Aderyn I

*"For who does Humanity bow to - we, sons of the Northern Clans? And the so-called 'Emperor' demands our troops to bleed on Elven soil, and for what? Parlor tricks, this is his price for our son's lives." -*Aderyn Vaught I, shortly before abandoning Heronbrook.

*"Do not abandon your heritage - not to the Empire, but the Far North. Our kin were disgraced by us, our own ancestors with them; And so it is every man's duty to once more earn their grace." -*Aderyn Vaught I, shortly before dying.

Aderyn Vaught I was the creator of the House of Vaught, Ardeiria, the Ardeirian language, the first Ardeirian Emperor, and founder of Ardeirian Ancestor Worship. He gradually became a deity himself after his death, to the point of being the main God within the Ardeirian faith .

## Childhood and Early Adulthood

Aderyn was born poor and illiterate, having to often pick pockets or resort to less-than-savory means for simple survival. When the Empire conquered his clan, his father (Svlagard Azuretalon) was given the Baronetcy of Heronbrook for his complacency. However, this area was out-of-the-way and got little to no support, meaning that Aderyn would starve still within the poor, mostly delapitaded township. In part to ignore the creeping death from lack of nourishment, he took to reading constantly, going through books from religion, to war, to early Vrykul writings, to sailing. By age 18 he joined the Imperial Army, famous for his assaults on the trolls within their lands and officer capabilities.

Once he reached 25, his family lands were promoted to a Barony after a wound caused him temporary discharge. This later became permanent when he quickly brought his realm into stability, soon after becoming less apt for the field and more used to quill and ink. His cousins, whom had taken the name of Riqen, urged him to change his from "Azuretalon" to "Vaught" in a show of defiance to the Northern King. Although he still held deep respect for his vrykul predecessors, Heronbrook could not afford to come under scrutiny. Despite this, Aderyn still considered himself loyal to the King who no doubt wanted him dead.

## Baron of the Talon

Although not, explicitly, a man of the people, he refused to let his citizens suffer under any outside means, especially food shortages. His staunch opposition to allowing such a thing to exist was one of his only true traits to live on, becoming the only form of torture truly outlawed within his Empire, Kingdom, and finally Earldom (Possibly March.) His reforms were mostly for the sake of work ethics, placing supervisors over most of the peasantry within Heronbrook and taxing farmers outside of it, quickly becoming able to properly gear his militia against troll and bandit raids. Heronbrook contributed what it could to the troll attacks, but their situation to what would become Thoradin's Wall meant that their local infestation had already been cleared out.

## The Troll Wars and Desertion

Once Arathor had all-but-exterminated their Troll problem, the focus on Quel'thalas became troubling to many Arathorian racists. When the Empire started taxing and demanding troops from them, Aderyn ignored the Imperial orders and expected to be horribly punished after the armies returned. Having sent scouts out to the far western Eastern Kingdoms, he lead his people (those now calling themselves "Loyal to Humanity", including the entire population of his Barony) out of Heronbrook, declaring that they take that which would be useful and burn the rest. What came next was the storied Imperial Caravan, which had picked up a signifigant amount of lost or otherwise ill-fated followers headed in the same direction.

Unlike the romanticized tale, however, Aderyn demanded the less useful carriages be raided by the Krestens -- who had been the village's main blacksmiths before their desertion. They were commonly lead far away from where the former Heronbrookians resided, murdered, and their supplies stolen for his sake. Although he was not proud of this, his morals gradually decayed for the good of his people and, paramountly, himself, causing the raidings to become more and more prominent. Rather than taking one year, a fabrication created by the Monastery of Ancestry, it took five for him to reach what would become Ardeiria.

## Emperor of Ardeiria

Constructions on their capitols began near immediately, with Vaughriff finished first. Haliaeta was intended to be given to the Riqens, having about half of the northern section already somewhat settled, but most of them were murdered by Clansmen during Vaughriff's creation. In retaliation, Aderyn lead a campaign of slavery and slaughter against the factions that had harmed his kin, returning to the half-finished castle with an abundantly larger workforce. After Ardeiria and Ardeiria Minor's capitol was made, slavery of Clansmen became a massively common act, making up 75% of Bovinia's workforce on Snowhaven.

Haliaeta became a prize for exceptional loyalty, while Bovinia and Alcesus were given to Houses Kresten and Caer respectively, allowed to appoint their own advisors, Lords, and otherwise, thereby declared Kings throughout the Imperial Era. Once the Elk's Keep, Vaugholde, and Snowhaven were finished, a massive war against the Mountain Clans erupted, creating a tradition that would last far into his family, until the idea of letting them repopulate for the sake of subjugation was instead delegated to Aurochstead. Still, Ardeiria received much of its early weaponry, armor, and workforce from the peoples who had tried colonizing the land before them.

Finally, at age 55, Aderyn I became the official Emperor of Ardeiria, which allowed him to properly govern his people. Small and scattered, he knew better than to attempt en-masse construction of his own lands in his lifetime, instead creating boundaries for their prosperity's sake, mainly based around law, hunting, and, most importantly, mining. He was known for ordering Vaugholde's construction for not only Alcesus's people, but the entirety of Ardeiria, still holding memory of the terrible pains that came from weeks without food. However; once rubies were found within Bovinia, much of the primitive weaponry and jewelry were melted down to create the Vaugate for the sake of their protection against, at the time, Arathorian explorers.

Aderyn I held a decent rule for the next twenty years, with great deal of it spent further molding and spreading Ancestor Worship's influence. While Alcesus and Bull were adamant worshippers of their Old Ways, one evidently more than the other, his deities (Then based on Vrykul heroes) penetrated their doctrines relatively easy. For this reason, and his firm belief in exterminating both the Clansmen and their religion, he was known as a sort of crusader for Ancestor Worship/Svartsol.

His son, Aderyn II, took the throne after him and began pushing for further constructions, although towns such as Aurochstead were not completed until Emperor Terith Vaught's reign, and Raeford's Fields delegations were handled in Aderyn III's.

## Old Age and Death

Reaching the old age of seventy-five, about five longer than the average for Stromic men in their time, he used this to further instill nationalism within his newfound realm. Nevertheless; his rule had been, essentially, in the hands of his son for the past five years. Clean-shaven and maintaining of dying away his gray hairs, the aging Emperor would eventually embrace a more scholarly appearance, sporting a beard of gray, straight hair to his waist and a bald head. His build had gone from the fit and muscular to that of a stereotypical old man, though it was not until his extreme elder years that he fully realized this.

Struggling to accept death, he wrote the belief-system based on names, which, in turn, only made his discontent with the inevitable stronger. On the day of his death, he mustered the last of his strength to announce his famous last words, promising a "Redeemed" Humanity in the eyes of their Vrykul ancestors. Feeling as if he'd only partially succeeded, he became the first spirit to walk Vaughriff's crypts, although he never spoke to anyone (Be they deceased or living) after the Imperial Era ended.

## Legacy

Aderyn I has, in the near-three-thousand years since his death, become the most romanticized and beloved figure in Ardeirian history. Every act, be it war or law, are taken as the Will of the Far Ancestors (Being the Azuretalon dieties, rather than the modern ones.) And corrections of Thoradin's "Mistakes". In many Ardeirian novels, the first Emperor is depicted as having a royal glow and, in some cases, an actual, golden illuminance about his figure. As the founder of Ardeiria and its culture, especially its religion, he's become the "Main God", having made the most common prayer "I plead you, Forefathers, Emperor, and [Diety of Choice]." For his own followers, it's changed to "I plead you, Forefathers and [our] Beloved Emperor."

His name has become the most prominant in Ardeiria by far, including the feminine version (Anneryn), which encouraged parents naming their children after their first Ruler (Either directly or otherwise, due to the four Rulers named "Aderyn", and more with the middle name.) A calendar based upon Ardeiria's founding was made and named after him after their introduction to Gilneas, dubbed the "Aderynian Calendar" and dating his arrival as "0 PF." Most patriotic songs, books, and poems often reference his reign or at least name within them, due to the images and stories of his rule having instilled a sense of hope (However false) in their past wars, especially the War of Subjugation, wherein their loss was blamed on the surrender of Haliaeta to House Dahlquish.

## Elf's Bane

Perhaps the root cause of Aderyn I's fame and, subsequently, the Ardeirian hatred of Elves is his inspiration of widespread desertion within the Arathorian Empire. So great was this contempt towards the natives of Quel'thalas that he was named "Elf's Bane" relatively quickly after ascending the throne, thereby solidifying the first stones of the Ardeirian national identity. Later on, his martial prowess would gratify a name for his weapon, the problem being exactly what that would *be --*especially since the blade was intended to be passed from father to heir. This was only solved in his late fourties, when he and his Knights drove many Barbarians into the then un-tamed mountains and waged a minor campaign therein. Although not incredible or decisive by any means, it was still labeled a victory and, more importantly, a group of freezing Thalassian explorers were found and captured after half were butchered by both the Emperor and his men. The Elves were taken back to Vaughriff and  publically executed, which would then earn his weapon the name "Elf's Bane".

Unfortunately, its location became lost after the short Geroth rule over Ardeiria, although it's presumed to be somewhere in Ardeiria Minor's newfound coast.

## Personality

Aderyn was known as a rigid, practical man even in the military. Although not unwavering on most issues, a select few were held close enough to his heart (Prevention of starvation and retaining Ardeiria's borders being the main two.) To warrant a few saying it was like "Speaking to a wall", especially in his later years. He held immense pride for both his family name and newly founded Empire and quickly became protective to the level of obsession over it, which would, gradually, increase Ardeiria's military and cause it to become the heavily-militant state of its modern age. Quick to anger and slow to forgive, he was known to hold multiple grudges to his grave, the most famous being an unpaid debt of exactly one silver that his deceased cousin owed him.

Humorless, nationalistic, and selfless all described him as Emperor. Believing that it was his duty to lead Humanity through its exile, rather than simply vying for the crown, he often seemed to call *himself* "The Empire" or, more simply, "Ardeiria". This was popular with the masses, however, and his name quickly became a synonym for their new home, and any attack on his person one against their Empire. Until the end of the First Crowned Era, Ardeiria was just as frequently dubbed "Aderynia". Afterwards, however, this became rare and eventually extinct.