Introduction
When the Goti, follower and surrogate daughter of Svan Hyriksen the founder father of the Ghothar and Veskan peoples, established the frontier kingdom she allowed the Ghothar kings whom she educated to rule to believe that the lands they had seized from the Elsari people were verdant and bountiful. Many of them had little concern about the future viability of the kingdom and were simply satisfied with the tables that groaned under the weight of food and drink that they experienced for a decade or two during their lifetimes. The Elsari, who experienced famine first, long before it began to decimate the Ghothars, knew full well the scope of her lies. She convinced the Ghothar nobles to plunder the lands that they ruled until any chance of a sustainable future for anyone was lost. The Ghothar lands were not suited to the kind of farming that Goti had hoped for, instead of ploughed fields, the grasslands were able to sustain nomadic herders. That Ghotharand would be a weak, hungry land was something that she was the first to realise and without Hyriksen to guide her, she had no way of convincing the Ghothar nobles and peasants that their future was a viable one. The first Ghothar lords, or earls, were known as the 'Moesmarin' or the plunderers, and each successive generation of Ghothar rulers has struggled to deal with their legacy. Some earls and kings have chosen to emulate them, believing that Ghotharand's problems are unresolvable and therefore those who steal as much as possible from the peasants and from the land are the ones most likely to survive and pass on their wealth to the next generation. Every couple of centuries or so, a Ghothar King from the Hyriksenian tradition emerges, convinced that Ghothar problems can be resolved with determined action, either through reform of the realm or war. For most of the history of Ghotharand, the Hyriksenian kings or 'Sathars' (meaning unifiers), have proposed war against Veska as a solution to the country's ills. Ghothar Skalds have educated successive generations in the half truth that Ghothars were tricked out of verdant territory by Veska, making it easy for kings to demand military campaigns against the southern neighbour.
King Roharradh of Ghotharand is a king from the Sathar tradition, but one whose weakness has been evident in almost every moment of his reign. The king, who came to the throne in OTM 283 is one of the few Ghotharic kings to have been educated and partially raised in the Arclands, a fact that has ensured his ongoing unpopularity with Ghotharand's Skalds. This article explores Roharradh's transition from a reformer to a warlord and his failure to succeed in either endeavour.
Early Life
Roharradh was born into the fiefdom of Ovathe Ulskar , Earl of Danacliem in the north west of Ghotharand. He was the eldest of three siblings, his two younger sisters Maegwin an Olbethe were both married into the Earldom of Fala-Skoe, who control the islands of the same name and were known traditionally as the 'Lords of the Northern Seas'; this strategic marriage tied the Ulskar family to the most powerful of the earldoms. It was popularly said that the masters of the seas were the kingmakers, for the only real power remaining in Ghotharand was the power to traverse the seas and to wage war from the waves. Ovathe Ulskar began a revolt against king Luchan III in OTM 275 when his son was fifteen and the betrothal of his thirteen and ten year old daughters had been agreed (though their actually weddings occurred ten years later following Ghotharic law - a betrothal that was normally the pretext for a military alliance would normally lead to a ten year hiatus before an actual marriage to ensure that neither side reneged on their part of the military alliance prematurely). The resultant War of the Winter Plains saw Ovathe Ulskar victorious and Luchan defeated, the king's tired, hungry and demoralised army, raised from the Southern Earls, was defeated and surrendered on the edges of the great plains, close to the fiefdom of Ulrand. Roharradh rode at his father's side as they marched their victorious army into Khozan, but had not been able to participate in any of the major battles.
Roharradh had been sent to Arc, Dran and Harenis as a boy to learn the ways of courtly diplomacy and, in the case of Dran, to cement ties between the great warrior city and the barren kingdom in the east. Roharradh was accompanied by Rokar Dayn, his father's closest advisor and the Skald Piotur Sorrensen. Both men tried to help Roharradh with the duties his domineering father demanded of him, but they also attempted to shield him from the ways of the Arclands which were at odds with the Ghotharic traditions (a task they were unsuccessful in). Roharradh became powerfully influenced by Archish ideas of finance, Dranian methods of military organisation and Harenian concepts of knowledge. He became convinced that tradition and the power of the earls held his father's kingdom back, and come to believe that the role of the Skalds in the transmission of spirital and civic ideas was at the heart of Ghotharand's decline.
The main historical records of the period come from the songs of Skalds and the observations made by sages and scholars. It was widely noted by the Ghothar people that Roharradh was old enough to hold a sword and his appearance by his father's side as they took power in the capital city, despite having never drawn a blade in anger, attracted scorn and contempt from many ordinary Ghothars. Roharradh's father never sensed in his son the strength required to fight and kill, but he loved his son regardless and believed that the boy would make a good king, as long as he was backed by the miltary might of the Earl of Fala Skoe, Braethund Baerskalla.
Ovathe Ulskar died four years later, his death led to outpourings of widespread and genuine grief from the Ghothar peasantry; it almost sparked another war as the Southern Earls considered that their time to take back the power and influence they had lost was at hand. It was only the decision of Braethund to support Roharradh that enabled him to retain the throne and face down a land invasion from the south. Roharradh knew that Khozan could be resupplied from the sea in the event of a siege and so managed to hold on to his throne long enough to cement his rulership.
The Reforming King
Roharradh's early years in the Arclands informed the first decade or so of his rule, the relatively untested king whose knowledge of Ghotharic politics was limited at best, came to the throne with a reforming zeal. He had not reckoned on the conservatism and the inaction of the Ghothar Earls and their particular brand of ruthlessness. Roharradh correctly identified that if the poor peasant farmers of Ghotharand did not soon have access to the limited supply of decent arable land and the waterways that criss-crossed the kingdom, not only would rural life itself would collapse. This would destroy the tax base of the entire realm and also the ability of the Earls to raise armies for the king. The Earls and their selfishness in hoarding the land, he argued, were doing more harm to the kingdom than the Veskans ever could. At a meeting of the Earling, the King's council, in the year 286, Roharradh demanded concessions from the earls of land to be handed over to the peasants, and threatened those who did not provide it with hefty fines. Roharradh failed to achieve his objective and temporarily united the feuding southern and northern nobles against him. He then realised what other Ghothar kings before him had long understood, the crown itself is always weaker than the nobles and relies on a coalition of loyal Earls who provide the king with the soldiers to fight his wars. Goti herself had arranged things in this manner, knowing that whilst kings come and go, the Earls must always be protected, as they could hold a king in check, something that in turn would always benefit Ghotharand's Skalds (who were Goti's initial followers). News of Roharradh's plans to distribute land became widespread and when word also leaked from the city gates of Khozan into the countryside that the king had begun to backtrack under pressure from the Earls, there was widespread rioting. It was at this moment that a wandering figure appeared before the King at Khozan to offer a solution.
The King and the Benefactor
In the year 293, as a long, cold hungry winter gripped the land and disease spread through Khozan, a man who simply described himself as 'the benefactor' entered the court of the king and stood before him. He presented a thesis that Roharradh could not readily disagree with. It was the fault of the people, said the benefactor, that the land had experienced such suffering. The selfish nobles and the unruly peasants had failed to understand that Roharradh had nothing but noble intentions and that his desire to transform the realm was genuine. Roharradh felt a flicker of resentment towards his subjects as the man spoke and slowly his old dreams, dreams of a fairer and more prosperous Ghotharand faded. He listened intently to what that Benefactor said next, the stranger's words seemed to echo round the chamber and ideas that Roharradh would never have dared to contemplate soon seemed like they were thoughts that he had long ago embraced. If the land and the people cannot be brought to prosperity, then wealth must be seized back from those who stole it, the Veskans, said the Benefactor. This time, however, the war between the Ghothars and the Veskans would be on a scale never seen before; this time Roharradh would not be alone, there would be a powerful and deadly ally in the guise of Dran. The Benefactor said that he could arrange for Roharradh to meet with the lord of Dran, Sorias Varren, who longed for an alliance with the Ghothars for his own war in the east. After two years of careful, secret planning with Dran and the most warlike of the Earls, Roharradh is ready to participate in the Great Eastern War.
* The benefactor has come for Roharradh and has talked about how he came ashore with Svan Hyriksen, the Benefactor proposes a meeting with Sorias Varren of Dran.
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