Avalon

## Power Balance

Noble : strong

Wyld : <special> the Arthurian system

Church : low-medium

Ever since the age of Arthur the power system changed on the British Isles. From now forth the Wyld would obey the command of the king. The king’s elves and their druids are part of the great successes of the Avalonian fleets and are based upon this old feudal system. This system, however, places them at constant odds with several parts of the British isles : Wales, Scotland, and of course Ireland. This last island is practically deemed ungovernable. Many English kings have tried to ‘pacify Ireland’ , all have been driven out. The church of Sammael, however, does hold some form of accepted presence on Ireland, and is well embedded in local culture. Relations between Church and Crown are somewhat troubled, due to the aspiration of several of Arthur’s later successors to submit the Church to the crown as well.

## The House Pendragon

Though its prestigious name remains, many things are forgotten about this shady period in History, after the decline of the Roman Empire, when a new unifying force would emerge in the shape of House Pendragon.

Uther Pendragon was the invader, the conqueror who fought the Dukes of England but just fell short in unifying them all. The secret to power, however, lay with a mysterious figure called Merlin. It is unknown where he came from, some speculate he knew the Persian secrets of mage-craft, while others contend he was in fact an arch-druid, whose vision on the future differed from others in the Wyld. What is known is that Merlin, who also forged the alliance with the Elves of Avalon, was the one who cleared the path for the ascension of Arthur, Uther’s son.

There was something very unique about Arthur’s blood, you see, as through Merlin’s magics, and Uther’s bedding of Ygraine, an unlikely event occurred, Uther’s invader bloodline of Behemoth blended with Ygraine’s domestic bloodline of Y Ddraig Goch to create a bloodline unique to the isles : the Pendragon (etymologically : pan-dragon, ie. all-dragon) bloodline.

Now this uniquely Avalonian bloodline would rule over the isles, and no one else. This invariably brought them into conflict with the local nobles, but Arthur completed Uther’s conquest of the Isle and submitted the last resisting dukes to his reign. A more insidious threat remained, however, with the reviled witch Morgana Le fay, whom they say was also of noble blood, yet gifted with superior powers over Nature itself.

The kingdom almost came to an early end as Merlin attempted to fight a sorcerous battle but was defeated by the evil witch. As the nation fell into uproar, and the Knights of the Round Table threatened to fall under the armies of Mordred, a wicked noble of unknown origins in league with the vile witch, Arthur managed to turn the tide through the power of Excalibur (a fabled artefact of unknown origins and gone missing ever after the death of Arthur) and by Merlin’s final gift, an alliance with the Elves of the woods, who were ready to turn against Morgana it a manner she would not expect.

In an epic battle, portrayed on many glorious tapestries, Arthur and Merlin fought the witch Morgana and the dread noble Mordred again, and though Morgana’s dread curses were the death of Merlin, and  Mordred’s blade a grievous wound for Arthur, the day ended with the destruction of Morgana Le Fay and with it, the pacification of the land.

All of this was not without consequence, and though Arthur held the day, more trouble and strife would follow. Barely had the witch fallen, and the forest come under his command through Merlin’s successor and apprentices together with the Elves of Avalon, or the forest of the outer Isles revolted against his rule. It remains unclear why the Fay creatures of Ireland first aided Arthur against the witch Morgana, but turned against him upon her very death, but consequences for Arthur were harsh. He spent the rest of his life working hard to keep the system together and retain overlordship, and so he did, but Morgana’s dying spite would still ruin him in a manner most grievous to him. The wicked witch, in the course of their conflict had already tricked him into slaying his own son Amr, and in her death throes cursed him ...with infertility.

No matter how he tried, Arthur could no longer beget an heir, and the short lived House Pendragon would die with him. Arthur then did the only thing he could, he secretly adopted/seized a noble bastard child to place in the cradle of the latest stillborn child and claim the boy heir to the line. And so it was done. While Arthur’s blood is long gone, the system does remain, Merlin’s triumph was something Morgana could not touch, it seems. Ever since that day the Kings of Avalon have ruled ‘in the line of Arthur’ , meaning they hold sovereignty over both feudal and forestal rights in the ‘blessed isle’.

## The Trouble with Scotland

Is double. Not only do the people who live here, due to the influence of Titania, have every reason to resist Arthurian overlordship over their highlands , the very presence of the slumbering dragon Y Ddraig Goch under Loch Ness causes his overwhelming spirit to reach out over the people of the land. As this dragon was notoriously stubborn and autarchic, so are the people around him, and so are his Scions, the Y Draig Goch nobles : the Lairds of Scotland, cousins of the even more troublesome noblemen of Ireland.

## The Trouble with Ireland

Is that it is ungovernable. They simply refuse to comply, and endless droves of fey creatures, fairies and leprechauns cause non-stop f\*ckery for any army to set foot on the Emerald Isle. Here, behind the scenes, Cerridwen reigns undisputedly, in an old alliance with several stubborn  Y Draig Goch nobles who like this deal, and who -almost like gnomes in a way- have lived like this for centuries and want to keep things as they are. They, much like their Scottish cousins, are of the opinion that Avalonians have no business here and are notoriously recalcitrant when it comes to the Avalonion crown. The best Avalon can get out of Ireland are minimal taxes, those Avalonian kings who are happy with this can minimally ‘reign over Ireland’ , those who overstep this absolute minimum offer tend to get into ‘emerald trouble’ quite swiftly.

## The Trouble with the Church

On more than one occasion ‘Arthur’s heirs’ sought to expand the system to the domain of the Church as well. Traditionally Samaelites, the successors of Arthur, though lord over nobles and nature, did have to yield to the will of Rome from time to time. In particular, the episode of King John (lackland) in conflict against pope Innocent III constituted a major victory for the Church in this regard. However, later ‘Pendragons’ have continued the struggle. This reached an absolute height under the Tudor ‘Pendragons’ as they proclaimed overlordship over the Avalonian church altogether.  Though the Pope responded in collaboration with the erewhile Castillan king (and notorious religious zealot) Philip II, they suffered a great defeat at the hands of the British Druids, summoning a great storm in the English channel to lay waste to the Castillian fleet.

Currently, Avalonian priests are a class of their own. They remain largely true to the teachings of Samael, and ‘guide their flocks’ accordingly, they do not accept the authority of the pope, but accept the overlordship of the Avalonian king instead. Because of the similarity of the teachings toward the public, Avalonian clerics and Samaelite clerics do not much resent each other as they are not that different at all, they merely stand at different ends of a political divide. Samaelite Clerics with direct ties to Rome, however, do tend to have a more negative opinion of the ‘Avalonian heresy’ , but find themselves unable to really do anything about it.

The Emerald island, Ireland, however, does have an established presence of the Church of Samael, and has had so for many centuries. These priests are not part of the Avalonian church, but retain their connection to the overarching institution, and as such, papal supremacy. That being said, there is something quite different about the Irish priests : they have their own form of Seelieness when it comes to nature. Or rather, they have learned through the ages to simply ignore the many creatures of the Wyld, not to ask questions, and above all, not to feud with them and not to preach against local folklore and through this attitude , they have managed to find their own accepted spot in Irish society.

## Culture :

Avalonian culture is steeped in Arhurian symbolism and in harmonious representations of ‘the green countryside of Avalon’.

## Military :

The Avalonian land armies are not that large, consisting mainly of professional soldiers, recruited from the lower classes to go and defend the King’s interests abroad. Though equipped and trained in the latest techniques of modern warfare, with musketmen, cavalry and cannon, the King’s armies are few in number. They are very capable on the battlefield, not in the least because of their efficient logistical apparatus, sustained by the ‘Order of Merlin’ (the King’s Druids) , but this is not where Avalon’s true military power lies. That is on the seas, with its unconquerable fleets. The Avalonian naval tradition is second to none, and their warfleets, supported by Order of Merlin druids who seem to command the wind, ascertain the security of their expansive global trade empire.

### Noble Families of Avalon

A difficult question. In Avalon the ruling house is always of the ‘Pendragon line’ (currently , some had thought that the king’s family used to be related to Fafnir, but they were clearly wrong. Hannoverians were Pendragon all along.)

Besides, of course, the illustrious Pendragons, we find descendents of :

Jörmungandr, Y Draig Goch, Behemoth,  Guivres, Leviathan and Fafnir.