Kingdom of Besk

History

Pre Unification

The Modern Besk people first settled the lands around the Throat in roughly 600 BIC, being pushed west by larger groups and nations until settling in the region alongside local groups, who would intermingle and mix their identities into that of the Modern Besk. The Besk would organize themselves under a loose Feudal Structure, with periods of unification under skilled rulers or generals lasting a few generations before shattering back into infighting until the next united Ruler of the Besk rose again only to have their dynasty fall within a century.

Succession Roulette

This period would see the development of the Besk Feudal System, with local lords known as Vapaaherra or Barons ruling over sections of the country in a tenuous balance of power, under the Vapaaherra were Ritari, a form of landed knight who gained their lands by rendering service to a Vapaaherra and expected to martial men during war and collect taxes for individual towns or territories known as Laidun, under the Ritari were in nondescript rank of nobility known as Herra, nobles without title or land, they served in miscellaneous roles as designated by their local Ritari or Vapaaherra. As time passed and Kings came and went, the nobility slowly solidified into higher and higher ranks, but it was only with coming unification that it would properly formalize into proper internal social class within the nobility.
In 186 BIC, the Vapaaherra of Iskaa Jarkko Virtanen successfully became the dominant Besk Lord in the Region, and managed to enforce his rule over the other Lords of the Besk, taking for himself the title of Kuningas, King. During Jarkko's 15 year long Reign as King, he would implement several reforms and decrees in an attempt to tie the lords of the realm together and with the Crown, including marrying a myriad of his sisters and daughters off to the Lords of Besk, essentially tying his family to almost every Vapaaherra in the Realm.

The Virtanen Dynasty would go on to rule Besk until 4 IE, when the last King Hemmo II died of a wound he had contracted, and despite the long time cycle of collapsing unity after the end of a ruling dynasty, this cycle was broken by the Virtanens, as the King's Cousin Anssi Savolainen ascended to the Throne, establishing the Savolainen dynasty which ruled until 106 IE. Under the Savolainen Dynasty, a new rank of Nobility would be established known as the Kreivi, Kreivi essentially served as the middle rank between the King and the Vapaaherra, though the Kreivi were inconsistent in their power in the early decades of the office's existence. Following the fall of the Virtanen dynasty in 106 IE, Hannu Harju ascended the throne in part with the support of the Kingdom's Krevi, beginning the transition of the positions into hereditary noble offices with serious political power, which the Harju would come to realize when in 134IE, the son of Hannu, King Saku would be removed and replaced by Krevi Hermanni Uljas.

The Uljas would rule the Kingdom for 72 years until 206 IE, when they would be overthrown by Krevi Rauni Liikanen, though his dynasty would only survive until his death, when the exiled Uljas Prince Valde would kill him in battle in 232 IE, seizing the throne and reestablishing the Uljas dynasty until it was wiped out in the Great Plague of 302 IE, which saw the Krevi of the realm gather and elect Krevi Sakari Mäki as the new King, but his reign would only last 72 days until he suffered a mental break and tried to execute Krevi Ossian Luoma, who killed the King and seized the throne for himself, establishing the Luoma Dynasty, which ruled until 467 IE, when they were in turn overthrown by Krevi Sulevi Haapala, who's family ruled until 534, when they were then overthrown by Krevi Erno Jantunen, grandfather to the current King Osmo.

Modern Nation, Feudal Government

The Modern Kingdom of Besk under the Rule of King Osmo Jantunen is a nation hanging in the balance, described as a Modern Nation, Feudal Government by Besk Writer and Poet Vaino Jokelainen, the Nation had a modernized Army and Navy, it's economy was rapidly modernizing and expanding, and the absolute stranglehold it held on overland trade brought in large amounts of wealth, but only for the merchants and upper class of the Kingdom.

Despite It's rapid modernization, the growing wealth was being concentrated entirely in the hands of the Nobility and Merchant Class, with the common peasant and Laborer languishing in poverty, only intensified by the expenses the government had incured to modernize the military, which was covered by growing taxes on the lower classes and growing deficit spending by the government, intensifying to such a point that King Osmo had to put down a riot in the city of Piolvalanie after the government attempted to levy a Tax on the Salt trade in the City.

All these issues were further intensified by the fact taxation was primarily overseen by the Ritari who were known to use force to get every drop of tax income from the people and were paid off to exploit and lay out loopholes so that other nobles did not pay most of their taxes or in the most extreme cases pay not a single Markka to the government in taxes, only furthering the divide between the rich and poor as the poor starved and the rich partied with all the money that didn't pay the Government.

The Final modern crisis in Besk would be rampantly out of control prices, with sellers of food in cities ramping up their prices as scarcity grew only worse, further intensifying as others raise their prices in a desperate hope to gain the money necessary to buy food for themselves, seeing rampant inflation as the traditionally gold backed Besk Markka was transferred to also be backed by Silver set at a fixed price, allowing the circulation of more money, only intensifying growing prices as silver mines traditionally producing fine goods began to export their material to government coin makers, while private citizens began to melt down silver into counterfeit coins.

Bread Riots

It's October 13th, 592 and the streets of Iskka are filled to the Brim, the last two years had seen severe Famine sweep the Kingdom, and as food becomes next to impossible to find in the countryside, tens of thousands swarm into the cities seeking work and food, the former only enflames ongoing tensions as these famine refugees are willing to work at dirt cheap prices pushing city laborers out of the job market, while the food supply of the city is quickly drying up as the Crown's Coffers prove incapable of providing for so many starving citizens. Things finally break when a pair of children attempt to steal a loaf of bread from a merchant's stand, the boys are caught and one bites a soldier of the King's Own Regiment, the boy is hit over the head with the butt of the soldiers rifle and falls to the ground bleeding, his skull fractured from the hit, he dies on the spot. The Other boy is seized and quickly sentenced to hang, though before the noose can be slipped around his neck a riot breaks out and the yard he is being hung is stormed by armed and angry citizens, who overwhelm the defending soldiers, free the Boy and kill the executioner overseeing the hanging.

Following this, riots break out across the city, with patrols attacked by angry citizens as others storm markets and food shops, forcefully seizing food and in hastily assembled people's courts with judges of the crown held at gunpoint by the crowd, sentencing the shop owners to death for greed and what they say is murder for starving the people with high prices. The riots continue for another 4 days until they are forcefully dispersed by the Royal Army, with a Colonel Taavi Kivimäki using cannons in the streets of the city to break the largest crowd of rioters and forcefully taking back the magister square they seized at the start of the Riots. by the 18th the army patrols the streets, and the King is forced to call an Assembly of the Realms' nobility, hoping to gain the support of the nobles to regain control of the budget and combat the ongoinging crisis, instead the assembly of nobles breaks down into infighting and protect against what many see as the King attempting to trample their traditional rights, with some whispering the time for a new king.

But as this grand assembly fails, something new is being whispered in the streets of the City, the people have not forgotten the dead child in the market, nor the 1000 others killed by the army to restore order, they speak of how the nobles and King have trampled on them long enough, how they suffer for all their lives while the nobility lives in luxury, and in the midst of what seems to be another change in dynasty, the people whisper the time has come to do away with the nobles forever, and these embers of discontent were about to explode into an infero that would burn down an entire kingdom.

The Petition March

Following the Bread Riot of October 592, the embers for revolt were sewn across the Kingdom, but it would only be on March 15th of 593 that the spark would be given to ignite the inferno of revolution. In the Capital of Iskka, a Petition was dispatched to the Hermanni Palace, the residence of the King, at the head of the Petition was Poet Vaino Jokelainen, famous for his fiery essays and poems that denounced corruption and out of control government spending. Despite the Petition starting as a few hundred men, primarily learned scholars and low ranking officials in the Capital to deliver the Petition, it rapidly grew to 20,000 marching on the Palace to have their voice heard.

Instead of being met by the King or one of his Representatives, the Petition was met by Colonel Taavi Kivimäki, Commander of the King's Own Regiment and the man who had ended the Bread Riot by firing cannons on the Streets of Iskka, and 2000 armed soldiers and 24 cannons. Despite pleading with the Colonel to deliver the petition to the King, the man simply took the piece of paper and ripped it up with his sword, commanding the crowd to disperse or be dispersed. When Vaino tried to grab the shredded remains of his petition, the Colonel kicked the man down and screamed at him to disperse. This triggered a violent reaction from the Crowd, many surging forward, the King's Own responded by raising their rifles, then the Colonel let out an order, and the Cannons and Infantry openly fired, and it was Chaos in the Streets.

While the initial Petition March was broken by grapeshot and musket fire, it would only be the beginning of the Violence. Vaino would be killed in the slaughter at the March, alongside hundreds of others in the coming days who died of their wounds, and his death made a martyr for the fire spreading across the City, as armed mobs attacked the Colonel's Men and began to seize arsenals and government offices, even lynching the Chief Magistrate for the City when he refused to issue a warrant to arrest Colonel Kivimäki after a mob stormed his house. While many suspected a repeat of the Bread Riots, the extremely harsh measures implemented by the Colonel alienated other officers in the City, and on March 17th, Captains Iivari Simola and Asko Vuorela of the 1st Grenadiers seized Fort Akseli, dispersing the weapons and munitions inside to a militia the Captains began to organize while positioning the seized cannons from the Fort on the Tammi Hill, overlooking the Hermanni Palace and Colonel Kivimäki's Field HQ at Fort Mooses.

With Riots consuming the City, and army units now joining the rioters and organizing them, several low ranking officials in the capital, prominent thinkers and speakers gathered in the Niilo Courthouse alongside Captains Simola and Vuorela, and announced the formation of a Provisional Government. This Provisional Government did not go so far to dissolve the monarchy, instead denouncing the current events as perpetrated by corrupt ministers and the Mad Colonel Kivimäki, proclaiming their loyalty to the Crown and Nation, they called upon the King to act in the interest of his Kingdom before it was to late.

Even as the Forces of the Two Captains and Colonel fought for control of the city, and the rest of the Kingdom held it's breath, King Osmo was indecisive, unable or unwilling to act to end the violence, he simply allowed it to spiral out of control as the Nobility he had called began to flee the City, not wishing to be caught by the Mobs and lynched, though some instead stole away to the Niilo Courthouse and Joined the Provisional Government, seemingly hedging their bets that this new government would be better to be on the inside of, then outisde.

Provisional Government

The Violence in the Streets would finally be brought to an end on March 26th, when Colonel Kivimäki was forced to withdraw with his forces from the City, relocating to the nearby town of Aakaa this was taking as a victory by the Provisional Government who in the 27th sent a delegation to the King in his Palace, only to discover the King had fled the night before, leaving the city in the cover of night with the court and a large section of the Royal Treasury. The King's flight sent waves of outrage in the City, many had come to accept the narrative that the King was simply unaware of their suffering and that they were fighting a corrupt officer to liberate the King and gain his aid against the ongoinging crisis.

When news was made public the King was gone, the city teetered on the brink of complete collapse as the loose grip the Provisional Government held on the capital loosened further, if not for 3 events that occurred almost simultaneously. First, on March 28th, Crown Prince Niklas entered the City at the head of a Column of Cavalry and made for the Nillo Courthouse, met along the way by both Captains Simola and Vuorela, they converged as the Provisional Government met to debate the ongoing events, the Prince in his full uniform entered the Courthouse flanked by the Captains and informed them that they were illegally occupying a courthouse and were actively fighting the Crown. The Announcement sent waves through the Provisional Government, at this point revolutionary fervor had not consumed the Government, instead they were moderates and royalists, not republican radicals.

The Crown Prince's words would have ended the Provisional Government then and their, if not for a runner entering the courthouse and announcing to the Provisional Government that Colonel Kivimäki had returned to the city and had seized Fort Akseli, his cannons already shelling several positions occupied by armed troops loyal to the Provisional Government. This sent a wave of hatred and shouting in the chamber, even both captains expressed their disgust and hatred as the prince tried to gain control of the Situation, but it was to late, the Colonel's attack had galvanized the people of the city and the Provisional Government into action and the two Captains, who had backed his march into the courthouse quickly left to organize a defense as the Colonel attacked the city.

Crown Prince Niklas exited the courthouse and rode for Fort Akseli, hoping to take command of the Colonel's troops and end this before it spiraled out of control, but when the men at the fort spotted a large column of cavalry approaching the fort, they assumed it was an attack and opened fire, decimating the cavalry column and killing the Crown Prince, this ended any hope for peace, the Crown Prince was dead and word spread that it was the Provisional Government, not Colonel Kivimäki, who killed the Prince, and revolution had finally come.

Battle For Iskka.

With the Death of the Prince and Colonel Kivimäki storming into the City, Iskka descended into street level fighting as the Colonel battled the Forces of the Provisional Government, reorganized into the National Guard under the leadership of Captains Simola and Vuorela, the Colonels surprise attack would manage to seize large swaths of the City, even managing to retake Hermannu Palace and seize what was left of the Royal Treasury in the Capital, though was unable to transport it as his men were bogged down in fighting.

The Battle for the city raged for another 2 months, disaster would strike the Provisional Government when the Colonel would manage to seize Fort Mooses, his old field HQ, with Capital Simola killed in the Defense, leaving Capital Vuorela as the only major military officer left in the National Guard and giving him effective absolute control of the Provisional Government's Military forces. No longer having to butt heads with Capital Simola, Captain Vuorela began to decisively push the Colonel's troops out of the City, driving him back after heavy loses, firmly securing the capital.

Following the end of the Battle, the Provisional Government gathered once more in Nillo Courthouse, and in a shocking declaration declared that King Osmo had abdicated his duty, he had waged war on his citizens, the people he was supposed to serve and protect, he had allowed a mad colonel to burn their homes and slaughter peaceful protestors, and in a overwhelming vote deposed King Osmo, though they did not go so far to declare a republic. Now the Provisional Government occupies the Capital, meanwhile the King has Fled to the city of Piolvalanie, elsewhere riots were breaking out in other cities as rural militias began to mobilize and the National Guard was greatly expanded by Capital Vuorela, sending them out to crush the last remnants of the Colonels' forces in Aakaa and securing all of Laipaane Province for the Provisional Government. The Scene has been set, and now the characters of the revolution can step into the spotlight.

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom