The Raggisar Revolution

The Raggisar Revolution was a period of political and societal change in the Raggisar Republic, then still known as the Imperius Reich. It ended together with the end of the Grand War, with the signing of the Treaty at the Tower. The effects of the Revolution were felt across Minecraftia. The Von Dragestein dynasty that had ruled the Reich ever since its inception lost their throne and were forced to flee to Kythira, whilst in Kythira the aftermath of the Grand War resulted in the near collapse of the Kythiran crown and the ultimate signing of the Reforma Carta.

First Rebellions in the Reich

The Von Dragestein dynasty had ruled the Imperius Reich for over nine generations, ever since its inception during the early Third Era. During this time, the imperial family had maintained an iron grip on the Reich, whilst it had to maintain a fragile peace after since Borous IV Von Dragestein signed the Treaty of the King's Keep with the Kythiran Emperor Richard II Viromaro. Despite the occasional border conflict, this relationship blossomed, and the two superpowers maintained generally cordial relations.

Internally however, there had been a rising resentment of the absolute monarchy within the Reich. Any small uprisings were however easily crushed by the Kaisers formidable Große Armee, the largest land army in Minecraftia, thrice as large as all the Kythiran provincial armies and Imperial Legion combined. The Große Armee was however extremely expensive to maintain, using up most of the Reich's annual budget.

When the majority of the population consisted of peasantry, this was not a major problem for the Reich's government. However, as the generations continued, gradual rights were granted to increasingly large portions of the population, forming a middle class known as the 'Volksgenossen'. These enjoyed greater rights and wealth, and eventually started outnumbering the peasantry by the time of Kaiser Borous VIII Von Dragestein.

A popular uprising in Dorwall, that spread to the Reich's capital, Imperia, resulted in a political crisis in the Reich as the royal palace was stormed by a mob of rioters. After several weeks of negotiating, with the esteemed Kythiran Emperor Alexander Viromaro acting as a negotiator, Borous IX Von Dragestein ultimately formed the Imperius Senate, granted voting rights to all male Volksgenossen and removing himself as supreme commander of the Große Armee, creating the function of Grand Marshal instead.

Another problem that had plagued the Reich for generations was higher nobility hungry for more power and autonomy. The greatest of these was House Mace, the Grand Dukes of the Duchy of Lotric, the second largest region of the Reich. During the early Fourth Era the Grand Dukes of this Duchy betrayed their Kaiser by allying with the Kythiran Empire's Emperor Charles I Viromaro, betraying the great fleet Kaiser Borous V Von Dragestein had begun constructing, resulting in a great arms race between the two superpowers. Narrowly Borous V was able to stop a Kythiran fleet from reaching Lotric, preventing the secession of the Grand Duchy, and it remained a thorn in the sides of multiple subsequent kaisers. The Duchy had received informal protection of the Empire, making an invasion of the region a dangerous affair.

However, with the sudden deaths of the Kythiran Emperor Alexander Viromaro and Crown-Prince Amantis Viromaro within days from each other, causing the Chaos of the Coronation, the young Kaiser Borous X decided to use the chaos in the Kythiran Empire to finally remove Grand Duke Mace of Lotric from his position. A great invasion resulted in the near extinction of the noble house, with only the young Titus Mace surviving, whilst the capital and most of the region was destroyed in what became known abroad as the Lotrican Genocide.

The extreme violence and atrocities during the Lotrican Genocide became well documented and spread across Minecraftia, greatly aided by the new Kythiran Emperor Louis Viromaro, who had been a close friend to the deceased Grand Duke when he was just a prince. Emperor Louis used the great wealth of his House for the establishment of multiple local newspapers across Minecraftia, which publicised the atrocities of Kaiser Borous X, which were consumed by the literate Volksgenossen class. This resulted in great censoring efforts by the Kaiser's government, which made all foreign owned newspapers illegal, as well as the imprisonment and "accidental" deaths of several journalists by monarchist factions of the Große Armee.

House Von Dragestein, long seen as the more liberal of the Imperial Ancient Houses, certainly compared to the conservative House Viromaro, caused themselves great representational damage through this affair. Nevertheless, the majority of the population still supported the monarchy, seeing it as flawed but the one thing standing between them and the increasingly hostile Kythiran Empire under Emperor Louis.

The Dervich Incident & Twenty-Three Lords Affair

The Dervich Incident changed this. The fact that the Kaiser & Grand Marshal were effectively held hostage in Helmira for over two weeks, and that afterwards they agreed to ceding Imperius territory to the Kythiran Empire, made many question the leadership of the Kaiser. The Twenty-Three Lords, a group of high-ranking Imperius nobles, travelled to Imperia to present the Kaiser the Imperial Codex, a collection of legal reforms intended to make the Kaiser share some of his power, which would have reformed the Reich into the first constitutional monarchy of Minecraftia. More radical elements of the Twenty-Three Lords demanded the Kaiser to abdicate in favour of his son, the 12 year old crown-prince. The Kaiser rejected all the proposals, and ordered the arrest of all members of the Twenty-Three Lords. Four managed to escape Imperia, those captured were convicted of high treason and publicly executed by beheading.

As the Kaiser walked back under imperial guard to the royal palace after the executions, his group was attacked by a mob of angry civilians. He managed to be escorted to the palace safely, but several members of his entourage were killed in the frenzy. The order went out that Imperia would be under curfew until all those who partook in the attack were found and arrested. The population instead moved to the streets en masse and began a series of great protests across Imperia. A general strike was also proclaimed until the Kaiser would accept the original Imperial Codex. Two days into the strike, the Grand Marshal ordered that the city guard had to put down the strike, by any means necessary.

The soldiers of the city guard refused to attack their fellow citizens however, and joined the strike. Several similar strikes and protests lit up across the Reich. The mayor of Dorwall was killed by an angry mob when he demanded they would go back to work, his body being thrown into the Senfina Sea. Senator Meyer, who led the Imperius Senate and was known as a staunch monarchist, travelled to the royal palace to beg the Kaiser to reconsider his position and sign the Imperial Codex. The Grand Marshal was however on his way to Imperia together with the Raggisar Royal Army, the largest of Imperius' armies, in order to squash the riots once and for all. Because of this, the Kaiser still refused to sign the Imperial Codex. Instead, Senator Meyer begged the Kaiser to move himself and his family out of Imperia and into the countryside, where they would be safer from the increasingly dangerous mobs. To this the Kaiser did listen, and they were smuggled out of the royal palace and indeed Imperia dressed as guards.

Imperia Falls

As the Kaiser and his family travelled east, deep into Imperius, the Grand Marshal continued to march towards Imperia. His second-in-command, General Borous Von Wolfswald, was the son of a bankrupted industrialist who had lost his fortune during the Lotrican Genocide. As they stopped for the night, three days of marching away from Imperia, General Wolfswald struck. He killed