebellion

 The Prelude and Reign of Rogier IV 454-457 

King Rogier IV was the most Priest-controlled King since King Aen's direct heirs. He took the throne at 19 and although not being too young to take the throne directly he left most of the work to his advisors, as he indulged himself in less strenuous pastimes. This heavily endeared him towards the Priests at an early age as they promised that they would rule the country with Perzys' blessing whereas the Nobles continuously bombarded him with requests for this and that which in the end just tired him, thus annoying the Nobles. When he took the throne he appointed a very prevalent member of the Priesthood named Ahoda, later the high priest, as his regent while his brother Prince Erlan was in command of the military. In 455 and 456 respectively he managed to insult both the richest Lord at the time, Castanor Redrock and the strongest Lord, Tristan Greenstone in rows over inheritance for the prior and taxes for the latter. This lead to their self-imposed exile from the palace and great anger against the Priests. However at this point they lacked anyone to gather around to fight Rogier IV, if they rose with only aspirations to put themselves on the throne they knew it would descend into anarchy with each Noble fighting for themselves, and they would gain nothing but resentment from the people. All they needed now was a claimant, and since Prince Erlan had turned down their offer they were left hopeless that their situation would change until Rogier was dead.

''' The finding of Adenn Draga, the Lost heir. 457 '''

In the early months of the years 457, a minor Noble by the name of Adarn Blackstone was in the Golden Fish Inn when he noticed something strange about one of the bartenders, almost as if he recognised him. After taking a closer look at the middle aged man he realised that he bore a striking resemblance to the Statue of King Castarn VIII in the grand square of the Eastern district, from this he concluded that the only logical answer was that this man was actually a descendant of the Castarn branch of the House of Draga, and therefore a claimant to the throne however weak. With this he offered the man, who's name was Adenn, a job at his house as a head servant which the man, of course, accepted. After sharing this news with other members of the anti-Rogiergroup of Nobles they concluded he was a descendant of one of Castarn VII's many bastards and a claimant to the purist cause. With this they finally had a figure to rally behind, and when he accepted their offer of becoming King finally they could set their plans into motion.

''' Rogier IV's oust of power and the Beginning of the War. 457-458 '''

In winter 457 the Nobility was ready. First Castanor Redrock would storm the palace using his extensive mines to smuggle in soldiers and encircle the Loyalist Guards, meanwhile Tristan Greenstone would have his soldiers block all major ways in and out of Draga so that the King and his immediate family and supporters could not escape. Finally Lord Laurens Bluestone, commander of the city guard, would have his men kill or arrest anyone remotely powerful that did not support the anti-Rogier group so that the fighting would be quick and easy before anyone could properly react, this proved as an inspiration for the coup later done by Casten III. Near everything went as planned, the rebels stormed the palace and caught the loyalists off guard capturing and killing most. However there was one major flaw that they did not think of. When they attacked it just so happened to be the time when Rogier IV and his brother were at the Temple of the Eternal Flame and thus under guard of the entire Priesthood. Castanor quickly realised this mistake and ordered his soldiers to surround the Temple, however as soon as news had gotten out of what had happened Erlan managed to get his brother out of the city reportedly via stealing a fisherman's boat and sneaking out at night, through the rebel imposed blockade. Adenn was crowned King Adenn III Draga In early 458 under tight watch of his 'supporters' and the temple was kept under siege, slowly decreasing the people's support if they had any in the first place.

''' Adenn III's Reign and Ideals. 458-463 '''

The coup was successful, the victorious Lords had the Temple surrounded, quite literally, and while it seemed as if the temple could hold out for quite a while it could definitely not hold out indefinitely. They claimed to the people that practically Adenn III was the true King, as a descendant of the only true Purists, one of two main factions in the Redsword Rebellion and the 'winning' ruler of that war, ironically Adenn II, had betrayed the Purist ideals and therefore his line was legitimate. And so all seemed won and yet the Nobles still did not rule truly. For Adenn was not the puppet they hoped he would of been, no mere mindless peasant. He did not accept their proposal just for the power but for the fact that he wanted to help those less fortunate than all those that lived in the Eastern and, parts of the, Southern district. While in the first year of his reign he played the obedient pretender, he secretly watched and learned from how everything was run, and how much money was actually in the treasury. In 459 he began handing out large amounts of money to business' in the Southern and Western districts so that they could improve their workers pay, this was all well and good for the Nobility for it did not effect them. However in 460 he decided to raise taxes higher for the rich and lower for the poor, and set a minimum wage for all those that worked within dangerous jobs such as mining. A job which, almost exclusively, the Nobility employed people for. This started to annoy the great mining Houses such as House Redrock however when he complained to the King Adenn withdrew his decree for the Redrock companies only. This favouritism highly offended the other families however they did not verbally complain and therefore they gained nothing. In 461 Adenn created a pension for those too old or weak to work after a lifetime in the mines especially, and also benefits for any injured while working. It is to be noted that said benefits had to be payed by the employer, and therefore mainly the Nobles as most injuries were within the mines. Again this was relaxed upon House Redrock and the King payed for their expenses personally. There has been much debate over why Adenn made all of these reforms, mayhap he felt bad for the Miners, possibly he thought they would work better or he could simply know how bad it was from experience. It is said that his father was a miner and he had died from overworking, however this is not proved and may of just been another theory. However he continued the reforms though for the next year ,after quite a few riots in 461 by the Nobles, he eased on them rather heavily. But in 463 he decided to take charge again and made it so that upon a Nobles death the King would inherit all of their wealth and lands and was free to bestow them on whomever he pleased, though already successful businessmen should be prioritised so that they may make a bigger fortune to be inherited by the King once they die. This law was only ever used once which was upon it's founding, when a rather major Lord in terms of the sea industries died suddenly with his only heir being utterly incompetent from the looks of things. This was the final straw for many of the Nobles, the fact that their family would lose their status after their deaths was simply too much and they called for a return of Rogier IV. A call which was answered.

 The Exile and Return of Rogier IV and Prince Erlan 

While Rogier and Erlan escaped Draga it was not free sailing from their. As soon as the Nobles learn of their escape they spent most of 458 sending soldiers out looking for them. The two Draga's fled southwards into the wilds of the Forest of Limuty and the foothills of the Karagal Mountains, with Erlan protecting his brother from the wilds for the most part as he was the only one accompanying the King. There were many instances, especially from 461-462, when they were both killed as they ventured a little too far into the forests. However Rogier never spoke of what happened and Erlan only ever spoke of it once many years after it had happened and only as a story to frighten his grandchildren, though even this is disputed. Regardless they managed to survive and when the Nobility decided they'd had enough of Adenn they make common cause with the Priests, for once in 200 or so years, and through the priests contacted the brothers largely due to the High Priest Ahoda teaching Rogier how to communicate within the flames, when he was merely his advisor. In Summer 463 the royals returned, after being given new clothing and such just outside the city as to keep up appearances, and while their reception was mixed given people had begun to like Adenn III the army of the Nobility kept them docile enough. The army of the Nobility and Priesthood alike then marched to the Palace and demanded Adenn III and Lord Redrock's surrender, given they were the only ones with any real power still resisting.. This was refused.

 The Storming of the Dragan Palace and Death of Adenn III 

With the ultimatum rejected the palace was stormed by the Soldiers and Priests, however with the help of Lord Redstone's retinue the defence held for weeks. However Erlan eventually broke through a single corridor, and while the main pathway to the Throne room where Adenn was, was still blocked Erlan knew of a secret passage way that had been built in to help the King escape incase of an attack. With this knowledge he lead his best men through the passageway and attack Adenn from behind, distracted his soldiers long enough so that the army on the outside could storm in. Lord Redstone was slain trying to hold the front gate with too little men in the confusion and finally Adenn III, The Bastard King, was slain upon the steps of his throne. And thus Rogier IV was re-crowned as King of Draga.

 Aftermath 

The Bastard's rebellion would have a tremendous effect upon the politics of Draga for years to come. It ended the years of peace and established Prince Erlan as an able warrior, leader and survivalist. The Nobility expected King Rogier to now support them over the Clergy indefinitely however this was not the case as they pushed him too far again and within a year he went back to supporting the Priests and High Priest Ahoda. This would lead to his death via poisoning in 469 and the eventual Rebellion of Prince Erlan in 476.