Feuding of Eruda

The Feuding of Eruda is the name of the long-standing rivalry between the two cadet branches of House Eruda of Horteldorf, the Red Erudas and the Black Erudas, in Stribrna Joraje. The feud has been ongoing for several generations, from 558 of the Joran calendar, until the present day. The conflict has resulted in much strife along the regions where the two houses control lands, and many atrocities have been committed by both sides unto the other. The feuding would come to a head during the Raven's Revolt, when the Reds, under Artislaf of Korahora, would side with Waldemar Revenfeld, while the Blacks, under Altrimo, would remain loyal to the Taepes.

## Background

The feud would begin in 550, when Jan Eruda, eldest son to Erosavo Eruda, was made heir to Horteldorf. Ferstus, second son to Erosavo, upon their father's death in 552, was expelled from the castle, and became a mercenary in the Scudnero (Quite literally Black Shield) Free Company in Cinelli for several years, eventually becoming captain of his own band of brigands. He would lead this company into Joraje in 558, and besieged Horteldorf Hrad, forcing Jan to surrender. He would then have Jan killed in front of his family, and would occupy the castle.

## Rise of the Reds and the Blacks

### Death of Ferstus

Shortly after the death of Jan, his eldest daughter, Kohanka, swore to avenge her father. Thus, in 560, she set out with a crossbow and spear, and ambushed Ferstus while he was hunting, shooting him off his horse, and then stabbing him repeatedly in the neck, chest and head with the spear, before fleeing back to her family.

By this point, Ferstus's family had taken on the name "The Black Erudas", for the Free Company their patriarch had been a member of. Jan's descendants would take on the moniker "The Reds", in reference to the color of Kohanka's spear after she assassinated her uncle.

### Retribution for Ferstus and the Early Feud

Following Kohanka's murder of Ferstus, his eldest son Onn the Brute attacked and killed Anno Red-Eruda, third son of Jan, in 561. In retribution for this attack, Hanusz Red-Eruda, second son of Jan, led an attack on the wagon-train of Lady Holifa Black-Eruda, mother of Onn, in 568. He killed her, and captured Onn, who was made to repent for his crime of killing Anno, who was only eight at the time of his death. Then, Onn was broken over the wheel, and his still-living body was sent to Horteldorf, painfully entwined into the wheel of a cart, though he bled out in the castle's court as his family tried to un-wrap him.

After Onn's brutal and prolonged execution, the Red Erudas were granted Korahora as a seat by the Duke of Joraje, Divisz Taepe. A hamlet in their fief, called Nuberk, was sacked by Ickens Black-Eruda in 572, to avenge the death of Onn. It' buildings were burned, its stud-farm destoryed and horses killed, and its people were slaughtered or sold into slavery. Following this escalation in the violence, the Reds began raiding across Black lands, often pillaging small homesteads and attacking Blacks they found in the wilderness. Anyone remotely connected to the family was put to death, be they related by blood, or if they had dealings with them. in 577, a skirmish broke out between Red reivers, lead by Arlack Red-Eruda, and responding militia, commanded by Waldemar Black-Eruda. Waldemar was slain during the fighting, but the militia drove off the reivers, and Arlack would die of an infection he received from a spear-wound.

## Intermediate Stage

Divisz Taepe, seeing trouble brewing within his domain, and the impending consequences of the rising tensions, tried to intermediate between the two parties, and signed a new law forbidding the use of military action during feuding, during 580. However, this did not stop the Reds and Blacks from attacking each other, though it limited the scale of their assaults. No longer were the companies raiding each other numbering in the hundreds, now they were only in the lower dozens or so. Slowly, relations between the two would begin to cool, and relative peace in the region would

In 589 Johann Red-Eruda was killed in a hunting accident, where he fell from his horse and broke his neck. This was blamed on the Blacks, and was presumed to have been comitted by Yevolo Black-Eruda, a young, impulsive member of the family. In 590, the Reds mounted a large raid into Black territory, and burned the villages of Ersent, Allifa, and Alicze, and killed both Yevolo and Geralt Black-Eruda. Allegedly they were both captured, and were whiped to death, though chroniclers claim that this was a fictive tale invented by the Blacks to garner support.

In 595, Kenst Red-Eruda, one of the organisers of the great raid in 590, was assassinated while he slept in camp outside Ferung. Malisze Black-Eruda was blamed for his death, and in 597, he was killed by a crossbowman under the employ of Ferdin Red-Eruda, who shot him through the eye. Before the Blacks could mount an avenging campaign into Red territory, however, the Plague of 602 struck, putting a stop to all trade and travel in Joraje.

## Modern Feud

In 607, Ferdin Red-Eruda would be slain by Altrimo Black-Eruda in a duel. Ferdin's eldest son, Artislaf, would become the Patriarch of the Red Erudas. In an attempt to end the hostilities, and on the council of his mother, he had his sister Jalina warried to Altrimo, and he married Altrimo's sister Swepta. However, Jalina would die by either poisoning or disease in 609, and suspecting his sister was poisoned, Artislaf would have Swepta stabbed, then pushed off the Bergfried at Korahora. The two cousins would swear that if they ever saw each other again,they would not leave each other's sight until one was dead.

During the Raven's Revolt, Altrimo declared the Blacks for Johann Taepe, and thus, Artislaf declared for Waldemar of Revenfeld, for the opertunity to strike down his cousins, and place the Reds back in their ancestral hall of Horteldorf. Several times the forces of the two would battle each other, such as at the Battle of Gerrywald, though neither would strike a decisive blow against their rivals for much of the war.