When Freedom Rang (Shattered World)

[Jestor]

Even in the 21st century, no one knows for sure what lead to The Great Sundering, as it would come to be called. Some say the heavens erupted with wars between gods of renown and those thought dead or long-sleeping - a conflagration that spread to the world below. Others, less inclined to the mystical, believe a greater stratification of wealth and power lead to spontaneous revolutions whose fever spread throughout most of the Western world and into India. Certain people argue it was a glitch in the computer simulation of life and Earth.

Regardless of its cause, in 769, from Iceland to the Indian subcontinent, the future Russian steppes to Africa and everywhere in between, all higher systems of governance ceased to exist. The bonds of power that ensured dynastic continuity likewise dissolved, replaced by a worldwide adoption of elective principles (perhaps the intervention of ancient Greek deities?).

But that was not all. Just as the other ties that held society together, so too were the marriages of all the aristocracy annulled - part of the revolutionary spirit that swept the continents, argue a considerable number of academics. According to this school of thought (pardon the pun) the dream of the reforming idealists was that even the upper classes could finally marry for love and not for political considerations.

And so, the organizing principle of this strange new world became that of provincial rulers - what we term in English as Counts.

What came next history knows, but the people of that time did not.

This, then, is the story of a family, a province, after the Sundering....

****

Author Notes:
1. I have no idea if this is going to be History Book or Narrative.
2. There will be no contemporary framing story like I usually use (that seems to have fallen out of favor, and it'd be hard to replicate BG&HC success anyhow)
3. For those interested in the settings, see below:

 

[Jestor]

Ostfriesland on the North Sea was unique for two reasons: it was the last of the Frisian peoples who hewed to the Norse pantheon, and it was ruled by a woman. Already in middle age, Countess Erkenradis had a teen son and daughter, both past the age of majority. Little of import can be said of her reign. The only significant event of her reign was forcing Overijssel to be her tributary, which in turn led a pagan tribe to the east to conquer it, which in turn sparked religious revolt after religious revolt and resulted in a succession of different rulers in that troubled territory.

Nor can anything be said of her grandson, who inherited after her death. He drowned under suspicious circumstances when he was but a toddler. It wasn't until Erkenradis' last daughter, Liudburgis, an infant imbecile, that the story of the van Oudshoorns truly began.

During the lengthy regency period, Ostfriesland utilized a mercenary army to conquer bordering Friesland, representing the first lasting expansion in the North. Despite her dullness, Liudburgis studied hard under a succession of talented tutors - surprising everyone when she turned out to be slow at initial thought, but then shrewd, and ultimately a brilliant conversationalist. Upon reaching her majority, a long engagement to a khan's son became a marriage. Although he was 10 years her senior, he was also shrewd, and led the armies in the conquest of Overijssel. Liudburgis was immediately crowned Duchess of Gelre upon the signing of the peace treaty - making for a rapid expansion in under a decade.

The capital was also moved to Friesland after the Duchy's creation.

It looked to be a promising launch and the rise of a Great Power. But then the Duchess saw fit to bed the man who befriended her during her childhood, which led to an illegitimate daughter and, some say, her shocking mysterious death at the tender age of 23, her lover who was over 40 years her senior distraught.

And so her young son's lengthy regency began - a period that would bring both opportunity and trouble.

 

[stnylan]

Ah excellent.

 

[Jestor]

What was particularly interesting about the post-Sundering world in the late 8th and early 9th century was how few allies answered the call for each other's claims. This was also true in the Frisian Christian cultural lands on the North Sea, and it meant that both the Gelreans, who were Frisian and devoutly Norse, and the Saxon devotees of the same Scandinavian gods in Hadeln, were able to sweep through much of Frisian territory with little resistance, setting up the following stalemate in the later stages of the Second Regency (Gold for Gelre, Blue for Hadeln):

A multi-pronged war for Zeeland turned into a race that required the intervention of mercenaries, but with its capture (and subsequent hand-off to a Frisian Fratecelli noble), came the crown - after a few years of raiding to raise the money for a lavish coronation ceremony.

King Thiadbold lived for raiding. Outright conquest was of secondary interest to the joy of pillaging and securing swarms of gold. In fact, despite pleas from his council to wait until he had secured the kingdom's future with an heir, he insisted on having his army permanently raised and gathered. That did not stop him from collecting a concubine, however.

He might have continued in this manner, had his council not convinced him he could burnish his name in greatness by occupying all of the historical lands of Frisia. But they did, and by age 25, Thiadbold accomplished this feat, placing all eight of the Frisian lands under his domain. He'd also secured the family's power for the foreseeable future with a son and daughter.

Unfortunately, a black mark forever stained his name. Facing death on the battlefield against a bishop, in a moment of weakness, the young king saved his own life by giving up one of his vassals as prisoner of war. Although the mayor was later released, Thiadbold was ever after known as the Traitor.

As his matters were occupied with war, administration was left in the capable hands of the Council, who oversaw massive construction projects to increase Frisian wealth and military might. This focus on fighting would lead to a disastrous first attempt to sack wealthy Nice in the face of a superior army, which in turn fomented a civil war by vassals seeking to increase the power of the council. They had no commanders equal to the brilliant King, however, and his early 30s saw the seizure of assets and banishment of the rebels. Zeeland entered Thiabold's personal domain, while his eldest son was given Ostfriesland.

Following the crushed revolt, the king realized he would need to find some way of redeeming his reputation, and so his thoughts turned to spiritual matters. A great holder of Great Blots, he resolved to quest for the Norse holy lands. One such temple was already under his sway in Frisia, and so it merely took the shrewdness of his diplomats to forge claims on the two nearest sites. No one in the North could resist the massive Frisian army, and it was only the bureaucratic mechanics of justification that stalled the sweeping capture of the other sacred domains.

With those conquests would come the event that changed the religion of Odin, Thor, and company forever.

 

[Jestor]

Ah excellent.

Glad to see you as always, stnylan!

Note: Like many around here, I'll be on holidays until the latter part of next week. Won't have computer access whilst I'm away, so it'll be another week or so before the next update.

 

[stnylan]

Hinting at a reformation I wager there.

Happy Christmas.