The last Realm to join the discussion that forged The Concord, Lerona Mere emerged from the fires of revolution into a world greatly changed. Their story has been one of self discovery, self flagellation, and self-enrichment. Their quest to define themselves and redefine the world is far from over, but has already left its mark on Esterra.
The Little Bordevar Crisis
For the rural inhabitants of the Madre Campo, the Revolution was often one brief night of violence and revenge in the name of freedom. This was a far cry from the months of organisation and weeks of conflict that engulfed Legend City and its surrounds. For these agricultural revolutionaries far from the centre of gravity, it often felt like the revolution had passed them by, that they had missed their chance to do what they needed to. For many, this manifested as an overexaggerated dedication to the (perceived) precepts of the revolution, and long after the fires had faded, it was the revolutionary councils far outside the city that were often the most dedicated.
These people were thrown into a changed metropolitan world where Lerona Mere was at its centre. Being far from the conflicts, many people flooded to Lerona Mere for a better life. Included among these were large groups of Bordevarian peasants, fleeing the conflict in the East against the Onyx Aristocracy for the similar climate of the Madre Campo where they could ply their trade as farmers and take up plenty of abandoned land in the wake of the revolution.
At first, the locals were more than happy to have new folks working the abandoned vineyards and holdings of the abandoned leaders of Lerona Mere, but quickly issues of culture and opinion began to emerge. To the local revolutionaries, the Bordevarian’s opinions and beliefs around cultural class, leadership, and monarchy were insulting, crude, and even fascistic, opinions the locals had no issues informing the Bordevarians of. To the Bordevarians, their new neighbours were rude, obtuse, and didn’t know how to stay out of someone's business.
Matters rose to a fever pitch when a disagreement outside a tavern came to blows. For the Bordevarians, a fight outside the pub was a part of life, a place where local grievances can be aired and forgotten at the end of a fist or a cudgel. But such is not the nature of things in Lerona Mere. In Lerona Mere, words are cheap, but when you swing a fist at someone, it better have a knife in it. When this first skirmish cleared, a Lerona Mere was dead, and the Bordevarian rabble were chased out of town, bleeding and wounded. Across the Madre Campo, violence broke out, culminating in a season’s long impromptu siege of a fortified Manor held by the Bordevarian group that had started this whole crisis.
During this time, it had been the stance of the Lerona Mere heroes to ‘wait and see’. While harshly worded letters were traded back and forth, there was little action taken. But with the siege on, now was the time for action. Lerona Mere heroes used the portals of the Pathfinders to arrive at the sight of the siege to cheers and salutes from their countrymen, only to fall upon these same countrymen in an attempt to break the siege! When all was said and done, the besiegers were hauled off by local constables and the besieged were given swift apologies before the heroes departed.
The violent response from the Realm’s heroic contingent had put and end to the crisis, but had not endeared the people of Lerona Mere to their leaders, beginning a trend that would continue over the coming seasons.
The First Parliament
In late 222AE the First Lerona Mere Parliament sat an eclectic mix of parties and allegiances. The distribution of parties laid the first seeds of failure in that no one party had a majority. The largest pair were The Sigils; a Concord-first coalition of big-picture thinkers, and The Revolutionaries; the continuation and expansion of Lerona Mere’s anarchic spirit. Below them, grabbing at the leftovers were The Bravos; Militaristic warmongers, and The Villa Estate; rural nationalists.
With power divided and attention split, the Parliament began to make demands of the heroic contingent. Vote for this matter in the senate! Obtain many of these for our goals! Speak out against these people we dislike! So on and so forth. This relationship soured almost immediately, with the heroic contingent lacking the funds, influence, or care to support the Parliament, and the Parliament responding with ever more punitive and beggardly requests.
By the time the first Parliament’s term was coming to a close, it had achieved nothing save for disunity and disagreement. The Parliament itself was mired in bottlenecks and the heroic contingent had no interest in supporting it free of this morass. All of this brought about the circumstances for the Second Revolution.
The Docklands War
The Docklands, that district of Legend City that includes its port and seedier locales, has always been the home turf of the city’s various criminal elements, led by their skilled Capos. The First Revolution had done away with so much law enforcement and order within the city and the stage was set for a violent power struggle that became known as ‘The Docklands War’.
Sparking in late 222AE, the Docklands War waged for two years and was of great embarrassment to the people of Lerona Mere and The Concord as a whole. All over the district, gangs took small scale skirmishes and raised them up to a constant state of violence that spilled out in all directions. No one was safe and honour among thieves was a distant concept. Murder, arson, protection rackets, and even treason became the call of the day. All the while The Concord struggled to control this lawless maelstrom on its maritime doorstep.
The war cost immense amount of money and time but finally came to a shadowy end in the midst of 224. Rumour has it that a coalition of Heroic Capos met with the other Capos of the city and hashed out a peace that not only brought the war to a close, but also outlined the future of organised crime in Lerona Mere. Although the details of this agreement are
The Second Revolution
Following a year of failed political action, the Lerona Mere parliament changed forever on the 3rd of September 223AE when the Parliament building burned to the ground, killing more than three hundred people. A cavalcade of political grandstanding and a violent crackdown by the People’s Gift pushed the city to the very precipice of violent revolution. Weeks of rioting follows and the city and realm questioned if a parliament was truly the structure they needed.
But when push came to shove, when a decision needed to be made, the heroic contingent and the people of Lerona Mere stepped back from chaos and bloodshed, in favour of a measured and even response. A second revolution was avoided with overwhelming support appearing for the Parliament. In the end, the only damage was to the Parliament building itself, and the destruction of ‘The Queen of Liberty’, a massive armoured ship belonging to the Liberty’s Fist, which burned completely during the night with no hands aboard while it was at dock within the city.
The New Parliament
With a new Parliament building blessed, a new election was held in Winter 224. While the new Parliament was only slightly more unified that the previous one, there was a new dedication to their action, a new drive. Lerona Mere had proven twice that they wanted this government by the people, now it was the time to act in a manner worthy of this belief.
The new Parliament was composed of three parties; two in competition for majority, and a third lurking on the outskirts.
The greatest majority fell to the Ratscrews, a party of performers, dreamers, and poets. The Ratscrews were staunchly dedicated to the improvement and expansion of Legend City itself, progressing towards a future where it was not only the greatest city in Southern Esterra, but the whole mortal sphere. A place where art, science, magic, and divinity walked hand in hand towards the bank, with smiles on their faces and wine in their hearts. Understandably, this rosy view of the future and willingness to spend money (particularly when espoused by an adorable rodent mascot) did well and the party was well supported by the heroic contingent.
In the shadows of the Ratscrews popularity stood the Steel Sigils. Inheritors of The Sigils old mandate, but tempered by the flame of the destruction of the old Parliament building. While the old Sigils wanted a Concord supported by Lerona Mere, the Steel Sigils demanded a Concord led by Lerona Mere. They championed a Legend City that claimed its due and stood for their own might. Brusque and full of fire, the Steel Sigils had also inherited the industrial backing of the Mivarans, a party that had failed to achieve much of note.
Finally, The Council in Coin managed to eek out a presence in the Parliament, although far smaller than either other. The Council was a shadowy populist organisation that sought to control and influence matters in Lerona Mere and abroad through the careful application of funds.
In all, the Second Parliament stood in stark contrast to the first. Through the Ratscrews, Legend City itself grew larger than ever before and brought new wealth and prosperity. The Steel Sigils strong agitation for Lerona Mere’s prominence could be seen as one of the main motivations for Lerona Mere gaining Mancante Terra as their second province. And the Council in Coin was also there.
The Second Parliament was also the first time that Concordian heroes joined these parties, with heroic representatives becoming the norm.
The Underfolk Below
There have always been rumours of the strange things that can be found beneath Legend City. The city itself is built somewhat on a natural rise along the northern edge of the Bay of Promised Gold. Beneath its surface level are the myriad cellars and pits that are required for such a large city to function, beneath that the ordered design of the Artebazzani Sewers, a marvel in their own right. Finally, beneath the sewers are the catacombs, natural caves and clefts within the stone that hide much within these shadows.
One of the truths of these hidden places began to emerge in 222AE. Strange violent creatures known as ‘Slangs’. Early encounters with the beasts were solved through the creation of the ‘Fuchs Plug’ by Senator Marciana Fuchs, where a large brass and lead lid was placed over a large sinkhole and the problem promptly forgotten.
Two years later the Slang began to emerge again, this time in greater numbers. Feeding on the destitute and lost of the Shagston neighbourhood of The Docklands, their predations were eventually repulsed by a force from Liberty’s Fist and the timely intervention of Lerona Mere heroes.
Since then the Slang have become a constant annoyance, appearing and disappearing, often attacking civilians late at night or accosting Stallian priests and their temples.
The Anarchian Schism
It became public knowledge that the Council of Six had been in discussions with The Artebazzani Cardinal of Cervitas (their equivalent of a High Priest) in early 225. The uproar in Lerona Mere in response to this perceived betrayal at the highest levels of theocratic power was immense. Already Lerona Mere had felt that their plight and conflict against the Artebazzani was disregarded by the other Realms, this was simply another piece of evidence towards that truth.
In response, a small Anarch Church led by a pair of sibling priests broke away from the Concordian Church and declared themselves independent. Their doctrine was the same, their beliefs identical, but they would not be associated with this Church that would betray them. Known as the Divine Church of Anarchia, the First Anarchic Lyam De Rosa began to preach his heresy and raised a small following within the city, while his sister Alexis agitated for revenge against those who had betrayed them.
Quickly the Church of Anarchia began to shift and grow, its own divergent evolution shifting its teachings and understandings. They questioned and abandoned all elements of the Concordian Orthodoxy that were only founded in Artebazzani truths, instead preferring to seek new discovery and understandings. What had begun as a political schism had morphed in a truly religious one.
The response of the Council of Six was not kind. The Anarchians were declared heretics and the magistrates descended upon them. The breakup of the Church was swift and largely complete with many arrests and harsh violent punishments for the worst of the heretics. Alexis De Rosa fled into the wind and is still missing. When Lyam De Rosa presented himself at the Spring Summit of 225 and demanded that the Council Of Six prove that they were tyrants as unbending as the Artebazzani, High Priest of Anarch Gunther Eberhart struck him down after his inquisition.