History (N1 Story Synopsis)

(Note: This just refers to the main story arc. There are quite a number of secondary storylines happening as well.)

With both sons wedded and a third on the way, King Wyldrigrenkledrysllthen sought to secure his lineage. How could it not be with one such as the Crown Prince Uhtred set to succeed his Father? Skilled in both battle and court matters, the very image of a prince, his happiness seemed complete with his marriage to his beloved wife, Garnett of Leugeilean. Even the tempermental Prince Ilgnuit had momentary contentment with his exotic wife, Synaria of Haresh.

But with treason by one of the Valenti line, Princess Evangeline, the cracks began to show .. an attack arranged on her sister, slander against the Queen. Even rebellion began in the land, Prince Uhtred dispatched to quell the uprising in Hvresgott, the result a massacre and lifeless city. Brutal strikes on both the foreign princesses left the castle reeling: Synaria kidnapped by zealots, bloodied and branded for her assumed heresy, followed by the loss of Garnett's babe still in the womb, the princess herself nearly stolen by the ghosts during the yearly festival hosted in honour of them.

Changed by the fierce trauma faced with the zealots and stretched by absence and apparent lack of care from her new husband, Princess Synaria withdrew into herself, finding her only solace in her rescuer, the servant Ys. Affections waned between Prince Ilgnuit and Princess Synaria as her heart fell to Ys, the prince becoming ever more desperate to win, or at the least, possess his wife .. young impetuous actions deepening the resentment between the two.

Even as Princess Garnett struggled to regain her strength, a malign force struck the castle once more .. this time aiming higher. Princess Evangeline, believed locked in a distant tower for her crimes, reappeared within the castle, decayed and obviously long dead. She sought Queen Danele, cursing her and attacking her, but the monarch defended herself, the animated corpse finally brought low by the salt and prayers of the Inquisitor. With the body secretly burnt, no one ever quite knew what the strange uproar and smell from the library was, the story put about that a dead animal was dragged in by one of the hunting dogs.

This was not, however, the only strange corpse to find its way to the Valentis, the Huntsman discovering another within the Royal Forest, a body torn not by beast or steel or any other natural means. The whispers began, along with the fear: death was visiting upon the Royal Family, even some uttering that terrible, heretical word magic.

Desperate to defend her family from the threats looming, Queen Danele sought the council of the fearsome, furious ghost of King Tyltin IV .. the long dead patriarch of the Valenti family. It was an interview that left the Queen bloodied, the King enraged and worried, and the ghost screaming as it disappeared into the ether, his unearthly shrieks rattling the castle to its foundations and echoing out over the town.

Despite these threats, or perhaps because of them, Prince Uhtred and Princess Garnett departed the castle on a diplomatic mission to both Geldenland and Leugeilean, the Princess's homeland. Accompanying the Crown couple was the servant Ys, for reasons unknown to most: while the servant was, in truth, the Crown Prince's man used to protect himself and those he loved, the King had discovered the indiscretion between the man and Princess Synaria, though not their worse crimes. The man's absence from the castle was a welcome thing, the King with enough evidence to hang them both.

Amidst these other worries, the new King of Nyrthlond arrived, shocking Nharati when it became clear that he was, in actuality, a she..the woman demanding the styling of a King despite her lesser sex so much that she humiliated proud King Wyldrigrenkledrysllthen in front of his court. Adding to the afront, Prince Cyrus, formerly betrothed to Princess Evangeline and twin brother to the Nyrthlond King, accompanied her as Prince Consort, and they made show of their alliance with Others, the Frost Giant, Brith, one of their party as well.

It was during this visit that ash flowed through the castle with no discernable cause, a servant and a guard left dead in its wake, and the King's private study profaned. Concerned for the health of his wife and their babe she still carried (the first pregnancy to last so long since the birth of Nefertise sixteen years before), the King sent the Queen and her ladies away from the castle, hoping to keep them from the death that seemed to lurk about. Perhaps the birth of the babe would break the pall over the castle.

With introductions achieved, the Nyrthlonders departed before Crown Prince Uhtred and Princess Garnett arrived home after their visit to Geldenland and Leugilean, initiating a time of homecomings. The Queen and her ladies returned, but more curious was the arrival of an Valenti son that none save the King knew existed. Prince Silas, blind from birth and sent away to be raised by the church, returned at the behest of his father. (Why the King chose now to call his exiled son to his family has never been known.) The next arrival brought the greatest joy to the castle: though some ghostly medium plunged the Queen into early labour, and the baby was breeched (a problem rectified by Princess Garnett), the Queen bore a healthy baby boy dubbed Tyltin after the first Valenti King of Nharati.

Even Prince Ilgnuit, gone so frequently, arrived home. Unfortunately, his return was not so auspicious as the other homecomings, for on the night he arrived, the younger prince provoked his brother by insulting both him and his wife with remarks on their dead infant and calling Princess Garnett's virtue into question. Such loathsome words could not go unanswered, and Prince Uhtred requested permission from the King to duel his brother. The King granted it, and to no one's surprise except Prince Ilgnuit, the duel was more massacre than fight. The Crown Prince crushed his brother literally beneath his boots and tore his heart from his chest before the assembled crowd.

Of course, Prince Ilgnuit's funeral occurred close on the heels of his death, and while the family mourned the death of a son and brother, the common folk made their displeasure known, for Prince Ilgnuit was beloved by them. Even worse, a servant in a mad rage over the younger prince's death attacked Prince Uhtred and Princess Garnett in their quarters upon their return from the funeral. Protecting himself and his wife, the Crown Prince slew the servant, or so the story goes. Needing time to recover from her own loss, Princess Synaria departed to visit Nyrthlond, and returned triumphant with treaties and a proposal from King Ulrika that she be wedded to Prince Cyrus of Nyrthlond.

Even with all the difficult happenings, there has been a certain silence since the birth of the babe, leaving Nharati to wonder if the strange events and looming threats have come to an end.