This is a work in progress, I'll be adding to it later (as more of the story emerges), and assuming I don't get flamed and trolled into submission for sharing a story that admittedly is probably only interesting to me.
As interesting as such inquiry may be, this work is not intended to rehash the details of the personal history of Meredain, but rather to examine the role she played in the last two years of the crown wars (generally recognized as spanning the period 202-347 FFP). Thus, we begin our story in the year 345 FFP. Although later priests and historians have identified dozens of signs and symbols to herald the arrival of Meredain Murcatto to the shores of Pendor, contemporary writers (notably Madame Ursula of Ravenstern) made no such observations. It is likely that no one expected much out of the future besides continued war, chaos, and instability.
January-February, 345 FFP
The future Meredain I seems to have arrived on the shores of Pendor early in the year, possibly in late January or early February. It seems likely she arrived by ship, but there is no certainty of this either. The January date seems more probable, given the travel time necessary to reach Sarleon from the coast. It is likely she travelled by caravan, as travelling alone was prohibitively dangerous. The state of Pendorian roads at this time in history was rather deplorable, which is unsurprising after nearly one hundred and fifty years of intermittent war, and this may also have slowed her journey. Later religious theorists have surmised all sorts of explanations for this delay, including many different stories of adventures and delays, some even going so far as to suggest a wildly speculative meeting with UllrVettr, Astrea, and Eunomia Stabilitis. Regardless, while her whereabouts during this period of time are murky, the most probably explanation remains a long journey to the heart of the Kingdom of Sarleon.
Chapter III: MercenaryMarch-April, 245 FFP
We find our first solid evidence of Meredain’s presence in Pendor in the form of a surviving account written by a prominent merchant of Sarleon who paid her to raise a small mercenary band for the purpose of rescuing his sister from a band of heretics. By March, we have pay records for a Captain Murcatto in the service of King Ulric of Sarleon. Her mercenary company seems to have grown rapidly in size, from under twenty in March through over two hundred in May. March saw some skirmishing and a number of pitched battles between Sarleon and the Fierdsvain. Murcatto seems to have been very successful during this time, reflected in the massive increase in her pay. A surviving account shows a very significant payment for her work made during the last week of April:
For service to King Ulric of Sarleon, Lord of Sarleon, Protector of the Pendorian Kingdom, Master of the Warhost and King of Men, may his reign endure forever, from my hand to the clerk known as Larissa, the duly appointed representative of Captain Meredain Murcatto, a payment of 6530 gold nobles, in full payment for service during the fourth week of April, in the year 245 FFP. This sum to compris [sic] the full payment due, minus customary taxes, duties and fees owed to the king in the amount of 1160 gold nobles.
As always, the most reliable records are tax records. It is worth noting that similar surviving bills indicate that this was an unusually large fee for a mercenary company to command, and suggests that her company was considered a valuable asset to the Kingdom. Contemporary accounts bear this out – she repeatedly defeated several lords and Warchiefs of the Fierdsvain, including three separate victories over Inar Hairybreeks, the colorfully-named marshall of the Fierdsvain. Even this early, we begin to see signs that Meredain Murcatto had plans for the future, as she regularly released defeated lords without requesting ransom payments. There are a few exceptions. Hrothgar the Fat seems to have spurned her generosity on the first occasion of his capture, and paid repeatedly for this lack of judgment later. Even so early in her career, Meredain Murcatto seems to have made a generous friend and a bad enemy. Her record on the field is impressive – but she seems to have still been learning the basics of intrigue. Later accounts suggest she was captured attempting to infiltrate Windholm at the behest of King Ulric to meet with a spy and spent several days in prison before she was exchanged for another prisoner at the cessation of hostilities on April 26th. Apparently city officials were unaware of her true identity, or it is likely they would have dealt with her far more harshly. The end of April finds her back in Sarleon, collecting her company’s pay and preparing for King Ulric’s May offensive against the Empire Remnant.
King Ulric was unsatisfied with the resolution of his war with the Fierdsvain. Their offensives had been blunted and no territory had been lost, but he had been unable to organize the lords effectively, and a number of villages had been burned. He removed Duke Brennus from the marshalship, and in a surprise move, ennobled Meredain Murcatto, granted her rights to the disputed fief of Burglen (which made her noble in theory, but left her with virtually no financial support), and appointed her marshall. This surprising move can be explained with a little thought. First, maintaining a mercenary of her caliber was clearly very expensive, but experience had shown that she was the only leader in his faction he could rely upon to win battles and effectively and aggressively prosecute an offensive. By ennobling her and granting her a theoretical fief (then in Bacchus Empire territory) he not only removed a major financial burden from his treasury, but also bound her to his service permanently. In addition, provided her with a strong incentive to gain territory in the Empire during the upcoming campaign, which he appears to have begun planning while the ink was still dry on the peace treaty with Koningur Valdis. Further, by making her Marshall he not only chose a lord absolutely in his debt, but also one who had forged strong relationships with his nobles in battle while remaining encumbered by the history of petty disputes over land and politics that had created so many enmities among the lords of the kingdom. So in the newly-minted Lady Meredain, he found a leader who was not only strategically and tactically brilliant, but also capable of uniting his factious nobles in his name. This was a political masterstroke, and laid the groundwork for a very successful campaign.
Ulric was an interesting leader, and deserves a short mention here. His life, reign, and role in this story are well described in Clarissa of Pent’s The Last King of Sarleon, so we will limit ourselves to pointing out that the evidence suggests that he was quite a canny and thoughtful individual. It is likely that Meredain learned a considerable amount of statecraft and politics by observing him. That he did not forsee his eventual defeat and exile by his former protégé does tend to argue that his foresight and cunning did have severe limits, but overall he seems to have been a clever, if weak, monarch.
The Marleons campaign is often studied by military cadets at the academy, particularly in contrast to Meredain’s later campaigns against the D’Shar. She seems to have quickly grasped that the empire’s strong infantry, weak horse, and chronic shortage of crossbowmen called for a strong, defensive stance. By convincing her nobles and knights to dismount and fight on foot in support of her archers, she was able to pin, flank, and crush imperial forces in a series of small battles, culminating in her defeat of Marius Imperator near Pern early in June. The numbers of these engagements sound small - 700 at Laria, 2200 at Pern, but we must remember that the Red Death followed by one hundred and fifty years of war had left the countryside depopulated. At the time, these were significant engagements. With the Empire’s field armies in disarray, the way to Marleons was clear, and the city fell on June 11th, 245. Through an impressive effort of will and charisma, Meredain seems to have somehow managed to prevent the looting and destruction of property so typical in the conquest of settlements during this age, and this was to set a trend for all of her campaigns. King Ulric seems to have felt that it was appropriate to award the city to her both for political and practical reasons. It cemented her role as a noble, a leader of the kingdom, and his trusted lieutenant, and also give her enough revenue to support her growing army. He also thus sidestepped a nasty dispute between two competing lords in his faction over who had the stronger claim to the city. No one could dispute her capabilities, her right to the city by conquest, or her need for a strong base of operations. With the traditional southern border of the Kingdom of Sarleon reestablished, the focus of the campaign turned to the acquisition of new lands in the remnants of the Bacchus Empire.
Chapter I: Origins of an Empress
It has become customary, in these later years, to consider the rise of Meredain Murcatto from mercenary to queen, and then empress, as the smooth working out of a preordained destiny, a brief adventure and a short, victorious war followed by an extended coronation. In fact, the two years of the crown unification wars were among the most uncertain and bloody in Pendorian history (which is a remarkable statement in itself, considering the blood-soaked history of our empire). It is the purpose of the present work to examine more closely the actual events of the years 345-347 FFP, in an attempt to understand the remarkable events of that year, and the true role Meredain I played in the establishment of the Kingdom of Pendor and the beginnings of the Pendorian Empire. It is to this end that I, Henri Fouchier, set my pen to paper, at the fourth hour of the new day in the monastery of Eunomia Stabilitis, in the city of Marleon, on the 13th day of March, in the year 512 after the founding of Pendor.Chapter II: Setting the Stage: Pendor in 345
When discussing Meredain I, we must first make a rather careful distinction between Meredain Murcatto, the historical leader, and the Divine First Empress, as revered by the Imperial Cult. I am a historian; I will confine myself to speaking of her role in the reunification of Pendor while living and walking among men as a physical person. I leave the metaphysics of her true identity and place in the pantheon to others. As a historical figure, Meredain Murcatto towers over the other notables of her age like an oak among pines. For such a pivotal character, however, we know surprisingly little about her origins and early life. We do not, for instance, know with certainty where she was born and raised, nor even the name of her father. We reason to believe that her father’s name was Dain Murcatto, as she dedicated a monastery near Burglen to him. The similarity to her own name is interesting. Some scholars have speculated that it might contain a clue to her mother’s name as well, as her name might well have been a combination of “Mere,” “Mari” or” Meria” with her father’s name, but this is merely conjecture based on a single, ambiguous line in Julia of Ethos’s Historia Merediana. However, given Julia's long personal relationship with Meredain I, we should consider that if anyone was likely to know this, it would have been her. Regardless, it is likely that no aspect of her origins will ever be fully understood, as she never encouraged inquiry during her reign and may even have actively discouraged it. This has led to rumors that she was protecting some unsavory secret, but it is far more likely that she simply preferred speculation on a mysterious origin to certain knowledge of a mundane one that might have weakened her grip on the throne.As interesting as such inquiry may be, this work is not intended to rehash the details of the personal history of Meredain, but rather to examine the role she played in the last two years of the crown wars (generally recognized as spanning the period 202-347 FFP). Thus, we begin our story in the year 345 FFP. Although later priests and historians have identified dozens of signs and symbols to herald the arrival of Meredain Murcatto to the shores of Pendor, contemporary writers (notably Madame Ursula of Ravenstern) made no such observations. It is likely that no one expected much out of the future besides continued war, chaos, and instability.
January-February, 345 FFP
The future Meredain I seems to have arrived on the shores of Pendor early in the year, possibly in late January or early February. It seems likely she arrived by ship, but there is no certainty of this either. The January date seems more probable, given the travel time necessary to reach Sarleon from the coast. It is likely she travelled by caravan, as travelling alone was prohibitively dangerous. The state of Pendorian roads at this time in history was rather deplorable, which is unsurprising after nearly one hundred and fifty years of intermittent war, and this may also have slowed her journey. Later religious theorists have surmised all sorts of explanations for this delay, including many different stories of adventures and delays, some even going so far as to suggest a wildly speculative meeting with UllrVettr, Astrea, and Eunomia Stabilitis. Regardless, while her whereabouts during this period of time are murky, the most probably explanation remains a long journey to the heart of the Kingdom of Sarleon.
Chapter III: Mercenary
We find our first solid evidence of Meredain’s presence in Pendor in the form of a surviving account written by a prominent merchant of Sarleon who paid her to raise a small mercenary band for the purpose of rescuing his sister from a band of heretics. By March, we have pay records for a Captain Murcatto in the service of King Ulric of Sarleon. Her mercenary company seems to have grown rapidly in size, from under twenty in March through over two hundred in May. March saw some skirmishing and a number of pitched battles between Sarleon and the Fierdsvain. Murcatto seems to have been very successful during this time, reflected in the massive increase in her pay. A surviving account shows a very significant payment for her work made during the last week of April:
For service to King Ulric of Sarleon, Lord of Sarleon, Protector of the Pendorian Kingdom, Master of the Warhost and King of Men, may his reign endure forever, from my hand to the clerk known as Larissa, the duly appointed representative of Captain Meredain Murcatto, a payment of 6530 gold nobles, in full payment for service during the fourth week of April, in the year 245 FFP. This sum to compris [sic] the full payment due, minus customary taxes, duties and fees owed to the king in the amount of 1160 gold nobles.
Edmund Darbris, Kings's Bursar
As always, the most reliable records are tax records. It is worth noting that similar surviving bills indicate that this was an unusually large fee for a mercenary company to command, and suggests that her company was considered a valuable asset to the Kingdom. Contemporary accounts bear this out – she repeatedly defeated several lords and Warchiefs of the Fierdsvain, including three separate victories over Inar Hairybreeks, the colorfully-named marshall of the Fierdsvain. Even this early, we begin to see signs that Meredain Murcatto had plans for the future, as she regularly released defeated lords without requesting ransom payments. There are a few exceptions. Hrothgar the Fat seems to have spurned her generosity on the first occasion of his capture, and paid repeatedly for this lack of judgment later. Even so early in her career, Meredain Murcatto seems to have made a generous friend and a bad enemy. Her record on the field is impressive – but she seems to have still been learning the basics of intrigue. Later accounts suggest she was captured attempting to infiltrate Windholm at the behest of King Ulric to meet with a spy and spent several days in prison before she was exchanged for another prisoner at the cessation of hostilities on April 26th. Apparently city officials were unaware of her true identity, or it is likely they would have dealt with her far more harshly. The end of April finds her back in Sarleon, collecting her company’s pay and preparing for King Ulric’s May offensive against the Empire Remnant.
Chapter IV: Noble
May, 245 FFPKing Ulric was unsatisfied with the resolution of his war with the Fierdsvain. Their offensives had been blunted and no territory had been lost, but he had been unable to organize the lords effectively, and a number of villages had been burned. He removed Duke Brennus from the marshalship, and in a surprise move, ennobled Meredain Murcatto, granted her rights to the disputed fief of Burglen (which made her noble in theory, but left her with virtually no financial support), and appointed her marshall. This surprising move can be explained with a little thought. First, maintaining a mercenary of her caliber was clearly very expensive, but experience had shown that she was the only leader in his faction he could rely upon to win battles and effectively and aggressively prosecute an offensive. By ennobling her and granting her a theoretical fief (then in Bacchus Empire territory) he not only removed a major financial burden from his treasury, but also bound her to his service permanently. In addition, provided her with a strong incentive to gain territory in the Empire during the upcoming campaign, which he appears to have begun planning while the ink was still dry on the peace treaty with Koningur Valdis. Further, by making her Marshall he not only chose a lord absolutely in his debt, but also one who had forged strong relationships with his nobles in battle while remaining encumbered by the history of petty disputes over land and politics that had created so many enmities among the lords of the kingdom. So in the newly-minted Lady Meredain, he found a leader who was not only strategically and tactically brilliant, but also capable of uniting his factious nobles in his name. This was a political masterstroke, and laid the groundwork for a very successful campaign.
Ulric was an interesting leader, and deserves a short mention here. His life, reign, and role in this story are well described in Clarissa of Pent’s The Last King of Sarleon, so we will limit ourselves to pointing out that the evidence suggests that he was quite a canny and thoughtful individual. It is likely that Meredain learned a considerable amount of statecraft and politics by observing him. That he did not forsee his eventual defeat and exile by his former protégé does tend to argue that his foresight and cunning did have severe limits, but overall he seems to have been a clever, if weak, monarch.
Chapter V: The Marleons Campaign
June, 245 FFPThe Marleons campaign is often studied by military cadets at the academy, particularly in contrast to Meredain’s later campaigns against the D’Shar. She seems to have quickly grasped that the empire’s strong infantry, weak horse, and chronic shortage of crossbowmen called for a strong, defensive stance. By convincing her nobles and knights to dismount and fight on foot in support of her archers, she was able to pin, flank, and crush imperial forces in a series of small battles, culminating in her defeat of Marius Imperator near Pern early in June. The numbers of these engagements sound small - 700 at Laria, 2200 at Pern, but we must remember that the Red Death followed by one hundred and fifty years of war had left the countryside depopulated. At the time, these were significant engagements. With the Empire’s field armies in disarray, the way to Marleons was clear, and the city fell on June 11th, 245. Through an impressive effort of will and charisma, Meredain seems to have somehow managed to prevent the looting and destruction of property so typical in the conquest of settlements during this age, and this was to set a trend for all of her campaigns. King Ulric seems to have felt that it was appropriate to award the city to her both for political and practical reasons. It cemented her role as a noble, a leader of the kingdom, and his trusted lieutenant, and also give her enough revenue to support her growing army. He also thus sidestepped a nasty dispute between two competing lords in his faction over who had the stronger claim to the city. No one could dispute her capabilities, her right to the city by conquest, or her need for a strong base of operations. With the traditional southern border of the Kingdom of Sarleon reestablished, the focus of the campaign turned to the acquisition of new lands in the remnants of the Bacchus Empire.
