Sack of Highdrilian: Difference between revisions
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=== First Treaty of Highdrilian ===
The Kingdom of Aikthudr'zhur is a small, mountainous state in northern Novaris. Throughout the second millennium, it has been visited by Cryrian vessels which often stopped at the capital city of Highdrilian on their way in and out of the Norsian Sea. While contacts have been recorded as early as the 10th-century, Cryrian involvement in Aikkian affairs began in earnest nearly eight hundred years later with the founding of the Norsian Concern. This venture began as a conglomerate of Cryrian merchants operating within the Norsian Sea, who quickly became Aikthudr'zhur's primary point of access to foreign markets due to the Kingdom's own lack of shipbuilding expertise and the local predominance of the Cryrian Navy. The Concern went on to gain considerable influence in the Kingdom through the construction and purchase of port infrastructure in Highdrilian and Evalrod as well as the backing of the Cryrian government in Leidenstad.
In 1776, the Aikkian population was devastated by a plague outbreak which decimated the royal family. The subsequent political dysfunction undermined the legitimacy of the House of Ny'thudr'zhan, while the plague's arrival on foreign vessels created an atmosphere of mistrust and xenophobia among the Aikkian population. This resulted in the Evralrod Uprising which sought to displace the newly enshrined Queen Aiuevoupu in favor of her isolationist half-brother, Prince Hiro. The rebellion quickly became a source of worry for the Norsian Concern as it threatened to upend their investments.
The Concern moved to secure the services of Cryrian mercenaries led by Captain Ottilia Syren, a Talveri naval officer turned privateer. Under pressure from both the Uprising as the Concern, Aiuevoupu agreed to accept Syren's forces on Aikkian soil to put down the rebellion. The Uprising was crushed after Syren's fleet bombarded Evralrod and seized the city. The Captain later presented the Queen with Hiro's head.
The Norsian Concern was further authorized by the Cryrian government to negotiate the First Treaty of Highdrilian. The Treaty effectively granted the Concern near-total extraterritoriality and perpetual control over port enclaves in the Kingdom in exchange for its financial support during the Uprising. The Treaty quickly became a source of outrage in the Aikkian court as it effectively granted the Concern a monopoly over the Kingdom's trade. However, the fiercest detractors were among the Ny'Sænuri clans and were discounted due to their failure to support the Queen's cause against the rebellion, and heavy Cryrian pressure ensured the signing of the Treaty.
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