The Silent Morning

Also known as Operation Persevering Sentinel, the Silent Morning was a mass purge spearheaded by the Consular Vicariate and the Republican Guard that targeted the criminal underworld of Ponvarus. No trials were held and no public statement was ever issued.

The mercantile republic had for the better part of a century been devastated by the domineering status of Ponvarus' criminal syndicates, collectively known as the Golden Cabals. As the militia of Ponvarus itself was completely compromised, some actors began to hatch a plan to eradicate the Golden Cabals permanently. In 1990 AM, a person referred to as 'the Delegate' reached out to Hector de Mur, erstwhile senatorial legate-general of the Golden Legion, proposing the creation of two organisations: the Consular Vicariate, which would be operating under the guise of a reformed Chancellery, and the Republican Guard, personal guards to the Prince-Mayor. Working with tribune Victoria Garderia (a member of what would later become Great House Garderique), both organisations were approved for creation by the Azure Conventus with a minimal budget. Unbeknownst to the republican government, significant amounts of gold was funnelled to these new institutions by the Delegate. Steps were taken to drastically misrepresent the total personnel of these organisations and to suppress all dark funding as to not arouse suspicion.

The first Republican Guards were recruited from the first and second cohorts of the IV Golden Legion, who were stationed in Castra Occidentala, a military fort, south of Nova Aera. The agents of the Consular Vicariate were all recruited and trained by the Delegate, and they were sent to infiltrate the Golden Cabals to lay the groundwork for Operation Persevering Sentinel. All Cabalist travel routes, bases of operation, safe houses, enforcers, lieutenants, informants, leaders, assets, and schedules were noted and relayed to the Republican Guards and the IV Golden Legion, whose purpose was to stop the Golden Cabals' chance to organise any form of response by striking them in a coordinated mass operation.

It took nine years to gather all the necessary intelligence to execute the plan. Operation Sentinel was set in motion during the late hours on the 31st of Wealday in 1999 AM. The IV Golden Legion, alongside the new Republican Guards, were arranged to switch garrison duty with the I Golden Legion. They were immediately deployed on the streets of Ponvarus, cutting off all exits from the city, whilst Republican Guard and Legion search parties led by the Vicarii systematically, above and below ground, cleared Cabalist hideouts, arrested ringleaders, and seized their assets. Prominent senators were dragged from the Dome of the Five Lilies for suspected cooperation with the Cabals, families were split apart, and merchants faced expropriation on a very short notice.   Aside from the Cabals themselves, other notable targets of the purge were the high offices of the sitting government, including Princess-Mayor Livia Secunda, the entirety of the Golden State Inquisition, a significant section of the Chancellery, and virtually all employees of foreign and domestic merchant guilds based in the city.   The mass arrests during Operation Persevering Sentinel were primarily executed by the venator squads, "the hunters," comprised of one Vicariate officer and nine Republican Guards. Most venator squads were issued specific target instructions, including rough physical sketches (which had been painstakingly crafted during the nine years of intelligence-gathering) and a summary of the crimes the targets were guilty of. Some venators were instead ordered to track down and capture/eliminate people who were "expected to resist justice" such as State Inquisitors and local volunteer detachments. Large-scale raids were entrusted to incursator assault groups, "the spearhead," which were legionary cohorts of the Fourth Legion under the temporary leadership of Vicariate commanders. They were tasked to storm and temporarily shut down Frankonia's governmental institutions. A few of these were the Dome of the Five Lilies (Azure Conventus and Serene Conclave), the Lion's Circlet (Golden State Inquisition), and the Two Scales (High Court and Court of Cassation).

General belief holds that all Cabalists and their affiliates were taken below Ponvarus itself, where they were rumoured to operate a massive network of caverns and passages. There is no general belief of what happened afterwards.