Chapter 16, the Reign of Erian: Part 4

Erian the Able, 3rd Grand Prince of the Kingdom of Aerdy

Born -253 CY, Died -181 CY

Reigned -198 to -181 CY

A lowland Flan king of the Achik
tribe c. -185 CY
Art by Angus McBride

Having broadened and secured Aerdy’s foreign trade networks, Erian next turned to the conquest of the Flan tribes of the north whose cultures were discussed in the previous chapter. Most of the expansion of Aerdy to the north in this period was in the lands of the lowland tribes of the Flanmi Valley and its tributaries. Expansion into the highlands inhabited by tribes dominated by the Ur-Flan proceeded at a snail’s pace and was largely unsuccessful. While the Flan of the lowlands frequently formed alliances to resist outside attacks, the Ur-Flan tribes were constantly at war with each other, with one exception --  rumors of a confederation of Ur-Flan in the Trask River Valley, much further to the north, which came to be known as the Necromancers of Trask. But that is a tale which will only have bearing in years to come and our focus now is on the lowland tribes. Despite the tribalism of the lowland Flan we should not attribute a primitive nature to them more than we do to the horse-barbarian ancestors of Aerdy. They were a people with highly complex social structures and an economic base that, while not as advanced as Aerdy, was still formidable. Nevertheless they were hindered by their love of independence and subject to the same inter-clan and tribal feuding and prejudices that had impeded the Aerdi clans’ formation of the Kingdom of Aerdy and which still, as we will see, fractured their society upon occasion. This allowed an opening for Grand Prince Erian to divide their confederations and bring their lands under Aerdi rule.

Saint Matea, Apostle of
Sol to the Flan
c. 5th century OR
Art by Marat Ars

Key to the conquest of the northern Flan during Erian’s reign was his skill in diplomacy. And key to his diplomacy was how the pantheon of the Aerdi had been changing as their society changed. The chief gods of the Flan were Beory, the Earth Mother and Pelor, the Sun Father. While the Oeridians revered those gods under the names of Oerth and Sol, they were no longer very important gods of that people due to the shift from them being a settled folk in the time of legends to warlike nomads, whose primary deities were gods of war, and of the seasons and flocks. But the movement toward an agricultural-based society since they had settled in the Eastern Flanaess had wrought changes on how the new common farming class worshiped and the gods they revered. While the Velaeri as gods of the season became primarily patrons of farmers rather than herders, the goddess Merikka -- who had previously been known as the Mother of the Herds, governing the times of birthing and slaughtering of cattle and sheep -- became the Lady of the Calendar, concerned with the times of planting and harvesting. Most surprising was the resurgence in the worship of Sol among the farming commoners and serfs. Whereas before he had been a god of authority and kingship, during this period he began, by the mixing of the Aerdi and Northern Flan, merging into his identity as Sol-Pelor, the life-giving Sun. Erian’s overtures to Flan tribes always emphasized that those who peacefully joined the Kingdom would retain their status as freemen and the privilege of keeping their traditional gods. While the Flan, who did not practice as intensive a form of agriculture as the Aerdy, were required to accept communities of Aerdy colonists settling on their lands, care was taken not to encroach on those under use by established clans and communities, to avoid conflict between the two peoples. Mixing of bloodlines was also encouraged both among commoners and the nobility, though it occurred primarily among the former. Little could Erian have known that he was facilitating the transition of Sol from a relatively unimportant deity in Oeridian society into one widely worshiped, and who would eventually be known only by his adopted Flan name of Pelor.

The Royal brothers, Gennor and Nalaster
on campaign against the Northern Flan,
-182 CY
Edward Atterton and Michael Vartan in Mists of Avalon

While diplomacy allowed Erian to make great headway among the lowland Flan the majority of tribes were brought into the Kingdom of Aerdy by force. Unlike their fellows who chose to swear fealty to Erian they were not allowed the luxury of free status but instead enlarged the serf class, which traditionally had been very small and allowed the possibility of upward mobility in Aerdian society. By this time their legal status had changed and they were now static and continuing to expand decade by decade as the children of serfs inherited the status of their parents, remaining tied to the land of their masters. Despite their reduced social status, Erian allowed the latter groups of Flan the worship of their own gods and even let village headmen retain their positions as long as they cooperated with their new Aerdy overlords and saw that taxes were paid on time and in full. New fiefs were granted to minor nobles from all the major Aerdian houses in a patchwork that did not allow any to gain too much prestige and power on the expanding northern frontier. The Torquann, as traditional partners in this endeavor were shown some favoritism in being granted higher positions and the choicest lands. Through this focus on the northern lands along the Flanmi, by -182 CY Erian had expanded the border to the Velnaead River where the town of Edgefield was founded. To the north of there was a strong confederation of Flan led by the Sim’chian tribe. On the Flanmi, Darnegal had been founded as a stronghold to defend the new lands against a strong Flan kingdom to the northeast known as Kho’lamm that had formed out of several tribes under a high king named Man’khu. On the eastern bank of the Flanmi the border ran from the Arrow River eastward to the further shore of the lake of the same name and southward in a rough line down to Delaric.

Slaughter of the Royal grandchildren
of Grand Prince Erian, -181 CY
Jacobus de Voragine,  "Massacre of the Innocents" in
the Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea), 13th century 

The force that would end Erian’s reign came from an unexpected quarter. After having fostered the boy in his household for years, in -193 CY he had returned his grandnephew, Baldo to his Naelax relatives. Baldo had gained the age of majority and was allowed to take up the title of Prince of Naelax and Medegia. Despite this the young Prince was kept close to Erian, active in the wars against the Flan. By the time Baldo married in -190 CY and produced an heir in -183 CY, it was felt by all the court that he regarded the Grand Prince as something of a second father. Unknown to them, the young Prince of Naelax had slowly been poisoned against Erian by his mother, Lorana and her in-laws; his head filled with the notion that he was the rightful grand prince, and that he should seek revenge upon the man who had killed his father. Baldo maintained the appearance of a loving grandnephew and dutiful vassal, while at the same time secretly building alliances among the Medegian nobility and the church of Hextor, awaiting his chance. In -182 CY with the end of the summer campaigning, Erian, still strong and active at the age of 73, had returned to Rel Astra, leaving behind his sons, Gennor and Nalaster to watch the northern border. As autumn proceeded to winter the royal family prepared for the celebration of Needfest. It was on the 1^st of Needfest, -181 CY that Prince Baldo acted. With his bodyguard he took the guards of the city’s main gate by surprise, letting in a strong force led by his Naelax cousins and his mother that had traveled north under the guise of attending the festivities, gathered in Strinken and swiftly marched on the capital. Rel Astra fell swiftly and Grand Prince Erian, the Princess Consort Florula, the wife of Gennor, and the royal grandchildren were taken captive. In one of the most brutal acts of treachery in the history of the Flanaess, Baldo acted in true Hextoran fashion, slaughtering them all without mercy and proclaiming himself Grand Prince.

Next Chapter -- the Reign of Gennor the Brief

Art Notes:

A lowland Flan king of the Achik tribe c. -185 CY Like many of the tribal leaders and nobles of this area, this petty king and his nobles and guards are heavily draped in gold and gold-plated jewelry. The Achik were one of the members of the Sim’chian Confederation who lived on the west bank of the Flanmi in a section of that river known for being particularly rich in gold and which still bears the name the Nugget Run(1). The armor of the king and his guards is a form of stitched brigandine of bronze plates between saffron-dyed fabric and in the case of the king, a rare reddish orange-dye extracted from a type of beetle native to the Adri Forest. In addition the king wears a bronze breastplate. The helmets of the guards are gold-plated and are for ceremonial purposes only although the helmets worn in battle are of a similar though plainer design and made of bronze. The king’s armor features a raised gorget to protect his neck and lower face while the helmets of the guards have aventails serving the same purpose. The weapons are of steel of a kind noted for its quality surpassing that even of Aerdy smiths of the time. It is believed that the Flan smith learned their methods via transmission from Flan tribes living closer to the Rakers who in turn learned their techniques from Dwarven smiths of the Kingdom of Gyrth Orom(2). The guard to the fore holds the leashes of a pair of tame leopards, a variety of large cat which are native to and still found in the deep Adri, and were also found in the Grandwood before they were hunted to extinction there(3).

Saint Matea, Apostle of Sol to the Flan c. 5th century OR The daughter of an important Thellari noble family near Rel Deven in what was then the Kingdom of Thalland. Matea was born just at the end of the civil conflict known as the War of the Three Brothers. Around -210 CY, after the Kingdom of Aerdy had conquered the southern Thellari Kingdom, her family tried to force her into an arranged marriage with a Torquann. Instead, she escaped to the sanctuary of the Temple of Lothan outside of Rel Deven(4) and took the vows of a priestess of the relatively obscure cult of Sol. Rather than absorb herself in obscure rituals of devotion to the fabled Orb of Sol, whose sanctuary the temple was(5), Matea went out among the common farmers of the surrounding land where she soon became known for her generosity and defense of the downtrodden. Taking up the life of a wandering mendicant priestess, her journeys took her north to Rel Astra. Around -200 CY she took her ministry to the lands of the Flan tribes of the northern Flanmi Valley among whom she found a ready flock, steeped as they were in the worship of Pelor. Her years among them laid the foundation for the merging of the two aspects of the Sun God into one. She spent the rest of her life among that people as they were slowly absorbed by Aerdy. By the time of her death in -126 CY at the age of almost 100, the cult of the god then known as Sol-Pelor had grown considerably in size and stature. When the Great Kingdom was founded not many years later, Overking Nasran called for a synod of the various major cults to convene and standardize the workings and order of the official Pantheon of the Great Kingdom, and he named that of Sol-Pelor to be one of them, alongside Heironeous, Hextor, Zilchus, Procan, Pholtus, Stern Alia, and the Velaeri.

The Royal brothers, Gennor and Nalaster on campaign against the Northern Flan, -182 CY  The sons of Erian wear functional leather armor with an added layer of small, leather and metal plates attached to the under-layer with rivets that provide slightly better protection than plain leather but do not overlap like scale armor. This style is what is often referred to as studded leather armor(6). The examples they wear are more decorative than most. It is well-suited to the swift raiding style of warfare that was most often practiced during these campaigns. In the event of a set battle they would wear the more protective chainmail hauberk with sleeves reaching to the elbows and covering the mid-thigh that was becoming the norm for knights in this period. The horsemen behind them wear conical helms with a nasal guard and a chainmail or leather coif. This style had almost fully replaced the conical helm with cheek-plates and the flare-brimmed helm that had been popular for the last half century, and would be the standard for the next two centuries. Gennor was sometimes nicknamed the Fair, like his uncle Mikar, having inherited the blond hair of his Suloise grandmother.

Slaughter of the Royal grandchildren of Grand Prince Erian, -181 CY This scene is from an illuminated manuscript from the 4th century, Annals of the Grand Princes of the Kingdom of Aerdy, by Edron Grelden. The armor and clothing of those depicted is anachronistic, appearing as what was typical of the time in which this scene was illustrated. The villainous Baldo directs his knights in the murder of Grand Prince Erian’s grandchildren after tearing them from the arms of respectively, their grandmother, Princess Consort Florula and her daughter-in-law, Princess Corvata of Cranden, wife of Prince Gennor and daughter of the Duke of Oldridge. Princess Marberga of Zelrad, wife of Prince Nalaster was saved from death, having been out of the city on pilgrimage to Ountsy, the location of the nearest temple devoted to her patron deity, Wee Jas. A storm delayed her return when it forced her ship to take shelter in the coastal village of Baizel, midway between Ountsy and Rel Astra. The depiction here of the Princess Consort Florula is inaccurate. Though it is true that Nalaster and Marberga’s young son, Docos had been left in her care, when she saw her husband stabbed and realized their imminent fate, she wrested a sword from one of Baldo’s guardsmen and killed three Naelax soldiers before being cut down herself.

End Notes:

1. Ivid the Undying (IVID), p. 56. “Pronounced ‘eye-wish,’ this village of 450 is named after the old lament ‘I wish...’ once heard so often among the gold-fevered river panners who came late to the Nugget Run of the upper Flanmi in the second and third centuries. For a time, sizeable gold nuggets could be found by panning the fine stone and silt of the bed.”

2. Races of Greyhawk. “-2591 A treaty of mutual aid between the Lyrkerami of (the) Rakers and their noniz neighbors is signed at Gyrth Orom, the Bronze City, first dwur citadel founded in the low heights of (the) Rakers (hex R2-61).”

3. Leopards may seem out of place in this area but historically in the real world they ranged into the Caucasus region and as far north as northern China and Korea before becoming extinct in those areas, and they are still found in Northern India. The Dungeon Master’s Guide, 1^st edition, p. 187 also lists leopards as a possible encounter in the encounter chart for Temperate Conditions, Faerie and Sylvan Settings.

4. Living Greyhawk Journal # 6/Dragon # 290, p. 102. “Instead of riding out to confront their rivals at Morshaldin Castle, ancestral headquarters of the Knight Protectors, Lord Kargoth’s plan called for a raid on the obscure Temple of Lothan near Rel Deven.”

5. Living Greyhawk Journal # 6/Dragon # 290, p. 102. “Kargoth informed his conspirators that the temple was the secret hiding place of legendary Orb of Sol, a holy artifact of great symbolic importance to the Aerdi people.”

6. There’s long-standing debate about studded leather armor. The most common idea is that it was originally the misinterpretation of illustrations of brigandine armor as being leather armor reinforced with studs, which would not provide much more additional protection than leather armor. To equal one extra point of armor I interpret it as described above rather than the official description in the 5e Players Handbook, “Made from tough but flexible leather, studded leather is reinforced with close-set rivets or spikes.” I would count any leather armor made thicker but still with flexibility by using additional plates of leather whether as scales or plates as being in the same armor class.