War of the Silverbloods

War of the Silverbloods is a summery title for a series of conflicts and disputes between the powerful The Vogelreiter's and The Morgenthau's families that lasted about fifty-four years. The conflicts themselves were characterized by sponsored banditry & piracy, political assassinations, hostile economic takeovers, resource destruction and market manipulation. In Primrose, the two families are collectively known as the Silverbloods.

Prelude

Since its founding in 1428, The Primrose Compact has been a temple devoted to the pursuit of coin. The Vogelreiters and Morgenthaus represent that ideal better than anyone else. By the mid 1550s AC, both families had established themselves as preeminent economic powers in the region. They had almost a clearcut monopoly on the banking, insurance and trade goods flow throughout the compact. As a result, both families and their businesses became vastly wealthy. But, in the early 1640s, the family's competition started to become more adversarial, and subsequently bloody.

The First Conflict: The Platzburg Struggle

In 1652 AC a mid-sized shipping company; Rexthund and Associates went up for sale. The company owned a solid chunk of the docks and storage facilities on Platzburgs South Bank. A local entity, The Horast Trade Company emerged as the favorite to buy out Rexthund. The issue was the Morganthau family held a majority share of the Horast, and would effectively put Platzburg's South Bank under Morganthau control. This put Vogelreiters economic interests along the Brunn river in jeopardy. Significant quantities of their ore from the Reganwald-Hotzstade mines flowed through Platzburg, and with a full control of the South Bank, Morganthau could siphon or even tie-off all flow into the Reinhart Sea. Therefore, on behalf of the Vogelreiters, the Brunn River Company began a bidding war with Horast. The Baron of the Platzburg, sensing a looming conflict, arranged an independent arbitrator to finalize the deal. The night before a sale was to be finalized, the arbitrator was found dead.
In the following weeks, both sides began covertly sabotaging each other's operations in the region. The dispute was on its way to Perfume Bay high court, but until it reached there, both sides sought to weaken each other's position. Warehouses were set ablaze, cargo ships sunk, banks robbed; all facilitated by Vogelreiter-Moganthau coin. This came to a head, in 1657 AC when opposing mercenaries fought a bloody engagement on the South Bank docks. The battle lasted a few days until a contingent of Platzburg and Perfume Bay constables wrestled back control. But the docks were essentially destroyed. The Doge of Perfume Bay sent a detachment of the Perfume Bay navy to occupy the South Bank and ensure the safety of the trade moving up and down Brunn River.
Eventually, the Compact forced a resolution to the situation, awarding Rexthund's assets to a third party under direct protection from the Compact itself. Horast and Brunn River TC paid large indemnities to Platzburg for damages done during the conflict. But the resolution was temporary, as a few decades later, The Vogelreiters ended up buying out the remaining entities of the South Bank docks.

The Second Conflict: Lornmund's Terror

In the mid 1660s, the infamous pirate commander, Lornmund Blackheart terrorized the Reinhart coast. Numerous merchant vessels were set ablaze, and trade companies lost untold amounts of gold. The unparalleled might and size of the Perfume Bay navy was surprisingly unable to trap the Blackheart. The Morganthau's took the audacious approach and decided to parlay with Lornmund. Using their vast hordes of wealth, they simple bought off the pirate, enticing him to leave their ships alone. But his terror continued.
In response to Perfume Bay's deficiency in stopping Lornmund, the Vogelreiters organized and financed their own counter-piracy fleet. They made the auspicious decision to give the fleet carte blanche to attack any non-Vogelreiter sponsored ships. They had correctly guessed the Morganthau's had made a deal with the pirate and sought to balance out the trade deficit developing with the Morgenthau's through reprisals. This in turn, caused the Morgenthaus to do the same, and thus two massive privateer fleets backed by all the gold in Primrose fought pitched battles up and down the Reinhart coast. Even the cities of Port Brunhild, Horstville and Port Keller were raided and pillaged.
Coastal trade withered up, causing a massive economic downturn in Primrose. Unquantifiable tonnes of gold were lost, food shortages and inflation created upheaval in the towns and cities across The Compact. In 1671 AC, a combined fleet of Perfume Bay and detachments from Varangia and Pierce encountered both the main privateer fleets of Morgenthau and Vogelreiter in the three-sided Battle outside the mouth of Verdmount River. The Perfume Bay allied fleet emerged victorious, capturing a number of vessels from both sides, including the wounded Lornmund himself. Through interrogation and plea deals, The Compact was eventually able to piece together the proxy war being waged by two families. Lornmund, as part of his plea, provided the documentation drafted by the Morgenthau family that sparked this entire conflict.
Over time the last elements of both privateer fleets either surrendered, went into exile or meet their end at the bottom of the sea. Both families were dragged into Compact courts, where numerous trials dragged on for years. Eventually, a resolution was meet. Both families paid huge fines to a large number of cities, trade companies and Compact entities. The families also gave up control of vast swathes of the economic interests they and were also banned from participating in local guilds and politics for 20 years.
While their wealth, influence and prestige took a hit, both families would recover quickly. The conflict weakened most if not all economic entities in the compact. Slowly, over time, both families skirted regulations and gobbled up the debt riddled entities for significantly less than they were worth. By the time the 1690s rolled around, both families were arguably more wealthy and powerful than they had been before the conflict.

The Third Conflict: The Silverblood Folly

In the late 1690s AC, the ban on Vogelreiter and Morgenthau's participation in politics was about to expire. Now, of course the families both skirted that ban as best as they could, but the indirectness necessary hamstrung the strength of their influence. This also coincided with an election of a new Doge of Perfume Bay. The inside favorite was the former Admiral of the Perfume Bay fleet; Roslina Rogercrantz II. She was a fiery orator, and populist who's main platform included breaking up the monopolies the Vogelreiter and Morgenthau's had in the Perfume Bay and The Compact. As a result, both families put forth their own favored nominees; Herbold Urgantz and Olmstantz Yorgerlund IV. It was a fierce campaign, that eventually lead to violence in the streets. Supporters of all three candidates clashed in bloody melees. This culminated with Roslina's assassination a merely few months from the election. Its unclear to this day whether the Silverblood families had a role, as Roslina had many enemies in not only Perfume Bay but the Compact as well. But, with her out of the picture, the two families geared up for a major clash.
In light of past clashes, both families purchased contracts of a number of mercenary companies across the Compact. They started with protecting the various economic interests both sides had, but soon started conducting destructive operations against each other. This culminated with the sinking of the Welker Spirit; a riverboat, in the Bonfrau River near Einsmort. The boat housed a sizable haul of Vogelreiter cargo, but also hundreds of passengers on their way to Perfume Bay. This gave the Vogelreiter justification for reprisal attacks against Morgenthau interest. For this reason, many believe the Vogelreiters sunk their own ship. Regardless, this incident ushered in the most bloody and deadly portion of the overall conflict between the families. The mercenary companies clashed in sizable battles across the Koln Plain, Jurgen and Lemhurt Wood as the two-sides fought over each other's economic interests in the area. Farms was razed, forests burned, and resources destroyed. Civilians caught up in the conflict were slaughtered, as the forces tried to terrorize the populace into compliance.
At the behest of the Perfume Bay council, a force of Lugencroft and Prussmount soldiers marched into Perfume Bay to restore order. The council also postponed their election of a new Doge until the violence was concluded. The combined forces of the Lugencroft, Prussmount and Perfume Bay were able to forcibly corner and round up the various mercenary companies wrapped up in the conflict. The subsequent investigation uncovered the extent of the Vogelreiter and Morgenthau's involvement. Surprising, many of hte prinicpal heads of both families were dragged into courts. This time, using the strenght of the Compact's highest courts, both heads of the families (Horace Vogelreiter III and Royston Morganthau IV) ended up behind bars. Both families paid hefty fines and were forced to give up large swaths of economic interests.

After Effects

While both family's wealth and influence recovered, neither are as powerful as they were before or during the conflict. Their wanning stranglehold on the politics and economy of Perfume Bay has allowed new contenders to emerge such as the Helmgratz and Borgsterns. Still, these families continue to use their coin and influence to pull the strings around the Compact and utilize subterfuge to stymy their opponents.

Start Date

1653 AC

Ending Date

1707 AC