Coeus Civil War

Category	Wars
Period	1694 - 1697
Theater	Azrik
Belligerents	Raxcvillibus VS Church of Coeus (Ba'lith)
Map	Vetoubahr

The Coeus Civil War was a war between a faction of Ba'lith's military under General Raxcvillibus and the Church of Coeus. It began after the capture of Marmarath, during the Terror March. Raxcvillibus was met by Ba'lith army that sought to block his advance south of Marmarath. He convinced the army to join him in overthrowing Ba'lith's corrupt government. The convincing was rather easy since many of the army's soldiers had either once served with him or had fathers and grandfathers that told of his deeds dating all the way back to 1632 when he became a Ba'lith general. Even though he was a hell knight and of a race that had once subjugated them (c.f. Great Minotaur Revolt), many revered him as a national hero. The nature of Azrik's minotaurs also helped him because they have always viewed personnel valor and might over religion. This was one of the convincing factors of the war - would their be rule by the army or by the church.

As Raxcvillibus marched south, other Ba'lith generals joined his growing army. This led to a division in the empire, with some taking sides with the Church of Coeus (then rulers of Ba'lith's theocratic government) and those siding with the invader.

In Dreamer 1695, following the advice of Asmodeus, "If Coeus is removed, you will have the Right of Victory", Raxcvillibus and his team went to the world Dol Vahdin and killed the demigod Coeus. Such was its size, he brought his head back in a wagon. Priests of Coeus were the first to feel the impact of their god's death. They lost all future divine energy from this god, so they could not get any more spells, and worse, they were without a god. Some of the minotaur priests came to Raxcvillibus with the view that if he could slay a god, then he himself be near-god, "for only a god can kill another god". After further confirmation that Raxcvillibus was behind Coeus's death, they pledged fealty to him as their new leader.

In the ensuing conflict, Raxcvillibus's forces stormed the temples of Coeus, and without mercy, butchered priests and worshipers. This purging of Coeus's priesthood and worshipper base lasted four years. When it was over the Church of Coeus was gone. In the same year that he killed a god, Raxcvillibus was made emperor of Ba'lith. He ushered in a religious conversion that removed the last vestiges of Coeus and spread the gospel of the Church of Asmodeus.

Once the enemy is in your lines and among you, have your batteries drop everything they have on you.

- Raxcvillibus, excerpt from the Generals of Hell - "Military Doctrines"

Across Azrik, the priesthood of Coeus was destroyed. Some fanatical bands made for the mountains, swamps and other remote areas; and for a time carried out guerrilla attacks. The city of Bithiemeth was the backbone of resistance to Raxcvillibus's new rule. The place fell after a siege of three months. Most of the defenders succumbed to a virulent disease spread by Borurthane agents.