The Barbarian Wars

Harsonia was once a very different city. In its early days it wasn't the universal refuge it has become today. Instead, the seven guilds of Harsonia, seven wealthy and powerful families, were locked in a cold war with each other. The districts and areas of the city were kept separate, and traffic from one area to another was largely monitored by officials of the various guilds. Their conflict nearly brought the city down on itself over the course of the years, and it wasn't until the Barbarian Wars that the guilds finally banded together and formed the Wartime Covenant.

While the exact reason that sparked the Barbarian Wars is lost to time, many people (especially Snowmarchers) claim that a group of Snowmarcher merchants and travelers were killed in the city of Harsonia, struck down by members of one of the guilds. Among the victims was Olaf Danikson, third son of the High Thane of Clan Winter-Wind. The Snowmarchers saw this as an act of war, and after some sour, and hostile, attempts at diplomacy with various guild leaders, the Snowmarchers assembled their armies and marched south on Harsonia.

The Barbarian Wars were a largely defensive conflict for Harsonia. Even after the guild leaders agreed to pool their resources, the segmented layout of the city mixed with individual ambitions made organizing a single war effort extremely difficult. The Order of the Silver Shield, one of the more prominent guilds and the family who took great pride in their knights and combat training, formed the main defense against the Snowmarcher Clans, supported by House Ashwhym and House Coliar. The three combined guilds were formidable, but without the organized assistance of the other four houses, they stood little chance against the Snowmarchers.

It wasn't long before the Snowmarcher Clans broke into the city and began their slaughter in the streets. After five days of street-fighting, the three combined guilds agreed to a surrender, yet the terms of the surrender would forever change social and political structure of the city.

Forming the Covenant
The Snowmarchers would only accept the Harsonian surrender under two conditions: the first was for Lord Detrius, Lord Ashwhym and Lord Colliar, the three who had the foresight to formally surrender, to give up their power in the guilds, stepping down and letting others take their places. The three of them did this, seeing that loss of some power was much better than complete destruction.

The second condition was that the leaders of the other four guilds, the ones who were too wrapped up in their own survival and their own agendas to give up the fight with honor, would be hunted down and executed publicly before the High Thanes of the Snowmarcher Clans. Seeing no other choice, the Wartime Covenant agreed to the terms, and within a matter of hours there were many groups of Harsonians, be they soldiers or civilians, scouring the streets of the city for the remaining four leaders.

All of the leaders were found quickly, save for one. Lord Naterius, head of his House, had fled the city soon after the Barbarian Wars had begun, and some say he went south, into Pukisho. His lieutenants told this to the Covenant leaders when they were confronted on Naterius's whereabouts, much to their dismay.

Eager to see their city rid of the Snowmarcher occupation, and agreeing that all leaders of House Naterius were to blame for the guild's dishonor, the leaders of the Covenant took Naterius's second-in-command, Roderick Maire, dressed him as the guild leader, cut out his tongue, and sent him to his death along with the other three.

The Snowmarchers accepted the public beheading of the four presented, believing Maire to be the actual master of House Naterius, and kept their word, leaving Harsonia and returning to their cold northern homelands.

The sudden lack of established leaders left a vacuum of power in Harsonia that the Covenant leaders knew had to be filled, and soon. With the three Covenant leaders stepping down from their houses, they became advisers to a new generation of Harsonian politics, and witnessed the creation of the Covenant of Harsonia.