Ignatius Family/Ingvar
A Brief History
| Ingvar Ignatius | |
| |
| Status: | Alive |
| Continent: | Far East |
| Realm: | Arcaea |
| Titles Held: | Count of Treror |
| Class: | Cavalier |
| Honor: | 225 |
| Prestige: | 43 |
| Age: | 38 |
| Height: | 6 foot |
| Weight: | 11 stone |
| Eyes: | Brown |
| Hair: | Light Brown |
Ingvar started his military career in Sartania, hailing from the family manor on the Island of Apasur. There, he served under General Vash and the Sartan Crusaders during the Siege of Anacan, before war broke out between Arcachon and his home realm, led by Dormondt and Edward, respectively.
Having made great strides, Sartania had managed to conquer as far as both Athios and Unotosa. During the same period, Jannes and Ascanius managed to lead a successful rebellion, overthrowing the greedy Edward and reforming the theocracy.
Soon after, the fronts of the war managed to expand, as the newly reformed mercenary realm of Arcaea came under Arcachonian contract. After several raids on both their northern and western fronts, Sartania managed to receive help from the giant Lasanar and its ally Ethiala. The Northern Federation decided to focus its efforts on the smaller and more vulnerable realm of Arcaea, but due to inferior coordination, the three allies could not mount an effective offensive. Meanwhile, Pontifex Octavio and the Arcachonians launched brutal raids from their black warships, repeatedly striking the northern shore with a savage brutality unseen in the southern plundering committed by Arcaea's Tribute Collecting Army, led by High Marshall Olga. It was during this time that Sartania had acquired Nocaneb and Ingvar had become the Count of Obtal.
On the eve of the Federation's massive assault, Lasanar decided that it was in its best interests to sever all diplomatic ties and revert to political neutrality with all realms of the Far East. Ethiala, interpreting Lasanar's move as a build up to a possible surprise attack on their lands, decided to pull out of their commitment in the war. Now staving off three enemies (now including Ethiala) on two different fronts, Sartania slowly whittled away to its original size under constant raids.
Lasanar, under tense internal strife, soon split into the realms of Ohnar, Papania, and Ohnar West. The Duchy of Lasop in Ethiala also seceded, forming Kamador. After Aenilia and Ethiala regained the lands of Kamador, the last remnants of Lasanar were soon dismantled, and all remained quiet in the middle lands.
Cathay, Lasanar's original child crawling from the husk of the Antoza Commonwealth, had for the most part sat out of the conflict, but still federated with Sartania from times before, had managed to broker a deal between the warring realms. In exchange for one of Sartania's western regions, Arcaea would stop all aggression towards their eastern neighbor and refuse any sort of aid to Arcachon, including allowing any troops to pass through their lands for military reasons. Unexpectedly, Lady Madelena switched the allegiance of Orbeh over to Arcaea, an act that would forever illustrate her as a traitor in Sartanian eyes. Likewise, Ingvar, infuriated with the impotence of new generation of military leaders to do anything about Arcachon's devastating raids -- of which Obtal was the prime target -- decided that it was in the best interest of his peasants' well-being to lead them into Arcaean hands as well, and changed the allegiance of his region over to his former enemies.
Although he tried as hard as he could to settle the unrest over such a significant change in the way of life, Count Ingvar was soon expunged from his position, a position that Duchess Edara would soon bestow upon Lord Peter (twice, after Peter himself had been deposed). Although this earned him some silent resentment from Obtal's former Lord, Ingvar settled for becoming Peter's knight, as he still yearned to help his peasants in any way possible.
Unknowing of how long he was to stay in Arcaea, if at all, Ingvar decided that he would at least remain long enough to get Obtal back in proper condition. Although this was soon accomplished, this new realm had somehow enthralled Ingvar, who was quite intrigued in its ways. As such, he decided to keep stead in the kingdom, quietly observing its happenings with outsider's eyes. Even though he attempted to become involved with Lady Harmony's rescue, Ingvar remained quite silent up until just after King Jenred and Queen Edara's extravagant wedding.
It was not long after that temperatures rose once again in the uneasy middle lands, as Ethiala, who had become the main power in the region, started to pressure and bully Papania into handing over one of its rural regions in order to supply more food for Ethiala's many cities. During the short-lived peace, many of Ethiala's regions had inexplicably come into disrepair, with depressed peasant morale, increased rebel sentiments, and several largely underwhelming harvests. And instead of looking for other means of procuring enough food to feed its metropoli, Ethiala turned to force. They declared war upon the meager realm of Papania, who turned to its allies Arcaea and Ohnar West. Cathay pledged their support for the single purpose of defending Ethiala's lands, but had somehow attacked Arcaean lands at least once.
While most of Arcaea's forces were elsewhere, Aenilia took the opportunity to launch a surprise assault on Remton, the capital of Arcaea, which was easily repelled by minimal forces stationed in the area. This led to a short period of time where both Ohnar West and Arcaea focused most of their efforts on battling Aenilia, with Ohnar gaining Pesol and Ozrat from Ethiala at the same time. Arempos changed hands several times before finally falling under Arcaean rule, Duke Eversio had mysteriously come into rule over Lasop, Talex was soon liberated, with Larmebsi soon following suit. With prospects of continuing the conflict looking grim for Aenilia, Orphen decided it best to settle for their losses and sign a ceasefire -- and later peace deal -- with Arcaea.
General Aerywyn resigned from his duties soon thereafter, passing the mantle onto Mar Crow. At the same time, Baron Galdor stepped down from his position as Second in Command of the Field of Honor, which Lady Dentara would fill by appointing Ingvar to the role. Treror was also briefly conquered and given to the care (read: incompetence) of Deathwyrm, who settled on spending his time alienating himself from others and illegally dueling the nobility on his terms and his terms alone. Although Ingvar had once felt sorry for Count Deathwyrm, for the better parts of him reminded the aging man of who he once was -- an outsider peering into a hole in the wall of the dimly-lit cabin that was Arcaea -- the brashness of the lad and his blatant disregard for any semblance of respecting the kingdom and its laws soon irritably grated upon him, causing some bitter-sweet celebration for Ingvar once he caught wind of Deathwyrm's ban. An egotistical poor sport, Deathwyrm chose to unjustly switch the allegiance of Treror back to the decrepit Ethiala, who couldn't possibly handle the region once more, and it went rogue. Deathwyrm hopped around realms for a bit before settling in Zonasa.
All this time, the war to the north had raged on, with Irneas, Tapaliez, Tuhpos, and Apasur turning rogue. Try as they might, Arcachon could not completely subdue Tuhpos for any considerable time period, nor could they press a final assault on their enemy's last stronghold, Niel. The Sartanians, on the other hand, were still up to their old tricks, actively plotting offensives against Arcaea -- who had managed to keep a strict adherence to their previous ceasefire -- by once again looking for support from Arcaea's own allies, Papania, Ohnar West, and Soliferum. This obvious transgression against Cathay's treaty, in addition to reports of large amounts of gold coming to Sartania from Cathay herself, led the Arcaeans to believe that the Sartanians were not content to let bygones be bygones. They needed to pay for their conniving ways.
After Aenilic mixed infantry managed to single-handedly stave off an entire Arcaean offensive on Topenah, Arcaea decided that it was time to reinforce their long-held bond with Arcachon. The two allies met in Tapaliez and Nocaneb for the joint assault on Niel, but at the last minute, Arcachonian marshals fumbled their orders, delaying an attack that was already in progress for much of Arcaea's forces. Although a majority of the troops had managed to make their way back to camp, several troop leaders had not caught the orders in time and were still advancing upon the city. Unwilling to let such brave men face a meaningless slaughter, Ingvar chose to continue onward, leading these men in a valiant but futile advance to the walls. The actual assault did not occur until a day later, the coalition forces managed to breach the walls of Niels before being repelled by the last of the defending forces. Although they had lost the battle, much more damage had been done to the Sartanian military, damage that would be costly to fix, quite costly indeed.
Flustered at the let down by their northern allies, Arcaea turned once again to Topenah, preparing for a second siege. The Principality had previously mentioned that there would be repercussions for actions against Sartania, and with such deeds done, both they and Cathay had officially joined the offensive. Upon arriving at the city outskirts, many were surprised to see Cathayan troops atop the wall, heavily outnumbering the minimal Ethialian force. The Arcaean army decided to temporarily make camp in Arempos, with Ohnar West forces waiting to strike in Anaos, and Papania gathering in Isular. Then, Cathay inexplicably pulled back to Hupar, which after a long bout of switching allegiance amongst Cathay, Aenilia, and Papania, had ended up under Aenilian flag. However, the biggest shock came when not only Zonasan troops but Mosesadelphian forces also arrived in Hupar. Orphen, who was in the region to hand deeds and claims to the lands over to the Papanians, was taken aback by such an unexpected -- and unsolicited -- visit.
Before long, Arcaea settled on misdirecting towards the city several times before making the trip in half a day, hopefully catching the forces in Hupar -- who would be expecting such travel to take a full day or more -- off-guard. However, this was not the case, as Cathay showed up to defend the hopeless city -- and Zonasa came to eat some mutton whilst observing such a rough bout. Arcaea and her allies easily broke through the cities defenses, with the second half of their forces joining for a second round. The Zonasans proceeded to battle against their mortal enemies: rotund men blocking their view of the action. A third battle in the city saw the Zonasans finally field their men, at quite possibly the only time they could be any less useful. Fret not, for the Mosesadelphians decided to take their place on the sidelines; your bench shall be forever warm.
After three decisive battles, it looks quite grim for the last few Ethialians, disillusioned excuses for nobles clinging onto their last shred of significance in utter and complete vain. And with the southwestern front about to die down, the gaze of the Arcaean Empire turns towards the land of the blood-red sunrise, towards Sartania, towards victory.
