The Kings of Ibania

1. Viktyr Baeyrd "The Great" (SA 788-945)

(reigned SA 884-945)

The first king of Ibania, Viktyr Baeyrd is a partially-mythic figure hailing from Ardenvaelle, presently known as Baeyrd. While his victory over the dragon Twergalle is likely apocryphal, Scholars of the late First Age largely agree that a Viktyr Baeyrd existed, and was instrumental to the unification of the first two Duchies of Ibania. Details of Baeyrd's rule are scant, but most credit him with the beginning of the Herodon road, which originally connected only Ardenvaelle and Twall (present-day Ibanport) the establishment of a capital at Ardenvaelle, and the creation of the Gilded Throne of Ibania.

While the dates are poorly corroborated, the first several generations of trueborn Baerdic kings seem to enjoy unnatural longevity for humans. It is unclear whether this is due to mistakes in the historical record or due to some genetic difference in that line. Viktyr Baeyrd took only one wife, Evelynn of Ibanport, and had three sons, Vutyr, Dandyll, and Sygl. His youngest son, Sygl, is credited with the creation of the city bearing his name, and the Stonefall Freehold, which would not be annexed by Ibania for centuries. As was tradition in Baeyrd's Yaulic Ibanism, Viktyr Baeyrd is believed to have committed a ritualistic suicide known as Drularre, when he received sign from his gods his usefulness to his people was at an end. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Vutyr.

2. Vutyr Baeyrd "The Iron" (858 - 945 - 1001)

Vutyr Baeyrd succeeded his father at the age of 87, a gifted warrior responsible for putting down several barbarian attacks on the fledgling kingdom, most notably one major incursion from present-day Eelsmaw Duchy, then called The Mosslands. He defeated the Swamp King, Dorilac II Terres, at the Battle of Prowdon Ferry. Vutyr Baeyrd is often credited with naming the swampy river delta at far beyond his kingdom's influence "The Eel Maw", originating the name for which the area would become known. His rule was long and successful, though some have characterized his rule as iron-fisted, and causing much of the mistrust that festered in subsequent generations. By the end of his reign, the three high lords of Ibania were all immediate family of Vutyr, and, ostensibly, the fledgling Kingdom stood strong. Like his father, Vutyr committed the Drularre at the age of 143. Vutyr married Deirdre of Imynn in SA 22 and had three children: Haelda, Viktyr, and Marie. Due to the Male-preference primogeniture system of Ibania, the crown passed over Haelda to his son, Viktyr.

3. Viktyr II Baeyrd "The Grandson King" (940 - 1001 - 1059)

Of The Great Nine, the quasi-mythic kings in early Ibania bearing the name of Baeyrd, the least is known about Viktyr II, the grandson king. His reign lasted nearly 60 years, and generally peaceful. After the bloodshed surrounding his father and grandfathers' conquest of the two original kingdoms of western Ibania, Viktyr II appears to have had no interest in further war, but rather in bolstering his still-weak position against their historic rivals: House Dalgonet of as-yet-unannexed County Cerdia, and House Danforth of Ibanclaw Duchy. Both enjoyed superior economic success in their regions than the Baeyrds with their relatively modest land holdings, but Viktyr II kept the great houses of early Ibania at bay through the construction of many forts along the historic borders between The Thronelands and Ibanclaw. He manned each of these forts with a portion of his sizeable Bayrdic host, far larger than any rivals could muster, and therefore broadcast military superiority without need for outright war.

Viktyr married Sylvia Forester, who was likely his aunt, and had two children, Cedric and Evelynn. Viktyr died of natural causes in SA 1059, and was succeeded by his son.

4. Cerdic Baeyrd "The Unlucky" (964 - 1059 - 1060)

In the final months of his father's reign, word of a terrible sickness began to sweep across the nation. The Plague likely came from livestock from the lands east of Ibania, where a few farmers already lived, but it didn't crescendo to catastrophic proportions until a year later, when it reached Ardenvale on a contaminated wagon. Entire families perished as their skin became covered with pustules the size of plums and, whenever one burst, 10 others would be infected. The Plague was nicknamed "The Boiling Death", for its trademark pustules and high fever. While most of the Baeyrds cloistered themselves in Ardenfort, the family's castle and regnal palace, Cerdic became infected shortly after his ascension. The infection's cause is unknown, but one popular myth was that his companion, Vardal Dunlop, hoped to marry his sister, and brought Cerdic contaminated tea. It was a poorly-kept secret that Cerdic was a homosexual and, without heirs, the throne would pass to Evelynn and her daughter. Evelynn's husband, Philip of Awynn, had died shortly before Viktyr II, and the Princess had still hoped she could have a son. Cerdic died only a month after his infection, and Evelynn, disgusted with her brother's homosexuality, banished Dunlop rather than accept his advances. 

5. Evelynn I Baeyrd (998 - 1060 - 1132) "The Fair"

Known for her remarkable beauty and youthfulness well past the age of 100, Evelynn Baeyrd enjoyed a long reign, though not without tumult. Her first 3 years on the Gilded Throne were spent sequestered in The Ardenfort, while the Boiling Death ravaged the people of Ibania. At the end of the crisis roughly half her people lied dead, with Ardenvale itself being little more than a ghost town.

While much of the construction occurred after her reign, Queen Evelynn the Fair is credited for moving the capital of Ibania to its present location at Ibanport. Ibanport in the early second age was a backwater port town on the border of The Thronelands and Ibanclaw Duchy, but proved remarkably resilient to the Boiling Death that had destroyed more notable cities like Imynn and Ardenvale. It was also surprisingly well-situated for trade in otherwise tempestuous seas. Thus, Evelynn is also often credited for having opened diplomatic and trade relations with the Dwarvic Conglomerate, though small-scale interactions occurred before her reign.

Queen Evelynn is believed to have hated her daughter, Catherine, whom she perceived as a whore. Her late husband was only petty nobility, and after 3 stillborn male children, her Yauls believed that a highborn husband could help her conceive a stronger male heir. Thus, a parade of highborn men married the Queen and, when they failed to produce a son, were promptly discarded. Last and most  notable of these suitors was William Phaedrus, lord of a large but sparsely-populated earldom in northern Ibanclaw Duchy. A gifted warrior 50 years Evelynn's junior, the two were inseparable even after their attempts to conceive failed. Their marriage lasted until Phaedrus' death six months before Evelynn's own death, a Drularre likely more committed out of grief than a decline of mental fortitude. She was succeeded by her only child, Catherine.

6. Catherine I Baeyrd "The Beloved" (1037 - 1132 - 1199)

While Queen Evelynn married beneath her station on multiple occasions, Catherine Baeyrd married a total commoner, from a tiny hamlet outside of Ibania. Catherine's marriage to Stephen of Shindale was one of the few romances of all royal marriages. The two were rarely apart, and the modest halls of the Ardenfort in Ibanport were frequently filled with Stephen's latest Troubadours song for his love. For one of the shorter reigns of The Great Nine, Catherine was one of the most beloved, rivalled only by her son, Godwin, and Viktyr Baeyrd himself. She was responsible for the designs of New Ibanport, which grew ten times over during her reign into the largest city in the Kingdom. Catherine is also credited for the first riverboat industry in Ibania: a series of modest paddleboats carrying grain downriver from more fertile lands in Eelsmaw Duchy. During her reign, Ibania prospered. Many of the important minor cities around Ibanport are built during the reigns of Catherine and her son, Godwin. 

Catherine and Stephen had four children: Godwin, Viktyr, Philippa, and Cedric. Godwin was groomed for rule from a young age, and was likely the first man to live in Vorduhr, which he did as a young man. Philippa was married to Elric Dalgonet and lived as Duchess of Ibanclaw for many years, and Viktyr is said to have founded the Ashyr, Ibania's first order of assassins. Stephen and Catherine committed The Drularre together, with all their children around them, once they had attained a great age. Catherine was succeeded by her oldest son, Godwin. 

7. Godwin Baeyrd "The Good" (1145 - 1199 - 1309) 

To this day, the longest reign in the history of Ibania is that of Godwin the Good Baeyrd, lasting 110 years to the day. Godwin codified a great many of the royal traditions still practiced today among the Iban Kings. He was responsible for the construction of The House of the Allfather, one of the two holiest sites in Ibanism. While the church has been embellished many times over the years, the austere, stone sanctuary at its core is believed to be the original commission from Godwin himself. It still stands near the center of Ibanport. Godwin was still a practitioner of Yaulic Ibanism, like most of his ancestors, but his decision to allow the depiction of the children of Iban allfather in church sculpture is regarded as the key event codifying the pantheon of modern ibanism. Indeed, some accounts of religious zealots encountering Raptor or Doric in the flesh date back to this era. 

Cerdia and its relatively strong military had long been a thorn in the side of the Iban Kings before Godric. Ibania was likely the slightly stronger kingdom, and Vutyr Baeyrd in particular frequently wished to annex the region into a true Ibanian Empire, but such conquests were not practical given the balance of power. While Cerdia would remain officially sovereign for a while longer in Ibanian History, Godwin's marriage with Telia Dalgonet in SA 281 marked the end of hostility between the two human kingdoms. While it wasn't a love match--the two are said to have bickered constantly--the marriage kept peace in the land. However, as a result, the two only conceived once, a son named Viktyrius, who lived six days. Indeed, when Godwin finally died at the age of 164, two of his siblings and 6 of his nieces and nephews were already dead. He was succeeded by his youngest brother, Cedric, who had alreday attained a great age himself. 

8. Cedric II Baeyrd  (1150 - 1309 - 1311) "The Untimely"

In his youth, Cerdic was, perhaps, the most eligible bachelor in all Ibania. He was the youngest son in the royal family and his older brother Viktyr stood ahead of him in the line of succession. As such, Cerdic enjoyed a life of uncommon debauchery and excitement in this era. He sailed aboard his own personal sloop to Vorduhr, learning hammercraft from none other than Eroz Dorrud himself. It is said he served under the Dread Pirate Bedford for a year, and throughout his youth, Prince Cerdic attained a great many skills and slew a great many foes that made him the sweetheart of every writer and troubadour in Ibanport. However, his life began to change when his older brother Godwin ascended to the Ibanthrone, aged 54 and still childless. Viktyr was still ahead of Cerdic in the line of succession, but his violent nature and unseemly interest in children forced his brother to revoke his titles and status as heir in SA 1195, making Cerdic the heir apparent. Cerdic married Astrid Forester, but frequently sired children out of wedlock with a parade of foreign beauties who would visit the now middle-aged Prince in Ibanport. Cerdic had only two legitimate children, Herod and Devonia, who received cloistered educations in Ibanport to shield them from their father's increasingly reckless behavior. When his brother finally died, Cerdic had already grown quite old and sickly himself, and his 14 months as king were spent largely in bed, surrounded by his advisors, attempting to solve a growing succession crisis. His son had also failed to produce a legitimate heir, and was already 80 before his father took the throne. The succession crisis still loomed large at the time of his death. 

9. Herod Baeyrd "The Wise" (1230 - 1311 - 1372)

While the Baeyrd line's remarkable longevity passed all the way to Herod Baeyrd and his sister, increasing trouble attempting to conceive meant that neither Herod the Wise nor his sister sired a single heir, despite countless attempts. Thus, the fact that Herod Baeyrd's reign was one of expansion and success in Ibania has been largely overshadowed by the looming succession crisis that vexed the king's 61-year reign. Herod Baeyrd is most remembered for his founding of The Dustfort in the Eastern Wilds. This opened a continent of riverboat commerce on the Silver River, then called the Ardoriaxh. The two "kingdoms" of Ibania had often had ambitions for annexing Cerdia or the Mosslands, but a vision of a united Iban Kingdom from sea to sea is first born during the reign of Herod I. Herod is known for having a years-long affair with Trulla, daughter of a Snow Elvish nobleman in the northern wilds. Herod's legal wife, Elna Drode, was significantly beneath the king's station, being from a minor house of the Ibanclaw. Furthermore, the two were often at odds, likely spurred on due to the couple's failure to conceive. Scholars today differ on why the couple failed to conceive, but the leading theory is that Astrid Forester, Herod and Devonia's mother, was Cerdic II's cousin, and thus produced offspring significantly less likely to have viable children. in late SA 1370, Herod entered into talks with Bolwynn Dalgonet, Count of Cerdia, to discuss a peaceful annexation of the territory into Ibania. Bolwynn insisted on retaining the titles of count and county, which were considered superior to Duke and Duchy in this region. There was little disagreement on this topic. However, negotiations reached a snagging point when Dalgonet insisted on retaining a private military force of ten thousand men-at-arms, three hundred mounted lances, and five hundred archers to be stationed at Port Mercy. Before negotiations could proceed beyond this point, however, Herod's already tenuous health took a turn for the worse overnight, and was rushed back to the Ardenfort. He died two fortnights later, only two days after his sister died in Imynn. After Herod's death, a six-month period ensued, known today as "The Darkness".

10. Herod II Baeron (1351 - 1372 - 1410) "The Strategist"

After the death of Herod I, three major forces emerged to vie for the Gilded Throne of Ibanport. Sygl II Cognus, the brother-in-law of Cerdic II, was still ruler of the Stonefall Freehold, and as such commanded the most powerful military in Ibanfall. He was 102 years old during The Darkness, though, and as such his grandson Dandall Cognus (1330-1372), led a strong host to the Eelsmaw and northward to the borders of Ibania. However, House Cognus was broadly hated throughout Ibania, and Dandall feared a peasant uprising that would make a clean conquest impossible. Because of this, the Sygellian army dug in twenty miles south of Vutyr. Inside Ibania, House Forester was a much-beloved house with a long history of intermarriage with the Baeyrdic line. However, Erda Forester, then 67, had no male children, and couldn't claim concrete Baeyrdic Lineage. Arden Baeron, however, was the great-grandson of Viktyr, Godwin Baeyrd's younger brother. Scholars now mostly agree that Baeron was likely not related to the Baeyrdic line, though, and was rather an adoptive son of Dherod Baeron, Viktyr Godwinkin's grandson. To maximize royal legitimacy, Arden pledged to take the regnal name Herod, to ensure continuity. Domestic forces quickly coalesced around the Baeron claim and, after a few skirmishes in the northern Mosslands, The Darkness ended with a duel between Arden and Dandall in the Cognus camp, a duel which ended with both leaders dead. As a result, public sentiment quickly shifted to Arden's younger brother, Erich, who took the regnal name Herod II in his brother's honor. 

The landmark of Herod II's reign comes in SA 1402 with the annexation of Cerdia into Ibania. The death of Bolwynn Dalgonet in SA 1401 significantly aided negotations with his son, Alwynn, willing to give up requests for a standing army. Historians attribute this willingness to "The Baeron Feint", a massive military operation, officially a training exercise, directly on the borders of Cerdia to convince the Dalgonets of Ibanian military superiority.

The Great Nine original kings of Ibania are often regarded as mythic figures because only one primary source from the era survives, "Aerdenvaelle and its Trialles" by Trellius, a monk from Baeyrd. He was in the direct employ of Herod II, though, making his objectivity somewhat suspect. Two other independent histories from the second age begin with The Darkness and the reign of Herod II, however: Archmage Ulric of Zifir's "The Ibanthrone" and Hildegard of Provenance's "Twergalle's Fruit". Therefore, Herod II is often regarded as the first historic Ibanking. He was succeeded by his first son, Danitus, after committing the Drularre. 

11. Danitus Baeron (1371 - 1410 - 1414)

Little is known of Danitus Baeron's short reign. He was likely an adoptive son of his father Herod II, taken as a baby after The Battle of Drydon Hill. What few accounts remain of him describe an arrogant, entitled man, but charming when he needed to be his handsome face and golden hair reminiscent of Viktyr Baeyrd himself. Danitus Baeyrd reported feeling "stung" by a peach he ate in SA 1413, followed by a grave throat illness that left him dead 6 months later. He is buried in The House of the Allfather, the oldest known tomb of an Ibanking. 

12. Vutyr II Baeron (1372 - 1414 - 1415)

Likely the oldest trueborn son of Herod II, Vutyr II had been groomed for rule later in life when his older brother neither married nor sired a son by the age of 40. A handsome but sickly man, Vutyr II was already in extremely poor health when he ascended at the age of 46, requiring two canes to mount the three steps to the Gilded Throne. Third Age Udeluppan Scholars, from a description of Vutyr's symptoms by his Yaul, believe the King suffered from Brownblood, a rare but serious genetic disorder that made the sufferer unusually prone to blood infections. His death in SA 1415 was unexpected, as Vutyr frequently had bouts of illness that left him bedridden for a month. His wife, Catherine Dalgonet, had given birth only days before Vutyr's death. Therefore, his younger brother Malyr was crowned as king until his son (also named Vutyr) came of age. 

13. Malyr Baeron (1380 - 1415 - 1459) "The Sunrise King"

Malyr Baeron was both one of the most beloved kings of his era and one of the most important to the history of moderh Ibanism. He established an official religion of Panthic Ibanism in SA 1420, both codifying the full Ibanist pantheon of gods and outlawing practices such as blood magic divination and the Drularre that were common to old, Yaulic Ibanism. This was popular among all but a few particularly old houses in Ibania, who privately retained their religious traditions and rites. Malyr was perhaps most famous for the first "Sunrise Pilgrimage", where the King took two years to walk the length of the Silver River and Twergalle Pass before finally reaching the Eastern City. "Here is the Provenance of Iban Allfather on this Earth, and only here does his holy kingdom's destiny truly end", were King Malyr's words upon arriving, both setting foundation for a holy city of Ibanism there at the sea and kickstarting centuries of Ibanic settlements and expansionism east of its official borders. King Malyr remains perhaps the most important figure in the development of Ibania's religious identity, even in the Fourth Age. He died in SA 1459 attempting a fourth pilgrimage to Provenance, frozen to death in the mountains 20 miles east of present-day Duskhaven.    

14. Vutyr III Baeron (1438 - 1459 - 1517) "His Royal Absence"

Despite his long and relatively peaceful reign, Vutyr III, often known as "His Royal Absence", was widely regarded in his time as one of the worst kings ever in Ibania. He attained this reputation largely because of a tendency to hope crises would sort themselves out, a philosophy often practiced successfully by his uncle, Malyr. However, the key situations during Vutyr III's long reign were not ones to ignore. Early in his reign, his infant heir Theodore Baeron Dalgonet (1463-1489) was kidnapped by separatist rebels from House Drallath, in northern Cerdia. Hoping to avoid negative optics, the king sent only an advisor and two bodyguards to negotiate his son's return at the Shadowkeep, seat of House Drallath. the three's mutilated remains arrived at the Ardenfort in a series of 60 boxes, enraging both King and subjects. His son was only returned when Vutyr's father-in-law, Temrik Dalgonet, sent two thousand men from Port Mercy, who killed the rebels and took much of house Drallath's holdings as punishment. Vutyr's biggest blunder, however, came in the form of The Great Calamity, in SA 1489. Goliath Cognus, heir to Stonefall at the time, believed his line to be the only true lineage from Viktyr Baeyrd and, hoping to end the King's line and put his father on the Gilded Throne, he assembled a team of 13 assassins to perform coordinated attacks on every member of Vutyr's immediate family. However, when Vutyr's Hearthguard  Arthur Wyrmbane recognized one of the would-be assassins in the city from his travels and brought this information to the king, Vutyr chose only to double his own guard. Thus, while the attempt on Vutyr's own life failed, his wife, 6 children, and 5 grandchildren were all murdered in the same six hours. Only one grandchild by his daughter Eva, Evelynn, survived. This was likely because she was only 5 months old at the time, and it was unclear whether the Cognus assassins knew of her existence when laying plans of attack. In response to The Great Calamity, Vutyr called his banners for the ten-year War that Wasn't, where massive divisions of the royal army took defensive position throughout the wildernesses of the Ibanfall interior, ready for an invasion from Stonefall that never took place. When Vutyr finally gave up in 1499, already showing signs of age, he retreated inward, preferring to read and play cards with a few advisors than face his failures. He would spend years unseen by his subjects and, when his death was finally declared in 1517, rumors swirled that the king had, in fact, been dead for years. One could give Vutyr III credit for one thing, though: extended settlements in the Ibanfall hinterlands due to Vutyr's war did bear fruit for years to come. Now there were small towns and forts dotting the hills of what would become the Bountylands. 

15. Godwin II Baeron (1497 - 1517 - 1520)

Godwin Baeron was born with the weight of all Ibania on his shoulders. During the reign of his great-grandfather, The Great Calamity occurred, which saw all of Vutyr III's children murdered. As such, when Godwin was born, he was the only male heir to the Baeron line. Said to be remarkably beautiful in his young adulthood, Godwin enjoyed a long line of lords vying to betrothe their daughters to the Prince. However, Godwin chose the lady Phaedra Yal, handmaiden to Lady Dalgonet, said to have been one quarter elvish. This infuriated the high lords of Ibania, who immediately began to plot against the young king. 

16. Piotr Baeron Dalgonet (1517 - 1520 - 1597) "The Iron"

Piotr Baeron Dalgonet ascended to the Gilded Throne at the age of three. Since the Baeron Kings regarded The Age of Reason to begin at 19, the kingdom was effectively ruled until SA 1536 by Lord Stefaine Dalgonet, Piotr's grandfather and Archcounselor of Ibanport under Godwin II. By Fifteen, Piotr had grown over six feet in height, and could defeat any of his Hearthguard in single combat. As a display of physical power and speed, Piotr took to wearing the Golden Baeyrdic mantle barechested. In his view, he didn't need plate or gambeson to protect himself; he could defeat his enemies either way. His arrogance was not unfounded, though, Piotr would not be defeated in a duel until SA 1559, when the assassin and commoner Dherrick Fields outsmarted the king by using a collapsing sword. His successful shoulder wound on the King impressed Piotr so much that as a reward, he promised Fields "10 miles square of land for each drop of blood you have spilt from your King this day." He was granted 660 square miles of land a few years later, immediately establishing the house of Fields (now Fielding) as an important Dukedom of Cerdia. 

Piotr's obsession with strength, however, had serious downsides. He engaged in repeated aggression against the Swamp King Tylac Terres and his lands, sacrificing thousands of men in four short wars for extremely modest land gains to the south of the Silver River. The Third Mosswar, for example, hinged entirely on Piotr's promise to grant land to Dherrick Fields. The fourth occurred solely because Piotr wished to build a new fort on the bluffs north of the Mosswood, just outside his territory. The King seemed to search for reasons to do violence, regardless of how foolish they seemed. Nonetheless, he is regarded as one of of the most consequential of the Baeron Kings, adding land north of the Eelsmaw to Ibania territory and bringing Baeron military might to such heights that it rivalled even Stonefall. 

Piotr loathed the memory of his grandfather, Vutyr III, whom he regarded as responsible for the weakness of Ibania and the death of his father Godwin II. That, coupled with the general unpopularity of the Baeron name, led the King to begin using Dalgonet more and more throughout his reign. He regarded Stefaine as his true father, and with so much Dalgonet Blood mixed with Baeron, it commanded the most respect as a potential royal house in Ibania. Late in his life, in SA 696, Piotr officially changed his regnal name to Piotr Dalgonet I, and commanded his issue to do the same. 

Piotr was famously inept at romance, often commanding to bed ladies at court whom he had never met. However, his status as King meant that an array of eligible ladies were nonetheless interested in the King, despite his lack of suaveness. He was remarkably virile, siring at least sixty children with nearly a dozen different mistresses. He was finally persuaded by Stefaine, on the latter's deathbed, to wed his favorite, Helga Orrynton (1533-1599), famous for her striking beauty and porcelain skin. This legitimized his seven children by her into the royal line of succession. When Piotr died at the age of 80, he was succeeded by his son, Toruk, who took the regnal name Herod III Dalgonet. 

17. Herod III Dalgonet "His Royal Enormity"(660 - 1597 - 1612)

Much ridiculed by his father for his bookishness and complete lack of physical prowess, Herod III took the throne as his father's violent behavior began to have serious consequences. The Swamp King Tylac Terres had grown old and senile, but still commanded a powerful host, and vowed to reclaim all land south of the Pheasant Road (connecting Gaskin and Vutyr.) To the northeast Herod faced a new enemy. For centuries before Herod's reign, the snow elves living in the Deepwood enjoyed a relationship of benign neglect with their western neighbors. However, Ibanic encroachments into the forest coupled with a more warlike cultural revolution among the Nuldar spurred on the creation of the Nuldar Chieftanate in 1598 SA with Twal Cuuru as its first High Lord. by 1605, Cuuru had led an army 15,000 strong into northwest Cerdia, killing Lord Edmynn Woldauer and all his children and burning his Keep into a ruined shell. "Let us see if 'His Enormity' can marshall his strength to stand up at all, much less oppose us!" So began the "War of Swamp and Snow". 

But Terres and Cuuru had both underestimated the fat king. While his forces were outnumbered, Herod III knew the swamp king was naive and bloodthirsty, while the Snow Elvish Cuuru cared mostly about claiming the moors just outside the Deepwood. He therefore sent a small force of only 1000 south to Gaskin, led by his boyhood friend, Ulric Oswynn. Oswynn proceeded to paint logs, helms, and goosedown pillows like warriors, and move them a few miles a day to fool Terres into thinking he was facing a huge, slow army. Oswynn then struck Terres' supply lines in quick guerilla strikes, to make the aged king think the fat king had split his force into many autonomous groups. In a fake retreat, Oswynn pretended to be caught by surprise by Terres' host, scrambling to their prearranged dinghies on the shores of Fiddlehead Swamp. Terres, his blood hot with desire for bloodshed, pursued the smaller force on foot, wading into the waters of the swamp. Unbeknownst to them, however, Oswynn had filled the swamp with Tuuriki, a small parasite from Norgir known for causing a deadly infection. Days after the pursuit, having caught only a handful of Oswynn's men, Half of Terres' army lied dead or dying in their camps. 

Herod III travelled northeast and dug in strong fortifications against Cuuru at Deepwood Hall, just southwest of Woldauer Fort. Their armies were similarly matched, and so the warlord waited in the hopes of finding an ideal opportunity to strike. The King waited there for three months before abruptly marching south one day without warning. Assuming the King was forced southward by the Swamp King, Cuuru's men entered the castle just hours later only to find, too late, that Herod's men had rigged the entire structure to explode with inferno powder. Half the snow elvish army died that day, their flesh melting from their bones in the firestorms. So powerful was the explosion that Cuuru, some 1000 feet from the castle at the time of the explosion, was permanently blinded in one eye and suffered severe burns on his face and arms. When Herod's host reached Terres' army south of Gaskin a month later, he encountered a force of barely 3,000 battle-ready men, and annihilated the force entirely in the "Battle of the Sickly" (SA 1606). There was then no need to march northward, Cuuru had contented himself with retreating to the Deepwood to lick his wounds and bide time for another attack.

Before ascending to the throne, Herod III had married Catherine of Shindale. She was both homely and a commoner, but famously brilliant and remarkably successful in her unofficial position as Governor of Ibanport. The king did not leave the castle for nigh on a year when she died suddenly in SA 1599 of childbirth. However, Catherine had only born the unhealthy king daughters and on the advice of his counselors, Herod III married Ilia Duragoss, a famous beauty from a family who was climbing the social ladder. Ilia gave birth to Eardwin Dalgonet less than a year after Herod and Ilia's marriage and, when Herod choked to death on the Feast of Doric in SA 1612, it was the young Eardwin who superceded his older half sisters as King. 

18. Eardwin I Dalgonet (1604 - 1612 - 1651)

The reign of Eardwin I was as long as it was unremarkable. Ascending aged only eight, the true leader of Ibania until Eardwin's coming of age was, in fact, his half sister Arentra Dalgonet-Hasting, who also tutored the young king in affairs of state. Few true crises emerged during the young king's reign; the two threats on the doorstep of Ibania lay scattered thanks to Herod III, and Eardwin took few risks to improve his kingdom's position for the future. Perhaps the biggest controversy in his reign was his choice of wife: the mysterious beauty Phaedra Ulm, said to have significant Sand-Elvish ancestry. It was believed that Panthic Ibanism and interracial marriage were incompatible, and therefore that the king's children were ineligible to ascend to the throne. However, it had never been established in Ibanic religious law exactly how much elvish blood was "too much" so as to render one ineligible to marry a human. A small splinter group of older Ibanic houses formed in SA 1626, led by Earl John Farhaven, calling themselves "The Redbloods". They aimed not only to advocate for racial purity among the Ibankings, but also to purge the land of any Elvish merchants or refugees, who had been hated since Cuuru's invasion. However, the movement never quite had the momentum needed to spur a true crisis and The Redbloods' preferred candidate for succession, John Amesbury of the Collatinate Baeyrd line, died in SA 1642 without sons. Therefore, when Eardwin died young in a hunting accident, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Havlon. 

19. Havlon Dalgonet (1631 - 1651 - 1675)

While Havlon Dalgonet was of age at the time of his ascension, he nevertheless dealt with a scheming guardian in his father-in-law, Viktyr Crux, who sought to enrich his own house at the expense of kingdom and king. 

20. Theophania Dalgonet (1651 - 1675 - 1683)