Aldred

*"A descendant of Robern himself, Aldred was an Emperor that helped fund the creation of Dorwine and a favoured protector of Egion and pacifier of the Golden Kingdom."* - Inscription on Aldred's statue in the Hall of Champions

Aldred was a human male who served as the Emperor in the Empire of Egion and is a descendant to the first Emperor Robern, commonly referred to as the Duke of Steel due to his shiny armour that was always polished and cleaned after every battle he participated in. Aldred helped many people including Ered with the colonisation of the northern kingdom Dorwine, the war against Nionande and the war against Earnwulf with every victory achieved Aldred's reputation increased making him one of the most well known, eventually Aldred passed and his title was passed onto his daughter who became the first empress within the second era.

## Biography

### Egion

#### Becoming an Emperor

Being born in 951 AE of the first era Aldred saw the Empire that his father ran and how he was running it into the ground with labour being tough and slowly his father becoming a tyrant, with this happening many citizens within the Empire were unhappy with some potentially planning to revolt against the Emperor. It would be in the year of 969 AE that Aldred would become a general for the Empire making him one of the youngest at just 18, using the military power and influence he had he would try for quite some time to keep the peace within the Empire's borders and providing help to the poorer people. With the people's admiration Aldred slowly became a popular general and leader throughout the Empire which began to sew a hatred from his father becoming paranoid feeling that his son was planning to overthrow him.

With 2 years passing many of the Empire's people began to call for Aldred to take his father's place to which Aldred was reluctant to do so due to this only angering his father even more than he already was, however this decision became clear to Aldred that he had to overthrow his father to save the Empire from crumbling or from starting a rebellion against him. Aldred would eventually make his decision marching to his father's throne room telling him to give up the throne peacefully with his father reminding Aldred that the only way Aldred could become the next Emperor is if the predecessor was dead, seeing that his father was refusing to give up the throne Aldred would fight his father eventually impaling him with his own sword which he claimed Aetherius.

#### Ered and Dorwine

Now with his legacy cemented as the new Emperor, Aldred would provide peace and prosperity that the Empire had not seen for a while and the two elvish kingdoms would present Aldred with a stunning new armour set made of the toughest metals giving Aldred the title Duke of Steel which made him one of the toughest Emperors with his armour that could not be destroyed. After Aldred became the Emperor he then proceeded to secure the Empire's borders and ensure that all of the complaints were dealt with, this led to a coming peace within the Empire that the faction had not seen for quite some time. With a couple of months passing the people in the northern parts of the Empire began to explore outside of the borders traversing lands that had not been explored yet and leading these people would be Ered who was the first person to step out of the Empire's borders in the north, the groups of people would eventually settle within these lands forming small tribes claiming parts of the region for themselves. From here Ered would seek help from Aldred asking him to give him money to eventually set up the lands of Dorwine after he had united the tribes under him which Aldred was more than happy to aid seeing a potential new alliance and stronger army to help the Empire, after he had united the tribes and formed the kingdom of Dorwine Ered would be given his own statue in the Hall of Champions to recognise another man who sought to unite lands that laid in disarray.

#### The Golden Kingdom

After allying with Dorwine Aldred set his sights on allying all of the kingdoms together to create peace amongst the lands and to do this he had to ally himself with Nionande which laid to his southern borders, the Nion Folk mainly kept to themselves being some of the most valued trading and resourceful region within Egion which posed a difficult challenge for Aldred to ally with them as they had nothing that the Empire could offer. During these times it would be revealed to Aldred that small groups of Nion Folk were smuggling Imperial weapons from the Empire's borders into their own region which made him nervous however this information was misinterpreted as these groups actually belonged to Enodon where the bandit king was actually trying to sell them off making profit for himself, due to Aldred believing these people to be from Nionande this would start a war with the Empire and The Golden Kingdom. Due to the funding that Aldred gave to Ered and a portion of his weapons being smuggled from his borders the Empire was not really prepared for war however continued on anyway, at one point in the war Nionande began to get the upper hand and started gaining ground on the Imperial borders which only weakened the Empire more, this led to Aldred having to call on Ered and his warriors to take up arms and help them fight off the desert warriors in hopes of quelling their army and getting a peace treaty signed alongside an alliance. Eventually Ered and his warriors would reach the frontline and with the help of the Empire as well managed to push back their enemy which forced The Golden Kingdom to surrender and agree to an alliance between the kingdoms.

#### Prince of the North

With the Empire's borders mainly secured the realm knew peace once more and Aldred had now secured peace across the known world however shortly after the war with Nionande tensions began to rise within Dorwine with many people believing that they were still slaves and thralls to the Empire being used to fight their battles with the biggest spokesperson being Earnwulf who actually fought in the war with The Golden Kingdom who rallied his own army ready for a civil war within the northern kingdom. Eventually word would reach Aldred about Earnwulf who had managed to kill Ered in single combat, Aldred's advisors would be worried that this could cause issues however Aldred assured his advisors that there was nothing he could of done to stop their battle as it is their custom and how they wish to rule but he would keep his caution with any future talks or dealings in Dorwine. It wouldn't be long until news reached Aldred about villages and towns to the north being raided by warriors and savages belonging to Earnwulf's army which prompted Aldred to send some scouts to get a full report on the situation so that he can act appropriately. Once the reports from the scouts came back to Aldred he decided to organise an army underneath his general Burges with the goal of trying to achieve peace even if it means that they have to spill blood to get it, Burges and his army would head north where they met Beornmund who was one of Earnwulf's generals that slipped away to warn Burges about Earnwulf's flanking army that would wipe his army out unguarded, when Burges asked as to why he was doing this he would state that he wanted peace and to follow in Ered's path where all may live in peace and harmony.

The battle began with Aldred sending a reserve force to reinforce Burges' flank after the information provided by Kadal who returned to Earnwulf's side ready to flank the Imperial army, the reserve would manage to reach the flank in time to defend against Earnwulf which resulted in a lot of Dorwine warriors being cut down with ease. With the Empire cutting down Earnwulf's men Kadal would gain the chance to challenge him in open combat with nobody being able to come to his aid, at the end of the gruelling battle Kadal would kill Earnwulf becoming the new High Chief of Dorwine to which he owed a great debt to Aldred for his opportunity that he provided.

#### Legacy

After his death Aldred was given a place within the Hall of Champions for his uniting of the realm and allowing for peace to run once again through the lands alongside his title being the Duke of Steel, with his death came the next in line to the throne which was Aldred's daughter who became the first Empress within the second era. Many centuries have passed and still Aldred's lesson and goal of providing peace and stability to Egion is one of the main duties and goals for any Emperor or Empress to work towards now.