The Stuarts Family

The Stuarts Family is one of the Nineteen Noble Families, originating from the Roxen region. They are the worst off of the Nineteen Noble Families and have never had one of their own produce a king.

### History

At some point before 934 B.E. the Stuarts family, known as the Okili family at the time, fled Zane due to a famine and religious persecution. They, along with thousands of other refugees, occupied the Roxen region. The Roxen territory, despite being in Playtus, was almost entirely unoccupied and saw few soldiers. This was because the land was rocky and mountainous, making it difficult for most Playtans to live on. However, many Zaneans were used to living in such conditions, and found starting a new life easy.

The patriarch of the Stuarts family, Noureddin Okili, made a name for himself due to his charisma, agreeability, confidence, and knowledge on land development. He eventually spearheaded a movement among the Zaneans living in Roxen to formally declare Roxen a separate nation, finally declaring himself king of this nation in 934 B.E.

Although there was some military pushback, Playtus did little to stop them as they viewed the land as unappealing and undesirable.

The Okili's led Roxen until 710 B.E., when the Emperor of Phoebus began to plan to conquer the nation due to the revelation of valuable minerals in the mountains. The Okili head and King of Roxen at the time, Castor Okili, discovered this plot. Knowing that they would lose the war, he sent some envoys to the emperor and surrendered Roxen. This move was initially controversial in Roxen, as many wanted to remain independent and function similarly to how they did in Zane, but others agreed that they were bound to lose the war and were grateful to avoid bloodshed.

Many of the people who disagreed changed their tune when Emperor Phoebus allowed Roxen to remain fairly autonomous and allowed the Okili's to continue ruling over Roxen. In exchange, Roxen would make their land into a mining town and import all minerals to Playtus. As an act of gratitude, the head of the Okili family asked Phoebus to choose a new name. He went with the name Stuarts, describing it as a proper Playtan name.

Under this system, Roxen's economy and population boomed, going from less than fifty-thousand to over two-hundred thousand. Initially, Roxen remained almost entirely Zanean, as couples could support more children and help relatives or friends in Zane to migrate over.

However, as more time went on, more and more wealthy Playtans began moving into Roxen to try to establish themselves in the industries. The Playtans that moved to Roxen wouldn't allow Zaneans into many Playtan businesses and would only let Zaneans work very low paying jobs. Despite never making up less than 60% of the population, Zaneans were consistently treated as second class citizens.

During this time, the Stuarts's goal seemed to stay out of the way and keep their head low which bothered a lot of Zaneans.

In 291 B.E., the Stuarts family held a meeting in which they noted the sharp decline of the Playtan Empire. In 271 B.E. a young Liber Stuarts's father died and he became the new governor of Roxen. He wrote that the anger most Zaneans felt towards Playtus and Playtans was at an all time high and expected it to pop at any moment. Because of this, he began slowly breaking away from Playtus by exporting their minerals to Jaaya, who gave them a much better deal.

By 265 B.E., the Roxen rebellion had begun. Liber didn't hesitate to support the Zaneans over Playtus, as he recognized the weakened empire wouldn't stand a chance. He was right, and by 260 B.E., Roxen was once again independent.

At this point, the Stuarts were very controversial among Zaneans. After some debate, they chose to allow the Stuarts family to continue the monarchy, but only as a figurehead. The government was democratically run. However, the family still owned and operated half of the mines in the region, so they were still immensely wealthy.

Around 10 or so B.E., King Publius Stuarts attended a meeting held by Arthur Pendragon showcasing The First Level One and his plan to create an army of Level Ones.