DMcCunney wrote:I'm not sure I see a civil war in North Harchong. Who would be the combatants? Those currently there want to maintain the status quo.
The civil war I see as possible will occur if the Mighty Host attempts to repatriate to North Harchong. The last thing those there want to see is is the best part of a couple of million serfs and peasants who have been given modern arms and taught to use them.
North Harchong attempts to keep them out will be doomed to colossal failure, as they'll be arguably more outclassed than the traditional Safeholdian armies armed with pikes, bows, arbalests, matchlocks and non-portable muzzle loading artillery were when they encountered rifle equipped Charisian forces. Earl Rainbow Waters winding up as the new Emperor when the dust settles would be a distinct possibility.
A more likely place for the Mighty Host to land is South Harchong, who might just welcome a trained, well equipped field army, thumb it's nose at North Harchong, and say "We secede." What could North Harchong do about it? (Whether South Harchong could resist the temptation to add the Kingdom of Sodar as a province is a good question. It's unlikely Sodar could resist if they tried.)
Another possibility is that some might just stay in Siddarmark. The devestation and depopulation of western Siddarmark leaves a fair bit of land that needs a lot of work. Most of the Mighty Host infantry were farmers before conscription. Offered an opportunity to become Siddarmarkan citizens and either employees of existing large agricultural efforts or freeholders working their own lands by the Lord Protector, a fair number might jump at it. Going back home and resuming their status as serfs and peasants won't be a popular notion.
Dennis
The problem I see with the thought that North Harchong might not allow the MH to return is that many of them, serf, proletariat, (didn't remember what to call the non-serf, non-noble class) and noble, left families behind. I don't see any of them being willing to abandon them in North Harchong. I also don't see North Harchong being willing to allow them to emigrate to other locations, especially not those of the serf class. The CoGA of Harchong is already in defiance of the edicts of the Grand Vicar with regards to the Inquisition, so I cannot see the Harchongese bureaucracy and or nobility obeying a command to allow them to leave, even if the serfs of the MH knew where to send for them. Also, that would be a pile of come and join me if you want to letters to be written by someone who could write to someone who probably cannot read assuming they were ever allowed to be delivered. (It's easier to keep a serf on the farm if you can keep him/her ignorant). So I think the majority of the MH is going to want to go home, and North Harchong is going to have a tough time stopping them.