Gondegal's Revolution {1352 DR}
Gondegal the Usurper King had no known origin. He was not of noble blood and unknown to be of cormyrean blood, but had a dream of being King. However, the land of the purple dragon is full of loyal and honored people and attempting to sway all of the noble families out of favor of the Obarskyr Dynasty was next to one of the hardest tasks in the universe. So he decided to seize the land and take it as his own and to show people how he was a better ruler than the Obarskyr's. But to that he needed an army and so began his preparation. His initial group was his trusted allies, his inner circle. They consisted of an Herbalist, a clothier turned thief, a saddler, and a Sembia mercenary known as the Tired Blade (a known member of the Jaded Blades). They slew a dragon and claimed its hoard and the dragons minions. Gondegal now had funds a group people under his command. He recruited others and trusted them whatever loot they could find and told his closest commanders that all land they conquered individually they gained nobility over. At this time Azoun Obarskyr IV was a new king and was only focusing on issues within Suzail and didn't give much attention to the rising threat.
Gondegal then launched several attacks across Cormyr's Northern border in 1352 DR, taking Arabel, and Tilverton. He attempted to take Eveningstar briefly but incurred too many loses and decided it wasn't worthy to take, razing their fields. Very rapidly they moved south, took the young Immersea, Hultail and Wheloon. This essentially marked Gondegal's control of all northern Cormyr excluding the King's Forest. Sadly enough for Cormyr, most of the well trained Purple Dragons were stationed in High Horn to fight off a brewing external threat in the Stonelands and were not setting their sights inward.
Troops under Baron Thomdor Ammaeth, King Azoun IV cousin, were ready to go and combat Gondegal but took a safer route rather than the quicker route which ended in Gondegal razing a small village which is no longer on Cormyr's map. It got even worse for these troops, as more than half of them were wiped out by a band of Trolls and unable to properly fight off Gondegal.
Over the course of a few months Gondegal seized control over Northern Cormyr and won or escaped from every battle against purple dragons and war wizards. His legend grew and grew and people kept joining and joining. To bolster his position he faked claims to Cormyr's throne which were never properly backed up but swayed a few nobility who were fed up with King Azoun IV's neglect.
After hearing the claim the throne King Azoun IV finally took matters seriously and realized how bad it truly was, nearly half of his kingdom was swept from beneath his nose and he had done nothing about it. He requested aid from foreign countries including Cormanthor and Sembia which both responded since Gondegal overstepped Cormyr's boundaries and carved out small plots of land that were theirs. The every hardy Tilverton slaughtered many of Gondegal's forces there including one of his inner circle and reclaimed it. The Cormanthor troops arrived in Tilverton to assist with rebuilding.
After much communication by the War Wizards a plan was formed to simultaneously push into Gondegal's territory. The troops from High Horn were called upon to swing against Arabel from the Northwest, Tilverton from the Northeast, Sembia from the Southeast, and Suzail from the South. There was also a high reward issued for Gondegal to be killed and all ties to the throne were disproven. Even with this plan King Azoun IV still did not want to lead the troops in person, but was told by all of his advisors including the Dragon Tarlacoal to lead them (It is speculated the dragon Gondegal killed was a child of Tarlacoal since Tarlacoal never speaks and only observes).
The final push then began. Cormyr and its allies pushed itself all the way back to Arabel where the final destination battle took place. King Azoun IV finally found out what it meant to be on the battlefield and to be a king and saw the problems outside of Suzail first hand. Gondegal had spent his entire time fighting and none of it leading and upon his return to Arabel he finally began to rule what little he had left. After 8 days of siege warfare a cell within Arabel rebelled against Gondegal lead by a purple dragon who went by Vaylan. Without his help the purple dragons would have lost many more men and the siege would have been extended much longer. Gondegal only got to do actual ruler things for 8 days before he was slain at the hands of King Azoun IV.
Following Arabel's revolution Cormyr cracked down on Arabel's rebllious phase and moved the training ground of the war wizards there, put a Purple Dragon fort in the city and all people of importance in Arabel were spied on extensively. Until 1420 DR no nobility had claim over Arabel and was controlled by the government. Duke Zarabel was given control of the city. The leader of the Purple Dragons was nicknamed the "Zephyr of Arabel" for his swift put down of rebellion and his ease to send people to the guillotine. In 1420 DR the son of the Zephyr was being considered as nobility of Cormyr and changed his last name to Zarabel to reflect the fear the name instilled. The Zarabel family has grown in influence and has claim over much surrounding land, mainly thanks to them taking it from traitorous nobility.
Gondegal then launched several attacks across Cormyr's Northern border in 1352 DR, taking Arabel, and Tilverton. He attempted to take Eveningstar briefly but incurred too many loses and decided it wasn't worthy to take, razing their fields. Very rapidly they moved south, took the young Immersea, Hultail and Wheloon. This essentially marked Gondegal's control of all northern Cormyr excluding the King's Forest. Sadly enough for Cormyr, most of the well trained Purple Dragons were stationed in High Horn to fight off a brewing external threat in the Stonelands and were not setting their sights inward.
Troops under Baron Thomdor Ammaeth, King Azoun IV cousin, were ready to go and combat Gondegal but took a safer route rather than the quicker route which ended in Gondegal razing a small village which is no longer on Cormyr's map. It got even worse for these troops, as more than half of them were wiped out by a band of Trolls and unable to properly fight off Gondegal.
Over the course of a few months Gondegal seized control over Northern Cormyr and won or escaped from every battle against purple dragons and war wizards. His legend grew and grew and people kept joining and joining. To bolster his position he faked claims to Cormyr's throne which were never properly backed up but swayed a few nobility who were fed up with King Azoun IV's neglect.
After hearing the claim the throne King Azoun IV finally took matters seriously and realized how bad it truly was, nearly half of his kingdom was swept from beneath his nose and he had done nothing about it. He requested aid from foreign countries including Cormanthor and Sembia which both responded since Gondegal overstepped Cormyr's boundaries and carved out small plots of land that were theirs. The every hardy Tilverton slaughtered many of Gondegal's forces there including one of his inner circle and reclaimed it. The Cormanthor troops arrived in Tilverton to assist with rebuilding.
After much communication by the War Wizards a plan was formed to simultaneously push into Gondegal's territory. The troops from High Horn were called upon to swing against Arabel from the Northwest, Tilverton from the Northeast, Sembia from the Southeast, and Suzail from the South. There was also a high reward issued for Gondegal to be killed and all ties to the throne were disproven. Even with this plan King Azoun IV still did not want to lead the troops in person, but was told by all of his advisors including the Dragon Tarlacoal to lead them (It is speculated the dragon Gondegal killed was a child of Tarlacoal since Tarlacoal never speaks and only observes).
The final push then began. Cormyr and its allies pushed itself all the way back to Arabel where the final destination battle took place. King Azoun IV finally found out what it meant to be on the battlefield and to be a king and saw the problems outside of Suzail first hand. Gondegal had spent his entire time fighting and none of it leading and upon his return to Arabel he finally began to rule what little he had left. After 8 days of siege warfare a cell within Arabel rebelled against Gondegal lead by a purple dragon who went by Vaylan. Without his help the purple dragons would have lost many more men and the siege would have been extended much longer. Gondegal only got to do actual ruler things for 8 days before he was slain at the hands of King Azoun IV.
Following Arabel's revolution Cormyr cracked down on Arabel's rebllious phase and moved the training ground of the war wizards there, put a Purple Dragon fort in the city and all people of importance in Arabel were spied on extensively. Until 1420 DR no nobility had claim over Arabel and was controlled by the government. Duke Zarabel was given control of the city. The leader of the Purple Dragons was nicknamed the "Zephyr of Arabel" for his swift put down of rebellion and his ease to send people to the guillotine. In 1420 DR the son of the Zephyr was being considered as nobility of Cormyr and changed his last name to Zarabel to reflect the fear the name instilled. The Zarabel family has grown in influence and has claim over much surrounding land, mainly thanks to them taking it from traitorous nobility.
Comments