Tilennan Christian Genocide

The Tilennan Christian Genocide, sometimes called the 240 year Genocide, was a historical persecution, mass murder and enslavement of the followers of the religion in Tilenno that took place between 1743 and 1983. It officially ended with the start of the 4th Purity, when religious freedom was finally incorporated into the constitution.

The genocide is often divided into 3 different periods. The post-colonial period, that followed directly after the reunification of Tilenno in the mid 18th century. The Civil war period, which took place before the civil war at the end of the 19th century. And the radical period, leading up to the Osorra-Tilenno War, near the end of the 20th century.

The persecution was not always equally prevalent over the centuries. Most executions took place around times of political and societal unrest and change, like the Civil War and the Osorra-Tilenno War. Tilenno has had an historical habit of blaming her issue on the Artemians and Christians, which often manifested itself in the persecution of the white population. In the same vein, not all regions took equal part in the genocide; the city-state of Martones or Saint-Martin, was considered to be a safe-haven for Christians and to this day has one of the largest percentage of Christians in Tilenno.

While the genocide officially targetted all Christians, mostly white christians were killed or excommunicated, while dark skinned followers often got the chance to convert and be spared. There are also multiple accounts of white non-christians who were killed on the suspicion of being christian. The genocide is therefore also often described as a religious-ethnic genocide, instead of purely religious.

While religious freedom is officially protected in the modern Federation, the effects of this century long persecution are still heavily felt in Tilenno. Many people are still religiously intolerant and systematic racism against white people remains a pressing issue in the Purity. Tilenno often ranks as one of the worst nations when it comes to religious freedom and racial equality, with only South Kesh and Santa Magdalena doing worse.

Post-Unification
The post-unification genocide was mainly driven by the desire to rid Tilenno of the Artemian influence Ovancian colonizers installed in the northern regions. It started almost immediately after the reunification of 1743 as a response to the Northern Protests. They reached their peak around the 1770’s. The concrete execution often proved difficult because after 200 years of Ovancian rule, these regions were almost completely converted to christianity. The first genocide often stumbled upon large resistance of the local population and an unwillingness the convert to Lonàkae. This led to multiple small skirmishes between the confederal achirei and the christian villages.

Achirei
The Achirei were a group of confederal soldiers who were appointed with a mission to rid Tilenno of christian influence. They travelled across the northern regions burning churches and destroying other religious symbols, like smashing gravestones and statues. They also inspected the homes of citizens for any christian symbolism. If found, the residents of that home would either be immediately executed or captured and forced into slave labour or sold on the international slave market. Larger villages often tried to fend of the Achirei, but safe for a few exceptions, were insuccessfull in doing so.

Northern Protests
The Northern Protest were a series of insurgencies from 1746-1751 as a protest to the forced unification of Tilenno. Many inhabitants were of the opinion that they were better off as an independent state than joining a confederation that left them to die 200 years prior. They argued that the treaty of Hireno between Tilenno and Ovancia happened without the inclusion of the local leaders and therefore was invalid. They fought to secede from the Confederation and be recognized as an independent sovereign nation.

The Confederation, who at that point acted an functioned more as a federation, didn't want to give in to these protests and put them down by force. It claimed the Ovancian rule had corrupted their minds and they had to adopt Tilennan values or suffer the consequences. Christianity and other Artemian influences were banned nationwide and the Achirei were send out to enforce this decision.

Safe-Haven of Saint-Martin
A place never reached by the Achirei was the Island city-state of Martones or Saint-Martin. Since it was home to the largest city of Ovancian Tilenno and protected by the sea it was able in defending itself from the persecution. Over the course of the late 18th century many Christians fled towards the city in search of protection. The city quickly grew and became the Christian Capital of Tilenno. Even now pilgrimages are often undertaken towards the city.

Multiple attempts were made to invade Martones, but the confederal leaders quickly realised waging a war against the island would result in an unnecesary loss of Tilennan life and would put an enormous strain on the Tilennan Confederation. It was decided to ignore Martones, although outgoing boats from port cities were regularly checked for christian refugees. If discovered that the ship had Christians on board, they would be forced to throw them overboard during the journey.

Battle of Place-de-la-Reine
The Battle of Place-de-la-Reine was the largest fights of the post-unification period and one of the few times a town was able to defend itself successfully against the confederal Achirei. When word got out that the Achirei had reached the province of Caravino, the city of Place-de-la-Reine immediately started retreating their citizens inside of the city walls. Multiple ambushes were also set up and the city fought an effective form of guerilla warfare against the arriving Achirei. Slowly taking out their squads one by one and fighting the remaining from the safety of the walls. This made it so the Achirei couldn’t overthrow the city.

When news of the unruly city reached the capital, the current Pures demanded a bigger force to be sent to Caravino. She also reportedly ordered to leave no survivors and burn the city to the ground. This claim is however contested as the only source for this quote came from a Kàtouran work describing the persecution of Christians. But even with a larger force, the Achirei were unable to take the city and left in defeat. This battle in 1773 marked a turning point in the Christian genocide and the persecution slowly calmed down after this horrible defeat.

Aftermath
Around the turn of the 19th century tensions around the christian religion calmed down. By then an estimated 800 thousand Christians were executed or enslaved. When Pures Maerose Nàteicho, also known as Maerose the Unifier, ascended to the throne in 1802, the genodice was officially put to a halt. The Empress deemed it more important to incorporate the Ovancian regions into the confederation than to persecute its inhabitants.

Over the course of the 19th century, the regions of Tilenno moved ever closer and during the reign of the next Pures officially moved into the 2nd Purity. During this time Tilenno also industrialized and modernized her economy, which led to big disparities between classes, which eventually gave rise to the Civil war.

Civil War
With the industrialisation of Tilenno during the 19th century, bigger differences between groups started to arise; rich vs poor, Christian vs Lonàkean, royalist vs republican, Ovancian vs Tilennan. The proletariat in the big cities like Glikaero and Martones were becoming ever more socialist and wanted to move away from the archaic Purity and into a modern Republic. The Ovancian Christians also deemed the monarchy an ancient relic left from the colonial age. The mainland regions however saw this uprising as a threat to the unity of Tilenno and vowed to protect the Purity. What ensued was a civil war between on the one side the Republican 'impossible pact' of the Atrivan and Làmosan Islands cities and the Ovancian Christians of the north and on the other side the Royalist coalition of the mainland regions.

Christian discrimination pre-Civil war
While the days of the Achirei were long left behind, Christian were barely tolerated in Tilennan society. When the rich Tilennan elite moved in after the unification to exploit the labour force of the north, most Christians were forced into factory work with poor working conditions or into the mining industry. The upper layers of society in the Ovancian regions became ever more Tilennan speaking and