Duchy of Rubenaire

The **Duchy of Rubenaire** (Elven: *Ruben's City*) is a Wine Lord duchy within the Kingdom of Lorent. It was founded by its namesake, Ruben V Siloriel, to be given to his second son Vincen Bloodfields. Vincen would later found the House of Rubenaire, a cadet branch of the royal House of Siloriel.

## History

### Founding

Ruben V gifted the duchy in 1270 to his second son, Vincen, who had earned the moniker "Bloodfields" during his time as a mercenary captain fighting in the Wars of Rule, a civil war within the Empire of Anbennar which sought to settle the debate between two forms of magocratic rule: rule of mages or rule of magical nobles.

During this time Vincen had become a popular figure amongst the Lorentish nobility, who had seen the rise of a recently-formed Anbennar as a threat and hoped that an official Lorentish intervention would curb any possibility of a united Anbennar in the future. With this they saw in Vincen an alternative heir who would be inclined to wage war during his kingship, especially when compared with his brother and actual heir to the throne Laurens, who was described as "gentle and reluctant" by the courtier Caldas of Ordóin.

Publically, Ruben granted Vincen the duchy as a reward for his son's martial feats in the war. Privately, it is said that he gave the duchy as a political move to distract his son from any further heroics, placing him out of the attention of the nobles and safeguarding the succession of his firstborn Laurens.

This eventually worked in Ruben's favour, and Vincen gave up his career as a mercenary for a life of rule, and Laurens would eventually succeed his father with no issues. Vincen returned to Lorent and lived the rest of his life concerning himself with the duchy's affairs until his death in 1302. While Vincen found no further fame in the rulership of his duchy, by the time of his death his focus on the duchy's affairs quietly laid the foundation to make it one of the richest along the Bloodwine River by the start of the Lilac Wars.

### Union with the Acromton Silmunas

The First Lilac War in 1350 saw the King of Lorent, Reán the White Fox elected to the dove throne of Anbennar. In an attempt to protect against a stronger Lorentish throne and to curry favour with what was seen by Cannor as the obvious winner, Duke Rión II síl Rubenaire betrothed his eldest daughter and heir, Kylia, who was 10 at the time, to Aldres III Silmuna's son Marion who was 11. As the Silmunas and the Grand Duchy of Dameria were Reán's primary rivals over the rule of Anbennar and this act of betrothal rightfully enraged Reán and was seen by many as a festering sign of future revolt between the Wine Lords and their parent house, the Siloriel.

While the Rubenaires did not fight against their overlord Lorent during the First Lilac War, they did indeed fight against Lorent for the remainder of the Lilac Wars, as the duchy by then truly passed to Silmuna control under the Dukes Crossguard of Acromton which had been Marion's primary title.

### Return to the House of Rubenaire

During Silmuna rule the remaining Rubenaires were content to serve under their cousins and acted as stewards, advisors, and governors for the two duchies of Rubenaire and Acromton. The lesser Rubenaire line survived through Kylia's sister, Eléanore síl Rubenaire, who had married the elven winemaker Filendor Gladeguard, cousin of the ruler of the Redglades. Together the two would perfect Rubenaire's main export, the Rubenaire Red wine, solidifying its place as the most popular wine in the market at the time.

The catastrophic Battle of the Moon Council of 1422 at the start of the Fourth Lilac War saw the death of the ruler of Acromton-Rubenaire at the time, Kylian II Silmuna, which eventually passed both titles to his nephew Alec I síl Rubenaire. Unfortunately, Alec was captured in the same battle, and despite being Duke he spent the rest of his short remainder of his life in captivity until his death 1427, with his grandfather (the son of Eléanore and Filendor) Rión the Reliable, who had been the steward of Rubenaire for the Silmunas, took mantle of regent (and unofficially Rión IV) and continued the war against Lorent.

Upon Alec's death the titles of Rubenaire and Acromton were disputed, some wanted it to return to their original owners, the House of Rubenaire, whilst others wanted to follow succession and have it go to the next available Silmuna, which was Adénn Skylance, the Grand Duke of Dameria and claimant of the imperial throne. Rión, known as Rión the Reliable was a stalwart ally of his Silmuna kin, and as steward he supported Adénn's claim and continued to fight Lorent on the side of the Moon Party.

Unfortunately Rión died shortly after Alec in 1430, and his son Vincen assumed control of as steward, and instead defected to the Lorentish side. By the end of the war, Vincen's claim on the duchy was legitimized by the Lorentish king Kylian VI, restoring Rubenaire family rule over the duchy. Additionally, as the last ruler of the joint duchies of Acromton-Rubenaire was his nephew Alec I síl Rubenaire, Vincen also claimed the title of Duke-Crossguard of Acromton. This was rejected by the new emperor, Lothane of Wex, who annexed Acromton for himself - stating that the territory should return back to the Grand Duchy of Dameria, and if the Grand Duchy were no more (which in this case was true, as Lothane had destroyed it), that the lands would return to the holder of the imperial throne, whose current occupant was Lothane himself.