Golden Revolution

The Golden Revolution (1525-1532), also called the Lucian Revolution, was the overhaul of the constitutional, political and social system of Cattala following the failed overthrow of King Lucius the Absolute by the House of Tyrheni and their vassal provinces. The Golden Revolution ended in the abolition of the feudal, Principality system that had existed in Cattala for more than 450 years and the eventual creation of a Council of State, now known as Parliament. The Golden Revolution is the basis upon which modern Cattala is built.

The Despot Laws
In the late summer of 1525, King Lucius the Absolute introduced strict new laws weakening the power of the Seven Principalities, a system of governance that had existed for centuries and was the bedrock on which the monarchy held its power. Two of the regions, Fieranti and Hellas, were already ruled by members of the Celestine dynasty whilst the nobility of Lessito and Roumeli relied on the King for their political and military strength.

The new legislation was passed by the King and his advisors, having been created to stop the aristocracy from siphoning off taxes from the King and using them to build up their own military strength. Much of the concern of court had been focused on Jennai, already the largest town in Cattala and its central port. House Tyrheni had fought numerous wars against the Celestine's during the Principality era and King Lucius believed that its power needed to be restrained.

As a consequence of the laws, vast wealth was bought back into the hands of the Crown and local Houses lost power, influence and money from their lands. These led to discontent amongst royal houses across the kingdom, but only the Tyrheni ruler, Giovanni of Jennai, spoke out. He was ignored at a Congress in Celestine, and walked out without signing the law.

Battle of Jennai Harbour
Giovanni mobilised his forces in Jennai and declared the former principality an independent state, with him as Prince. Lucius was furious at this, and blamed his advisors for not allowing him to go further when drawing up the laws. It's known that he was already in favour of destroying House Tyrheni for their past treasons. The Celestinian fleet was sent to attack Jennai's port, which was the centre of Giovanni's power and wealth.

A battle ensued as the two largest navies in Cattala went to war, with both sides losing dozens of ships over the course of the conflict. Documents from the city's scholars state that the citizens of Jennai could see fires burning out at sea "through night and day, for weeks and weeks" as the battle raged. However the battle ended in a stalemate, with both sides seeing their fleets decimated and Jennai lost out on large amounts of trade and income. The harbour was in ruins and their defensive forts barely standing after the barrage from Celestinian gunships.

But the fight in the Harbour was only the beginning of the conflict, and with hindsight was a ploy to distract the Tyrheni from events elsewhere. Whilst Jennai was bombarded, House Celestine had been preparing their army for a direct land attack.

Division of Cattala
After the end of the naval conflict, House Celestine sought to further demoralise the Tyrheni population and turn them against their ruler. A land attack was launched in March 1526, when several border towns were razed and holdfasts destroyed. Despite rising discontent and the surrendering of many border towns to the Crown, there was no Tyrheni response to the attacks. Giovanni and his armies were located on the northern border with Monte Calida, a territory ruled by the Seguno family and were focused on expanding their realm and persuading other states to reject the rule of the Celestine's. The nobility of Monte Calida refused to pledge fealty to Prince Giovanni and Anton Seguno referred to him as Lord Giovanni, his title when presented in Amosseri. This slight angered the short-tempered Tyrheni despot, who invaded Monte Calida and forced the province's rulers into exile. The army of Monte Calida withdrew to Fieranti principality, and allowed the Jennaian forces free reign over their land.

Over the following four years, Cattala was divided down the middle and trade routes were broken up by Tyrheni skirmishes. King Lucius continued his border skirmishes throughout the western flank of the Jennaian territories, but was taken ill in the winter of 1527 and the war effort was taken over by his advisor's. Tensions between the military, the people and the King's court grew as food and trade from east to west fell away and prices rose sharply. When the King was restored to health he executed many of the advisor's who had failed to end the conflict and take the battle to Prince Giovanni, who had amassed a greater fleet and army than the Celestine's now.

Elsewhere, House Seguno remained in exile and was fighting skirmishes in the north of the country in an effort to try and regain their lost territory and open up trade routes again. House Scavallo of Lessito, the country's breadbasket, had been losing income rapidly as trade in food to the populous west of the island was blocked by land and by sea. Unrest was spreading into Hellas, Roumeli and Fieranti and the war had lost momentum.

Congress of Felipé
Prince Giovanni Tyrheni invaded the Hellenic Islands in the spring of 1530, thereby ending all sea trade between the loyal provinces of the east and west. Giovanni attempted to persuade the lords of Roumeli and Lessito to support his cause, in return for recognition of their territorial independence and increased trade between Jennai and the eastern principalities. The Congress of Felipé was held in the north of Monte Calida, with a view over the Hellenic coastline where warships of House Tyrheni were bombarding Celestinian outposts.

Despite his show of strength, Giovanni failed to persuade Lord Ferdinand Vaas and Lord William Scavallo to support his secession cause. The alliances were never agreed upon and the Congress ended in failure.

Congress of Calora


After a stalemate in the summer of 1530, little progress was made on either side as the royalists and the secessionists regrouped and built up their forces. The monarchy was divided from its key supply routes and the Tyrheni forces controlled a greater area of land than the Celestine's for the first time in history. During winter, Lord Roger Aroe-Celestine, cousin and loyal supporter of the King, urged Lucius to forge more alliances. He argued that the western coalition between the Aroe's and Celestine's was not sufficient to defeat the Jennaian forces over such a large area. House Aroe called a secret Congress with the great houses of the east; Scavallo, Bonnecelli and Vaas.

The Bonnecelli dynasty, a small house elevated by the Celestine's after the Northern Seas War, had already lost its valuable Hellenic islands and feared further invasion by the free states. The Scavallo's of Lessito relied upon trade with the western states and had been losing lots of money since the beginning of the war and the division of Cattala in two. House Vaas had also been elevated to rulers of all Roumeli by the Celestine's and competed with the Tyrheni's for port trade. At the Congress, all three houses individually agreed to support the monarchy and join the war.

Lord Ferdinand Vaas signed a naval treaty with the Celestine's and the secondary Royal Fleet would, when reconstructed, be based in Roumeli and not Jennai as it had been previously. King Lucius signed a secret import order for a vast amount of food with Lord William Scavallo, ensuring the support of the lords of Lessito, and Lord Charles Bonnecelli was promised greater powers over Hellas, which he would never receive, and a marriage with the eldest daughter of the King, a great honour for a small House like the Bonnecelli's.

Battle of Jennai
In the spring of 1531, a co-ordinated invasion of Tyrheni-occupied lands began. House Aroe invaded the northern lands of Monte Calida and swept southwards with the support of exiled Seguno and Calleas forces whilst Crown troops cut off reservists in the westerlands. In Jennai Bay, the fleet of House Vaas began a bombardment of the city and Ionia was conquered by Roumelese soldiers from the Bonnecelli fleet.

Tyrheni forces immediately capitulated across the country, abandoning Monte Calida and Ionia altogether. Forced into a quick retreat, the Prince abandoned his city and fled to the eastern reaches of the principality, where House Scavallo had been biding its time and not revealed the secret treaty. Jennai was left guarded by a skeleton force and quickly overwhelmed by the royalist cavalry.

With the remaining Tyrheni host camped less than 50km from the Lessito border and three other royal houses closing in, House Seguno declared the treaty and launched a surprise attack on the camp after building up a large force of soldiers and cavalry near the border. Prince Giovanni was taken hostage and sent to Celestine along with his sons.

Dethroning of Giovanni
King Lucius led the elite royal force, the White Cloaks, into Jennai once the north-eastern camp had been decimated. The flag of Celestine was raised over the abandoned castle and port in a triumphant ceremony, as the city was taken over by the Royal Coalition armies who were all dressed in golden cloaks, on order of Lucius himself to express the power of the Crown.

The monarch surprised his advisers and family by moving court to Jennai, which he had been bombing just days before the surrender. He surrounded the city walls with royal soldiers and a cavalry guard lined the road approaching the city as the royal dignitaries entered the city. Prince Giovanni was forced to walk behind his horse wearing pauper's clothing as he was forced into the city he once controlled. Humiliated, he was dumped in front of the King and stripped of all titles and lands, along with his sons, before being dragged out of the city.

Consequences of the War
After the humiliation of Giovanni, King Lucius made a major announcement in Jennai. Describing it as a symbol of the opulence and undeserved power of a lesser house, he repealed the titles of all six other principalities and restored the absolute power of House Celestine, that had been handed to other houses in the 11th century. The court was stunned; Lucius had been pushing through controversial curbs on the power of other houses before the war but hadn't gone this far, or hinted at it before arriving in Jennai.

Victors of the war were made Lords Imperial of their provinces, but this was small consolation for losing the great powers that they had enjoyed for centuries. Celestinian princes were installed as Dukes across the former principalities, with absolute power vested in them as servants to the Crown. A Council of State was created, led by the King and his dukes from across the realm, including the former heads of the principalities.

Eventually this Council of State would evolve into the Parliament, and the absolute power that Lucius stressed was so important would be whittled away until 1815, when the islands were captured by the British. The Golden Revolution, far from being the crowning glory for House Tyrheni, was a success for the residing monarchy, who emerged with the greatest power they had ever had. Lucius was despised by his war allies, who had never been informed of what he had planned for them, and became known as a dictatorial, menacing ruler for the rest of his reign.