House Beaufort

**House Beaufort** **of** **Val Royeaux** is the Great House of the Alpines. It is also the Royal House of the realms and rules from the Palace of the Kings in the Royal Vale. The leader of House Beaufort holds the title of Lord of Val Royeaux, Lord Paramount of the Alpines, and Ruler of the Realms. The sigil of House Beaufort is a golden fleur-de-lis on a purple and blue background.

## History

### Robert Maddox's Rebellion

Robert Maddox's Rebellion was the first large-scale resistance to House Beaufort rule. Robert Maddox, blaming Clovis Beaufort for the death of his father, led the forces of House Maddox, House Nazari, and a large faction of House Blackstone against the Royals. After the rebels invaded and defeated House Beaufort in battle, Prince Dorian and Princess Antoinette fled The Alpines to seek shelter at The Palace of the Kings. As the war continued House Maddox temporarily occupied Val Royeaux, but was later forced to abandon it and retreat back to the Marshlands. House Beaufort would ultimately prove victorious in the war after The Sack of Oakenstead and executing all remnants of rebel leadership.

### Beaufort Civil War

The Beaufort Civil War was a conflict between Octavian Beaufort and his younger brother Maximilian Beaufort. The war began with the conspiracy to assassinate King Christophe Beaufort by his own son Prince Octavian, Master of Laws Octric Clareworth, and Lord Marco Giovanni. The conspirators decided to wait until the death of the Hand of the King, Leo Lothair, who was an elderly but a very wise, loved, and powerful member of the court. The very same night Leo died, Octavian made his way to Christophe's royal chambers and poisoned him while Octric and Marco took Queen Anna Beaufort prisoner to ensure she would not send word to her brother at Canis Isle or her sisters who had married into two very powerful families. After his father's assassination and his mother's imprisonment, Octavian ascended as the new King of the Realms.

After hearing word that Christophe was dead Lord Matthew Wynn, Master of Whisperers, smuggled the majority of The Small Council out of the Royal Vale, fearing that they too may be deposed if they opposed Octavian. Upon hearing of his brother's actions Maximilian Beaufort declared Octavian unworthy of the crown and proclaimed himself King of the Realms. In planning his war against brother, Maximilian invited a number of members of his father's council to Val Royeaux and formed a war council of his own. Both Octavian and Maximilian recruited the Great Houses of the realms and created two rival factions known as The Coalition and The Alliance. Eventually, Maximilian's forces overwhelmed those of his brother and he would execute Octavian during the final conflict of the war avenging his father and becoming the sixth King of the Realms unopposed.

### War of the Heirs

During the War of the Heirs, King Jacques Beaufort contended with both his sister, Emelia Arx, and his cousin, Raphael Beaufort, as they attempted to take the throne. The war began when Jacques began to grow envious of Scipio Arx, the Hand of the King, as Scipio proved to be a very effective and influential member of the court which unnerved Jacques. Lord Scipio lead meetings of The Small Council without Jacques present and was beginning to be seen as the true ruler of the realms. Eventually, Jacques stripped Scipio of his title and gave it to Lord Thomas Fairfax who had been a member of the Council since King Maximilian Beaufort. Lord Scipio was outraged by Jacques's actions and his wife, Jacques's sister Emelia, considered herself a much more competent ruler and declared herself the rightful ruler of the realms. Meanwhile, Lord Raphael Beaufort, the only surviving son of Octavian Beaufort longed to reclaim his father's throne and entered into a marriage alliance with the recently widowed Lady Reema Murad. With the disharmony between Jacques and Emelia, Raphael declared himself the rightful heir to the throne and leveraged the forces of House Murad to enter the war.

At the war's end all three of the titular ''heirs" had died. With the future of the Beaufort dynasty uncertain, Lord Thomas Fairfax called together the principal lords and ladies who had supported the three heirs to a meeting known as The Great Council. The council ruled that Raphael and Reema's son, Emeric Beaufort, would ascend the throne as he was the last Beaufort remaining. As Emeric was only a child, a Council of Regents was established to rule the realms in Emeric's place until he came of age.

### Conquest of the Sunset Isles

The conflict that came to be known as the Conquest of the Sunset Isles began when King Taito Rovos lead his forces alongside the noble houses of the Sunset Isles in a raiding campaign alongside the eastern shore of the realms attacking the Coastlands and the Reach specifically. After the fall of Goldreach, King Emeric Beaufort lead the royal armies to drive the Rovos invaders from the mainland realms. After King Taito and his surviving forces fled back to the Sunset Isles, King Emeric quickly pursued with House Beaufort's forces bolstered by those of House Osorio, House Reyne, and House Murad. Upon the House Rovos's defeat, Emeric executed Taito in the halls of Hasbrook.

With Taito Rovos dead, the Sunset Isles were annexed into the Realm and House Rovos was named the new Great House of the Sunset Isles. Emeric Beaufort, hesitant to withdraw his forces from the Isles, named his daughter, Princess Celene Beaufort, as the Stewardess of the Sunset Isles and gave her the castle of Hasbrook to rule alongside a large number of household guards.