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The Ballad of Jace Evans, Pt. 3 - [OOC, image heavy]


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OOC:

 

Continued from Part 2
Part 1 here.

 

Recap: 

Spoiler

Jace Evans retired from his military career with distinction. He fought in the Schism War under King Andrik Vydra and helped reunify Oren under a single crown. Following the war, he served for thirteen faithful years in the 2nd Akovian Regiment under Duke Vasili Vanir. Duke Vasili, recognizing Jace's merit, offered him an esquireship. If Jace could help revitalize the overgrown lands of Karovia - now renamed to Vanhall - then he would be granted the title of Baron.

 

Jace immediately set to work improving Vanhall by building houses, taverns, and recruiting new residents. What his town lacked, though, was a proper church. The answer to Jace's problem came in the former of Lady Lorina Carrion. Lorina was the famed last princess of Raev, the final remanent of the Carrion Imperial Dynasty. Lorina was working toward joining the Canonist clergy as a nun. Her cousin High Pontiff Daniel I had given her a seemingly impossible task, though. She was to design and build a church. Lorina had grown up in Karovia during the reign of her father, Emperor Tuvya Carrion, and wanted to build her church in her childhood home. Jace was amenable to the arrangement and agreed to help her.

 

As Jace began the monumental task of building a church with Lorina, he began to fall in love with her. Yet courting and marrying Lorina did not strike him as a realistic or feasible option. Jace held no noble titles - not yet, anyway - and Lorina appeared to be dead set on joining the clergy. Lorina had placed her trust in Jace to help build her church and the last thing he wanted to do was abuse that trust.

Yet, to Jace's surprise, Lorina returned his feelings. She began to change her mind about joining the clergy. Jace was unlike any man who'd courted her before. Her heart was touched by his sincerity, integrity, humility, and kindly spirit. She asked him if he might be willing to marry her matrilineally, give up his surname 'Evans', and become Jace Carrion. Together, they might restore the defunct House of Carrion and rebuild the Imperial Tuvic line.

 

Jace worried he was not worthy to accept Lorina's proposal, though. He wanted to earn his place among the nobility before making her a marriage offer. They agreed to wait before marrying, but this proved to be a fatal mistake. Lorina delivered the news to her cousin, High Pontiff Daniel I, that she intended to marry rather than join the clergy. At that very moment, Daniel I collapsed, dying in Lorina's arms. He delivered his last wish for her, which was for her to join the clergy. Lorina did not have it in her to deny his last wish, so she reluctantly chose to become a nun.

 

Lorina's feelings for Jace had not gone away, though. She feared she might die of a broken heart if they were parted, so she asked to stay in Vanhall and minister the church they'd built together. Jace had worries as to whether or not they could maintain a chaste friendship, but he hated the thought of never seeing Lorina again. He granted her leave to stay in Vanhall and promised to build her a vicarage. 

 

With hope, he thought, their romantic feelings toward one another would fade with time. 

 

As always, the blacked-out parts of the screenshots are OOC conversation, DMs, server notices, troll roleplay.

 

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EPISODE 9:

Prelude to War

Spoiler

Lorina, now a Sister of the Canonist Faith, settled into the rhythm of life in Vanhall. She and Jace returned to a chaste and platonic (though undoubtedly romantically-charged) friendship. Neither one of them had forgotten their feelings for one another, but they agreed that it was best to set them aside. Lorina seemed to be happy living in the quiet, rural town and maintaining her church. For Jace, Lorina's happiness was his happiness. As long as he could see smiling every day, he could be content. 

 

Lorina had a large extended family, though. While most of her immediate family had been slaughtered in the Storm King's coup, she had an lengthy list of cousins, second cousins, nieces, and nephews. She had familial ties to almost all of Oren's great houses, from Vanir to Savoie to Vladov and beyond. Lorina's most troublesome relative, however, was Hugues "Hugh" de Montfort.

 

Hugues was the son of Lorina's cousin, Viktor de Montfort. When Viktor left Oren to seek a cure for his chronically-ill wife, he left Hugues (as well as Hugues' four siblings) under the guardianship of Lorina. Lorina struggled to discipline the Montfort children, though - especially Hugues. Hugues heavily resented Lorina and the two often fought. When Hugh reached age 16, he ran away to Savoie and Lorina could not induce the Savoyards to return him home.

 

Now that Hugues was the age of majority and Lorina was in the clergy, the two had nothing to do with one another. Or so Lorina thought.


 

Spoiler

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Lorina's troublesome nephew, it seemed, was still up to his antics. Yet now he was the Duke of Adria following the abdication of Franz Vladov. His bratty teenaged shenanigans would now be enacted upon a national stage - and Lorina dreaded what that might mean for her family's reputation. She resolved to keep her distance from Hugues as much as possible.
 

More immediate issues loomed on the horizon, though. The land of Athera came under threat from a plague of continent-sized giant worms. The worms were causing earthquakes, eruptions, tsunamis, and other natural disasters as they burrowed beneath the land. It was soon evident to everyone that humanity could not remain on Athera. As they had done many times before, the Oren fleet assembled to conduct a mass exodus of the citizenry away from Athera.

 

Many months of sea-travel followed, with the navy sailing toward an uncertain future. At long last, though, Oren's people landed on a new continent - which they dubbed Vailor. Jace and Lorina traveled with the Vanirs on board their battleship. The Vanirs came ashore in the snowy north and set about claiming a duchy-sized parcel of land for themselves on the frozen coast. 

 

Chaos and confusion reigned in the months after the initial landing, though. The Duchy of Vanaheim, owned by the Vanirs, was split down the middle by a raging river. One side of the river was delegated to Jace, where he would build his town of Port Vydrik. The other half would be given to Percival Staunton.

 

The Golden Crows - Karl Barbanov's military force - tried to claim the exact same plot of land as the Vanirs. A squabble broke out over livestock and land rights, which King Olivier's chancellor Lord Guy de Bar was called in to resolve. The Golden Crows accused Percival Staunton of stealing their livestock, which Staunton denied.


 

Spoiler

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In addition, there was some confusion over which part of Vanaheim belonged to whom. Percival Staunton believed that he was entitled to build on both sides of the river, despite having been given clear instructions to settle on the east side. The western side of the river belonged to Jace. Percival had already begun building on Jace's side of the river when Jace arrived in Vanaheim. Jace was able to navigate the dispute, but the Stauntons vocally resented being forced to tear down and move their buildings to the other side of the river.

 

Spoiler

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With the land disputes settled, though, Jace could finally begin building on his parcel of land. He soon learned that the Vanirs intended to give him the title of Count.


 

Spoiler

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The Stauntons continued to overstep their bounds and try to build things on Jace's side of the river, however - going so far as to take resources from the Port Vydrik farms.

 

Spoiler

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The new town of Port Vydrik was already flourishing and - as such - it needed spiritual guidance from the clergy. Lorina had kept the architectural design for the church she'd built in Vanhall. She handed the plans over to Jace in hopes they could rebuild it - exactly as before - in the new duchy.


 

Spoiler

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But a new problem reared its ugly head. Sister Lorina was the only clergyperson for miles around. New citizens were pouring into the town of Port Vydrik by the day - and, as such, there was a need for a clergy member who could perform the Canonist sacraments. Couples needed someone to perform the marriage rites. New parents required a priest to baptize their babies. The elderly and dying needed their last rites. The bodies of the deceased needed to be consecrated and buried.

 

Jace naturally wanted his friend Lorina to be the one overseeing religious matters in the town of Port Vydrik. She was well-versed in the Canon, not to mention someone Jace trusted to advise him on spiritual matters. As a nun, however, Lorina did not have permission to perform sacraments or rites for the church. Jace asked Lorina if she might write to the new High Pontiff Sixtus III and ask for a special dispensation to perform sacraments since Port Vydrik lacked a dedicated priest.

 

They would both be disappointed, however.
 

Spoiler

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The difficulties with the Stauntons also persisted. Percival Staunton appeared to be raising a militia to protect his land holdings - without Jace's consent or knowledge. Jace had installed his friend Octavianus "Scipio" Bracchus as the leader of Vanaheim's military forces. Yet neither Octavianus nor Jace knew about Percival's small, but growing militia. The stubborn yet ambitious Percival did not want to place his men under Octavianus's authority. Percival desired to be a count in his own right and seemed uninterested in bowing to any higher authority than his own. 

 

Jace, for his part, tried to keep up civil relations with the man.
 

Spoiler

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Yet something about Percival Staunton made Jace uneasy. Percival struck him as a grasping sort, desirous of power and willing to use any means to get it. Yet he set aside his doubts and attempted to get along for the sake of Vanaheim. 

 

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EPISODE 10:

Refugees in Vanaheim!

 

Spoiler

Months passed and the people of Oren settled into their new home in Vailor. For a time, peace ruled the land - though it would not last. There had long been tensions brewing between the heartlander Savoyards and the highlander Raevir. The Savoyards and the Raevir had a deep cultural divide between them. The Raevir saw the Savoyards as prissy, stuck-up, and snake-like in their politics - backstabbers and power-grabbers who had unfairly unseated them from Oren's throne. The Savoyards likewise viewed the Raevir as brutish, uncivilized, violent, and crude.

 

Jace straddled the line between the two groups. He was heartlander by ethnicity and had been adopted into a prominent Savoyard family - the Bracchus clan. Yet he'd found a home and allies among the Raevir. It was the Vanirs who had offered him land and a place among the nobility. And though he could not admit it out loud any longer, he loved the woman who many viewed as a symbol of Raevir culture - Lorina, the last Carrion princess.

 

Jace would not be able to walk the line between the Raevir and the Savoyards for long, though. Violence between the Savoyard De Solas and the Raevir Vladovs broke out in the capital city of Felsen after a speech given by Publius Bracchus - Jace's brother and King Olivier's Lord Steward.
 

Spoiler

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Mere days later, Publius would arrive once more in Vanaheim... this time, with the Savoyard royal family in tow. Violence between the Vladovs and the De Solas had once again broken out in Felsen. It seemed a civil conflict had begun in earnest.


 

Spoiler

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Jace's manor was situated right across the road from Lorina's church. Lorina left the manor - only to find more refugees from the opposite side of the conflict waiting inside her church!
 

Spoiler

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Jace scrambled through the evening to make accommodations for the sudden influx of refugees. He feared that with the Savoyards and the Vladovs in such close proximity, violence might break out in Vanaheim. The majority of the refugees were women and children, however - noncombatants with no desire to engage one another in martial conflict. Jace could only do what he thought was correct, which was to keep the noncombatants safe and comfortable while their men fought in the field.

 

It wasn't long before Duke Vasili took notice of the chaos unfolding in his lands.


 

Spoiler

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Jace argued passionately that Vanaheim should remain a refuge from the fighting. As a 2nd Regiment Soldier, Jace had fought and shed blood for the cause of a united Oren. He could not stand to see Orenian men and women driven from their homes in fear of violence and civil war. Vasili listened to Jace's arguments and agreed. He had fought alongside Jace in the Schism War and saw first-hand the damage a divided Oren could do to itself. He did not want the kingdom plunged back into pointless bloodshed. Vanaheim, by his decree, would remain neutral ground and not play host to Orenians fighting Orenians.

 

Jace felt no relief, however. He hoped that the Vladovs and the de Solas would burn themselves out - fight until they had their fill of blood, then make peace with one another. In his heart, though, he knew this was only the beginning. Oren's fragile unity was about to be broken.

 

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EPISODE 11:

The Ducal Coalition Formed

 

Spoiler

As conflict escalated, King Olivier made an attempt to quell the fighting by declaring that the duchies were no longer allowed to make war on one another. The Vladovs and the de Solas were free to fight each other if they liked, but no one else could participate. The Duchy of Adria reacted with immediate hostility and soon progressed to open rebellion against the crown. They accused King Olivier de Savoie of being an absent monarch who showered favors upon his relatives while scorning the Raevir. 


 

Spoiler

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Vanaheim attempted to remain neutral as long as possible, but an ill-timed marriage between young Britannus Vanir and Emilia Vladov ignited Savoyard hostilities against the northern duchy. The Savoyards believed that by arranging a marriage between Britannus and Emilia, the Vanirs were casting their lots with Adria. 


 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

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Mere days after the wedding between Britannus and Emilia, members of King Olivier de Savoie's kingsguard would kidnap and assault the young groom - forcing Vanaheim to at last choose a side in the war. 


 

Spoiler

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EPISODE 12:

Captured! 

 

Spoiler

Now that Vanaheim had sworn its allegiance to Adria, Jace and his family members found themselves in a painful and awkward position. Publius, the head of the Bracchus clan, served as the Lord Steward for King Olivier de Savoie. Publius had no intentions of defecting to the rebel cause. Jace and Octavianus, however, had given their fealty to Duke Vasili Vanir. The family lay divided on opposite sides of the war.  Not one of the three brothers knew how to approach the situation. They felt loyalty to one another as kinsmen, yet they had each pledged to fight for different sides of the war.

 

The situation came to a head when Publius was kidnapped and held for ransom by Duke Hugues Sarkozic. Jace petitioned Duke Hugues for his brother's freedom - and Hugues magnanimously chose to release Publius into Jace's custody without demanding payment.


 

Spoiler

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Jace and Publius returned to Jace's manor house in Vanaheim, where Octavianus was waiting for them. There, the three Bracchus brothers were forced to make a difficult decision. Where, precisely, did their allegiances lie? Would they be willing to fight against one another? Did they owe their loyalty to their liege lords - or to one another?


 

Spoiler

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All three agreed that they had no choice but to remain true to the oaths they had sworn - even if it meant they were isolated from one another on different sides of the war. Regardless of their allegiances, though, they pledged that they would not harm one another if they could avoid it. The three men cared truly for one another and would not let their bond of blood be severed by the war.

 

Distraught by the circumstances, Jace sought counsel with his friend and advisor Sister Lorina.


 

Spoiler

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Sister Lorina was not especially reassured by Jace's words. She had lived through Storm King Maric's bloody civil war - the war that had destroyed her family, the Carrions, and unseated them from imperial rule - and she was not eager to see Oren split in two once again. She asked Jace that he refrain from fighting if at all possible, to avoid the stain of kinslaying on his soul.

 

Jace agreed. He no longer wanted to seek glory as a soldier. Instead, he wanted to support the people of Vanaheim through civil efforts - to protect the citizenry, provide for refugees, and keep the peace as much as possible. Lorina nodded along, satisfied, and praised him for refusing to commit an act of kinslaying.

 

Jace would keep his word. He did not commit a single act of violence during the entirety of the Duke's War. But not because of the choice he made to remain peaceful...

 

One dark night, while Jace was attending to the fields of Vanaheim, a gang of cloaked riders approached the farm.


 

Spoiler

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The riders knocked Jace unconscious and threw him over the back of a horse. They took off riding in the direction of Peremont, the fortress of King Olivier de Savoie's chancellor, Guy de Bar. And it was in the dark bowels of Peremont that Jace would be imprisoned for the duration of the war...

 

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Part 4

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