Difference between revisions of "Dwarden"

Revision as of 02:03, 20 July 2018

Southern Dwarden, known as the Kald, near the Barony of Merándan, the place of Cecil Ul'mure's birth.

Introduction

Dwarden is a rocky and rough land near the ocean, and has always been a challenging place in which to live. At the dawn of Mandadorianism, this proud people worshiped Vandadon, the Capserian god of pride and power, but whose reverence and influence had been waning for some time. Dwarden was converted by the Holy Legate Yathamian the Sea Elf, who was incredibly successful. The many petty kings of Dwarden, who knew only war with one another, submitted to the great Sea Elf. Yathamian, to this day, remains the Patron Saint of Dwarden. They later became great knights under the first emperors of Mandadoria.

Towards the decline of Mandadoria, one of the priest-kings, a powerful monarch-bishop named Thagdion, returned from wars in Hollapse, near the Phalein Mountains. He had become so powerful that he achieved dominance over many of the other kings, destroying many of them and their royal lines, creating a power vacuum which he quickly filled. The kings that managed to resist were mostly the sea-kings of the south and some of the east mountain kings. By the fall of Mandadoria, this priest-king, who was by then incredibly old, had made himself a living saint, who was crowned by kings and metropolitan on Mount Kernej, the eventual seat of his power, and proclaimed the King of Dwarden. The insane devotion of his followers was such that upon his demand for them to worship the dark icons of a pagan god, they did so blindly. Thagdion however underestimated the resolve of the kings and knights outside his fold. A great war was thus begun, a war which has lasted for over three centuries.

Early in the war, the kings proved again and again too fractious to lead the war of the resistance. At length, Dwarden's knights, themselves exhausted from fighting both Thagdion and themselves, and facing the complete collapse of their defenses and their nation, unified men of their status and profession into a coherent body with a definite purpose and goal. It was a last-ditch attempt. Thus was born the Order of the Knights of the Beleaguered Shield.

Thagdion the Mad still rules from the Kernej, now a war cleric lich of awesome power who worships the god Yalesti, whom he brought back from his campaigns in the Phalein Mountains.

In the 700s there was an attempt by Pompiers and Thousiers to help the order cleanse Dwarden of the undead. This sudden and massive import of military support into Dwarden gave the Thousiersian leaders great confidence and ambition, and after guaranteeing their continued support, the kings of Dwarden agreed to crowning a Thousiersian noble the King of Dwarden, for such was their desperation. Despite all this, the Thousiersian king of Dwarden was outmaneuvered by Thangion, and the entire army was destroyed. For decades Thousiersians continued to support their royal claim in Dwarden, prompting eventually three crusades, but each was less supported than the last. By the 9th century, the last Thousiersian claim to the throne of Dwarden had fallen to a disinterested noble line in the Thousiersian homelands, and the Order of the Beleaguered Shield once again assumed true leadership of Dwarden. One of the lasting impacts of the Thousiersian adventure in Dwarden was the change in language and outside blood, especially amongst the nobility and knightly classes. Another major change was the waning of royal titles in Dwarden. The Thousiersian kings of Dwarden were displeased at the number of petty-kings throughout the country, which in turn brought about an attempt to label these petty-kings as the nobility instead of royalty. One attempt was even made to force the kings to resign the royal title and replace it with titles of peerage. The Thousiersians found their real solution in granting the baronial title to those whom they favored, as well as the creation of powerful Thousiersian knights as barons of Dwarden. The title became fashionable and more coveted than that of king. The petty-kings still remain in Dwarden, but their numbers are quite diminished, and there are a number of cases in which barons are more powerful than neighboring kings.

Mount Kernej, the seat of Thagdion's power. Western Dwarden.

Timeline

Dwarden Timeline

833 AM: A tiny band of Neutralian fanatics, led by the radical cleric Talmian and seconded by the crusaders Darren and Kelenar, arrive in the Erlokt.

World Timeline

512 AM: The last Emperor of Mandadoria, Kians Sillitol II, trapped at Corrid, iss killed by the green dragon Westernotte at Castle Monscavius when the emperor was seeking rest from adventure in those lands. The great factions of the disintegrating empire move for their own agendas.

517 AM: Prince Thillis of Corrid, descended from Thousiersian royalty, defeats the imperial claimant Marashee, who is subsequently killed by his own troops. Thillis reorders much of the old imperial heartlands, based upon feudal customs, and what will become the Kingdom of Pompiers is born as the Princedom of Corrid.

562 AM: First major Thousiersian imperialistic incursions into Encyclon.

592 AM: the Third Ecumenical Council of Thousiers.

601 AM: Prince-King Vanian III moves the seat of the Princedom from Corrid to Pompiers.

654 AM: The institution of the Encyclonian First Lord, or Prince, is established.

698 AM: Most of the final extent of the kingdom has been annexed by the Kingdom of Pompiers, even Dantareth by 712.

705 AM: Encyclonian war with Thousiers begins.

712 AM: Dantareth is annexed by Pompiers.

724 AM: The King of Thousiers is taken hostage by Encyclon.

725 AM: Alasiel, Prince of Encyclon, is crowned Emperor. End of the Enyclonian war with Thousiers.

771 AM: Birth of Hiarzin, heir-apparent to the Dukedom of Polydidus.

773 AM: General Troremonns of Sword Stand is de facto lord of Quadrain. The height of Sword Stand’s success.

775 AM: Encyclonian War of the Sub-Kings with Pompiers begins.

-Baron Macron Corguth, ally of General Troremonns of Sword Stand, is killed outside of Castle Dantareth. Royal authority in the region is restored with installation of Macron’s brother Martin as Baron.

787 AM: Death of the Encyclonian Emperor Alasiel the Grand of natural causes.

776-777 AM: Sword Stand weakens, thus losing Quadrain.

781 AM: Fall of Troremonns and Sword Stand. Sword Stand reverts to Calipsian control.

813 AM: Count-Bishop Vomer of Thousiers becomes Patriarch of Alinopholis.

816 AM: King Astamane III is assassinated. Quiglemaine I, the Prince of Corrid, staying with the half-elves of Thousiers, is summoned by the bishops of Pompiers and crowned King.

817 AM: Birth of Kurial Remzar.

829 AM: The five unnamed prophets of the Unnamed God and their followers rise like a sudden tidal wave in the County of Hollapse, in the Kingdom of Pompiers. Neutralianism is born

834 AM: Birth of Vanhalen, son of Hiarzin the Wise, Archduke of Polydidus.

836 AM: Assius the Successor is elected Bishop of Dania with the approval of the Neutralians.

838 AM: the Prophets of Neutralis disappear, signaling the end of the Neutralian Wars.

841 AM: Ascension Wars: Bishop (princeling) Jaggerdam “the Hammer” of Polydidus challenges King Quiglemaine I.

849 AM: Prince Anaratan Kamanshar of Encyclon invades the Kingdom of Thousiers.

858 AM: Quiglemaine II is born in the city of Pompiers.

862 AM: Remzar confronts the Thanians under Shah Madragdah.

862 AM: Treaty of Viernerté between Pompiers, Encyclon and Thousiers. The treaty includes the betrothal of Quiglemaine II to Princess Shiatú.

862 AM: Death of Quiglemaine I

862 AM: Archbishop of Evania, Donald Wynsphere, attempts to seat his son Adrian upon the throne of Pompiers. The Pompiersian regent, Bishop Fotsfuro, purchases the loyalty of Wynsphere’s oncoming army, and has the archbishop arrested.

866 AM: Death of Hiarzin the Wise, Archduke of Polydidus, and accession of his son Vanhalen.

869 AM: The return of Thezorus Kamanshar

878 AM: Quiglemaine II marries Shiatú of Encyclon

886 AM: Princess Catherine of Pompiers is born

The Lich Langaria

A former wizard of the Priory of St. Dalangion, Langaria was persecuted as a “white” necromancer whose experiments were extreme. Accused by various fanatics, it was the paladin Alamandon Ul’muré who was the advocate who prosecuted the case for the priory. Langaria was convicted, but before he might be disfigured to stop his wizardly career, he escaped through a transmigration of souls, causing the condemning of the wrong man. Alamandon prosecuted a nearby priory, and expelled the actual Langaria who had assumed the priorship. Alamandon received a command knighthood from the Order for this, a major honor. After many decades, a mysterious sorcerer appeared near the priory of Belareau the Magician, bringing undead evils to the land. Several crusaders and heroes failed to destroy this evil. At last, Cecil’s father, Knight Commander Cevrandeaux Ul’muré, shortly after Cecil was conceived, discovered that after many decades Langaria had achieved wizardly lichdom, and had every intention of destroying the house of Ul’muré. In a significant adventure, Cevrandeaux and his large company were destroyed, and soon after the entire priory fell to the undead. Langaria himself, now a lieutenant of Thagdion the Mad, 11 years afterwards, turned his attentions to Sir Alamandon and his eldest son at their ancestral Castle Ul’muré.