| Brief History of Talingarde |
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The following is a brief look at the recent and ancient history of the kingdom of Talingarde, touching the highlights and the information any average citizen would have. More esoteric details require a Knowledge (history) check made in character.
Talingarde may be a peaceful and prosperous kingdom now, but the nation has certainly had a troubled past. Only eighty years ago, the kingdom weathered a bitter war of succession, fought between the largely half-elven nobility of House Barca and the human dynasty of House Darius. Both had claim to the throne, as well as their share of supporters amongst the fractured nobility of the isle.
On the Plains of Tamberlyn, just north of Matharyn, two great armies met and decided the future of the nation: One army was commanded by King Jaraad of House Barca, a great half-elven hero mounted on a griffon, the symbol of his house. The other was led by Markadian of House Darius, a young upstart paladin who refused to bow before all the gods of the Talirean pantheon (particularly Asmodeus). As is so often the case, the fanaticism of one man—later to be hailed as a hero—brought the realm to the brink of ruin.
The Battle of Tamberlyn remains the most famous conflict in all of Talingarde's history. House Darius was gravely outnumbered but far more fiercely committed to their "holy cause." Many of House Barca's army were paid mercenaries, fighting for nothing more than gold. The conflict was fought between two large stone spires (the "Lords of Tamberlyn") that rise from otherwise level ground. A small brook splits the spires, crossed only in one place by an ancient stone bridge. The brook is not deep, but is still difficult for men in armor to cross.
Markadian took to the field first, seizing the bridge with his knights and positioning infantry on both flanks. The famed archers of Barrington and Embryl, with their mighty longbows of yew, were positioned behind these lines. Outnumbering his foe many times, King Jaraad—hoping for a quick victory—sent his mercenary crossbowmen forward to bombard the knights attempting the crossing. The hope was that a few volleys of crossbow shot would kill many of the knights and paladins of House Darius; deprived of their leadership, the rest of the soldiery would likely flee from the battlefield when the king moved the bulk of his army forward. However, the crossbowmen advanced too close, and the infantry on Darius's right flank performed a surprise charge. The charge caught the mercenaries off guard, and they fled with hardly a shot fired. So disgusted was the Barca commander behind the mercenaries that he ordered his knights to charge forward through the "cowardly retreating rabble" to attack Darius's relatively exposed infantry.
The result was a chaotic muddle of panicked sellswords and tangled cavalry. It was then that Darius's archers fired, arrows raining down on the Barca forces and taking a severe toll. King Jaraad saw the muddle that his left had become and ordered the other pincer of his army forward. They moved swiftly, at first, along the banks of the brook, but soon found themselves equally bogged down in mud. They, too, began to receive a hail of arrows. Finally, Barca's left pushed through the mercenaries and charged the crossing. It was here that the heaviest fighting of the battle took place: On the bridge of Tamberlyn, the knights of Darius met the full might of the House Barca army and held the line; the king's force was packed so tightly upon the bridge that their rear ranks were at the mercy of the Embryllian archers.
King Jaraad could watch the slaughter no longer. He flew his elite personal command—a dozen knights on griffons—across the brook to flank the defenders and break their line. What he encountered, instead, was the young Lord Markadian and his own personal guard. The battle between Markadian's knights and the griffon riders has been immortalized in several songs and plays; suffice to say that after a great battle, a dozen dead griffons littered the field, and only Markadian of Darius and King Jaraad of Barca remained alive. They fought fiercely, and in the end, Markadian slew Jaraad upon the banks of the Tamberlyn brook and claimed the throne of Talingarde.
At the end of the day, the battle had proved to be a slaughter. The military might of House Barca was broken and House Darius came to power. It would have been easy then for House Darius to seek revenge against their former enemies, but instead, King Markadian I—called the Victorious—showed mercy: He allowed the nobles of House Barca to keep their lands, if they would only swear loyalty to the new king and bow before the "great god" Mitra. The offer was grudgingly accepted, and a tentative peace once more came to Talingarde. The crisis of succession was over and the religion of the isle was decided: Mitra, the Shining Lord, became head of the Talirean pantheon, his legacy of benevolence and light secured from the very beginning by blood, intolerance, and treachery.
| The Victor upon the Throne |
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When Markadian I came to power, there was great uncertainty about his capability as a king. While he
was a great warrior, he had never ruled, and there was reason to doubt this young paladin could control such a divided land. He soon put those doubts to rest: Markadian I, called the Victorious (usually just "the Victor," these days), was the sort of ruler that only comes once every thousand years. At the battle of Farholde, he dealt the bugbears of the north a savage defeat and scattered them for a generation. He confronted the pirates who had made the western coast of Talingarde their stronghold and burnt them out. It seemed that the Victor was undefeatable upon the field of battle.
So fearsome was his reputation that, by the later years of his reign, he merely sent a letter to a rebellious warlord in the west that read, "Must we meet on the fields of battle?" The warlord relented and became a loyal subject, so the story goes. By the end of the Victor's reign, almost all of the island south of the Watch Wall was firmly a part of Talingarde. Only a few tracts of the great forest, the Caer Bryr, remained wild and unmapped.
More than a soldier, he also proved a great builder and statesman. He raised the capital, Matharyn, from a small city into a great metropolis. He reinforced the Watch Wall, commissioning three new fortresses. He eased tariffs, bringing merchants from the mainland to the oft-isolated isle once more. He personally visited the lands of the Yutak tribesmen, in the north, and made peace with their great chiefs. And—though the paladin spread the religion of Mitra and discouraged devotion to Asmodeus—he tolerated the Prince of Darkness's temples, as long as they were discreet.
Forty-six years the Victor sat upon the throne, bringing a golden age to Talingarde. Today, his statues are to be found in almost every town and hamlet throughout the kingdom. He did have his faults, though—like so many great rulers, he was a celebrated soldier and king...but a poor father.
| The Scholar and the Monster |
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After the death of the Victor, his oldest son, Martius, ascended to the throne as King Markadian II, called the Learned. More a scholar than a king, Martius proved largely disinterested in affairs of state. He commissioned the great library at Matharyn and began renovation of an old family castle into the great palace known as the Adarium. As the first wing of the Adarium was completed, he retreated there and was rarely after seen in public. The other son, Prince Hallen, was not so reserved. Though he had no official power, he often ruled in the king's absence and commanded great loyalty from the knights of the realm. This might have been an acceptable arrangement—after all, Prince Hallen was a soldier and an heir of the Victor. He could have become the de facto ruler, while the official king sat in his distant pleasure palace and library. Alas that Prince Hallen was also mad.
Hallen became convinced that his mother (who had died in childbirth) was not the queen, but an angel of Mitra. He believed himself a demigod and incapable of wrong. At first, the Prince's madness was subtle. He often dressed himself all in white and even had a magic set of wings made for himself that allowed him to soar over the capital. In time, though, the visions began: He "communed with angels," and they whispered that he should replace his brother and become the true and immortal master of Talingarde.
The king received disturbing reports of his sibling's madness and plots, but refused to believe them. "My brother but jests," is famously what Markadian II replied to the reports—right up until the "angel" prince flew to the Adarium and, with a flaming sword, slew his own brother among his books, proclaiming himself Markadian III, called the Immortal. Martius's six-year reign was at an end.
For a brief time, it was possible that Markadian III's claim of kingship might have been acknowledged. His brother, after all, was little loved, and tongues wagged that getting rid of the absent king was a blessing. Maybe the new king was a divine messenger of Mitra's will? But within days, the mad decrees began from the Adarium: First, that Mitra's high holy day would no longer be the summer solstice, but instead would become Hallen's own birthday. He ordered the Talirean military to prepare to invade Hell, and commanded his wizards to research opening a great gate, explaining to his flabbergasted advisors that the army would go through to the shining realm of Mitra and call forth an army of angels. Then, he would personally lead the host to invade the Nine Hells and overthrow Asmodeus, himself.
History reports that—after only five months in power—Markadian III, called the Mad, tried to fly from the highest spire of the Adarium without his magic wings. Whatever the truth, his reign was over.
Fortunately for Talingarde, Martius (Markadian II) had a son—Marcus. The grandson of the Victor was neither mad nor a recluse. He had been clever enough to avoid the Adarium and the capital during Prince Hallen's "angelic" rampage. Marcus was a handsome knight, twenty-nine years of age, and closely resembled his grandfather. Talingarde was spared another disastrous war of succession when he returned to the capital and was crowned Markadian IV, called the Zealous. In a shamelessly political move that cannot be disguised by the educated as anything else, the new king quickly found an enemy to unify his fractured nation: The Church of Asmodeus.
Markadian IV blamed the Asmodeans for using their "black magic" to summon a devil that possessed the former king, driving him mad. It was a brilliant explanation that removed blame from the royal house of Darius and instead placed guilt squarely upon a small, unpopular, marginalized cult. This was the beginning of the Asmodean Purges: The Knights of the Alerion took the lead in destroying Hell's temples; high priests were burnt at the stake, and the sect was driven underground. For twelve years, the Zealot sat upon the throne, and during that time he did his best to annihilate the Church of Asmodeus, though he died comparatively young—only 41 years old—of a mysterious illness. Of course, it is taught that Asmodeus's worshipers placed a curse upon the king, which belief only further fueled the Purges.
Markadian IV was followed by Markadian V, his son. Twenty-two when he took the throne (the same age as the Victor), he has ruled for sixteen years as a capable, energetic king who has done much to put bad memories in the past. Beloved by his people, he has proven again and again that he is the true heir of the Victor: Early in his reign, he personally led the army to relieve the Watch Wall after another bugbear incursion; it was on the watchtower walls that he earned himself the title "the Brave." Markadian V has continued the prohibition against the Church of Asmodeus, but does not pursue the Purges with the same vigor as his father—after all, that battle is largely won. No one has heard of an Asmodean cultist in Talingarde for years. Instead, he turns his attention to the west and the north, hoping to be the king who finally brings the entire island under Talirean dominion.
He has failed in one duty, however, having yet to produce a son. Instead, he has only one child—a beautiful, brilliant young princess named Bellinda. Twenty years of age, she is already a prodigy of arcane magic. If her father produces no heir, it is an open question whether the men of Talingarde will follow a queen instead of a king. Her story is yet to be written.
Last edited by Morgan Coldsoul, June 18 2016 00:19:15. Secured game article. You most log in to contribute.
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