Froturnish Civil War (108-109 AEKE)

The Froturnish Civil War of 108-109 was a civil war - or more precisely, a succesfull coup d'état - in the Kingdom of Froturn that resulted in drastic changes in the country's political landscape, and is widely considered to be the end of the kingdom's previous eight-centuries long Golden Age of peace, stability and prosperity.

Background
After a three-centuries civil war, Froturn was unified in the late 9th century BEKE. What followed as a reformation, and a Golden Age of philosophy, science, trade, peace, stability and prosperity... or so the overly-nostalgic historians say. In reality, "Golden Age" Froturn was an over-bureaucratized quasi-theocratic police state. Because the country prospered so much due to the maritime trade with the East, and because living stnadards were higher than ever before, no one noticed the copious amount of government spending - spending that was required to finance the overbloated state apparatus.

The collapse of the Jing dynasty in the eary 1st century AEKE triggered a minor economic depression in Froturn, from which the country not only seemed to recover quickly, but in fact turn into the number-one supplier of silk to Artograch. Despite this, Froturn's economical situation was never the same. To maintain the standards of living, the state apparatus, the employment of so many bureaucrats, and the large army, Froturn's budget under the rule of King Caelferus started going into deficit - so everything was financed by a mixture of increasing taxes and taking loans from certain foreign entities, namely Gabyr.

In late 105 AEKE, Froturn launched a war to depose King Hereric I of Etrand and replace him with a puppet King Osric. While the war was rather brief, it did put considerable amount of strain on Froturn's already knee-deep-in-deficit budget. Setting up garrisons in Etrand to defend the puppet-king from the impending rebellion was also an expensife affair.

In late 108, rumours were spread that the government was preparing to reduce the wages of the soldiers. While famous for their loyalty and professionalism, this rumour (which ultimately turned out to be untrue) was the straw that broke the camel's back for the already dissatisfied and disgruntled Froturnish soldiers stationed in Etrand that would go on to commit mutiny. The mutineering soldiers - as a way of showing the middle-finger to King Caelferus and his Etrandish puppet-king Osric - event went on to free the deposed Etrandish king Hereric from the prison, who would rally the Etrandish nobility around himself to depose Osric.

After receiving news of the mutiny, the army that was originally sent to make order in Etrand and punishg the mutineers, led by General Vaclus Helviatha decided to disobey orders and attempt a coup d'état to depose the government. Hence, the civil war would start. The returning mutineers would ally with Helviatha's faction and join him in his campaign to overthrow the government.