The Emperors of Narsil

From the reign of Arviragis Cristis to the accession of Edmund Montair

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Loosely adapted and condensed from the Imperial Annals with emendations and elaborations. As with all material from this period in imperial history, dates and details alike are subject to error and subsequent revision.

The Viceroyalty (917-980)

In its early days Rendale was a lakeside fort and trading post. Its harbor was probably first seen by Mandoran eyes in the 850s, during the journeys of the priest-explorer Father Cajetion — who mapped the Mersana to its source and gave lakes Orison and Sacrifice their names. There is no reference to his explorations having established any permanent settlement upon the lakeshore, despite the legends about “Cajetion’s Chapel” on the Isle of Ethair. But there are several references to a trading post in the early years of the 10th century, around the time the High King’s writ was extended up the Mersana to Cranholt and Felcester.

Still it apparently remained a negligible settlement for many years, small enough to pass unmentioned in the Great Argosan census conducted by Asion Aceris in 925. But on the evidence of what historians have dubbed the Letter of Ibaris — a long dispatch from an auxiliary captain to his superior in Felcester, dated to 938 —we know that in 934 or 935 a war party of the Maeonwy, feeling cheated in some transaction in the fur trade, succeeded in sacking the town and trapping the surviving inhabitants inside the wooden fort, which was burned and its defenders massacred before a relief force of auxiliaries could arrive from the Heart.

The embarrassment of the massacre seems to have prompted the prefect in Felcester to begin a more substantial fortification effort, which in turn encouraged more settlement around Lake Orison and along the Mersana further south. The bulk of the work was probably completed by 942, when Andarion Narcilis was appointed governor in Argosa and began his succession of campaigns to subdue the wider north, culminating in the creation of a new northern viceroyalty.

Narcilis’s accomplishments are well-documented elsewhere, so we will leap ahead to the crucial date of 962, when the viceroy routed the northern tribes at the Battle of the Hollows (near today’s Northmark), enabling him to finally turn his attention to the Guardians and their lakes and river valley.

The next five years saw a rush of activity in the region. Narcilis planted himself in the town of Rendale during the summer months, trebling its population with his retinue and Unvanquished guards alone. The existing fort and town walls were expanded, the harbor enclosed, and a series of watchtowers were built along the two lakes, north to where the Guardians descended into the high prairie. Then sometime in 964 or 965 construction began on the Con Rendala, meant to match the other fortresses Narcilis was building in his viceroyalty — with this one meant to guard the lakes and the river valley and especially to block raids down from the northern prairie toward the Heart.

In 966, Narcilis’ appointment as viceroy was extended another six years and the viceroyalty he had forged was given the name Narcila. In 967 he proposed the creation of a new province, with its capital at Rendale. In either 968 or 969 (the records vary) construction began on the Con Norrida at the northern tip of Lake Sacrifice, the future Caldmark; Pharazel Maheris, in his Lives of the Great Viceroys, asserts that it was intended as the jumping-off point for a campaign against the prairie tribes. In any case the War of the Testing intervened, with Narcilis, along with much of the western continent, throwing his support behind the traditionalist rebellion. In 972 the fifty-seven-year-old viceroy led 60,000 men south to war, leaving his son Ancelion as acting viceroy in his stead.

The next fifteen years were years of fire and blood in most of the known world; in the north, they were an era of slow decay. Ancelion followed his father south in 975, taking the last Unvanquished and the bulk of the viceroyalty’s remaining auxiliaries with him, and rule in the north passed to Vidion Valanala. He governed from Cranholt for the next five years, during which time raids along the frontier increased, culminating in 980 when an Ysani chieftain defeated a force of conscripts at the Battle of Cranashee.

With that, Mandoran rule over lower Ysan was broken, and the other northern provinces were thrown into turmoil, with raids and rebellions multiplying. Valanala resigned as viceroy (sending letters to both claimants to the World Throne, just to be safe) and took ship down the Mersana for the south. The viceroy’s sceptre passed briefly to his spymaster, Aderion Morisic, who died that winter, and then to the governor of Argosia, Belisa Murena, who removed his capital from Felcester to Argosa, all but abandoning the rest of the north. A token garrison was left in the Con Vala, today’s Valemark, but otherwise every soldier sworn to Mandor was pulled back to the Silver Hills to defend what had been the empire’s northern border seventy years earlier.

Rule in Rendale in that year, 984, belonged to a half-Mandoran, half-Pharssan soldier named Arviragis Cristis — a prefect, not a governor, the proposed new province of Rendala never having been formally established by the World Throne. When the order came to abandon the north, he gave his soldiers leave to go, but declared his intention to remain in Rendale and defend his sparsely-populated almost-province until the War of the Testing ended and Mandoran rule could be restored.

So it is with Arviragis — the last prefect of a retreating imperium — that the line of rulers of Narsil is usually held to begin.

The House of Cristis

Arviragis I (984-989)

Ruled as de facto monarch but retained the title of prefect. Turned back a Ysani attempt to invade the river valley from the south at the Battle of Cosweld (987?). Reportedly died defending the Con Norrida from Kadoli attacks.

Arviragis II (989-991)

The legitimate son of Arviragis I, he abandoned his office after the Con Norrida’s fall in 990 and fled southward. Died in Argosa (1002?).

Caldris I (991-999?)

Arviragis II’s half-brother, the son of a unknown northern woman, he accepted a crown as “Prince of Rendale,” the title of subsequent rulers, and defended the lower parts of the lake region against repeated attacks from the north. Kadoli and Maeonwy raiders roamed at will around Lake Sacrifice during his reign, and during the reign of his son. Believed to have died in battle.

Caldris II (999?-1004?)

Little is known of his reign, in which Rendale was often cut off from the south; in those years the last Mandoran garrison abandoned Con Vala, which was held by men from Cranholt and thereafter known as Valemark. Ysani incursions into the Heart increased and most of the Mering valley was in thrall to Skalbarders.

Caldris III “The Red” (1004?-1018?)

Believed to be the brother of Caldris II, though some accounts suggest that he was a cousin. A fearsome fighter by repute, he recaptured Con Norrida, which became known as Caldmark after his death.

Berdegeris I (1018?-1022?)

So little is known of his reign that his existence is sometimes disputed, despite the undoubted existence of Berdegeris II. Presumed to be the preceding Caldris’s son.

Caldris IV (1022?-1027)

Presumed to be the son or brother of Berdegeris I. Crediting with establishing the Falconguard. Two histories of the Heart mention him allying with Wildereg of Cranholt against Skalbarder raiders and suggest that at least two of his sons died fighting Skalbarders; succeeded by his nephew-by-marriage.

Berdegeris II “The Golden” (1027-1034)

Wed to Damrena, Caldris’s niece, from his reign onward the records become clearer, presumably because in 1030 or 1031 the first gold rush began in the Guardians northeast of Rendale. Credited with defeating Ysani and Maeonwy incursions, he died of wounds suffered in those battles, leaving a nine-year-old son as heir.

Damrena “The White Princess” (1035-1039)

Regent to her son Berdegeris, she married Captain Gedfair of the Falconguard and crowned herself Princess of the North; sources differ as to whether this was intended to protect her son or supplant him.

Berdegeris III “The Imperial” 1039-1064(?)

Crowned at thirteen in defiance of his stepfather’s attempt to assume his mother’s regency; executed Gedfair for treason (1540); defended Caldmark and routed the northern tribes in the First Prairie War (1542-44); renewed alliances with Cranholt (1545). After the Ysani and Skalbarder invasions and the Long Winter (1548-49) he led the Falconguard south into the Vale and defeated the Ysani at Valemark and Cranholt and the Skalbarders at Darkhaven. Acclaimed as king of the Heart and the North, he created the first dukedoms (1550) and concluded a treaty with Argosa (1552) that recognized his sovereignty over Cranholt and Felcester and the other Heart towns. Wed his son Erveront to Elfela of Cranholt (1552). Began construction of the Temple in Rendale (1554). Upon the birth of his grandson Edgeris he abdicated and entered a monastery in 1560; his date of death is uncertain.

Erveront “the Great and Bad” (1060-1071)

Crowned as “Emperor of the North” in the new Temple in Rendale. Defeated the Ysani at the Bone Hill Battles (1064-65), took Mabon (1066), claimed Lower Ysan and besieged Ysan City (1067). Withdrew from the Highlands after his defeat by the alliance of chieftains at Skye Hill (1068). Plagued by growing madness as he aged, he executed his firstborn, Edgeris, after the prince won victories over the Ysani at Farnock (1074) and Carrickcree (1075); his younger sons Pelgeront and Damren were exiled the following year. Faced a religious protest, “the Brown Revolt,” led by the brothers of the Raguelan order (1077-79); after his execution of Archpriest Vortigern in Mabon the rebellion was joined by the Heart lords. Forced to abdicate (1080), he was confined to the Blind Tower until his death the following year. Over the claims of his surviving son, the throne passed jointly to his daughter Arwen and her husband, Berdeger of Barrawelf, recently created Duke of Valemark.

The House of Barrawelf

Berdeger and Arwen (1081-1105)

Crowned as “Emperor and Empress of Narsil.” Defeated Prince Damren’s Rebellion (1081-83), sometimes called the First Argosan War given that kingdom’s support for the pretender. (Damren died in exile in Argosa but his heirs would press a “Damrenite” claim for another fifty years.) The emperor campaigned against the Ysani every summer for a decade, ending in the investment and surrender of Ysan City in 1093; the monarchs wed their son Ethelwelf to the daughter of the Ysani thane Coallen mac Mardain and added “Prince of Ysan” to his titles. The emperor died in battle against the Druanni Great Chief Vezutha in the Second Prairie War (1104-07); Arwen’s claim was deemed to be superseded by her son and she abdicated in his favor in the spring of 1105. (Thereafter no imperial spouse would claim the title “empress.”)

Ethelfair I (1105-1118)

Defeated the Druanni and Suatha’al and finished the Second Prairie War (1107), signed the Moor Pact (1108) with Erona and began construction of Northmark (1109), crushed the Damrenite Rising (1111-13). Mysteriously sick for two years (1114-16); turned pious after recovering and chartered the seven imperial monasteries. Died of another wasting illness; suspected of being poisoned by his brother.

Ethelfair II “The Wicked” (1118-1125)

Succeeded his brother and immediate clashed with the orders, who accused him of sorcery and fratricide. Attempted to seize the holdings of the white and red priests; condemned by the archpriest of Cranholt; faced riots in the Heart cities and a rebellion along the Darkfens. Died under debatable circumstances while campaigning against the fen rebels; his son’s accession was conditioned on an end to the so-called “war of the orders” and the appointment of a white priest as Lord Chancellor.

Arviragis III (1125-1140)

Born another Ethelfair, upon his coronation he took the name of the first prince of Rendale rather than his father’s. Well-meaning and weak, he governed well enough during the years of Father Oredell, his capable first chancellor, but after that priest’s death the realm slipped from him; there were defeats on the northern frontier, a highland rebellion that temporarily held Ysan City (1135-36) until it was recaptured by the generalship of Ethelwin of Meringholt, and in 1137 a Skalbarder raiding party captured Darkhaven and burned Greenhaven and Bluehaven, the worst attack since the Long Winter. The alleged betrayal by his wife Matheld and the attempted arrest of her supposed lover Ethelwin for treason led to the Heart lords’ revolt, Matheld’s suicide and Arviragis’s murder — and then the accession of Ethelwin himself.

The House of Montair

Ethelwin (1140-1151)

Crowned as “Emperor of All Narsil,” his power was tempered by a dukes’ council — the lords of Cranholt, Felcester, Mabon, Gyldenfold, Valemark, Ysan City and Bluehaven — that claimed the power of taxation. Successful in battle against the Skalbarders (1142-44), he rebuilt Darkhaven and raised the Fenwall. Defeated in the Second Argosan War (1146-48) and forced to cede the towns of Merth and Redford and send his son Cedrec south as a hostage. In his last year on the throne the second great gold rush began with discoveries of new seams above Lake Sacrifice.

Jonthen I “the Canny” (1151-1167)

A hostage in Argosa until his father’s death, he returned to the north and began a campaign of political consolidation: The gold mines were placed under imperial supervision (1153), the legions were established with the revenue (1155), the dukes’ council was dissolved in the same year, and a brief rebellion by the Ysani dukes and Erveront of Valemark was smashed at the Battle of Orthain (1157); Valemark itself was claimed a fortress for the legions thereafter. A series of campaigns in the highlands followed (1158-1161), bringing them more completely under imperial control. By 1165 all was prepared for Jonthen’s final ambition, a war of revenge against the Argosans, in which he won a series of swift victories and drove nearly to Argosa itself, before the kingdom was saved by the arrival of Prince Seferen of Erona, honoring his city’s secret treaty with Argosa. Outnumbered and forced to withdraw, Jonthen’s first act upon returning to Rendale was to expand the legions; he died the next year with plans for a renewed war.

Cedrec I (1167-1183)

Made a formal peace with the Argosans and Eronans, the latter sealed with a marriage pact between his eldest son Ethelwin and the daughter of Prince Seferen, and turned the legions toward eastward expansion instead, seeking an outlet for the empire on the Inward Ocean. Defeated the Skalbarder prince of Sheppholm in the Fen War (1169-1172) but failed in two sieges of Sheppholm (1173 and 1175). During the later 1170s an epidemic of redeye fever ravaged the empire, carrying off his two older sons in 1177 and 1179. Defeated an invasion by an alliance of the Skalbarder cities (1180-82), died in battle against the Sealord of Belgard in the Hanging Hills.

Padrec “the Pious” (1183-1198)

His father’s youngest son, he had desired the priesthood; having gained the throne instead, he devoted himself to a campaign of shrine-building and support for the angelic orders. His military efforts were likewise religiously-motivated: He organized several campaigns in the high prairie (1192, 1195, 1197, collectively dubbed the Third Prairie War) that were supposed to open the far north to missionary efforts and pushed the empire’s border to the Whiteflood. Over the objections of his council he married his brother’s widow, Elsaven of Erona, who had borne only daughters to Prince Ethelwin; she bore Padrec two sons, both future emperors, in their first three years of marriage.

Jonthen II (1198-1203)

Briefly under the regency of his cousin Elfred, Duke of Meringholt, he assumed full rule at age fifteen. His first act was to sign a pact with the clan-chiefs to end the prairie conflict (1200); his second was to claim the throne of Erona following the death of his second cousin, Prince Mondwen. Victorious in the Erona War (1201-1202) over Mondwen’s nephew Prince Vesperen, who fled to Argosa for support. Met an Argosan army at Flavus’s Ford and avoided battle, signing the Great Peace of 1203 with King Ambarian III. Died of a fever in Felcester while returning north, succeeded by his brother.

Cedrec II (1203-1222)

Crushed the First Erona Rebellion (1206-1207), led by Prince Vesperen’s son Mereven, who was executed for treason along with several Eronese lords. Made an imperial visit to Tessaer al’Yrgha following the victory (1208-1209), known thereafter as the Brethon Pilgrimage; returned to face Skalbarder incursions in the Fens (1210-1212), which his Lord Chancellor, Alfed of Frayholt, deemed part of an Argosan campaign of subversion, leading to what become known as the Quiet War, a series of skirmishes in the Silver Hills that ran intermittently from 1213 till 1217. In that year Cedrec replaced Alfed with the Earl of Darkhaven, Rodrec Gerdwell, who sough peace with Argosa while he and the emperor pursued their secret Darkfen strategy, culminating the bloodless coup in Sheppholm in the winter of 1220 that delivered the port into imperial hands. This yielded the Sea War with the Skalbarder cities (1220-1224), and Cedrec’s murder during a visit to Sheppholm at the hands of unknown assassins.

Jonthen III “the Conqueror” (1222-1255)

Perhaps under the influence of his mother, Elfretha of House Duncaster, he blamed his father’s murder on Argosan influence notwithstanding its apparent connection to the Sea War. Signed the Peace of Belgard (1224) in which Narsil paid off the Skalbarder cities in return for recognition of the imperial claim to Shepphold, commenced preparations for a war of conquest in the south. Invaded with the full might of the legions in 1227, defeated the Argosan King Verelian II at the Battle of Verduna and the Battle of Uriel’s Eve, took Neruda in the late autumn, invested the city of Argosa in the spring of 1228, refusing all offers of negotiation short of surrender to the empire. Led three legions to meet King Cespian II of Trans-Mersana at the Fords of the Tarcia in late summer 1228, negotiated terms that ceded Upper Tarcia to Trans-Mersana in exchange for recognition of Narsil’s rule in Argosa. Following what became known as Cespian’s Betrayal, Verelian surrendered and accepted exile in Great Salma (1229), while his son and heir Titarian was permitted to swear fealty to Jonthen as duke of Argosa. Presided over a long peace thereafter: Notable events include his son Cedrec’s visit to Allasyr and Capaelya (1233), the first embassies from Janaea (1235), the construction of Eastmark (1233-40). Peace was broken by the White Rose Rising in Neruda (1253-54) — in which the duke of Argosa took no part. Died in Valemark on Winter’s Eve 1255, in transit from Argosa to the north.

Cedrec III (1254-1274)

Immediately faced the Second Erona Rebellion (1255-1257) led by Duke Mondrogen of Erona — probably intended to happen in concert with the White Rose Rising but not successfully coordinated. Put down the rebellion and took Erona by siege (1257), executed Mondrogen and exiled his family, raised Seldwen of House Rilias to the duchy. Betrothed his son Edmund to Princess Bryghaida of Allasyr (1259); the marriage took place in 1264. Upon the death of his first wife, Ilswen, he attempted to seal a relationship with Argosa via several marriages, including his own to Allara of House Verna (1261) and his daughter Alsbet’s to the duke-in-waiting, Asclepian bar Verna (1265). Raised High House in the Guardians (1263), campaigned from Northmark against the Kadoli in the Moor Campaigns (1264-1266). Renewed the Peace of Tarcia with Trans-Mersana in the great embassy of 1270.

Died of a lingering winter fever, succeeded by his son Edmund Montair in the Year of the World 1725.