Brigand (Main Lore)

## The Brigand (Intro)

The gnawing of oversized rats and the echos of ambient water was enough to jolt you awake from your drunken slumber. Whatever that cellmate gave you was potent - uncharacteristically potent for smuggled mead. Now that you think about it, you had shoes before that transfer began... Speaking of such cellmate - where *did* he go?

Slumping from the slab you slept on, the bareness of your feet sunk into the cool, wet mud beneath you. Your cellmate was nowhere to be found, and neither were the other prisoners locked beneath the fort's dungeon. Could they have been moved? *No...* You would've been dragged along too. Planting your hands against the cell's cold and rusted door, it screeched open with a slam - Huh, nobody was home apparently.

The deserted hallways and lifeless cells were a disconcerting sight and with every step through muddy sludge you found yourself at another crossroads. Eventually you found your way to the stairs. Freedom was soon - it was almost within arms reach, but it wasn’t until you made it to the surface were you met with the true horror of your freedom; an entire courtyard littered with corpses.

## The Uprising

### 1363 - 1367 CE (Ferres, West Avikko)

##### The Death of a Dynasty (1363 - 1364 CE)

At the height of his rule, the benevolent King Carver II ruled over his expanse realm with an iron constitution and the love of his people. To think his sudden and accidental death was anything but impactful over Ferres and it’s people would be an understatement of the extreme and insult to the king’s great legacy. Beloved by the people and tolerated by the nobles as a mediator, his shocking death - a hunting accident mind you - tore at the thin thread of sewn wounds among the nobles and commoners alike. Discontent among the nobility and common people strained his council, and without a son or close relative, his dynasty was at a certain end. Lest the throne be filled by someone distant, his denounced half-brother Leon ascended the throne. Unfit for rule and generally considered insane, ‘Mad’ King Leon’s ascendency split his court in two between the noble houses with few and far between.

Amongst the nobility, feuds developed into rivalries and their Lords began preparing their domains for war. Nobles, commoners, knights and guilds all picked between the King or his People, and without a doubt the King was outnumbered. An uprising to dispose of him was on the horizon, but an even better opportunity presented itself amongst the commons. Hailing from the Fernon village Lyann, a mistress of King Carver II’s brought fourth her only son, claiming him as the true heir. Bearing a striking resemblance to the King and his kin, the nobility recognized his legitimacy and pressed his claims to the court. King Leon recognized the threat immediately, announcing the boy’s arrest and execution. The bastard Prince, Cecil of Lyann, was dragged into custody and humiliated, thought to die from torture rather than his trial. Instead, an escape was aided by members of House of Stoat, resulting in a full-blown civil war.

Supplied with knights, soldiers and the equipment to win their war, the uprising was funded almost exclusively by Ferres’s nobility and mercenary guilds, setting themselves up in Kirhan. House Bryan backed the rebellion with riches and wealth, buying soldiers and swords to arm their people. House Stoat brought fourth their knights and aspiring commanders, Stoatish officers becoming common face among their sellsword peers. While Sawyer refused to be involved, even their house contributed mercenaries and men for hire, bolstering the already thick ranks. The revolutionaries believed that King Leon would surrender by autumn - in fact their survival counted on it. With summer on the approach and little time to act, the declaration was made official in March, 1364.

##### The Bastard’s War (Mar. 1364 - Feb. 1365 CE)

The smash of onagers, clack of ladders and the crack of battering rams against hardened stone were echos across valleys, forests and plains alike. For months on end the sieges would echo across Leon’s lands, and for weeks towns and cities were ravaged without quarter. The destructive nature of this revolt struck hard on everyone, harming the image of their ‘warrior’ Prince and noble knights. King Leon’s holdings were stalwart - ironclad and unmoving to the relentless assaults made by the uprising, preferring death rather offense to their king. Much like a cunning, yet vicious wolf, he stood atop his castle towers and watched his cities and fields burn. He knew exactly what they wanted; an easy victory, or swift surrender. He played their little game and let them burn his realm, letting the people choose between order and anarchy. He knew that with reluctance, the people would side with their king.

Every inch they took drew more blood, the offensive war was far more costly than anticipated. By the end of summer they had painstakingly took Kirhan and few parts of Fernon, reaching the capital in mid-autumn. Supplies had run thin - soldiers resulting to mixing flour with water for food. Arrows, shields, and armor became less and less plentiful, becoming strained for use. Facing certain defeat in the end, nobility such as Bryan, Braxen and Hirsch withdrew from the war, surrendering themselves as attrition had outweighed their will to fight. It became meaningless to many, few choosing to persevere in the face of a certain and miserable death. Those who had stayed? Rotting corpses and showers of arrows await their march, spreading sickness, famine and pestilence at every brief moment of rest.

Nearly a week after their arrival to the capital, their forces broke under pressure. An intensive counterattack left their army shattered and on the retreat, chased off as the castle’s garrison was too large to handle. Those who fought were slaughtered, and those who fled awaited a similar fate. The re-organization of Leon’s forces sought a cleansing of the countryside, blanketing outward as his knights valiantly crushed the rebels which hid among villages, castles, and fortified outposts along the Kirhan border. Shattered like a rotten log, the last few splinters held their grounds for the winter, finally disbanding in early February. In the end, Leon had achieved his ultimate goal, humiliating his nephew, securing his throne, and reluctantly becoming the protection his people need. Just as his half-brother held victories high by the sword, Leon had finally done the same. With his nephew crushed - presumably dead and in a ditch no doubt, his throne was no longer threatened, earning him the rightful title of King.

House Stoat and all of it's members were to be stripped of status and dissolved, soon finding themselves beneath an executioners axe. House Bryan paid their fees well - bankrupting the nobles who bought their freedom and tainting their reputation as traitors to the crown. Braxen sought forgiveness, earning only the execution and replacement of their collaborators. From mercenaries to the commoners, nobody was free from the reap of war. Those who fought the crown and were spared had to be branded, earning their status as traitors among the realm. Many were locked away - others shoved into slavery to atone for their actions. Deciding someone had collaborated or betrayed the crown was decided by their peers, becoming a paranoid and bloodthirsty spectacle for many who sought to accuse neighbors, lovers or rivals of theirs. Things became cramped as the bloodthirsty mob sought sacrifice, prisons in Fernon and the capital were filled with the accused, leading many eastward to work in Kirhan’s work camps.

## The Brigand

### 1367-1368 (Kirhan, East Ferres)

Its been two years since the uprising was uprooted, leaving behind a damaged economy, mass-starvation, and the uncertain discontent that things could get better for Ferres. In Fernon, the military and political power-vacuum has done more damage than the rebels had, sparking political violence and a series of murders in the streets. In Kirhan, the intense influx of criminals has destabilized the region, resulting in frequent attacks between hostile gangs and highwaymen looking to make a quick job. In the wake of it all, King Leon’s subjective vassals are scrambling to fix this lawlessness, dispatching marshals, mercenaries and knights of their own into Kirhan. To no avail, it seems as if their attempts have all been in vain so far.

You are a brigand, scoundrel and traitor to the crown. You’ve been marked for death, branded by your wrist to face god’s judgement in the gallows. Miraculously, you’ve been spared a broken neck through chance and utter luck alone. Don’t waste this chance and don’t walk back into Royal custody.