Rebellion
The politics of the rebellion were more complicated than one might expect. Despite their lack of freedom and being subject to the whims of cruel tyrants, it was a lifestyle the Fubarnii had known for many generations, and change is difficult to face. They had mastered the art of keeping their overlords happy, and it required obedience, avoiding accumulating too much obvious power, and generally not being a threat. This would usually ensure they were left alone. The Devanu understood that ill-treated slaves could not work as efficiently, and did not cause needless harm. Where a Fubarnii was killed, it tended to be as an example to others, or simply an accident. The consequences of mutiny were therefore dire, and for most a risk not worth taking.
But something tipped the balance. The story that reached the history books was as follows: an engineer called Gehran, by a combination of mechanical means and primitive explosives, managed to destroy the local Devanu tower. In retribution, the surviving Devanu slaughtered his entire village, and made life unbearably difficult for the other villages in their territory. As is the way with engineers, Gehran's actions were probably more for the satisfaction of seeing his invention work that through any consideration of the consequences. However, it was the spark that lit the fuse, and from then on each clan had to make a choice; support the rebellion, or support the Devanu. When framed in those terms, treachery against one's own kind seemed unthinkable – almost. Still some individuals fought to keep the status quo, fearing that the rebellion would be quashed, knowing that even if victorious many lives would be lost along the way. But as it gathered pace it became harder to ignore the call. There was something else to add to the balance – which clans would be favoured in the new world order, once the Devanu were overthrown? In many clans, internal struggles took place, often with a younger member calling for freedom in opposition to the prudence of their elder. The outcomes were varied. But eventually liberation came to everyone, and those who had held out against it had to live with the shame for many generations.
A point that Gehran had not taken on board was that coordination was essential to the success of the rebellion. A single village, or even all the villages within a territory, could not hope to destroy their Devanu clan without the surrounding Devanu moving in and wiping them out in turn. It was a Fubarnii named Dimor who saw this problem and resolved to overcome it by uniting the Fubarnii. Hailing Gehran as a hero and making much of the harsh conditions the Fubarnii in that area now lived under, Dimor convinced a number of them to hide out underground and begin plans for a full-scale rebellion.
The rebellion began in the region of what is now the Empire's capital. The cave network under Gar Loren today is impressive, and its inhabitants bask in the knowledge that it was in these caves their ancestors gathered to plot the Devanu downfall. Of course the cave system has been extended since, but the original caverns were nevertheless still one of the largest in all Anyaral. The Devanu as a species are not fond of caves; it is likely that they barely knew of their existence, and certainly not of their extent. This, coupled with their obliviousness to individual Fubarnii, allowed a perfect scenario for slaves to slip away unnoticed and make their home beneath the ground.
Part 1