"Spyder"
Jon Kerpilng was born in the 890s to parents unknown, but grew up with the Spellcrafter Guild in Hotay as an orphan. In young adulthood, he met a woman named Tormaea, who he was determined to marry, but very soon, Kerpilng would learn that she was interested in another partner. Upset with this, Kerpilng was determined to become the Guild Leader and dominate her and the other man of interest, both of whom were also members of the Spellcrafter Guild. At a certain point, Kerpilng and Tormaea were assigned to a monumental quest on behalf of the Guild to eliminate a Totian bandit encampment near the Moorlandish border. That battle proved harsh but victorious, as Kerpilng and Tormaea demonstrated cunning skills. However, when the Spellcrafter Guild met in the Council that followed, it was Tormaea who was voted in as the Guild Leader.
Begrudging of the outcome, Kerpilng gained a great number of followers within the Guild, as they came together with a new invention: the loaded barb, a circular barb loaded with spellfire. In October 907, concealing himself as "Spyder," Kerpilng hurled a loaded barb, killing Tormaea, as his followers, similarly concealed, ended the lives of all the head Guild members. They then looted the Guild Palace and set it ablaze. With the Duchy of Hotay on the hunt, Spyder and his thieves fled the city.
In need of food and resources, Spyder and his thieves robbed traveling merchant caravans in a similar fashion as to what happened to the Guild. But then, as the warnings spread, the caravans became fewer in number and better protected. Enhancing concealment measures, Spyder and his thieves began sneaking past Hotay city walls and robbing, as well as murdering, passerby in the streets. Before long, people were robbed and killed in their homes. The Duchy expanded their patrol maneuvers, with more guards on the streets. However, Spyder and his thieves were virtually undetectable.
The Duchy of Hotay wrote a multitude of letters to King Terrace of the Yelcrebban Kingdom expressing their dire concerns. However, the Yelcrebban Crown was hesitant, due to other more pressing matters.
Kingdom of Yelcreb: Pirate Attacks and the Soratanian Uprising
Since the 910s, pirates from Monassa and other places continually attacked Yelcrebban port cities with guns and cannons, looting and inflicting casualties. With the Yelcrebban Navy barely able to contain the enemy, King Terrace began drawing troops from land divisions for reinforcements.
Meanwhile, Terrace was tightening his grip on merchant travel in and out of the Monassan settlement of Soratana, reflecting his prejudices against them, by issuing high tariffs and tolls. Having learned about the Edoran idea of a Parliament years before, the Soratanians began demanding more representation. However, petitions were ignored, and were often met with arrests. Before long, Soratanians began protesting and resisting the arrests, leading to the eventual outbreak of gunfights. Sympathetic Yelcrebbans, calling themselves Linbraens, soon joined the resistance.
In October 922, with the help of the Linbraens, a secret deal was signed between Soratana and the pirates, in which an underground route was established to smuggle large amounts of firearms to be stored in hidden locations within the settlement, as Soratanian recruits would train in secret for a mass-assault upon the Yelcrebban Crown. In exchange, the pirates would receive traded Yelcrebban goods for no tariffs. In December 927, Yelcrebban Crown discovered the arrangement via spies and a system of interrogation, and launched a full-scale attack upon Soratana. The settlement, however, held its ground, inflicting high casualties upon the Yelcrebbans, and declaring independence from the Kingdom.
The Breakaway of Hotay
In March 928, the crisis in Soratana prompted the call for more armed soldiers, who King Terrace began drawing from Hotay. Already frustrated with lack of assistance to combat Spyder, the Duchy of Hotay ordered its soldiers to refuse the royal mandate; and in September 928, Terrace sent his own soldiers to enforce his orders. The two armies confronted each other and began fighting, as Hotay, along with its surrounding territories, declared independence.
930s: East Coast Pirate Attacks
As the two battlefronts emerged, many Yelcrebban and Soratanian civilians fled, with some of them joining the ranks of the pirates, themselves.
The Edoran Kingdom, under the rule of King Patrick, was prospering, making it very desirable for outlaws from land and sea. In the summer months of 932, 933, and 934, Yelcrebban and Soratanian pirates attacked the Edoran Kingdom from the Great Northern Gulf. And in the summer of 934, they began attacking the Edoran Kingdom from the East coast. However, it was during that year that John Mervin constructed a new invention: the bullet. Loading rifles with these, the Edorans effectively kept the pirates in check.
The Arming of Malbec and Ecnedivelc
Malbec, under King Dram, and Ecnedivelc, under King Marren, were economically struggling. Although such was the case for most of the history of each of the two military states, such circumstances were worsened by the pirate attacks. As a resolve, each state saw the sending over of bandits, who would establish hidden camps alongside roads in the Edoran Kingdom. From these, concealed behind hills, trees, or bushes, the bandits, with rifles, would shoot Edoran travelers from the side or from behind. They would then raid carts, finishing off the lives of the Edoran travelers with knife attacks and then looting their valuables. Between 936 and 937, the Edorans attempted to curb this issue by scouting out and attacking the bandit camps with their bullet rifles. Fleeing bandits who survived these counterattacks took the bullet idea back to the rulers in Malbec and Ecnedivelc, who, in May 937, signed a secret deal to have divisions of their soldiers work on large-scale productions of these weapons. Within a year, 2000 soldiers from each of the two states was armed with a bullet rifle.
The Arming of the Edoran Kingdom
From Malbec, an unknown defector sent a message of this to King Patrick. Between 938 and 943, the Edoran Kingdom built large factories which mass-produced bullets and rifles. Alarmed by this, Queen Mary of the Norman Kingdom (the United Kingdom of Daylram and Norm), siding with the Malbec and Ecnedivelc, responded with the mass-production of the hot-air balloon, an invention by John Dane.
944: The Barbarian Kingdoms' War, The Norman Invasion
In February 944, King Patrick gave the two states three months to lay down their arms at their borders. When, in June 944, Ecnedivelc responded, instead, with an assassination attempt on Patrick, the Edoran Kingdom invaded both Ecnedivelc and Malbec. In September, Queen Mary of Norm responded to this by invading the Edoran Kingdom, notably with fleets of hot-air ballons, of which Dane was the Head Commander. Each hot-air balloon was equipped with a basket containing two soldiers firing with rifles and one piloting the vessel. With the ability to travel and anchor, the balloons gave the Normans an advantage, as they gained Edoran territory rather quickly. However, the Edorans then took advantage of the notion that the balloons were easy targets for the cannons; and the Edorans very soon regained lost territory.
John Dane
Born in 901 and raised with a family in the ship-building guild, John Dane was known for his invention of the hot-air balloon. The first experiment of such was conducted after the accidental discovery in another experiment involving a paper lantern. After testing and development, Dane proposed his hot-air balloon idea to Queen Mary, who approved of it and employed a small division of them to be dispatched as scouts during the battle with the pirates. Very soon, these balloons were armed with rifles, as numerous other divisions joined the first to aid in the defeat of the pirates.
In September 943, Queen Mary died, and was succeeded by her younger brother, King Peter, with whom Dane did not have such a favorable reputation.
During the assault on the Edoran Kingdom, Dane was alarmed by the vulnerability of the balloons to the cannons, and made a new proposition to enhance the contraption with a special spellcrafter "ring-grid" to deflect cannonballs as well as a cannon-shell gun. However, the King rejected this, citing apparently unnecessary expenses. In December 944, disgruntled by this, Dane left and joined distant relatives in the Edoran Kingdom.
Edoran Victory
Of these relatives, many were related to members of Edoran Parliament; and before long, John Dane formed a diplomatic relationship with King Patrick, who swiftly approved of his ideas. The balloons, with the enhancements, were mass-produced, as divisions of them were positioned West of Malbec, and hidden on ships South of Ecnedivelc. Meanwhile, numerous divisions were positioned around key strategic points in the Norman Kingdom, while John Dane commanded an even larger balloon fleet pointed directly at the Norman capital.
On 1 September 945, the Edorans attacked. Under the onslaught of Dane, the United Kingdom of Daylram and Norm fell quickly, as King Peter fled. The King of Malbec fled as his capital fell on 17 October; and King Ecnedivelc, whose capital was placed under siege, surrendered on 2 November.
In December, the leaders of Malbec, Ecnedivelc, and the Norman Kingdom were summoned to a council, during which they promised to hand all territories over to Edoran sovereignty in exchange for the allowance to function as hierarchical Duchies.
After the War
In the years that followed, the rifle-producing factories of the Edoran Kingdom would become facilities engaging in production for civilian purposes, thus beginning the First Industrial Revolution.
John Dane, after the victory, became obsessed with his new invention, and continued flying around the Edoran countryside, firing cannon-shells into rural hillsides. Numerous times, he was forced to move his unnecessary operations due to complaints filed by town governments; and before long, he received a warning letter from King Patrick, himself. However, with the latter, Dane made a compromise: that he would follow a scheduled tour around Edoran communities and carry out arranged "firing demonstrations" for entertainment. During these, the crowds were impressed, as Dane received a reputation for being a "mad showman." But then, on 17 October 946, tragedy struck, as a cannon-shell exploded prematurely and detonated a large onboard reserve of gunpowder. The vessel exploded and fell out of the air, as, needless to say, John Dane died a grisly death.
Meanwhile, with the newly-acquired territory and the nation gaining power, the Edoran Kingdom would move to engage in overseas domination.