Clan Radvilos
Clan Radvilos was a Ledzian clan or rody active from the 35th to the 38th century, when they were eclipsed by @Clan Opalin, their kinsmen. Noted equestrians and warriors, they ruled most of the Mozurian lowlands east of Lake Trakas and south of Velnezer, with their clan seat at Dolnybrama. Their reputation as vicious and expert night attackers, who gave no quarter, made them feared throughout Ledzia and granted them an association with the Old Ways.
Structure
Like the majority of Ledzian clans, the Radvilos were made up of numerous families and their retinues gathered in loyalty around a consanguinous core family that held ancestral rights to rule. A single Radvilos Archimandrite alternated between Roztyn, Razdraz and his monastic seat at the Sixteen-Steepled Church on the north end of Lake Trakas. As they were autocratic in their rule, the Radvilos folwark was never shared between more than two magnates at one time, and they held considerable privilege over their lower classes. The folwark seat of Dolnybrama had no guild charters until 3685, in the twilight of Radvilos rule.
Culture
The emblem of Clan Radvilos was a raven perched on a red branch, with a sprig of wheat in its beak, on a field of blue.
Descendants of Pannotian nomads who crossed the Polnie Szlaka Mountains in the 3200s, the Radvilos were expert equestrians. A decree of 3630 ordered that young men and women were taught to shoot from the saddle at the age of 12. As such, the Radvilos always had a large and mobile force of arms to call upon, virtually unrivaled in central Ledzia for much of the clan's lifespan.
Radvilos droogs were said to dress "in swaggering imitation of the latest fineries of the Abraxiad court" but "could not conceal their barbarian tastes." It was remarked that they combined the refined styles of the day with elements of vernacular craftmanship, such as amulets of stag horn or bracelets of uncut stone, which foreigners and Roztynians considered "crude."
The Radvilos' emphasis on martial pursuits left little room for religious study. It was often remarked that of all the clans, the Radvilos sent the fewest of their number to the clergy. Rumors dogged them for centuries that the Radvilos had never really converted to the Zivan faith, and continued to practice ancient Ruotsi animism, complete with black rituals such as infanticide and self-mutilation. Indeed, one of the most famous retinues in the clan's history, the Left-Handed, required its female members to sever their left breast; this was widely viewed as a masked practice of skapetzy.
Despite this, the Radvilos built one of the greatest houses of worship in Ledzia, the Sixteen-Steepled Church, completed in its first iteration in 3605 as a monument to the victory of the Dorman. Their one Patriarch, Mykolas, reigned from 3661 to 3674, and his only achievements of note were the construction of two kurgans in the north, though the realm was maintained peacefully during that time.
Assets
Though their original wealth was founded through banditry, the Radvilos folwark in High Mozuria later benefitted from rich fields and grazelands. The wealth of the Radvilos was reportedly enough by the mid-3600s that their droogs paraded in suits of "grotesque Abraxiad armor," while conditions in the villages surrounding Dolnybrama remained squalid and little-changed from their tribal days.
History
Like many clans of the Mozurian Plain, the Radvilos are believed to be descended from the semi-nomadic tribes of ancient Pannotia. A line of hetmen bearing the name Rodvil is documented by Dorman census-takers beginning in the early 3400s. By the time of Uzh's rebellion, Clan Radvilos had been in open brigandage against the Dorman for years, and their leader, Bushka, had a bounty on his head of some eight thousand drachma. Typically described as "mercenary" or "pig-headed," he was reluctant to tie his banner to that of a broader Ruotsi cause, but wavered when he was promised full control of his domain in the Mozurian Plain, known as High Mozuria.
The Radvilos were instrumental in shattering the Dorman siege of Trakas, where Bushka struck down the March Warden Ezilda in single combat, and that spring went on to capture the Seneschal of Dormanchau, Frainchoun du Kriol. When du Kriol ransomed for ten thousand drachma, Bushka was reportedly furious that he had been outpriced.
After the rebellion, the Radvilos resumed their usual way of life- though with the interference of the new Church of Ziva. For some centuries, Old Believers and other heresies were rampant in High Mozuria, and the legacy of a dangerous priesthood can be seen in the numerous fortified monasteries that the Patriarchate maintained there.
Though they supplied only one @Patriarch, the Radvilos were seen as an influential clan, whose martial prowess made them instrumental in the power plays of others. Beginning in the 37th century, much of this martial strength was squandered in a series of feuds with @Clan Ostoya that lasted the better part of a century. In 3678, they entered into a power-sharing agreement with @Clan Sakovich over the city of @Trakas, massacring many of the Ostoya in the @Night of Sharpened Beaks.
Disbandment
A year later, the Archimandrite Petras of Radvilos met Bogdan of Ostoya on the field of battle in one-on-one combat. Both men charged and killed each other on the first blow, though Petras was said to have stayed in his saddle. Though the line did not die with him, the loss of Petras set in motion a chain of events that would lead to the atrophy of the clan's territory and finally the passing of its birthright to Clan Opalin, in 3703.
The remains of Petras, along with the other Radvilos magnates and archimandrites, are interred in the clan burial mound in Dolnybrama.
DISBANDED/DISSOLVED
c.3520 - 3703
Type
Geopolitical, Clan
Predecessor Organization
Successor Organization
Demonym
Radvilos
Parent Organization
Location
Neighboring Nations
Related Ethnicities
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