Busik Disaster

The Busik Disaster was an explosion that occured in Busik, Kingdom of Laurentin, Greater Confederated Kingdoms on the morning of 1 June 2AF (1924). SCK Persistent, a Fervent class armored cruiser in the process of offloading troops and munitions destined for the Voltarvo conflict, suffered an explosion which in turn set off fires in an adjacent weapons depot, ultimately culminating in the largest manmade explosions in recorded history. 6,297, including King XXX XX, and Crown Prinz XXX XX, who had been within a mile of the depot inspecting forces in the region when the explosion took place, were killed in the largest loss of life in the GCK since the famines of the Volcanic Decade, with an estimated 40,000 suffering injury. The disaster resulted in the inaguration of Queen XXX XX to the Laurentin throne, the GCK's cultural adoptation of Azani Yengiism, the end GCK involvement in the Voltarvo Intervention, and rise of isolationist and pacifist sentiments within the GCK for the next two decades.

Background
Busik's location at the mouth of the Tuma River and along the Greck-Azani border made the town a key staging area for regional merchant traffic. With the start of the Voltarvo Intervention during Foundation Year, Busik became the base of operations & logistical hub for Grecka forces setting off on the Tarniw Road across Azan as part of the GCK's efforts at supporting Bakaban's revolutionary forces in the region. From Busic, supplies could travel by road, train or rive to the Tuma crossing, from which convoys could deliver them to Tarniw and into the hands of socialist combatants in Voltarvo. These efforts contributed substantially towards early socialist successes in the conflict, and while the GCK formally maintained neutrality in the conflict as less than a hundred grecka personnel were ever in Tarniw at a given time and formally in an observer and advisor role, relations with Pteroslavia soured accordingly.

After the brutal rape of Bragaroult by Pteroslavian artillery in April 1AF (1923), public sympathy for the breakaway Voltarvo region increased proportionately to animosity towards Pteroslavian efforts at recovering the territory. Busik became central to these efforts, with expansion of supply depots, military garrisoning and paramilitary camps for training members of the Volunteer Foreign Revolutionary Army being built in and around the city. By (date in late 1923/early 1924), calls for open and forceful support of the revolutionary cause were increasingly unignorable, and the military command proposed Plan Gordian, which called for a full scale invasion of the Voltarvo region and temporary occupation of the Holy State of Azan to help sweet imperial forces from the region. Plan Gordian was secretly and independently approved by the uff de Laurent royal family with support from First Citizen Nelso Broso as a means of increasing Laurentin political power within the newly established greater confederation and promoting socialist expansion, with plans to begin the invasion in mid June 2AF (1924).

By late May, nearly 20,000 grecka troops and members of the VFRA had been garrisoned at Busik, following months of munitions shipments into the region. On 31 May, the uff de Laurent royal family arrived in Busik via train to inspect the preparations for the conflict and receive briefings on the updated warplan.

Destruction & Loss of Life
The explosion of Persistent and subsequent explosion at the Busik Arsenel destroyed over half of the brick structures within a mile of the detonations, and essentially erased downtown Busik from the map.

Spezjudicialkommission-Busik
Promptly after the explosion, the Bonnhaven government organized a formal inquiry into the disaster.XXXXX

Sabotage Theory & Black Week Lynchings
Almost immediately after the explosion, accusations of sabotage by Pteroslavian agents ran rampant throughout the GCK. These rumors catalyzed graphically along the Greck-Azani frontier, with almost a dozen lynchings & summary executions taking place along the Tuma River frontier the following week by grecka border guards and militia groups. Ironically, none of these murders took place within the jurisdiction of the City of Busik.