Kindling Comes Alight: 1190
For years several underground Christian factions had been waiting. Ever since the creation of the Ethiopian Islamic theocracy, many had cried out against the jizya and shortened political ladder for Christians. The Catholics of the South hated this Caliph and his polices yet the North loved and revered this ruler. Soon, a spark would light this bipolar world into a blaze. Then, the spark was created. Rebel leaders suddenly began calling for men, women, and children of all age to join their rebel group. The caller was known as Overlord. He called together both native Africans who needed no reason to fight Ethiopia as they would have done it anyways, and rebel Christian who wanted to pursue religious freedom. Enormous amounts of revolutionaries began to fill the forests near Mombasa and Gondar. The garrisons of both cities began fearing the worst as they were massively outnumbered.
Several weeks later terrible news arose from the Southernmost city of Ethiopia, Yeha. A man who had been able to escape the tragedy fled to the city of Jabuuti to warn the Caliph and his army. He ran to the market square yelling "Yeha is gone! Yeha is gone!" At first people were skeptical and thought this man a lunatic, but sure enough, it was true. The rebel leaders, Overlord, Basileus, and Vigilante (adhiraj, DKVM, and VGL) all sent one letter proclaiming their secession until religious freedom is true in the whole empire. Infuriated by this, the caliph sent his army South to deal with the imputent rebels.
Meanwhile, in Yeha, the leaders were being haled as heroes and treated as such. Vigilante was currently in Europe, drumming up international support, and Basileus was in the North, conducting espionage against the empire. Overlord controlled the main armies of the rebel faction. He was responsible for ensuring that Yeha would not fall and that both Gondar and Mombasa would fall. Both Overlord and the Caliph were confident this would be an easy victory, and neither would be right.
A smaller-scale rebellion also occurred near Meroe. This was not nearly as large as the ones to the South and was independent of the Christian revolts. These people just wanted chaos to reign for the sake of it. The Nubians began encroaching farther onto Ethiopian territory but the army would have none of it. They immediately dispatched the troops stationed in Meroe and hunted down the medjays. They were quickly caught harassing a plantation. The battles were short and vicious, Ethiopia came out on top. This victory helped to moralize the troops and the general public.
Seeing the numbers of rebels swell by the day, military leaders in Gondar and Mombasa decided to dip into the treasury to fund for more and better-trained troops. As they attempted to get the coins, they realized something, there was no money even there. It seemed as though the goal of Basileus' espionage was to drain the funds of the Ethiopians for this exact reason. The counter-espionage agents were fired and the treasury guards arrested for treason and conspiracy against the state after they were heard confessing they helped the rebels. The Caliph was even angrier that his nation was now broke. They had no money left and could not make deal with other nations in return for gold, perhaps this was the plan. Regardless, the people of Gondar and Mombasa were under-defended and vulnerable to attack. The official whom oversaw the protection of the city, who, ironically, is Christian, decided that it was time to utilize the enemies of the state. The authorities travelled to the prisons in their respective cities and picked out 10,000 of the strongest looking criminals they could find. They were promised freedom if they fought for Ethiopia, and they all full-heartedly accepted this deal. Each one had branded on the hand so that could be distinguished that they were free criminals and soon after the wounds healed, they would begin training.