Flaming Fist Succession Crisis of 1497

The Flaming Fist Succession Crisis of 1497 was a internal power struggle within the Flaming Fist of Baldur's Gate that was both concurrent to and caused by the Damnation of Elturel. The crisis was ultimately resolved with the universal recognition of Liara Portyr as the new marshal of the Flaming Fist.

The Conflict

Prelude

In 1447, Naja Bellandi of Elturel made a pact with Zariel, Archduke of Avernus, in order to end the city's Reign of Vampires.
The terms of that pact came due in the summer of 1497, exactly fifty years after the pact was made, Elturel and all of its inhabitants were teleported to Avernus in the Nine Hells. High Observer Thavius Kreeg, aware of this event's timing, purposefully invted Grand Duke Ulder Ravengard, marshal of the Flaming Fist, to make a state visit coinciding with Elturel's teleportation, which Ravengard unwittingly agreed to.
Finally, Ravengard has yet to name an official heir to the Flaming Fist following the death of his daughter Aella Ravengard during the Baldur's Gate Uprising, as his son Morgan seemed both unfit and unwilling to take over the company. While Ravengard was seemingly grooming Liara Portyr for the position, there were no hard and fast documentation confirming this.

The Engagement

Ravengard's presumed death sparked confusion and chaos amongst the highest ranks of the Flaming Fist, but very quickly three individuals stood out as the most likely to be recognized as the next marshal. Those three were Blaze Beldroth, the commander of Baldur's Gate's Seatower fortress, Blaze Mukar, the commander of Wyrm's Crossing in the Outer City, and Liara Portyr, Blaze of Fort Beluarian in Baldur's Gate's colony on Chult. While Blaze Portyr was traveling back to Baldur's Gate, her interests in the city were overseen by Flame Ronald Zodge of the Basilisk Gate.
The first two weeks of the conflict mostly saw each side gather their supporters and wait to see if the Parliament of Peers would make a decision, though the Baldurian government seemed willingly to let the Flaming Fist handle what the matter internally, as they were more concerned with finding a new Grand Duke.
When Liara Portyr arrived back into the city, she immediately began mustering loyal Flaming Fist members to her, using the support of her uncle, Duke Dillard Portyr to position herself as the heir to Ravengard in the Flaming Fist and on the Council of Four. Shortly after Duke Portyr's assassination, which was unrelated to the ongoing crisis, Blaze Portyr marched her forces to besiege the Seatower, leaving a large portion of the Lower City absent the usual guard patrols that kept criminal forces, like the Guild at bay.
After a month long siege, and the occasional skirmish in the street, Blaze Beldroth surrendered, and Portyr turned her attention to Blaze Mukar in the Outer City. However, Mukar had spent the time during the Seatower siege preparing for an attack and had made various deals with Guild contacts throughout the Outer City to make reaching and attacking Wyrm's Crossing a serious undertaking.
Unwilling to carve a path through the dense and unsafe neighborhoods of the Outer City, the two claimants stood at odds until the middle of Uktar, 1497, when a group of Flaming Fist in Wrym's Crossing, seeing which way the wind was blowing, betrayed and captured Mukar, presenting him to Portyr. Leaderless, the remaining defenders of Wyrm's Crossing surrendered to Portyr's leadership, ending the crisis.

Outcome

The end of the Flaming Fist Succession Crisis saw Liara Portyr the newly recognized marshal of the Flaming Fist. With that title, and with the recent death of Duke Dillard Portyr, the Parliament of Peers voted Liara to fill her uncle's shoes as one of the new dukes of the city.
The Flaming Fist's attention being diverted away from theri traditional role as city guards also radically reshaped the operations of the Guild, the criminal forces that contorl most of Baldur's Gate's underworld. With their focus elsewhere, Guild kingpins across the city began making violent and aggressive moves into the territories of their rivals, often leaving civilians of Baldur's Gate in the crossfire.

Aftermath

In early 1482, the city of Elturel returned, and along with it came Grand Duke Ulder Ravengard. As a new grand duke had yet to be elected, Ravengard resumed his position as the leader of the Council of Four. Liara Portyr also willingly ceeded the title of marshal back to Ravengard and resigned from the Flaming Fist, aware of the complications that could arise from having one member of the ruling council be subserviant in rank to another. However, Portyr did not resign from the council as a whole, and critics in the years following have sharply noted that she generally votes in lockstep with Ravengard on most issues.
With Portyr's support and the greatest rivals to Ravengard eliminated during the crisis, many have noted that, despite Ravengard's nearly year-long disappearance, the Grand Duke's position seems stronger than ever.

Included under Conflict

Damnation of Elturel

Conflict Type

Civil War

Battlefield Type

Urban

Start Date

3rd of Eleasis, 1497

Ending Date

11th of Uktar, 1497

Conflict Result

Liara Portyr is proclaimed marshal of the Flaming Fist

Location

Baldur's Gate