Rebels

From Glen Cook Wiki

The opposition forces fighting Lady and the Northern Empire. There are Rebels and Rebel sympathizers scattered throughout the Empire, but their greatest strength is in the eastern part of the Empire, east of the Plain of Fear. There are really two distinct phases of Rebel activity in the series, and the Rebels have distinctly different aims in each.

The Circle of Eighteen

Initially they are governed by a council of wizards called the Circle of Eighteen, which in turn is secretly guided by the Dominator, who wants to depose the Lady and escape his prison so he can restart the Domination. According to one analysis, the Rebel leadership is primarily composed of the low-level nobles/landowning class which was dispossessed by the consolidation of the Empire. The Rebels mount a serious and large-scale campaign, succeeding in beating back the armies of the Taken and rallying over two hundred thousand troops to march on Charm. However, despite a tenfold advantage in numbers they are defeated at the Battle of Charm, their army slaughtered almost to a man.

The White Rose

About a decade later, the young girl Darling, the reincarnation of the White Rose, grows up and begins leading the Rebels again, this time with the Black Company and the denizens of the Plain of Fear as the core of her forces. Some troops are periodically raised but this rebel force never attains the size of the Dominator-influenced force. However, the creatures of the Plain are a far more effective fighting force than any human army could be, as is her power of negating magic within a radius of around half a mile.

Lady orchestrates a massive campaign against the Plain, with five armies and equipment designed to circumvent the advantages of Darling's null field, but calls it off when the Dominator begins breaking out in earnest. The Rebels and the Lady form a temporary alliance to defeat him. After the conclusion of the Barrowland battle, the Black Company (and the Rebels) are decimated. Darling takes up one more mission, to pursue the resurrected Limper and destroy the Silver Spike, but she isn't really fighting the Empire anymore. Case points out to her that the Rebels really don't offer a viable alternative to the Empire. She agrees, and retires after her last mission, effectively ending the Rebel movement.