Editing Iron Gold Conflict (section)

== '''III . For the Love of the People''' ==
On the island of Wight, the sound of horns bellowed from the damp wooden decks of the Bronfyre fleet. Aboard stood the bastard Prince himself, with his entourage of commanders behind him all clad in their proud armor. Just across the small stretch of sea between them and the island, the first wave of Bronfyre troops had made landfall and had begun their assault. It seemed, for better or for worse, the islands of Maireann and Wight both suffered from Plaitignon’s southern rebellion. A man named Dietrich Tisch, a merchant from a peasant family, took over the island after violently seizing arms belonging to the beleaguered barracks.

A great battle for the island ensued. Armed peasants held the line valiantly in towns across both islands, proclaiming themselves as the heralds of freedom and democratic rule. In Witchbed, Marton led a small force of heartland troops to take back a peasant stronghold, crushing the local garrison and capturing several leaders. In Soarsted, the bronze armies suffered a defeat by ambush after Dietrich attacked them in a mountain pass. The bloody conflict would last almost six months, with neither side really shifting the tide and the local townsfolk making it difficult for the Bronfyre invaders. On Maireann, the bronfyre forces faced more stiff resistance. Marton had ordered an army led by Erasmus to storm Dunlow, the old township of Clive. The peasants there had rallied under a similar democratic banner, though a far more radical druidic form than the one formulated by Dietrich Tisch. Their leader had fashioned himself as Clive the Second, claiming to be the lost son of the old folk hero. This whipped up the peasants into a frenzy, charging the landing force of Commander Erasmus with their seized armaments. 

It was only due to Erasmus’ great skill accumulated from the Siege of Arandous that he was able to prevail, and soon Maireann fell into Bronfyre hands. The island of Wight fell shortly after, the Dragon Isles now firmly in the hands of Prince Marton. 

News of revolts and successful democratic revolutions reached the ears of nobles across the realm. Some banded together, notably in the Heartlands. Inquisitors, Fletcher soldiers, and volunteers from Camden’s Plain united together under the banner of the Triumite Church. The Holy Concordat, as they would come to be called, began marching across the Eastern Heartlands and Cliffs regions to assist in keeping the peace. This did not go without pushback.

As charismatic rulers rose up in Aracellia, the Highlands, and the Dragon Isles, a similar phenomenon arose in the Northern Cliffs. Under the banner of depowering what he viewed as a corrupt church, a man named Emiliano Barral led armed militias of Neo-Orthodox rebels in the northern Cliffs, seizing the provinces bordering the Heartlands. The Naclerians had been swept up in the crisis at Whitemaw and were not able to muster a significant defense in time. Countless nobles were decapitated in brutal campaigns, and churches belonging to bastionist minorities were put to the torch. Stories of inquisitors being hung from wooden stakes and crosses became commonplace in the untouched countryside. Such defilement had not been seen since the sieges of St. Jenavene in the East. 

A war ensued on the border of the Cliffs, as the Holy Concordat arrived to do battle with the rebels. These rebels were not only well equipped, but supported by the local levy and the captains that led them. Percival Fletcher, Edward Fletcher, and Wilmot Janus led the campaign, forcing the rebels out of Porthaven and Whistlewood before clashes began in Monterroja and Ansierra. Emiliano Barral’s folk legend among the people had grown to such a degree that the fanaticism outran any prior fear of the church. Inquisitors earned their worth, preventing potential ambushes by weeding out rebel elements in small villages across enemy territory, but suffered significant losses in turn. Ombardo and Marzaria became the new standard bearers for rebellious sentiment in the region, establishing peasant councils to manage their villages and throwing off the chains of their prior nobility. Despite their early momentum and Emiliano’s reputation, the Holy Concordant had successfully pushed the rebels southward to their holdings in Ombardo, Terrin, Piele, and Marzaria, but were unable to pierce further without incurring the wrath of the Cliffs nobility. They returned as heroes to Wakendor however, having showed to the realm that there was still order and strength in the aristocracy.