War of Split Hearts

The War of Split Hearts was a civil war that tore the Mbe'ke dwarves apart between 3841–3844 AR.

History

High King Nkobe was always a deeply suspicious person with a quick temper, and the sudden death of his son and last scion of his hereditary line—who succumbed to a deadly disease in 3841 AR—rapidly amplified the worst facets of his personality.

In his paranoia Nkobe became convinced his son, his royal heir and last scion of his line, had been poisoned. Nkobe began secretly gathering allies and plotting revenge on his imagined foes, and later that year he began a massacre that became known as the Nine Days of Blood. Beginning with the royal doctors, then proceeding with the fellowships of surgeons, barbers, and medicine women, Nkobe's masked enforcers eventually arrested thousands of Cloudspire's citizens and executed them along its hanging bridges. The Wellspring beneath the city ran red with their blood.

The survivors of King Nkobe's brutal crackdown launched the War of Split Hearts, which lasted until 3844 AR and was brought to an end only by the intervention of Cykurarreot the Mist and her fellow cloud dragons. By the end of the war, Nkobe and almost all of the Mbe'ke aristocracy lay dead, their power shattered.

Legacy

Nkobe's name became a byword for cruelty, tyranny, and evil; all statues of him were toppled, images of him were defaced, and his name was removed from the list of Mbe'ke kings. To this day, Nkobe’s Hall, where High King Nkobe made his final stand, is considered a cursed place avoided by Cloudspire's citizens. Fellowship leaders formed the Assembly of Speakers, and in turn the Assembly of Kings was created to select the new Mbe'ke High King.

The Bloodmarked fellowship, originally formed from the survivors of the Nine Days of Blood, persist as a modern military fellowship composed of survivors of those killed by war or violence.

Nkobe's vendetta had also prevented the Mbe'ke from joining in battle against both demonic and Avistani encroachment, particularly the Taldan Sixth Army of Exploration and the Aspis Consortium's expansion into Bloodcove.