Worldbuilding Wednesday – The Rise of the Fáll

In the previous two worldbuilding posts about the Midland Wars, I’ve covered the outbreak of the wars in part 1 and the forming of the Sanctuaries of the Keepers in part 2. This week’s post is a bit longer and covers the rise of those known as the Fáll in the Midlands, as well as the succession of Guldargan kings during these wars.

The Midland Wars – Part 3: The Rise of the Fáll

At the end of the bloody decades of the Midland Wars, the great kingdom of Guldargan had shrunk drastically, while Treddian, Aefterra and Tarathlon grew in size. Where Ealdfesten grew the most in the first forty years, much of the land had again been conquered by Treddian by the end of the Midland Wars.

The Death of Gile
Much land along the new borders of Guldargan was disputed territories and it is here that the Fáll of the Midlands came to be. These Fáll, as they called themselves, joined the bands of outlaws which had long roamed the plains. The Fáll were a dangerous rebel faction from the start and followers of Gile long after his body was buried beneath one of the battlefields of golden plain. For it was that Gile, son of Marcus, died seventeen years after taking the throne of Guldargan during a battle against Ealdfesten at the Great River. A legend of the Fáll held that his once loyal guard, Ryger, who had turned against him and went into hiding, had returned during that battle and had first drugged the king and then slew him during the night.

The eye-witness accounts of that battle, however, told that Gile had taken to the battle field for the first time on the sixth day. Knowing that he was fighting a losing battle, but having no where to turn and waiting for reinforcements, he realised that he had no other choice but to fight if he did not want his men to flee or to give up their arms.

Gile was escorted onto the battlefield by his personal guard and his men took heart, but before the sun reached its zenith in the sky and his son, prince Galdra reached the battlefield with reinforcements, the king fell.

Prince Galdra is crowned and the Fáll is created
At midday the prince reached the battlefield and the men of Ealdfesten was driven back for the time being. But a great blow had been dealt to the kingdom of Guldargan. In front of the soldiers of Guldargan and his personal guard, prince Galdra was crowned king by the Werlea-magician who had served the late king since the Midland Wars started. This was the first time since the Great Sundering that a servant of the Shadow crowned a king on the continent.

Galdra’s first order as king was to have the surviving members of Gile’s personal guard executed because they had failed to keep his father safe. He was a cruel man and ruler and much of Guldargan’s land was lost during his reign.

But it was also during Galdra’s reign that the Fáll rose to prominence in the Midlands. They were first a rebellious part of the soldiers of Guldargan, who called themselves the Sons of Gile. They also followed the Werlea and, while Gile had a black dragon tattooed on his face like the lords of the Werlea, they had the dragon tattooed upon their right arms. Because of this, they were called Fáll – the Fallen – by the others of the Midlands, both of Guldargan and the surrounding kingdoms who saw the folly in their ways. Even more of Guldargan’s lands fell into the hands of the surrounding kingdoms during this time.

Maeldra is crowned king of Guldargan
King Galdra had three sons, two of whom died before king Galdra was buried. His third son, Maeldra, was crowned after Galdra was killed in an ambush organised by Maeldra, his most trusted men and some of the Fáll who believed that Galdra had strayed from his path as true leader of the Midlands.

During Maeldra’s reign darkness enveloped the lands of Guldargan. Now only a crippled kingdom ruled by a cruel man, a new leader arose in the lands north of the Great River. Called Ikaira, in remembrance of the first of the Tellerassar – who stood against King Markus the Elder – this man from the kin of Aldrich rallied the people who did not wish to follow the Werlea to him. Soon he became very strong and it was said that he held so much Talent that none of the Werlea spells had any effect on him.

Maeldra sired a son by one of the Vídolf who had joined the Fáll as seeress and sourceress. He was named Markus, after the old king of Guldargan. Soon the time would come when Maeldra and Ikaira would meet on the battlefield and Maeldra knew what a king bearing the glorious name of Markus would mean to the people of Guldargan.

The Battle of the Shadow Plain
And so it was that, in the fifty-fifth year of the Midland Wars, King Maeldra of Guldargan met the forces of Ikaira on Argavér, the Shadow Plain. The battle was terrible, but Ikaira was victorious and took up the crown of Guldargan. Maeldra was killed during that battle and the Fáll retreated into the Great Wood. A semblance of peace fell upon Guldargan for a short time and the skirmishes with the surrounding kingdoms petered out and many diplomatic missions were sent to the surrounding kingdoms. By Ikaira’s request, the Keepers of Théotriewe and Holt Haliern helped to bring peace to the north of the Midlands and secure what little was left of Guldargan.

But this was not the end of the Fáll, for they crowned Maeldra’s young son Markus their king and believed him the one true king of Guldargan as he was a direct descendant of King Gile. They built a great fortress on the blood drenched plain of Argavér and secured much of the land around it for themselves through their dark magic. Soon all the land under the Fáll’s control was called Argavér or the Shadow Lands.

Maps showing the kingdoms during the Midland Wars