Lord Nestor’s Final Will

The great Grinvia Dynasty would never have existed had it not been for the inaptitude of Lord Nestor of Grinvia’s children.

— ‘A brief history of Garyiala’s great dynasties’ by Eripe Wallin

The (almost) Fall of House Grinvia

During the Three Dynasties Period, House Grinvia was suffering. The small house struggled to keep themselves standing between the larger warring houses, and only managed to do so thanks to their mercantile importance: their harbour city Point Fertedim on the southern end of the Colilin Peninsula was one of the most important ports connecting the Empire of Garyiala with the continent of Erumir.
An important reason for the suffering of the house was in part due to Lord Nestor himself. He had always spoiled his children, and spoiled they had become. His eldest son was a drunkard with a gambling debt, his middle a traitor who had joined the army of the foreign House Ykor, his youngest a knave of hearts who had already fathered a handful of bastards. One of his daughters had fallen in love with another woman, and the other was simply inept to rule. There seemed to be no hope for House Grinvia when Lord Nestor fell incurably ill.

An Unlikely Inheritance

When Lord Nestor passed away, his final will was found signed and sealed, the ink still drying, on his bedside table. It read the following:

To Nestor, my eldest, I leave the wisdom that duty is not simply thrust upon a person. One needs to grab onto it to achieve greatness.
To Arainna, my second, I leave the wisdom that one must make sacrifices of the heart to achieve integrity.
To Joas, my third, I leave the wisdom that one’s choices are not permanent and can be undone to achieve absolution.
To Kenzo, my fourth, I leave the wisdom that heart and head need to work together for one to achieve purity.
To Rissa, my youngest, I leave the wisdom that one is never too old to learn as long as one is willing. Both age and knowledge are needed to achieve insight.
To Alyssa, my beloved daughter by adoption, I leave my seat, my seal and the territory that belongs with it.

The Rise of the House Grinvia

Understandably, their birthright being annulled by a single last-minute will caused great discontent among the children of Lord Nestor. The eldest and youngest sons joined arms to fight for what was “rightfully” theirs, but Alyssa was at an advantage. Compared to her adoptive siblings, she was a skilled swordswoman and strategist, and had a positive relationship with the subjects in their territory.
A small skirmish ensued, but the two brothers were too weak and unsupported to overthrow their adoptive sister, especially since the two other sisters joined her in her battle. Arainna was simply amused by the idea of a woman taking over after her estranged father, and Rissa followed Arainna around like a meek little lamb. After the minor familial conflict, Lady Alyssa gifted both her sisters a lovely mansion on the southern beaches of the peninsula. Her brothers, she gave nothing.
In the end, Lord Nestor had made the right choice in appointing Lady Alyssa as his heir, for it was she who strengthened the house by expanding the harbour and their mercantile fleet, and whose descendants would eventually sit on the empirical throne for almost three and a half centuries after the tragic demise of House Oloria.