THE LORD VANDALORES, Westerlands Archives

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THE LORD VANDALORES

Though thy enemies wish to silence thee, Do not falter, defy them to the end.

From the Westerland archives, issued on the 1599th Year of existence

 

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Nafis Yar, The First Vandalore 1524 - 1537, 1544-1547

“The Harbinger”

Nafis Yar is responsible for the reemergence of the Vander Ideology in the Caliphate of Khalestine following the events of Aestershima and the death of most Vanders loyal to House Rovin.

 

Nafis Yar is perhaps the most polarizing of the Vandalores in public opinion. Although many of those who claimed to be Vanders were loyal to the First Vandalore, he was also responsible for numerous deaths on and off the battlefield while leading his mercenary company, Hallowvale Contracting. He is the only Vandalore to reign twice.

 

During his second reign, he waged a successful rebellion in Vanderguan to liberate the Kingdom of Vandoria called the “Qalasheen Spring”. Serving as Lord Protector, Nafis Yar united all of the former vassals of Vandoria by the blade, save for the Dunamians who would later leave Vandoria after a successful defensive battle against the Holy Orenian Empire and the Suticans, who Nafis granted independence after their poor treatment under previous liege lords.

 

The First Vandalore was rumored to have been killed by agents of House Kharadeen but it was later revealed that he had abandoned the Kingdom of Vandoria with most of his family and lived the rest of his life in Aeldin.

 

While successful in both of his reigns, Nafis Yar was only able to subdue those who betrayed Decimus through regicide and strategic guerilla warfare. Views on his legacy are polarized with many non-humans viewing him unfavorably and Vanders and pro-humans considering him a hero. Nafis Yar was also known for his cruel practices of torturing most of his captured enemies.

 

His legacy was somewhat tarnished when it was discovered he faked his death and abandoned the Kingdom of Vandoria.

 

 

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Decimus “Frederick” Rovin, The Second Vandalore 1537-1542

“The Betrayed”

As Nafis Yar’s champion, Decimus Rovin was groomed to one day succeed the First Vandalore. Upon the formation of the Kingdom of Vandoria, Decimus changed his name to Frederick after the first Konig of Aesterwald who was his great grandfather and dubbed himself the High Dictator.

 

Under his reign, Frederick ruled with a laissez faire approach, allowing free enterprise in the mercenary market which began an economic boom in the kingdom. With the 18 Years War raging to the North, the Kingdom of Vandoria’s economy grew with Hallowvale Contracting and the Horde of Dunamis reaping profits while fighting on both sides of the war.

 

However, tensions grew as the Horde of Dunamis appeared to have a politically influenced agenda to take down the Holy Orenian Empire. Members of Hallowvale Contracting were individually blackmailed by Caliph Faiz Kharadeen and civilians of Khalestine were rallied to aid the Grand Kingdom of Urguan. With the increasing involvement of non sanctioned mercenaries, Frederick attempted to cease all business contracts involving the 18 Years War but was unable to control Khalestine or the Horde of Dunamis.

 

Frederick’s last act as High Dictator was ceding Ard Ghorrock, the home of Hallowvale Contracting, to the Holy Orenian Empire. Frederick disappeared shortly after and Vanders were burned at the stake across Vandoria.

 

Albeit his legacy was blemished with his departure from the realm, Decimus laid the foundations down for a pro-Human Vander ideology after seeing how elven migrants ruined the previous nation of the Caliphate. While his domestic policies proved fruitless with many of his vassals openly more loyal to House Kharadeen, his foreign diplomacy allowed for growing ties with the Holy Orenian Empire and House Rovin becoming unbanished.

 

 

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Harold Winter IV, The Third Vandalore 1542-1544

“The Usurper”

House Winter was a former Orenian noble house that would vassalize under House Rovin during the Konigreich of Aesterwald and embraced the Vander Ideology.

 

While the next Vandalore after Decimus’ departure was supposed to be Adil Mekhalel who was Decimus’ champion, Harold Winter IV was able to claim the title with the support of Vandoria’s vassals, primarily Khalestine and the Dunamians.

 

Supporting Khalestine’s favor of the Grand Kingdom of Urguan and perhaps giving in to his own house’s vendetta against Oren, Harold Winter IV believed that the greatest threat to Vandoria was forceful subjugation under Oren and merged Vandoria with Urguan to form the Grand Empire of Vanderguan. Many Vanders, believing this concept to be a bastardization of the Vander Ideology, left Vandoria for Oren or were burned at the stake.

 

Despite this, Harold Winter IV was relatively popular among the vassals save the Suticans in Vandoria and his union with the Grand Kingdom of Urguan allowed for a successful defense of Kal’Ordholm against the Holy Orenian Empire thanks to the Dunamians.

 

The return of Nafis Yar however proved detrimental to Harold Winter IV’s reign with the former’s use of propaganda and his growing following with the Qalasheen Spring to spark a rebellion. Harold Winter IV and Nafis Yar agreed to a one on one duel leading to Harold Winter IV’s death and Nafis’ reclamation of the Vandalore title.

 

Although his legacy is not looked on fondly by most Vanders, Harold Winter IV filled a void left by Decimus’ departure and was a foil to his predecessor - popular among most of his vassals but with a relatively poor grasp on his foreign diplomacy.

 

 

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John Godfrey Horen, The Fourth Vandalore 1547-1562

“The Bastard”

Godfrey de Krinford was a veteran of the Qalasheen Spring awarded nobility in the Kingdom of Vandoria. Unbeknownst to Nafis, Godfrey de Krinford was a bastard of House Horen running a fake noble house.

 

After faking his death, Nafis Yar’s will stated that Godfrey de Krinford was to become the next Lord Protector and the Fourth Vandalore. It also stated that when a young boy named Leopold of Marna became the age of 16, he would succeed Godfrey de Krinford and become the first King of Vandoria and the Fifth Vandalore.

 

While Godfrey de Krinford grieved, he imprisoned a young Leopold of Marna in Ard Ghorrock and extorted the young would be king into handing over the kingdom to him. Godfrey de Krinford was coronated and legitimized under the name John Godfrey Horen and officially became the Fourth Vandalore. John Godfrey was an unpopular ruler despite pardoning Faiz Kharadeen after his predecessor banished him. During his reign he made a failed attempt to make a standing Vandorian army and Ard Ghorrock fell into decay with many of its previous traps and defenses no longer functional.

 

During the event of The Red Feast, for the first time in its history, Ard Ghorrock was raided and many of those that dwelled within slaughtered. The Kingdom of Vandoria entered a state of decline and John Godfrey became more reclusive. Ultimately due to apparent poor health, John Godfrey abdicated and passed on his titles to his son, John Leopold.

 

John Godfrey was a leader wracked with paranoia obvious to his vassals who despised him. After the undead took over Al-Wakrah, House Kharadeen left Vandoria to make the independent Sultanate of Haria. His most prominent act as the Fourth Vandalore was vassalizing Vandoria under the Holy Orenian Empire.

 

Later in life he would spearhead a terrorist attack in Felsen, leading to his defeat at the hands of a much older Leopold of Marna and his execution at the hands of John III Owyn, Holy Orenian Emperor.

 

 

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John Leopold Horen, The Fifth Vandalore 1562-1575

“The Weak”

Inheriting Vandoria on its decline did not help John Leopold’s reign and a few years into his reign after making Vandoria a principality under the Empire, Ashruf Kaneen regained control of Al-Wakrah from the undead and instigated a rebellion against John Leopold which resulted in almost all of Vandoria’s vassals siding with Ashruf Kaneen’s sultanate.

 

Albeit this Sultanate did not last long due to the rebel leader’s inability to lead properly, this was the end for Vandoria. John Leopold made many attempts to appease vassals and bring them back under his rule from Ard Ghorrock but to no avail.

 

When Ashruf Kaneen and the Southern Axis Coalition launched an assault on Ard Ghorrock, John Leopold received aid from the Empire. Although the battle was a stalemate, the Southern Axis Coalition did not continue its assault. John Leopold reigned over a decrepit Vandoria until the descendants left the Realm of Vailor for the Isles of Axios.

 

John Leopold latter attempted to become a burgher in Johannesburg but was executed by Leopold of Marna. It is said before John Leopold was killed, he begged for his life by promising to renounce all of his titles and to join the clergy.

 

John Leopold’s only success during his reign was retaining Ard Ghorrock, albeit only with the Holy Orenian Empire’s help due to the lack of a Vandorian military.

 

 

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Leopold of Marna, The Sixth Vandalore 1575 - 1607

“The Pure”

Leopold of Marna was meant to inherit the title of Vandalore and King of Vandoria from the Lord Protector and the Fourth Vandalore John Godfrey but was instead imprisoned in a tower in Ard Ghorrock only to be freed in the chaos of the infamous Red Feast and given protection by the Company of the White Cross. Inept in all fields at first such as combat and social etiquette due to his imprisonment, Leopold was trained briefly by Nafis Yar before eventually becoming a knight of the Imperium Quintus and Archchancellor. Leopold claimed the title of Vandalore after thwarting John Godfrey’s terrorist attack in a duel and killing John Leopold. Later on in life he was given the title of King of Vandoria by Emperor Philip I. 
 
After the fall of the Imperium Quintus, Leopold would declare the fort provided to him in the region known as the Westerlands as his seat of power and named himself the King of the Westerlands. From this fort with the aid of his men and those who came after the destruction of Johannesburg, Leopold erected the city known as Bastion and made it the capital of the Westerlands. 
 
The city of Bastion under his rule became a thriving emulation of the old Imperial values many thought would be lost with the fall of Johannesburg despite being in such close proximity to the Sunless Sanctum. In his war against the undead, he delegated the role of marshal to his former squire and new archchancellor Rakim Abdulrashid Yar who was the son of his mentor and First Vandalore Nafis Yar. Earlier campaigns were successful but attracted the attention of cultists and Mordring himself although at the time this was not known to either the Vandalore or his chosen commanders.
 
Coinciding this war against the undead, the realm of man remained in constant chaos with the Kingdom of Courland and the Kingdom of Haense fighting. With the intervention of non humans on both sides, Leopold attempted to contain the human war with the Self-Determinstic Pact of 1601 which at the time included the Kingdom of Lotharingia and later the Sultanate of Haria. In essence, the pact was made to keep non-humans out of human affairs and was drafted with the intentions of following the Vander Code. Many Lotharingians continued to aid the Kingdom of Courland however which accepted aid from dwarves. Upon discovering the supposed use of undead on the Courlandic side, Leopold wanted to go to war but many under him believed the direct war against the Sunless Sanctum was more important than getting involved in an exterior war. It was believed that the further splitting of the already expended Westerlands forces would destroy the kingdom. 
 
Unable to rally many of his inner circle to abide by the Self-Deterministic Pact, Leopold relinquished all of his titles except for the King of Vandoria and the Vandalore title and called for a Vander crusade against Courland. In his final address to the Bastion court, Leopold insulted those who had refused to go to war and called them false Vanders, an action that would arguably split Vander society. Leopold’s son Caius became the second King of the Westerlands and those who remained loyal to Leopold such as Rakim retired from their positions and followed him south.
 
Shortly after, Leopold and his wife Annabel would return to the Westerlands upon hearing of an attempted assassination on Caius. The rift in the Vander society continued to grow under the reign of Caius with many abandoning the cause to fight the undead. The remaining forces were left battered and Caius’ untimely death lead to an exodus of the remaining Horen-Vander family aside from Leopold who remained to Aeldin.
With his son dead, Leopold called upon Rakim to duel him. Legally his adopted son from the Imperium Quintus, Rakim was the last to inherit Leopold’s titles. Rakim had grown resentful of Leopold since the failed Vander Crusade which lead to an ugly, one-sided street brawl in Bastion in front of many of the citizenry. Leopold declared he would not fight back against his last remaining son and ultimately surrendered the title of Vandalore to Rakim, asking Rakim to end his life. The latter in contempt refused and abandoned Leopold in the streets. While citizens came to offer assistance to Leopold, his fate is ultimately alone.
 
Leopold was seen by many as the redemption of Vander values during his reign. He achieved a mostly loyal following and lead the Vander people into a golden age of prosperity. Some critique his withdrawal from the public in his later years as he became primarily focused on the state of humanity which is the core of the Vander Code. It is argued that this allowed for the growing threat of Mordring to go unnoticed which would lead to a string of defeats for the Kingdom of the Westerlands. While Leopold acted on pure intentions, his chivalrous nature and pride ultimately lead to the undoing of Vander society which would be inherited by his son Caius.

 

 

 

 

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Rakim Abdulrashid Yar, The Seventh Vandalore 1607 - The Present (?)

“The Redeemed”

The unintended successor to the title of the Vandalore, a young Rakim came to the realm of the descendants from Aeldin with the intention of finding his half sister Almas Yar and redeeming his family’s name after Nafis’ quiet death in Aeldin due to illness. The Qalasheen boy was given a squireship under Leopold who adopted him in gratitude to the former’s deceased father. Rakim would rise through the ranks quickly and become a crown knight under the guidance of the Sixth Vandalore. Unpolished in how he presented himself, Rakim did not fair so well in the Imperial court but excelled on the battlefield as a hardened soldier and siege engineer thus earning the respect of many of his fellow men.
 
Rakim would later be given nobility after the fall of the Imperium Quintus by Leopold in the Kingdom of the Westerlands and named the archchancellor and marshal of the Westerlands forces. Although well received by his men, Rakim’s actions on the battlefield became simple stories of his past and he was left secluded in his castle handling both the background affairs of the military and his role as archchancellor. The young noble did not achieve much in the realm of foreign affairs due to many believing the Westerlands’ fight against the undead was a facade at the time. Many of the foreign affairs that were successful came from the king himself. 
 
Regardless, Rakim acted as a trusted advisor in regards to foreign affairs and helped keep the peace within the realm and successfully lead the Westerlands forces before handing it off to his brother-in-law Lowedge who with the help of the lectors increased the numbers of the Westerlands forces when the war against the undead grew more gruesome.
 
Rakim relinquished his titles to follow Leopold who he considered both a second father and an older brother on his Vander Crusade and made a base of operations on the Isle of Asul. The Qalasheen man became worried when Leopold and the others who volunteered to go never showed up and faced private turmoil with his wife Ericka who resented him for forcing them to abandon their lives in Bastion for what was considered a suicide mission. On his own accord, Rakim hired a small band of mercenaries and ventured into the former War Uzg jungles which the Kingdom of Courland now controlled. Their activities had not gone unnoticed though and Rakim’s forces were quickly obliterated with him as the sole survivor. A letter from King Caius asking for Rakim to return to the Westerlands prompted him and his wife Ericka to return home.
 
Much to his dismay, Rakim discovered that Leopold had returned to Bastion without telling him due to the attempted assassination on Caius. Rakim felt betrayed and instead of staying in Bastion, he demanded that he’d be given his dues from King Caius for his sacrifices for the Westerlands. Out of goodwill, Caius gave the southern Duchy of Bombay to Rakim. 
 
Rakim’s plans never saw fruition however. The Westerlands forces were suffering numerous casualties and inner conflict in the King’s court pushed many to abandon the fight against the undead. With Caius’ death and lack of heir, Leopold would challenge Rakim to take the throne and title of Vandalore. The former surrendered without making an attempt to fight back against Rakim and Rakim assumed the role of King of the Westerlands and the Seventh Vandalore.
 
In his own personal rage, Rakim set out into the borreal forests to fight the undead alone but was severely injured, leaving him absent from the kingdom shortly after becoming king. His wife Ericka began a regency to try and keep the kingdom together. Upon Rakim’s return, he met with the late Emperor Philip’s son John Godwin who asked Rakim to hand the throne to him in exchange for protecting Bastion from the approaching armies of Mordring. Knowing the defeat of the Westerlands was imminent without John Godwin, Rakim agreed on the terms that he would retain the title of Vandalore which John Godwin agreed to.
 
Bastion fell shortly after the second disappearance of Rakim and his fate was left mostly unknown. There have been some reports of a Vander following in Aeldin claiming to serve the Seventh Vandalore but these are unconfirmed and many believe that this is a pretender..
 
While Rakim was more well known and well received for his deeds before becoming Vandalore, his reign in itself was largely unnoticeable. With his personal problems and the continued downward spiral of the Vander society he had helped build, Rakim had done little to preserve what was left save for him surrendering the kingdom to the rightful ruler of humanity, John Godwin.

 

 

 

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DISCREPANCIES

 

Some sources claim that John Godfrey gave up all of his titles EXCEPT for the title of Vandalore in his Abdication of 1562. If this is true, his true reign lasted from 1547 to 1575 making him the second longest serving Vandalore to date and John Leopold would not be the fifth Vandalore. There is only hearsay to support this claim however.

 

Adil Mekhalel was the rightful heir to the Vandalore title but did not push his claim after the disappearance of Decimus and Harold Winter IV’s usurpation. He would instead help Nafis in the Qalasheen Spring and disappear shortly after Nafis’ apparent death in Ard Ghorrock.

 

It is said that John Godfrey ran from an honor duel against Gareth the Oathsworn, which by Vander Code would make Gareth the Fifth Vandalore. John Godfrey maintained control of the Kingdom of Vandoria however and continued asserting his claim as rightful Vandalore until Gareth’s claim fell into obscurity.

 

Leopold of Marna could be considered the rightful Fifth Vandalore if the first claim is true and because of Nafis’ will and if John Godfrey didn’t pass down his title of Vandalore to his son John Leopold. Even without this claim, to date Leopold was the longest reigning Vandalore from 1575-1607.

 

Some documents state that Caius Sigismund Horen is the Seventh Vandalore (perhaps a scribe’s mistake) however the title was never given to Caius Sigismund and while the son of Leopold perhaps aspired to be Vandalore would later order the removal of the title from his signature on all official court papers.

 

 

 

[Guest]

Gareth sits before his fireplace, his plated form idle. He scratches one of his clipped ears, reminiscing about his pleasant times in Vandoria.

[HurferDurfer1 2978]

Coltaine shivers as he recalls his time serving under Johm Godfrey 

[Rudi 1747]

An aged individual seems to dance with imaginary partner the waldenian waltz, down in the surveys of a once great fortress, while the corpse of a former elf waits to be further exaimed.

[Imi 425]

 

Helaine grimaces slightly at the mention of John Godfrey, idly running a finger over her old wedding band.

[MunaZaldrizoti 8037]

Anna Sophia would nod in approval, despite the details about her grandfather John Godfrey, glad that her line was finally being archived in history despite their misdeeds.

[monkeypoacher 8055]

Nikola Karlówicz smiles faintly as he reads the account of his former liege. 

[gandalfo 1452]

Moved to The Great Library. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.

 

If you feel this is a mistake, please contact myself or any FM and we'll restore it.