Coln II
Coln II Montessard was King of Narva and @Corvinium from 319 to 338 FY. It was during his reign that the Agate War between Narva and the Empire of Ul, aided by funds from Qafran merchant princes, took place.
Succeeding his uncle, Edras III, Coln was nearly fifty when he took the throne. At the time Edras' predecessor, his elder brother Uswalt II, died, Uswalt's son Coln was considered too young to inherit the crown, and Edras managed to wrangle his way from regent to monarch by way of careful alliances and an unorthodox leveraging of Narvan succession law. While his rule was never truly challenged, Edras did panic the realm by neither marrying nor producing any heirs of his own, a situation that seems to have inspired Prince Coln to sire at least a dozen children, legitimate and otherwise, before his fortieth year.
When the Agate War began in the fifth year of his reign, Coln began calling on allies from the eastern coast of Bresas to aid him, making the case that Ul would not stop at his own domain if it acquired a taste for expansion. He was persuasive enough that the Principality of Esk and a handful of the River Duchies rallied to the fight, intercepting Ulian fleets and preventing a great deal of the conflict from reaching Corvinium's shores. This was successful enough that by the time the Ulian navy was able to launch an all-out invasion of Corvinium in the spring of 330, it was reliant on Egrean mercenaries (paid for with Qafran gold) to make up half of its fighting force.
This was likely a fatal miscalculation, as Coln and his generals were able to invoke Corvinium's history as an outpost of the Acrean Empire to inspire levies within the city to take up arms. On the night of the invasion, Coln himself donned armor and personally led his army - royal troops and roused townsfolk alike - at the city's southern tip. "I am not a young king," he said, "and we are not a young realm. But we have lasted centuries as a free people, and our freedom will not see its last tonight. This citadel will not bend the knee to a ragged band of pirates, and least of all to the sons of Acrepolis whose yoke we shattered when the gods were young." It was an effective speech, and Corvinium successfully repelled its would-be invaders, effectively ending the war. Within a few years, the district where that battle was fought was renamed Coln's Point, securing his place in the city's memory as a hero and defender of its fredom and spirit.
Coln's reputation as a respected figure in Corvinian history persists, even in an age when its royal years as the seat of Narva are not remembered with much affection. Of all the Narvan kings, Coln II is the one even most anti-royalists might think somewhat fondly of. However, it bears noting that, outside of this scene, Coln was something of a middling statesman. He made nothing of the allegiances he had forged in the Agate War, and badly mismanaged the Narvan territories such that the agate mines in Orrinshire - the ostensible target of Ul's aggression - ended up in the control of Qafran trade companies after all. Some historians have argued that it was Coln's errors that laid the groundwork for the Birchwood and Onion rebellions decades later, which sparked the civil conflict that would eventually doom the kingdom, and they make a compelling case.
Coln II died at the age of 68 of what medical historians suspect to be St. Porfrey's rheum. He was succeeded by his son Uswalt III Montessard, who followed his namesake grandfather in dying not long after taking the throne and causing a brief dispute over the proper line of succession. Nonetheless, almost all the remnants of the Montessard dynasty still living owe their lineage directly to Coln's fecundity, which seems to have at least produced the hardiest branch of the formerly royal family tree.
A statue of Coln II in armor decorates the main square in Coln's Point, one of the few celebratory remnants of Corvinium's royal years to have survived. His sepulchre occupies a massive block of polished granite, inlaid with agates, in the second-largest park in Little Grove.
Succeeding his uncle, Edras III, Coln was nearly fifty when he took the throne. At the time Edras' predecessor, his elder brother Uswalt II, died, Uswalt's son Coln was considered too young to inherit the crown, and Edras managed to wrangle his way from regent to monarch by way of careful alliances and an unorthodox leveraging of Narvan succession law. While his rule was never truly challenged, Edras did panic the realm by neither marrying nor producing any heirs of his own, a situation that seems to have inspired Prince Coln to sire at least a dozen children, legitimate and otherwise, before his fortieth year.
When the Agate War began in the fifth year of his reign, Coln began calling on allies from the eastern coast of Bresas to aid him, making the case that Ul would not stop at his own domain if it acquired a taste for expansion. He was persuasive enough that the Principality of Esk and a handful of the River Duchies rallied to the fight, intercepting Ulian fleets and preventing a great deal of the conflict from reaching Corvinium's shores. This was successful enough that by the time the Ulian navy was able to launch an all-out invasion of Corvinium in the spring of 330, it was reliant on Egrean mercenaries (paid for with Qafran gold) to make up half of its fighting force.
This was likely a fatal miscalculation, as Coln and his generals were able to invoke Corvinium's history as an outpost of the Acrean Empire to inspire levies within the city to take up arms. On the night of the invasion, Coln himself donned armor and personally led his army - royal troops and roused townsfolk alike - at the city's southern tip. "I am not a young king," he said, "and we are not a young realm. But we have lasted centuries as a free people, and our freedom will not see its last tonight. This citadel will not bend the knee to a ragged band of pirates, and least of all to the sons of Acrepolis whose yoke we shattered when the gods were young." It was an effective speech, and Corvinium successfully repelled its would-be invaders, effectively ending the war. Within a few years, the district where that battle was fought was renamed Coln's Point, securing his place in the city's memory as a hero and defender of its fredom and spirit.
Coln's reputation as a respected figure in Corvinian history persists, even in an age when its royal years as the seat of Narva are not remembered with much affection. Of all the Narvan kings, Coln II is the one even most anti-royalists might think somewhat fondly of. However, it bears noting that, outside of this scene, Coln was something of a middling statesman. He made nothing of the allegiances he had forged in the Agate War, and badly mismanaged the Narvan territories such that the agate mines in Orrinshire - the ostensible target of Ul's aggression - ended up in the control of Qafran trade companies after all. Some historians have argued that it was Coln's errors that laid the groundwork for the Birchwood and Onion rebellions decades later, which sparked the civil conflict that would eventually doom the kingdom, and they make a compelling case.
Coln II died at the age of 68 of what medical historians suspect to be St. Porfrey's rheum. He was succeeded by his son Uswalt III Montessard, who followed his namesake grandfather in dying not long after taking the throne and causing a brief dispute over the proper line of succession. Nonetheless, almost all the remnants of the Montessard dynasty still living owe their lineage directly to Coln's fecundity, which seems to have at least produced the hardiest branch of the formerly royal family tree.
A statue of Coln II in armor decorates the main square in Coln's Point, one of the few celebratory remnants of Corvinium's royal years to have survived. His sepulchre occupies a massive block of polished granite, inlaid with agates, in the second-largest park in Little Grove.
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