House Drakmarien

OVERVIEW
House Drakmarien was the noble house of Hastyria founded by Drakmyr, the First King, after he took control of the country following the death Hastyr the Conqueror.

Drakmyr ruled Hastyria, which he named in his uncle's honour, for 53 years. His eldest surviving son ( the first born had died in a hunting accident), Sedryd, took the throne and the took Drakmyran as his family name, essentially become the first of House Drakmyran.

Over the course of centuries, through a combination of mispronunciation and erroneous recording, the name had transformed to Drakmarien.

The Royal House Drakmarien ruled for over 300 years before it was overthrown during the War of the Dragon's Fire, replaced by House Thaene. The remnants of the House renounced its claim to the throne and marched north, to bring the Highlands into Hastyrian control. For 100 years House Drakmarien remained loyal to Royal House Thaene.

During the civil war following the death of the heirless King Raelor II, Lord Gascar Drakmarien and his entire host, including his brother and two sons, were betrayed by House Calordian at the Great River Massacre. Almost all were killed.

Once Thaedred Sevorica was crowned King, he marched north and besieged Taranis. After 3 weeks of fighting, the citadel was finally taken. Everyone inside was slaughtered. Lord Gascar's youngest brother, Vaeron, managed to escape with his newborn nephew, Kaenan. Together they fled south to Gallika, signalling the end of House Drakmarien.

REBELLION
House Drakmarien ruled Hastyria for over 300 years, before it was overthrown during the War of the Dragon's Fire. An extremely cruel and tyrannic King, Haryn III, displayed a penchant for brutal punishment for even minor infractions. Beggars who stole bread to survive were burnt alive in the city square, entire families were extinguished for percieved slights against his name. Thousands were killed for little or no reason.

Eventually, it all came to a head when Haryn executed the eldest son of Lord Raenor Thaene for coming to his birthday celebrations instead of his father. This action resulted in Raenor declaring both that Haryn was a despot and his intent to go to war against him.

House Thaene was well respected, and many other Houses, tired of Haryn's brutality and paranoia, rallied to their cause.

Haryn also called for his supporters; amongst others, House Baylor and House Astor remained loyal to the King.

The King was greatly outnumbered, as well as surrounded by his enemies. In retribution for their betrayal, Haryn resorted to the use of terror and destruction. He set his soldiers loose on the country side. Dozens of towns and villages were burned to the ground along with the inhabitants, resulting in the rebellion being termed the War of the Dragon's Fire.

The war lasted little more than a year, the end coming when one of the King's loyal Houses betrayed him and slaughtered the inhabitants of the royal keep at Regalis, including the King himself. Lord Raenor, whose second son Daemon would be crowned King, although repulsed by the method used, was forced to recognize House Calordian for essentially ending the war. In reward, House Calordian was given the port city of Rysdale as it's seat, in place of House Baylor which had been all but destroyed.

EXILE
Although the head of the House was dead, House Drakmarien was far from extinguished. Instead of continuing the war for the throne, the new Lord Drakmarien, Jaenus, the dead King's youngest brother, requested peace. In exchange for the survival of the House, he asked to be allowed to lead his House into the Highlands to secure new lands for the Kingdom. Lord Raenor, seeing that the blood feud was satisfied, granted Jaenus' request.

Lord Jaenus Drakmarien led his House, which stilled retained a large number of men-at-arms, into the Highlands. Fighting hostile clans all the way, he eventually founded the city of Taranis, which would become the House Seat.

For almost 50 years, House Drakmarien fought to subdue the highland clans, eventually succeeding through a combination of war and diplomacy. The House had brought their culture with them to the north, a stark contrast to the relatively primitive highland clans. However, by the time of Lord Gascar Drakmarien nearly 100 years later, most of the clans had adopted certain aspects of Hastyrian culture and were fiercely loyal to their Lord.

Even though some Houses remained suspicious towards the Drakmariens, the House remained steadfastly loyal to Royal House Thaene.

THE FALL
103 years after the War of the Dragon's fire, Hastyria was once again divided by civil war. King Raelor II had died without a surviving heir ( both his sons were already dead). The Royal Line of House Thaene had ended, the First Line of House Thaene with it. Now the search began for an heir. Several claimants stepped forward, most notably Lord Thaedred Sevorica and Lord Kastor Farren. Both had equal claims, resulting in a stalemate. The stalemate quickly led to civil war.

House Sevorica in the south had been massing a huge army in the woods near Vetton. Much of the army were mercenaries secretly paid for by House Calordian, who had yet to officially declare for either side. Lord Thaedred also dispatched men to take hostages from each of the nearby major Houses, in order to prevent them from intervening.

In 413 AH, Thaedred marched his army north from Vetton to take the capital, and the crown. When he arrived, the city refused to allow him through the gates. In response, Thaedred laid siege to the city. With several of their children taken hostage, the nearby Houses were unable to march to the capital's aid, leaving the city isolated.

Upon hearing of the capitals plight, Lord Gascar declared for House Farren, mustered his army, nearly 16,000 strong, and marched south to Regalis. For the first time in over 100 years, the Drakmariens left the Highlands in force. When the Drakmarien host arrived at Regalis, the capital was already under siege. A Sevorican host of nearly 45,000 men surrounded the city. Forutnately for them, the Sevoricans had not anticipated the Drakmarien army to march so quickly and had not expected them for at least another week. Using this to his advantage, Lord Gascar waited until the rebels made an assault on the city. When they did, he launched his own attack from the rear, trapping most of the enemy between his army and the city walls. The Sevoricans didn't stand a chance and thousands were slaughtered in the rout, including Darryn, Thaedred's eldest son. The siege was lifted and Lord Thaedred fled south with the remaining 19,000, which was mostly just his own men-at-arms. After breaking the siege Gascar followed the Sevoricans south. While on the march south, they were joined by a force of Calordian men-at-arms, who were actually in colusion with Thaedred.

40 miles from Sevor, after they had made camp and settled in for the night, the Calordians struck. From their own camp, they swept through the Drakmariens, slaughtering many in their sleep. Meanwhile, a second force attacked from the opposite direction, trapping the Drakmariens. Sleeping soldiers were roused from their tents by the sounds of fighting, rushing to battle in little or no clothes at all.

Lord Gascar himself waded into the thickest fighting in only his undertunic, before he was struck down. Eventually, assaulted from two directions, the unprepared Drakmariens were slaughtered to the last man. It would become known as the Great River Massacre. The Drakmarien host was annihilated, Lord Gascar, his two eldest sons and one of his brothers were killed. Heron Calordian looted the ancestral sword of House Drakmarien, Talon, from Gascar's body.

Rid of his pursuers, Thaedred Sevorica marched north again with a second host. He entered the capital without resistance and claimed the Crown. Lord Kastor Farren, with his two daughters still hostages, was forced to resign his claim and recognise Thaedred as King. With the withdrawal of Kastor's claim, all the other Houses, except House Drakmarien, recognised Thaedred as King.

King Thaedred's first Royal Act was to declared House Drakmarien rebels and march his army north to Taranis. Upon entering the Highlands, Thaedred's host was plagued by raids from hill clansmen, but the army's sheer size, 25,000 soldiers, brushed aside any real resistance.

When he arrived at Taranis, Thaedred immedietly besieged the castle. The fortress was defended by 600 Drakmarien men-at-arms, those left behind when Lord Gascar marched south. The Sevoricans faced fierce resistance to their assaults, the defenders ready to fight to the death.

After 3 weeks of almost daily assaults and constant bombardment, Thaedred's massive trebuchets had opened up five different breaches in the citadel's curtain wall. The defenders were unable to defend so many positions at once and were forced to fall back to the keep.

Thaedred kept up his siege, breaking the keep gates 3 days later. Sevorican soldiers poured into the keep, slaughtering the surviving defenders, and any other poor souls trapped in the fortress. The ruined citadel was left to slowly crumble, the bodies of those killed littered across the broken ground.

The bloodlines of Drakmarien were not extinguished however. Immedietely after the keep gates were breached, Vaeron Drakmarien, Gascar's youngest brother, escaped through the secret posturn gate with a handful of retainers. He carried in his arms Gascar's newborn son,Kaenan, barely 4 weeks old. Vaeron fled far to the south, crossing the Gap into Gallika and beyond, far away from the vengeful eyes of the King.

Sworn Houses
Most Houses sworn to House Drakmarien were either destoyed in the War of the Dragon's Fire, or renounced their oath, joining the rebellion. Only a few remained to follow Jaenus Drakmarien into exile in the Highlands. However, the conquest of the Highland clans opens up opportunities to gain new vassals.
 * House Steyne, formerly of Steynekeep, now of Dertossa.
 * House Ackard, formerly of Diluna, now of Novassa.
 * House Ryne, formerly of Ryhall, now of Voranna.
 * House Drakmarien of Rogassa.
 * House Kalorn, of Stonehall.
 * House Tarna, of Tarhold.
 * House Drewer, of Bloodhall.
 * House Graywolfe, of
 * House Nyarchon, of Banekeep.

Following the destruction of Taranis, and the removal of House Drakmarien, most of the other Houses were left alone by the forces of King Thaedred. Some Houses attempted to fill the vacuum left by the Drakmariens, resulting in several battles for supremacy.