Meagharian Triumph
The Meagharian Triumph is a Civil Ceremony and Festival in the Secular Republic of Meagharia, held to celebrate the Victory of a Commander in a War or a Campaign. Dating back to the Meagharian Civil War, this ceremony has since been codified into Meagharian Constitutional Law, and is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon any Meagharian Commander.
History
Meagharian Civil War
The First Triumph
The First Meagharian Triumph is generally regarded as being immediately after the First Meagharite Capture of Sherman, with the celebration of Grand Marshal Burnside over his victory in the city. This First Triumph was less formal than later Triumphs, with the Grand Marshal's men simply Marching to cheering crowds down the main road of the city, accompanied by Cheering Crowds, the Grand Marshal is said to have ridden a Stallion up the Steps of the City's Palace before beheading the Hereditary Lord of the City, Fionn Sherman, with a Cavalry Sword. In Burnside's speech given immediately afterwards, proclaimed while still on Horseback, the Grand Marshal declared that despite
"The Treason of his family, The First Sherman was a Good Man, Untainted by the Theism of his descendants, seeing the Milofites for the Tyrants that they are!"
For this reason the city of Sherman has maintained its name, unlike the city of Burnside.
The Sherman Triumph
After The First Triumph, Sherman would be lost by the Meagharite forces, and there would be no Triumph until 2010, when Sherman was recaptured. Due to the death of Grand Marshal Burnside in the Battle, this Triumph would double as the funeral for the great commander. As the new Grand Marshal Nathaniel O'Fahr rode up the steps of the Palace, the body of Burnside was wrapped in the Meagharite Banner, and placed on a pyre that was built at the foot of the Palace stairs. After the quick execution of the new High Priest of the City, O'Fahr gave his own speech, rumored to have been largely written by Burnside himself, proclaiming that the recapture of Sherman would bring a turning point in the war.
"In this Recapture of the City that sparked our Fight for Freedom and Secularism, the day of Victory is in sight! In the name of Our Commander we shall finish the struggle that started thirty years ago! A New Age is Dawning, the Age of Theism will soon fall into the Night!"
With this declaration O'Fahr dismounted from his Stallion, coming down the steps on foot, in a symbol of Humility, and lit the pyre containing the Great Commander, and ending the first Chapter the Meagharian Civil War. A portion of Burnside's ashes would later be hardened as the keystone of the entrance to the Museum of Heroes in Sherman.
The Viele Triumph
The next Triumph would not be until 2018, when the Radical Battalion and their Durakan allies captured the city of Viele, the largest port in the island's south, and the industrial powerhouse of the region. It is said that the commander of the Radical Battalion, Spadlin O'Perre showed great pride in that his capture of the city, meant that he had earned the first Triumph since Burnside's first that was entirely under his command. While he has never confirmed this publicly, it is a talking point among his supporters today.
In the march to the Viele Palace, Durakan Volunteers famously Marched alongside Meagharite Soldiers, leading to some mockery, but this is largely seen as one of the great Unifying Moments between Meagharia and Durakia. As in the other triumphs O'Fahr rode a Stallion up the steps of the Palace, and drawing a Cavalry sword he beheaded the High Priest. The speech he would give would be the reason that Viele, and Southern Meagharia in general, would be the center of the Radical Movement in Meagharia.
"Today we have won a great battle for the working people of Meagharia! The Theist Oppressors have been slain, and this city has been returned to the hands of the people! With this victory we must remember to never allow such oppression again, to ensure that the boot of Capital does not come down upon us as hard as the boot of the Church!"
The full transcript of the speech would eventually become the introductory chapter of Spadlin O'Perre's seminal work Church and Capital.
The Sedgwick Triumph
The Sedgwick triumph would occur a month after the Viele Triumph, after the city's capture by Mary McKinley's Lamb's Brigade. Viele is and was a smaller city, but a decent population. It served mainly as a stopping point between the coastal cities of Abner and Sherman on the pilgrimage and trade routes to the Capital City of Milof. For this reason much of the city was dominated by merchants, with McKinley herself coming from such a family before said family was case down for their support of the Meagharites. With her Stallion's ride up the steps of the city's Palace, her subordinates say that she showed a particular pleasure in the High Priest's Beheading, as he had stolen her older sister when her family had been cast out of the city. Her speech would leave just as strong an impression on that city as O'Perre's did on Viele.
"Our victory today shows that the young people of Meagharia are just as capable of change as the old! We are the future of our new Nation! And we must leave our mark before it is supposedly our time! Our new ideals shall make this city thrive, as the trading powerhouse that it has always been!"
Due to this speech in the first Meagharian Elections Sedgwick would be the only city in Meagharia where support for the innocence party extended to some degree beyond its base of Child Veterans.
The Burnside Triumph
With the capture of the old City of Milof, immediately renamed Burnside with Grand Marshal O'Fahr's proclamation of Executive Order No. 1 on May 10th of 2019, the day of the final capture, it was known that this Triumph would have to be bigger than all of the others, as it did not merely celebrate the capture of a city, but the end of Milofite rule, as well as the final end of the long Brutal civil war. For this reason the triumph was delayed by three months, during that period the Meagharian Constitution was finalized, mostly it was the original Constitution written by Grand Marshal Burnside, but with several notable additions, most relevantly the new official procedures for the Meagharian Triumph.
On the day of the Triumph the morning was filled with a massive parade, soldiers who has served throughout all of Meagharia, all streaming into the Capital for the final moment of closure after the long civil war. The morning was one massive celebration, games, drinking, and revelry filling the streets of the new Capital City. The parade began halfway through the morning, Grand Marshal Nathaniel O'Fahr mounting his stallion, followed by an army of nearly one million men, marching through the city all in lockstep, all marching to the Grand Palace that had once served the Milofite Council, but would soon serve the Centurions Assembly of the New Secular Republic. The crowds of revelers moved aside for the oncoming soldiers, all saluting the Men, Women, and Children of the Meagharite Army. Upon reaching the steps of the Palace, the Stallion climbed the steps and O'Fahr drew his cavalry sword. Then, at a full gallop he charged down the line of the 10 Councilors of the Milofites, and as he one by one beheaded them. After this final display the Grand Marshal rose his sword and gave one final speech.
"Today the final vestiges of Theist Power in Meagharia has been purged! The snakes who stood at the helm of that great ship of tyranny have been beheaded! The New Age Dawns today! Our stuggle in this Nation has ended, but the eternal struggle between Reason and Religion will continue, and the Secular Republic of Meagharia will be at the helm of that great stuggle!"
With those words the celebration continued, and this speech would serve as the first volley of the first Meagharian Electoral Campaign.
Ceremony
As it is now codified in Article 2 Section 12 of the Meagharian Constitution the Meagharian Triumph shall go thusly:
"The Commanding Officer of a Military Campaign may, after the successful completion of said campaign or war, request the right of Triumph from the Centurions Assembly. After receiving the approval of Two-Thirds of the Assembly they will gain the right, on a date chosen by the Assembly lead their soldiers commanded during that campaign into the Capital. This parade may show Prisoners of War, Spoil, or other notable capture taken in that campaign or war. The Commander will ride a Stallion up the steps of the Hall of the Centurion's Assembly, where they may take the option of executing a captured enemy leader, excepting heads of state in usual circumstances, should the Centurion's Assembly approve said execution. They are then entitled to make a speech upon horseback as celebration of their victory."
No Triumph has yet been conducted under these new rules, but it is expected that there will be one in 2021 due to several out standing victories and combatants.