A History of Delryn
The Reign of King Cyprien Dell
53-65 SI (11454-11467 CE)
The Kingdom of Delryn was the first large government formed after the Second Immigration. It took 52 years from the time that a large number of people arrived until they had sorted themselves into enough of a semblance of society that a clear government and leader emerged. In part through the machinations of his own family and his wife's, and in part because of his own brilliance and popularity amongst the people, the leader that emerged was Cyprien Dell, adopted child of the Arion family.
Cyprien and his supporters consolidated or defeated the various factions of those who had immigrated to this new land together, and he was coronated, with his wife Anna Dell as his Queen, in year 52 (CE 11454). Delryn was established at this time as a Constitutional Monarchy. Cyprien and Anna had two children, daughter Myria Dell and son Karston Dell, who would both ascend the Delrynian throne in turn after their father.
The Coronation of Cyprien Dell
"Are you intending to attend your own coronation in your underthings, my brother?" Cyprien startled, head jerking up to meet Ivan's eyes in the mirror. "Or are you planning to get dressed?"
Ivan was leaning against the doorframe, looking quite comfortable, and Cyprien couldn't help but wonder how long he'd been there. Ivan, of course, was already dressed, the fine green fabrics peeking out from beneath the well-oiled leather and gleaming polished metal of his best armor. Cyprien threw a distasteful glance at the white-purple-and-gold finery that had been left out for him to don, and resisted the urge to shrug mulishly like he might have when they were youths. He was far too old to whine about how much he didn't want this.
His brother must read something on his face, because Ivan shoved off the door and came came to stand beside him, their eyes meeting once more in the mirror. "This is basically a formality, little brother. You're already leading this country."
"There's nothing 'basic' about becoming the head of a monarchy, Ivan," he turns to face his oldest friend, though of course he has to look up a little to do so. "The 'formality' is the whole of it."
"And they could pick no one better," Ivan has placed a hand on either side of Cyprien's face, forcing him to stare into his pale green eyes. "Or do you doubt my judgement? Mama and papa's? Your lovely wife's?"
"Of course I don't!"
"Good," Ivan pulls his face forward and plants a kiss on his forehead, lingering a moment in fondness before he says, "then stop this nonsense and get dressed, little brother. Unless you'd like me to wrestle you into your clothes, like I did when you were little...?" The redheaded general's eyes glint with mischief, which Cyprien has experienced all too often at his own expense.
"Thank you Ivan, but that won't be necessary," Cyprien is saved from a spluttering response by the reappearance of his wife. Anna is resplendant in a dress and robe designed to match his own, her hair done up in fancifully imagined shapes he could never reproduce. She slips an arm around his brother's waist and tugs him away, murmuring, "I believe there are some last-minute questions about Cyprien's security once we enter the temple. Can you see to them, please? I will make sure my husband gets ready on time."
The Reign of Queen Myria Dell
65-84 SI (11467-11486 CE)
Cyprien and Anna's oldest child, daughter Myria, ascended the throne when her father passed at the age of 83. Unlike the long tenures of many of her very long-lived relatives over time, Myria would ultimately only sit the throne for 19 years, despite her relatively young age of 38 when she was crowned. Continuing the work of her mother, who was known as a champion of the people, Myria spent most of her years on the throne and many years before investing in public infrastructure that would enhance the lives of all people, noble and common, such as schools, places of worship, medical facilities, baths, roads, and more. While she took her work very seriously, she was known as a wild child in all other ways. She never married, though her rumored relationships were often the talk of the Kingdom, and had at least one of her illegitimate children before she was even officially of-age. Myria was killed in an accident at the age of 57 while overseeing construction of a new Hall of Healing in the capitol city. She did not legitimize any children before her death (though she made no real secret of the parentage of son Alaric Arion with longtime lover and cousin-by-adoption Anders Arion), nor name any other heir, leaving that role to be filled by her younger brother Karston.
The only other important note is that during the later portion of Cyprien's reign, and during Myria's, some of those who had come to this world during the Second Immigration and were not happy in the newly formed Kingdom of Delryn for whatever reason had begun traveling in two different directions. One group set off to the Northwest across the Narrow Sea, while the other group ventured East across the Crater Sea. The group that went Northwest, led by two brothers and a cousin, would found The Marches in 71 SI (11473 CE).
The Reign of King Karston Dell
84-141 SI (11486-11543 CE)
After the untimely death of his sister Myria without a legtimized child or named heir, Karston assumed the Delrynian throne at the age of 34, barely an adult in his people's eyes. On the heels of his sister's death without an heir, he was pressured by his council into a quick marriage to Lady Lisanne of Stoel. Lisanne, though, was not in good health and struggled to conceive. The couple's first and only child, Elina Dell, was born in year 104 SI (11506 CE Lisanne never recovered and died less than a year later. Very shortly after that, Karston married again, this time for love; one of his councilwomen and his sister's former lady-in-waiting Margaret Calder. They had two children, twins Stephen Dell and Phoebe Dell in 107 SI (11509 CE).
In 88 SI, the Kingdom of Ostar was officially founded by a large group of settlers who had moved across the sea to the next continent Eastward. The founder, Taylan Talat, was a childhood contemporary of Myria and Karston Dell (and one of Myria's rumored trysts), but his family and those that followed them split with the Dell Monarchy over what they felt was fundamental differences in beliefs.
In 94 SI (11496 CE), the Principality of Arion was formed with the blessing of the King and the Delrynian Kingdom, under the banner of Alaric . Alaric was nephew of the King by blood if not by title, illegitimate son of Queen Myria and legitimized son of their cousin Lord Anders Arion. Historical accounts vary of how much Anders pressured Karston to ensure Alaric was given the ruling seat of the new Principality, but all agree that his status as Myria's unrecognized son as well as the long devotion of the Arion family to the Dell family played a part. Of the three Arion first cousins of Karston and Myria's generation, Anders was the oldest and split his time between Arion and Delryn after his son received the title. Adrian Arion stayed in mainland Delryn, one of Karston's chief military advisors. Their youngest sibling, sister Alma Arion moved her own family to the new Principality with her nephew.
The Reign of Queen Elina Dell
141-219 SI (11543-11621 CE)
Karston's eldest daughter was his heir, as per Delrynian law, and inherited the crown when her father passed. Her reign was fairly uneventful. She married and had a daughter, Kalia Dell born in 154 SI (11556 CE).
The Reign of Queen Kalia Dell
219-269 SI (11621-11671 CE)
Many compared Kalia in her princess days to her great-aunt Myria. When she was scolded for taking too many risks, she would simply laugh and tell them that they had her cousin Stephen and he would make a fine King, if something untoward should happen to her. She was an avid outdoorswoman and a keen explorer, and was part of the expedition who made first contact with their neighbors to the west, the United Tribes of Mare'n. She even married one of them and brought him home, much to the dismay of many, and they had one son, Mikhael Dell, born in 187 SI (11419 CE). By the time Elina died at the old age of 133, she ascended her mother's throne and her reign was uneventful other than a continuous careful eye kept on their ever more land-hungry neighbors in Ostar.
The Reign of King Mikhael Dell
269-287 SI (11671-11689 CE)
With his grandmother and mother's long and fairly peaceful reigns, Mikhael did not take the throne until he was 82, and had a short 18-year reign. Unhelpfully, he also hated all of it, and no amount of helpful or 'helpful' advisors could make him like it better. He fell into a deep depression, and at the urging of his wife and sons, abdicated at the age of 100 in favor of his first heir. Mikhael and his wife had two sons, Ivan Dell and Elliot Dell. Once he relinquished his royal responsibilities, he made a semi-miraculous recovery and departed the capitol; his family received letters for some time from different places before they gradually tapered off, but the details of his death are unknown.
The Reign of King Ivan Dell
287-291 SI (11689-11693 CE)
Ivan had a bright future ahead of him when he was crowned after his father's abdication, with the strong support of his family and most of the noble houses of Delryn, who had been watching his father's steep decline with no little concern. Ultimately, however, he ruled not even a full four years before he was assasinated. Within weeks, his long-cousin Halynn Arion, then current Princess of Arion was also assasinated. No perpetrator was ever positively identified.
The Reign of King Elliot Dell
291-388 SI (11693-11790 CE)
With his brother's death, Elliot became the youngest ever ruler of Delryn at 18, with a council of regents until he turned 25. He strengthened ties to the Marches and Mare'n, sent envoys to the free cities of Galanthis and Nikandros, and with an eye to the continued expansion and conquest of Ostar, began aggressively strengthening the Kingdom's army and navy. He and his wife lost several children in pregnancy and childbirth before the healthy birth of their son Raphael Dell in 324 SI (11726 CE). He may or may not have fathered several daughters as well with other women, but did not claim them as heirs.
The Reign of King Raphael Dell
388-423 SI (11790-11825 CE)
Raphael's ascension at the age of 64 followed in the wake of his father's abscension when he turned 115 (Elliot would die 15 years later, at 130 years old). He was a new father, to his child Jude Dell. Raphael's priorities seemed to align closely with his father's, until he died of a heart attack.
The Reign of Jude Dell
423-502 SI (11825-11904 CE)
Jude was already engaged to Alaric Arion II when they were crowned after their father's death. Not everyone in the Kingdom was thrilled at the idea of the Dell and Arion line co-mingling again, but the factions attempting to keep them apart ultimately failed. They had two children, daughter Margaret Dell II in 440 SI (11842 CE) and Karston Arion in 453 SI (11855 CE). Jude was a champion of innovation, across all arts and sciences. They were a patron as well of the arts and temples, and pulled some of their father and grandfather's focus from strengthening of their armed forces back towards humanitarian efforts. Their husband proved a good counterbalance, serving as the head of the armed forces that Jude had little use for and a steadying factor across the lives of the entire royal house.
The Reign of Queen Margaret Dell
502 SI-23 AE (11904-11953 CE)
FFollowing the precedent set by their Grandfather Elliot, Jude abdicated in favor of their heir at the age of 115. Margaret was fierce like her father and well-suited to ruling, well-loved by her people. She had one child, Dianthe Dell born in 509 SI (11911 CE).
Margaret was faced with the difficult decision of what to do when in 528 SI (11930 CE), the Kingdom of Ostar ended its 341-year, generations-long War of Conquest and Melker Talat declared himself Emphir of The Brilliant Empire instead of King of Ostar, a clear indication that they were not done expanding. With the consensus of her brother Karston Arion II, for whom the previous Princess of Arion had abdicated in order to once more strengthen ties to the Delrynian monarchy in wake of several interpersonal conflicts, Margaret made the decision not to act overtly against the Empire, which would set the tone for generations to come.
The Reign of Queen Dianthe Dell
23-89 AE (11953-12019 CE)
Queen Dianthe ascended at her mother's death. She was a military commander trained and true, at the head of a people waiting with baited breath for the Empire to decide which direction they would move. She begrudgingly made time to have a single child, son Nikolas Dell who was born in 56 AE (11986 CE). She had two consorts - the first, Nikolas' father, was left to the day-to-day running of the Kingdom and household and raising of their heir. The second was her shieldmate and bodyguard, who traveled everywhere she did and served as military advisor. There were six younger children in the royal household in the 8 years following Nikolas' birth, all children were claimed by all three parents. This left the Kingdom's councils and nobles in a terrible tizzy, over the certainty that some of them were the children of the Dianthe's two consorts and not actually royalty at all, but she avoided letting the situation boil over by choosing not to recognize any of the younger children as heirs, and making sure to give each independent lands and titles to support them. The time Dianthe and her consort spent inside the army and navy made them faster, stronger, and more efficient, though ultimately the Empire chose to expand North and South instead of towards Delryn.
The Reign of King Nikolas Dell
89-171 AE (12019-12101 CE)
By the time that Nikolas inherited the Delrynian throne from Dianthe, two things were fairly clear: first, it was unlikely the Empire was ready or interested to come at Delryn. Second, he would never match his mother's military leadership, and it would be far better if he simply left that task to the people she had hand-picked for the task. Wisely, he did so, focusing on all other aspects of running his Kingdom and letting the commanders and generals his mother and her consort had trained do their jobs, while he flexed all the diplomatic muscles he'd developed at his father's knee to make sure their other alliances remained strong. He did not marry, but he did have a son, Cyprien Dell II, in 115 AE (12045 CE). He brought his heir and his heir's mother into the royal household, legitimizing the child and taking care of all of the woman's needs but not marrying her.
The Reign of King Cyprien Dell II
171 AE-Present (12101 CE-Present)
Taking the throne at the perhaps ideal age of 56, Cyprien the Second is the current King of Delryn.Table of Contents
Founding of Delryn
Founding of the Principality of Arion
Assassinations of Ivan Dell and Halynn Arion
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