The Second Civil War of Medici (1637 to 1639) is a historical event in New and Improved Medici and fiction by GMRE.
Events leading to war[]
On september 32, 1637 Leopold IV, duke of Litore Torto, and a number of his close followers are said to have witnessed how Fiorella, an ancient mythical local godess, ascended from the lake of Litore Torto to communicate with the awe stricken bystanders.
As the godess reportedly explained, she was surprised to find that there is now a lake where her house had been. She was apparently now bored and wanted to know who their leader is. Leopold IV introduced himself and she made her sword, the Gladius Ex Virtute Magnifico, float to Leopold, who then grabbed it. Fiorella had then continued to explain in her archaic medician dialect that she's "going to go find some plebs of amusing character and have fun" (a phrase which has survived in medician folklore until modern times) and that "[he'd] better keep [her] sword safe in [her] absence, because [she] doesn't feel like carrying it around everywhere". She had then flown off at great speed and with the sound of thunder that had shattered windows in neighbouring villages.
This story is disputed by several contemporary sources, according to which Leopold was a psychotic and power-hungry man, who had fabricated the story and made his followers spread the lie and the ridiculous date of the miracle alone should disprove it.
In any case, wielding the Gladius Ex Virtute Magnifico, Leopold IV, duke of Litore Torto, now declared himself King Leopold I of Medici and started gathering forces to conquer all of Medici.
At the time Medici was a lose union of small city states, kindoms and duchys. The Duchy of Litore Torto was already in a closer alliance with the city state of Umbra and the Duchy of Costa Sud, but Leopold did not control them. Conveniently for him, the Duchy of Costa Sud was in a serious trade dispute with anyone from Insula Fonte. This helped Leopold in convincing them that the time was right to settle the score.
This started the second civil war of Medici.
The war[]
Leopold and his followers had managed to convince the superstitious people of Grande Pastura and Montana of his demigodhood and not to oppose him, but the neighbouring Kingdom of Val de Mar (or rather queendom at the time, under the rule of Odelia II), mobilized their army immediately. This was a significant threat, because the Kingdom of Val de Mar at the time included the territories of modern day Prospere and Prima. And as the names imply, they were a relatively wealthy nation.
The first battle of the war took place from december 4 to december 19, 1637 where the army of Val de Mar sieged and tried to capture the castle of Umbra. The attacking army was estimated to consist of 250 trained mercenaries, 2500 low-grade soldiers and 300 cavalry.
Ruins of the Castle of Umbra. Note the Stria Carera Standard parked near the ruins for scale and imagine thousands of soldiers and their siege equipment around the castle that was multiple stories higher and with towers.
The castle of Umbra was at the time very well fortified and garrisoned by 480 soldiers and an unknown number of additional units that had been assembled during the war preparations.
Approaching from the north would have been impossible, because that territory was known to have a significant Litore Torto military presense. Attacking through there would have cost so much time that it would have allowed the defenders to call reinforcements. This meant that the battle was mainly fought around the southern part of the castle. Little remains of the castele today and the ruins are now used as an airfield.
The siege was a stalemate until the army of the Duchy of Costa Sud arrived and defeated the attackers. Their army was smaller, only 1500 soldiers, but it consisted entirely of trained soldiers.
It was only after this battle when Leopold became the commander of the combined armies, but apparently this didn't stop his supporters from spreading rumors that he had been personally involved in the fighting from the start.
In any case, his army then proceeded to steamroll the rest of Insula Striate, before invading Insula Fonte, where the war would end.
By this point the remaining factions of Insula Fonte and Insula Dracon had borth been finishing preparations for a series of siege battles that they hoped would drain the attacking force, however things went very differently.
The assault on Insula Fonte began in the spring of 1639 at Albeto Pero. The army landed on the narrow peninsula west of the fort and began sieging the fort. None of the factions of Medici had a proper navy at the time, but few of them did have a pinnace, or two, to fight off pirates. Leopold had assembled a fleet of 6 such ships (mostly taken from the defeated kingdoms of Val de Mar and Maestrale) and used them to bombard the fort to support the operation.
The fort was relatively well defended by a total of about 7500 soldiers, while the attacking army numbered about 4800 altho Leopolds army were experienced veterans of the Striate conquest.
Model of a pinnace-type ship, the likes of which were used in the battle of Albeto Pero.
The fort of Albeto Pero was already very old by this time, but it was very well designed and admirably stood up to the bombardment. One of the defining features of the fort had been its large central tower. Having stood about 45 meters tall, the stone tower allowed observation of all surrounding area. Nothing remains of that ancient fort today, as it was later replaced by a stronger star fort at its place.
The battle stalled into a stalemate and the situation for Leopold was made worse by the defenders mocking his claim to power.
According to the defending side, "You can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you!" Eventually some of Leopolds own troops started questioning his authority. On the night of 23d to 24th of may, the weather was already poor and morale was low for Leopolds army. Leopold climbed to the top of one of the siege towers that was still parked further away and started making a speech, while waving the Gladius Ex Virtute Magnifico in the air. His speech was frequently interrupted by taunting from the fort, such as "If I went around, saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me...".
At that point lightning hit the forts tower multiple times and an enormous internal explosion demolished the tower. The explosion had killed an estimated 2500 soldiers in the fort and stone debris had flown far enough to rip holes into the ships sails. The explosion also caused a massive fire in the fort, which caused the remaining defenders to abandon the fort and surrender immediately.
According to multiple witness accounts, the present people believed the lightning to have been sent by the godess Fiorella to punish the soldiers for mocking her.
According to contemporary conspiracy theories however, the explosion was instead caused by the gunpowder that the defenders would have been storing in the tower and it may have been ignited by traitors who had been bribed by Leopold. Leopold was known to have bribed people before with his new found wealth from the treasury of the late Kingdom of Val de Mar.
There is however no question of what happened next. News of what had happened and what had probably caused it, made Insula Fonte surrender by the evening of may 25. Insula Dracon remained unconquered, but they bargained for acceptable terms of surrender the following week. With that, the rule of King Leopold I was recognized by all of Medici. ...At least for a while.
Trivia[]
- Unless someone would make a very old-timy prequel, this article only expands the lore of Medici.
- Notice how the official intel for Albeto Pero says: "The town of Albeto Pero came into being following a brutal naval siege on the ancient fort that once stood in its place. Ironically enough, the only surviving portion of its once-proud walls is the very same that was front and center to the most violent bombardments. Guided tours often stop atop the lighthouse at nearby Point Laurino, where tour guides badly botch their retelling of the conflict that took place around them.", which fits the above story.