Saltpike Mutiny

The Saltpike Mutiny, also known as the Saltpike Rebellion, or to its supporters, the Saltpike Defiance, was a short-lived rebellion in the Crownlands. The Rebellion began following King Alfred IV’s decision to disinherit his eldest daughter, Gwynneth Valdwyn, and declare his son, Alfred, as Heir-Apparent in her stead.
The rebellion lasted for four days, with the majority of the fighting taking place in the capital city of Ravensport between the forces of the Crown, and supporters of Princess Gwynneth’s claim to the throne.

Prelude

In the year 286 AM, King Alfred IV was called to the Concourse of Knights, the sanctuary of the Scholar-Knights of Saint Gilbert, and the Voice of the Lady. After his visit with the Voice, the king returned to Ravensport and issued the controversial Proclamation of 286, which stripped Princess Gwynneth Valdwyn of her status as Heir Apparent. The King cited his reasons as largely theological, claiming that the Voice of the Lady had commanded him to name Prince Alfred as his heir. However, many of the king’s detractors insisted that the king had simply decided to use an innocuous meeting with the Scholar Knights of Saint Gilbert as an excuse to name his favorite son as his heir over his daughter.
In the Fall of 286 AM, a royal progress was announced. King Alfred had arranged for his heir to visit the many noble houses in Ravensport and the greater Crownlands. The progress was a disaster. While on Crab Island, a fight broke out between a knight in the service of Lord Aurane Crabb and three Valdwyn men-at-arms after the knight had proposed a toast to the Crown Princess’ health. In Ravensport, the royal progress was made to wait for several hours outside the estate of Lord Robert Banion. When finally allowed in, Lord Robert was reported to have remarked, “Apologies, your Grace, I had mistaken the Prince’s convoy for a band of brigands.” Both Lord Robert and his eldest son were seized and exiled. The progress was finally forced to be cut short after an arrow had narrowly missed Prince Alfred on Gull Island.
King Alfred IV acted swiftly in stamping out any talk of dissent over Prince Alfred's new status as heir, replacing hundreds of servants, men-at-arms and household knights with men who would prove loyal to the King, and more importantly, the Prince. While the attacks on Prince Alfred, both physical and verbal, had publicly ceased, rumors of backroom conspiracies began spreading throughout the capital.

The Saltpike Mutiny

A Conspiracy in Ravensport

In the Winter of 287 AM, a private meeting was held in the manor of Lord Albert Tell, a prominent nobleman in the city of Ravensport. Invited to the meeting was Lord-Admiral Leanne Saltpike, Lord Albert's brother, Sir Alvin Tell of the Knight's Protectorate, and several dozen nobles from across the Crownlands. During the gathering, Lord Albert had claimed that over the past year, he had been purchasing the loyalty of key members of the Ravensport City Watch, and believed that he had sufficient support to initiate a coup to restore Princess Gwynneth to the Valdwyn line of succession. Furthermore, Lord Albert had been convinced by his brother that many within the Valdwyn Royal Guard were sympathetic to the Princess' plight, and could be convinced to allow the conspirators access to the Royal Palace. While many of the nobles attending the meeting were unconvinced by Lord Albert Tell's claims, it was Lord-Admiral Leanne Saltpike's endorsement of the coup which swayed the doubters.

The Mutiny Begins

After a year of careful preparation and planning, Lord Albert Tell and his co-conspirators were ready to initiate their coup. In the Summer of 288 AM, Lord Albert issued the order for the mutiny to begin.

Securing the City

Lord-Admiral Leanne Saltpike gave the order for the Royal Navy to blockade Ravensport Harbor. With the help of several dozen of House Saltpike's men-at-arms, Royal Marines loyal to the Lord-Admiral quickly detained and arrested uncooperative members of the Navy before moving to secure the waterfront. In the early hours of the day, the Royal Marines disarmed and secured the harbor guard, many of whom had still been sleeping when the mutineers broke into their barracks. In the city proper, sellswords and city guards loyal to Lord Albert Tell locked down key points in the capital: city gates were barred and shut, barricades were erected over essential bridges, and all aviaries in the city were closed down. Forged arrest orders were issued to unwitting guard captains calling for the detention of nobles loyal to the King.

Securing the Palace

Sir Alvin Tell was given the vital task of securing Princess Gwynneth. However, the young knight had severely overestimated the number of guardsmen he would be able to recruit into his brother's conspiracy. Over the past two years, King Alfred had worked meticulously to replace members of the Royal Guard he believed to be compromised, and the king's decision had paid off. While all lines of communication in and out of Ravensport were being severed, Sir Alvin was only able to gather twenty swords to the cause.
In addition to securing the princess, Sir Alvin needed to secure the gates to the Royal Palace so that his brother's men could lock the palace down. Sir Alvin divided his forces, sending the majority of them to take the gates of the royal palace while he and six knights made their way to Princess Gwynneth's chambers. It was outside the princess' chambers where the conspirators met their next challenge: Sir William Kessler. A formidable knight and swordsman of the Knights-Protectorate, Sir Kessler was assigned to watch over and guard the princess. The two Knights-Protectorate clashed after Kessler had refused to lay down his arms and surrender the princess. Despite being outnumbered, Kessler managed to cut down three knights of the royal guard before he was felled by Sir Alvin's blade.
Lacking the manpower necessary to keep Princess Gwynneth confined to her chambers during the coup, Sir Alvin made the decision to take the princess with him to the palace gates. When the Knight-Protector and his men arrived with the princess, he saw the bodies of his comrades in arms strewn across the hall. Crossbowmen were stationed on the balconies overlooking the conspirators, with two dozen royal guardsmen standing between Sir Alvin and his brother's reinforcements.

The Tides Turn

With the element of surprise on their side, Lord-Admiral Saltpike and Lord Albert Tell were able to lock down Ravensport, cutting it off from the rest of the kingdom. However, Sir Alvin had failed to secure the manpower needed to open the palace gates to his brother's men. Outnumbered, Sir Alvin and what remained of his men surrendered to loyalist forces, and Princess Gwynneth was reunited with the rest of her family, who had now been alerted to what was transpiring outside the palace walls.

The Loyalist Counterattack

After the shock of the initial maneuvers of Lords Saltpike and Tell, large-scale street brawls and skirmishes began breaking out across the capital between the mutineers, and Royal forces who had now rallied under loyalist houses such as Valendwell and Kessler. Loyalist forces under the command of Lord Silas Valendwell were able to retake one of the city's aviaries, and sent word General Jonathor Kenning of the Ravensport 7th Division, whose forces were camped on the north bank of the Swanford River.
With the 7th Ravensport Division joining the fray, the mutineers were pushed back to their original defensive positions at the Ravensport waterfront. While Lord-Admiral Saltpike had been issuing orders from the safety of her flagship, Forlorn, Lord Albert Tell had established his command center in the heart of the city, which had now been encircled by the 7th. Facing the prospect of suffering a traitor's death, the garrison of city guards voluntarily surrendered Lord Albert in exchange for clemency.
One by one, the rebel holdouts within the capital fell to loyalist forces, until only Lord-Admiral Saltpike and her marines on the waterfront remained. Cut off from news of Lord Albert Tell's fate, Lord-Admiral Saltpike remained convinced that her blockade still provided her with leverage, as to her knowledge, the city gates were still under the control of rebel forces. Even if Sir Alvin was unsuccessful in his attempt to take the palace, the Royal Navy would still be able to starve the city out. Thus, the Lord-Admiral ordered her men to prepare for a protracted siege.

The Final Assault

Storming the Barricades

On the morning of the 4th and last day of the Saltpike Mutiny, General Jonathor Kenning brought forth Lord Albert Tell and his brother, Sir Alvin, before the rebel fortifications. In front of the mutineers stationed upon the barricades, General Kenning had the two brothers Tell beheaded. Before the rebels had a chance to respond, the heads of two score mutineers and rebels rained down upon them. General Kenning had ordered the heads of the royal guardsmen that betrayed the king to be catapulted into the rebel lines. Suddenly, loyalist forces were upon them, charging at the barricades in force. The rebels fought fiercely, but were quickly overpowered and overwhelmed.

The Fisherman and the Greenheart

As the battle poured into the streets of the city, Lord-Admiral Leanne Saltpike decided to sally forth from her ship and join the defenders on land. Her party fought their way through loyalist forces towards the enemy vanguard, where they ran head-first into its leaders: Lord Gideon Kessler, father of Sir William Kessler, and Sir Rhys Aldon, the Greenheart and Lord-Commander of the Knights-Protectorate. It is said that upon encountering the Lord-Admiral, Lord Gideon flew into a blind fury, eager to strike down the woman who was responsible for the death of his last surviving son. However, his rage had made Lord Kessler reckless, and Lord-Admiral Saltpike was a respected fighter. A well placed blow with Saltpike's cutlass ended the Kessler line.
Emboldened by her victory over Lord Kessler, the Lord-Admiral fought her way towards Sir Rhys Aldon, who proved to be a much more challenging opponent. Reports over what happened during their fight varies, but the most popular account is that Lord-Admiral Saltpike managed to disarm Sir Rhys, but the Greenheart managed to kill Saltpike by picking up the sharpened banner from the Lord-Admiral's own standard bearer and plunging the flag of the grey and gold fisherman through her heart.
With the death of their commander, the mutineers lost heart and surrendered. The blockading fleet attempted to flee upon seeing their forces on the ground striking down their banners, however they were met by a combined fleet of sellsails and warships under the command of Lady Lyra Whitetyde.

Aftermath

The end of the Saltpike Mutiny saw a large shift in the political order within Ravensport. While only a handful of houses within the capital rose up in rebellion, dozens of the most influential and powerful nobles within the city were present at Lord Albert Tell's meeting in 287 AM. The months following the Saltpike Mutiny saw hundreds of trials that ended in the exile or execution of those believed to have had a hand in the rebellion. With the death of Lord Albert Tell and his brother, Sir Alvin, the male line of House Tell was abruptly ended. A fierce debate broke out over what was to become of Leanne Saltpike's children, the oldest of which was a boy of twelve. The High Court of Ravensport ultimately settled on a compromise: exile of all the surviving members of House Saltpike.
Though mired in punishment, there are many whom benefited from the unexpectedly large power vacuum created in the aftermath of the Saltpike Mutiny. Merchant families that supported the rebellion through gold and silver had their assets seized by the Crown, bolstering the Kingdom's treasury. The properties lost by these treasonous houses were purchased by a host of wealthy merchants who took no side during the conflict. Damaged and destroyed buildings were bought for cheap by domestic entities such as the Ashmont Trading Company, and foreign entities such as the Bank of Tidewell.
Many individuals also saw a rise in status due to their heroics during the rebellion. With the deaths of both Sir William Kessler and Sir Alvin Tell, two openings were created within the Knights-Protectorate. These positions were granted to Sir Reginald and Sir Harald, a pair of brothers in the Royal Guard who distinguished themselves when the traitor guardsmen attempted to take control of the gates to the Royal Palace. The position of Lord-Admiral of Avalon was also vacated, and granted to Lady Lyra Whitetyde, whose fleet made quick work of the fleeing mutineers. It is uncertain how Lyra Whitetyde managed to mobilize her fleet so quickly, it is speculated that Whitetyde had been originally amongst the conspirators, on her way to join the rebels until she saw the retreating ships and seized upon an opportunity to remove any doubts towards her loyalties.
As to Princess Gwynneth herself, her initial reaction to the coup is unknown, as the conspirators who slew her protector and attempted to steal her away were all killed in battle, or executed. However, the king feared that so long as the White Rose remained in the capital, the legitimacy of his son and heir would always be questioned. Thus, King Alfred IV arranged for his first born daughter to be moved quietly to Swanford, where she would be forced to reside until such time as Prince Alfred was able to ascend the throne and be crowned king of Avalon.

Conflict Type

Battle

Conflict Result

Decisive Royal Victory

Belligerents

Royal Army of Avalon

Crownlands Mutineers

Strength

• House Valdwyn (Crown Loyalists)
• House Kessler
• House Crabb
• House Kent
• House Valendwell
• House Whitetyde
• Loyalist Houses
• 7th Ravensport Division
• Ravensport City Watch
• Valdwyn Royal Guard

• House Valdwyn (Rebels)
• House Saltpike
• House Tell
• Miscellaneous Minor Houses
• The Royal Navy
• Defectors from the Ravensport City Watch and Royal Guard

Casualties

• Sir William Kessler of the Knights-Protectorate
• Killed: 184
• Hundreds more wounded

• Lord-Admiral Leanne Saltpike
• Lord Albert Tell
• Sir Alvin Tell of the Knights-Protectorate
• Killed: 709 (Majority of deaths come from executions following the surrender of rebel forces)

Objectives

• Dissolution of Rebel Forces
• Enforcement of Prince Alfred V's status as Heir-Apparent

• Reinstatement of Princess Gwynneth Valdwyn as Heir-Apparent