Ferelden Civil War

The Ferelden Civil War is a bloody conflict between the nation of Ferelden and a revolutionary group that sought to overthrow Ferelden's system-of-power. The rebels called themselves the Alamarri Sons. All the while, the Jrid were invading the country from the south.
This was been one of the bloodiest periods of modern Alamarri history and brought the nation to its knees during the two years it lasted. As the war dragged on, many groups joined sides and waged war over these lands.
The civil war had two conclusions. The first was at the Landsmeet following King Calenhad Theirin's death where Gregory Flume rose to the title of king and unified his nation. The second conclusion is when the re-unified Ferelden force brought their arms against the Jrid who had invaded over a third of their country and eventually defeated the horde.
The ramifications of this conflict are still being felt today.

The Conflict

Prelude

Two months prior to what is considered the official start of the civil war, the Battle of Dur Themriel occurred between the Ferelden Wardens and the encroaching Jrid force. At this battle, the entirety of the Warden force was massacred. Some Fereldens claimed that the fall of the Wardens could be blamed on the then-king Calenhad Theirin and his ineptitude. Dissenters began to openly rebel in small numbers, particularly in the south and around Gwaren. Tensions lingered between these rebels and Ferelden nationalists. This finally spilled over into actual war when the rebels, working under the banner of the Alamarri Sons, launched several surprise assaults against several important cities in an attempt to begin gaining ground.
While this civil war was on-going, the Jrid horde was ripping through the southern half of Ferelden destroying everything in its wake.

Timeline

Initial Rebellion

Prior to the true rebellion beginning, the Alamarri Sons as an organization had been working in privacy. It is unclear if King Calenhad or any of his constituents knew of the group's existence or the actions they planned to take prior to the rebellion beginning.
One morning, Black declared himself "Regent of the Alamarri" claiming that King Calenhad was incapable of serving as the leader of the Ferelden/Alamarri people. Black pointed towards the massacre of the Wardens at Dur Themriel and used the king as a scapegoat, claiming he had naively thrown them into battle in hopes of achieving glory without thinking of the possible consequences of such a battle. Many of the south, having the Jrid already running rampant either in or not far from their lands, agreed with what Black was petitioning. Black used the fear of the Jrid as well as his family's history to bolster his own reputation, believing no one had the political power to challenge. Knowing that few had the power to oppose him, he was able to strong-arm many smaller banns and arlings into working with his organization.
In doing so, Black also had his allies launch assaults on several different cities important to Ferelden in an attempt to acquiesce important strategic positions as well as lower his opposition's morale. Assaults began against the city of South Reach and the Templar Order outposts found in Gwaren and Edgehall. The attacks against the Templars proved incredibly effective and deadly, leaving the Order reeling in Ferelden for a time and forcing them to abandon to massive outposts. The attack on South Reach devolved quickly into guerrilla fighting between combatants in the city streets. The fighting in South Reach would last until the end of the civil war, with the city ultimately being ruined and its governance crippled.
Many members of the northern banns, arlings, and teyrns petitioned the king for a response. King Calenhad responded by pulling together a militia of the nation's countrymen and beginning the war.

Early Engagements

As Black and the Sons accumulated power, the King Calenhad demanded the rebellion cease and discussions return to private political rooms. Due to Black's strong conviction towards his ideology, he refused. The fighting spread across all of central Ferelden and started leading to massive body counts on both sides.
Sieges were led in the Southron Hills, most noticeably in Pennymoor where the Ferelden forces had to storm a thin pass while being rained down upon by dozens of mounted crossbows and hundreds of archers. Fights began breaking out amongst some Dalish and those forces being trained in the Brecilian Forest near Dragon's Peak. The fighting in forests south of Jader was considered some of the nastiest. It was between mercenaries groups, like the Ash Warriors, and Avvar clansmen who had allied with the Sons. The fighting in this theater tore across mountain sides and left forests entirely burned down. This theater of war had by far the highest body count when the end of war finally came.
It was during these fights that the Wardens revealed that they had not truly been defeated in their entirety. Instead, one member had survived Dur Themriel: Gregory Flume. He had started rebuilding the Wardens and had them vehemently fought alongside the king's forces during these battles. The Wardens throwing their hat in with the king was a blow to the morale of some of the Son's, since the Wardens were considered exemplars amongst Ferelden culture.

Infighting

The largest battle of the civil war, which occurred near Blackmoor, saw the forces of the Bannorn outnumber Black's forces. However, due to the Regent's tactical prowess, the combined army of the Bannorn found itself defeated. Despite the victory over his Bannorn rivals at Blackmoor as well as in other engagements prior, it ensured that Black would never gain the support from the leaders of these regions. Black was also driven to have his forces suppress riots and revolts breaking out in major cities across the Son's land as people angrily protested either his heavy-handedness with the Bannorn, or the fact that he was doing nothing to curtail the threat posed by the Jrid.
Due to the lack of information going from the south to the north, this information never reached the ears of the north's best tacticians until after the civil war was over.

Warden Involement

It was at this time that the Sons were looking to have a strong chance at being the victors of the civil war. They had been winning on the majority of their fronts when facing against Ferelden. It was unknown at the time, but they had actually been losing incredibly hard against the Jrid and were only able to take on the Fereldens by pushing with such aggressive intensity that the northerns had not been expecting. At the time it was believed it was just "southern vigor", but it was later realized that their "vigor" was actually desperation.
It was around this time that the forces the Sons had amassed between the Hinterlands and the Frostback Mountains needed to take Redcliffe. Redcliffe historically had been the single most powerful bann, arl, or teyrn in all of Ferelden with respect to military power. Some of the single-most skilled combatant forces the nation had were under the control of Redcliffe's arl, Eamon Vuerrin. However, Redcliffe's arl had been mysteriously absent and quiet up until this point having not joined either side of the civil war. Knowing the Sons had their best chance at defeating this force while the arl was undecided, the Sons led a massive assault against Redcliffe.
When the Son's forces arrived in Redcliffe, they were surprised to find that Wardens were present to help protect Redcliffe from an invasion. As well, Redcliffe's arl had suddenly become incredibly decisive on which side he was joining and was no longer silent. It is believed that the arl had been poisoned by someone and Andraste herself had reached out of the heavens and cured him. The Wardens helped route the attacking Sons, but at great cost. After this, Arl Vuerrin threw in his full support of King Calenhad.

Later Events

Battles continued to erupt all over Ferelden, but not long after Redcliffe a tragedy occurred at Kinloch Hold, Ferelden's Circle tower. While a naval battle was being waged in the lake outside of the tower, one of the senior enchanters of the Circle decided to submit himself to blood magic. It is believed that he was working as a third-party, unaffiliated with either the Ferelden nationalists or the Alamarri Sons. His actions ended up killing many Templars and Circle mages. For the rest of the war, Circle mages had to be relocated to Fort Drakon in Denerim.
Not long after this, a Qunari war-general known as Arishok was provoked by a Warden's action and later killed King Calenhad. With his death, the war seemed all but over. The Warden-Commander, Gregory Flume, stepped up and demanded that every bann, arl, and teyrnir would need to be called together for a Landsmeet where the fate of the nation needed to be decided. The Son's, to the surprise of many northerners, accepted.

Landsmeet

At this point, most arls, banns, and teyrnirs agreed that fighting amongst one another would likely leave everyone's forces to small to fight the Jrid. The main problem was that many of them refused to come to terms that would see the fighting end. A Landsmeet brought all of these political figures together, as well as the highly-respected Revered Mother Elthina and powerful Knight-Divine Danforth. The Landsmeet was held at the Warden fortress in the Southern bannorn, east of Lake Calenhad.
It was at this Landsmeet where Black and Flume were offered forth as the next king of Ferelden. Both sides vehemently believed there "champion" was the best, but the Wardens assisted by Arl Eamon were able to convince some of the southern banns to side with Gregory. The vote was far from decisive, leading to Black and Flume having to duel one another for kingship. In what was ultimately a very close duel, Flume won and gained the title of king. As he did so, a powerful witch shape-shifted into a dragon and attempted to assassinate Flume in front of all the political leaders. In what was clearly an attempt to take his life, several members of the Wardens were able to intervene and battled back the witch, forcing her to flee.
Much to the surprise of everyone, Flume defied what was supposed to be tradition and he did not kill Black for his insubordination. Instead, he forced Black to become a member of the Wardens and to serve underneath him. This decision likely was made given the fact that Ferelden didn't have the people to spare and because Black was an incredibly skilled tactician. Black was stripped of all titles once joining the Wardens.

Ending the Jrid Threat

Finally, Ferelden had been unified enough to fight the Jrid. Starting from the Warden fortress, massive armies poured out into southern Ferelden. The two main theaters against the Jrid were in the Hinterlands and the are between Southron Hills and west of Gwaren. It was during this fighting that it became public knowledge that only Wardens could kill Jrid. Many Ferelden forces had to readjust their tactics against such an insanely powerful foe, instead looking to maim and wound the Jrid and let Wardens finish the job. Needless to say, this fact lead to the casualty of hundreds if not thousands of people.
After a long enough time, the Warden high-command snuck into lands far south of the Korcari Wilds and found the "heart" of the Jrid force. It was killed and not long after the Jrid forces crumbled. It took many months, but the vast majority of the Jrid were killed while others fled into unknown lands and into the Deep Roads.

Aftermath

The war cost Ferelden a great deal of money. Farming had come to a halt due to the fighting and the Jrid corrupting much of the southern farmlands, which was detrimental to the country's treasury in and of itself. Matters were only made worse with Antivan Crows being hired on both sides to assassinate key players of the opposition. It is believed that during this time period there were a handful of individuals who embezzled money from the nation's treasury during the constant chaos.
The freemen of Ferelden felt the financial strain the most. Many were left impoverished and with low sources of income, if any at all. Even worse, many of the southerns lost everything they had to the Jrid horde. Because of this, refugee problems cropped up in many cities along Ferelden's coast and even a bit in Kirkwall.

Conflict Type

War

Battlefield Type

Land

Start Date

Approximately 2 months after the Battle of Dur Themriel.

Conflict Result

Re-unification of Ferelden, defeat of the Jrid horde

Belligerents

Ferelden Royalists

• Ferelden

Led by

• Calenhad Theirin
• Gregory Flume
• Therminn Danforth

Strength

Groups:

• Wardens,
• Arling of Redcliffe,
• Teyrnir of Highever,
• Arling of Amaranthine,
• Arling of Denerim,
• Dragon's Peak Bannorn,
• Southern Bannorn,
• Dalish elves (clans Alerion, Lavellan, Tilahnnen, Virnhen),
• City elves,
• Templar Order,
• Chantry brothers and sisters,
• Circle mages

Casualties

Thousands of soldiers and mercenaries.

Objectives

1. Bring order back to the country of Ferelden, unifying Ferelden's people against the Jrid.
2. Protect the current way of life for Ferelden and her people.
3. End the threat of the Jrid.

Rebels

• Alamarri Sons

Led by

• Adrian Black

Strength

Groups:

• Teyrnir of Gwaren,
• Arling of Edgehall,
• White Watchers Bannorn,
• Bannorn of Calon,
• Bannorn of Rainesfere,
• Arling of Western Hills,
• Chasind,
• Avvar,
• Dalish elves,
• City elves,
• Apostates

Casualties

Tens of thousands of soldiers and a high but unknown number of civilians.

Objectives

1. Liberate Alamarri land from King Calenhad's rule over it.
2. Evict the Templar Order from Ferelden and free all Alamarri mages currently imprisoned by them.
3. End the threat of the Jrid.

Jrid

Led by

Strength

• Jrid horde

Casualties

Almost complete loss of forces.

Objectives

1. Unknown.