Argilla I

* Basic Info
* Relations
* Occupations

Died M3-28 31 ASB

Claysius I

Born M7-30 17 BSB

Died M10-19 48 ASB

Maya Basil

Born M9-29 16 BSB

Died M5-25 31 ASB

### Title(s)

Duke of Iron Lake:M8-08 12 BSB - M6-25 21 ASB (Independent M5-24 7 BSB - M5-29 16 ASB)

Leader of the Northern Rebellion:

M8-28 12 BSB - M8-12 3 BSB

Supreme commander of the Unified Clayistan Army:

M4-12 14 ASB - M5-29 16 ASB

King of Clayistan:

M5-29 16 ASB - M6-25 21 ASB

### Preceded By

Duke of Iron Lake:Declan Basil

Leader of the Northern Rebellion:

None, position created

Supreme commander of the Unified Clayistan Army:

None, position created

King of Clayistan:

None, position created

### Succeeded By

Duke of Iron Lake:Victory I

Leader of the Northern Rebellion:

None, position dissolved

Supreme commander of the Unified Clayistan Army:

Ethan Gilbert

King of Clayistan:

Victory I

**Argilla I** (born **Ebony Basil**), as the Duke of Iron Lake, was the leader of the Northern Rebellion of 12 BSB to 3 BSB, and later the Supreme Commander of the Unified Clayistan Army in the First Clayistria-Clayistan War. As a result, he became the founder and first King of Clayistan.

## Biography

### Early life (43 BSB - 12 BSB)

Ebony Basil was born on M1-04 43 BSB in the city of Jarnvattan to a government official named Declan Basil and his wife Kathleen Basil.

On M12-15 26 BSB Ebony married a Clay woman named Ella Wilson, she took the last name Basil.

On M9-06 23 BSB Ebony's father was appointed to the position of Native Governor of the Province of Iron Lake. On the night of M1-06 21 BSB, Ebony was outside when he spotted what he thought was a large comet with a spiraling tail flying over the region. On M1-20 21 BSB a report came in claiming that the Estuarian capital Aestuarium had been destroyed by the Empire of Shale's strike cannon. Many including Ebony's father and the province's Estuarian Governor Barchairi Splintle did not believe the report. The Empire of Shale arrived at Jarnvattan on M10-21 21 BSB. Upon their arrival Declan Basil and Barchairi Splintle ordered their forces to surrender, and subsequently their families were then placed in the prison of the Jarnvattan Fortress Prison. On M2-16 19 BSB, whilst imprisoned, Ebony Basil's wife gave birth to a son, who was named Victory Basil by Governor Splintle.

On M12-20 18 BSB the Empire of Shale declared their invasion over and placed a part of the continent under the control of native vassals and another part under the control of king Pied I of the Kingdom of Ryevornia as the region's Shale administrator, Jarnvattan was under the control of Pied I. On M12-27 18 BSB Pied I had the Basil family released and had Declan Basil made the duke of the Duchy of Iron Lake which held the territory of the former Province of Iron Lake. Ebony's second son Brett Basil was born on M7-30 17 BSB. Ebony's daughter Maya Basil was born on M9-29 16 BSB. Declan Basil died on M8-08 12 BSB Ebony Basil replaced him as the Duke of Iron Lake.

On M8-28 12 BSB Ebony Basil had Barchairi Splintle released to serve as a tutor for his sons, he decided against informing Pied I of his decision. Ebony Basil despised the way that Pied I ran the Clay lands, for example when a serious crime was committed the perpetrator was often executed this went against what was taught in the culture of the Clayistan region who's people believed that a life was worth more than petty vengeance and should only be taken in rightful combat. Ebony decided that he needed to take action against though he understood that if he outright opposed him he would either be stripped of his title or executed. On M8-28 12 BSB Ebony began training and guerilla fighters and sending them off to hassle Pied I and the Empire of Shale.

### Northern Rebellion (12 BSB - 3 BSB)

In order to make sure that the link between himself and his guerilla fighters remained unknown to the public Ebony Basil did three things. The first was that he had his fighters target anyone who was supporting Pied I's rule if he avoided those who also supported himself it would seem suspicious. The second thing he did was to send his fighters to other parts of the Clayistan region so it would appear as if it was a much larger rebellion that sprung up across the region and not one that was devised by a single man in an isolated location. The third thing that he did was to send a large group of his fighters to Elmhurst to and have them begin recruiting there he then ceased all communications with them, this was done to establish a secondary source of fighters that could not be linked back to him. On M12-24 12 BSB Pied I began referring to the fighters and their insurgency as the "Northern Rebellion" and demanded that his Dukes and Counts find a solution to the problem.

By early 7 BSB the Northern Rebellion had insurgents operating throughout every duchy in the Clayistan region though they had yet to capture any major government facilities which was due to Ebony's plan. On M2-05 7 BSB all of the Shale forces on the Soil Texture Continent began to depart from the continent and return to the Shale Continent leaving only Pied and his own soldiers in charge of the Eastern Regions, when Ebony learned of this he devised another plan. On M2-18 7 BSB Ebony traveled to the city of Fjorson to meet with Duke Wayne Henderson of Frothfryke. During their meeting Ebony Basil mentioned how great things were now that the Empire of Shale had retreated back to the Empire of Shale, Henderson agreed and Basil went on to bring up how better things might be if Pied I's men were no longer present Henderson agreed though deemed the chances of that to be near impossible, Basil told that it would be "very much possible" as "the majority of Pied I's men in the duchy were concentrated in the port town of Osilicat, as he said that a message came over the radio for Henderson that told him that the Northern Rebellion had seized control of the government facilities in Osilicat including the garrison. Henderson demanded that Basil tell him what he had to do with the capture of his port town and threatened to report him to Pied I, Basil retorted that if he did so he would have to admit that he too was talking of rebellion against Pied I and the Empire of Shale and such an action would constitute as treason, Henderson understood what Basil meant and asked him what it was that he wanted from him, Basil told him to launch an invasion of the Duchy of Vooncharia in the name of the Northern Rebellion and that he would occupy the southern most portions of the Duchy of Frothfryke to act as a buffer to prevent reinforcements from attacking through the Duchy of Pinevile Henderson agreed to the plan and Basil departed.

Wayne Henderson followed through with Basil's plan on M2-30 7 BSB when he invaded the Duchy of Vooncharia, Basil began occupying the southernmost portions of Frothfryke the day after. On M5-05 7 BSB a deal was struck between Duke Wayne Henderson of Frothfryke and Duke Gregory Benson of Vooncharia, the fighting would cease between the two and Benson would cede to Henderson a plot of land and agree to join the Northern Rebellion, the day following Benson launched an invasion of the Duchy of Pinevile. On M5-14 7 BSB Ebony Basil met with Duke Aiden Yoder of Sabbodo, during their conversation basil brought up the Duchy of Sabbodo's border with the Northern Rebellion supporting Duchy of Vooncharia and asked Yoder about his plans if they invaded and was informed that Yoder intended to align himself with the Northern Rebellion if that were to happen, Basil left later that day. On M5-15 7 BSB Basil's fighters took the port town of Burnia in the north of the Duchy of Sabbodo and as stated Aiden Yoder aligned his duchy with the Northern rebellion via launching an invasion of the Duchy of Pinevile.

On M5-23 7 BSB the Duchy of Iron Lake was invaded by the Duchy of North Vetchinia, Ebony Basil sent his forces to hold off the invaders, on M5-24 7 BSB Basil determined that he did not have enough forces to defeat the Duchy of North Vetchinia and declared his support of the Northern Rebellion and called upon his guerilla fighters in his duchy to aid him, the day after the Northern Rebellion forces operating out of Elmhurst declared their allegiance to the Duchy of Iron Lake. On M5-25 7 BSB Ebony forbade his mother from leaving the city. On M7-10 7 BSB the Duchy of Terracotta declared their allegiance to the Northern Rebellion and invaded the Duchy of North Vetchinia.

On M2-20 5 BSB the Duchy of Pinevile was completely overrun by the Duchy of Vooncharia who promptly launched an invasion of the Duchy of North Vetchinia to support his allies in the Northern Rebellion. On M7-15 5 BSB the Emperor of Shale were captured by the Emperor's vassals, four days later the Duchy of North Vetchinia surrendered and joined the Northern Rebellion albeit with much less of its initial territory. Ebony Basil attended the conference in Osilicat which lasted from M8-12 4 BSB to M9-10 where the situation of Clayistan following the Northern Rebellion was decided. The last forces who supported Pied I were defeated in eastern Clayistan on M8-11 3 BSB, a day later the independent duchies now numbering twelve recognized each other's independence and the end of the Northern Rebellion.

### Peace time (3 BSB - 12 ASB)

On M10-14 3 BSB, Ebony Basil appointed Fritz Sonne to be the Secretary of Iron Lake.

On M4-17 4 ASB Maya Basil informed her Ebony that she had no intention to marry into a noble house, and that she wanted to help him manage the duchy. Ebony agreed with his daughter's decision but did not make her an official advisor choose to use her as an unofficial advisor.

On M7-04 7 ASB the Kingdom of Clayistria invaded the Duchy of North Vetchinia and the Duchy of Jianshore, Ebony Basil along with his fellow former leaders of the Northern Rebellion condemned the invasion though all opted against military action due to certainty that Clayistria would win against any singular duchy. The Duchy of North Vetchinia surrendered to Clayistria on M8-30 7 ASB and the Duchy of Jianshore surrendered on M9-23 7 ASB.

On M5-20 9 ASB Ebony's second born son Brett Basil married a woman named Sofia Yoder who was the niece of Duke Aiden Yoder, this made Argilla I realize that his second born son despite being a son of the most powerful Duke in Clayistan had no titles to his name and would not leave much of a legacy so on M9-13 9 ASB Ebony declared the creation of the County of Osilicat and declared Brett its count.

On M6-27 12 ASB the Kingdom of Clayistria launched an invasion of both the Duchy of Eastpike and the Duchy of Iron Lake.

### Clayistria invasion (12 ASB - 16 ASB)

*Main article: First Clayistria-Clayistan War*

On the day of the invasion Basil appealed to his fellow dukes to send aid and much like the 7 ASB invasion they all declined in favour of simply condemning the invasion. On M6-30 12 ASB three days after the initial invasion Basil's scouts summitted to Basil a report detailing their current estimate of Clayistria's forces the report showed that the force was only enough to guarantee the capture the Duchy of Iron Lake if none of their forces within the other duchies were deployed, Basil then began recalling his overseas forces to his capital save for those operating out of Greater Elmhurst who he had sent to the capital of the Duchy of Eastpike following a quick briefing of his plan with Duke Ethan Gilbert of Eastpike. On M7-24 12 ASB Ebony Basil who had yet to deploy any of the forces that he had withdrawn to the capital ordered them to march against Clayistria, at the same time Ethan Gilbert had the forces from Elmhurst march against Clayistria. The combined forces Eastpike and Iron Lake pushed the Clayistrian forces well over the pre-war lines of control and on M8-03 12 ASB in an attempt to capitalize on the recent victories the Duchy of Vooncharia declared war on the Kingdom of Clayistria and began sending their forces to support the Duchy of Iron Lake, this was followed on M8-08 12 ASB with the Duchy of Terracotta joining the war against Clayistria and by M2 of 13 ASB all of the independent duchies of Clayistan were moving against Clayistria (this did not include the two independent duchies based in the Purple Isles).

By 14 ASB the advance of Basil and his allies had slowed down and in some areas been pushed back, this was due to the lack of unity between the various armies, a conference was held in Jarnvattan on M4-04 14 ASB to address the issue, the conference concluded on M4-12 14 ASB it resulted in the formation of the Unified Clayistan Army (UCA) which had Ebony Basil as its supreme commander and the various dukes as its field marshals.

A ceasefire was negotiated between the duchies and Clayistria on M1-22 16 ASB, the issue then came up on how to divide the land that was presently occupied by the UCA, the debate lasted over four months and ended on M5-28 16 ASB when the dukes came to an agreement. The UCA would be split in two with one half continuing to serve as the UCA and the other half being further split in seven, two sevenths would be given to the Duchy of Iron Lake and the remining five sevenths would be distributed to the other duchies save for the Duchy of Eastpike. Ebony Basil would resign as the supreme commander of the UCA in favour of Ethan Gilbert, Basil would then become one of the UCA's field marshals to replace Ethan Gilbert. All eight independent duchies would cease to be independent and would unify into the Kingdom of Clayistan with Ebony Basil serving as the first King of Clayistan, the duchies from that point on would be Clayistan's internal regions. The agreement took into effect the next day, Basil chose the regnal name Argilla I after the Estuarian Emperor who created the position of Native Governor.

### King of Clayistan (16 ASB - 21 ASB)

The first thing that Argilla I did as the King of Clayistan was dealing with the vast amounts of UCA occupied territory, he gave each of Clayistan's original dukes approximately half of the captured treasures of the region divided evenly amongst themselves he then put relatives of the ousted internal rulers in charge of the new regions. On M6-03 16 ASB Argilla I had his firstborn son Victory Basil forced out of his active military duties to serve in Jarnvattan as Clayistan's heir apparent, Argilla I intended to train him himself on how to rule though agreed to have Barchairi Splintle under the advice of Victory. The distribution of the UCA occupied territory was completed on M6-11 16 ASB.

On M5-16 18 ASB Argilla I established the Church of Clayistainis to serve as the governing body for the religion called Clayistainis which up until that point lacked centralized management. Argilla I also took the opportunity to incorporate some of the gods of the Ceram into the pantheon.

Argilla I died on M6-25 21 ASB of heart failure.

## See Also

* King of Clayistan
* Kingdom of Clayistan
* Jarnvattan
* Victory I