House Boyce

House Ross
House Carlisle
 House Rocke
House Slait
House Durham (formerly)
Domainlands

House Collinner
House Draker
House Farrin
House Kell
House Knigh

**House Boyce of Newcastle**, is the royal house of the Kingdom of Aqoris from the Domainlands. King Barden I Boyce, the first King, unified the warring Kingdoms of Northern Aqoris into the Kingdom of Aqoris in his Foundation Wars and then built a great city called Newcastle and the Winter Keep, inside it he designed and constructed a vast Hall where the Bear Throne was erected from ancient beartree wood. Descendants of Barden would sit on the Bear Throne and rule over the Kingdom and House Boyce for the next four centuries.

The King of Aqoris and Head of House Boyce is King Warren I Boyce, second son of King Byrron II and younger brother of King Harlow I who died in an expedition in the Aqoros Peninsula. His heir apparent is his younger brother Prince Ronan Boyce after the death of his son during childbirth which also resulted in the death of his wife.

## History

### Background

Barden Boyce was born during the Age of Fire in a small village (now present-day Newcastle) that was frequently ravaged by wars between the Kingdom of the Hills and the Kingdom of Fields. He is believed to have had a prophetic dream that said he and his descendants were destined to defend the realm of men from an impending evil and that he must forge a new Kingdom to do so. In 5 BF, he founded House Boyce (the surname of his father, Sir Aegadar Boyce) and built a Keep on a hill overlooking the village he was born into, also felling an ancient beartree which he believed was sacred and carved the Bear Throne. In 2 BF, Barden made his first expansionist move, invading the island of Winter's Rock and causing the extinction of House Maeson and installation of House Boyce of Winter's Rock. Over time, the several villages that had sprung up around the new keep were unified by Barden into the city of Newcastle in 1 BF. He became the Lord of Newcastle and proclaimed himself as ruler of the Domainlands, the contested region, and he gained the support of the noble houses there who were fed up of being attacked by the neighbouring Kingdoms. Barden led the Domainlands into war with the Highhand King of Fields and also had the support of many Southland Houses who joined his side in rebellion. He named Deron Durham of Arkridge as the Warden of the South.

In 0 AF, he was crowned as King of Aqoris by the High Adepton and became known as ***Barden of the House Boyce, first of his name, King of Aqoris and Defender of The Realm***. The Kingdom of Aqoris was founded and embarked on a war of conquest against the Syder Kings of the Hills and extinguished their line and established House Carlisle as Wardens of the North. He then went on and waged war against the Rocke Kings of The Lake and Jaxar Rocke bent the knee to him in 2 AF. The Kingdom (except the Borderlands which would be conquered much later) was unified under Barden's Dream.

### Reign of King Dannis "the Cruel" and The War of The Bears

In 300 AF, King Dannis I ascended to the throne after the mysterious death of King Rylar II Boyce. He was 30 at the time of his coronation and even in childhood, displayed symptoms of madness. He was an incredibly sadistic man and many in the Kingdom did not wish for him to become King to begin with, favouring his younger brother Kaegan Boyce who would become to be loved by noblemen and commonfolk alike being a year old when Dannis took to the throne. Dannis would repeatedly commit horrendous acts against the commonfolk of Newcastle while also threatening the Lords of the Kingdom, even torturing them or sometimes outright executing them. This eventually would scare the high Lords into line and Dannis ruled through fear and blood.

His eratic behaviour and madness would worsen as he got older. As Kaegan entered his teenage years, he became a celebrity among the people and the Lords respected him incredibly for the kindness and respect he gave them, a kindness they did not receive from their King. This infuriated Dannis and grew to despise his younger brother. In 318 AF, Dannis then demanded that Kaegan was sent to Ravenglass, becoming a ward to the Lord.

In 336 AF, he would return to the capital and the commonfolk applauded and celebrated the return of the "Prince of the People" which further infuriated the King. In the Great Hall, several Lords, notably Lord Bart Durham, also celebrated the return of Prince Kaegan with a grand display of support. In retaliation, King Dannis executed hundreds of commonfolk and the Lords who celebrated the return of Kaegan, paranoia in of fear of rebellion. He also ordered the imprisonment of Kaegan, execution of his wife and son and the deaths of her family. Lord Wyllam Rocke escaped the executions and was able to flee the capital with Kaegan and his family. After assembling the Lakeland Lords, the Lakelands rose up in rebellion against King Dannis the Cruel.

The war would last for just over a year but would be incredibly bloody and caused mass disruption to the Kingdom. House Knigh of Seawatch would rise even higher in prominence due to their defiance against Dannis. Eventually, the rebel forces stormed Newcastle and Dannis was killed in the fighting. Kaegan was crowned King and assembled the Royalist Lords and offered them pardons in return for their service and loyalty to him. The War of The Bears, as the singers called it, had ended.

### Golden Age of the Kingdom

With the War over, Kaegan set about to rebuilding the fractured Kingdom. The son of Lord Slait was betrothed to marry one of his twin daughters from Mariya Rocke and the other twin daughter was betrothed to the young Sir Asten Knigh, heir to Seawatch and the man who killed King Dannis. The marriages were tactical; House Slait was a Royalist house and it was intended to keep House Slait from revolt and the other to House Knigh was in recognition of their valour in combat.

Kaegan would introduce vital land reforms which allowed the commonfolk to sustain better lives and greatly improved the wealth of the Kingdom. It lessened the effects of the harsh winters as grain production was drastically increased. Raids from the Clans of Alba would stop due to the strong presence in the Borderlands and the overwhelming sense of unity. Trust in House Boyce was at a high and the realm was prospering. Lord Wyllam Rocke served as his Adviser to the King and the duo were invaluable to the realm. Kaegan reformed the High Council, which his brother had disbanded. In efforts to build order and security in the war-torn city of Newcastle, Kaegan founded the City Watch of Newcastle, a law-enforcement military organisation which wear all white uniform and colloquially known as the White Cloaks due to the white-coloured capes they wear. He appointed Lord Godrick Knigh as the first Lord Constable of the City Watch.