History of Angleadd

Early History
The first recorded settlements in the kingdom pre-dates the royal calendar by several centuries. Traders and settlers from the southern islands landed in the bay of Faarn roughly 400 BF, building small villages and ports for their ships. As reports of the fertile new land followed the settlers back home a mass emigration started, with entire clans from the islands making landfall and moving inwards to claim new territory for themselves. Within the span of just a couple generations the bay of Faarn was densely settled, and the valleys leading in to the mainlands was turned into cultivated farmlands feeding the growing population.

As the southern settlers slowly made their way north, another group of people made their way down into what would become the kingdom proper from the western mountains. Being mostly nomadic tribes it took quite some time before settlements appeared to the west, but as more and more people made the journey down to the lowlands claims on land became more common. In the following centuries the signs of early civilization crept ever forward, most clearly marked by the founding of the city that would become Caer Darin. Following the early settlements however came the wish for power and unity amongst some of the tribal leaders. Tensions began rising as the different clans both to the south and west started building armies and fortifications in order to protect their claims from each other. When contact was made between the two groups of settlers in the year 132 BF, the conflicts between the different clans and tribes took on a new aspect. Even though the first meetings was amiable enough, the power-hungry leaders of some of the larger groups soon began viewing each others as rivals. While most of the common folk were happy to exchange culture and language between new neighbours, the nobility and upper classes viewed the others as a threat to their way of life. One of the biggest changes that happened during this time of exchange was the formation of the western clans. Noticing how the southerners gained power from their larger, unified groups, the western lords were quick to adopt similar structures, tying different tribes together in a similar fashion. The southerners however viewed this as a sign of their superiority, and as more and more of the west changed the call for conquest amongst the lords to the south grew louder with each passing season.

The early throne wars
In the summer of 85 BF the first battle in what would be called the throne wars was fought between the southern wolf clan and the allied bear and lion clans from the west. No evidence remains to this day as to who made the first strike, but the result was that three settlements controlled by the western clans were razed to the ground.

The time that followed the first battle is in many texts referred to as the summer of bones. The bears were more or less obliterated in the first month of the war, but the lions pulled back to gather new allies. The wolves on their end used their early victory to conquer several of the lesser southern clans, and forcing others into servitude. Farmers and craftsmen were conscripted into hastily gathered armies to fight against those who had used to be their neighbours, as more and more clans joined into alliances either to join one of the earlier factions or stake their own claim on the land. As the summer came to an end the once fertile plains around the Elbar river had been reduced to a ruined wasteland. With hundreds of people dead and dozens of settlements razed or conquered, the future of what would become the kingdom looked bleak.

After the first bloody season of war the clans spent the winter solidifying the areas they had claimed and preparing for a fresh summer of fighting. Lord Aedin of the wolf had chosen the fortress at Faarn point as his capital, while the forces of Lord Tulga of the lion pulled back to the relative safety of Caer Darin. At the same time Lord Terren of the falcon clan had gathered up as many survivors from the Elbar plains as possible and moved north to get away from the fighting. They settled a new territory in the Veidar valley, fortifying the paths leading in to it as well as they could while trying to survive the winter. To the east the badger, ram and eagle clans gathered remnants of many other minor clans and families and pulled away from the contested region completely. Knowing they held little hope of fighting their stronger neighbours and fearing enslavement, they chose to instead push ahead into the unclaimed wilderness and make their own fate.

In the following spring war was joined on several fronts as the wolves and lions renewed their fights. As news of the fighting spread it also attracted the attentions of some of the clans who had chosen to stay either in the mountains or on the islands. The western nomads starting bringing in horses and training cavalry for quick strikes against enemy encampments, while the coast was raided repeatedly by young warriors from the islands seeking fame and glory on the mainland. In the middle of summer something that would change the war completely happened however, as the self-proclaimed king of the boar clan landed with a massive army on the beaches of the Brannoch hills. Declaring war on both lord Aedin and Tulga, king Degan marched inland and staked his claim on large tracts of land from both domains. This new arrival led to somewhat of a stalemate, as the armies of both the wolves and the lions shifted their attention to holding the front against the boars.

The stalemate held for several years, with villages and forts changing hands almost every other season and the land between the warring clans slowly got turned into desolate fields covered in bones of the fallen. It wasn't until 82 BF that the situation changed, when a fleet led by boarsmen and their allies managed to besiege the port of Faarn. Now on the defensive, the wolves saw several of their earlier allies and subjects pull away and moving north to the relative peace of the falcon lands. Driven to desperation Lord Aedin led most of his army on a direct attack against the presumably weakened boar border. The lions took advantage of this situation and fell on the wolves from the back, leading to the death of Lord Aedin and many of his closest supporters. This however had all been part of king Degan's plans, as his armies now could strike the battling wolves and lions from two sides. In a series of battles and skirmishes the superior numbers of the boarsmen pushed the other two clans steadily back, and as autumn came along both wolves and lions found themselves leaderless and almost at the gates of Caer Darin. Realizing that their numbers would never be sufficent to retake the coast and stop the boars, the surviving clanleaders formed a truce and vowed to join forces the coming summer. The years of conflict however made mistrust run rampant through the decimated armies, and the new lords of the clans spent more time quieting arguments and stopping rebellions than preparing for war.

The prophecy
While the different clans either fought or hid across the realm, a faint glimmer of hope appeared in a secluded temple along the southern coast. On a spring day of 81 BF, the hierarch of the Allfather suddenly collapsed in the middle of a sermon. When he came to, the people gathered at the temple noticed that his hair and eyes had gone completely white, and his voice suddenly carried a power noone there had ever witnessed before. He told the frightened congregation that the Allfather had spoken to him, and in a vision he had seen that blood would drown the land for years. There was still hope however, for he had been shown the path to salvation for all the people of the realm. Though few believed him at first, the hierarch continued to preach about the coming redemeer and declaring that the salvation of everyone would be found to the north. As blood continued to flow along the western coast and mainland, acolytes from the temple slowly began spreading the words of their new prophet. Though few of the honorbound clansmen was willing to listen, the tales and promises of a new time of peace flourished amongst the commonborn that was caught between the warring armies. As the word spread a slow trickle of people started to break away from the ravaged coast and moving north, all of them searching for the promised saviour. As the trickle started to turn into a mass migration however, the clanlords started to supress the new religious fervor with any means possible. Priests and acolytes were imprisoned and sometimes executed for treason, while others were bought or either persuaded or threathened into declaring that one or the other of the southern lords were the promised leader. For the common people however the situation just kept getting worse. Fearing that the farmers and workers of their lands would flee north, lords on both sides of the war started branding their subjects and forcing them into near-slavery to keep them in line. Many started blaming the priests for their misfortune, and as the year 74 BF dawned the temple of the prophet as it was now called was burned to the ground by an enraged mob.

The battle of Reins fields
In the period between 82 BF and 70 BF the war started to wind down, as the number of fighting men on all sides of the conflict started to dwindle. Once rich lands lay fallow and deserted as armies looted whatever supplies they could from the countryside. The armies who decades earlier had numbered in the thousands was reduced to poorly equipped companies of a few hundred men, and even the seemingly invincible boarsmen started to struggle as the flow of eager recruits from the islands came to a stop. In the early summer of 69 BF the joined armies of the surviving lions and wolves made a last stand against the similarly depleted troops of king Degan, both sides realizing that the end was near unless a decisive victory could be achieved.

The armies met in the fields outside the ruins of Caer Reins, one of the trading-cities that had been razed during the summer of bones, and for close to four days the battle raged. In the end the boars managed to push through the weakened lines of their enemies, scattering the houseguard of the allied lords. In the frenzied battle that followed both Lord Warric of the wolf and Lord Tulga was killed. Their remaining men tried to flee the battlefield, but many of them were hunted down and brutally killed by the victorious boarsmen. The victory proved to be hollow though, as King Degan had been wounded during the battle. Even though his injuries were reported to be slight, the wound turned septic due to unknown causes. Some claimed that it was punishment from the Allfather, seeing as how Degan had been at the forefront of putting down the followers of the prophet during the last decade. Whatever the cause, the self-proclaimed king died a slow and painful death, succumbing to the infection a week after his victory.

The coming of the falcon
With all three clanleaders dead, chaos erupted throughout the lands. Leaderless bands of soldiers and lesser lords fought each other as everyone struggled to take control over whatever land or ritches they could find. Conditions for the surviving commoners and farmers went from bad to worse as their new overlords cared not for anything but their own scant wealth and power. Hope arrived however as a substantial army came down from the north and slowly but surely took control over the ravaged countryside. Under the command of Lord Metyc, son of the recently deceased Terren of the falcon, the northern armies made quick work of most of the brigands who had tried to call themselves lords of the Elbar plains, and as winter came along their border stretched almost down to Caer Faarn and Caer Darin. When snow made the movement of large troops next to impossible, Metyc sent out messengers to whoever survived amongst the warring factions and offered a truce and amnesty. The offer detailed that whoever that would swear fealty to him as their overlord would be offered a full pardon, and any nobles would be offered lands in return for their loyalty.

Many of the lesser lords tried to rally their men against the falcons, claiming that Metyc was nothing but a vulture coming south to exploit the weakened state of the other clans. The surviving people and warriors however were tired of the endless war, and as stories about how fairly both Metyc and his father had dealt with the refugees who had headed north during the last decade, several of the lords found themselves either completely abandoned or brutally killed by subjects who no longer wished to follow them. The following spring a joint group of boars, wolves and lions met up with emissaries from the falcons to negotiate their surrender. A handful of pretend-lords that had survived and managed to keep some of their sworn men under control refused the offer, but faced with the overwhelming numbers joining Lord Metyc, they fled to the west and into exile. So it was that in the year 68 BF, the throne wars finally came to an end, and the slow process of reclaiming and rebuilding the domain began.

The first king and the founding of Caer Angleadd
In the years following his victory, Lord Metyc spent most of his time travelling through the realm and overseeing the restoration of towns and settlements razed during the war. Though he never claimed the title himself, most began calling him king of the realm, and as the years passed by in relative peace, more and more people began calling out that he was the promised saviour that the prophet had spoken all those years earlier. Metyc himself dismissed the claim however, proclaiming that he had just done what had to be done in order to save both the people and the lands. It was during these years that contact was finally made once more with the clans that had fled east at the beginning of the war. Though cautious at first their emmisaries soon began to trust Lord Metyc and his clan, leading to both trade and the beginnings of an unification. Treaties was also signed between the remaining clans to the north-east, as well as some of the people still living on the islands.

In the year 59 BF two things happened that would stabilize the emerging kingdom further. In early spring Metyc married Lady Jenna, the youngest daughter of Lord Aedin, thus bonding the falcons with the surviving wolf clan. Just a few months later, a delegation from the east showed up at the gates of Caer Terren, bearing news that the ram, eagle and badger clans wanted to join his growing domain. Metyc however still refused to claim kingship for himself, and declared that he had no desire to rule. His honorable refusal only strengthened the voices of those who fought for his coronation. In the end he made the lords who had sworn vassalage to him an offer. He himself would not claim a throne, but he would prepare his son for the mantle of rulership if they so desired. The lords and clans did not completely agree to Metyc's suggestion, but the respect and reputation he had gained during his rebuilding of the realm worked in his favor. At the midsummer celebration that year a proclamation was issued throughout the realm, naming Metyc defender and regent of the land until such a time that he had a son who would be crowned king. The people soon began talking about how the gods had approved of this act, for just a scant year later a son was born to the regent and his wife. The young Rayek was barely a month old when he was proclaimed as marked prince and king-to-be in front of the assembled lords of the realm, who in turn swore fealty to the infant and the throne of the newly named kingdom of Angleadd.

As the young prince grew up, Lord Metyc continued his work in securing alliances and further stabilizing the fledling kingdom. On Rayek's tenth birthday he declared that the time had come to build a proper capital for the kingdom, a city that didn't belong to any of the clans and that would become a symbol of the new and unified realm. The location for this new city would be the Elbar delta, chosen because of it's location between the old realms that had fought in the war. In the year 45 BF the work began preparing the site, with craftsmen and artisans from the entire realm joining together in the work. The construction would take far longer than what Metyc had anticipated however, and when he passed away to old age in the year 9 BF the city was still not finished. King Rayek the first however vowed to continue his father's work and make sure that his dream would come through. As the mighty citadel of Caer Angleadd finally stood finished, the aged king declared that he would never take ownership of it, claiming that it was a new capital for a new king and not for an old man. Calling a gathering of all his vassals outside the walls of the city, he placed the crown upon the head of his oldest son Aeric, naming him king of the realm and master of Caer Angleadd. He then swore fealty to the new ruler before heading back to Caer Terren to live out the rest of his life in his ancestral lands. The lords, allthough shocked by Rayek's actions, followed and swore their oaths to their new liege, hailing him as as the new defender of the realm. The hierarch of the temples decided that his marked the through birth of Angleadd, and it was proclaimed that a new age had started, with the year of king Aeric's coronation being marked down as the beginning of the royal calendar.