The first King of the Southland started as a baron,
the Black Baron, Alexander Roesone formed a confederacy between the free-city
of Ilien and the theocracy of Medoere to assault the Duchery of Diemed. While the combined naval blockade of the
confederacy kept Diemed pinned down; the Black Baron would march an army across
the lands of Medoere into the heart of Diemed.
But instead of laying a conventional siege to the impressive stronghold
of the Duke of Diemed; Alexander Roesone would employ magic assistance to ruin
the walls of the Duke’s castle. In the
ensuing retreat of the Duke of Diemed, Alexander Roesone, upon a nightmare
mount, would commit bloodtheft.
Thus the Black Baron of Roesone upon claiming
investiture of Diemed would elevate himself to the status of the King of the
Southlands. Serving as an agent of
change, the High Cleric of the Church of All, Kareem Wali Jabbar would gain
sweeping powers, influence, holdings, and followers as the Southlands would
grow. In time the Church of All would
grow past the boundaries of the Southlands and into the colonies of Mieres and
the Barony of Ghoere. The King of the
Southlands, Alexander Roesone, would outlaw all public religious practice not
conducted in Church of All facilities.
Alexander would also decree the faith of Cuiraecen outlawed and all of
the land and holdings of the Militant Order of Cuiraecen be handed over to the
Church of All.
Alexander Roesone now with ultimate authority as
King of the Southlands reorganized many institutions and in different cases
would privatize and nationalize different institutions. The new Kingdom of the Southlands was
commissioned a private bank, the Brother’s Investment Groupe, and sought out to
regulate and standardize a single unit of currency. The Brother’s Investment Groupe operated outside
of the normal jurisdiction of the Southlands and would raise its own troops,
fortify holdings, issue loans and paper scrip, and determine deed of land. The amount of power the Brother’s Investment
Groupe could influence on the economy of the Southlands was staggering.
These new decrees by the King of the Southlands
mainly affected the lands of Roesone and Diemed, leaving Medoere and Ilien in a
very uncomfortable position. But as luck
would seem to strike; the fabled Sword of Enlien was claimed by of all people the
Captain of Abbatour, Count Raphael Saberstrike.
The title Captain of Abbatour is an old hereditary title passed to the
Count of Abbatour whom then would serve as naval commander for then the Barony
of Roesone. Upon uniting the Southlands,
Alexander Roesone simply transitioned the Captain of Abbatour from commanding
the Roesone Navy to the Imperial Navy of the Southlands. Known as a wise and compassionate fellow,
Raphael would gain much fame and be hailed as the People’s Champion upon
claiming the Sword of Enlien.
But while it seemed in time that Raphael might be
capable of stopping or defeating Alexander, the Militant Order of Cuiraecen did
not have time as their very temples where being converted into holy sites for
the Church of All. A select group of
paladins, true believers of Cuiraecen’s decided to strike and assassinated the
King of the Southlands Alexander Roesone.
But as you and I know, dear reader, that this was just a clone. A clone created by the Baba Yaga under the
guise of the Swamp Mage to gain further influence upon the very lands of the
Southlands. But dear reader, the story
of Baba Yaga is for another time.
With the death of Alexander Roesone a new King of
the Southlands needed to be appointed and as chance would happen, Alexander
left his kingdom to the one and only Raphael Saberstrike. So now the people rejoiced as the People’s
Champion was the King of the Southlands, but that happiness only lasted a few
golden years until the legendary dragon Skiesbane heard of this new popular
king. The dragon Skiesbane would ransack
the major trade lanes in the Straits of Aerele, demand tribute from the various
baronies and kingdoms, and devour whole livestock herds. When the dragon Skiesbane confronted Raphael,
the dragon did find a surprise or two but was able to best Raphael and capture
him up.
The dragon Skiesbane came looking for a god-king and
found a pretender in Raphael. The Sword
of Enlien that had won the people’s hearts was a forgery. The surprise trap that Raphael tried to
spring on the dragon was the assistance of an evil demi-god, but Skiesbane was
able to dispatch that demi-god’s avatar.
Skiesbane took the truly evil Raphael and placed him in front of magic
mirror that created a truly good copy of Raphael; Skiesbane then dispatched the
evil Raphael and took the good Raphael back to the Southlands.
Now this dear reader is where we reintroduce High
Cleric Kareem Wali Jabbar. This new good
version of Raphael Saberstrike as King of the Southlands was set to change the
laws and usher in a new prosperous era for the Southlands but that would mean
religious freedom and the High Cleric Kareem with the newly powerful Church of
All would not stand for that. So yet
another assassin’s blade took yet another King of the Southlands as Kareem
would kill the good Raphael. But dear
reader, didn’t Skiesbane really kill the second King of the South? Now the Southlands would have to decide on a
new leader for neither Alexander nor Raphael had left any other heirs. From amongst the nobility of the Southlands
was picked a new King. But really the
Brother’s Investment Groupe and the Church of All would select the new
King.
Once the warrior Trogdor was known as the
Spearwielder but that said spear was stolen by none other than the very first
King of the Southlands, Alexander Roesone.
That very spear is the weapon that Alexander used to commit bloodtheft
of the Duke of Diemed and kick off this whole Kingdom thing in the first
place. Unable to reclaim the spear from
Alexander, Trogdor would have to settle in inherit the kingdom that spear
created. One thing Alexander did do for
Trogdor was while as King of the Southlands, Alexander appointed Trogdor as the
new Duke of Diemed. Trogdor had already
married into one of the largest land holding noble families of Diemed and this
helped get the Diemed nobility to support Trogdor as Duke of their land. Trogdor served the people of Diemed faithfully
until called upon to serve all the people as the third King of the Southlands.
The High Cleric Kareem would ordain the ceremony as
he had done for the pervious Kings of the Southlands. Kareem and Trogdor would conspire to pull all
of the lands of the south under the sway of both the King of the South and the
Church of All. Kareem would put out a
decree that a holy army was to gather to defeat the heathens like the
worshipers of Rournil in Medoere, the followers of Nesirie, Haelyn, and
Cuiraecen. While Trogdor gathered the
forces of the Southlands and appeared to prepare to invade Medoere, the holy
army would begin to muster in Roesone.
But instead of invading Medoere, Trogdor launched in invasion of Aerenwe. When the forces of Medoere tried to counter
assault, the holy army of the Church of All along with hired mercenaries
defeated the Medoere forces. In no time
Aerenwe would fall to the Southlands, with the royal family being killed
personally by Trogdor. Another note dear
reader, that one of those royal family members was the half-brother of the now
infamous first King of the Southlands, Alexander Roesone.
With the conquest of Aerenwe near complete, the main
assault forces began the invasion of Medoere and quickly forced the siege of
the lands. When the forces of Medoere
refused to surrender, the holy army of the Church of All constructed altars and
began sacrificing prisoners in full view of the besieged Medoere forces. This would lead to the a powerful priest,
Rhouber Nichaleir hearing the calling of Rournil and gaining the true Sword of
Enlien and standing up to the forces of the Southlands. In an epic battle, the High Cleric Kareem
defeated Rhouber Nichaleir in a mid-air struggle that began with Kareem in shadow dragon form ended with Kareem taking a shadowy-human form and committing
bloodtheft of Rhouber. The act of the
bloodtheft of a divine infused being, the forming of a dynasty in the
Southlands and the Church of All, and by promoting evil gods; Kareem was elevated
to living-saint status and in time would become and evil god of his own.
Trogdor, the King of the Southlands, would unify the
lands of Diemed, Roesone, Medoere, Ilien, and Aerenwe and also gaining the
lands of Ghieste and Bhalaene after the fall of the Barony of Ghoere and
expanding influence to the colonies of Mieres.
When the Time of Troubles begins in the land of Birthright, the Kingdom
of the Southlands is a major player.
With hundreds of thousands of citizens, with some cities as populous as
ten thousand people, a vast network of roads and ships to move goods and forces
around. And most importantly to the gods
it truly serves, the Kingdom of the Southlands has one unified religion in the
Church of All.