You always felt something interesting when you read the High Queen's Notes, it was probably because of the fact that the High Queen left her notes to her successor which meant that there would be, in theory, a smooth succession between her reign and your's, it was something that made you think that even in her winter years, she was still smart enough to know that a newly crowned High Queen would have a hard time.
Anyway, in terms of what you found, there was an interesting passage on the Kingdom of Sheyethen and, more importantly, their civil war, it states
The Long-Term Cause of the Civil War was a feeling of alienation between the richer nobility of the Northern Half of the Kingdom and the pious Southern Half, both sides struggled to come to terms with the other which lead to the Southern portions of the Kingdom to request greater autonomy from the King of Sheyethen, King Peter the Wise, the man did grant them this autonomy on one condition, that a viceroy was to be placed in the Southern Duke's Court in order to make sure that nothing that would be deemed traitorous would take place.
In terms of the Short-Term Causes, there are several, the most prominent being the reforms of King Peter, the man was a believer in full gender equality and pushed through many reforms to make this true, however, in the Southern Half of the Kingdom, these reforms were seen as heretical and they heightened tensions between the two groups, furthermore, evidence does suggest that the reforms were never even enacted in the southern parts of the realm.
The incident that led to the outbreak of the war is an odd one, it is alleged that a minor northern noble and a southern priestess were meeting up at a manor one night and got into a religious debate, this debate devolved into fighting, neither side is sure which one started it, but the Southerners saw the 'assault on a priestess' as the final straw and declared the King to be forsaken by the Goddess, this was simultaneously followed by uprisings across the Southern Half of the Kingdom, however, it should be noted that the rebels were expecting more support based on the fact that oe of the rebel leaders, (then) Countess Constance remarked that she thought there would be more in her host.
it was an interesting read, there was also a passage on the Current Divisions, written in much more refined handwriting, saying:
The reason for the current divisions are as follows:
- Firstly, despite the fact that the war ended two decades ago, both sides continue to conduct border raids on the other, this keeps the hostilities fresh in the minds of the people and the soldiery.
- Secondly, both sides recognise themselves as the true successor to the Kingdom, with the Southern Half proclaiming that they are the faithful and they saved the Kingdom from a heretical ruler. While the Northern Half proclaims that their King was martyred for his reforms and that the actions of Zealots should never go unpunished.
- Thirdly, The leaders of both sides, Queen Susan of the North was the wife of the late King Peter and thus has a reason for her bitter hatred, the only problem being that this hatred trickles down into the nobility, further fuelling the divisions, her daughter might very well be just another Susan for the opinions the girl holds. While the Queen of the South, Constance, feels that the uprising did not go far enough and that the Northerner's Souls are still in need of 'saving', her son is similar to her in that regard."
Finally, on the subject of the Sheyethen Question, it ends with a single footnote which says:
"Royal Wedding between the two sides of the Kingdoms might be enough to heal the fracture."
Of course, there is then a set of notes on the group that is known as either the "Sparrow Knights" or the "Band of the Sparrow" a mercenary company that appeared seemingly out of nowhere, its leader, Dame Rose the Lionheart is apparently someone who never existed before as there are no records which link to any such person existing.
The notes state that:
The Band of the Sparrow is an odd bunch, from what reports have been gathered, they only recruit full-time mercenaries and not soldiers on initiation, this suggests that Dame Rose wants a fully professional and experienced force rather than young girls who have no real experience in the field.
Based off reports, their number include roughly one hundred Deolodrian Lancers, fifty Steppe Horse Archers and, oddly enough, fifty Northern Sheyethen Cavalary as well, the rest of their force is made up of cavalry from the other Sister Kingdoms, bringing their number up to roughly five hundred.
What followed is the High Queen's theory on the subject of the group's leader and who she really is.
The explanation for who Dame Rose is can be easily seen in the presence of the Deolodre Lancers, as one hundred of their number, followed Princess Rosemunda of House Bronzewing out of Deolorde whenever she was banished from the Kingdom, however there is at least a month worth of time between her leaving and the band appearing in the Sister Kingdoms. Though one thing which is unaccounted for is the fact that it seems likely that based on the fact that she left the Kingdom from the East and appeared in Northern Sheyethen of all places, it is likely that she went through the Dead Lands.
This deserves further inquiry, such a shame that I can't do so.
You looked at the notes and remembered for yourself, Princess Rosemunda was the Heir to the throne of Deolodre and the only child of the Queen Rose the Mad, apparently she was banished after the Queen found out she was cursed, though you were not sure what exactly the curse was, though it seemed that Rosemunda was bitter as she raised one hundred of the household troops and left with them.
You weren't an expert, but you had some suspicion that Dame Rose was Princess Rosemunda.
When you met with Duke Edward, you found him in the training yard, he was teaching some of the guards the fine art of swordsmanship. Out of all the weapons you fought the good Duke would fight with, it seemed that he fought with a lance, you would admit, that was not part of the image that you had of the man, you would have thought that his weapon of choice would be a rapier or a longsword, but nope he was currently duelling with the blonde guard with a rapier and doing quite a good job.
The blonde had the advantage of youthful speed and energy as well as having an advantage when she got in close, but there was the problem: Duke Edward wasn't letting her get in close. His advantages were the fact that he was experienced with this lance and was swinging it in what would be very lethal attacks if he was fighting with a real spear and if the opponent was just a bit slower on their feet. Though, unlike his daughter, he decided that the best attire for training was simply a pair of black boots, black breeches and a black tunic, opting to train with the prospect of maximum mobility in mind. Though you noticed that he was slowing down faster than the guard.
The Blonde saw a chance and quickly closed the distance, likely looking to put her practice rapier against the duke's throat, however, she was stopped by a practice lance to her midsection. "Yield," Edward said, his voice and face as hard as steel, the blonde dropped her weapon and his face softened somewhat from hardened warrior to caring grandfather, "Alicia, it's wonderful to see that you're improving, just make sure that you are always on your guard."
The Blonde, apparently named Alica, looked ridiculously happy at the praise she was given and barely squeaked out a "thank you, milord," before she took her leave.
she didn't even notice you as she left
Edward was running through several lance drills though you noticed that he was running out of breath quickly, another thing that you noticed was that one of his hands seemed to be made out of iron.
How did he lose it, war or disease?
"Your Majesty," He grunted out in a greeting, barely looking at you, he was running himself ragged, though you would be lying if you didn't say that he was carrying himself with an almost admirable dedication.
"I would like to talk to you, sir." You said rank be damned you found the man genuinely impressive, especially given High Queen Sohpia's praise. He stopped training and ran his flesh hand through his hair as he leaned on his lance.
"So what would you like to talk about?" He asked, his voice was casual and you could finally see the number of wrinkles that was on his face.
"I just wanted to talk about yourself." You answered honestly, he went over to one of the benches over at the training yard.
"Take a seat, your majesty, it's going to take a while." You dutifully took a seat next to him. "Where to begin, I'm the Count of ... several counties, I fought in the Sheyethen Civil War on the side of the Northerners while I was still a Baron. Due to the fact that the High Queen's Notes have been in the study for a few months, you likely know that I was also High Queen Sophia's lover." You got bombarded by several rapid-fire facts about his life, including the first duchy that he was offered, why he fought with a lance, though one thing that was left out was the details of his affair with Sophia and details about the Sheyethen Civil War, both were likely sore spots.
However, before any more facts could be fired at you, a hooded individual handed him a letter, something which caused him to jump up and say "I'm terribly sorry, your Majesty but duty calls. It was wonderful talking to you." that was some 'conversation' he filled most of the time himself, though you did ask him about his life so it would be likely that something like that would happen.
When you eventually found your spymistress, it was on a balcony, it was overlooking parts of the forest outside the citadel. Alice was lying on the stone railing mumbling to herself "Why the hell haven't we been able to find some information on her? She is literally one of the most likely to have a plot against her Majesty, but I can't seem to have a solid evidence on her." She was fiddling with a brass ornament that you didn't recognise the design of, it looked like a downward pointing sword surrounded by flames. Though the ornament looked heavily weathered with there being plenty of scratches on the object.
"Viscountess?" You asked, causing her to sit up on the ledge. surprisingly calm despite the fact that if she fell she would, without a doubt be dead. "I want to talk to you."
"Of course your Majesty." She said, getting off the railing and sitting on one of the two chairs that are on the balcony. "What is it you want to talk about?"
"You." you say eloquently "I really want to know what it's like growing up in Starford." Her face lights up in understanding
"At least you aren't assuming that I know all about the religion there," She flipped the ornament in the air before catching it absent-mindedly "I was born in Eldacar's Rest," She paused before realising something "Right forgot, it's known as Prophetess' Rock around these parts." Ah yes that place, it was apparently the final resting place for one of Prophetess' Joan's closest advisors. "My father was a Starford residing Gaian, a member of the guard there back when Gaians were still allowed to serve the crown, my mother was apparently a Witch who followed the Nameless One."
"Were they in love?" You asked
while you didn't like to admit it, you were something of a romantic.
"They were, very much so as well, despite everything they managed to stay together despite the fact that most, if not all, of the City, would look down on such a relationship." She looked up as if remembering something "After the Twenty-fifth Cappadocian War for Independence, things got worse for Gaians, the Regent passed a reform that stopped them from serving the Crown, worse was that people often assailed father in the street. We moved to the newly independent Cappadocia, from what I heard, it was supposed to be a paradise, a place where Starford born Gaians could bask in their religious freedom and feel safe in the land that they had won with the blessing of the Goddess." She scoffed at that, "It was just about as bad as Starford was, only the leader was Duchess Joan the Liberator, she a set of laws that forbade heathens in her land. My mother tried to hide her religion and even converted to Gaianism, though from what I remember of her, she died when someone found out that she was a witch and organised a lynch mob. Father was despondent after that and I, being about eight at the time, had to feed both myself and him. He didn't make it past the first two years and I found myself hitching onto a band of travellers." She shrugged slightly thinking "my quick fingers and criminal mind served the caravan well, one thing led to another and I eventually ended up on the High Queen's council."
She's leaving out details
"How did you actually end up on the council?" You asked, wanting to know.
"That's a story for another time." She said, looking somewhat embarrassed. "If you don't mind me, your majesty, I must beg my leave, I need to ponder a few things."
What a strange girl.
She's hiding something
