The War of Four Suits

The Rebellion

Growing increasingly furious with her proposals to blur the line between nobility and commoner, Duke Scorpius Brutoris of Diamondfeld declared open rebellion against the Queen of Hearts; Empress Eunisia Rosewood. Duke Brutoris convinced Duke Desmond d'Honaire of Clovergarde to ally with him, and in response, the ever loyal Duke Janis Tyrell rallied to his Empress' side and for the first time since its inception, the entirety of the Aurelian Empire was consumed by a civil war that the masses dubbed the "War of Four Suits".

The War

The first six months of the war were brutal. Calling for their bannermen, all four houses suffered tremendous casualties as the rebels drove into the Heartland. House Brutoris and its bannermen were well trained in the art of war and the arcane prowess of House d'Honaire and Clovergarde were well known and respected. Victory for the rebellion was far from a dream. However, they were met with increased resistance the closer they pushed to the capital city of Albion. The Dawn Knight, Ser Melchor Fritz, touted as the greatest warrior in the Aurelian Empire, and High Clerist Selena Wisel routed the rebellion and forced them back into their own territories, killing several of their frontline generals in the process and halting their forward momentum. The first cracks began to form in the rebellion. Ser Melchor's forces drove Lady Vesper d'Honaire's and a bulk of Clovergarde's troops back behind their borders, and separated from his greatest ally, Duke Brutoris had no choice but to retreat back into Diamondfeld.

Betrayal

The situation was dire for House Brutoris. Lord Jonah Bellgrave, one of Duke Brutoris' bannermen and trusted strategist, informed him that Duke d'Honaire had called for a meeting between House Brutoris and House d'Honaire at the Brutoris estate of Castle Valkmer. Bringing a portion of his army with him, Duke Brutoris fell back to his home in the deep south of Diamondfeld. Upon his arrival, he found his halls empty; Desmond d'Honaire was nowhere in sight. It was then that men from House Rosewood and Tyrell disguised as Bellgrave foot soldiers attacked. Although Duke Brutoris and his men managed to fend off the infiltrators, realizing that he had been betrayed, he retreated into the castle with his remaining forces and closed the gates. This would be his undoing.

The Drowning of Castle Valkmer

Forces from the capital guided by Lord Bellgrave soon arrived in Diamondfeld, demanding Duke Brutoris' surrender. He refused. As one of his former bannerman, and as a native to Diamondfeld himself, Lord Bellgrave had intimate knowledge of Castle Valkmer's layout and surrounding terrain. In a devastating hammer stroke, he diverted part of the Adder into the Castle, flooding the dungeons, several of the lower floors, and most importantly, the pantries, a problem further exacerbated by the torrential rains that wept over the Diamondfeld moors.

by Feng Zhu

This betrayal by Jonah Bellgrave and the flooding of Castle Valkmer would come to be known as the "Drowning of Castle Valkmer" and would mark the impending doom of the rebellion and the end of the war.

The Rebellion, Crushed

Duke Brutoris stubbornly clung to life within his flooded castle and made several doomed attempts to reconnect with his d'Honaire allies. Starving, betrayed by one of his most trusted bannermen, separated from the bulk of his now leaderless army, and cut off from his greatest ally, Scorpius Brutoris' rebellion was finished. Refusing to surrender, the Duke rallied the few remaining men within his walls and made a final stand. Like a hot knife through butter, the combined assault of the Bellgrave men and the Crown's forces cut through the Brutoris men and stormed into Castle Valkmer, killing Duke Brutoris. When word of Scorpius' death reached Duke d'Honaire he was quick to surrender, and just like that, the War of Four Suits came to an end.

ForHonor : Courtyard's Battle by MaxD-Art

The Aftermath

The aftershocks of the civil war would be felt for the next several years. Several smaller houses that had fought in the war as bannermen to the Great Houses had been devastated, some completely wiped out. Swathes of Diamondfeld and Clovergarde had been ravaged by the fighting, and the common folk suffered terribly for it. House Brutoris had been all but annihilated. The patriarch was dead, and its bannermen scattered. After stripping them of their power and status, the Empress permitted the remnants of the once proud house to quietly live on a small plot of private land in the reaches of Diamondfeld. Castle Valkmer was abandoned, a looming shadow on one of the Adder's tributaries, it's halls dark and flooded. The deposition of one of the Four Great Houses created a power vacuum and caused a marked shift within the Empire's nobility. Following a few months of restlessness and tense political debate, Jonah Bellgrave was elevated in status to Duke of Diamondfeld for his pivotal role in bringing the war to an end. The rise of House Bellgrave was received with mixed feelings. Some approved, thinking it was well merited, and praised Jonah for turning on his clearly mad liege lord. Others spurned him as a snake without honor or loyalty. Most were simply apprehensive of the new Duke and questioned whether he would someday betray the Empress' trust as well.

Although portions of House d'Honaire's assets and lands were stripped away, the family managed to retain their title and position after Duke d'Honaire confessed his trespasses and swore under arcane oath that he would never raise a hand to the crown again. His statements were highly scrutinized and most agreed that it was all an act to avoid execution, but in spite of this, the Empress granted him clemency.

At some point during the final stages of the war, Ser Melchor Fritz vanished without a trace while skirmishing with the d'Honaire forces. Most presumed he'd been killed in battle, but no corpse was ever discovered, no credible sources of information ever surfaced about what had happened to him, and no one from the d'Honaire camp ever took credit for striking him down. The Empire was shaken. The Dawn Knight, the most famed warrior in the Empire, arguably even in Seraphix, had seemingly evaporated into thin air leaving no trace behind. What fate could have possibly befallen him?

Conflict Type

War

Start Date

1371

Ending Date

1372