Succession (Episode)

## Story

King of Mordale, Draigo Moretherial arrives with his two children, Philip & Stefan and his squire Robert Dunn. King of the Brasslands, Enderby Brass arrives with his daughter, Sherah Brass and his wife, Siobhan Latch. King of Serkis, Saul Serkis arrives with his two sons, Flynn & David. King and the Whitelands, Issac White arrives with his mother, Donna Prye, and his siblings Josiah White, Delilah White and her husband, Charles Calahan. Lord of Salix, Harold Warner arrives with all his children, his eldest daughters, Elizabeth, his twins Howard & Amelia and his youngest Fiona. Lord of Fresch, Liam Thewlis arrives with his wife Amy Moss, his son, Jared Thewlis and the Knight of Fresch, Henry Barson. Elijah Swayne’s brother Judas arrives with his son Willem by his side, Elijah is shocked, Willem is supposed to be in Havers, but here he is. As people walk past Elijah explains who each of them is and their significance.  Everyone gets seated, Gerald Barbesh sits upon his throne; claps and the tournament has begun.

The archery begins with an unsuccessful attempt by Ser Mamor Jazhans of the Whitelands, Philip Moretherial of Mordale gets close to a bullseye, Flynn Serkis of Serkis fails miserably, his father is clearly disappointed, Jared Thewlis of Fresch is also unsuccessful, and his father is disappointed too, Selina Barbesh of Salix hits the bullseye and Harold Warner looks surprised and relieved, Sherah Brass of the Brasslands splits Selina’ arrow with hers, her father, Enderby erupts into cheers. Sherah Brass is announced the winner by Gerald Barbesh and then a recess is held. During the recess Elijah hears talk that suggests that Sparrow Greenley will likely win the brawl, others believe Henry Barson will win. Meanwhile, Elijah’s brother, Judas walks into a tent and finds Harold Warner’s eldest daughter, Elizabeth being ‘intermit’ with another woman, he leaves quickly.

The jousting begins by drawing a name out of a hat, Howard Warner of Salix and Flynn Serkis of Serkis are first up, Flynn is knocked off his horse by Howard, and he throws a tantrum, but reluctantly shakes the victors' hand (Howard). Shahen Neeson of the Brasslands is picked next along with... Harrison Moss, of the Whitelands. Shahen Neeson knocks Harrison Moss of his horse in the first round and Enderby erupts into applaud again. Neeson is declared the victor. Robert Dunn, squire of Mordale is next up going against the much-celebrated Henry Barson. Henry Barson knocks Dunn into the mud right by Sherah Brass, Dunn plays it off and pretends to lordly to her which Enderby finds hilarious. Barson is declared victor. Barson apologises to Dunn and goes to speak with Harold Warner, he tells Harold that he never got to thank him for his help saving him from on-coming raiders many years ago.  Shahen Neeson goes up against Henry Barson, Barson knocks him down, Neeson is knocked off and gracefully shakes Barson’s hand. Barson is declared the victor. Lastly, Barson goes against Howard Warner. They charge past each other, missing the target and then Barson clearly throws and Howard knocks Barson off his horse, Howard is declared as the champion. Henry Barson approaches Harold Warner and tells him; he just thanked him (by throwing the jousting in his sons' favour).

The challengers for the brawl approach, Enderby Brass (Brasslands), Rodger Helter (Whitelands), Henry Barson (Fresch), Harold Warner (Salix), David Serkis (Serkis) and Sparrow Greenley (Mordale). The emperor claps his hand and the brawl begins, Enderby tackles David Serkis, Harold and Sparrow Greenley get into a swordfight and Rodger Helter starts taking slashes from Henry Barson. Enderby beats David to a pulp, he’s almost unconscious at this point, suddenly Rodger Helter gets his first hit on the sprightful, Barson, he punches his teeth right out of his mouth and pushes him to the ground. Greenley gets the best of the concerned Harold, and he starts taking serious beatings, he resigns out of pure tiredness.  Meanwhile, Rodger Helter digs his thumbs in the skull of the pinned down Barson, he begins screaming and finally blurts out the resignment words, the audience blows a sigh of relief, especially Lord of Fresch, Liam Thewlis who sees Barson like a son. However, Helter doesn’t stop and continues to dig his thumbs further into Barson’s skull, Draigo Moretherial is shouting for the fighting to halt, until Gerald Barbesh gets up and orders Helter himself, Helter ignores him. Enderby is distracted by Helter and doesn’t notice David Serkis with a wooden axe coming up behind him, he beats Enderby to unconsciousness quickly. Sparrow Greenley grabs Helter into a headlock attempting to save Barson, but Helter gets up and throws Greenley onto the ground in front of him. He starts pummelling Greenley. Until a real sword plunges through Helter’s leg and he wails in pain, only now does he look upon the emperor and stop his violence. The sword had come from Harold Warner and had been provided by Draigo Moretherial. Gerald Barbesh finally stands and scolds Helter and bans him from the brawl, he bans Warner too, for both the use of real weapons and fighting despite being resigned. Liam Thewlis screams out for Barson, whose screams have stopped, a doctor is rushed over, but just to confirm that he is indeed dead.  David Serkis is declared the champion, seeing as all the other brawlers are either, unconscious, banned or dead.

Gerald Barbesh calls Sherah Brass, Howard Warner and David Serkis to his chambers to ask their request and name their candidate as his heir. Sherah Brass names her father, Enderby Brass and asks as her favour for 4 axes of titanium be made custom for her family. Howard Warner names his father, Harold Warner and asks as his favour that none of his sisters be forced to marry. David Serkis names himself, David asks as his favour that he be given 200 men that will remain loyal to him

Gerald Barbesh is on his deathbed, and he calls Elijah Swayne and tells him that he is his successor, and his daughter, Selina is the witness.

## Behind the Scenes

This episode was shown to producers originally as the pilot, and after the whole season had been created, 8 episodes long, the director, Frendore Fiend told the writer, Ground Martins and the producers that he thinks there should be another episode, a new Episode 1, and the current Episode "Succession" should be made Episode 2 instead. And "The Emperor Calls" was born.