Emerics Folly

Korah_Eaglecry

I've wrote about this subject before but I felt that now we have a proper forum for such topics to re-share it here and give it a rewrite. This is the story of how a false kings warpath and a merchant kings indecisiveness brought about the vampire infested rebellion of Rivenspire.

In the year 2E 546 King of Rivenspire, King Hurlburt Branquette passed away leaving his *** son Ranser and legitimate son Phylgeon to vie for heritance of the crown. Though truth be told it wasnt a fair fight at all. Phylgeon was a teen and Ranser was already a man. Theres no real telling why House Branquette (Hurlburts family) backed a ***, which should of brought some sort of shame to the family, and not their legitimate heir. Surely Phylgeon was too young to have made enemies in House Branquette by the time of his fathers death. But its quite obvious why House Tamrith backed Ranser, he was the son of a cousin to House Tamrith and it was an obvious powerplay. The only major house in Rivenspire to back Phylgeon was his mothers house, House Montclair.

**Sidenote: Its quite possible the writers of this backstory to Rivenspire mistakenly placed House Branquette on the side of Ranser and had somehow mixed up the last names of Phylgeon who should be a Branquette with Montclair. It also appears that Phylgeon was the sole heir to House Montclairs estates and holdings through his mother Countess Iphilia of House Montclair. Though there doesnt seem to be anything there that would indicated why Ranser would represent House Branquette and not Phylgeon. Its also important to note some of this information comes from Wylon, Phylgeons son and leader of the rebellion.

When it came time for the Council of the North to meet and declare a new king. A document in the possession of House Montclair, the "Bretonnick Natalitie" codicil could not be located. The codicil declared "Howse Mount Clayre" the royal house of Shornhelm. At the same time Ranser presented a suspiciously long lost decree from the Direnni claiming House Branquette their royal delegates of Shornhelm. And after much deliberations the Council sided with Ransers claim to the throne.

** Sidenote: There does appear to be another book in Rivenspire that makes vague claims that House Tamrith was the true heirs to the crown. Though I have yet to locate it on UESP or any other trusted source. Its possible that originally Ranser was to bring forth a claim of Tamriths royalty.

Now, most of you should know the story of Ransers rage and how he threw everything he had against Wayrest after Emeric stopped courting Ransers daughter. But just in case you dont.

Sometime before 2E 566 King Emeric began looking for a wife. And for a time had begun courting Princess Rayelle of Rivenspire. But at some point King Emeric met Princess Maraya, daughter of King Fahara'jad of Sentinel supposedly falling in love with her and quickly marrying her. When King Ranser received word of the marriage he became enraged, recalled his diplomats from Wayrest and began hiring mercenaries. By Last Seed in 2E 566 Ranser and his army came down from Rivenspire and swept across Stormhaven. Emeric was luckily able to get messengers out to his allies in Sentinel, Glenumbra, Bangkorai and even a few Orc clans before Ranser was able to lay siege to the city of Wayrest. Emerics allies soon appear and send Ranser backtracking into Rivenspire only to find the Orcs already laying siege to Shornhelm. Eventually Ransers army was utterly destroyed at Markwasten Moors and what was left of his host made their final stand at a tor not far from the city of Shornhelm.

Now there seems to be some conflicting information regarding who backed who and so forth. But according to Wylon, Phylgeons son, All the houses backed Ransers war. And it was only House Montclair that initially questioned the war. But Phylgeon being subserviant to his brother gave in and marched his knights out to aid his brothers cause. While other sources claim Houses Tamrith and Dorell refused to back Ranser and only House Montclair fought alongside Ranser to the bitter end. Regardless of all this rhetoric what we do know is that after Ransers death, Emeric placed the leaders of these houses on a council meant to lead Rivenspire in absence of a rightful King.

If we were to follow traditional rules of inheritance Wylon has the rightful claim to the throne. His father was born of a legitimate marriage and was a Branquette, or at least should have been. And Wylon should of been a Branquette as well. If Wylons words are to be trusted, Phylgeon should have had his rightful claim to the crown returned to him once Ranser was dead. And maybe the rebellion would have never happened. Unfortunately, because Emeric feared giving one house more power than any other, that is not what happened and Rivenspire was thrown into chaos once again.