Four Crowns
An armed conflict over the succession, following the death of Dorreon II the Green King, ending with the ascension of Barthos II the Bastard.
Claimants
Barthos, called the Bastard. The bastard son of Dorreon II and a barmaid named Tulip. Championed by High Magus Brother Aaran Dylaen, Clan Dylaen, Clan Dorn, Clan Swinnerd, Clan Graunt. Kirin, called the Harridan and the Guardian. The eldest sister of Dorreon II, wife to Aarnok Luutar. Championed by herself, Clan Sirtal, Clan Luutar, Clan Maraigh, Clan Odon, Clan Faolan. Harek, called the Warchief. Uncle to Dorreon II, brother to Garland IV. Championed by himself, Clan Beth, Clan Capall, Clan Sorshan, Clan Farre. Hwinell, called the Lady of Urudun. Second sister to Dorreon II, wife to Merlin Glast. Champion by Mox Master Jonah Slabh, Lord Merlin Glast, Clan Slabh, Clan Glast, Clan Elkwood, Clan Padwell.Origins
Though open war began shortly after the death of Dorreon II, the Four Crowns truly began almost immediately following the death of his father Garland IV, possibly even before. The conflict was chiefly between three of the King Garland's closest friends: Lord Jonah Slabh the Mox Master, Prince Harek Beth the Warchief, and Brother Aaran Dylaen the High Magus. When King Garland died, the heir was only eleven years old, and deemed unfit to rule until his majority. On this point, the three friends agreed. Alas, they had been vying for supremacy over one another for much of Garland's reign, and this only intensified with the opportunity to rule through a child king. Dorreon's mother, Queen Zun'Jel, was technically the Queen Regent, yet despite being a native of Liddinawth (where women were considered the equals of men), she showed no interest in ruling. Brief attempts were made to influence the Queen, but the three former friends quickly found the easiest way to control the future king would be through betrothal. Both Prince Harek and Lord Jonah sought to join the young heir with their own family, while Brother Aaran (who had no children of his own), intended to wed young Dorreon to a Westerner, in order to unite to two halves of Revellia. During these conflicts, the young heir was allowed to make a great progress throughout the canton, to learn more about his land and secure the love of the people. Whilst he was away, the subject of Dorreon's own heir was broached. It would be many years before he would wed and bear children, and he had no brothers. Prince Harek, Dorreon's uncle, pointed out that he was currently next in line for succession and attempted to use this to gain power over his two rivals. He soon learned, however, that his overt grab for power was deeply unpopular among the peasantry. Prince Harek and Lord Jonah had been the more vocal of the three rivals for some time, yet they soon learned that while they were shouting, Brother Aaran had been plotting. The High Magus had used witches and magicians to spread dislike of his two rivals throughout the capital city, chiefly among Host Keepers. Lord Jonah' family had ancestral ties with the Westerners, largely seen as Deinain worshippers and therefore impious. Prince Harek, meanwhile, had been named for former Mox Master Harec Elkwood, who himself had been named for Harrek Bastion, a legendary traitor king who had stolen the crown from the god-king Tranton of Gall. Much of the city had turned against these two claimants, and they were forced to find other means of pushing their claims. Prince Harek stepped back and resumed his role as a concerned uncle and protector. Lord Jonah, meanwhile, made a far bolder gamble. The boy who would be Dorreon II had two elder sisters. The first, Kirin, was wed to Aarnok Luutar of Dubraigh, where she had lived since her seventeenth year. The second, Hwinell, lived in Urudun with her husband Merlin Glast and their children, a boy and a girl. In Urudun, however, women were allowed to inherit on the same level as men. Lord Jonah invited Princess Hwinell and her ambitious husband to come to Revelback and present their claim to the throne, even going so far as to arrange a marriage between Hwinell's daughter and his own son. His intention was clear: to secure the crown for either Hwinell or her son, based on a Urudunite woman's right to inherit. This was met with great resistance. Thaddeus Padwell, Chief of Ships, pointed out that if they were going to give women equal inheritance, then Kirin was in fact the firstborn and ought to be crowned. Kirin had been a very forthright girl, and none present relished the thought of her reign. By contrast, Hwinell was demure and polite, and noticeably deferential to her husband. When Lord Jonah pointed out that Kirin was wed to a Revellian and therefore not subject to Urudun's laws of equal primogeniture, several of the assembled lords agreed. A snare was thrown into these plots when Dorreon at last returned from his great progress. He had been away for over five years and was nearly eighteen. He came with a wife, Magaana Sirtal, whom he had wed in Dubraigh shortly before his return. Rather than join the squabble over inheritance or insist upon ruling, he instead focused on raising forces to march north and join the Century Wars, from which Revellia had been largely insulated since the time of Dorreon the First. The three rivals opposed him, yet rather than stay, the Green King roused was forces he could from the peasants and those allies he had made in his travels, then marched north. He would die there, lost at sea with two of his closest companions. His wife, who had traveled north with him, did not join him on the boat and was instead escorted back south by Sir Laurel Odon, the dead King Garland's fourth dear friend, who had served as Dorreon's protector during his progress.Open War
So it was that the Green King died, with no heir of his body to succeed him. All pretense of respect was abandoned. Prince Harek now openly controlled Clan Beth and the royal army, and now pushed for his rights as the Green King's heir. By now, however, enough allies had been won over to Lord Jonah' thinking, charmed by Merlin Glast and eager to secure alliances with Urudun, a wealthier canton. This was further complicated when Princess Kirin heard of these attempts to grant the crown to her younger sister, however, and she reacted as all expected she would. She marshaled an army from Clans Luutar and Faolan, then marched east. Along the way, she allied with the Maraighs of Castle Malbrand and added to her army, among them several of the nine ghastling children of Helena Maraigh, great-aunt of young Dorreon. Among these mysterious and terrifying children was Ghiselda the Ghastly, a Wizard, who supposedly used her magic to help them cross the Nightfall and avoid conflict with Clan Graunt. Kirin's army surrounded and besieged Revelback. Both Prince Harek and Lord Jonah had allies in other cities, but it would take them time to respond to any pleas for help that could sneak past Kirin's armies. In the meantime, Clan Sirtal (the chief clan of Dubraigh), joined their power to Kirin's, expressing the disdain with which the capital so readily abandoned the rights of Queen Magaana. Clan Luutar's sigil is a wyvern, but Princess Kirin fashioned her own, joining the wyvern with the boar of Beth to create a black, winged boar on a blue-green field. She might rely on her husband's armies and allies, but she would not let anyone steal the glory of her cause. So it was the Revelback was surrounded by standards bearing the winged boar. Within the city, meanwhile, civil war was breaking out between those who supported Prince Harek and those who supported Princess Hwinell (and through her, Lord Jonah). Allies would eventually arrive, and the siege would be broken after a bitter first year, but armed conflict would rage throughout the east for three more years. In that time, Brother Aaran Dylaen would seem to vacillate between Prince Harek and Lord Jonah, but the High Magus had no armies of his own. This would change near the end of the war's third year, when Brother Aaran presented a boy named Barthos Beth. It would seem that the dead King Dorreon, far from being the naive and innocent boy he was thought to be, had spent much of his great progress in the company of various barmaids, bedmaids, and even the occasional daughter of a noble lord. One such girl was a miller's daughter named Tulip, who had produced a son. This son, like Dorreon himself, bore the green hair that Revellians associated with the mythical Tranton of Gall. This boy, called Barthos the Bastard, was the firstborn son of the Green King. He was illegitimate, yet in a time when male primogeniture was being questioned, and the most legitimate heir to the throne, Prince Harek, was viewed with suspicion by the populace, this humble-born boy with the hair of his beloved father quickly gained the love of the people. It was not long before Clans Graunt and Swinnerd joined this new cause, thus granting the boy an army. The precarious odds of war would swing wildly in the fourth and final year of the Four Crowns. Hwinell's first and only son, Ghalad, died of pine pox. She had two daughters at this point (and would later have a third), yet despite all the words in favor of female inheritance, Hwinell saw many of her allies abandon her shortly thereafter. Her own husband, Merlin Glast, would sneak himself out of Berleigh (their main stronghold at the time), and return to Urudun, abandoning his wife and children, as well as the cause of Lord Jonah and his remaining allies. Without a strong man to stand behind Hwinell's claim, few were willing to back it, and his sudden and rapid loss of allies proved that Lord Jonah was not that man. In the end, the marriage between his son and Hwinell's daughter would never happen. Hwinell would eventually return to Urudun and her husband, but her firstborn daughter Nym would be kept as a hostage at Revelback, eventually serving as a speller under Brother Aaran. Young Barthos' cause was by far the most popular, and he found champions in the bandits of the Fiirwood as well as established armies. Prince Harek now controlled the capital unequivocally, however, and the mightiest armies without question belonged to Princess Kirin. But while Kirin's armies were concentrated, Aaran's allies were everywhere. He made common cause with the Eskmais of Dubraigh, perpetual foes of Clan Luutar, and soon managed to split the western city, much as Revelback had been split near the war's beginning. A great amount of Princess Kirin's forces would be marched back to Dubraigh to quell the civil conflict. Meanwhile, Barthos' star continued to rise.Closing Events
At this point, Lord Jonah was essentially out of the war. Berleigh would soon side with Barthos, though they officially kept Lord Jonah and Princess Hwinell as guests, never calling them prisoners. The Padwells of Aerwoth had not yet changed their allegiance, however, and Prince Harek made great attempts to join them to his cause, in the hopes of accessing Ethel through them. The Ethels had historically been allies of Clan Beth, and their wealth and navy could prove invaluable. This threat of new forces from outside Revellia is assumed to be the reason that, in the late Summer of 986 RA, Princess Kirin recognized the legitimacy of Barthos' claim. In return, Brother Aaran declared Princess Kirin to be Barthos' protector and regent. Brother Aaran would serve as his High Magus. At this news, Lord Jonah' former allies all flew to Barthos' banner: a white boar's head, surmounted by a garland (a reference to Garland IV meant to further legitimize Barthos' claim). Clan Padwell was included among these new allies, taking with them any chance of Prince Harek allying with Ethel. The Prince still held the capital, but was otherwise utterly bereft. His firstborn son Sir Laurel "Rell" Beth, had died at the Battle of Shining Hill earlier that year. His only daughter, Liessa, was wed to a Faolan of Dubraigh and had sided with Princess Kirin from the start. By the middle of Autumn, Revelback was besieged again, and in no condition to withstand a siege for any amount of time. There were enemy agents within the city, the peasants already distrusted him and now they were starving and desperate. Moreover, it was widely known that Prince Harek did not love his surviving son, Sir Aaran "Rann" Beth, as he had loved his first. Seizing the crown for his branch of the family no longer held the savor it once had. In midwinter of 986 RA, just before the Feast of the Longest Night, Prince Harek surrendered the capital and his cause to Barthos the Bastard. He kept his life, and neither of his children were taken as hostages, but he would never again serve as Warchief. He kept a suite in the castle that he rarely left, and many whispered he was a prisoner in all but name. Lord Jonah would be likewise neutered, though he would make several attempts to regain influence over his life, and is rumored to have even spent time in the dungeons. Brother Aaran Dylaen would serve as High Magus until his death, shortly into the New Age. Princess Kirin was widely regarded as a fierce and effective regent, considered a pivotal force in Barthos' victory over Bennerok the Pretender. She continued to advise him into his majority, though she died only two years into his reign, seemingly of her years.
Conflict Type
War
Start Date
982 RA
Ending Date
986 RA
Conflict Result
Alliance and victory of Lady Kirin Luutar and Brother Aaran Dylaen.
Belligerents
Strength
Chief strength in Revelback, the capital.
Casualties
Objectives
Lordenite Army
Led by
Strength
Foreign levies from Lorden, superior steel. Access to the wealth of Aerwoth (for most of the conflict).
Casualties
Objectives
Western Army
Led by
Strength
Superior skirmishers and bandits. Mastery of the Fiirwood.
Casualties
Objectives
Strength
Enormous support from the peasantry, throughout the canton. Isolated, independent forces. Control over Saolmoth, a gateway between East and West.