The Dissidents are spriggat rebels who waged a civil war against the Shadowling Empire in an attempt to regain their once-lost indpendence from the shadowlings.
Background[]
A long time before the Shadow War, the spriggat-nation Spriggatia was conquered by the Shadowling Empire. Under the rule of the Shadowling Queen, the spriggats were treated as an underclass. Female spriggats were even killed to ensure that the Queen had absolute control over the race.
Shadow War[]
After a long time being repressed under shadowling rule, the spriggats rebelled. To help them fight their rebellion, the Dissidents hired the Mechanics mercenaries. Some time during the war, the Mechanics developed a new type of golem that can accurately strike multiple targets over long distances. The new golems, Energy Golems, gave the Dissidents and their allies a tactical advantage over the shadowlings. In order to remove the Dissidents' tactical advantage, the shadowling commanding general, Tastidian, tasks his personal slave to find and destroy the Mechanics' Energy Golem Workshop. Due to disinformation, Tastidian's slave is send to the Great Forest to destroy the Golem Workshop. Instead of finding the workshop, the slave finds an empty cave and an ambush of spriggat assassins. After the failed Dissident ambush, the slave is sent to the Deeper Downs to find the real Golem Workshop. Before the slave could find the workshop, the Dissidents leader, Cerzak, captures the slave's team and throws them into the Bug Pit. The team ends up escaping the Bug Pit by killing the native bugs and the spriggat guards. Tastidian's slave then destroys the workshop and loots an inoperative Energy Golem. The Shadowling Empire uses the inoperative Energy Golem to reverse engineer their own version. With the Mechanics golem workshop destroyed and the Empire producing their own energy golems, the shadowlings gain a big tactical advantage over the dissidents.
After a series of battles at Lake Alto, the Dissident leader Cerzak defeats his shadowling rival General Darkeye. To ensure that reinforcements don't get to the wounded shadowling general, the Dissidents lay a minefield throughout the lake. Fresh from destroying the Golem Workshop, Tastidian's slave is sent by his master to use a psy boat to navigate through the mindfield and rescue Darkeye. After reaching the wounded Darkeye, the slave's team is forced to fight and defeat Cerzak and his fellow spriggats. After Cerzak has fallen, the slave pilots the psy boat back through the minefield and returns Darkeye safely to Somnus.
With the Empire producing energy golems and Cerzak defeated at Lake Alto, there was little hope for the Dissidents to win the war. In desperation, the Dissidents ally themselves with the Psy Academy. After Tastidian's personal slave becomes free of the slave bracelet, the slave and his team agree to fight on behalf of the Psy Academy. While the Dissidents and the Psy Academy forces lure away most of the shadowling forces away from Somnus, the recently freed slave becomes the Hero who leads a team to assaulted the Queen's Palace and assassinated the Shadowling Queen. With Tastidian and the Queen dead, the Dissidents and their allies win the war.
Legacy[]
Shadowling Republic[]
After the Disidents won the war, the spriggats were at last able to return to Somnus. In accordance with Cerzak's wishes, a constitutional democracy was established over the Shadowlands. The new Shadowling Republic was based on Spriggat-Shadowling equality.
Abolitionist[]
Since the Shadow War, anti-slavery sentiment has run strong among spriggats. After the war, many spriggats moved south to the Ashwan Desert, so that they can volunteer to fight for the Abolitionist who fight to stop the slave trade in Ravinale.