BSG | Kingdom
History
The Kingdom was once a patchwork collection of squabbling fiefdoms, ignored by the rest of the world as too war-torn and bloody-minded to bother invading. Each of the regions used to be its own kingdom, with its own long lineage of kings, and they all despised each other.
That all changed 350 years ago, when King Arald Bladesong the Great embarked on his Decade of Conquest. In ten blood-soaked years, he conquered all the regions, slaughtered all their Kings, and brought them all together under one throne for the first time. After a few months of peace proved unbearable for him, he promptly launched an invasion against the Republic of Kirth across the sea, and drowned - along with half his fleet - in a sudden thunderstorm.
Against all odds, though, the newly-forged Kingdom didn’t immediately fall apart. Arald's only heir was a daughter, Queen Alma Bladesong the Wise. She faced several rebellions as soon as she took the throne, but managed to put them all down with a combination of shrewd military strategy and savvy diplomacy. After that, she reigned for 60 long years, consolidating the Kingdom. She was advised by a Grand Committee, the precursor to the modern Council - they were made up from Nobles across the Kingdom, but their role was purely advisory rather than binding and they seldom took formal votes.
After Queen Alma died peacefully in bed, she was succeeded by a long line of monarchs who wielded their unlimited power much less wisely. For the next 200 years, the Kingdom lurched from crisis to crisis, including a number of major wars.
By the end of this two-century period, there were dozens of possibly-legitimate heirs to the throne and hundreds of Nobles with powerful grievances against the monarchy. This all culminated in the Succession Wars, a rapid series of short but intense civil wars which dominated the Kingdom for the better part of two decades.
Finally, a conclusive victor emerged from the chaos: Queen Eiga II, known to history as the Reconciliator. The Succession Wars had seen the various Regions at odds with each other once again, and a lasting peace seemed impossible. Queen Eiga II Bladesong rewrote the constitution to engineer a solution that has endured to this day - the Kingdom's Council, a voting body of the most prominent Nobles in the land. The Council’s constitutional powers include the power to vote on the Monarch’s decisions and, if the Monarch dies before securing an Heir, to choose the successor. The Reconciliator ruled for 20 years before being struck down by illness.
First reigning family was the Bladesong Dynasty, starting with King Arald Bladesong's descendant King Calimaco Bladesong.
- BSG | Alma Bladesong
- BSG | Arald Bladesong
- BSG | Arald III Bladesong
- BSG | Calimaco Bladesong
- BSG | Calimaco II Bladesong
- BSG | Callie Bladesong
- BSG | Devina Bladesong
- BSG | Eiga II Bladesong
- BSG | Isabella Bladesong
- BSG | Johnny Horsewheels
- BSG | Leopold Weeb
- BSG | Regnar Bladesong
- BSG | Rupert Bladesong
- BSG | Tymeon Bladesong
- BSG | Tymeon II Bladesong
- BSG | Tymeon III Bladesong
