Aerel's Invasion

**Aerel's Invasion**, also called **the Invasion**, **the Arana Conquest**, or the **Fall of the Fivefold Kings**, was the campaign in which Aerel I Arana conquered the Summerset Archipelago. Together with his sisters, Alyssare and Rhaethen, and their gryphons, Aerel subdued the five kingdoms of the land into a single realm, which was ruled by House Arana as its kings.

## Prelude

After the death of Aerel Arana's father and grandfather in 1E 365, it was made clear by King Faldan I Camoran of Valenwood that the Aranas were no longer welcome in his forest-kingdom. To the east lied ruin and uncertainty, but across the Blue Divide to the west lied a vast land of opportunity. The Summerset Archipelago was a serene land divided among five feuding kingdoms.

For over a fortnight Aerel disappeared with his gryphon Nereon and flew over the vast archipelago, and when he returned he had a map made of the land based on his memory. His intention of invading the land was made known to his kin, including his maternal grandfather, Lord Faelian Errinorne, who rallied the few lords of the Stepstone Isles to Aerel's cause.

In the former half of 1E 366 the preparations were ready and the lords of the Stepstones rallied together in an armada and sailed to the first of the five kingdoms, the Kingdom of Auridon.

## Aerel's Invasion

The five rulers at the time were:

 **Sandur III Rilis**, King of Auridon.

 **Castien IX Liaren**, King of Elorne.

 **Ayred II Caidan**, Summer King.

 **Saleth V Harlore**, King of the Vale.

 **Erandel VI Andorin**, Queen of the Rivers and Hills.

### Aerel's Landing

The war began in 1E 366 when Aerel and his two sisters, Alyssare and Rhaethen, landed on the eastern coast of central Auridon with fewer than 3.000 men. Immediately Aerel commanded the construction of the Gryphonhold, a wooden motte and bailey fort as his first claim to the Summerset Archipelago. The Aranas were supported by Houses Errinorne, Taennaris, Celtalos, Naelnys, and Lannar.

House Highre surrendered Starhelm to Rhaethen, while House Silinor surrendered Roseport to Alyssare after she used Rhea to wreak havoc upon the castle.

Aerel's battle prowess was put to the test by Lord Rolim Loreian of Oldcastle and Lady Luthien Joriel of Alliel who joined their power and marched south with four thousand men. Aerel sent his uncle, Sir Maeron Errinorne to meet them on the march, whist he descended on them from above with Nereon. After the two lords were slain in battle, Lord Rolim's brother, Haldir Loreian, and Lady Luthien's son, Eldrin Joriel, surrendered their castles and swore their swords to Aerel.

Aerel gathered the surrendered lords to the Gryphonhold where his House's banner was unfurled and his intentions to claim the entire archipelago were made known. It was there that he was first crowned by his sister-wife Alyssare as 'King of All the Isles'.

### Battle off North Beacon

As he marched northward with his army, Aerel commanded that Lady Daenyra Lannar take command of his fleet and sieze the city of North Beacon with the aid of Alyssare and her gryphon Rhea. A hastily assembled Rilis fleet met and defeated the Arana fleet in a battle off the shores of North Beacon. Among the dead was Aerel's admiral, Daenyra. Alyssare descended upon the Rilis fleet and destroyed over half their ships, though was forced to fall back.

### Rhaethen's Test

Aerel continued his march northward, pressing toward the capitol of Firsthold. His sister Rhaethen Arana was left in command at the Gryphonhold along with his son Daethen, and were told to bring the nearby castles to heel and secure Aerel's rear from the southern lords, who the Aranas had not yet made battle with in their conquest. A host of those southern lords, lead by Lady Elisen Phidan of Feyoak, united some 6.000 men to assault the Gryphonhold from the south.

Rhaethen, on the back of her gryphon Dawnwing, met Lady Elisen in battle, her ground forces commanded by Lord Aenyr Celtalos and her nephew Daethen. Dawnwing decisively turned the tides of the battle, as Elisen outnumbered Rhaethen though did not account for the might of gryphons, which she had never encountered before. In the heat of battle Lady Elisen was slain by Dawnwing, who grabbed the lady from her horse and dropped her from a great height.

### Siege of North Beacon

As he marched northward, Aerel split his force into two, giving his uncle Sir Maeron Errinorne command of one half while he and his sister Alyssare took the other onward to Firsthold, as to dedicate his full force to sieging North Beacon would only give King Sandur III Rilis more time to gather strength and eventually march south and combine forces with Lord Jannil Rolynn's besieged host.

Sir Maeron besieged the city of North Beacon, and successfully distracted Lord Jannil, who believed that his force was indeed Aerel's own host, and therefore opted not to make the first move in fear of his gryphons. After weeks of siege, Jannil was eventually convinced by both his officers and lack of gryphons in the sky to march out and make battle with his besiegers, who attempted to draw out battle as long as possible before Sir Maeron was captured and his host was defeated.

Not two days after Maeron's defeat, Lord Jannil recieved word from Firsthold that King Sandur III had bent the knee to Aerel Arana. Fulfilling his duties to his new liege, Jannil released Sir Maeron and met with Aerel, officially pledging himself to House Arana.

### Submission of Auridon

King Sandur III Rilis had gathered a great host of northern lords in Firsthold to march against Aerel, and had already begun taking them southward. The armies of the two monarchs crossed paths, and many expected a battle to commence. When Sandur's northern host reached Aerel, they found an Arana force less than half their size, including men from many regions and lordships of Auridon. Some Altmeri lords wanted Sandur to attack, while others wanted to double back and fortify Firsthold, where they could mount a potent defence. With the numerous unlikely Arana victories in mind, Sandur instead sent his own son Tranian Rilis with sapiarchs to negotiate peace. The following day Sandur crossed to the Arana host and yielded to Aerel, becoming Lord of Firsthold and the High Kinlord of Auridon.

Aerel would go on to mount an invasion of the Kingdom of the Summerlands and Elorne.

### Conquest of the Summerlands and Elorne

As Aerel conquered Auridon, two great western kings made common cause and assembled their own armies. From Sunhold marched Ayred II Caidan, the Summer King, with a mighty host from the Summerlands. Beneath the walls of Aelley he met Castien IX Liaren, King of Elorne, leading his own host from Elorne. Together they commanded the mightiest host ever seen in the archipelago: an army sixty thousand strong, including over five thousand knights. The two kings did not linger at Aelley, marching eastward to meet Aerel's host which had landed along the eastern coast of the Summerlands.

Advised of their coming in his camp beside Rowe's Lough, Aerel gathered his own forces and advanced to meet them. He commanded only one fifth the men and was able to more quickly move his host. Both his sisters joined him in the air with their gryphons.

The two armies came together amongst the wide open plains south of the Clearwater Rush. House Caidan commanded the centre of the allied army, with House Liaren the right and House Foxley the left. The charge of their knights began to break the Arana army, but Aerel and his sisters attacked from the air with their gryphons. Over five thousand died in the ensuing slaughter, while tens of thousands were wounded. Ayred and his kin all were all mortally wounded from the battle, ending House Caidan. Castien managed to escape, but he and the Liaren bannermen yielded to Aerel after being captured the following day. Castien was named Aerel's High Kinlord of Elorne.

Aerel marched at once for Sunhold, hoping to secure its surrender. He found the city in the hands of its castellan, Erlan Torelle, who yielded the city without a fight and pledged his support to Aerel. In reward Erlan was granted Sunhold and named Lord of Sunhold and the first High Kinlord of the Summerlands.

### Razing of the Aerie

Aerel marched north towards the Vale and Cloudrest, and was attacked by House Harlore on the south shore of the Blue Fork. The Battle of the Blue Fork was an Arana victory, though they suffered heavy loses when two of King Saleth V Harlore's children crossed the river in barges with muffled oars and fell upon their rear. Nereon fell upon the victors as they were crossing back across the river, destroying the barges as well as Saleth's children.

Aerel pushed forward to Cloudrest, where King Saleth had withdrawn his valemen host to prepare for a battle with Aerel. Saleth summoned the vale lords to defend Cloudrest, but some rose against the Harlores under the leadership of Lady Syllia Heleyn, pledging themselves to the Aranas and keeping a great portion of the Vale's strength occupied in the north. Without the strength of numbers, Saleth Harlore took refuge in his supposedly impregnable stronghold, the Aerie. Aerel met with Saleth at the gates of Cloudrest under a peace banner to parley.

>
> **Aerel**: Yield my lord; yield now and you may remain as Lord of Cloudrest. Yield now and your children will rule after you. I have eleven thousand men at your gates.
>
>
>
> **Saleth**: What is outside my gates is of no concern to me. They were built high and strong.
>
> **Aerel**: Not so high as to keep out gryphons, my lord. Gryphons fly.
>
> **Saleth**: This city was built in stone. Stone does not crumble at a gryphon's approach.
>
>
>
>
> **Aerel**: Take one last look at your gleaming city. When the sun sets, your line shall end.
>
>
>
>
>
>

Descending from the sky atop Nereon, Aerel used both the might of his gryphon and fire magic against the Aerie, and Saleth and all his children burned in the razing of the Aerie.

Word of Cloudrest's fall spread through the Vale over the next weeks, and the leader of the northern uprising, Lady Syllia Heleyn, was named by Aerel the Lady of Cloudrest and High Kinlady of the Vale. The other vale lords did homage as well, to Aerel as king and to Syllia as liege lord of the Vale.

### Pact with the Norlands

The Aranas continued their march towards Lillandril. The holdings of the Norlands were found to be only lightly garrisoned, and upon their approach to Lillandril the reason became clear. Queen Erandel Andorin had amassed the lords and armies of the Norlands to Lillandril while the Aranas fought in the east. By the time the tired Arana host arrived at Lillandril, they were faced with a well-armoured and well-rested force much larger than their own camped outside the gates of the city. Before any fighting broke, a messenger bearing a peace banner rode to Aerel's host. Queen Erandel had requested a private meeting with the so called "King of All the Isles" in her war tent. Aerel obliged and met with the Lady.

None know exactly what was spoken between the two during their meeting, but an hour later the two emerged from the tent and Lady Erandel pledged herself to Aerel, her vassals soon after doing the same. The very next day a marriage was arranged between Aerel's son Prince Daethen and Erandel's daughter Linaarie, which occurred in the camp outside the city for the sake of hastening the arrangements. After the wedding their combined force marched southeast to the contemporary Crownlands and subjugated the local lords.

### March Through the Crownlands

With the Andorin armies in toe, Aerel Arana marched back around Oleander Bay and towards the lords whose holdings constitute the contemporary Crownlands. The various small independent lords of the region loosely organised themselves in the Sisters Pact, but in practice they remained greatly decentralised and leaderless, each lord acting on their own accord and cooperating independently. The Pact formed a plan of attack, but was never able to execute it after Aerel failed to fall for their bait, and the lords of the Pact were unable to organise again following Aerel's quick advance through the Crownlands. The Pact was therefore in practice more of a symbolic stand against the Aranas, signalling that the various lords stood stalwart against the invading Ayleid siblings.

Throughout the march there were several skirmishes, minor battles, and sieges, which eventually resulted in either the subjugation of the lords, or their deaths. Among those who submitted to the Aranas were Lady Ilyana Dorenis, Lord Elian Neiaron, Lord X, and Lady X. Among those who were slain and deposed for their defiance were Lord X, Lord, X, and Lord X.

The Arana and Andorin host ended their march in Alinor, one of the most prominent holdings in the region, which eventually fell after stubborn resistance by King Naldien III Parnon, a petty king of the region.

### Battle of the Gates

With most of the northern Crownlands subjugated, Aerel marched upon Alinor in force. King Naldien III Parnon ruled the city, and had recently proclaimed himself the Prince of the Sisters Pact in lieu of the lack of remaining powerful lords to stop his grab for power. King Naldien was disinclined to submit to the Aranas, as his petty kingdom had remained independent for hundreds of years, and both his children had died to Arana forces during minor battles in the Crownlands.

Naldien III emerged on the city walls of his city and declared he would resist the invaders to the last man. Thereafter he withdrew to the relative safety of his keep. The assault went on for only a few hours, with initial attacks taking place across the walls and focused on the two main gates of the city. Advisers of King Naldien implored him to negotiate a surrender, but in his stubbornness he refused. Upon the breach and capture of the gatehouses on the walls, Naldien III's various advising lords mutinied, capturing the king and surrendering to Aerel Arana. In the following years these lords would reveal that they feared Naldien's stubbornness would result in the same fate for Alinor as befell the Aerie in the Vale.

Aerel accepted the surrender of Naldien's advisers, taking their oaths of fealty. Shortly after word spread of this victory, and the remaining southern lords of the Sisters Pact too submitted, understanding that further resistance was futile. With this Aerel stood as the de facto monarch of a united Summerset Archipelago, power which he swiftly used to strip Naldien III Parnon of all his titles, lands, and incomes, imprisoning him within his own cells in Alinor.

### Crowning in Alinor

With his conquest at an end, Aerel turned to administering his new realm. This began with a coronation ceremony to give himself and his dynasty legitimacy in the eyes of their Altmeri subjects. To Alinor he called the High Aldarch of the Church, who up until then had remained in Shimmerene. Additionally, he sent a raven to the sapiarchs of Lillandril, requesting that they select a sapiarch from among their order to serve as a permanent adviser to the king, and who on this occasion would perform a joint coronation with the High Aldarch.

Aerel gathered the many lords that had accompanied him on his march in the throne room of the keep used by the Parnon kings. It was there that he was crowned as Aerel Arana the First of His Name, King of the Summerset Isles, Lord of the White City, and Protector of the Isles. There he declared that Alinor would serve as his kingdom's new capital, surprising many lords as various other cities were much grander than the relatively small and less prestigious city of Alinor, including Shimmerene the seat of the Church, or Sunhold, one of the first structures constructed by the ancient Aldmeri.

## Aftermath

Soon after his coronation, King Aerel I Arana began two major construction projects. The first of which was a castle on the island of Wasten Coraldale in Oleander Bay, which would come to be known as Gryphonrock and serve as a seat of House Arana for centuries. The second project involved the destruction of Naldien Parnon's old keep to build a whole new one, much grander and more befitting of a king of Aerel's grandeur. This castle was known as Eldarhall, built using quarried stone and marble, as well as salvaged stone from Naldien's old keep. Within Eldarhall was built a new throne fit for a king of the Summerset Isles, called the Marble Throne, which served as the seat of power for the Summerset Archipelago for millennia, continuing to exist within Eldarhall well into the Fourth Era.

Aerel's reign was known as a peaceful period in the archipelago's history, free from the wars that had plagued the realm leading up to Aerel's conquest. The commonfolk took to calling it the Gryphon's Peace, a term adopted by the sapiarchs of the College when writing their histories.

## Houses by Allegiance

The only Houses that have been recorded to support one side or another is included.

* House Arana
* House Celtalos
* House Errinorne
* House Heleyn
* House Lannar
* House Naelys
* House Taennaris
* House Andorin (submitted to Aranas)
* House Caidan
* House Dorenis
* House Harlore
* House Liaren (submitted to Aranas)
* House Torelle (submitted to Aranas)
* House Rilis (submitted to Aranas)
* House Lariel (submitted to Aranas
* House Joriel (submitted to Aranas)
* House Loreian (submitted to Aranas)
* House Phidan
* House Rolynn