Benjamin Arnold Syndrome and the Lister Movement
It was in April 1329 that the worst of Benjamin Arnold Syndrome, also known as the Neurovirus Pandemic, struck. Widespread and uncontrolled, the Pandemic spread to multiple regions across the Commonwealth, killing thousands each day. Local communities, stricken with fear, found irrational scapegoats and carried out insurgencies. Public infrastructure failed, as a media blackout ensued for about a year. By the year 1332, the death toll from the disease and related events was approximately 3.2 million.
Born of a wealthy business family in the province of Zyrtin, Robert List was raised by very religious moral standards. He would grow to be a close follower of Walter Scott Mason and the Black-Booker Movement, migrating to the North after the 1309 Revolution. Here, List fought for Davis and survived the downfall of the Reformed Federal Estates of Retun. Dodging Commonwealth forces, he fled South and settled in the small remote community of Carlynosople, where he founded the Church of the Covenant. This Church would attract numerous KCG figures, growing the town into a significant city and converting the Church into the South Retunian Coalition.
During the 1329 Pandemic, Prime Minister Finzi employed quarantine measures, but such measures were met with resistance by the local populations. List added to this by blaming the Disease, seen as divine punishment, on the apparent corruption present in the Commonwealth government, as he viewed Finzi and his "regime" as that of the Evil One. Thus, the Coalition quickly grew in membership, giving birth to the Lister Movement. Such a movement occurred with violent demonstrations that clashed with Commonwealth authorities.
Blackout War
On 1 May 1329, hearing news that Finzi's quarantine measures were those of oppression and were being employed brutally in the South, Combrian Confederation President George Henry repealed the ceasefire agreements formed with the Commonwealth and resumed the conflict in order to aid Lister in Carlynosople. On 21 May 1329, List and Henry launched a conjoined offensive against the Commonwealth. This marked the official beginning of the Blackout War.
On 24 May, the KCG launched a coup attempt against the province of Pimdan. However, Commonwealth forces proved too strong here; and KCG forces were made to retreat. Meanwhile, in Jo Reneed, the darkfire community, having grown in the city since 1301, helped to defeat another KCG coup attempt against the province of Zyrtin.
Despite these successes, however, the conflict would remain in a gridlock for approximately four more years.