Ephremere
Baldwin I was rewarded with land and title in the newly forming kingdom of Maine. Baldwin accepted these with no reservations (some claim that Baldwin’s descendants still have rights to these properties) and settled into a life of retirement, far from the wages of war. He took a wife, Bromwyn a beautiful woman of the northern people, and soon he got her with child.
In those days, men said that the Lord Knight Baldwin lived a life twice blessed. His wife, with her last breath, gave birth to his daughter, Ephremere, the Wonder of the World. Into this child the world surrendered all its strength, its wisdom, and its beauty. People marveled at her. Then Baldwin saw the unicorn.
In Baldwin’s failing years he was befriended by the Forest Lord, the Val Tulmiph DALADON, who himself waged a bitter war against the Dark. Daladon visited Baldwin often, for he loved the old man greatly, and too, he knew of the unicorn. He promised the old king that he would lend aid and guide his daughter, Ephremere, as much as he could.
Ephremere, innocent in those days, failed to see the signs of her father’s death. She became enamored with the ranger lord and flattered herself that he loved her as well. Theirs is a strange tale, but suffice it to say another held Daladon’s heart, and he could not see Ephremere in any light but as the daughter of his friend.
Seeing the danger that lay ahead for the young land of Aachen, whose king lay dying with no heir but a woman-born, Daladon sought council in the wood. At last he understood why the unicorn presented himself before Baldwin, for through his daughter, the fey might rise in the world after Winter’s Dark.
Many years ago, Unklar slew the unicorn’s mare and the stallion alone had remained. In Ephremere was placed a trove of the ancient world’s magic, its power, and with her the worlds of Fairie and Aihrde hung entwined. It had never been Baldwin’s fate to see the unicorn again, but his daughter’s alone. Daladon brought the young woman to the forest deeps and summoned the unicorn. Through his ensorcellements the stallion bound itself to her line and the two lines lived on in her son, Baldwin II, and a new breed of unicorn. On the forest floor where the two bound there grew an abundance of winter roses, those flowers
of magical yore.
As the union came to completion, Baldwin the king breathed his last. The tales relate how many a man and woman saw Baldwin on the day of his passing, how he passed through the castle gates, looking younger than ever he had before, and riding upon the back of a great stallion that moved like the wind. The king laughed, they said. Whether these tales hold any truth, none may now say. With Baldwin’s passing, Ephremere became queen. She relied much on Daladon, for almost immediately her throne came under attack. The orc lords and ungern chieftains of IERGAUL came
south, plundering with much slaughter. They rolled over much of King THEODAHAD's realm of EISENHEIM and into Aachen. King Theodahad raised his armies, and uniting with Ephremere, drove back the enemy,
eventually laying siege to Iergaul but failing to break its walls.
The next decade played witness to the continued struggle between that powerful city-state, the two kingdoms, and others besides. Ephremere sent men to the BATTLE OF OLENSK and afterward to the BATTLE OF LUNEBERG PLAINS and the BATTLE OF THE GREAT TREE where her only daughter, ELISA, fell at the hands of COBURG the Undying, and where her spirit wanders the TOTEN FIELDS.
Eventually Ephremere became a warrior queen of great renown and often led her knights and many barbarians from Eisenhiem into battle. Ephremere ruled a land of independent peasants, Northmen, and knights. She followed her father’s example and doled out much of the land to her loyal knights, anointing them with titles of baron and lord, but she admonished them all to treat the people kindly and to molest them as little as possible. She passed several ordinances giving the peasants the right to move where they would and to buy land if they possessed the money. She also sanctified the worship of Wenefar and Daladon, much to the joy of her nobles, for all but a few worshiped the unicorn that is sacred to both those Val Eahrakun.
After her long reign ended, she was laid to rest next to her father in the crypts below Aachen.
Species
Ethnicity
Life
1100
1170
70 years old
Circumstances of Death
Age
Birthplace
Kingdom of Maine
Place of Death
Aachen
Children
Sex
Female
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations
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