Battle of the Silver Banners

Military action

The first military engagement of the new Thrane Theocracy

In the spring of 916, massed Thrane troops stood ready, rising each morning to sing in joyous prayer. Casting about for the worst of the unbelievers, the mobs focused on the Aundair-occupied west. Their fervor unmatched, the newly expanded Silver Legion and the newly created Pure Legion formed a peasant army thousands strong.   The first military engagement of the new Thrane was to be at the Battle of the Silver Banners. In the end, religious zeal and commanders known for little but fiery oratory could not stand against veteran soldiers and competent generals—in a series of sharp, clever flanking fights, a smaller Aundairian force routed the Thranes. Captured banners were hung upside-down in the Aundairian capital and subjected to considerable mockery. The legions retreated to Morningcrest, bloodied but unbowed.   Over the next fall and winter, the mass denunciations against internal enemies slowed as the Keeper and the Diet of Cardinals finally began to reassert some semblance of control over the population. For the first time, the Keeper seemed to be truly embracing the power forced upon him. A growing number of members of the Council of Cardinals, including the now majority hard-liners in the Diet, publicly supported the tenor, if not all the means, of the mob fervor.