Talingarde - A History
This island has known many masters in its time. The archaeological record indicates that orcs, giants, trolls, iruxi and naatunak (sentient polar bears) have all held great kingdoms dominating significant swathes of the isle at various points, along with a number of others whose identity is still only speculated. The history of the Kingdom of Talingarde, however, begins with the Dwarves of the Ansgar Mountains. During their Golden Age, the dwarves constructed settlements the length and breadth of the island, many of which were abandoned or downsized as their fortunes waned - the current capital of Mathryn is built on just such a foundation.
As the Dwarves fell back to their oldest and most powerful holdings in the mountains, the vacuum they left behind was filled by the native humans - the Iraen of the south, and the Yutak of the north. Both were subsequently displaced by the arrival of the Talireans, invaders who came from overseas. It is unclear where the Talireans originated, nor how exactly humans and elves came to view themselves as a single ethnic group, but their power was undeniable, and they conquered all before them. The Iraen and reptilian Iruxi were pushed into the western rainforests, the Yutak and Jotun into the north, and the dwarves were conquered and incorporated wholesale.
Notably, the Talireans of this era were by no means unified, and for an age a dozen or more petty kingdoms vied for control over the isle. Eventually one of them triumphed, a great Elven hero named Barca, who founded the Kingdom of Talingarde and the dynasty that bore his (possibly her) name. For centuries their rule endured, one King then another taking the crown, often in bloody coups or tragically convenient accidents, until at last it all came to an end some eighty years ago.
The House of Darius
The current reigning family, the House of Darius, began with a marriage between an Elf of the ruling family and the human Duke of Mathryn. While they still hold enough Elvish blood in their veins to give them sharp senses and lifespans measuring in the centuries, they are not full blooded elves, something the older families have never let them forget. They needed an alternate source of power and legitimacy, and in the Cult of Mitra they found it.
Under the Barcans, Talingarde paid homage to many gods, more or less equally (though naturally different sections favoured their own divinities - the royal family were known as devout adherents of Asmodeus, who encouraged their ambitious politicking and ruthless power-grabs). Markadian of House Darius, by contrast, honoured Mitra alone, and when the old King died and Jaraad of House Barca sought to ascend, he pressed his distant familial claim to the throne and rose up in rebellion. On the Plains of Tamberlyn, the smaller and poorer Darian army met the great host of King Jaraad, and in a stunning upset carried the day.
Markadian I, called The Victorious, ruled for forty six years. His personal prowess and strategic acumen were never once bested, and in a series of brilliant campaigns he defeated the Bugbears of the north, the pirates of the western coast and the rebellious lords of the south. He made peace with the Yutak and arranged the diplomatic annexation of the last independent Dwarven enclaves, and though he championed Mitra alone he allowed the other gods their due. Even his most bitter rivals - several of whom are still alive - recognise that he was a great and worthy king.
His sons, however, were a different story. The eldest son, Martius (who took the regnal name Markadian II), was more a scholar than a statesman, and though he founded many schools and patronised the nation's great universities, he paid little attention to affairs of state. His younger brother, Hallen, was a charismatic warrior and leader of men, one who idolised his departed father and wished nothing more than to be like him. Indeed, so strongly did Hallen worship his father that he concluded his departed mother could not have been a mortal at all - surely, Markadian I had taken an angel for a bride, for what mortal woman was worthy of him? Surely, in turn, that meant Hallen was of divine stock, and infinitely more worthy than his bookish older brother to uphold their father's legacy?
Markadian II, called the Learned, reigned for just six years before his brother slaughtered him with a burning sword and proclaimed himself King Markadian III, the Immortal. Despite the sobriquet, Hallen died less than six months later, attempting to fly (or perhaps thrown) from the tallest tower of the palace like the angel he claimed to be.
Markadian IV, the son of Martius, ascended to the throne at less than twenty years of age. With his family's legacy teetering and the wolves closing in, he knew he needed bold, decisive action if he was to retain his crown. So he found a scapegoat. In open court he proclaimed that the Cult of Asmodeus - already out of favour for its ties to the previous dynasty - had summoned a devil to possess his poor uncle and drive him mad, for surely no less would explain why the heroic Prince Hallen had killed his beloved elder brother in cold blood.
The brutal series of purges that followed would fundamentally transform the state of Talingarde. Where before the Talireans had paid homage to a pantheon of divinities, with Mitra the first among equals, now they worship Mitra alone. The cults of those gods judged wicked were violently destroyed, their priests burned and their property confiscated. The faiths of those gods deemed largely benign were systematically marginalised and then ground out of existence, while the Church of Mitra was enshrined as the state religion. For his deeds, Markadian IV was sainted by the church and officially recorded by the sobriquet "the Pious". To most outside the cult, however, he will forever be known as the Zealot.
(Markaddian IV died screaming the day before his 40th birthday, consumed body and mind by a mysterious illness that not even the greatest priests of Mitra could cure. There is, perhaps, a lesson in that.)
The current King, Markadian V, has ruled for sixteen years. As a prince he commanded the Watch Fortress Balentyne and held it against a vicious assault by the northern tribes, a deed that earned him the sobriquet of 'the Brave', and as King he has overseen a considerable expansion of Talingarde's military capabilities, openly speaking of his intent to "finish what great-grandfather started" and bring the whole island under one rule. The biggest scandal of his rule remains the birth of his daughter and sole heir - the King steadfastly refuses to identify her mother, save to insist that she was a good and noble woman taken from them in childbirth.
