NEW VOSTOKA HISTORY -- Part VI "The Reconcile"

 PREFACE: Remember this? I got around to finishing the remaining maps and written sections, pertaining to New Vostoka's 700 year history! Its a bit wordy but, for those of you who enjoy world building and geopolitical history stuff, I hope you enjoy the rest of these!

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    The Seventh and most contemporary Interval of Vostokan History - The Reconcile - began in 701Æ with the signing of the Concord of Reconciliation, after which this age of peace would be named.

This document secured the state of Vostoka and its Provinces after the War’s End, at least among the Pact-Bound and the factions that once vied for the remains of the long dead Confederation. 

     Novigrad would reorganize its once feudalist power structure into that of a parliament, with both nobility and commonality from each dominant race electing its composition. The friendship established between the Pact-Bound of Karrikos, Dunstol and Novigrad would lay the foundation for the Crown Confederate Alliance - a political and economic bond between the three monarchs of the aforementioned Provinces. It also secured a number of concessions, trades, and unilateral agreements, that among them included the creation of the Rubikor Protectorate - and its joint management by the CCA. It also defined the borders of Karrikos once again, with the Noxoleum-rich territory of Karrik’s Oasis returned to the Ro’Thkai as reparations for their population being excluded from the reorganized assemblies of Novigrad. Another crucial aspect of the Concord was the dissolution and reorganization of the Crown powers’ armies, into a single defensive entity called the Grand Garrison. Exceptions were made for the Royal Platinum Guard in Dunstol, and the independent warriors imbued throughout Karrikos.

     Not included in this treaty were the Cyotek of Kolov, who never entered any formal written armistice after the short-lived unity of the Houses; for all intents and purposes, their war was still in effect, albeit with no tangible armed hostility throughout the Reconcile. The Reformed Houses had all but abandoned their claim to territory in the Province - having integrated into the societies of Riekwaulde and Novigrad - but they maintained a presence on the mainland, in Northern Kolov, while Southern Kolov continued to rebuild and thrive despite the restrictive Primarchy. However, the conflict between the Khelod factions and the House Orthodoxy is formally ended as outlined by the Concord [specifically the Treaty of Admeos] - settling the disputed borders between Kolov, Riekwaulde, and Karrikos.

     Finally, the nation-Province of Xiros had once more secured its borders under the veil of isolation and secrecy, but would never reach the majesty of their civilization at its height - having lost much Tetryan blood and territory to the Scourge, which was now under heavy observation as they licked their wounds in Tyvos and Skoros. Now beaten and broken, the Th’Rashik and Zol’Vhok became known as the Banished Clans - sentenced to obscurity and ruin in the Exiled Badlands of Karrikos and the frozen wastes of the Osrieks. The ascension of the young Tetryan Queen Aurore Xir Khan would mark the Reconcile as a tentative period of quiet and disarray for Xiros.

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     The first 25 years after the signing of the Concord would be known as the Restoration. Though there was now peace among the Provinces of New Vostoka, the planet had been utterly ravaged by 101 years of conflict and industry. 

     Populations endured unprecedented suffering, with untold numbers of displaced people and refugees having fled from destroyed or captured cities and townships - primarily within the stretches of land between the many factions that rose and fell throughout the war. Notably, the Vastlands of Riekwaulde, The Flatte in Novigrad, The Badlands of Karrikos, and much of the land surrounding Sorvigrad City - now called The Null Territory - had been utterly devastated by Alchemic warfare. Trenches, poisoned ground, eviscerated forestry and plagued wildlife were what remained of these brutal tactics, and the Alkemic Fogs as they became known, would take nearly half a century to dissipate. 

     Nearly a million Automata built for War were also left without purpose or direction, entire battalions being left to their devices as they were stricken with the burden of developing intelligence - and many were forced to build their own reclusive societies among the wreckage they had wrought. Most would find purpose under The Recycle, a movement led by the Crown Confederation to integrate Automata into positions of usefulness post-war, though this would soon prompt the world wide debate of Automated slavery.

     There was also the matter of the Blight-Rot, which had reached its zenith under the 2nd Epidemic - now entering its 3rd Epidemic - that had crippled much of what was now Volgast Province, blanketed most of Xiros, festered in the ice of Tyvos and Skoros, and continued to afflict the edges of the central Stalriek. Though the Triumvicarum continued to dispatch their Sanitarum Chapter to study and contain the disease among the CCA, other nations were now at the mercy of the disease as it poisoned both people and planet alike - producing Dead Zones where the Rot was beginning to change the very physical nature of Vostoka itself.

     There were those who continued to harness its Arkana infusion properties, despite the banning of Techromancy [among several other dangerous brands of Arkana such as Chronomancy] throughout Vostoka, after its prevalent use throughout the war by the Scourge. 

     Arkana practice itself became somewhat rarer within the more industrious centers of New Vostoka, as the utterly massive population of magic users - as well as the institutions, items and means of harnessing Arkana - became more regulated and policed. Of the many new Ministries established by the CCA, one was dedicated to the cataloging and oversight over all Arkana practiced within the Crown Provinces - a controversial policy that saw varying degrees of success, within their borders and beyond. The usage of Ancient Technologies had also once more become a cultural and scientific taboo, due to the proliferation of destructive tools engineered from the remnants of the Old Monarchy; access and research into such sites where this technology was gleaned became heavily restricted.

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     The fragile peace of the Reconcile, having lasted roughly 60 years since its advent, was at last threatened in 766Æ with the brewing political catastrophe inside Volgast Province - which erupted in the upheaval of the bureaucratic and bourgeois proxy-government established after Ashen Civil War. Just prior to this, an illicit excavation into the hazardous labyrinth beneath Mors uncovered an ancient Vault; thought to be of the Old Monarchy, but containing the dormant remnants of what would soon become known as The Gnostic - Harbinger of the Corpse God. This abstruse intelligence invoked the immediate reverence of those involved in the operation, forming the foundations of the Volgast Warcult. This underground movement fed off of the resentment, poverty, sickness, and xenophobia festering throughout the Ashen Peninsula - promising a new order that would dismantle the “oppressive and ineffective” government and its Diarchan Pantheon. In 767Æ, armed Cultists seized power in Volgast, utilizing technology stolen from the Gnostic Crypt; most devastatingly, a massive Arkana artillery system - called the Finger of Malice - which obliterated the coastal city of Vulgath, initiating the Volg Revolt.

     The ensuing coup was short, violent, and bitter. Largely ignored by the rest of the realm, the coup gave rise to the Warcult as a recognized power. Unwilling to disrupt the global peace, the CCA hesitated to act in any meaningful way - instead opting to place useless trade sanctions on the Peninsula, which was essentially already quarantined due to the Blight Rot. This act only fueled the xenophobic hatred of the Warcult, who continued to build of their military - augmenting it with technology recovered from the blessed Vault.

     Going into the contemporary decade of 770, New Vostoka now stands on the precipice of a conflict that threatens to engulf the world once more.