Richard I of Iadria

Portrait of King Richard after the conclusion of the Rebellion.

**King Richard I Navine**, commonly referred to as **King Richard the Dragon** or the **Usurper King**, was King of Iadria. He originally ruled as Duke of Navine under King Geoff III, the heir to an unbroken line of Dukes leading back seven hundred years to the founding of the Kingdom of Iadria. Richard led the armies of the Duchy in defense of Iadria during the Epherian Invasions of 6A 715, and was the last of the eight Dukes to concede to the Okeqar Treaty. Enraged by the King's concession of Leogoth to the Epherians, Richard launched the Navinian Rebellion of 6A 723. A political and martial prodigy, Richard succeeded in swaying the Duke of the Autumnvale, the lords of the Ucorian Reach, and the Elves of Cenother to his side. With the combined armies of eastern Iadria at his command, Richard won a series of decisive victories over the Griffin King and brought the civil war to an end within the span of two years. In the aftermath of the Rebellion, the deposed King Geoff fled east from Ihenium even as Richard installed his new government. Despite the new King's best efforts, Geoff and his cadre of loyalists were able to fight their way through the eastern Duchies and escape into occupied Leogoth, where they would form the rebel Iderum faction. Shortly after his coronation, Navine began preparations for his Great Crusade against the Epherian Empire, seeking to reclaim Leogoth and the honor of Iadria. He enacted a soft purge of the remaining nobility that had fought on the side of the Arvait loyalists, demoting many commanders and lords and sending famous loyalists like former Lord-Commander Michael Valendel to fight in remote border skirmishes against Epheria.

Richard's Crusade would begin in earnest in 6A 729 with a massive Iadrian invasion of occupied Leogoth. Finding less resistance than expected, as the Epherian Empire had largely refocused its efforts to the conquest of east Aldera, the Crusade met great initial success. Even as Leogoth was reconquered, former king Geoff Arvait launched his own uprising against the Empire, leading the Iderum in a fiery campaign across Eaddovar with the stated aim of liberating the Principality. As the Iadrian Crusade spilled into Eaddovar and Bagram, Richard's forces began to encounter the Iderum; while Arvait and Navine remained deeply suspicious of one another, initial skirmishes would give way to a shaky peace between the two in the name of defeating Epheria. For over three years, Richard's Crusade continued with stunning success, beating the Epherians back again and again to the western borders of Midaria itself, the first Anderian victim of Epheria's brazen expansion.

In 733, with only Midaria remaining to reconquer, Richard made yet another bold gamble. After shattering the Imperial defenses at Muria Stronghold, the Dragon-King took a calculated risk: rather than a slow and grueling battle for the vast lands of the Outer Kingdom, he chose to directly assault the old Midarian capital of Artylos, the base of Epherian power in the region and a symbol of ancient Anderian culture. To do so, Richard force-marched his troops over desert to the Sestacia Oasis, the only true defensive position southwest of Artylos. What was meant to be a quick and easy victory, however, became Richard's greatest nightmare. At the Battle of Sestacia, Richard's elite vanguard did not find an unprepared skeleton garrison; rather, they were met with the full might of the Epherian Emirate of Metidos. Three Epherian armies, accompanied by elite magi and cataphracts, had arrived just before the King to reinforce the Oasis. The Battle was an utter disaster for Iadria, much of the Royal Guard, Navinian army and an entire Royal Legion destroyed in a single blow. Far worse, however, was the capture of its King. Richard, alongside his Chancellor Alton de Claevitall, were forced to surrender to the Imperials, whisked away to captivity on the shadowy isle of Epher. Iadria was left in chaos in the absence of its beloved Dragon-King; following a brief power struggle, Michael Valendel and Geoff Arvait would step in to take the power of their former enemy, joining with Duke Royce Harveld to form a regent Triumvirate.