Melhed/Agyrian Acedemy/Terriad/Age of Ruin/Timeline
Timeline
At the time of Fifth Invasion, much of the land of Beluaterra was covered in the impenetrable clouds known as the Blight while Melhed was a republic governed by Consul Soren. Soren led a call for the unity of human realms against the daimon invaders. This call was met with agreement from almost all other realms and humanity stood united against the daimon menace, finally defeating them and lifting the Blight from some of the lost lands. But in their fury at defeat, the daimons sunk all the remaining Blighted lands in revenge, changing the shape of the continent forever.
The republic was then overthrown by Yeux Serpentis who founded the Kingdom of Greater Melhed. But during his reign Melhed was soon embroiled in the War of Ice and Sun against Thalmarkin over disputed claims to regions north of the river and lost the war, resulting in the forced abdication of Queen Maya (after her husband King Yeux had died of sickness while negotiating peace in the last days of the war) and the loss of the duchy of Agyr so that the lost kingdom of Ar Agyr could be refounded.
Queen Maya was followed by King Pavel who led Melhed into the War of Sovereignty as one of the Free Realms which fought against an alliance of Thalmarkin, Ar Agyr and Old Grehk which aimed at making King Fingolfin of Thalmarkin the King of Kings of Beluaterra. During the first half of the war it was Fronen and Melhed against the north and King Pavel died in battle, leading to the return of Queen Maya and a forced peace treaty with Thalmarkin which acknowledged northern supremacy and ceded land to the victors. In the second half of the war, Riombara, Nothoi and Spearhold joined the war allowing Melhed to rejoin the fight with the help of Riombaran troops.
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Fifth Invasion
At the time of Fifth Invasion, much of the land of Beluaterra was covered in the impenetrable clouds known as the Blight while Melhed was a republic governed by Consul Soren. Soren led a call for the unity of human realms against the daimon invaders. This call was met with agreement from almost all other realms and humanity stood united against the daimon menace, finally defeating them and lifting the Blight from some of the lost lands. But in their fury at defeat, the daimons sunk all the remaining Blighted lands in revenge, changing the shape of the continent forever.
The Revolution
After the invasion Great Maharshi Yeux Serpentis led a rebellion which overthrew the Senate and proclaimed the Kingdom of Greater Melhed afterg the spirit of Emperor Tsu and the other warrior-kings of old. King Yeux was soon wed to Lady Maya Tandaros, known as the Wrath of Iku-Turso to the peasants, who bore him a son named Hector Serpentis-Tandaros.
The War of Ice and Sun
The new kingdom did not enjoy peace for long as a quarrel soon broke out between Melhed and Thalmarkin. After the Fourth Invasion Melhed had given its lands north of the great river to Thalmarkin in order to help them survive the loss of their northern lands to the Blight. Once the Fifth Invasion ended the Blight lifted but some of the northern lands were also sunk. Therefore Thalmarkin insisted that the lands north of the river were theirs and they no longer hand to return them.
Melhed refuted this claim and war broke out, the War of Ice and Sun. During the war, King Yeux, in failing health, abdicated in order to meditate in the last days before his death and the throne fell to his wife Queen Maya. While the Melites fought bravely, Thalmarkin was too powerful and defeated them, forcing Queen Maya to concede to the harsh terms of the Unger Peace which saw her abdicate in turn for Duke Pavel Jeffrey, a skilled military commander, and he loss of the duchy of Agyr to allow Outo Olavi Cosula to refound the lost kingdom of Ar Agyr.
King Pavel the Great
King Pavel set about restoring the pride of Melhed. Allying himself with Ar Agyr he fought a long war with neighbouring Fronen which saw Melhed gain rich new lands and give one of its own regions to Ar Agyr in exchange for their aid in the war.
With the glory of Melhed restored, it seemed like a golden peace was at hand and even an alliance with Thalmarkin was signed, apparently ending the enmity between the two realms. Unfortunately the imperialism of King Fingolfin of Thalmarkin soon put an end to this. He sought to make himself 'King of Kings' of Beluaterra and force all other realms to acknowledge his seniority.
At first King Pavel pretended to support the plans of King Fingolfin but, in secret, he attempted to rally the support of other realms to halt this attempt at Thalmarkinian hegemony. However, his plans were thwarted by Riombara who betrayed his efforts to Thalmarkin and war broke out between Thalmarkin, Ar Agyr and Old Grehk forming the Northern Alliance on the one hand and Melhed and Fronen on the other, starting the Second War of Ice and Sun.
Through diplomacy, King Pavel won Spearhold to the side of the Free Realms, getting them to fight against Thalmarkin, but not against Old Grehk, as well as convincing Nothoi to join the fight once their diplomatic dispute with Riombara was resolved. But despite these successes the situation seemed grave as an Agyrian army breached the defences of the city of Mhed and started a takeover of the city while a Thalmarkinian army marched into Melhed.
At this time, however, some nobles of Ar Agyr, led by Immanuel Octavius, former general of Ar Agyr and Count of Gor Ault, contacted King Pavel and arranged to sabotage the Agyrian war effort, allowing the Melite army to sack the Agyrian bread basket of Rengo, before they defected entirely to Melhed, bringing the regions of Tepmona and Gor Ault with them, leaving the Agyrians without enough food to support their realm.
King Pavel had fought against the Thalmarkinin army before the defection and, despite a loss, forced them to withdraw. With the new regions and nobles at his back, he regrouped and attacked the Agyrians, driving them out of Mhed and saving the city.
The Thalmarkinians soon returned though and forced King Pavel to rally his army in the capital of Fronepu, waiting for the chance to strike back. But, as Pavel marched his army against the Thalmarkinians, foul northern witchery bewitched half his army, leaving them unable to march, and so King Pavel was forced to fight outnumbered three to one. Fearless in spite of certain defeat, King Pavel charged the enemy, slaying many of them. But in an attempt to come to the rescue of his sister Dorothea, King Pavel was surrounded and slain by the Thalmarkinians, dying a hero's death fighting against many foes.
Thus ended the reign of King Pavel the Great, a man whose legend the ages will never diminish.
Queen Maya's Second Reign
In the aftermath of King Pavel's death, Duchess Maya Tandaros won the backing of the nobles of Melhed to reclaim the throne. The situation was dire with a Fronenite army on its way to aid Melhed being shattered by Old Grehk and Thalmarkin and two of Melhed's regions occupied by enemy forces. But decisive action soon drove out Old Grehk from the region it was attempting to conquer and the Melite army, united behind its Queen, marched again to war - the fate of the realm in the balance.
However, the tide of war turned against the Melites. Their ally Fronen refused to help and no aid seemed to come from Spearhold either. An army each from Old Grehk, Thalmarkin and Ar Agyr occupied Melite soil, each ravaging a region or taking it over. With the war clearly being lost, and Fronen ignoring Queen Maya's letters, peace negotiations began and, as a last gamble to shift the balance of the war, Marshal Immanuel led the Melites in a desperate march to end an Agyrian takeover of Trottie but lost due the sudden arrival of a Thalmarkinian army which, despite being defeated itself and suffering the wounding of King Fingolfin himself, allowed the Agyrians to win the day and complete their takeover.
With Melhed beaten in battle, the Queen held a referendum which ruled in favour of peace. Under the terms agreed, Selene and Immanuel Octavius were forced to return to Ar Agyr for trial (which led to their banning and thence return to Melhed), Tepmona was returned to Ar Agyr, Yipinalke was kept by Old Grehk and Bisana was to be loaned to Ar Agyr for an indefinite period of time in addition to Melhed being forced to join the Northern Alliance.
There then followed a period of peace in Melhed during which a tournament of swordfighing was held, which was won by Agnes the Manstomper of Thalmarkin, even while the War of Sovereignty raged unabated on all sides with Nothoi and Swordfell joining on the side of the Free Realms. Nonetheless, northern victory seemed assured until Riombara decided to enter the war in defence of sovereignty following their discovery that Melhed's acknowledgement of Thalmarkinian overlordship was only under duress rather than a willing choice. Marshal Immanuel took this opportunity to draw up plans with the High Constable of Riombara and soon a Riombaran army landed in Melhed and Queen Maya revoked the treaty of Northern Unity and rejoined the War of Sovereignty on the side of the Free Realms.
The armies of Melhed and Riombara met with instant success under Marshal Immanuel, defeating in the west a combined army of Thalmarkin and Ar Agyr, who were ravaging Melite regions on their way home, while in the east Immanuel himself led an occupation of Gor Ault in preparation of claiming it for Melhed once more.
During this period it emerged that during the time of peace Imperator Thefal had plotted against his realm with Fronen to overthrow Queen Maya in order to bring Melhed back into the war against Thalmarkin. Marshal Immanuel had joined this plot on behalf of Queen Maya to expose it and made the correspondence between himself and Thefal public when the Imperator emerged from a week's silence and instantly demanded total control over the military campaign despite having had no involvement in organising it.