People of Note:

Aelbreht, Bishop of Jansholm

Bishop Aelbreht is the head wizard of the gold-domed Cathedral of St. Elmal with its dominated gargoiles guarding roof and walls which looms over Jansholm.

Aelbreht was born in 1569 as third son of the ealdorman of Vizel, and joined the clergy at age eleven. Today he is one of the foremost leaders of the Aeolian Church, second only to Archbishop Gwydion.

Aelbreht is the head of the Fighting Wind school of Aeolian wizardry, and a puissant combat wizard. He has a long-standing rivalry with Eadwulf Carlmansson, the duke of northern Heortland and lord of Jansholm, and his staunch supporter Feoric, the captain of the knights of St. Elmal.

Being a shrewd politician, Aelbreht leaves much of the actual church service to Teodbert, the head wizard of the cathedral.

1618 Aelbreht is deposed by the Rokari archbishop of Malkonwal, and goes into exile in Refuge, to reemerge in the 1622 uprising.

Ashart Tidebiter

Even though the Pharaoh is responsible for the security of the Holy Country, recent experience with the Wolf Pirates made the kingdom prepare a small fleet of oared longships to patrol the coast of Heortland. They were put under the command of Ashart Tidebiter, the warder of the Troll Strait.

1616 The great Wolf Pirate raid destroys most of the Holy Country's navy. By a lucky chance, eight longships of the Heortland homeguard fleet survive an assault on Vizel. With these, Ashart's rise to importance in the kingdom begins.

1617 In the vacuum of king Owain's succession Ashart makes a bid for the crown, but after being denied the ports of Vizel and Leskos, he has to rescind his bid as naval presence alone cannot win the crown of Heortland. He goes over to Archbishop Gwydion's party of neutralists.

Arnbrod Grimaxe, Rune Lord of the Stonewood temple to Stormbull

Arnbrod is astonishingly civilised for a berserk, but he rules his unruly band of berserks with an iron hand. Arnbrod is a quite short, but barrelchested man, sporting a neatly trimmed beard and almost hip-length brown locks. Instead of a helmet he wears a horned mask, leaving his mane to float in the wind behind him. Arnbrod has completed the heroquest of Gorangi Vak and rides an all-black skybull. Notable is his bodyguard, a minotaur called Hrun Halfhorn.

Brian of the Volsaxi

A powerful chieftain of the Dunlaingi tribe of the Volsaxi, an accomplished heroquester and priest of Orlanth. From 1611 to 1615 he led a band of Volsaxi mercenaries in the service of the King of Heortland, defending Knight Fort and the Praxian Marches from the Animal Nomads of Prax. In 1613 many exiles from the Starbrow rebellion, including the famous leader, Kallyr Starbrow herself, joined him there.

In 1615 Brian's term of service ended, and he returned to his native lands north of the kingdom, taking most of his followers with him. His warriors were foremost in the raids on Lunar Sartar in 1615 and 1616.

During the raids of 1616 the King of the Volsaxi Federation was slain. Brian gathered his supporters and was named King of the Volsaxi after Sacred Time.

1619 When the Lunar invason forces assembled in Sartar, Brian called sent out the Red Arrow and called the warriors of the Volsaxi to his standard. Rather than offer Fazzur an open battle (and repeating the disaster of 1605, when Fazzur's cavalry raid was stopped before Karse only by an order to retreat), he made his troops skirmish against the Lunars while preparing the fortress city of Whitewall for a siege. Fazzur left sufficient forces under Jorkandros Blinder to besiege Whitewall until the arrival of the Crimson Bat and pushed further south to take Karse in an assault. However, when the Bat arrived, Brian and his household of heroic companions slew the monster.

Fire Season 1621 After almost two years of a somewhat loose siege, Tatius the Bright has built up sufficient magical force to take the city by assault. Most of the empire's magicians and huge numbers of troops are brought against the stubbornly resisting Orlanthi holed up in the ancient hill-fort. Vast rituals forced a way into the citadel, killing many of the participants, only to find the city empty, except for a score of corpses. Brian's whereabouts are unknown. Yet Tatius reports this as a grand victory.

Sacred Season 1621 Brian and his followers reappear in the sacred rites of the Bullflood Orlanthi. He raises the country in rebellion.

Eadwulf Carlmansson, Duke of Jansholm

The Duke is responsible for the Northern Valleys (Marzeel, Solthi, and Syphon), lord of Jansholm, and nominal overlord of the Volsaxi tribes as well. Eadwulf was born in 1555 into a branch of the royal family. He served in the Holy Country navy in the wars against Alatan, then as an ambassador in the City of Wonders, thereby escaping the disastrous eastward expedition of 1586-87. He was elevated to his current position by King Owain's father in 1606, in order to quench Orshanti ambition and Volsaxi independence. He succeded inasmuch as the Marzeel tribes acknowledged the King of Heortland as their High King. His position means that he has to maintain diplomatic contact with the Kitori as well, much to his chagrin, since he prefers to release the knights of St. Elmal against them in punitive expeditions.

1617 Eadwulf makes an early declaration of his unwillingness to enter the contest of claimants to the throne. It is rumoured that Bishop Aelbreht stood behind this declaration, which made Warden Korlaman the only northern candidate for the throne. After Richard the Tigerhearted's ascension, Eadwulf receives Sir Mularik as the royal sheriff of Jansholm, and as a watchdog.

Fazzur Wideread, Gouvernor-General of the Lunar Provincial Army

This Tarshite nobleman has been in charge of the Lunar Provincial Army and occupied Sartar (and Prax) since 1613, when his (Dara Happan) precedessor fell prey to an intrigue. A career officer and scholar, Fazzur has an excellent knowledge and understanding of the Barbarians he has been placed in charge of. His ambition to become king of the most recent addition to the Empire, as well as over the neighbouring territories waiting to be conquered, is not widely known, but well supported by his brother-in-law, king Moirades of Tarsh.

1619 Reinforced with imperial Heartland troops, Brian invades the Marzeel Valley and conquers Volsaxiland, except for the citadel of Whitewall, which he leaves guarded, and for the Lunar College of Magic to take. He pushes through to the independent barony of Karse and takes it by assault after bribing off some of the defenders.

1620 Mustering at Smithstone, Fazzur leads his troops into Heortland, aka "the Kingdom of Malkonwal" ruled by Richard the Tigerhearted. Richard offers battle at Jansholm, but failure of some of his vassals to support him weakens his forces, and when his former lieutenant Mularik Ironeye, now Duke of Jansholm, takes him prisoner and sells him off to the Lunars the battle becomes a mere formality. The Seshnegi chivalry forming the core of Richard's followers gives a good account of itself, but the Lunars take the field, and the Kingdom. Within days, Fazzur has taken all the cities south to Duchamp, where he encounters an invasion force from God Forgot. Fazzur gives Mt. Passant away in a treaty, but ensures the open sea port of Refuge and the Praxian Marches for the Empire.

1621Fazzur now turns his attention on Esrolia, in order to take over all of the leaderless Holy Country. He supports Queen Hendira of the Red Earth faction to build a temple of the Reaching Moon in Nochet. This temple would cover most of the Holy Country within the Glowline, and establish a secure Lunar hold over the land.

Sacred Season 1621 Fazzur receives his demotion from the post of Gouvernor-General as a result of Dara Happan officers in the army conspirating against their "barbarian" commander. Tatius the Bright takes over command while Fazzur retreats to his duchy in Tarsh.

Sir Feoric, Captain of the Knights of St. Elmal

The Knights of St. Elmal are a fighting order within the Aeolian Church dedicated to face the trolls of Northern Heortland, and on unfriendly terms with the followers of Black Arkat. The two dozen knights, recruited from the most dedicated cnihts of the realm, refrain from marrying and are trained in wizardly arts to counter black sorcery. Their order is about 400 years old, and their chapter house is located on the Jansholm cathedral ground. Feoric resents Bishop Aelbreht's claim of superiority over the knights, and is a friend and protege of Duke Eadwulf.

Gagix Twobarb, Scorpion-Queen of the Foulblood Forest

This scorpion queen had overcome and eaten three other queens in the Footprint, and formed a single tribe of until then unseen dimension by 1616. When the Heortland civil war of 1617 and the royal decrees afterwards weakened the chaos defense of the local Orlanthi, her tribe grew undisturbed by the annual chaos hunts which had suppressed the scorpionpeople's population in earlier years. As a result, queen Gagix now rules over a vast horde ready to invade the human-settled lands as soon as opportunity offers itself. For the moment, she holds back her people while receiving Lunar bribes and support.

Sir Gerard de Montanpein, Lieutenant of Sir Richard's Mercenary Company

The Righthand Man of Sir Richard, Gerard was born to a family who have been vassals of the de Loimbards since the resettlement of Tanisor in the early Third Age. Gerard grew up with both sons of the Count of Estaurenic, and became the most successful jouster of the Kingdom of Seshnela. When Sir Guy, the older brother, inherited the title from his father, Gerard chose to follow Richard rather than the count. Through a series of campaigns in Safelster Richard and Gerard (and Sir Mularik, whose smaller mercenary company had joined Richard's) finally travelled to the Holy Country. In 1615 they accepted an assignment at Knight Fort, in the service of Owain, King of Heortland. Their grand display at the rustic tournament in Durengard in 1616 quickly earned them service in the capital, where Gerard for the first time met Ariadine, daughter of the King's Champion and Premier, Eorl Marro, and became beguiled..

1617 During the Succession Wars Eorl Marro, who harboured a deep personal grudge against Sir Richard for pushing him out of his office as the King's Champion, sided with the Duke of Mt. Passant, and was killed in the decisive battle in personal combat with Sir Richard.

Gwydion of Sklar, Archbishop of the Aeolian Church of Heortland

The head of the Aeolian Church comes from a poor fisherman community in northwestern Heortland. He rose through the hierarchy by wit and labour, and became bishop of Backford age 35. When the Archbishopric in Durengard became vacant, Gwydion demonstrated political skill as well. He is one of the most trusted advisors of King Owain.

1617 The childless death of King Owain, following the deaths of his uncle and cousin, leaves Heortland without a clear heir. Gwydion is instrumental in keeping the capital neutral while several contenders decide the issue on the battlefield. However, his play for neutrality is thwarted when Richard the Tigerhearted, commander of the Seshnegi mercenaries protecting the capital, announces his own claim for the crown, and succeeds. Gwydion soon finds himself opposing the influence of the Rokari bishop of Nochet, Vancelain du Tumerine.

1618 After protesting against a royal decree "to remove all pagan ornaments from the churches to the Invisible God" Gwydion is declared outlaw, and forced to hide in the Storm Mountains. He gathers a following of other outlawed Aeolians and disgruntled Orlanthi who have been forced from their clan lands which were given to cronies of King Richard.

1619 In secret, Gwydion manages to convert Sir Gerard de Montanpein, former right-hand man of Richard the Tigerhearted, and duke of Mt. Passant, to the Aeolian faith. When Gerard's sympathies for the native church become apparent, he is effectively demoted, and his duchy led by a royal sherriff.

1620 As the Lunar invasion plans become obvious, Gwydion moves to ensure that King Richard will lack support from his subjects. Gwydion plans to play out the Seshnegi against the Lunars, and then to liberate the land with the support of the freedom-loving Orlanthi hillmen of the Storm Mountains. He is surpriesd by the efficiency of Fazzur's invasion, and the God Forgot invasion in the south removes his most faithful followers from his forces.

1622 Gwydion supports Brian's rebellion against the Lunar occupation troops while Gerard de Montanpein retakes the city of Mt. Passant from the God Forgot invaders. Gwydion establishes his base there in order to reconstruct the kingdom of Heortland.

Harrek the Berserk

The berserk from Fronela joined forces with the Wolf Pirates in 1616 and incited the Great Raid on the Holy Country, which devastated much of the coastal regions of Heortland. He remains a threat to the coasts until

Sea Season 1621 when he leads a majority of the captains from Threestep Isles eastwards on an epic raid on all coasts of the Homeward Ocean.

Fire Season 1624 Harrek returns from his circumnavigation ending in the raid of Noloswal in the west, and joins the alliance of Lunar haters in Esrolia led by Brian of the Volsaxi as mercenary. After the battle of Pennel Ford he and his pirates settle down in Nochet for a season of drinking up their loot.

Kallyr Starbrow

Like many of the other leaders of the 1613 rebellion in Sartar, this heroquester and figurehead of the rebellion found acceptance as mercenaries with Brian of the Dunlaingi, in southeastern Heortland. Kallyr becomes a trusted companion of Brian and supports him throughout the next years. Her reputation attracts many Sartarite exiles to his cause.

Korlaman Highbrow of the Orshanti, Warden of the Stonewood Marches

This Laird of one of the smaller and northernmost Hendriki clans is an Aeolian knight and lord of most of the lands east of the Royal Highway between Jansholm and Backford. He is taller than average, with a well-groomed moustache and short-cropped hair. Born in 1582, he succeeded his father Eonalor as chieftain of the Orshanti in 1605, after his death in attempting to defend Smithstone against Fazzur's expeditionary force upon returning from North-Esrolia, where he had participated in the Building Wall battle.

Korlaman's mother was the sister of King Owain's grandfather, and his family has been among the leading families of Heortland for centuries.

Korlaman holds much influence in northern Heortland for his leadership qualities which he has proven in several chaos emergencies flooding west from the Footprint. Since Korlaman holds the office of Warden, few chaos creatures have escaped into the lower syphon valley.

His office is a military assignment which had been created to counter the chaos threat from the Print. The Warden has the power to call upon the local fyrd to counter any invasion from the print, and also to counter Kitori raids.

1617 When the royal succession of Heortland becomes an issue, Korlaman put forth his kinship to the deceased king through their maternal line, as well as a distant relation through the paternal line. Hesitant at first, he allowed the followers who flocked to his cause even before he announced it to maneuver him into the succession wars. The strength of his party lets the duke of Jansholm, a potential candidate through his bloodline, denounce any claims. Apart from a few skirmishes, Korlaman uses little force to unite northern Heortland behind his cause.

While he would have been content to sit out the southern and central Heortland claimants' squabbles, some vassals from Volsaxiland get involved in an issue of personal honour which forces him to move. When his move is thwarted by the Seshnegi knights resident in Durengard, he renounces his claim and sends his followers home.

1618-1619 Along with other native leaders who protest the harsh Rokari laws, Korlaman is forced into exile. Unlike others, he finds ready acceptance just outside of his lands with the Dunlaingi tribe of the Volsaxi, although differences with Mularik Ironeye, sheriff, then duke of Jansholm, force him to relieve his hosts from the conflict and to take refuge in the Troll Woods for a while. Gathering a band of recently outlawed Heortlanders from the duchy of Jansholm, he begins a guerilla war against Mularik.

1620 After the Lunar conquest, Korlaman is allowed to return to his clan. He finds the chaos in the Footprint grown without resistance, and desperately tries to dam the flood of raiders, but the defences have been weakened, and Lunar tribute demands rob him of much of his means to resist the invaders. Many steads along the upper Syphon are deserted due to the incessant problems.

1622 The new Lunar gouvernor's treatment of the Heorlander nobility forces Korlaman into the shelter of the Troll Woods again. When Brian of the Volsaxi incites the rebellion, Korlaman supports him and retakes Jansholm, but is forced out of the city to save his people from the hordes of scorpionmen washing out of the Footprint.

Marro, Eorl of March and Champion of Durengard, Premier of Heortland

This Aeolian nobleman from southeastern Heortland has been the right hand of both King Owain's father, and the young king himself since his enthronement. He is fiercely loyal to the royal family, and has hopes that his daughter, Ariadine, will catch the eye of the still bachelor king, and receive his hand in marriage.

1617 During the Succession Wars Eorl Marro, who harboured a deep personal grudge against Sir Richard for pushing him out of his office as the King's Champion, sided with the Duke of Mt. Passant, and was killed in the decisive battle in personal combat with Sir Richard.

Owain, King of Heortland

King Owain is the young king of Heortland. In his mid-twenties, he is still unmarried, having preferred a more heroic style of reign.

1617 When the Pharaoh disappears after the Year King rites in Esrolia and fails to procure his next body in a Tournament of the Masters of Luck and Death, Owain uses the annual royal Sacred Time Lightbringers Quest to return the ruler and unity of the Holy Country. His efforts deep under the Shadow Plateau leave him fatally poisoned after an unexpected twist of events. A powerful magical healing restores him shortly, but already on the first festival of 1617 the extent of the poisoning becomes apparent when he impregnates several virgins of noble houses in a frenzy. Kept from death only by most potent magic, his subjects start a frantic questing to find a cure, but by early Fire Season the king has faded away. The pregnant girls are watched closely, since they might bear the heir apparent of the kingdom, but one after another suffers miscarriages, mercifully so since the aborts bear little resemblance to human beings. As the last hope of a legitimate heir has dissipated, a civil war breaks out for the succession.

Pharaoh

The magical ruler of the Holy Country has ruled Kethaela since his victory over the Only Old One in 1318. Whenever he has used up an old body, a Tournament of the Masters of Luck and Death is held, and the victor gives his body to the Pharaoh in exchange for an angelic existance on the Gods Plane.

1616 Undergoing the annual sacrifice of himself in the Esrolian Year King rites, the Pharaoh is tricked by Jar-eel, the great Lunar heroine who entered the ritual as the bride and made sure the sacrifice sent him do a different Hell than the usual realm of Ty Kora Tek. Trapped in the ritual, the Pharaoh can neither resurrect his own body nor enter a new one provided by a Tournament of the Masters of Luck and Death.

Sir Richard the Tigerhearted

This Seshnegi mercenary captain is the younger son of the count of Estaurenic. He left his home country for a career of soldiering when his older brother inherited the title and holdings. With his childhood companion, Sir Gerard de Montanpein, he assembled a mercenary company of renowned Seshnegi knights currently not vassaled to anyone and entered Ralios and its petty wars. There his company is joined by that of Sir Mularik Ironeye, a Rindland knight of great capacities. After a politically difficult intrigue in the Ralian state of Tiskos Richard decided to put as much distance between himself and his home country and followed the Trader Prince road into the Holy Country. Upon arrival in Nochet, Richard enters a dalliance with Elena Rosa, the newly-wed young wife of old Don Capratis, leader of the Nochet Seshnegi, and the jealous Don arranges his quick departure on the first contract offered - defense of the Praxian Marches of Heortland (the post previously held by Brian of the Volsaxi). Richard and his - by now quite large - company entered Prax in Earth season 1615.

After proving the worth of the heavy chivalry in devastating a head-to-head charge against a raiding bison clan the Seshnegi knights get invited to a tournament in Durengard, the capital of Heortland. Richard and his knights excelled over the rustic Heortland chivalry, and early in 1616 they were ordered to the court as the king's personal bodyguard. Other Seshnegi mercenaries of less renown who had followed Richard's tracks replaced his force in Knight Fort.

1617 When the king died after a - in Richard's eyes pointless, pagan - quest, he and his knights support the royal counselors in Durengard while several claimants fight out their right for the crown of Heortland. Due to an imagined slight inflated beyond reason by newly arrived barbarian followers, a powerful claimant from northern Heortland moved against the Seshnegi knights, and was denied entry into central Heortland in a hard battle on a Syphon crossing against Mularik's company, decided only when relief from Durengard arrived after a forced march. With only two serious claimants left after this battle, Richard - with overt support from the bishop of Nochet - decided to state his own claim. The remaining claimants allied against the foreigners, but in a decisive battle the rival claimant was slain and his ally driven into hiding in the mountains, and Richard could ascend the empty throne of Heortland.

1618 Listening to the advice of the bishop of Nochet, Richard decrees most of the Orlanthi pagans of Heortland as serfs (thereby forbidding them to carry swords), and also supports a conversion of the Aeolian temples into purified Malkioni churches. This gains him the enmity of large parts of the populace, which he ignores the same way he would have ignored grumbeling peasants in Seshnela.

Baron Sanuel

Outwardly one of many Malkioni mercenary/trader lordlings, Baron Sanuel received part of the Volsaxi Valley as a land grant by Prince Terasarin. Even though he adopted Malkioni creed and bearing upon his marriage to a Seshnegi dowager baroness stranded in Nochet, he still is true to his noble Sartarite (or rather Old Tarshite) ancestry, and has the covert support of his family in Aldachur.

1619 When the Lunars invaded the Marzeel Valley, Sanuel managed to remain neutral, and relatively independent, a status similar to Sir Ethilrist's, Sun Dome County (or Sun County in civilized Prax).

Vancelain du Tumerine, Rokari Bishop of Nochet

This member of the great Nolosite trader dynasty was invested due to generous financial support of the Ecclesiarch's private conflict with the king of Seshnela. Vancelain is an ambitious man, and when Richard the Tigerhearted established a strong Rokari presence in the leaderless Heortland, Vancelain was quick to propose a holy kingdom to the mercenary captain. He masterminded much of Richard's approach to the crown, and as a reward he could expand his see of Nochet into all of Heortland, including the well-off Aeolian heresy.

Vingkar the Kolating

A roaming Spirit-Master who tends the winds and spirits of the country between the Solthi and Syphon rivers. His shaggy appearance hides one of the most powerful magicians of the kingdom. True to his calling, Vingkar never stays more than one night in any place.

Wolfred, Ealdorman of Jaransbyrig

The Laird of the Jaraning clan of the Hendriki tribe leads the rural Jaraning Shire southwest of Jansholm from his town of Jaransbyrig.

In 1617 Wolfred supports Korlaman. He keeps his post under the Kingdom of Malkonwal, but has to defend the interests of his people against the ravages of Sir Mularik, first Sheriff, then Duke of Jansholm.

Acknowledgements:

Thanks to Nick Brooke and David Hall for information and inspiration on Lady Ariadine, Archbishop Gwydion, Sir Gerard, Eorl Marro, King Owain, Sir Richard, and Bishop Vancelain.