History of the Kingdom of the Shield

The Treaty of Augustus and the August Confederacy

The first several decades of contact between the Northrons, Southrons, and Marcher people included a number of wars, large and small, but the God Augustus forged a peace that lasted for nearly five centuries. The Treaty of Augustus established borders for the coastal kingdoms of Syvangia, Corwinion, and Elanor, and the Republic of the March. It also established a shared system of guilds in crafts, trades, and services, a common currency, and many other ties. The treaty was strained by an attack by a rogue army from the March in 523 y.c. at the Battle of Standing Stone and finally dissolved by the god Justinian two years later, following the death of Augustus.

The Rebel Lords

The Wars of the Dead took place from 524-525 y.c. During these wars, the three Kings of the Coastal Kingdoms came under the unwholesome influence of the dark goddess Syrinx and ordered the local lords in the southernmost parts of their Kingdoms to abandon the Meldanian border. The Southern Lords refused to comply with the Kings' orders unless some explanation for them could be given. The Kings rallied their knights and the Army of the North Ward and Marched South. Justinian, god of Justice, joined them to help arbitrate the matter without bloodshed. The Southern Lords marched North with their Houseguards and were joined by the Goddess Verda, who championed their cause. The forces met on the Hrothgar Plain to parley on the night of the twenty-fourth day of Florwin in the year 524 y.c.

That date is well known to most of the people of Arcadia as the night that the god Augustus was killed. When the next morning came, Justinian was not present to arbitrate (having sensed that something was amiss he had rushed back to the Isle of Augustus to see what had happened). The Lords of the South did not agree to the demands of the Kings and a battle began. The Southern Lords were badly outnumbered and outclassed, facing professional soldiers and knights with their few houseguards and a collection of levy troops. However, Verda had done more than rally the Lords of the South. She committed her Rangers to the battle and many Elven archers also fought. They turned away the attack of the Kings, inflicting many casualties. The following day, news of Augustus' death arrived at Hrothgar and the Kings' knights returned to their homes, agreeing to leave the Southern Lords to their own ends for now.

The War of the Dead

In 524 y.c, a great force of undead warriors and a rogue legion from the Republic of the March marched upon the coastal kingdoms, killing nearly everything in its path. The Goddess Syrinx had influenced most of the nobility to passivity and inaction, strengthening in each the desire to stay home and protect their own lands and people.

Knights from the Kingdom of Elanor rallied the Lords of the Kingdoms into action. Prince Barristan of the order of the Sword, and Sir Morgan of the Order of the Shield rode away from their own lands with their knights and into the North of Corwinion to meet the army. Few of the Lords and Knights were willing to ride forth and meet the enemy openly, but with Verda's help they called the Lords of the South to them. The Marcher Army turned back to the West and the Knights Barristan and Morgan gave their full attention to the Host of Undead. The Host was met following its sack of the city of Salt Keep, and the army of men was quickly surrounded, being outnumbered nearly six to one. In the last moments of the battle, when all seemed lost, Sir Morgan burst the Unyielding Shield, a powerful artifact out of Manoria. It's life-giving power unmade the Army of the Dead. The Army of men was victorious, but at great cost.

The Founding of the Kingdom of the Shield

The Lords of the South did not wish to rejoin the kingdoms of Corwinion and Syvangia. In the aftermath of the Wars of the Dead, the Lords of the South negotiated for their status as an independent Kingdom and swore fealty to Morgan Shieldbreaker as their King. No request from the hero Morgan would have gone unanswered at this time. King Morgan organized the Kingdom of the Shield according to his own ideas, and abandoned many things that had been traditional in the Coastal Kingdoms. The existing Kingdoms were composed of 18 great fiefs each, each governed by a Lord. Morgan felt that these territories were too broad for the Lords to administer their lands effectively. Morgan therefore established larger regions, six in all: Counties, each ruled by a Count who swore fealty directly to him. They had the freedom to organize their lands however they saw fit and to divide their territories into as many Manors as they saw fit. The title of Warden a hereditary title in the Coastal kingdoms he granted to several of his Counts in addition to their other responsibilities. It gave them additional wealth in exchange for the responsibility to raise and maintain an effective standing army. Finally, he created a single order of Knighthood to serve his entire Kingdom: the Order of the Crown. These men and women are charged with maintaining the southern border with the Empire of Meldania.

The Pax Barristan

The treaty of Barristan ended the war of the dead, and established the Kingdom of the shield according to the wishes of the Southern Lords. Unexpectedly, the Empire of Meldania agreed to a fifty-year peace following these wars as well. Thus, Morgan's rule was a peaceful one; the Meldanians kept their promises and the next fifty years were peaceful. This period, 526-576 y.c., is known as the Pax Barristan.

Among humans, this was a time of stability. The borders that were put down in Salt Keep in the Treaty of Barristan at the conclusion of the Wars of the Dead remained with no changes. Though many thousands had perished in those wars (and tens of thousands were displaced) the human population of the Coastal Kingdoms quickly rebounded and grew.

For non-humans, this was a time of great change. Elves and smallfolk withdrew to the far east where they live under the protection of the Shieldlands. Among the common folk, it is known that elves played a great role in the betrayal of the kings, the deaths of Augustus and Justinian, and the formation of the Army of the Dead. Elves no longer find welcome in the small towns and villages of the Coastal Kingdoms and the Shieldlands and are much more rarely seen. Among the noble classes more of the truth of that time is known and elf-folk are still welcomed amongst many of the elite.

Also during the Pax Barristan, there was a great exodus of Dwarves from the far west: many refugees from the Thurok tribe, displaced by the Dwarven Civil Wars (y.c. 525-527), left for the kingdoms. A large number of them settled in the Shieldlands in the Iron Hills region. While there are few entirely Dwarven communities there are some, and Dwarves are a common sight in the villages, towns, and cities of this region.

King Morgan used this time to build his Kingdom. He commissioned the construction of two great roads, The Northern Way and The Crown Road, running the length of his kingdom along the Northern and Southern borders respectively. The Order of the Crown oversaw the construction of several forts and watchtowers along the southern border to aid in the defense. With the passing of the Church of Justinian, the law was in need of substantial revision. The Franciscan Code, in honor of Morgan's Seneschal Lord Francis, was formalized in 532 y.c. A college of Mages was established, with Lord Heaburn its principle member (until his disappearance in 575 y.c.), and under the Franciscan code it is now illegal to practice magic outside the auspices of the college of mages.

King Morgan did not take a wife until 549 y.c. at the age of 47. It is said among the court that he never forgot his love for a lost comrade, and took a wife only because he felt it was his duty. In any event, the Lady Aleandra, grand-daughter of Duke Pere became the Shieldland's first queen. In 558 y.c., Morgan and Aleandra announced the birth of their first (and only) child, Evelyn. Evelyn was wed in 572 y.c. to Lord Janssen, an older noble from the Kingdom of Elanor. With the death of King Morgan in 574, Evelyn and Janssen ascended to the throne.

The Iron Wars

The years following the end of Pax Barristan were bloody. Forces from Elanor and the Shieldlands struck the first blow in the Iron Wars by invading the Barony of Mist, and putting Raymar III, the grandson of Raymar the Betrayer to the sword. Meldanian troops invaded the southern stretch of the Iron Hills, and many battles were fought over this region's resources. The Iron Wars concluded with the Treaty of Stonewall in in 585 y.c. Neither side had claimed significant territory, and the Barony of Mist was re-ceded to the Meldanians as a result of the treaty.

During this war, Evelyn and Janssen produced their first and only child, Mordeyrn, who was born in 581 y.c. Janssen passed in 587 y.c., leaving Evelyn to rule alone for the next 10 years. Her rule was a peaceful one, and she died in 597 y.c. at the age of 39. Mordeyrn was named King at the tender age of 16.

Our stories begin just four years later in 601 y.c.

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