Cruel Lineage:
Of what use is our lineage?
It’ll grant us power to indulge.
Yet, what truly do we gain?
We make ourselves targets of disdain.
We make our families a den of vipers.
Until we are ed by our desires.
Is it all worth it for power.
But why, it all turns sour?
Some say they want to protect.
Yet they are incorrect.
Power ot protect those they love.
To ruin, they drive the ohey love.
-Lady Lilli de Sven
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Part 0: The Green Dagger Rebellion
| 0:2 | t of Efen |
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Alexandrius 14th - Alexandrius 28th, 856 (4/14/856-4/28/856) - Efen - Duchy of Sfelden - t Lothar de Sven
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Lothar woke up with a start; Somethi off. Usually when he woke up at odd times, the manor was almost pletely silent, but Lothar could hear something outside. He heard the horses panig and with an ued amount of energy, he walked over to the windoulled the curtains, only to step ba shock. Outside, he saw a mob of people carrying torches and green banners. He didn’t know what they wanted, but he had a feeling it was nothing good. Just then, downstairs, a loud banging noise rang out as the mob broke down the front door and rushed into the manor. Paralysis overcame Lothar; Then he knew he had to escape.
He grabbed his small sword from its resting p his wall. He swung it bad forth to make sure he was ready when he had to defend his family. Still his robes, he swiftly exited his room and rushed to his little sister’s room. Which was right across from him, so he made it there fast, as she was just waking up. “Lolo? What’s going on?”
Lrabbed her and dragged her out of the room as he said, “There’s no time to expin! We just have to get out of here!” Suddenly, her eyes went wide as she heard the chaos outside. “Wha- What’s happening?”
“I don’t know, Lilli, but we have to go!” He said frantically. Just as they stepped out of her room, they came face to face with a rebel wielding a bloody dagger. “Well, well, well, what do we have here? Two noble brats. Time to teach you the same lessoaught the others!”
Lothar would shakily look at the man and say, “By the power of my father, t Rudolf de Sven, I and you to stand down.”
He just ughed at the young noble boy. “You still think you hold any power here?” He holds up his bloody dagger, “This is where power es from, and I’m going to teach you that!” The man luowards Lothar, who quickly uhed his small sword and tried to sidestep him like he would in training. Instead, the man smmed into Lothar and knocked him to the ground. Lothar looked up as the man aimed his dagger at Lothar's chest. As he wound up to stab him, Lilli tackled him and knocked him to the ground for long enough for Lothar to scramble up and grab his swain. Lothar then lunged forward and stabbed the man in the side.
“Mark my words… you’ll get what’s ing to you someday… someday, the same people you lord over will get their revenge on you… and the people like you.” The man said this while coughing up blood until he finally died. Lothar bnkly stared at the blood on his bde. Even in the dark hallway, he felt like the blood was brighter than anything else he’d ever seen. He’d never seen anything like it before. During his dueling training, he had never e to the point of drawing blood. It was dripping down his sword, reminding him of what he had done. Eve words of the maerrifying. What had he done? He was only seventeen. He had no part in what his family or other nobles had done. Yet, he had to keep going, so he forced himself to swallow down the bile rising in his throat and grabbed his frozen sister as they headed dowairs.
As they made it dowairs, there was smoke in the air, and Lothar realized that the mob had set fire to the manor. As much as Lothar wao run, he couldn’t leave without his mother and father, so he looked in various rooms trying to find them. Irance hall, a band of guards tried to hold back the mob, which gave Lothar and Lilli enough time to search through the manor house. Finally, they found their father in the drawing room. However, they took one look at him and knew something was wrong. He was too pale, and his breathing was alternatiween fast shallow breaths and slow, deep breaths. Still, Lothar walked over to him and k.
“Father, what happened?”
Rudolf looked at him sadly. “It all happened so fast. Please, my son, you and Lilli have to leave. There’s nothi for you here.”
Lothar didn’t uand, “But what about you and mother?”
“She’s not with us anymore, son. All you do now is protect Lilli. Head to the Grand Duke Aldebrand de Adalwolf, tell him what happened. He’ll protect you two. He still owes me and this is the least he do.” As he fialking, he rose and with shaking fingers removed his sig ring, and then he handed his small sword to Lothar, “My son, you are now the t of Efen. I’m not long for this world. I’ll soon rejoiwins’ Cycle, so please just promise you’ll do this st thing for me.”
With eyes filled with tears, Lothar just nodded as he put on the sig ring with the family’s crest symbolizing his atus as t, though he didn’t feel like one. He then took the small sword ahe inscription written in High Imperial, “Loyalty.” He finally stepped away and bowed to his father as his st act of respect towards the man. Lilli the forward and talked to her father. But Lothar couldn’t hear, nor did he want to intrude, since he knew Lilli deserved the privacy of that moment. Finally, as they left, Rudolf de Sven finally breathed his st breath ahis world. It was now up to Lothar and Lilli to carry on the family.
Things were getting desperate for the guards, who were breaking uhe pressure of the mob attag the manor house, bined with the fmes spreading throughout the house. While they were trying to hold the entrance hall, other people were breaking in through other rooms, which had rge windows fag outside. None of that mattered to either sibling, as the two escaped out a secret exit, which they knew from their times sneaking out of the home before all of this chaos.
Ohey made it out, they walked for days trying to make it to Sfelden sihat was the capital of the duchy and from there they could reach the Grand Duke and finally get to safety. Yet as they traveled, they had to dodge rebel patrols which were searg for o execute. During those few days, they had te for every piece of food they ate and stayed in abandoned homes during their trek. Eventually, though, they reached the city, and Lothar waved his ring around, announg to everybody that he was the t of Efen, until the guards finally escorted him to the Castle.
There, the Duke of Sfelde with both Lothar and Lilli. He was an old man and instantly sympathized with their plight. He told them that a group of horsemen loyal to House de Sven had arrived a few days ago and informed him of what happehen he informed them that simir rebellions had broken out across the try and that soon the Grand Duke would arrive with a force to put down the rebellion. So he offered to give the siblings shelter until then, which the two readily accepted. He also offered Lothar and of the twenty Efen horsemen who had escaped from the rebellion alive. Again, Lothar accepted this and, after gettiled in his temporary home with his sister, he would head to the cavalry yards.
As Lothar made it to the cavalry yards, he saw the Efen cavalry marked by the banner of House de Sven doing drills. The leader of these horsemen seemed to be Arnold Badurad, one of his family’s household guards. The two of them knew each other since when he was younger Lothar had practically begged his father to let him train with the household guard. Since he had always liked horse riding a like that would be the best way to learn. The trainers would often pair the two of them together sihey had a build and were close in age.
He fell to his k Lothar’s feet and said, “My lord, I’m sorry we couldn’t protect you and your family.” He theated for a sed before tinuing after he saw the sig ring on his finger. “Since you’re now the t of Efen, I humbly accept any punishment you’ll give me for my failure.”
Lothar stepped back, surprised at his willio accept punishment, but quickly posed himself and responded. “No, I won’t punish you, instead work to avenge my family and those sin by these rebels. To do that, I’m appointing you as my sed in and.”
He looked up at Lothar, surprised, “My lord, thank you for your mercy. From now on, I’ll faithfully serve you to repay your mercy.”
“Excellent. I’m going to address my men now.” Finally, Lothar spoke, “My loyal servants, I uand that these past few days have been difficult. Trust me, and I will lead you in reg your homes and lives after we have lost our homes and our friends and family have perished. Together we will dedicate ourselves to preparing for this battle and through the grace of the Twins and their aspect of war Bellenor, we will be victorious!” He raised his fist in the air, and the soldiers cheered, as they believed Lothar would lead them to victory.
He would then dismiss them, but keep Arnold so that he could ask a few questions. “You seem very young to have been in and of these men. How did you do it?”
“Well, my lord, when the rebellion broke out, we were out on patrol in one of the outlying vilges. A mob attacked us and drove us off. So we immediately fled back to the manor in Efen, but all we found was a charred ruin. So we rode at full speed here to inform his Grace the Duke of Sfelden of the crisis, but we learned simir rebellions were happening across the Kingdom. If we had known you were alive, we would’ve id down our lives to save you. If I may ask, are you the st one of your family?”
Lothar wondered for a sed if it would give too muformation away, but he knew Arnold was now his closest ally and seemingly loyal, so he answered, “Other than some cousins in this city that I’m not on good terms with, it’s only me and my sister left.”
“Ah, Lady Lilli is alright, that’s wonderful to hear,” Lothar looked at him strangely since he said his sister’s h a hint of familiarity, so Arnold quickly crified, “I art of her prote detail for some time, so I’m familiar with her.”
It seemed like he was hiding something more, but Lothar had more important things to deal with, so he then asked, “What’s the status of the men currently?”
“Well, my lord, we have twenty soldiers ting me. All of us have horses and sabers, and a couple of carbihough we only have enough ammunition for a single e. I’ve been trying to get ammunition from the Duke of Sfelden, but I’ve had no luck so far.”
“Very well. Do you have any reendations for what I should do now?”
“Well, my lord, until your arrival, I was going to wait until his excellency. The Grand Duke of Harba arrived, and I was going to pledge my services to him. Now that you’re here, I would suggest that you do the same thing. As much as me and the other soldiers want to immediately rush back to Efen, we don’t have the men to do that.”
“I agree with you. We should stay here until his excellency arrives. In the meantime, I want to lead the men in drills to prepare ourselves for the battle.”
“Yes, my lord, I’ll gather them so you begin.” Arnold bowed and walked off to gather the men. For the few days, they ran through drills and, surprisingly, Lothar seemed to have a natural aptitude for riding and swordsmanship as he worked more with his men and with other duelists and swordsmen from the Duke’s retinue. Finally, though, the day came when his excellency, the Grand Duke of Harba, arrived iy.
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Alexandrius 29th, 856 (4/29/856) - Sfelden - Duchy of Sfelden - t Lothar de Sven of Efen
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The Grand Duke ehe city with great fanfare, with a n of his soldiers from his personal White Rose Royal Banner leading the procession. They carried the banners of the various noble houses who were part of the Grand Duke’s noble militia ave him troops or moo support the force. This, of course, meant that almost every noble house had a bao represent them, since everybody khe threat that this rebellion posed. Lothar felt a bit of annoyahat House de Sven didn’t have their banner present, even though he knew why. The processio moving forward; after the Bannermahe nobles and their personal retinues. Finally, the Grand Duke made his appearance. He was wearing a robe made of cloth of gold with the symbol of the Holy Fire of the Twins on the back. This gave him the look of a proper royal, which he was clearly aiming for. Then after him came the various priests to the Twin Gods and their Five Asded Heroes or the Aspects as they were sometimes called, all calling for divine favor in putting down the rebellion. They were the st ones, and then the procession ended.
O was over, Lothar and Lilli both went to the Duke’s pace to speak with the Grand Duke. As soon as they arrived at the pace, they witnessed a crowd of nobles and aristocrats, all striving to attain social and political influenone of them paid any attention to the young nobles, but quickly the pair found the Duke of Sfelden whht them to the Grand Duke, since he khey had a lot to talk about with him. From afar, Lothar could see that the Grand Duke was a man in his te thirties. He had short reddish hair and a full beard. Despite his privileged position, he clearly kept active and hysically fit. He was also very affable with the uests, talking and joking with them like he was on the same level as them.
When he saw them walking over, the Grand Duke excimed, “Ah, Duke Engel de Eustathios, it’s wonderful to speak to you in your home at st.”
“Indeed, your excellency, it’s an honor to have you here, even though I wish we were meeting under different circumstances.”
“Yes. It’s a shame what’s happereat kingdom. If only my brother was strong enough to keep these types of people down. Or eveer, just give us the power to keep them down.” He spat the words directed at his brother, the King, with disgust. “But now’s not the time for politics.” He ughed, having quickly moved on from his quick rant.
The Duke would simply nod along, since he shared his grievances. “Well, as much as I’d like to catch up, I actually have to introduce you to two people.”
The Grand Duke raised an eyebrow. “Really?” Then he looked past the Duke and saw Lothar and Lilli.
Taking this as his cue, Lothar would ko the Grand Duke and say, “I am t Lothar de Sven of Efen. My Father, t Rudolf de Sven of Efen, died at the hands of those rebels a few weeks ago. Before he passed, he asked me to get prote from you for me and my sister.”
“Ah, yes, Rudolf was a close friend of mine. I’m sorry to hear what happened, and of course I’d be happy to give the two of you a small manor in Harba until this crisis has calmed down, or anything else, for that matter. It’s the least I could do for his children.”
“That would be good for my sister, Lady Lilli, but I would like to join your noble militia in fighting against the rebels who murdered my family.”
The Grand Duke became more serious. “This is serious business. I uand yer and frustration, but you should stand bad let us hahis.”
Lothar held firm, and even got desperate, “You don’t think I uand that! I watched my family die! So even if you don’t take me, I’ll still take what meill loyal to me, and we’ll retake our homes with or without you!”
The Duke of Sfelden was shocked and was about to apologize on Lothar’s behalf, but the Grand Duke cut him off, amused. “You definitely have your father’s spirit. I think you might have what it takes. Fine, I’ll let you join my forces, but you’ll be staying close to me.”
“Thank you, your excellency. I’ll strive to serve you with honor and loyalty.” Lothar then rose and turo his sister. It was clear she had something to say, so he excused the two of them, and they walked over to a er where they could talk in peace. “What is it, Lilli?”
For a sed it seemed like she debated whether to speak, but finally she said, “Lolo, are you going to leave me behind?”
“Well… Don’t think of it as leaving you behind. You o be somewhere safe while I go off and make our home safe again.”
“But why do you have to go off and do that while I have to stay cooped up far away from my home and everyone I know?”
Lothar could feel the tension rising but tinued anyway, “It’s too dangerous for you out there.”
“You’re only two years older than I am! Besides, the Prophet Nicari wrote that, ‘In all women there lies the same spiritual strength as men.’ Not only that, but I saw noblewomen leading troops in the procession earlier. What’s the differeween them and me?”
“Spiritual but not…” He trailed off since he could see that she had a point. It was also clear that he could protect her better if they were together. “Alright Lilli, you e with me, and I’ll protect you-”
Before he could say more, she leapt forward and hugged him. “Thank you, Lolo. I knew you wouldn’t abandon me. I was just so scared after what happened before…”
Lothar felt a couple tears fall on his shirt, so he softly patted her head and said, “It’s going to be alright, Lilli. From now on, nobody is going to hurt either of us or anybody else in our family. I promise that ohis is over, we’ll return to Efen, and then we’ll live in peace.”
“Do you really mean that?”
“I do. Ohis is over, we’ll live peacefully and not have anything to do with war and anything like it unless we’re threatened. You’ll always be my priority. I swear by the Twins”
“I’m gd.”
Finally, the two broke off their embrad the off to their own business, with Loing off to prepare his men to depart with the rest of the noble militia. Later that day, when seeing the bined banners of the nobles supp the Grand Duke, he saw the Midnight Blue banner of House de Sven added in with the rest. It was a small thing, but it filled him with an immense pride to be alongside all these other nobles.
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Nicaria 2nd, 856 (5/2/856) - Road to Efen - Duchy of Sfelden - t Lothar de Sven of Efen
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For the past few days, Lothar had been preparing his men and w closely with Arnold to make sure they were in top dition. Every day, they trained with their sabers. They’d practice teiques as well as practig fighting mouhey also practiced with their revolvers and carbines, sihey now had access to ammunition from being part of the army. As the ty of Efen was a vassal under Sfelden, the Duke of Sfelden took overall and of them. Because of this, they had to follow his orders, although they could also disregard orders and potentially face sequences. Weaker nobles faced severe punishment if they disregarded orders, while more powerful nobles could easily escape sequences.
Because of the more detralized structure of the army, it moved slowly, with individual groups moving as they saw fit. This led some to groups being too far in front or behind the primary force, which tered on the Grand Duke’s White Rose Royal Banner. It was the rgest and most professional of the various noble formations, with modern ons and professional officers. So naturally, it was the core of the Grand Duke’s noble militia. Lothar and his men were by far the smallest sihey only had twenty-one soldiers, ting himself since his sister wouldn’t be doing any fighting. In parison, most ts had at least a hundred men uheir and, not ting non-batants. The equipment of these essentially feudal levies varied based oive wealth and power of the noble leading them.
For example, the Duke of Reich equipped his forces with the most modern artillery and rifled muskets they could buy with their immense wealth from gold mining. The New Model Army, which had a rge amount of funding from the tral gover, would usually be the only force with these ons in on use. In parison, the Duke of Ripel could only afford to equip his men with old smoothbore muskets, spears, and old ons, which had been obsolete over a decade ago. This was because his province was tiny, whose only industry was fishing, leaving him with very little mohe disparities were clear in the army, and it showed in how the soldiers ied with each other.
Soldiers from the poor duchies had to sit a what meager rations they got, while the soldiers from the rich duchies got higher quality rations they’d need for this military campaign. Not only that, but it was also clear in how much they made, as the soldiers from poor duchies received very little for their service. Although sidering the poor underdeveloped state of some of their duchies, it was more than some would’ve made bae. Meanwhile, soldiers from the rich duchies earned a bit more than soldiers of equivalent rank in the New Model Army.
Meanwhile, they engaged in training in whatever way the nobleman in charge of the force wahem to. For Lothar, that was mostly horsemanship since his force was entirely cavalry, so he would regurly duct scouting missions for the army as a small part of the sing force, cheg for any rebel forces that might try to attack them. Between these missions, he would give his men time to rex and recover from the long time riding and training. On one of these days, he was having an unimportant versation with his sister when Arnold suddenly burst into their tent.
“My lord, you o e with me immediately!”
“What could be so important that you feel the o burst into my tent uninvited and interrupt my versation?” He gestured to Lilli to make his point.
“Of course, my apologies to both of you, but my lord, you o e with me at ohere’s a man g your title. He’s demanding to speak with you.” Both Lothar and Lilli looked at each other in fusion, sihey both khat by every metric, Lothar was the rightful t of Efen. They k was of the utmost importance for them to deal with this at once, so they departed with Arnold at once, with Lothar taking his father’s small sword with him.
Arnold led them to a spot where a couple of his now fused horsemen were surrounding a group of three aristocrats. Their outfits made it clear only one of them was ready for a fight, and Lothar immediately uood that he was the leader. Lothar stepped forward and said, “I am t Lothar de Sven of Efen, the rightful t. I would like to know who has been g to be the t of Efen.”
The man dressed for bat stepped forward. “Really, Lothar? You don’t reize your own cousin?”
Then at ohe pieces fit into pce. Lothar reized him as his cousin, Baron Karl de Sven. Lothar’s father and Karl’s father had never gotten along with their dispute over the succession to the ty of Efen needing to be mediated by the King himself. “Yes, I reize you now. What do you want?”
“Simple. I’m here to take my rightful pce as t of Efen.”
“You have no basis for this. So why don’t you leave right now before I make you?” He purposely put his hand on his sword for emphasis.
“That’s what you think.” He signaled one man with him, and he pulled out a roll of paper. Karl then handed Lothar the roll. When he ope, he saw a clearly fed dot which cimed that Lothar’s father was a bastard child, meaning that her he nor Lothar had a legitimate cim.
“This is a poor fet out of my sight.” Lothar threw down the paper as his soldiers stepped forward.
Karl didn’t budge though and instead provoked him. “How pathetic that you have to hide behind your soldiers. No wonder your father died so pathetically. A true warrior would’ve survived. Like him, you’re too cowardly to face me. I challenge you to a duel!”
Lilli could see that Lothar was getting angry, so she tried to calm him down, but before she could, he walked forward, paying her no mind. “You’ll pay for disrespeg my father! he terms of the duel!”
Karl smirked. “We will duel to the death for the ty of Efen. We’ll use our personal swords.”
Lreed to these terms, and they both took up positions opposite each other. Lothar’s horsemen formed a circle around them, and the crowd caused other soldiers and o see what was going on. There were even a couple of Bannermen in the crowd. Lothar uhed his sword and Karl did the same. They theed the duelist’s oath to the Twins and Asterios, “Vivya the Protector and Granter of Life, give me the strength to win this day. Morito, the Recycler and Taker of life, look upon me favorably when I join you and allow me to rejoiernal cycle. In my soul, I swear to engage honorably and fairly. Glory to the Twins!”
Then the duel began. Lothar was aggressive starting off. He lunged and stabbed at Karl, putting him on the back foot. He was going to make him pay for what he said before. Lothar was so aggressive, yet none of his thrusts ected. Instead, he blocked or deflected all of his strikes. Until finally he left an opening, which Karl quickly took and sliced Lothar’s upper left arm. The blinding pain brought Lothar back to his dueling training with the various instructors his father hired. He took his mind back to that training. He blocked out his a his cousin and instead made himself rex to the best of his ability.
g, g, the swords bounced off each other as Lothar finally got the hang of the duel. His focus was solely on his oppo and his sword. It was as if his sword became aension of his arm. g, he saw his oppo raise his sword and quickly batted it away. g, again his oppo, tried to stab at him, but again he deflected it. The two swords scraped together, and something ihar told him that an opportunity was ing. Then it did. As his oppo made a wide lunge, Lothar ducked down and lunged, stabbing him through the gut. He caught himself and jumped up.
Lothar saw sho his eyes as Karl opened his mouth as if to say something. Nothing but blood came out, though, and Karl fell to the ground. With that, he looked at the crowd that had formed and raised his sword high, saying, “I am the t of Efen. No man or will dispute that, or they’ll end up like this man here. From this day forward, I pledge to the Twins and all their Asded Heroes to fight against all who threaten my family and my Kingdom!”
