Now our 3rd Question (Which we'll revisit again, later near the end): Why didn't the New Monarchy join with the Concordat to overthrow the Speaker and Consensus? If this is the case, and the New Monarchy and Concordat were, even just for a brief time, in agreement that the Speaker and Consensus needed to be abolished, then why wouldn't Lysander's Concordat and Executor Hideo's New Monarchy simply have voted together for the abolishing of the Consensus? Under the assumption that the Consensus consisted of, at the time, three factions; New Monarchy, Dead Orbit and the Concordat, even if Dead Orbit had voted against them, New Monarchy and the Concordat would have had the majority-ruling vote, 2-to-1, right? Feasibly, this would have resolved the entire problem diplomatically, without the necessity for a Civil War, wouldn't it? Well, maybe not... I don't believe the Consensus is made up of just the three factions, even back then. I believe the Consensus is made up of four branches; at the time, the Concordat, the New Monarchy, Dead Orbit and The Vanguard, itself, separate from but loyal to the Speaker. If this is the case, then the Vanguard would also have voted for the retention of the Consensus, which would have left the vote dead-locked at 2-votes in favor and 2-votes against... And in the likely event of a tie-breaking vote, it probably would've been left to the Speaker to decide, and obviously, the Speakers vote would have been the same as the Vanguards, which again, would have now made 2 conflicts of interest, politically, between the Speaker and the Concordat. So, answering the question: I believe the two factions likely DID make a joint-effort to overthrow the Speaker, at least initially, when that effort was limited to use of peaceful politics and diplomacy, by way of a vote between the factions, but the effort ultimately failed, and when it did, the New Monarchy was not willing to go to the extent that Lysander and the Concordat was willing to go to... And this also gives us the answer to Question 2: "Why did Lysander feel it was necessary to use Conflict and War to overthrow the Consensus?" To put it simply: Because diplomacy failed. I believe it was at this point that Lysander finally became so disenchanted and angered by the Speaker, and by what he perceived as the ineffective-nature of the Consensus--(or rather, by the fact that the Consensus had now twice ruled against him, where as he believed he and his faction should be the most important and valued members of the Consensus)--that he became enraged, and decided that War was the only way to remove the Speaker from power. I believe now is the ideal time to answer Question 4: "Was the Concordat more important/significant than the other two factions of the Consensus?" In Lysander's mind, if we hold the previous beliefs and assumptions to be accurate, I believe that Lysander was likely given the belief from the Speaker, when everything began, that he and his Faction would be held with a particular level of esteem and regard, as the "First Faction" to join with the Speaker and Vanguard in their efforts to form a United City. In this aspect, I believe that the Concordat, at least in their own minds and the mind of their Leader, were of great importance than the other Factions of the Consensus. Now, the reason I believe, as I stated before, that the Concordat was the first and largest faction of the Consensus, is because I believe Lysander was/is an intelligent and opportunistic Leader. I don't believe the Speaker would have reached out to the Concordat first if they were not considered to be a very large, very influential Faction, and I don't believe that Lysander would have started a War against the Leader of the City, that he wasn't confident of winning. You can also speculate that the "Bannerfall" map, itself, is evidence in support of this belief. It appears that the Concordat was such a large and influential faction that they actually held their own individual "Tower" in the City, outside of where the Vanguard, Dead Orbit, New Monarchy and Future War Cult currently reside. I don't believe this would have been the case, unless their importance and their numbers were so significant and substantial that they warranted their own, individual "Strong-Hold" of sorts, for operation out of. As for the "New Monarchy" banners that occupy one half of the Bannerfall Map, I believe it's likely that they were erected either during the battle as New Monarchy secured half of the tower for themselves, or after the battle was Won, in order to establish that they had claimed their victory. But, I digress. Returning to our original question; Lysander must have believed that he had the numbers and the support to defeat the Vanguard and Dead Orbit, and over-throw the Speaker, and I believe this confidence was bolstered by a crucially-mistaken belief on his part, that the New Monarchy would likely also join his side in the War. If New Monarchy was, indeed, the second-largest faction as I'm speculating, this would have given them an overwhelming numbers-advantage, and likely assured them victory. However, this is where we'll revisit the Question: Why didn't the New Monarchy join with the Concordat to overthrow the Speaker and Consensus?" as we draw close to the end now; and the reason is because of one of the Seven Tenants of the New Monarchy, which is, as follows: 5. To support the natural harmony of the City, and to actively dissuade any group or individual that might disrupt that harmony. Bearing this in mind, I believe that the New Monarchy likely felt it was their obligation to side against Lysander, even though it's likely that when it came to political voting, the two factions had sided together. Ultimately, this is why the New Monarchy did not join the Concordat in their coup against the Speaker and the Vanguard. And now, as to the 5th and final question of: "What is the significance of the New Monarchy dealing the 'Final Blow' to the Concordat?" To bring our Lore-Speculative to a conclusion with this final question, I'm going to try and explain why it was so crucial and important that the New Monarchy was the faction was the faction that eventually put an end to the Faction War, and more importantly, why they were the ones specifically to win the final battle against the Concordat. I believe that when Lysander began his rebellion, it was with the belief that New Monarchy would join his cause and give him the over-whelming advantage needed to defeat the Vanguard and remove the Speaker from power. I believe it was likely also a belief that was shared by the Vanguard and the Speaker, as the looming War became more unavoidably inevitable, and because of this believe, it most likely brought New Monarchy under great scrutiny and suspicion from the Speaker and the Vanguard during the course of the Faction War. Because of this, I suspect that the New Monarchy was desperate to prove themselves loyal to the City and the Vanguard, and more-so, they were desperate save themselves from sharing a similar fate to what they knew would become of Lysander and the Concordat, forced "Disbandment" and exile from the Last City. And I believe the reason they did not side with the Concordat, was because of how devoutly the New Monarchy adheres to their Tenants, specifically the 5th Tenant of maintaining harmony in the City, and preventing other groups from disrupting it. Because of this need to exonerate themselves from the scrutiny of siding against the Speaker, It's very likely that the New Monarchy put it upon themselves to spear-head the conflict on behalf of the Vanguard and Speaker, and with the combined might of all three factions against just the Concordat, they ultimately attained victory, and New Monarchy made sure they were the ones to win the final, decisive battle of the War, and put the Concordat to rest, once and for all, and eventually, Lysander's Concordat was replaced by the addition of the Future War Cult to the Last City and the Consensus. I believe the addition of the Future War Cult was done for several reasons, but most prominently because: 1.) The Speaker and Vanguard felt the necessity to re-bolster the fortification and military strength of the City, after the casualties of the Faction War and Loss of their Largest Faction. 2.) Because the City had been based for so long on a 4-Faction Consensus, and the Speaker and Consensus felt this was the best form of Functioning-Government to ensure the safe, continuing functionality of the Last City (with of course New Monarchy still advocating politically for the dissolving of the Consensus, as they always have and still continue to, to this day). (I'll offer my "Additional Speculation" in the conclusion, Faction Lore, Part 3.)