Barden's Foundation Wars

* Unification of the Kingdoms of Fields, the Hills, and the Lake as the Kingdom of Aqoris
* Ascension of Barden of House Boyce as the first King of Aqoris
* Foundation of House Carlisle
* Extinction of Houses Syder and Highhand
* Elevation of Houses Durham and Rocke to Wardens of the Southlands and the Lakelands, respectively.

Factions| House BoyceHouse Boyce of Winter's RockHouse DurhamHouse RushHouse CarlisleHouses of the SouthlandsHouses of the MarshesHouses of the Domainlands | **Kingdom of Field and Grain**/House Highhand

**Kingdom of the Hills**/House Syder

Leaders| King Barden I BoyceLord Marlon BoyceLord Deron DurhamLord Weslar RushLord Carl Carlisle | King Luthor Highhand†

King Melvan II Syder†

The **Barden's** **Foundation War**, also called the **Boyce Conquest**, was a major war initiated by Barden Boyce to conquer the known continent of Aqoris. Within 3 years, Barden had unified the three Kingdoms of North Aqoris into the Kingdom of Aqoris. He later made an attempt to invade the Borderlands, though this would fail and not be conquered until around one hundred years later. Many Houses of Aqoris actively supported House Boyce and sided with them.

Barden first conquered the Southlands in 1 AF where he was crowned by the High Adepton as the first King of Aqoris, establishing the ruling Boyce dynasty of the Kingdom of Aqoris for the next four centuries. Barden's coronation date subsequently became the basis for the Aqorisi calendar, with curators tracking years from before and after Barden's founding of the Kingdom.

## History

House Boyce traces it origins to Sir Aegadar Boyce, a knight of what would become the Domainlands. He took the last name Boyce when he was knighted though did not officially form a house. The Domainlands at the time were a warzone, fought over between the Kingdom of the Hills and the Kingdom of Field and Grain. Aegadar had two sons in a village on the site of what would become the city of Newcastle some years later, Barden and Marlon Boyce. When Barden reached adulthood, it was said that he had a prophetic dream that that said he and his descendants were destined to defend the realm of men from an impending evil. He made it his mission to unite the Kingdoms of Aqoris under one banner to fulfil this prophecy so that when the time comes, a Boyce is leading the realms of men.

In 5 BF, he founded House Boyce and built a Keep on a hill overlooking the village he was born into, also felling an ancient beartree which he believed was sacred and carved the Bear Throne. In 2 BF, with many of the Domainlands Houses already supporting the young Lord, he invaded the strategic island of Winter's Rock and the castle of House Maeson. He installed his younger brother, Marlon, as the Lord of Winter's Rock and he formed the cadet branch of House Boyce of Winter's Rock. He did this to use the island to protect the new city that was beginning to form around the Keep that would eventually be called Newcastle. He became the Lord of Newcastle and proclaimed himself as Lord of the Domainlands and he gained the support of the noble houses there who were fed up of being attacked by the neighbouring Kingdoms.

### War in the Southlands

The new Lord's first enemy was the Highhand, Kings of Field and Grain to the south. King Luthor 'the Red' Highhand was very unpopular among the Lords of the Kingdom of the Field due to his brutality and what some claimed as madness. Barden sent messages to several of the disgruntled houses, with House Durham being the main focus, to join his banners and rise up against the Highhands. Lord Barden promised Lord Deron Durham a position in the Kingdom he sought to form as ruler of the Southlands and a commander in his army. Lord Deron accepted and called his banners, to which most of the Southlands rose up in rebellion against the Highhands (with the notable exceptions of House Rayne, Ross and Masterton who stayed loyal). Barden marched his army south to Sunderly and he and the Southlanders laid siege to Sunderly, with the battle being called the Last Harvest as it resulted in the extinction of the entire Highhand line.

Barden founded the Kingdom of Aqoris as the newly founded Southlands pledged fealty to him as their King, as did the Domainlands. In 1 AF, he was crowned as King of Aqoris by the High Adepton and became known as ***Barden of the House Boyce, first of his name, King of Aqoris and Defender of The Realm***. He named Lord Deron as the Warden of The South and then granted Sunderly to House Ross, with Arkridge being the new capital of the Southlands. The support of the Faith of the Four ended most resistance to King Barden's invasion.

### War in the North

House Syder of Syderhill, the Kings of the Hill, grew alarmed of the new Kingdom and declared war on King Barden. Barden and his large army marched north and beat the Syders all the way back to their keep and laid siege to it. This resulted in a brutal and long battle against the defenders, with the castle being extremely damaged and King Melvan II Syder being slain in the battle. House Syder would also go extinct as a result of the siege and the seat went to Sir Carl of the Isle, one of Barden's best commanders. Sir Carl then formed House Carlisle as he was known as Sir Carl of the Isle, and married the daughter of King Melvan II. He was named as Warden of The North which Barden established in 1 AF.

### War in the Lakelands

King Barden I Boyce and his army then turned their eyes on the heavily forested , Kingdom of the Lake. Barden knew it would be a tough fight as the Lakelanders were known for their skill in using their terrain to defeat invaders but he decided to invade the Lakelands anyway. King Jaxar VII Rocke decided he would avoid open fighting and instead led a campaign of ambushing the advancing armies for a year until he was forced to fight the Boyce army at the Battle of The Lake in 2 AF. The Lakelanders fought extremely well but were ultimately defeated and King Jaxar surrendered. Barden was impressed with the efforts of the Lakelanders and Jaxar rose as the Warden of The Lakelands, ending his foundation war though a few years later he would try and fail to invade the Borderlands in the First Northern War, setting a trend for the years to come up until King Digby I Boyce, his great great grand-son, would successfully conquer the Borderlands.