1868-02-16: The State of Aequor, Fevrier 1868 IE
The State of Aequor
Summary: A summary of recent events in Aequor, and those to come…
Date: 16 Fevrier, 1868 IE
Related: Siege at Lyioness, Long Live the King, Under the Winter Sky
NPCs: {$npc}

Aequor has been in upheaval over the last several months, and though much has changed and the Kingdom now appears to be on more stable footing, nothing is sure.

Rumour has it that a plot was uncovered by agents working for the outlawed Prince Jean-Paul, whereby the Lord Captain of Cardinal Ramius's Guard, Sir Arthur d'Kemp, slowly poisoned King Maris and took de facto control of the Kingdom in his weakness. d'Kemp reportedly held both the King and Queen Cynthia hostage, essentially giving him free reign over all royal affairs. With most royal and vassal forces away fighting a significant incursion from the savage raiders of White Hall, d'Kemp seemed to have iron-fisted control of the capital.

Prince Jean-Paul called upon both House d'Armaz, its vassals and House d'Arran to rebel and march on the capital, Lyionesse. They were met outside the gates of the Aequorian capital, Lyionesse, by a large force commanded by Sir Richard d'Kemp consisting of the vast Cardinal's Guard and House d'Kemp - the "Royal" force. A failed parley between d'Kemp, Baron Ramius d'Arran and Baroness Myrana d'Armaz led to d’Kemp declaring that d’Arran had been stripped of all titles. Baron Ramius replied that since he was no longer under any oaths, he therefore became the King Under-Mountain, and the two armies clashed.

The battle raged fiercely for some time, accompanied by the thundering chorus of cannons, trebuchet, sword and shield. Initially, the dense Arrani infantry squares were fixed by the enemy pike line. The Arrani army responded by beginning to bombard the d’Kemp pikes with their artillery. While the infantry fought and long cannoneers, crossbowmen and archers duelled each other, a wide flanking move by Lord Zayne d'Rana's Black Bears slammed into the enemy's cavalry, decisively routing them. d'Kemp's artillery then began to attack the Arrani field pieces, but were stopped in a brave charge by the Black Bears, though at grievous cost to the mercenaries both in men and horse, shredded by grapeshot.

The d'Kemp right flank weakened by the Black Bears' charge, the Arrani reserves were rushed in and their foes began to waver. The final decisive blow was dealt by an exploding artillery bolt which hit the d'Kemp command party, including Sir Richard, and turned the waver of their army into a rout. Around a thousand of them surrendered on the appearance of the reconstituted Blue Cavaliers under Sir Octavian Deverot, though others escaped, likely to d'Kemp lands.

The following day, a party was led into the palace by the Blue Cavaliers, including many of the principal nobles who'd fought in the battle at the gates of the city. The objective of this group was to liberate the palace from the influence of Sir Arthur d'Kemp and rescue the royal family. Reports of what went on in the palace are much more confusing, fragmentary and lacking in the same kind of witnesses as the previous battle.

Reports are that while Sir Octavian Deverot held off a horde of Cardinal's Guards on his own, the rescue party faced off with Sir Arthur d'Kemp. d'Kemp apparently used some kind of demonic magic against the rescuers (exactly how is the subject of wild speculation), and despite their best efforts, Baroness Myrana d'Armaz, Lord Zayne d'Rana and Doctor Sir Havelock Synn could not defeat him at first - that is until, of course, Baron Ramius d'Arran met the rebellious d'Kemp with his own, One given magic and cleaved him in two with his Sidhe-steel sword.

With the way clear, Prince Jean-Paul moved to the bed of his dying father, King Maris, and somehow sacrificed himself in order to give life back to his Majesty. The apparent presence of magic throughout all of this is disconcerting and difficult to verify, but continues to be widely reported.

In the days following the rescue of the legitimate royal family, it has become apparent that House d'Kemp has been able to barricade itself in the strong fortresses and positions of its fief with a full banner and is thus in open rebellion against the Kingdom of Aequor. The soldiers of Houses d'Arran, d'Armaz, d'Rana and two cohorts of the Kingdom's Argent Legion have been busy supplying and readying themselves to march on d'Kemp. They have been reinforced by the surprising arrival of a Galenthian force under Baron Thomas Chandus, consisting of the Royal Order of the Burnished Spurs, its regiment and some of the Baron's own house troops.

The winter weather has made marshalling and readying supplies a challenge, and undoubtedly aided the rebellious defenders. Although they have been delayed, the forces of the Kingdom of Aequor seem poised to march to close this chapter of civil strife… soon, they hope.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License