Korthian Rebellion

Introduction

The Korthian Rebellion was an event in Albasran history which saw the region south of the newly formed nation of Melem declare themselves a sovereign nation. By this point in Albasran history, the monarchy was losing control of its land. After attempting to quell the Melemese Rebellion a few years before, they did not have the strength to oppose a similar rebellion in Korth.

Monarchic Scepticism
Similar to the people of Melem, many leaders in Korth began to grow concerned about King Kilnen and his prolonged absence from the Albasran court. While they had historically been strong supporters of the monarchy; it was clear that without the guiding hand of its ruler, the nation had begun to lose its way. The Korthian scepticism would grow much slower than it did in Melem, however, which in many ways would result in more turmoil.

Famine
When local leaders in Melem began denying taxes to the Albasran court in 50 AL, the people of Korth were initially angry with their decision. Many Korthian leaders would protest and petition Melem to make good on the decrees the crown had made for the good of all Albasrans. As the years passed with this new arrangement, the people of Korth began to grow frustrated with the Albasran court as well. Korth had always been an expensive region to maintain; as the requirements of the military required to stem the flow of Dinosaurs into Linea were great, and strong sources of revenue were few and far between. Korth fell into decline over the next few years as Melem’s contributions continued to be denied until a famine fell upon the region. The standing army in Korth used to fight the Dinosaurs dwindled as resources continued to diminish.

Necessity breeds innovation
Hunger grew at an alarming rate in Korth over the next five years and survival started to take precedent over the traditional Korthian duty of dealing with the dinosaurs. Incidents of the beasts rampaging across Korth began to rise, only making the are more unstable. One day, a particularly desperate group of villagers trapped and butchered a dinosaur for the first time, discovering they could be used for more than simply hunting. Korth, being a patriotic region at the time, informed the Albasran court and petitioned for the decree of simply hunting the dinosaurs be changed to allow for taming and butchering them instead. This petition was quickly rebuffed by the royal council, citing that the decision could not be made without the sovereign’s blessing and he was absent from court. This deeply angered the citizens of Korth, feeling as though they had been ignored.

Trust in the crown dropped. Many would look to Melem as the model of how things could be if they would simply ignore the decree and begin to utilise the abundant resource the dinosaurs would provide. Soon after this, the Melemese leaders would announce themselves a sovereign nation. The steward of Melem, Allain Worston reached out to leaders in Korth, offering them significant windfall in return for their support in the Melemese bid for secession. The once proudly royalist region of Korth agreed to the offer, the feelings of abandonment and ignorance by the Albasran royal council being a key contributing factor.

Dinosaur industry
War erupted between Melem and Albasra as an attempt to quell the rebellion. Korth used this opportunity to discover how to tame, train and ultimately capitalise on the natural resource of the dinosaurs from the Sudden Forest. At first they found that attempting to train the larger carnivores proved to be too difficult a task. Instead, they would butcher the larger beasts for meat and hide and the smaller species as hunting packs and beasts of burden.

By the end of the fighting between Melem and Albasra a few years later, the citizens of Korth had managed to right the ship. They had repaired much of the failing infrastructure in the aftermath of the famine and had made great strides in taming the larger dinosaurs. Most importantly, they had discovered just how valuable the dinosaurs were as a seemingly infinite resource.

Secession
When the fighting between Melem and Albasra ended in 58 AL, Korth found itself debating a critical decision. To remain part of the Kingdom of Albasra or to follow in Melem’s footsteps and declare independence. There was a brief power struggle between the two factions but eventually Orthros Nabik became the new steward of Korth and set the plans in motion to declare independence.

The secession itself was largely a formality. After the conflict with Melem, the Albasran army’s morale had been broken and another series of battles with Korth, through new Melemese territory no less, seemed an insurmountable task. Instead, the Albasran court would agree to declare Korth and the region south of Melem its own sovereign nation, provided they provide resources for a period of time to allow the failing Kingdom to rebuild and adjust to their new way of life.