A Historical Account of the Mundane War
The following is a transcript written by a pre-modern historian of West Hohm named Johnol Nosh. It's been transcribed and preserved in its entirety within museums across Legere, with the original copy held in the library of the Thaumaturgical Academy of Arcane Studies, where it serves as a reminder of the dangers of unchecked rhabdophobia. It documents the major events of the Mundane War.
Some time before 380 PBD, back before Phovezila as a kingdom existed, there were three kingdoms lining the lands around Docron Lake. The fishmongering people of Danthol laid claim to present-day Icthy’s Rest, the subjects of Falla found their borders on the north side of the Hydrisikk river below the Phayu Wing Mountains, and the now infamous Sandar possessed the wealth of the land that would one day become the city of Phovezila.
Sandar was the biggest and most powerful of these, but its people knelt beneath the oppression of the tyrant Sadoln that rose to power after father, the old king, perished. Sadoln was a powerful mage who employed some old fork of Nuimancy, which any well-studied mage can tell you is a very volatile magic. Sadoln's reign was so disastrous that it abruptly ended when unrest reached a boiling-over point, bringing a bloody revolution down on his head. Much to my dismay, I have failed to acquire any record on the length of his reign or revolution, but to the best of the knowledge I and others have gained from the sources I have attached, it was likely within the range of seven to twelve years.
Regardless of the timespan, it is undeniable that a single man rose from the chaos to don the mantle as the new ruler of Sandar: a man named Bern Stein. This man was part of the upper-nobility who helped fan the flames of the original revolution. He rallied everyone under the banner of anti-mage sentiments and began publicly executing mages who had been loyal to the original court. Not long after, Bern banned the use of magic in Sandar and moved on to persecute all casters within the kingdom.
This is when Bern wrote his infamous Pamphlets of the Mundane, espousing a new doctrine that worshipped physical strength while abhorring anything even remotely magical. Any fellow historian familiar with this time period shall remember that magic was less widespread, meaning mages made up a minority of the population. It was a lot easier to turn the populace on them, though Bern wasn’t bold enough to order the confiscation of magical items that the public relied on during their daily lives yet, as that was sure to lose the people’s support. That would come in time, however. In any case, Bern treated everyone else very favourably by freeing them from the previous restrictions imposed by Sadoln in order to garner their trust and devotion, and he succeeded. I’ll go into detail about this later in this journal but in summary, he turned Sandar into a very nationalistic machine.
During the next year, Bern would go on to build a powerful military under the motive of keeping the people safe from magic users. There’s a lot of debate among my fellow historians whether or not Bern began his conquest out of a fervent reverence for his doctrine or if it was merely part of an arsenal to fulfill his own desire of conquest. I present a unique perspective on this I shall impart upon you later. Nevertheless, once Bern had secured an army loyal to him and his officials, he was ready to make his next move.
Around three years after the Sandar Revolution, Bern rallied the people to believe that Falla, who held mages in their own armies, was a threat to their freedom as an anti-magic state. Sandar's forces decimated the outer villages of Falla all while it scrambled to pull together an army. The accounts we can find from around that time indicate that Falla’s city planning was so disastrous that they couldn’t even afford to stall the invading forces. Falla surrendered and let Bern’s forces inside its gates. King Robinar set out to negotiate terms of tribute as is customary of invading forces at the time, but Bern had other plans. He and his men turned on the royal family, slaughtering them.
When the remaining western kingdom Danthol received word of what had happened, they panicked. The military might of Sandar was too big to be reckoned with. This is where we find the earliest letters written to Nungul and the Eastern Kingdoms, who were made aware of the situation but either didn’t care enough or were too slow to move. A year later in 374 PBD, Bern sunk his fangs into Danthol as well.
At this point, accounts of a great number of refugees coming out of the northwest began to concern the rest of Legere. Tensions built up as the surrounding people groups kept an eye on the bloodthirsty Sandar. If they hadn’t received word from Danthol previously, they would’ve been much less prepared for what would happen next. In the year of 373 PBD, Bern holds a meeting, in which a recovered transcript details him announcing his plans to stretch Sandar across Legere.
Sandar launched offensives against the scattered states to the south, conquering regions all the way down to Fleshflayers' Swamp. The king of Nungul at the time, King Bimgus, held good relations with Du Dô, Maena, and Gūm Ma. Seeing the imminent threat, he managed to convince these Isutan kingdoms to lend him aid in dealing with Sandar, but he and his family were eventually assassinated during attempted peace talks with Lord Bern. Nungul would be invaded by Sandar swiftly and ruthlessly.
As far as we can tell, Isutan aid most likely only came in the form of their Khatkir. Their first move was to spy on Sandar and monitor the situation inside the walls to see what exactly had started happening. They gathered valuable information on the Sandar government, including knowledge on important key holders, but the most notable thing their investigation uncovered was a growing rival faction within Sandar that did not share Bern’s anti-arcane sentiments. This was mostly formed of oppressed people who had once been a part of Danthol and Falla, although a very important figure led them, one of Bern’s own military officers. He had recently risen to his position when his predecessor was assassinated: a knight named Sir Azthur of House Unicorn. His entire regiment was ready to revolt and rally the people with it. It was then that they formed their plan.