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Vargo: Imperial Survey History Circling the Wagons The subtext behind these discouraging assurances from offworld was plain to read: the leadership of the Known Worlds factions was giving up on Vargo as a lost cause. No one was foolish enough to challenge the Vau militarily (aside from a few diehard religious fanatics and human supremcists), and nobody cared to invest any more time or resources in a world where humanity faced certain extinction at the end of five years. When it came to solving the Vau problem, the Known Worlders on Vargo would be on their own. The only ray of light in these dark times was a missive from the Emperor himself. Alexius promised to contact the Vau embassy on the throneworld and see if a diplomatic solution was possible. In the meantime, he would send Questing Knights and the Imperial Eye to Vargo, to help investigate the problem and find a solution. Time would tell whether or not the Emperor lived up to this promise. Meanwhile, the Chancellor and the Primate met to discuss the crisis, and immediately began to butt heads, to no one’s surprise. Obviously, resolving the Vau crisis took precedence over all other matters of Church or state. If the 'balance' could not be restored within five years, nothing else the Triumvirs accomplished would matter anyway. Thus, investigating and solving the problem posed by the Vau must be the first priority of the Triumvirate. The Chancellor and the Primate were in agreement on that question. Just how to approach the problem was the point of contention that arose between the Avestite and Engineer leaders. The nature of the 'imbalance' humankind had spawned was not yet clear: it might be spiritual, or material, or both. The Chancellor asserted that efforts both theological and scientific must be applied with equal vigor to understand the problem and discover a solution to it. They could not afford to ignore any potential avenue. Primate Icarus vehemently disagreed, arguing that the crisis was clearly occult in nature, perhaps fabricated by the Vau themselves--and thus theology held the solution to the crisis. Fallout Emerging from their first meeting without finding any common ground, the two surviving Triumvirs went back to the various faction leaders in each sphere to plead their respective cases for a unified effort. Whichever approach the Known Worlders decided to adopt, it was likely that the technical expertise of the Merchant League and the occult lore of the Church would be required to implement the massive effort, and the resources and leadership of the Houses would be needed to finance and organize the operation. The two Triumvirs encountered a lukewarm response from the faction leaders. Months of war and chaos had devastated the ranks of the nobility, savaged the profit margins of the guilds, and spawned a crisis of faith among the clergy. The will to take on this new crisis was sorely lacking. A few Known Worlders answered the Triumvirs' call to arms, but many others were making plans to flee the planet. An atmosphere of despair and fatalism preoccupied the rest, taking their cue from their leaders offworld. As the Triumvirs struggled to implement their competing plans for Vargo's salvation, the repercussions of the Vau pronouncement continued to ripple across the planet. On May 2nd, 5006, a man calling himself Alonzo Mercedes assumed the title of Senator, claiming to be the only legitimate heir to the legacy of House Mercedes. His claim was heartily endorsed by the Taigen Synod of the Vargen Church, and he was backed by a confederation of landholders who lived along the upper valleys of the Santiam River. The new, so-called Senator Mercedes declared that it had been the actions of greedy, warmongering offworlders and their corrupt Church that had earned the wrath of the Vau and brought Vargo to the brink of ruin. Claiming to possess secret knowledge essential to resolving the Vau crisis, he pledged to save Vargo from destruction and invited the rest of the planet's indigenous population to join him in that righteous cause, driving the offworlders from Vargo once and for all so that the old order could be restored. Defections Few outside the Upper River Confederation heeded Senator Alonzo's invitation. Many of the other Vargen landholders, disillusioned with Mercedes leadership, decided to go their own way rather than submit once again to the whims of an unknown Senator. Two of the native governments that emerged from these defections were the 'Storm Coast,' a loose alliance of local lords along the northwest coast, and the 'Okar Free State,' a trade federation that seemed to enjoy the patronage of the Brother Battle. Closer to home, a startling pronouncement came from the city of Doura along the western coat, on May 27th. A local landholder styling himself 'Captain General' Sharls Manuel Imandura proclaimed that his family was descended from Emanuel Huevo Iman, the great Hazat general who had orchestrated the overthrow of the Chauki and was later canonized as Saint Emanuel. Sharls claimed that the Mercedes, and the Hazat themselves, had concealed the fact of this ancestry from his family for a thousand years. The self-proclaimed Captain General soundly rejected the leadership of the Mercedes, yet also repudiated any affiliation with the local Hazat on Vargo, calling on other Imandura across the planet to follow suit. Until such time as Prince Juan recognized his family's claim, the Imandura in what had been Doura province, and what was now called the Captaincy of Doura, would follow their own path, independent of treacherous Mercedes and offworlders alike. He certainly sounded bullheaded enough to be a Hazat. The Imandura proclamation had unforeseen consequences for the Triumvirate. Duke Alvaro's loyak knights and levies, left demoralized and aimless after his death at Prophet's Crossing, responded to the Captain General's pronouncement with predictable Hazat impetuosity. 31 Hazat knights defected to the Imandura and pledged to win justice for their cause. These knights took with them over a thousand veteran Hazat and Vargen troops, rifles, ammunition, and two platoons of Cx-Omega scout tanks. The End of the Beginning This Hazat defection struck a serious blow to the VDF, already weakened by the losses it had suffered fighting the Kurgans and Rees Catalfan's dark horde. The VDF was diminished further as the other houses, fearing for the security of their own lands, withdrew their levies and brought them home. Field Marshal Valencia threw up his hands in disgust and tendered his resignation. If the Triumvirate needed his help, let it hire his Muster mercenaries--and pay dearly for the privilege. Altruism be damned. In the midst of this chaos, the Triumvirate was robbed of yet another leader. On June 17th, 5006, a bomb detonated in the Agora as Chancellor Howe was inspecting newly-installed security devices intended to prevent terrorist attacks. The Chancellor was killed, along with 7 Engineer personnel and 25 Vargens. 77 innocent bystanders were also wounded in the blast. A few days later, a terrorist group calling itself the Shining Light claimed responsibility for the explosion, hailing the act as a great victory for the Vargen people. The last of the original Triumvirs was gone, and with his passing an era seemed to come to an end. For all the enmity the original Triumvirs had earned for themselves among their peers, the Triumvirate had enjoyed relatively security during most of their reign; none of the Known Worlders’ enemies had succeeded in breaching its defenses. Now, as darkness loomed on the horizon, the only authority in the Triumvirate was a fire-breathing Avestite whose fanaticism might spark a war with the Vau. The future seemed grim indeed. The Vau proclamation had swept across Vargo like wildfire, leaving a radically altered map in its wake. Vargo now bore little resemblance to the lost world that the factions of the Empire had discovered in 4994, then tried to conquer, then struggled to defend against cruel enemies seeking to rain destruction upon all they held dear. All that the Known Worlders had fought to build, the homes they had carved for themselves on Vargo, the fragile trust they had earned among a few Vargens, these things were under threat of destruction. 8 |