Vedius Yvianregus, King of Dubris

To your bravery, mercy and virtue I drink, oh mighty king, oh pale death of the barbarians, oh hero of our people, by the gods blessed, by enemies feared, by friends and allies respected. Let me sing about your deeds and about your glory, thousands were saved by your swords and many more died by it too.
Oh mighty king of golden cuirass and silver graves, of fast brown horse, and lord of a fearless dragon, to your deeds we look for inspiration in this fight of our nation for restoring our glory, our lands, our Empire.

— Ebraucus the Bard in his poem "Dragon King" ca. 626 AP

Flavius Vedius, also known as Yvianregus in blatian, meaning Dragon King, is a symbol of blatian courage, piety and fighting spirit against the barbarian northerners, he has become legend among this illustrious people and bards have composed many poems and epic sagas, some more accurate than others, telling the live and deeds of this great king.

Origins

Flavius Vedius, the future Vedius Yvianregus, was born in 530 AP in the city of Dubris. He was the eldest son of king Mauricius I of Dubris and he was the grandson of Flavius Coilus, first king of Dubris and last Protector of the North (the military governor of the northern frontier of the Ikarian Empire) appointed by the last Ikarian Emperor, Arcadius VII in 430 AP just after he had taken power.
A great festival was organized in the city when he was born, and its said that the day he was born, a supernova was seen in the skies that lasted 7 months as was at bright as the moon during night time. Truly a sign of greatness. The young prince of Dubris was raised as a true Blatian prince, as a warrior, a politician and a cultivated man, and with the constant reminder of the fall of the imperial capital of Ikaria 60 years earlier to the barbarian coalition of Crorai, Nords and Western Nomads. One of the most important figures in his life, apart for his father, the wise and brave king Mauricius was his mother, Poppea, the daughter of king Glaerius II of the kingdom of Bovoria, another great Blatian king of the North, from her it was said, Vedius learned poetry and inherited her kindness.

A legendary meeting in the forest

One day, the story says, 9 years old Vegus went into the forest trying to chase a rabbit with his bow. He went deep into the forest and failed to capture the animal, but he instead discovered an egg of a Dragon Bird that was about to hatch, but somehow the baby dragon bird had some difficulties breaking the egg, so carefully Vegus helped him hatching the egg and as he found no sight of the mother or father, he took the young animal with him. When he arrived back to the city and the royal palace he was heavily reprimanded by his father but he mother, upon seeing the dragon bird, felt petty for him and, despite king Mauricius ordered the dragon to be either slain or returned to the forest, the Queen convinced him to let Vegus keeping him as a pet.
He named this dragon bird as Pyrax, because he had yellow and red feathers that resemble fire, and according to Blatian mythology these types of dragon birds with feathers of these colours resembling fire were under the protection of Pyra, the goddess of Fire and Volcanoes. As years passed the young prince managed to domesticate this creature earning the respect of both his subjects and the members of the court. Wherever the young prince would go, Pyrax followed him and played with him.

by Callyxtus with heroforge

Teenage years and proclamation as king

When he was 16 years old, and according to the old customs of the Ikarians, Vegus became a military tribune and accompanied his father Mauritius on campaigns against other Blatian Kingdoms and the barbarian kingdoms of the northern territories of the old Ikarian Empire. Of course the young prince was always accompanied by his Dragon Bird Pyrax. He took part in the Second Albinian War alongside his father fighting in a coalition of Oronai, Blatians and Snow Elves against the barbarians who tried to conquer the kingdom of Bovoria, the ancestral lands of his mother. There he also made an special friendship.

Two titans meet

It was during this war, when, in the capital city of Bovoria, two kings and two princes met on the throne room of king Glaerius II. Magas the great, the Oronai conqueror of teh Sephenian Empire and his youngest son, Boros had come to the rescue of king Glaerius as the Oronai had been influencing Bovorian politics since the past century. Magas had just ended the nomad threat in the western provinces of his empire and thought this war would be an excellent opportunity to project his power into the Blatian world and also it would be a nice opportunity for the young prince to acquire military experience.
Mauricius also had similar goals. While the Blatian Empire was recovering for the first siege of its capital in 512, Dubris had become under his rule as the most powerful Blatian state in the Kallian Plains, and because of its alliance with Bovoria, the king was thinking on making this realm a vassal and then securing its northern borders.
The war lasted one year but during it both Boros and Vedius, who had almost the same age, trained and fought together and talked about many subjects like history, poetry and philosophy forging a friendship that would last all their lives. They didn't know at that time but they were destined to be some of the greatest monarchs and generals in Yeia's history. And after this war, they continued to exchange letters until Boros's death in 596 AP.
In 554 AP both princes met again in Phagias as Vedius was sent to Oronia as ambassador of King Mauricius. It was the last time both friends saw each other. One year later, Vedius would have to return in a hurry to his homeland, his live was about to change... .

The King is dead, long live the king!

In 555 AP king Mauricius of Dubris was slain at the battle of Padarn Fields by king Anson of Gleginia alongside 1500 men. The kingdom was in disarray. Vedius quickly travelled back to Dubris to be crown as king of Dubris. After this battle the barbarians from Gleginia had crossed the border and began pillaging the villages on their way to Dubris. The young king then submit his troops. Most were local men from the cities of the kingdom that had received decent military training, while a small part of his army, was composed of proper Blatian legionaries, heavily armed, professional and disciplined troops, who fought like the legions of the old Empire. He set a trap to the barbarians allowing them to attack what they thought would be the bulk of the Dubrian army marching across the valley meanwhile he would move his cavalry to a position behind the enemy lines and strike them from behind.

by Callyxtus with Heroforge

That battle became legend, and Vedius first military victory, the battle of Misty hill. 20.000 barbarians were repelled by 9600 Blatians. In that battle king Anson was slained and the death of Mauricius avenged. only 4500 enemies managed to return to their homeland. It was also the first battle in which he fought alongside Pyrax, yes, you heard well, the dragon bird also participated in the battle jumping upon both horses and cavalrymen. The sight of the young king of Dubris and his core of elite cavalrymen alongside his red dragon became a terrible sight for their enemies and as an ore inspiring sight for the Blatians. After this battle his troops gave him the nickname "Dragon King".

The Dragon King takes the initiative

Anson's brother, Olfa, was acclaimed king of Gleginia, and he dedicated the next 20 years of his life increasing his army promising himself to avenge his brother's death and parade the head of the King of Dubris across all the barbarian held territories. In the meantime, Vedius was also doing the same but also building alliances. He married princess Atia of Cloudia in 557 AP and what seemed like a political marriage turned to be a happy marriage. Atia gave him 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls. Of the boys, Vedius was fonder of his eldest son, Valerian, and he also had a very special relation with his youngest daughter Camilia. In 574 AP Valerian was named governor of the city of Vicrinium in north-Western Dubris. Two months after his appointment reports came to the court about a great Gleginian army commander by non-other than Olfa himself.
Again, the king gathered his army, now numbered 30.000 men and let the strong 60.000 army of Olfa to travel across Sword Valley and besiege Vicrinium. Two weeks after the siege began (and knowing that his son would resist in the strong defended settlement) the King of Dubris attacked the hill where the besieging army was located. This battle also became legend. In Blatian Chronicles is known as the battle of Grassy Hill, or the battle of the trap. The amount of projectiles launched by the blatians of Dubris forced Olfa and his men to come down the hill and face the Blatian army, believing their numbers will gave them the advantage. He was wrong, the disciplined blatian troops formed a shield wall that their troops couldn't break, not even his elite guard, the" Masked Ones", who came face to face with the elite of the Dubrian army, the "Champions of Dubris", the bravest of all the legions of the kingdom, who cut them to pieces. Panic soon spread, Olfa tried to rally out his men but suddenly Vedius again appeared from behind accompanied by 15.000 horsemen and his dragon bird, Pyrax, the result...well dear reader, was an slaughter, chronicles say that of this 60.000 men, only 1000 returned to Gleginia, and it would take a century and more migrations from the Nord homeland in the Icy north to recover. One of this 1000 was king Olfa himself, whom son, Ethelric was captured during the battle. Vedius spared his life and sent him back home with a letter who said

You wanted to parade my head through the northern realms, I could have done the same with your son but civilized kings don't kill kids

During the next 10 years, Vedius continued to score more victories, like the battle of the Pharus river against the Blatian kingdom of Lontium or the battle of Cyr Leginon against the Nords of the kingdom of Astrasia. This last battle was the last battle Pyrax fought alongside his master, he died a month later of old age. His body was buried and above it a temple dedicated by the king to the goddess Pyria was built that today still stands.

Rest of his reign

After this long period of wars Vedius spend the rest of his life trying to be a good ruler for its people. He distributed land among the poor classes, he resettled blatians who had fled from the barbarians in the cities and villages of his kingdom, he invited bards from across the Blatian world to his court and many of them wrote poems and epics describing his victories in war. He also invited sages and philosophers from Blati to teach his sons and daughters, it was a golden age for Dubris. Although the king spent more time in his other residence, the castle of Cyr Leginon, an impressive fortification north of Dubris. Sadly, for him, Valerian died in 580 AP when he fell from his horse while hunting and hitting his head with a rock, a very sad and unfortunate event. He then proclaimed his son, Numerian as heir to the throne. It was during this later years of his reign that the influence of the The Blatian Empire grew in the Kallian Plains and, despite his marriage to a Cloudian princess, he began to look to Blati as the ethnically Blatian Empire to ally with (something that, in the end, even after his death, proved him right).
In 599 Gleginia invaded Dubris again, and many people thought that after years of peace Vedius had become weaker. But the old Dragon King had his last laugh at the battle of Venta Esunum when he fought alongside the Vodini tribe of the Snow Elves against a now adult and king Ethelric and his son Ethewald. The result was again a crushing Dubrian and Snow elf victory that witnessed the last cavalry charge of the Dragon King. Both Ethelric and his son were captured, but were spared again by Vedius who treated them with kindness, even having dinner with them after the battle and let them return safely to their realm. Two years later, Vedius died in his bed, on a sunny summer morning, in his royal chambers of the palace of Cyr Leginon. His body was then put on a chariot and returned in a procession from there to Dubris, passing through most of the villages between both settlements; every villager came to see and pay his last respects to their mighty king. 49 years later, Dubris was peacefully annex by the Blatian Empire becoming the Province of Dubris, ruled by a Duke. But the legend of Vedius and his victories survived in the memory of all the Blatians thanks to the thousands of poems written by the bards, and also by the propaganda made by the Imperial family of Blati, who descends from him via his granddaughter Rea, who married the Blatian Emperor Claudius VII.

The White Knight

Well... you probably think that Vedius's cavalry charge at the battle of Venta Esunum was his last one... and you 'll be right. He was his last cavalry charge ...alive. You see, at the battle of Mimomech in 833 AP, fought between the Blatian Empire and the Kingdom of the Crorai some legionaries affirm that one of the wizards of the army was able to cast a spell known as the Spirit's Call, who was also casted at the battle of the Oronai gates some months earlier that saw Magas the Great and Boros The Conqueror coming back from the realm of the dead to lead a last charge helping the Oronai armies against the Crorai.
This very same reports affirm that the same happened at Mimomech and the soul that returned from the heavenly realm was none other than Vegus, his dragon Pyrax and his elite bodyguards all dressed in white armour and white tunics, that appeared from nowhere and charged against the crorai rear and after that waving at the blatians who were witnessing that event they disappeared.

The Dragon, a new symbol

Pyrax became such a symbol for Vedius's men, that the standards of his army were designed as a dragon with a body and tail made of red cloth that seemed to roar as the wind passed through the mouth of the dragon. This standard was designed for frightening the enemy and its design was copied by all the Blatian armies across the former territories of the Ikarian Empire. It was because of that, that in the realm of the Nords, the armies of Vegus and the rest of the Blatians were also known as the Armies of the dragons.

Ethnicity

The Blatians

Life

530 AP 601 AP 71 years old

Belief/Deity

Ikarian Religion