Basarab XVI

The man who would claim the title of Basarab XVI was born Edward Guy Plowden, eldest son of the Duke of Sarum and the Lady Gytha of Coveridge. His father was a magnate of Vortigern and his mother was a member of the Imperial family and granddaughter of Basarab XII. Their relationship was something of a scandal, as both were married when they met. After an elopement and negotiation with their spouses, their original marriages were annulled and the couple were wed in Sudgewen. According to the Imperial archives in Othery, Edward was born after their wedding, but it is widely believed he was conceived while they were unmarried and the dates altered to avoid a scandal.

Whatever the facts of his birth Edward was raised as the heir to a Duchy. He was very much the stereotype of a young Vortish noble, rowdy, arrogant and eccentric. He married another Vortish noblewoman, the second daughter of the Earl of Bandybrook, and their marriage was happy and blessed with two sons. He was a great lover of horses and hunting. Eventually his father passed away and Edward became the nineteenth Duke of Sarum. His life would have passed without much note as another wealthy but unexceptional Vortish magnate had his third cousin, Basarab XV, not died without an heir.

During Basarab XV's long decline he met with the Duke twice. According to the Duke, he was appointed the Emperor's heir, but there is no record of this, and many regard it with scepticism as the Emperor was known to have been embarassed by the indiscretion of a noblewoman of the Imperial House in having an affair with a married man. Regardless, when Basarab XV died, the assembled nobles of Vortigern gathered in Sudgewen and proclaimed Edward the successor to the Sixfold Throne. He took the regnal name Basarab XVI and elevated his two sons to the title of Princes of the Empire.

Unfortunately for the Empire as a whole, his title was not accepted, and both Marlia and Knagel proclaimed rivals to the title of Basarab XVI. The nobility of Vortigern rallied for a war to conquer what they saw as rebel provinces. In theory, as the Emperor, Edward was the ruler of Vortigern and all its conquered territories. However he was dependent on the assembled magnates and warlords of Vortigern, and his few attempts at getting involved in military strategy or stewardship of his domains ended poorly. His sons both took high rank in the army, but it was not long before the Emperor returned to his favoured passtimes of hunting and horseback riding, receiving only occasional dispatches from the frontlines about how the war to reconquer the Empire in his name was going. After an incident in which deserters attacked his hunting party, the Privy Council decided he should remain cloistered in his castle until the war ended. With his movements, meetings and correspondence restricted in the name of security, the Emperor effectively became a prisoner of the Vortigern nobles.

The war went poorly, and both the Princes were slain. The Emperor appointed another distant member of the Imperial household, the Earl of Garum, as his successor. As a large Knagel force approached the town of Coveridge, the Vortish forces were hard pressed, and the Privy Council decided the presence of the Imperial court might provide a morale boost for the Vortish men at arms. Unfortunately the Vortish armies still lost the battle, and in the chaos of the defeat, the Emperor was isolated from his bodyguard and captured by a small troop of Knagel spearmen. Not recognising him, a Knagel sergeant subjected the Emperor to the harsh field interrogations the fanatically devout soldiers of Knagel were famous for, hoping to get information about Vortish supply caches in the nearby forest. When a senior Knagel officer arrived and recognised the man he considered the false Emperor it was too late, and Edward bled to death. His body was returned to Vortern in a prisoner exchange in return for a captured Knagelite General, but the Knagels made a point of refusing any Imperial adornment for the body, recognising him only as the Duke of Sarum.

His Duchy passed to his younger brother (who was not descended from the Imperial house, being the product of his father's third wife). In Vortigern he is still officially acknowledged as Basarab XVI but even the Vortish histories do not render him great acclaim, and his death is treated as a minor setback. He was succeeded within Vortigern by his cousin, who was acknowledged as Basarab XVII, but did not reign for long.