The Umvarin Conference was a meeting between multiple of the most influential Alammaran provinces to discuss the strategy of The Splintering and what would come after. It was located in the city of Umvarin, a now Falglorian city in the southeast. The Umvarin Conference was considered vital for minimizing the destruction caused by the Period of Chaos and helping to establish the new continental order that would come about because of it.
Background
The Umvarin Conference was the result of the tensions between the different provinces and the crown over a multitude of issues, this tension would lead to the Splintering and the collapse of The Alammar Empire. In the years leading up to the Splintering, it quickly became clear to almost everyone other than the High King and a few of his ministers that a civil conflict of some sort was inevitable, either leading to a civil war or a total collapse of the Empire, the latter becoming more likely with each day that passed on by. Already provinces and regions were beginning to appoint their own governments and prepare their sections of the Imperial Army for the coming conflict. The governor of the West Falglor province, easily one of the more powerful provincial governors, was worried about the future of his influence. He knew that it was going to be chaotic, theorizing that there would be a near complete breakdown of the law, and that his army and power would collapse as soon as the rebellion was over. Plus, it would be nice to make connections to other establishing powers and nation-states ahead of the curve.
As such, the Provincial Governor ordered his unofficial Foreign Minister, Wilfred Alden, to reach out to other notable provinces and organizations to establish a pre-revolution meeting and strategy. Wilfred reached out to the Fervoni Holy Union, Adhyria, Vysokiy, Erio, a dozen smaller provinces, and most importantly, the governor and trade coalition that ruled Efil. It was said that if Efil did not accept the invitation, or outright supported the Empire, that the conference would not have happened. But due to tensions between Efil and the High King over numerous policies, plus a desire from the trade coalition and the governor to mostly preserved the profitable status quo, they accepted the invitation, swaying numerous other provinces and notable figures to come to the Conference as well.
Victor the Fourth, the current High King, actually caught wind of the conference between the different leaders from loyalist messengers that informed him of the worrying amount of communication and messages that outright talked about rebellion. However, these warnings didn't make it far up the chain to anyone influential enough to do much due to the rampant corruption and nepotism that infested the central government of the Empire. The highest that these messages made was to the Seneschal of the Alammaran Royal Family, who passed it on to the Royal Clerk, who only told it to the High King in passing. Victor then dismissed the claims as nonsense, rationalizing that the Empire was too big to fail, and that if anything were to actually happen, the Imperial Army would undoubtedly either arrest the leaders of the rebellion without incident, or crush whatever tiny uprising or strike resulted.
In the communications, it was decided, through no small amount of lobbying from Erio, that the meeting be held in the city of Umvarin, a city on the riverbank of the Janisu River, one right near the Efil Province and therefore close enough to the center of the continent and close enough for everyone to arrive without a long travel. The conference was scheduled to begin on the 15th of Pereo.
The Conference
The different leaders or ambassadors of those invited to the conference began to arrive in the city in the weeks leading up to the conference, and by the time the conference was scheduled to start, they had to delay it by two days because the Vysokiyian delegates were taking an extra long time making their way down to the city. But eventually, on the 17th of Pereo, the conference officially started between the different factions.
The conference lasted for two weeks of spaced out negotiations. Much of what was discussed in the conference shaped the post-Splintering world, recognizing territory and borders, signing peace between most of the party in the days following the rebellion, and setting the state for the coming Period of Chaos. Notable negotiations that occurred was:
- What the post-Splintering calendar would look like (resulting in the New Independent Calendar)
- What currency would be used (Coins would continue to remain the continental currency)
- Matters of territorial recognition
- The right of conquest for the members of the conference
- Peace between the member states of the conference
Some notable members was the Kingdom of Erio, a rising power in the southwest, West Falglor, one of the heartlands of the Alammar Empire, the Province of Naun, the largest island of the Eari Isles, the Fervoni Holy Union, an established organization that held some middling influence and authority in the Empire, the governor and the trade coalition of the Province of Efil, easily one of the most prosperous and rich regions in the entire Alammar Empire. They all genernally behaved cordially with each other, except between the delegate of the Fervoni Holy Union and the Foreign Minister of West Falglor, who came nearly to blows over the issue of East Falglor and several other issues.
Also something of note was the issue of Falglorian unification, or conflicts pertaining to that issue. West Falglor was in an undeniably better spot to reunify Falglor as a singular nation following the rebellion and East Falglor knew this. As such, they attempted to eke out a peace that would hold after the rebellion to give them time to build up their forces, which failed with continued West Falglorian insistence upon them taking East Falglor. With that having failed, the governor of East Falglor, Elspeth Stewart turned to international support for a deterrent against West Falglor, finding partial allies in the Fervoni Holy Union and the Province of Tomachi who was also feeling threatened by Falglor's growing influence, also allying with Gal Agapito, a smaller province that based it's power off of maritime trade and it's above naval strength, possessing a moderately large amount of the Imperial Navy.
East Falglor then tried to push for ownership of the Urhaub Range, a critical portion of the West Falglorian mine network that so heavily defined it's resource base and importance in the Alammar Empire, giving West Falglor much of it's influence and power. This request was heavily rebuked by the Foreign Minister of West Falglor, with much support from the rest of the attendees, putting any hope of East Falglor resistance during the inevitable unification war in the ground.
Some other issues that were discussed was Efil, which insisted on maintaining it's borders and sovereignty without any of the string-attached proposals given by the different attendees, even trying to push for extra territory (which was mostly denied). Naun also was guaranteed that it could spread its hegemony about the Eari Isles with impunity, in exchange for some goodwill while interacting with some of the new nation-states. Vysokiy was also basically given the go ahead to conquer Ravenna if it so pleased to.
When the issue of Ajandah, the main capital city of the Alammar Empire was brought up, many were split. The Fervoni wanted to keep it around as sort of it's own city-state or a puppet, while others close to the city wanted to annex it completely to add to their prestige, many also wanted to simply raze the city to the ground and salt the ashes. In the end, it was decided that whatever happened was out of their control, since whatever they said probably wouldn't matter much anyway to the rebels on the ground, who would loot or start fires whenever they pleased with reckless abandon if they so chose.
Finally came the matter of the rebellion itself. While the Imperial Army was a shell of it's former self after countless years of decay and corruption, coupled with the disastrous Urysas Expedition and the increasing loyalty to their home provinces rather than the Empire itself, it was no doubt still a potential problem. Plus, the threat of loyalist counter-insurrections and the remaining Knights of Solamina made the potential rebellions not completely a risk free endeavor. Battle plans were drawn up along speculated lines where loyalist forces would make stands, guarantees and promises to combine forces and resources for the conflict to come, the whole thing.
Aftermath
By the end of the discussion, much of the groundwork for the new world order was laid out, and the different uprisings, revolts, and rebellions were set to go off in the middle of the year, when the High King was having his extravagant birthday party, to add some salt to the wound. The promises of military collaboration never really turned out to what they were meant to be, as either rebel forces became conglomerates of different ethnicities and nationalities with no clear chain of command or strictly regimented forces that didn't collaborate with each other.
However, the discussions and negotiations pertaining to what would happen following the Splintering did bear some fruit. The New Independent Calendar was made the official calendar by the Fervoni Holy Union (to little initial success), the coin was respected as the established currency, West Falglor did eventually invade East Falglor in the Falglorian Unification War, Uthan maintained it's independence and prestige, and Naun did establish their own united nation in the Eari Isles.
The Umvarin Conference was essential for establishing the modern state of affairs as we know it, and mitigating what the Period of Chaos might have been.