The Ochebana Empire was riddled with religious dissent, economic tensions, military difficulties, and massive public discontent. During the new republican rule, the imperial government was mainly known for its inability of action; it didn't rule much more than Londerhome.

History

The 4th Empire was a difficult place, where many lower-class people struggled against the shackles imposed on them by the nobility.

Liberty Movement. Mainly founded by New Church clergy seeking power, that movement advocated everything that was on the mind of the rural and some of the urban population: female equality; an end to racial discrimination, rural noble slavery, and war; and popular government, as inspired by the archipelago states.^[1]

Repanas. The national republicans (repana being a combination of the words for republic and Ochebana^[3]) were a group of high-ranking elite. They were all urban nobles, followers of the New Church, hailing from Quirthdale and its surroundings, and associated with the Liberty Movement.^[1]

Unrest and Revolution

Emperor Jonathan Morgan was murdered in early 394 by two dozen nobles and a plethora of weapons, including daggers, swords, chandeliers, and statuettes. The preliminaries of chaos resulted in chaos, with various factions represented by a number of opposed generals, Imperial Church clergy, and noble alliances fighting for supremacy. Streets were drenched in blood, battles culminating with the burning of the Church of Power and the sacking of the Imperial Palace.

Rule^[1]

Republican rule, supposedly a popular government, constituted no rule at all. The old reformed Jonesday Book was still theoretically in action, and the government took no political action whatsoever, be it attempting to keep the army together, rally the citizens in a common cause, or even use the church to support their power.
Imperial Church Destruction. The Imperial Church was de facto destroyed with the change of government, and Tempus's believers spread to Londerhome and beyond, slowly gaining ground as time went on. Quirthdale's archbichop asked for official recognition of his church as state religion, but the republican government was unable to grant this.
Rural Changes. Previously, Ochebanian agriculture had consisted mainly of noble-held estates which were worked by peasants either "indentured" to their masters or enslaved. But noble militias seemed like much smaller of a threat without the support of the military to many lower class people. Massive uprisings consisting at the core of revolting slaves freed huge swathes of land. The estate system was destroyed by the lower ranks and all sorts of new administrative systems were established, but previous noble land-owners, after having shuffled their positions, remained at the top of these "new" systems. The only difference lay in the near-absence of slavery and less imposed taxes being placed on peasants.
Military Split. The imperial military itself, for the first time in Ochebanian history, wasn't under imperial control. Many officers had diverging interests in the new chaotic republic and didn't work together. The northern border grew undefended and was repeatedly raided by orcish tribes. Many soldiers also didn't feel loyalty to their commanders, especially those who followed the Liberty Movement.

Fall

The republic couldn't last long; the government didn't even have any secular armed forces under its command. In 353, a huge orcish host tried to invade the empire, but was heroically fended off by a General Barley Brimstone in the legendary Brimstone's Fold. He thereafter marched on Londerhome and took power, reinstating imperial might in the form of the 5th Empire.