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Personal history

Adventuring and Claiming Yaldresh


As a child, Andreas was not happy. His father held him to an incredibly high standard and pushed him hard to learn the trade of war and battle, grooming him to one way take rulership, but this was only one half of his misery. Andreas was always more interested in boys than girls, behavior which his father would not stand. He was continually put into new and more torturous training regimes, pushed further away from his family, and cut of from all friends he managed to make. As Andreas grew from a child into a young man, he despised his father, and he simply ran away. He met Ibrahim Tanin, travelling as a hero in Sceya, and the two travelled together as adventurers. These were some of the happiest days in Andreas' life, as he used his training and influence for good, to help the ordinary people of Sceya, rather than training to lord over them. His father had a bounty on his head for his capture at this time, but he was never apprehended by those who supported his father.


Together they travelled to Toirecíud, where they spent time alongside the Thunderbolts, fighting to protect Toirecíud from destruction at the hands of the Cult of Eternal Thirst. When Ibrahim's family were killed and he was called home to make war on the Mustarites, Andreas joined him. However, before travelling to Akshus, Andreas travelled to Highhammer. He snuck into the city and his family's Dragon Tower, where he climbed the steps to Yaldresh. Ever since the death of his brother Abraham at the hands of the Wolf Queen, his father had refused to grant either of his sisters the right to ride Yaldresh. Andreas met Yaldresh, and petitioned her to travel with him to Akshus. They agreed to fight and save his friend, and so Andreas rode south. Andreas had received some basic tutoring as a dragonrider on his own young dragon, but he found that Yaldresh was much more fierce and powerful, and he learned how to ride a greater dragon to devastating effect in the Storm War that followed.


Andreas' dragonriding was a central part to how the Ibrahimites managed to gain the upper hand, with him and Yaldresh protecting Ibrahimite trade caravans and crippling the movement of enemy forces. He could strike anywhere, at any time, and retreat far away before the Mustarites could form an attack. After a few years of war, Andreas had gone from happy-go-lucky adventurer to veteran commander and dragonrider, the very ideal of imperial nobility, and this idea of him spread far and wide.


Conquering Hero


Prince Andreas "the Handsome" returned to his home country from Akshus a great deal richer in experience, gold, magical treasure and with a dragon at his back. He had the love of all imperial citizens, and he knew that he would only have one chance to make his way in the world. He travelled to his father's court in Highammer, and he found that his father had a grudging respect for him. He explained his plan to finally conquer the Giantheights, a goal which his father had struggled with in the past 25 years.


His father, persuaded by Andreas' arguments and the advice of his councilors, allowed the prince to assemble an expeditionary force. The prince assembled a sizeable Sceyan Royal Army, and was supported by elements from the Whiesian Vasilikos Armi and duchess Nomulon Dynastos, rider of Talsalki, and her three sons, each riding gold dragons. This sizeable army, which included two adult dragons and three young dragons, was further supported by the Whiteshield Order of the Devotion Legion, a truly venerable and veteran order, led by the legendary Lord-Commander Yasuo Tomonaga, known as the Mighty.


The prince, who was made Supreme Commander of the East Sceyan Expedition, made war upon the fire giants of the Giantheights, and using his dragons to devastating effect, he pushed through the Giantheights and defeated Eldfjall Höfból in battle. He came all the way into East Sceya with his army, and took the Fire Giant stronghold of Irondeep for himself.


The War on the Fire Giants had been long and bloody, and the Fire Giants had not surrendered until they were completely broken and killed, and Andreas found that he had no wish to continue a bloody and genocidal campaign against the Damatír or the other Sceyan forces. In the end he elected to consolidate his gains in the north, and open the land for settlement by imperial veterans. Many Whiesians and Sceyans moved to East Sceya, and Andreas' name was lauded by both Faordaon and Kolathrell who were now safe from Fire Giant tyranny.


Duke Andreas ruled his new Duchy of East Sceya peacefully for many years, but tensions slowly grew more and more untenable, and the duke realized that he would have to conquer the rest of East Sceya as well. The imperial institutions slowly moved, but as the army was assembled in the west, disaster struck in Akshus and the duke was forced to come to the aid of his old friend in Akshus again.


He left his own duchy in the hands of his ward, Theodor Ari. After his war in Akshus, he raced back to East Sceya, as his lands had come under attack from the Damatír. When winter finally came to a close, he took his army, supported by the Order of the Ill Omen of the Vengeance Legion, over the mountains, riding Yaldresh. He was driven by anger as he burned the Damatír back to their forests and retook his lands, but he slowly grew more and more tired of the guerilla fights the Damatír forced upon him over the next two years.


He wanted peace, and he met with the leader of Free Sceya, Deidre, to negotiate a peace, where both forces would keep their military forces in their respective corner of East Sceya. This would give Andreas time to relax, and rebuild his forces after five long years in Akshus and two long years in guerilla warfare.


Peace in Our Time


The last fifteen years, the duke has worked hard to keep the peace with the Damatír, making compromises and navigating imperial internal politics to keep war away from his lands. However, he has also been expanding the economic potential of his region of East Sceya, which is the most populous and economically strong, and expanding his influence among Faordaon in the Neutral Territory by supporting missionaries and building schools. His most important peace-keeping work has been building up his Royal Sceyan Army regiments, by increasing the number of regiments in Irondeep, Highwall and Saltisle, and keeping his dragons in East Sceya. He believes that the Damatír will never attack if they do not believe they can sure a quick and decisive victory, and with a large number of imperial troops in East Sceya they will not make a move against his forces.

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Birthplace

Highhammer