Prologue
Past - Agard Rodsvard
In the North things never happened this fast. It took Lord Ammon most of his life to realize that the land was getting worse and not better. Luckily for me that meant a pilgrimage to find a new place to settle. My brother I’m sure would have liked to find a place to conquer and make his own, or to move South to the Eld and have the blight just follow us about. In my travels I fell for a woman, but couldn’t figure out a way to stay with her while my mission was fulfilled. I stayed with her long enough to learn the history and culture of Ra’vain, of her House Varless, of her ancestral home, Callia, and last but certainly not least, sire a son.
Perhaps to show my son where he came from or perhaps to keep the memory of Ranna at the front of my mind, maybe even to try and win her a place back where she belonged, I traveled across the sea. Visited Callia and her colonies. There was no place for my brother to dig his claws in. Finally the war started between Abna’ki and Ra’vain. The Elds saw an opportunity to strike at the vulnerable Arandil. Ammon would have seen it too, but I struck first finding a way to keep Ranna’s people out of harm’s way and what I had thought was a peaceful new beginning for Clan Rodsvard.
Lord Arandil thought we were weak for taking his deal, and double-crossed us. Ammon showed him just how strong we were. A new home had been found, but instead of a shield bartered for meager land, Mardil Arandil forced Ammon to bloody the lands and take what was left of North Port for his own. North Port quickly became Kronnborg, Crown Mountain, it has been anything but. The battle that put the city and castle in Rodsvard’s possession left both in ruin. The people who came from the North who could have made our new home into something to be proud of were killed in the beginning of hostilities. Eventually an alliance was formed with an ancient House of Ra’vain whose Lord was as unhappy as a Lord as my brother was. Building began, but it was slow going. The castle finished just this year after a long seven years the Rodsvards finally have a home worthy of the name, but there are few Rodsvards left here.
The aged remained out of stubbornness or the inability to adapt to their new homes. Eissy did go on a pilgrimage to see some of the inland Houses, she’s probably the most Ra’vish of us of the old generation. Clarin and Karianne remain even though Kammy and Bedin, along with Aldrick traveled south. As for me, I could go anywhere, even have thought about taking a house in Jord’s Pyre to be closer to Ranna, but duty to my brother has kept me here, watching this cold castle and hopefully allowing the people of the North Coast to get by until the next generation was ready to take over. My brother was taken by the arrows of unknown assassins. If I were not tied down by duties here the perpetrators would have been found and punished. Nils has decided to focus on defense, and a hunt for the criminals in the Ra’vish way of asking questions and placing spies.
And where were the younger ones? Nils who should be sitting the chair that I have taken, moved to bigger things. He is technically the liege of these lands, but has joined with the major House of the Southern Coast, marrying the heir and uniting the whole coast under one dragon and sword banner. Krita wanted to learn how to bring Kronnborg to be part of the rest of the realm and traveled south to do so. She has spent the last five years training in the Tsukimatsu arena, most in Kronnborg are not terribly happy that she has been gone for so long, I’m actually quite proud of her. As mentioned Kammy and Bedin followed Nils to Old North. My own son married, in secret at first, a woman many thought was a mere sailor, or servant. Turns out she was a member of a rather infamous noble family of the coast, that was thought to have torn itself apart. Along with my son and her brothers my daughter-in-law reclaimed the family’s city from vagrant outlaws and they live there now with their family. Much to my surprise Lady Freda was the last to leave, and even then it was for her protection not because she asked it. She now lives in the Ironcrag with her future family. A secret betrothal that I had worked out behind my brother’s back. Hopefully the secret will be let out soon, though Freda’s future family might be upset by the direction of Kronnborg under someone other than Ammon. Time would tell, but Nils thought that Freda was better off there.
