The Story of Chivalry and Chivalry II

Once, these lands were lawless. Countless houses and nobles lived in these lands, along their
people and slaves. They took advantage of the lack of unification, and fought each other for even
smallest patch of rocky, unfarmable land, forming eight kingdoms across the continent. Until the War of
Rebirth came. It started with a revolt in the north, a smaller house overthrowing a larger house it had
been conquered by generations ago. This house, House Leo, did not stop there. Gathering followers,
House Leo, led by Duke Alphonso Argon and his sons, waged a long and bloody conflict across the land.
Houses, cities and even smaller kingdoms were either destroyed, subjugated or allied with Duke Argon.
Those that fought donned the blue and white colours of House Leo to show their alliance. Several
houses joined forces to stop the unification effort, but it was too little, too late. The final one to fall
would be the Vantear province – and King Argon would slay the last nobles that stood against him in the
Trayan Citadel. After 15 years of war, the Kingdom of Agatha was founded, and Duke Argon became King
Argon, first of his name, Unifier of the Realm.

Argon’s rule would be a short one, but would see massive improvements to the life and wealth
of the nobles and their houses that allied with them. Many would come to respect the king and his
decisions, though the gap between the peasantry and nobles would grow wider every day. In 1266,
merely six months after the Battle of Trayan, King Argon announced that a call to arms was warranted.
Men were forcibly enlisted into the already mighty Agathian army with promises of gold, honor, heroism
and religion. King Argon revealed that he was declaring war on the southern continent of Tenosia – a
grand Crusade to crush the people that lived there for the blue and gold.

Amongst the nobles, many applauded this decision. Tenosia was a land fat with resources and people
that could be enslaved, people the nobles considered savages. To the church these Tenosian people
were heretics and this Crusade had the blessing of God. The peasants who were not conscripted knew to
keep their mouths shut, as criticisms of the King were not taken lightly. As the army, also containing King
Argon and his nephew and heir, Ser Danum Argon, prepared to invade, one noble began to prepare a
backup plan: General Malric Terrowin.

House Terrowin was one of the first houses to join up alongside King Argon in the War of Rebirth, and
Malric Terrowin had established himself as a wise and effective tactician.He was extremely well known
for spearheading the invasion of Vantear in 1263. Malric’s personal vanguard had taken the name the
Mason Order during the war, and cemented their worth in the Agathian army as a fighting force with no
equal. Malric saw the Crusade as worthless, and as an act of betrayal by the King. He saw Argon as a
man looking for a fight, and abandoning his country. He saw weakness and fear in the King, a fear of
responsibility and an inability to uphold the throne. He saw a man who was not suited to be the king.

Malric and the Mason Order would spread themselves amongst the crusading army and begin to spread
their theories and rumors about the King. The Mason Order disguised itself as a club of sort amongst the
men – a way to distinguish oneself from the other troops. Tensions began to rise as sides were taken,
but no blood was spilt over the formation of the Order – King Argon even complemented it, stating that
it was keeping the morale of the men at high levels. King Argon would establish Steward Feydrid Kearn –
another knight of the realm and one that had served Argon since the beginning of the war- to rule
Agatha while he was away. Kearn accepted the role, ruling from his city of Coldfront in Old Agatha.
The Crusade began in mid 1266, lasting only two short months. The Agathian army laid waste to the
beaches and port cities of Tenosian in the beginning weeks, but quickly encountered problems they had
not expected. First was the quick formation of a defense by the Tenosian people, forming a rag-tag but
unified force that was much stronger than Argon believed. The second was the land itself: the crusaders
had to cross a desert to reach the city of Jaburdan. Ill prepared and not equipped to handle the
conditions, this ‘death march’ as it would be known amongst Mason Order troops would decimate the
Agathians. Finally, was the realization that the Tenosians were slightly more technologically advanced
then the Agathians, utilizing early firearms in the Siege of Jaburdan.

General Terrowin became more and more vocal unpleased with the King, leading to more than one
argument during the Crusade. The final blow would come on the third day of the Siege of Jaburdan,
when General Terrowin suggested an abandonment of the campaign due to the heavy losses amongst
the men, due to the negligence of the King. In a fit of anger, King Argon took his personal vanguard and
his most loyal generals, including Ser Danum Argon, on a personal strike at the capital, attempting to
sabotage the main gates to allow the main army in. The King was never seen again.

The disappearance of King Alphonso Argon destroyed what little morale the crusaders had left. Malric
and several other generals (many that belonged to the Mason Order) claimed the crusades were over –
a failure. They began the journey home, taking with them a third of the army, most who also belonged
to the prestigious Mason Order. Those that remained fell under the command of Ser Finnian Guld – a
Knight of the Royal House who was convinced that the King was not dead. He would spread this belief
through the army, and that belief would become the unifying force of the survivors. They would
continue the Crusade, and search for the missing King and his Heir.