Part IV: The Aristocrats
Those who might think a bunch of nobles would not have gone down fighting, never got to know Lady Terene Cliver, wife to Sir Andrick Cliver, the head of the Cerea Aristocrats.
On the day of the invasion, the empire also underestimated that woman, so the first fighters they sent into the Cliver Mansion to “arrest the dandies” never left the house alive again. Alas a lone woman was no match for the invaders, so when a team of well equipped troops entered the mansion a few hours later, they captured and bound her.
After the situation in the city had calmed down a bit, she was put on trial and subsequently publicly executed. It is said, that even on the way to the executioner’s block she had nothing but scorn for her captors.
Her husband, Sir Andrick was sent into exile but chose to remain on Derimir and moved to Vesper. He died in the Battle of Vesper two years later.
Of the remaining nobles none possessed Lady Cliver’s fighting spirit. Most of them managed to bribe their way onto a ship to the mainland, though if they met a better fate there is doubtful.
Some others chose to remain in Cerea. During the following war, from their number the post of imperial governor was filled, naturally with those the empire thought easiest to control or the most likely to cooperate. Of this group most died in the final battle for Cerea.
Whether any member of the Cerean nobility survived The Destruction is unknown, given that Cerea itself is in ruins, it is thought unlikely that any survivors would see a reason to return.