[h3][color=steelblue][b]=-=2200 SE, Fall - Winter=-=
Northeast Kevica[/b]
[i]Whispers[/i][/color][/h3]

While things had been calming down since the attempted coup in Cesia, trouble had been brewing all around since the later days of Fall. In Cesia itself, there had been celebration, especially when in a rather jubilant and bombastic way, King [color=steelblue]Thorald Bramsson[/color] had announced the pregnancy of his wife [color=steelblue]Gyda Ketilsson[/color]. Despite his public declaration to feast till the next spring in celebration, he later was advised against anything lavish since the war with his uncle had left the kingdom economically troubled and many of the nobles were rather cautious with separating themselves from their funds for yet another lavish feast, especially as the nobles begin returning to their own realms. Thorald was happy, but he had been making plans for larger conquests. Thorald had been playing with the idea of conquering his troubled neighbor of Polav for some time, and now that winter was stirring, it seemed that Thorald had plenty of time to plan and plot, gethering to him his advisers and generals to hold up with him in the castle at Stormcod.

The problem had been was that currently, Polav had once been a neutral neighbor, and now under the rule of the seemingly incompetent [color=steelblue]Radomir Macak[/color]. In the time which had taken Radomir to become king of his country, nothing has really changed since the late summer, with many of the northern nobles of Palov constantly complaining to the Cesians of Radomir's ever incompetent rule and general lack of empathy. It was made even worse that Radomir had somehow gotten sick with some unknown plague along with a decent amount of his court, which made the prospect of invasion of the realm even a better prospect. The only issue was, was dealing with the Coalition which Radomir had sided with and finding a pretender to the Palov crown. These things were discussed in length by Thorald and his advisers.

One possibility was a small branch of the Macak dynasty known as the Krawiec which had been one of the noble families which had been complaining. It's patriarch, [color=steelblue]Książę Aleksander Krawiec[/color], had been siding more and more with the Cesians and had been especially been noteworthy in his criticism on the new Palov king. Aleksander had lost a huge amount of his trade and wealth when the Otem city of Wesa'hol burned, having been especially a prominent patron of it's ship building guilds. Thorald in secret invited the nobleman to his keep and met with the man, and was met by a large imposing man with a deep voice and a half hearted accent, barely able to speak the language of the Cesians. When Thorald offered meat and bread to the man, he refused, citing it was not within his god's wishes to break bread with a weak and pitied man who had to use slaves, specifically noting Thorald's Beryul bodyguard. Despite the two having many similar differences, Thorald was rather impressed by Aleksander's imposing pride and strength. Aleksander was offered the crown of Palov by Thorald, but much to anger, Aleksander refused, stating that while Radomir was incompetent, he would not challenge his oaths or his king, but he did inform Thorald he would most likely not join in any war with the king either, neither would many other northern nobles.

The search continued for weeks with similar results. One nobleman who had unclear bastard origins was very reluctant to join out of personal fear for his own family, one nobleman who was thought to be also a bastard was hunted down to a gravestone near the capital city, and many of the 'missing' sons and daughters of the previous king had been 'found', buried in hunting accidents and sudden sickness. While [color=steelblue]Styr Gunnarsson[/color] had pointed out to Thorald he could craft a good reason to displace the Palov king based on these 'accidents' as being purposeful murders, Thorald didn't wish to spend neither the time or money, for he had a much more easy solution and decided to send his ambassador to the court of Radomir directly.

In the court of Radomir, he and his supporters were still discussing issues of Palov and of the consequences of their government's constant fumbling. When a guardsman entered the room, whispering in the ear of the young king, he dismissed the man. "The Cesian can wait outside in the cold for all I care, I have more important things to worry about!" He complained. So the ambassador did wait outside in the snow, and he waited for two whole days without moving a muscle much to the terrified glances of the palace guards who began whispering of the ambassador being a ghoul, a ghost, or even some rotting thing from the north. In a bored mood, Radomir eventually motioned his guards during a winter night to allow the man inside, and the Cesian shoved open the doors. He revealed himself as [color=steelblue]Kodran Bramsson[/color], and he shook off the snow from his coat and drank from his beer horn. In silence, Kodran gave a scroll to the King of Palov, a list of demands.

In this grand letter, the King of Cesia had proclaimed that he had bought the Otem who fled from the burning city of Wesa'hol, and were made his subjects. As his subjects and by the authority of the Cesian crown, he too now owned the lands of Wesa'hol as given to him by the surviving landlords of that country along with it's nobles, its people, and its coast. Radomir laughed as he read each sentance of demands and asked for his sword from a courtier, but as he did, Kodran was heard laughing with him, disturbing the young King. "What do you think is so funny, Cesian? Do you not fear me or my sword?" He asked. As he said this, halberds lowered from the guards towards the Cesian, and the man answered back.

"Kill me? You would dare kill a messenger? Truly it is true the King of Palov had no shame nor wit." Boasted Kodran. "Would your allies think less of you or more of you, or perhaps even show their true colors you incompetent cur of ill repute!" Radomir had more then enough, but before he could order the man killed, he was stopped by one of the Maruds from Caskard. The Noravar stood to the side of Kodran. "Beware, King Radomir, for if you slay a messenger you incur the wrath of the strong nobles of Caskard and her allies. Let us not draw sword, but mugs, and be calm." He motioned the royal guard in the room to lower their weapons, and much to Radomir's horror, they did. Radomir himself lowered his weapon and put it back into the hands of one of his servants. He calmed, and motioned everyone into one of the castle rooms.

There was furious debate between Kodran and the Coalition nobles for hours, with Kodran arguing that Cesia now owned the people of Wesa'hol and thus owned Wesa'hol's lands, no matter how poorly kept they were. The Coalition warned that this was a clear act of aggression which would mean war, for that land belong to Palov by right of it's crown, not by the right of a displaced people. Eventually, the two sides relented and came to a rather reluctant agreement. Palov would instead of giving Cesia Wesa'hol, it would instead build a 'marcher kingdom' between Cesia and Palov as an independent kingdom, allowing the Wesa'hol Otem and Noravar settlers to rebuild the destroyed city as a Noravar-Palovian-Otem city which would also include the Palov territory of Krejeck, in which the Aleksander rules. In further agreement, Aleksander would be given kingship by both the Cesian and Palov crown authority to rule the land.

When Kodran returned, Cesian armies crossed into the territory to swiftly replace Palov counterparts, releiving a number of north eastern Palov nobles who sided more with the Cesians and praised granting the noble Aleksander to the position as their king. Naming the country the Kingdom of Weskov, it would utterly separate the borders between Cesia and Palov, but also separated Palov from it's coalition allies. While it infuriated many of the Coalition nobles that Palov had lost land, they were a bit less livid that the land went to a Palovian who was stupidly honorable. Noravar, from both Cesia and the Coalition, began moving to help rebuild the city of Wesa'hol, with many of the Otem who were sold into slavery in Cesia being allowed to return to their homes, but more or less still as slaves but under Palovian rule who simply promoted them to more or less urban peasantry. However, Thorald had successfully and peacefully pushed his claims on Palov, which had greatly worried the nobles who did not wish to see further violence between them and the coalition.