Belinda I Otmar

"*Bezmit Shall rule, yet I decree that my powers are to be evenly shared with the senate post my death.
Those are the wishes of the crown*"
―**Belinda the Stubborn**[src]

## Early Life

### Background

The kingdom of the Forestlands came into existence in ca 4425 A.D when the Dominian king Julion II Septho united the forestlands under a queen by the name of Belinda Sovenos, also known as Belinda the stubborn. Julion’s excuse to his superiors in Blackstone was that creating the crown over the forest combatted the jurisdiction disputes among the grand-princes of the forest and the imperial court. In such matters, a puppet monarch could be used to always grant a victory to Blackstone - and this is how we enter the story of Queen Belinda the stubborn.

### Childhood

Belinda was not born with riches like most highborn daughters of clan members. She was an insignificant seventh daughter of clan leader, Bezmit Otmar, who had sixteen children. Belinda had always identified more with the peasant populous and felt strongly about fairness in her father’s small Dukedom of Koma. She was well versed in the art of war but was more of a free spirit that believed in the free exercise of thought, more so than many war leaders.

## Rise to Power

Belinda was never supposed to succeed her father, but during this time, she learned much about warfare. This opened her eyes to what she could accomplish for the dukedom and its people if she could someday attain real power. She was young but her chance at real power did not mind presenting itself as soon as her father perished.

In 4424 A.D, the plague had ravaged a good portion of the population in west Dominia, among them Belinda’s father and six of her older siblings, conveniently. For about six months, the people of Koma were getting nervous. In those desperate times, Belinda began to act as the main order between the clan and the peasants. She would steal from the other princes’ lands to give to the poor. Doing this, she amassed so much support that thousands of people joined her militia in her efforts to be the first woman to ascend the Komian throne - they came to be known as the Oak.

### Battle of Grera and Uniting the Forestlands

To gain notoriety Belinda would sometimes challenge grand princes and dare them to battle her in an open field, and one day the prince of Trandill Gaele III, a frail old man, assembled his army and met Belinda in the battle of Grera. Belinda showed up with three thousand men and women armed with all sorts of weapons, clothed in all sorts of colors. Prince Gaele showed up with seven thousand men in uniform, men at arms, archers, heavy armored knights, and horses.

### Tactical in Warfare

In the face of a formidable opponent like Prince Geale III, Belinda knew she needed a strategy that played to her strengths and exploited the terrain of the forestlands. Her militia was ill-equipped compared to the heavily armored and numerous forces of the prince, so she turned to guerrilla warfare as her ace in the hole.

Belinda understood the forest intimately, having grown up within its bounds and spent years observing its nuances. She recognized that the dense foliage, twisting vines, and uneven terrain provided a perfect cover and advantage for her less equipped but agile militia. Their familiarity with the landscape was a strategic asset.

To put her plan into action, Belinda organized her militia into small, mobile units. These groups were skilled in hit-and-run tactics, able to swiftly maneuver through the forest, striking the enemy, and then vanishing into the thick underbrush. This constant harassment wore down the prince's forces, demoralizing them and disrupting their formations.

Belinda also utilized her knowledge of the forest's geography to set up traps and ambushes. She chose narrow pathways where the enemy's numerical advantage would be nullified, allowing her militia to unleash surprise attacks. Pitfalls, snares, and barricades were carefully placed to maximize damage and confusion.

Another key element of her strategy was exploiting the forest's natural obstacles. Belinda's militia used the twisted branches and vines to create barriers, hindering the progress of the heavily armored enemy forces. These barriers disrupted their formation and provided ample opportunity for her agile troops to strike.

Throughout the campaign, Belinda displayed exceptional leadership, inspiring her troops and bolstering their confidence in the face of a daunting foe. Her ability to communicate strategy and tactics effectively allowed her militia to adapt swiftly to changing circumstances on the battlefield.

In the end, Belinda's guerrilla warfare tactics proved decisive. The combination of intimate knowledge of the forest, strategic planning, and an adept understanding of her troops' capabilities secured her victory against Prince Geale III. This triumph not only solidified her position as a formidable leader but also showcased the power of guerrilla warfare when wielded with skill and finesse in the heart of the forest.

### Victory

Having defeated one of the most powerful princes, it gave Belinda the chance to lay claim to his crown, but that was not what she wanted. Resources were still scarce and people were starving in the forestlands. Having to pay taxes to the empire and still have different currencies and authority figures made ruling impossible for the princes. A united forest under one ruler who could keep the peace while still keeping the productivity and inspiration flowing, but she knew that none of the grand-principalities would give up their sovereignty so easily.

## Becoming the Queen of the Forestlands

Belinda’s chance to unite the forest came in the form of a coup in Lionsgate. A chief commander of the Dominian shield turned on his king, Julion II. Belinda was a very clever woman, and with the plague that caused havoc in the west, she knew exactly how to defeat Piteer.

Since Belinda was no citizen of the kingdom of Dominia, she could not join or lead the shields. She was therefore offered the honor to lead one or two legions of the Dominian guard instead, but she had a better idea, at this time her name was already known to all forestlanders and everyone regarded her as a hero from the forest.

### Coronation and Surprising Twist

At the coronation everything was perfect. The princes were polite and Belinda was very humble about her soon to be held position. The strangest thing was that the prince of Trandill was nowhere to be seen, but instead of asking, the princes assumed that he for sure did not want to be in the same room as the woman who ”murdered” his father.

The ceremony went well, Belinda said the words and the new Mantel of war Sir Pascasi proclaimed her Queen of the Forestlands. At that moment, the prince of Trandill walked in. The princes thought that he had arrived to double-cross Belinda and have her killed on her moment of glory just like his father had died - He didn’t. He walked all the way to Belinda and kissed her on the lips, the princes gasped. He then took the crown and placed over her head and turned to the princes, ”All hail the Queen, may she reign long and strong”.

What the princes did not know was the fact that prince Gaele’s son, Orsein, resented them for not helping his father when he was under attack by the Oak and Belinda - they had lost his loyalty, and now he had placed that loyalty in the new powerhouse Belinda the first.

## Imperial Overreach

### Building Power and Family Tensions

Belinda secured funding from Blackstone to increase her power in the kingdom and therefore increase that of clan Otmar in the region. Slowly but surely, Belinda built a royal militia that dwarfed the entire Trandill army. This new militia did not give the crown any extra leverage, not even in Trandill, but it signaled to the other princes that the crown should be feared.

As soon as their firstborn Bezmit turned five, Prince Orsien took him to Foreeman, immediately driving a wedge between him and Belinda. But there was nothing Belinda could do. Bezmit grew up largely in Greenhall, at the great Pyramid of Sovehold where his father resided. Although Belinda and Prince Orsien were married, their relationship was almost strictly professional and contractual.

### Power Struggles

The deal between them was that Belinda would partner up with the Clan of Sovenos, their children would bear the Sovenos name, and the crown would be placed either on Orsien’s or Bezmit’s head upon her death. But as we all know, reality doesn’t always unfold as we plan. What Prince Orsien did not foresee was his second son being a tool that could thwart all his plans for Bezmit.

Belinda accepted the fact that she had lost a son to Orsien but understood that it was the price she had to pay for the power she now possessed. But the wedge between him and her prince seemed to only grow further as the disputes about taxes and trade between the forest and the empire grew. The empire wanted more from Belinda and she took the load and placed it on Orsien and the other princes.

Orsien divorced Belinda to mark the end of their alliance, but they could not war because they had consolidated power under the crown and Belinda had more power than Orsien had realized.

## Succession Challenges and Political Intrigues

Upon Orsien’s untimely demise of a fever, the title of Grand-prince of Foreeman should have reverted to Belinda, but it didn’t. Since there was tension between the Foreeman aristocracy and the crown, and the fact that there had never been a princess of any principality, the aristocracy chose to bestow the crown of Foreeman upon Bezmit, then 42 years old. Bezmit, instead of being smart and pressing for his mother to take the crown of Foreeman so he could easily inherit both crowns upon her death, he chose to claim the throne of his father early, making him Bezmit the first of Foreeman. During this time, his brother Osas had been forming and cementing alliances with the Trandillian dukes surrounding his incrisingly elderly mother.

### The Looming Conflict and Belinda's Strategy

Bezmit, listening to the counsel of the Foreeman senate, chose to further his father’s anti-imperial policies, which angered Blackstone. Belinda foresaw war if Bezmit were to be king, as he would be the sword to break the decades of peace if he decided to declare war on Blackstone. But at the same time, she saw the hunger for power in the eyes of her second son, as he lurked in the shadows consolidating his place as heir to the throne behind her back.

Belinda predicted the war between her two sons if Osas robbed Bezmit of his right to the throne. Bezmit ruled Foreeman in good faith for eight years as his brother consolidated power in the capital. To keep the peace, Belinda had requested legions from Blackstone to aid in the forest during her last days to ensure that Bezmit is rightfully put on the throne upon her death.

## Final Actions and Unfolding Events

A month before she passed, Belinda, barely standing, called her firstborn, Bezmit the rightful Grand-prince of Foreeman and Trandill, and her second born, Prince Osas Duke of Panoi, to a summit in Grandoak. Among those present at the summit was King Ravien the first of Solimar and the Head of the House of Dominiq, Leria the second of Lionsgate.

Belinda spoke to the leaders of her time and laid the grounds for a peaceful transfer of power from herself to her firstborn. The king of Solimar, Ravien, and the head of the house, Leria, agreed that it was the best course of action that the rightful heir would, of course, sit the throne. The Dominians did not like Bezmit because of his anti-imperialism, but they deemed him gullible, so he was no real threat.

### Conflict and Split in the Sovenos Clan

Bezmit was to live in the capital for six months to get to know the people of Trandill and present himself as the great uniter, and it did work as the people saw him as the return to traditional Forestland rule, and not one subsidized by Blackstone. The prince had brought his twenty-thousand-men strong Foreeman army and stationed them outside the capital. King Ravien had done the same by bringing the Dominian shield, although he was outnumbered three to one by Bezmit. But, in and around the capital, Belinda had approximately a sixty-thousand-men strong army standing by, keeping the peace.

The day of her death, Belinda brought her senate into her chambers to write into law her wishes to divide the legislature and the executive part of her duties, giving the senate legislative power. They wrote the law down and started the printing process. The king of Solimar, Ravien, and the head of the house, Leria, caught wind of this in panic. They reckoned that fragmenting the crown’s power between the senate and the monarch created even more middlemen for the empire to bargain with. Ravien told Leria that they had to act in favor of Osas as he was the only heir that would hold absolute power, but Leria refused to go back on her words.

### Clan Division

Ravien acted against Leria’s counsel. He promptly summoned Osas to back his secret claim to the throne if he could get the royal army to back his claim too by the end of the day. Osas knew that he had a good chance to get his mother’s Mantel of war, Sir Briall, to stand by him. Briall had stood by Belinda’s side since the Oak and against Orsien’s abuse for years (Secretly in love with her, Osas was rumored to be his biological son).

When Osas showed up asking for his help to take power, he panicked and said no, but Osas went back to Ravien and told him yes. Ravien gave orders to his men to barricade the senators into their individual homes until the printed new law was destroyed. As the imperial men stormed the capital, Bezmit was alerted by his Mantel of war and suited up for battler. The Foreeman army rushed into the capital as well, but the imperials stood prepared for war and they held the capital. Hearing of the chaos outside, Belinda’s heart gave out and she died in her chambers. The bells rang announcing the death of the queen and at the same moment Mantel of war Sir Briall made a choice, ”Heil Osas the first, may his reign be long!”.

Bezmit and his small army were surrounded, so his men sold him out to the imperials. At home, Bezmit’s son was crowned Prince of Foreeman; And so the Sovenos clan was split into two camps that would bring war for centuries to come: The Sovenos of Greenhal and The Sovenos of Grandoak.