Upon the desolate plain, cometh the foreign horde.
Blood spilt in vain; they run back to their Lord. Why were they here, in the service of the other?
For us 'tis a grim year, brother against brother.
The Sarzin Conflict, also later known as the Great Blunder or the Divorce, was a conflict fought in 1540-1542 between the
Peasants' Republic of Aussel and the
Aristocratic Republic of Rueken over the
Sarzin region of
Aussel. The military conflict also involved the forces of Count
Gawin Aue of
Pessen who felt an obligation to defend his fellow
Hillenists against the pagan
Ualish mercenaries that the Chancellor of Rueken,
Kilas ven Leiberge-Kattel, had hired.
Prelude
Relations between the two ethnically
Ruekish states of Aussel and Rueken had been strained ever since the serfs had defied their landlords and defeated their former overlords in the
Ausselian War of Independence. Several statesmen in Aussel and the majority of the Hillenist nobles in Rueken had seeked to repair the bond between their kindred people. Progress was being made, but that all changed with the death of Chancellor
Karl ven Mierholz of Rueken.
The previously tolerant and peaceful leader of the aristocratic republic was succeeded by Kilas ven Leiberge-Kattel, the Duke of
Nordhei. The young and charismatic statesman won over the hearts and minds of the majority of the councillors with promises to reclaim lost territories.
He spoke truthfully about what Rueken had been through, but unlike many of those who had ruled before him, he offered viable solutions and showed a strong passion for restoring the country to greatness. Kilas III made it clear that under his rule the Hillenistic dream would never become reality.
Every step we take is for the restoration of our country, yet for centuries we've been stumbling backwards. Our coffers may be filled, our people prosperous, but all that we have lost still haunts us.— Duke Kilas of Nordhei, 1539 AA
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