Stone King

## The Stone King

Arms of the Stone King, featuring the red-eyed smoky dragon from Baric's Chronology

## Positions

### Position

Overlord of Lear-Festning Island, Lord of Csegrup and Festning, Head of Clan Czego, and Grandmaster of the Sovereign Military Order of the Red Roach

### Succeeded By

* **Mhogen Czegorock the Elder** (as Overlord of Lear-Festning Island, Head of Clan Czegorock, and Grandmaster of the Red Roaches)
* **Colorad Czego** (as Lord of Csegrup and Head of Clan Czego)

## General Information

### Family

Vaia Dunne (wife)
No children

> "Perhaps he was touched by the Spirits Graol."
> "Touched in the head, more like."
> "And yet he was a builder. Festning and the Red Tower, in the span of one life. Tell me, how many great monuments have you built? None, I suspect... You are a proud reaver, and so was he. But he was also a man who could see past the indulgences of violence... he had a true *vision* for his life. Whether that vision came from the Spirits... well, that is a matter for Sacred Baric to know, and us to ponder."
> "You ponder too much. So did he."
> —Radalphas Dunne and Aster Hagen, discussing the Stone King after the Battle of Cashford
>
>

The **Stone King** or **Stone Lord** was a Litugian-speaking ruler of Clan Czego who landed on the Isle of Lear and conquered it for his family in 1639. After doing this, he built the city of Festning, took it as his seat, and renamed the isle to "Lear-Festning Island." He declared himself its king, or lord, depending on the source.

He reigned as overlord of the unified island until his death in 1687, at which point his realm fell apart into independent lordships (petty kingdoms) once again. However, his impact on the culture of the island and the overall Litugan-speaking world was massive. He asserted Lear-Festning Island as the most important of those held by the Litugian Clans, and contributed to the use of the term O'Leary as a cultural descriptor.

## Early life

He was born in Csegrup, on Einar Island - the ancestral home of Clan Czego. Upon his father's death he was declared the new head of the family. He was a very pious man; early in his reign he became fixated on the notion of conquering the Isle of Lear, believing that he had a place in the prophetic chronology of the Spirits Graol. He may have been a Seer, though Clan Baxter disputes this theory.

To prepare for his invasion of Lear-Festning Island, he gathered the entire garrison of Csegrup, a clan-allegiant army of some two thousand men. Also under his command were some troops supplied by Clan Skulder of Dullen, the largest of the clans on Einar Island. The Stone Lord promised the Skulders "riches and friendly ports" if his invasion succeeded, and they duly sent him a large force of some of their best men. Most historical accounts also claim that the Stone Lord emptied his coffers hiring mercenaries from the Geilars, Burnes, and Sorrels, along with wilder claims that freebooters from the Midnight Flower Legion, Camaria and Polgan joined his army. In total, roughly 8,000 men stood ready to invade, a far larger host than had ever been commanded by a Czego.

The Stone King held overall command of the invasion force, giving some troops to his brother Mhogen and uncles Festys and Rolman. The Skulder troops in his army were commanded by Søren Skulder, and all the mercenaries were grouped under the banner of the "prodigal Raske, a legitimized baseborn son of the Geilars."

## Reign

He was wildly successful in his invasion. First landing in the northern barrens of the isle, he marched south and captured Auldwyth without any resistance. The river lords mustered their armies and marched against him, giving a decisive engagement at the Battle of the Murkwater Head. At this battle, the Stone King captured Lord Thorpey Dunne along with one-third of the defending army. He made sure to treat his prisoners very well, noting that he would require their support to reign properly.

He chased the retreating forces of the Hagens and Ullors, catching up with them on the outskirts of Vetport. The Ullors mounted a delaying action while the Hagens retreated inside the city. Now facing the prospect of a prolonged siege, the Stone King brought forth his secret weapon - gunpowder bombards designed to split apart city walls. He fired a barrage at the Vetport walls that lasted several hours. Inside, Lord Mathias Hagen argued with his advisors. They managed to dissuade him from ordering a bloody last-ditch foray against the Stone King's army through the broken city walls, arguing that if he surrendered, he could "destroy the occupier's clan from within." Matthias was convinced; consequently, flags of surrender were raised over Vetport, and the military phase of the Stone King's invasion ended.

Within days, he had gathered the requisite clan members hold a formal oath-giving ceremony at the Dunfort near Lear. The Dunnes, Hagens, and Ullors acknowledged him as their rightful liege lord, and he duly required them to adopt his customs, including the adoption of housecarlry, something the so-called "river lords" of Lear and its environs had avoided doing. He married Vaia Dunne, forming an alliance with Clan Dunne; the Dunnes became his representatives and enforcers in the great city of Lear. However, his marriage produced no children.

He built the Red Tower to ward off any insurrection from Clan Hagen of Skogberg. Not wanting to divert much of his army from its home base at Festning, he imported a corps of fiercely dedicated bodyguards from his birthplace, the town of Csegrup on Einar Island. These men had no local loyalties and could be counted on to support the Stone King against any would-be treachery that his new subjects might cook up. They came to be known as the Sovereign Military Order of the Red Roach, or, much more simply, the "Red Roaches." The Fire Spirit was their patron. These elite troops were involved in the brutal suppression of a nascent coup in Festning during the later years of the Stone King's reign.

His surprisingly successful conquest of the island inspired copycats. In 1655, news reached the Stone King that Clan Sorrel was preparing an invasion to seize the throne for themselves. They had called their vassals, mustering all the forces of the Lordship of Heliogatenberg for an assault. The Stone King called upon the fleets of his subjects, as well as his allies Clan Skulder, and set sail to raid the ports around Heliogatenberg until the Sorrels abandoned their invasion plans. He also dealt with destructive coastal raids from Clan Karlsen and Clan Tyrus at various points in his reign, which threatened the stability of his young realm. He called these families the "iron devils" and authorized counter-raiding against their towns and ports on Ironhorn Island.

The Stone King was a menace for continental Helinska, ordering raids against ships and coastal settlements on an unprecedented level. Most heavily targeted were the Lemetiate of Airolia and Principality of Polgan; interestingly, very few raids were ever launched against the Duchy of Camaria. One raid under the command of Gaspar Dunne even penetrated as far as Quesi Jabeyrack, returning with artifacts of the local culture.

City officials in Festning attempted to organize a coup against the Stone King in the later years of his reign, but he discovered this treachery and deployed the Red Roaches to crush it. Lord Mathias Hagen was accused of involvement in the treachery by Carey Dunne, resulting in his brief imprisonment, but no evidence could produced and he was eventually released. The old lord acquired a debilitating sickness in captivity and died soon afterward.

A few months later, the Stone King became ill with an unknown ailment; it is almost universally believed by chroniclers that he was poisoned. Lord Mathias, the principal suspect, had been dead for weeks, so the true identity of the poisoner was never found.

## Post-reign

On the death of the Stone King, his brother Mhogen the Elder succeeded him as overlord of Lear-Festning Island, but he was almost immediately deposed by the combined forces of Clan Hagen, Clan Dunne, and Clan Ullor. The Czego army in Festning was slaughtered and the city was reduced to a scarred mountain of rubble. The Red Roaches prepared to march against the rebels, but Mhogen saw the situation as hopeless and chose to negotiate rather than fight.

The victorious rebels showed mercy to Lord Mhogen, who was allowed to live at the Red Tower on the condition that the title of "overlord of Lear-Festning Island" be destroyed. Mhogen went on to found the cadet branch Clan Czegorock, passing leadership of the mainline clan based in Csegrup to his youngest brother, Colorad.

## Legacy

The reign of the Stone King, which lasted almost five decades, had a great cultural impact on the island, establishing its common cultural elements and traditions, most of which were adopted by virtually every clan of the east. It can be argued that the Stone King's rule solidified Lear-Festning as the most important and valuable of the Litugian-speaking world, which led to that same world being called O'Lear.

He was notable for being the only person to unite Lear-Festning Island under a single crown prior to Alvar I Aastersen, who accomplished the unification of the Litugian-speaking peoples 300 years later.

Cyran Virwenys interviewed the Stone King's nephew, Mhogen Czegorock the Younger in the early 1700s. Various second-hand stories about the monarch are transcribed in his chronicles. One such story contained the fascinating claim that the King had been poisoned as many as twenty times during his reign, but that his "stone constitution" had absorbed all but the last of these. Mhogen believed that his uncle was unable to resist this twenty-first poison due to its "profane" nature - meaning it was likely a foreign brew supplied by Lianis merchants from the Lemetiate of Airolia.

Historical accounts of the Stone King's life were often contradictory and omitted various narratives depending on the author.

## References

1. ↑ The Stone King never called for any raids against the Duchy of Camaria, as he did with Airolia and Polgan. This supports the theory that Camarian troops helped the Stone King win his throne, and he subsequently avoided raiding their lands out of gratitude. However, he did allow the Dunnes and Hagens to attack Camaria on several occasions, probably to placate them and keep them loyal.