[color=steelblue][h3][b]=-=2200 SE, Late Summer=-=
Northeast Kevia[/b]
[i]Consolidation[/i][/h3][/color]

It had been approaching fall, but trouble amongst the nobility of Cesia had not been fully calm since the summer Tourney. While many nobles had fun, the suspicious death of one of the uncles of the current king had left a sour taste for most nobility, especially those who considered themselves allies of the remaining family. There was very obvious trouble in the court of [color=steelblue]Thorald Bramsson[/color], especially when the 4 remaining pretenders had scattered to the further parts of Cesia towards the courts of their allies, abandoning their homesteads in favor of the protection of the court of their friends. Thorald felt threatened by these would be rivals to his throne, especially if one decided to start a small civil war and allow his neighbors the chance to pick at the country's borders. Rumors had spread in Stormcod that the King of Swinden had been eyeing farmsteads and small villages Oslak, and Swiden troops had even tried to bully the guardsmen of the city of Kenis. With his neighbors prodding at his borders, the young king had gathered his council and set out to consolidate his power as best he could, in a traditional Noravar fashion. By force.

The first uncle to deal with was [color=steelblue]Hlodvir Bramsson[/color], the youngest of the uncles. Hlodvir was not exactly a bright nor clever man, but he certainly wasn't bull headed like other Bramssons. Thorald knew little of him, mostly because the man had spent much of his years in merchant guilds and was a addict for money. What he used this money for was anyone's guess, but often Thorald had good reason to believe this money was wasted on many stupid ventures. Using this to his advantage, Thorald sent one of his Maruds to the court of Hlodvir's ally, a small dwarven nobleman in Fortigar, to bribe Hlodvir to leave the country and revoke his claim to the throne. The payout, while immense to a debt ridden man like himself and fearful of Thorald's vengeance, eagerly accepted. Hlodvir took a horse and his new found wealth back to Stormcod, but wished to make a deal with his nephew to not leave the country, arguing his estate was worth a great deal to him. Hlodvir had no family of his own, so seeing no point in arguing with him and relying on his predicability to get himself in debt again, Thorald allowed Hlodvir to stay on the condition he gave up his claim to the crown.

The second uncle, [color=steelblue]Leidolf Bramsson[/color] was the elder uncle, and was a close friend in the childhood of the previous king but the two grew apart due to Leidolf's ambitions. Leidolf was a older warrior but not a skillful veteran, and often considered himself more of a explorer and adventurer then a raider. Thorald asked Leidolf, who was hiding in the city of Aiela under the local lord's protection, to give up his claims to the crown. Leidolf refused, sending his messenger to convey he would not give up his birthright. Seeing how diplomacy had failed, Thorald motioned his Spion [color=steelblue]Styr Gunnarsson[/color] to deal with the issue. Styr, who had served as a graceful and loyal spymaster since the days of the previous king, gathered intelligence in the city. Styr drew Leidolf out of hiding by offering him information on the death of the uncle who had died during he Tourney, Snæbjorn Bramsson. Leidolf arrived along with three Maruds loyal to him to a meeting with Styr in a barn outside the city. When the group was inside however, they found nothing but dry hay. Two local thugs locked the door behind the group and then set the barn ablaze. Leidolf had most certainly died in the fire, as Styr made sure to watch the man burn alive trying to break down the door with their axes and swords. Leidolf's sons soon were rounded up by Styr and taken back to the capital where they swore fealty and were placed back onto a estate once they had renounced their birthright to claim Cesia's crown.

With two uncles out of the way, the other two [color=steelblue]Asvald Bramsson[/color] and [color=steelblue]Throst Bramsson[/color] had come to be the new targets. The death of Leidolf had forced the two brothers to unite and made their way to the court of Hauld [color=steelblue]Vikar Gauksson[/color], the Hauld of Neasbrid. Vikar is considered honorable to a fault and when he heard Asvald and Throst's complaints about the Thorald, Vikar had flown into a fury, throwing his sword into the wooden floor of his great hall and calling Thorald a coward and a traitor. Having earned Vikar to their side, the two kinsmen formed a alliance and began to call allies in a attempt to overthrown their uppity nephew. Yet, Thorald had gotten whiff of their plans when one of the allies called the uncles was no other then Thorald's ally, Kodran Bramsson. Kodran was a good friend of Throst, with Throst's own son and heir to his name being the newest companion of Kodran as a Marud which the elderly Kodran wanted to bring on a far raid. When he was approached by this kinsmen of Throst's request, Kodran brought it to Styr and then brought it to Thorald. Styr suggested placing Kodran and his family in the dungeons beneath Stormcod's keep for the time being, but instead, Thorald respectively placed his uncle under house arrest and released Throst's son back to him with a message. Throst read the message in private along with his family, with warning of a brutal famlicide if he continued to rebel with Asvald, and mercy if he surrendered.

Throst Bramsson, as a couple weeks dragged on, began to lose hope with Asvald's cause. Asvald had gathered a pretty effecient army of outcasts, bandits, and disgruntled soldiers to his banner but had not brought with him any significant Maruds, Thanes, or Haulds. The Jarl of Lesser Oslak did appear in court, but only to actually greet his half brother Vikar, trying to persuade him against rebellion. It was rather clear that most nobles were undecided at best, and against them at worst. The royal army of Maruds which gathered in Stormcod numbered around 7,000, with and additional 2,500 which would be supported by the Hauld of Aiela. The Jarl of Cesia had his own army, which was already crossing into Causia. Throst asked his brother of the chances of victory, but he was outright ignored, with Asvald truly believing his cause was simply so just, he could not be defeated. Throst eventually gathered his own strength and gathered his family to him. He hugged his sons and daughters, telling them to ride for the estate of his younger brother Hlodvir. In the night, Throst and his Marud rode hard and fast to the marching army of Thorald to ask for his mercy.

When Throst arrived, his guards and himself had been escorted through the encampment which was preparing to leave soon, having camped on the road. Thorald was surprised to find Throst in his camp. While Throst did kiss the sword of Thorald, the young king was warned by his Spion that he was still a proud pretender who now had a history of rebellion, and if allowed to be free, he would simply attract trouble. Thorald asked his uncle what he would do in such a situation, and Throst had answered "What would you do my king, if your brother if you had one, was killed in fire by dishonorable means?". Thorald gave a chuckle at Throst's accusation, answering that if such a thing happened to him, he would have kept the peace and stability regardless of the circumstance, but it was clear to those within the tent that it had not been a truthful answer. Thorald had Throst and his Maruds imprisoned until later, but for surrendering to him, Thorald promised the older man he would care for his family and his kin.

It was later summer when battle was joined near Neasbrid. Without Throst, and with only Vikar's army and Asvald's militia at their back, the group of less then 6,000 troops faced off against a combined army led by the King and his father-in-law, the Jarl of Cesia. Their numbers combined was around 33,000, causing many of Neasbrid's Maruds to lose heart. Battle opened with Neasbrid's Maruds acting defensively as their were under the onslaught of armored beastfolk from Stormcod, which tore through their line relatively quickly. While Vikar bravely continued to fight on, his army was surrounded and demoralized, utterly crushed by the relatively larger force. Asvald attempted to flee the battle and make his way to the shipyards of Neasbrid, but was caught by his own militia who presented him to the victorious Thorald. Vikar was killed in battle, but his sons swiftly pledged loyalty to Thorald who accepted it in grace, but for Asvald, the angry man shook his chains and often tried to charge the young king. Thorald smiled, with his last uncle in chains, Thorald was pleased he had rather swiftly ended a crises before it even began.

Asvald was highly rebellious and ill popular, but his family who had also been captured begged for his release and promised to go abroad. Thorald knew where they would head, towards the Coalition who would most likely support their claim. In the afternoon following Asvald's defeat, Thorald had his uncle executed. His executioner would be Thorald's Beryul bodyguard, slave, and childhood friend [color=steelblue]Yulf Whitecamp[/color]. Despite being armored in more traditional and more comfortable armor compared to his other beastfolk brethren, Yulf was still very obviously shackled in heavy restraints and wore a metal slave's collar which showed his station. Yet, it was his station which made him a rather appropriate executioner for Asvald, and Thorald wanted many in his camp to know it, as the slave brought down his sword upon the angry noble's head. Asvald screamed and raged for hours, cursing and spitting at Thorald who watched the execution closely. Asvald's head was placed on Yuld's belt, with Thorald warning his fellow nobles he would not tolerate traitors in his midst. As for Asvald's family, he ordered their males to have their right hands chopped off and sent away without honor and in peasant's cloths to the Kingdom of Jugraia, with Asvald's elder son having the Noravar runes "Son of a crownless traitor" carved into his chest.

The decision as to what to do with Throst was more difficult. Throst was still a traitor to the crown, and keeping him alive would truly attract the coalition to him. While Thorald played with the idea of sending him away in banishment, there was always a chance years later that Throst or his sons might return with Coalition support. In the night, Thorald talked solemnly with Throst about his issue with him, with Throst rather morbidly agreeing and even joking that he must die for stability in the realm. Thorald, not wishing to be named a kinslayer, ordered Throst to be beheaded in private by one of Throst's Maruds. Before his beheading, Thorald lamented that he was sorry and that he would honor his pact with the nobleman. Throst thanked him, closed his eyes, and let the sword fall upon his neck. Throst's body was returned to the household of his family and were given pardons on the promise they would never start trouble or turn to Cesia's enemies. Throst's elder son returned to the care of Kodran. With the war over, Kodran and his family were free from their house arrest and attended Throst's funeral.

[hr]

While Cesia had been in trouble with it's noble family, the High King of Polav had been dealing with his own issues. The old king had been in the middle of several small crises. Polavians were divided amongst the much more pale skinned northerners and a significant sub culture which was more closely related to a much more brighter skinned Noravar. Polav had been formed a fairly long time ago when the King of Polav also became king of the Kingdom of Luthugaria, combining the two kingdoms into one powerful entity. Yet, the kingdom was in the midst of many issues which was caused by the king's ambitious and aging son which caused deeper concerns. [color=steelblue]Świętosław Macak[/color], the current king, had just fought a battle near his capital city against his son's coalition of nobles and just barely had held them back. Despite disowning the upstart brat, the old king was unable to truly disown him since the youngster had murdered his only other heirs, including a number of bastard children. Now this lonesome child had a family of his own, and was leading a significant army in the battlefield, but was just unable to fully capitalize on his accomplishments.

[color=steelblue]Radomir Macak[/color] had been dubiously murdering, cheating, and outright lying his way to a seat of power for the past 30 years. Battles near Palov's capital city was no unusual to his many ambitions. . .and his failures. Eventually retreating to southern Palov, Radomir began to conspire with many of Luthugaria's nobles who wanted the overly ambitious and easy to control man on the throne. Radomir however was losing very significant support almost daily, especially with mounting defeat on the battlefield and his disownment did not make things better. It wasn't until the court of his father was visited by two controversial figures did things begin to turn around in Radomir's favor.

Cesia had a very uneasy truce with the King of Palov, including Radomir's father and grandfather. Since Palov was on the Cesian Strip, the beach line was often contested in both diplomacy and war by the two nations in the past, neither able to beat the other. Radomir's grandfather had eased things between the two countries by offering access to roads, expansion of roads to connect with Cesia to it's new province of Penica, and trade rights to her ports if the Cesian raiders ignored Palovian ships. The Cesian kings agreed and kept these deals for some time, so long as Palov did not join the coalition of Noravar states against them. However, the court of Palov was interrupted by a rather angry ambassador from Cesia, who complained of bandit infested roads and threatened enslavement of Palovian peoples if the King did not clean up the mess in the country, alienating a number of noblemen. Radomir could not have asked for a better gift, especially when his own court was approached by ambassadors from the Noravar Coalition, offering their support to place Radomir on the throne in return for joining the coalition.

The other controversial figure was a Otem merchant and patron named [color=steelblue]Jerzy Blackpuddle[/color] had appeared in Palov's court, offering a huge loan. Otem in Palov were often very rich, having their own autonomous city of Wesa'hol which had been under Palov control and suspicion for years. The merchant council in the city had no nobles, but instead was solely run by rich Otem ship builder guilds, along with a huge number of craftsmen. When the Otem offered a loan rather then aid, the king of Palov accepted, but had also disgusted many of his noblemen in doing so. Many Palovian nobles who were loyalists were furious that the Otem had not offered help, but rather were instead profiting off the entire affair. Several disgruntled nobles ended up siding with Radomir. Radomir within less then a month now had a sizable army, allies, and a relatively secure position to go again and retake the throne.

The Coalition had sent Radomir mercenaries and soldiers with foreign banners rather then their own levies, not wishing to provoke Cesia into action just yet. With their support and aid, the ambitious prince again was laying siege to Palov's capital city and soon had overtaken it, forcing his father to flee to the northern coastline. Pushed back time and time again, it was wasn't hard to realize his situation was dire, and fled to Cesia's territory of Penica, who's Jarl rather reluctantly agreed to take him in. Radomir was soon on the throne, but his claim was not secure amongst his father's loyalists, and sent demands of the Jarl to "Grant his father a good burial". The Jarl refused, but soon found that the old Palov king had died of old age and his servants and loyalist nobles tried to hide it. The Jarl of Penica demanded, for the old King, a huge sum of money and some of Palov's most treasured relics of it's strange religion, but did not tell Radomir that the old king had died. Radomir agreed to the request, but was rather furious when he had sat outside of his capital city to deliver a grand speech to his hated father, only for him to arrival rather haphazardly in a wagon, delivered by a Beryul slave and a young Marud, the body having been partially eaten by crows and drowned a few times in shallow marshlands due to poor conditioning. Radomir cut off the head from the body and placed on a pike on a bridge leading into the main gate of Palov's capital.

With Radomir on the throne at long last, he attempted gleefully began to ponder which side to chose in local political affair, the Cesians or the Noravar petty kingdoms. It was a clear choice to Radomir who heard debates favor the smaller kingdoms, as Palov's nobles had begun to eye the Jarldom of Cesia as a obvious choice for expansion. Radomir, much to the shock of Cesian ambassadors, announced his intention to join the coalition against Cesia, and reasserted his people's rule over the Cesia Strip. Radomir purged his courtiers in the capital's court, inviting ambassadors from the smaller Noravar kingdoms and a number of their heroic Maruds. When the ambassador to Cesia protested, he was banished outside the court and placed in the household of a lesser nobleman in the city, but the ambassador had left for the Cesian court straight away. Radomir however was a rather dubious ally it seemed, as his ambitions was often not without consequence. Many northern nobles who had been loyal to the previous king began to make contact with their Cesian neighbors, complaining of Radomir's rule. These signs were ignored by the new king, who either did not know or did not have a spymaster who could tell him so.

Radomir's new 'popular government' saw severe changes and huge consequences for his actions. The first of which had been a revocation of lands of his enemies, including many previous supporters who had aided him to the throne. These began as very small removal of titles, but soon began with Radomir leading armies to commit familicide against his internal enemies. Chaos was errupting much to the horror of his new allies, who rushed to help him only to find Cesian mercenaries helping their enemies. The second major move was Radomir revoking trade rights and access to Cesia, which angered many merchants of Palov and their coastal nobles. Cesian raiders began raiding Palovian trade ships, and neighboring lords began to pillage many of Radomir's loyalists. These complaints, brought before their king, caused nothing but further dissent as Radomir simply laughed or obnoxiously pointed to his crown as a end to arguments. Problems often had to be solved by his new found allies, who were more annoyed then relieved to basically be running the country.

Radomir's third and most vicious act was perhaps the infamous Purge of Wesa'hol, the Otem city which feared the worst when Radomir had come to power. Radomir sent three small armies to camp near the city, which were accepted at first, but soon it grew into a siege. The city, without even a fight, opened its doors and allowed the men in under the supposed agreement the people would not be harmed. The Otem city however was instead utterly pillaged as Palovian men clamored into the city, killing Otem and burning much of it to the ground. Those that survived fled to the harbor and swam to already launched boats, as the Otem watched their city burn. The surviving Otem returned to their city to rebuild, but soon found themselves placed in capitvity by Palovian bandits who planned to execute them if they returned. This thuggery shocked and angered many Palovians, who while suspicious of the Otem had not been outright aggressive towards them, a important fact which had been misinterpreted by Radomir who planned the purge to rid himself of a bad image but instead inflated it. Before Radomir could attempt to make amends, over 30,000 Otem were placed in chains by his mercenaries and were marched as slaves to Cesia where the thugs made a decent profit, having basically sold almost all of Palov's most skilled ship builders into eager Cesian hands.

Many of the survivors of the purge in Wesa'hol ended up in the city of Norgadber, who's enclave had to be expanded by over three times it's size to accomplidate the new Otem population sold to the city's Jarl. The Jarl of Cesia agreed to the sale, mostly seeking to use the new enslaved population to expand his city's port, and perhaps sell off additional Otem to other Noravar nobles, earning him a decent profit. Yet, more importantly, these Otem brought news and information which they traded to the Jarl's Maruds for safe passage to Otem city states in the north, including the infamous merchant Jerzy Blackpuddle. This information, gathered by the Spion of the local Jarl, told the court of Thorald Bramsson of the atrocities and troubles in Palov. While many in Cesia were now worried with Palov having joined the coalition, others were rather relieved that the Coalition was probably in a state of chaos having accepted such a irrational and stupid ally. 1/3 of Wesa'hol's population were outright bought by Thorald and brought to the Stormcod enclave, with Thorald swiftly declaring he would reclaim Wesa'hol for it's displaced Otem and add them to the rightful protection of his nation, his threat creating a resounding fear in newly named High King of Palov.

[hr]

With Cesia's attention on internal and external affairs, the Lord of Maukshad had been enjoying a show. Within the dwarven realm, a great marble pit was surrounded with a small jeering crowd who had joined the dwarven lord's private estate as two Beryul slaves were fighting to the death in his arena. [color=steelblue]Sindri Brond[/color] had been watching from his high marble throne alongside his pregnant wife. It had been a special day, as the local nobility were celebrating the coming of his child. Yet, while many nobles and rich dwarven autocrats were having fun watching two Beryul slaves rip each other apart with a great deal of beer and ale to accompany them, others in the crowd were rather sickened by the display.

What was sickening wasn't that two slaves were killing each other, it was that one slave was on a chain leash, holding no weapon, and was virtually naked except for his shackles. The Beryul chained in this way was a recent capture and also very young, not use to the weight and was being painfully bullied and prodded by the larger creature in the pit. This creature was simply known the dwarves as [color=steelblue]'Mud'[/color], or at least, that is what was scrawled as his name on his collar. The creature bore a very heavy, custom made, black armor and specialized sword. His shackles were studded and much larger and thicker then most other metal shackles granted to Beastfolk, and again much like armor were specially made and crafted in good dwarven quality. This creature was Sindri's pet and bodyguard, and was beating, scratching, and body slamming the poor creature in the pit. One of the nobles was sickened by the display, noticing that their lord gave a wide smile while sickened wife simply turned away.

When the younger Beryul tried to give out a cry for mercy in his own language, calling upon his gods to save him, 'Mud' had yanked on the chain of his collar, detaching it from the wall and began to choke him. 'Mud' looked to his master who gave a nod and let the creature down, but dragged him away into the pits below for perhaps another day. When the group disbursed, the dwarves gathered in a grand meeting room with Sindri granting gifts of gold, jewels, and toys to his vassals who attended. Yet, he noted on the faces in the room who were clearly disgusted, and reassured them he was just as kind as his father had been ages past, but he would only act cruel to his fortress's enemies. When the dwarves left, Sindri gathere his true guests who had only just arrived. His wife excused herself as 'Mud' motioned the less then beloved dwarven allies of the Lord into the white halls.

These two allies were [color=steelblue]Kian Fordad[/color] and [color=steelblue]Kregan Nausit[/color]. Kian is the Spion of Sindri and had just returned from a mission in the rival dwarven fortress of Fortigar, and Kregan is Sindri's patron, a rich merchant who profits from the lord's many ambitious ventures who had also just returned from Fortigar on a mission of his own. For the past two months, Kian had been gaining the trust of Fortigar's lord and his family, with Kregan prodding the local legionary guard with small bribes to see who was corruptible. Both had reported great success, and were both hugged by the happy dwarven lord. Sindri called two Otem slaves to pour his friends drinks and the three discussed their plans in the empty court, with 'Mud' watching over the door as he usually does.

Sindri had been lord of Maukshad for a twelve years, and was successful as a merchant and high dwarven king under Cesian rule. His administration in Granland had earned him fame and fortune and the respect of his father, but now being lord in Maukshad had made him sour with the direct message from Cesia's government to remain loyal or else. Sindri had been ambitious, seeking a strong dwarven kingdom of a united Dwalam people, but he could not do that under Cesian rule. The Cesians traditionally avoided dwarven territory, due to it's huge problems with sieges and near suicidal need for luck to even break down the gates. Yet, Sindri had other ways to unite the Dwalam, even if they were rather dubious and highly unfavorable. One such way was his current scheme, to simply buy out the loyalty of the guard in Fortigar and then use them to usurp power in the city. Things had been going well for Sindri, but he now needed the right time to unleash his potential. He had been making sure, through cruel games like the ones he hosted today, to keep the nobility of his own city in line.

Once the two had been done drinking, Sindri sent his spion to Stormcod to keep an eye on the news and to report back to him what was happening in Cesian politics, and perhaps bring in possible allies to his cause. As for his patron, Kregan was to be sent to the local merchants guild for the next phase in his master gamble. Bribing guards was a risky businesses, but in order to secure true loyalty through money, he had to offer these bribed commanders and guards very lucrative deals. Kregan and Sindri the next day made a trip to the local Merchant's guild to secure themselves some small expensive housing which had recently fallen into the hands of the merchants, and would use this to offer the Fortigar commanders grand housing, essentially the equivalent of a sellable dwarven estate free of charge, for their continued loyalty. When one commander who came to Maukshad on 'business' showed doubts, he was swiftly found dead in his inn from severe poisoning. The other commanders, wether by greed or fear, made 'oaths' to Sindri in his throne room in private and went back to Fortigar with their pockets filled to the brim with their sins.

Having noticed his wife's disdain for him during the social gathering, Sindri approached his wife [color=steelblue]Myri Brond[/color]. Myri was a merchant dwarven women who had fallen in love with the Maukshad prince when the two worked to secure trade rights in Granland, but now they had grown rather cold with Sindri having grown to be almost monstrous and overly ambitious. Myri told her husband that she would never forgive him if he missed the day of his child's birth. Sindri promised rather half serious he would never disobey her trust, but rather not reading his wife's rather poor mood correctly, he granted her a 'gift' of the same overly tortured and broken Beryul slave to be her personal servant. Despite attempted pleas of not wanting such a creature as a common servant, Sindri had simply insisted and bragged about the wealth and prestige of having such a creature in her service. Myri sighed deeply and stopped trying to argue with her husband, ordering the creature around in a attempt to normalize it to her standards.