Chapter 17, the Reign of Gennor the Brief

Gennor the Brief, 4th Grand Prince of the Kingdom of Aerdy

Born -212 CY, Died -179 CY
Reigned -181 to -179 CY

Princess Yanaymi wearing
a headdress associated
with the goddess Myhriss
c. -180 CY
English singer-songwriter FKA twigs

Consumed with rage when they heard the news of the slaughter of almost the entire royal family in Rel Astra, Grand Prince Erian’s sons Gennor and Nalaster(1) marched south from the Flannish Marches toward the capital city, gathering Torquann and Garasteth lords as they went. Gennor, as the heir to the crown dispatched swift riders to the cities of Ountsy and Roland to send aid. He also directed his presumably loyal vassals, the Prince of Rax and Duke of Nulbish to attack Medegia from the west to denying Baldo reinforcements from there. One unexpected component of this force was the Flan High King Man’khu of the Kho’lamm kingdom(2), which lay along the east bank of the Flanmi and west of the Ur-Flan of the uplands. The royal brothers had been negotiating a treaty with Man'khu at Darnegal when news had come of the massacre in Rel Astra. Some say he acted out of sympathy to the brothers but others that he saw opportunity in the death of Gennor’s wife. King Man’khu’s daughter, Yanaymi was of marriageable age and was renowned for her beauty. A marriage alliance between the two states would be likely to see favorable treatment in the future by the Aerdy and forge long-lasting ties. Gathering a small host of his warriors he accompanied Gennor and Nalaster south. Little resistance faced the army of the royal princes and once outside of Rel Astra, the brothers set to the task of investing the capital, with Baldo, their traitorous usurper Naelax cousin trapped inside.

The intended actions to the south had gone more in Gennor’s favor than one could imagine. So swift was the assault of the Duke of Nulbish, Facolfos Cranden, on Medegia that he had crossed the Flanmi at Pardue and was marching on Mentrey before the Naelax and their allies could put up any resistance. And as he went those families tied to Baldo’s house melted away. Penitent lords lined the way as Facolfos’s army advanced, pledging their allegiance to Prince Gennor. Marcean, the Prince of Rax had a more difficult time. His crossing of the Mikar at Spiral went fairly unopposed but the fortified town of Dornelan stood in his way and he lacked the numbers to split his force besieging the town and advancing on the Naelax capital. Once word of what was happening to the south reached Dornelan though, many of the families allied to the Naelax rebelled, sparking a conflict within the walls. The rebels opened the gates to the Rax and the Rax army poured in. In a short time Prince Baldo’s cousin, Lotos, who had been in charge of the town, was in control of only the citadel. Prince Marcean left his son of the same name in charge of Dornelan and advanced on Mentrey to find that the army of Duke Facolfos had met the Naelax in battle and soundly defeated them. Mentry surrendered without a fight. With this, Prince Gennor’s vassals controlled most of Medegia, though the coastal cities of Pontylver and Montesser remained under control of the Naelax. The latter had long been a Rax-allied city with the Montesseri tied to them through marriage, but unlike many other of the Naelax who were unprepared for the conflict. Another of Baldo’s cousins, Leo Naelax, hearing of the invasions of Medegia from the west had gathered a force and managed to take it over. With Montesser under his control he also held one of Marcean’s daughters and her children hostage.

 Jarl Aynaros of the Schnai
and Princess Marberga-181 CY
David O'Hara and Sophia Myles in Tristan and Isolde (2006)

With the Naelax in charge of the coastal cities they also held most of the kingdom’s ships on the Solnor coast. Gennor held Chathold and its naval forces but that city lay on the other side of the country, with a long, dangerous voyage south and through the Tilva Strait in between it and Rel Astra. Despite this, five months into the siege when food supplies were running low in the capital, an unusual naval battle took place. A Naelax flotilla from Pontylver, bringing supplies to Rel Astra by sea was unexpectedly engaged by a small fleet of Schnai long ships. The Northern Barbarians of this time were for the most part consumed with warring against each other, but the Schnai had begun to build ships and venture out on the sea. Though it would be centuries before they began to raid the south in great numbers, some ambitious jarls had launched expeditions to trade and sometimes attack southerners, mainly poorly defended Flan coastal villages. As chance would have it one such expedition, led by a jarl named Aynaros, had landed near the besieged city and made contact with the forces of Prince Gennor and his brother. It was fortunate that in their camp was Nalaster’s Zelrad wife, Marberga. Hearing the speech of the sea-farers she was able to translate for them using her knowledge of Ancient Suloise. This was done with some difficulty, since the Cold Tongue had diverged considerably from the latter. During their meeting word came of the approaching Naelax ships and a deal was quickly struck, with the Schnai hired to attack them before they could reach the harbor. The long ships spread out before the Medegians in a line, chaining themselves stem to stern, and when the Medegian captains tried to plow through, battle-crazed barbarian warriors swarmed across. It was a slaughter, over in less than half an hour. Though outnumbering the Schnai in ships two to one, only two of the Medegian vessels made their escape. The Schnai remained throughout the rest of the siege but no further attempts at relief by sea were made.

Prince Baldo and his mother,
Princess Dowager Lorana
Garasteth -181 CY
Joan Allen and Hans Matheson in
The Mists of Avalon (2001)

With hope of relief shattered, Baldo settled into a strategy of trying to taunt the brothers into attacking the walls and gates of Rel Astra to deplete their army. He had himself crowned in an elaborate ceremony conducted on the walls in full view of the besiegers. He would appear on the wall and give mocking speeches, waving a scepter topped by Grand Prince Erian’s rotting head. Though enraged, Gennor and Nalaster resisted the urge to attack, for they knew that time was on their side. By Planting of -181 CY the entire city was starving and a deal was secretly struck with a Naelax guard to leave a postern door open. On the 20th of Planting, a small group of Gennor’s forces entered through the unguarded door and captured the Black Gate (3), opening it to the army outside. The city fell within the span of twelve hours. Baldo, to his credit did not try to hole up in the Citadel but issued forth with his personal guard and died fighting at what is now the Divinity Gate. He is said to have killed a half-dozen Garasteth knights before being overwhelmed and his head crushed with a mace wielded by Nalaster himself. Baldo’s mother, Lorana, holding her grandson, Hatha, leaped from the height of Stannic Hill into the bay below where they both drowned. Baldo’s wife, a Garasteth cousin of Gennor and Nalaster was married to a minor Rax noble. Their contract of service over, the Schnai, happily loaded their plunder and an agreed-to amount of gold equal to Jarl Aynaros’s weight and sailed back north. The Naelax holdouts in the south surrendered as soon as they received word of Baldo's fate.

Now with his right to rule uncontested, Gennor determined that he would never again face a threat from the Naelax. He exiled the rebellious Naelax families to the northern frontier with the Ur-Flan, telling them that if they desired lands they must carve it out themselves through conquest. Even in exile he allowed the head of the Naelax to retain the title of prince, granting it to Leo Naelax. The decision rankled with the Torquann who considered those lands theirs by right. This was the beginning of the simmering feud between the Garasteth and Torquann though it was slow to boil over. Gennor was formally crowned Grand Prince during Needfest of -180 CY in a ceremony where he also married Princess Yanaymi. Unfortunately, he fell to the envenomed dagger of a Hextoran fanatic in Mentrey during the celebration of Growfest the following year in -179 CY. With Yanaymi not having concieved, the crown fell to Nalaster.

Next Chapter -- the Reign of Nalaster the Clever, Part 1

Art Notes:

Princess Yanaymi wearing a headdress associated with her patron, the Flan goddess Myhriss c. -180 CY Daughter of the High King Man’khu of the Kho’lamm kingdom and second wife of Grand Prince Gennor. Her mother was an Aerdi noblewoman who had married into the Kho’lamm as part of a treaty agreement between that tribe and the Torquann. She was Gennor’s wife for just over a year and spent the rest of her life as a member of the royal household of his successor, Nalaster. Nominally she was another of the Grand Prince's sisters but in time she became one of his numerous mistresses. During the course of their relationship she bore him a son and two daughters though they were never legitimized.

Princess Marberga and Jarl Aynaros of the Schnai -181 CY Marberga’s translation and diplomatic skills in negotiating the service of Jarl Aynaros’s small fleet were vital in the speedy success of the siege of Rel Astra. Without a timely resolution, rebellion might have grown among the Naelax in Medegia and dissatisfaction with a siege extended over years could have worn out the good will of the other Aerdi houses. The Princess is also noted for producing the first scholarly work on the Fruz language, colloquially known as the Cold Tongue, writing out an extended glossary of words in that language as well as notes on its variance in grammar with Ancient Suloise. Aynaros is doubtless an Oeridisation of the Fruz name Einar. 

Prince Baldo and his mother, Princess Dowager Lorana Garasteth -181 CY Though starting life as a Garasteth princess, Lorana wholly adopted the ways of the Naelax after marrying into them. She became an avid worshiper of Hextor, holding in particular veneration the Drassara, that god’s trio of demigoddess daughters, Medraxa, Vakarba, and Taseana, the personifications of terror, rage, and treachery. The conservative Naelax held onto the old custom of bridal tattoos long after the rest of the Aerdi had abandoned it and these can be seen on her cheek. It was fading out even among them at the time of Lorana’s marriage but as an almost fanatical convert to their ways she went under the tattoo needle of a Drassaran priestess. Unsavory rumors of an unnatural relationship between Lorana and her son are common in other histories but are likely false, having been spread to further blacken their characters. Despite this Lorana was the perfect Naelax bride; ruthless, cold-blooded and fanatically devoted to her son and adopted god.

End Notes:

1. As stated in previous chapters the names of Gennor and Nalaster both come from the fan-created “Timeline of Aerdi Grand Princes andOverkings” by Canonfire! member Taras Guarhoth and posted on that site in 2001. While I’ve diverged from this timeline in my own writing I do want to honor the creativity of Taras, one of the earlier Canonfire! members and the author of a wealth of material on the Great Kingdom.

2. See Chapter 15, The Reign of Erian: Part 3 and the Art Notes of Chapter 16, the Reign of Erian: Part 4 for further discussion of the tribes of the Flannish Marches.

3. At this time the Black Gate was one of the outer gates of the city, before it expanded outward. The wall at this time ran roughly from the Black Gate southeastward to what is now the southernmost tower of the wall of the King’s District. There lay the Citadel and Palace of the Grand Prince until it was razed to build the Old Castle to the southwest many years later.