Crestfall Massacre
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The The Crestfall Massacre, Also known as The Massacre at Crestfall, The Butchering at Crestfall & The Extermination at Crestfall was a genocidal massacre that took place at Crestfall, located in the Renatus Holy Lands. It was committed by the Knights of a Holy Order known as the Order of the White Rose against the non-human population of the City, mainly targeting the Elven inhabitants that had settled after the Merging of Vendere and Ceru into the City of Crestfall. The Event gave the Order of the White Rose respect within the Human Kingdoms among allies & notoriety among enemies and sympathetic parties.
Contents
Prelude
In 1378, Jack & Jiraiya Amador, a pair of brothers from the House of Amador and rulers of Vendere realized an exodus of Haelun'orean Elves had taken place at Ceru, an Elven Settlement North of Vendere. After consulting with the Distuth Thruill, the Leader of Ceru, it was agreed that the settlements of Ceru and Vendere would merge and become a single polity under the rule of the Human Noble House of Amador, led by the Prince Jack Amador. This merging of the settlements created the merchantile City of Crestfall.
After absorbing a reasonable Elven population with this merger, the Archipelago came under the Scrunity of the Church of the True Faith, sending a man of the cloth to go investigate the cultural habits and inhabitants of Crestfall, returning with a scathing report back to his superiors that the city was full of degenerates and heretics.
Whilst nothing was done in reaction to this report at the time, a group of Holy Warriors founded the Order of the White Rose in 1384, in the Barony of Rivia, located just outside the County of Ildon. This group, led by Peter Chivay, the titular Grandmaster of the Order of the White Rose, along with his Knightly-Companions: Velwyn Ashford, Baldir Toov and his brother, Thomas Chivay, got hold of the report and decided to act upon it. Agitating for the expulsion of the Elves from Human Territory, the Order of the White Rose asked the Church of the True Faith to recognize the Archipelago as a Holy Land, that required claiming by the Humans and cleansing of Elven Taint.
The Massacre
In 1390, The Order of the White Rose committed the Crestfall Massacre. The Massacre started when an Unknown Knight of the Holy Order, disgusted by the presence of Sadia, a Dark Elf and former slave in the employ of the House of Amador was slain. The death of the Dark Elf snowballed into the Knights of the Order, led by Thomas Chivay, rampaging through the streets of Crestfall, slaying any non-human resident in the city, primarily any sub-race of the Elves but also some Dwarves who worked as Miners, Blacksmiths and craftspeople.
The true number of the slain was never written, however the brutality of the massacre became wide spread. By all rational standards, the actions of the Order of the White Rose constituted a Genocide, as they wished to kill the non-human inhabitants for the sole wish of those races ceasing to exist. The architect of the massacre, Thomas Chivay, was later dubbed the The Butcher of Crestfall. Other Known Knights that are likely to have participated, though cannot be verified, are Velwyn Ashford, Baldir Voor & potentially even Peter Chivay.
Aftermath
In 1399, recognizing the strength and influence of the Order of the White Rose in his own lands, as well as in the wider Kingdom of Renatus, [[Jack Amador persuaded the Order of the White Rose to aid him in his conquest of the rest of the Archipelago, resulting in the consolidation of the Islands under the House of Amador. Thereafter, the Church of the True Faith recognized Jack Amador as the Duke of the Holy Lands.
In 1404, Jiraiya of the House of Amador sold the territory comprising of the former settlement of Ceru, for an undisclosed sum, to the Duchess Helaine of Auvergne, from the House of Guivret, who attempted to revive the area as an industrial settlement. However, after failing to garner any new settlers to the region, Ser Edmond Brunswich, then the Lord Regent of Auvergne gifted the land to the Order of the White Rose, where they constructed a Stronghold on the land, formally renaming the site as the Krak du Rhoswen, which stood for the "Fortress of the White Rose". The Fortress would become the center of the Holy Order's machinations
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