Grand Tourney of 1038AE

The **Grand Tourney of 1038AE** was a knight's tournament held in Avamor, in the Northern Kingdom. it was established by Crown-Princess (then Queen-Regent) Valoria Blackthorne, as a celebration and public show of peace with the Northern Kingdom state ruled by Drake Morvala and his wife Serenity. Financed by the Blackthorne Monarchy, the festival was intended to be the greatest and most extravagant celebration in the history of the realm, and wound up also being the most expensive. The festival ended in disaster when the Crown-Princess had a violent emotional breakdown and got into a physical altercation with the Northern King. This resulted in the opposite effect the festival was intended for; it was conceptualized to demonstrate a strong relationship between the two kingdoms but ended with them permanently splitting into two separate states. While they were never at war, the two Monarchies had a fragile alliance with severe bad blood on both sides, and they never joined into one again.

## Background

At her coronation ceremony in 1016AE, Queen Talia I agreed to recognize Drake Morvala with his inherited title of Northern King in exchange for being her vassal. The Northern Kingdom enjoyed more freedoms than most of the Crown's vassals but were still expected to serve as Talia's bannermen. The relationship was peaceful for its first twenty years of existence.

After a family tragedy, Talia's daughter and heir Valoria took over as Queen-Regent in her mother's absence. She immediately caused economic problems by borrowing large sums from vassal states and refusing to repay them--the Northern Kingdom was among these, and it jeopardised the peaceful relationship the two states had held thus far. This was to feed Valoria's policies of "glory spending," making the Crown look powerful through extravagant expenditure. In 1037AE, Caradoc Rookwood was named as the realm's new coinmaster. He managed to fix the economy and balance the crown's books, including beginning repayment of debts to King Drake.

In early 1038AE, Val entered a council session in a manic mood. She declared that to fully repair relations with the Northern Kingdom, she would hold the greatest knight's tournament ever seen on their lands at Avamor. it would be seven days and seven nights of feasting, festivities and glorification of the accomplishments of her reign thus far. Her Coinmaster quietly suggested they not spend so much so soon, and the Queen-Regent became immediately furious, starting a bitter argument between the two. Eventually Caradoc capitulated, though with considerable chagrin. The extravagant finances were drawn from the royal coffers and the Grand Tourney of 1038AE commenced.

## The Tourney

Valoria spent enough on the Avamor Tourney grounds to build three whole new palaces, an extension of her old policy of "glory spending." The grounds extended for miles. The pavillions were made of gold. Entertainers, bards and mummers were called from all over the realm and paid with extravagant premiums for their services. Guests were expected to journey from far and wide. Valoria opened the Tourney with a grand military parade, showcasing the extravagant might of the Blackthorne army in what was expected to be a show of power over the more meagre militias of the smaller Northern Kingdom. The more the Tourney progressed, the more it seemed to be a vanity project for the Queen-Regent. Great banners and statues made in her likeness were strewn everywhere the guests looked. There was very little about Drake and his Queen Serenity in there. Valoria barely even spoke to her hosts and spent all her time walking the grounds, basking in the splendour she'd created.

Problems began to set in fast. Valoria, short-sighted in matters of organization, had not given any purpose to the soldiers she'd brought in to parade, and some of them were hired mercenary groups--including less savoury ones, like the Hellhounds. With nothing to do outside hours, and with Warmaster Arianne Wildthorne thus far absent, the notoriously vicious Blackthorne militia began to make their fun with the Avamor natives, drinking and fighting and causing mayhem. While this was happening, the Tourney itself commenced. Valoria made a glorious entrance to her first bout, arriving with boisterous fanfare--only to see that her first opponent was her Coinmaster, Caradoc Rookwood. The Queen-Regent shrugged it off, disregarding their argument earlier, and the two set their lances at rest. They clashed in the middle of the field. Valoria was tossed from her horse, dumped into the mud. The crowd went immediately silent. Caradoc rode from the field without looking back. The Queen-Regent stood, picking off her helmet, revealing a face blank with shock. She stood for a moment in the silence, and stifled laughs, and walked from the field without a word.

That same night, Valoria shacked up in one of the many feasting-tents, swilling flagon after flagon of finest Crystantheum white wine--bottomless drinks was a part of the festival's budget. She did this with a blank determination, speaking to no-one, only drinking. She was deliriously intoxicated by the time the Northern King and Queen stormed up to her to confront her about her soldier's poor conduct and the damages they'd caused. What happened next was observed by Gilded-Arm Francois, a bard playing nearby;

> *"The Queen-Regent laughed at their accusations, at first. Then she began to cry. Then she began to scream. Slowly the entire pavilion went quiet, and all eyes were on her. The issue was a simple one--she need only keep a better handle on her troops, apologize, discipline the men responsible, pay for damages. All of these things, the Warrior Princess categorically refused to do. She seemed to interpret the request as some kind of deep, personal insult. Like this was a humiliation, an undermining of her whole authority. She cried, wept real tears of anguish, asking them how they could do this to her, she was hurting inside, couldn't they see? A second later, she flew into a terrible rage, flipping the entire feast-table over and accusing them of sedition. She called the King a mudskin, and the Queen a mudskin's whore. She questioned the legitimacy of Princess Serin, asked if their newborn child was a bastard "like her mother is." Queen Serenity took most gracious offense to this remark, and did strike the Princess lightly upon the cheek. At this, Valoria let out a chilling animal howl, such that all those present shrank from her in fright, and then she drew her blue blade Drakalibur, and appeared to attempt to strike the Queen dead. The King stepped between them, wrestling the sword from her grasp; to which the Princess submitted with a sudden glassy-eyed complacency. When the King appeared to back down without further incident, the Princess flew again into terrible rage, wrapping her legs around him to pin him in place and gouging his eyes with her thumbs, screaming all the while, "Hit me, hit me, kill me," and what man could then blame the King for striking her as he did? The Northern soldiers and the Crown's soldiers immediately moved to intervene, and began to fight each other, and it was only the timely intervention of Ser Arianne Wildthorne who had finally arrived to the Tourney that worse things did not happen between the two crowns. Arianne pulled Drake off her niece, and as the pavillion went up in flames and fists flew and blood spilled between the two factions, I did observe the Princess kneeling in the middle of it all. She was grinning, a wide grin, with blood in her teeth, her eyes wide and staring into nothing. I shall never forget that look, I think. The look of a mind that had flayed itself raw."*
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## Legacy

The expensive tourney grounds went up in flames that night. Dozens died, guests and soldiers alike. It was a complete waste of huge amounts of the Crown's finances. As the Crown's retinue hurriedly gathered and retreated from Avamor, the Northern Kingdom announced it would no longer answer to the Blackthorne Monarchy and would operate henceforth as its own sovereign state.

Remembered as the worst of Valoria's follies in her Regency, the incident is still cited to this day as the Princess' greatest political failing and the prime reason why she should not be allowed to hold supreme state power, which she has demonstrated to be incapable at wielding.

Queen Talia eventually reclaimed her throne but she did not hasten to repair the relationship. She was personally furious at the King and Queen for attacking and undermining her only remaining daughter in full view of court, thus damaging her legitimacy--yet she also did not absolve Val of blame in the matter and humbled her daughter appropriately, including extracting an apology from her, and restitutions for the damages her follies had caused repaid to the Northern Kingdom. Queen Serenity was also determined not be controlled by higher powers, thus supporting sovereignty, and took personal deep dislike to Princess Valoria, which again stymied relations, for Talia never truly removed Val from power and thus the Blackthorne Monarchy henceforth would always have the Princess' involvement in state affairs--thus the two could never work together. The Northern Kingdom was allowed to keep its independence, and would go on to form loose allegiances with the Monarchy in later years.

## Trivia

based in part on the Field of the Cloth of Gold treaty between Kings Henry VIII and Francois I.