Michael I of Iadria

## Michael I

Iadrian Portrait of the King (6A 734)

**King Michael I Valendel**, also styled as the **Lion of Edos** or the **Protector of the Crown**, was King of Iadria. He was scion of the House Valendel, descended from the Kings of the old Valen dynasty -- His ancestors ruled Iadria from 491 until 566, when King Andred II Valen gave up the throne to his relative Henry I Arvait, joining the Knights Jareche and devoting himself to the Faith. Michale originally served as Lord-Commander of the Knights himself before coming to power following the deposition of Richard I Navine. An uncompromisingly loyal follower of the Holy Crown and close friend of King Geoff III, Lord-Commander Valendel led the Knights Jareche in defense of Leogoth during the Epherian Invasion, and later fought as an ally to the King in the Navinian Rebellion of 6A 723. After the defeat of King Geoff by Richard I of Iadria, Valendel was removed from his position as Lord-Commander and sent to the Ucorian Reach to serve as a Knight-Captain in the ongoing border conflicts with the Epherian Empire. During his time in far eastern Iadria, Michael communicated with the exiled Geoff, who had come to lead the Iderum in guerrilla war against the Epherian occupation of the near-eastern Kingdoms; he also remained in constant contact with Gavin of Teldrin, his former squire and current Lord-Commander of Jareche.

When King Richard launched the Great Crusade, Michael fought loyally for the Iadrian cause, but nonetheless continued to consolidate the movement against Richard’s rule in secret. As a result of his great successes against Epheria while leading offensives in southern Leogoth and Baghram, Valendel was restored to his former position of Lord-Commander by the grateful King. While Michael harbored plans to restore Geoff Arvait to the throne, believing his deposal to have been unjust, Valendel was unaware that Arvait's bore no intention to retake the Iadrian throne, and instead sought to seat a faithful ally upon it while he consolidated control of Eaddovar. Following King Richard’s capture by Epherian forces in the aftermath of the disastrous Battle of Sestacia, Michael, Geoff, and Duke Royce Harveld of Blackbriar -- the most influential figures remaining in the Court -- assumed control of the Iadrian armies, forming an authoritarian Triumvirate in the absence of the King. Once over a year had passed and Richard had been declared dead by Epherian authorities, however, the shaky triumvirate proved insufficient to hold the warring Kingdom together. Under intense political pressure from the Iderum and Knights Jareche, and in the absence of a suitable Navinian heir, Michael Valendel was selected by the patriarchs of Leogoth as the heir to the Holy Crown. He was crowned in the Citadel of Light in 6A 734, a brief respite from years on campaign. While Valendel had assumed the Crown and the Triumvirate was technically at an end, Geoff Arvait and Royce Harveld continued to exercise immense power in warring Iadria; the latter continuing in his role of governing the home Duchies while the new King campaigned against the Epherians.

The year-long Triumvirate period saw a series of hard-fought yet succesful Epherian counteroffensives, the Empire reconquering liberated lands in Midaria and Medatha. With the political and military structure of Iadria, if slowly recuperating, still in disarray after Sestacia, the Triumvirs desperately sought allies, hoping to take back the initiative of the ongoing Crusade. Shortly after Michael's coronation, these efforts bore fruit; during the first month of Valendel's reign, a formal pact of friendship and rapprochement was formed with the Kingdom of Ilduvar. Soon, Ilduvaran forces had begun to arrive in Iadria en masse, where they were quickly directed to reinforce and stablize the wavering front to the east.