Sun Kingdom: History and Rumors
Piracy is nothing new to the seas of Layonara, not now and certainly not in her past. Pirates come to rule the seas, but the history of Sun is that of a king of the waves turned king of the sun. Edmund Lan du'Morey was thought to have been born in the region of central Mistone just as the turmoil of the Cataclysm was about to occur. In his day he was unmatched in skill at the rapier or the diplomatic tables. This came to his advantage as at the age of 35 his ship was finally caught and the captain jailed awaiting execution on the gallows of what is now Vehl. The exact story of his subsequent escape is not known, but is surmised to involve the jailer's daughter, a few well whispered promises and a whole lot of luck, as the captain finds himself at the prow of the Dragon rather than on the end of a rope. In the hold are 150 prisoners and slaves bound for the realms on what is now Dregar. The ship never made it to its recorded destination.
The port where he made call was locally known as Lan's Port. Those souls in the hold of the Dragon were the first subjects of the King of Sun. Edmund Lan du'Morey may have been handsome, charismatic and a rake but he was also delusional. He claimed the mountain spoke to him and called him a king. It promised him riches and power as long as a sentinel stood in its wake. Edmund used his cargo of slaves and pirated several more to build what is known as the Sun Castle. During the near century he lived, he methodically set out a bloodline and, if rumor is correct, a written plan, on how, in his eyes, create the perfect ruling class.
No king can rule trees and rocks alone. Edmund and his successors now showed a different face to the world, that of benefactor. Tracts of land to work as well as ships to crew were offered to starving masses. All that was required was a loss of all liberty as they fell under the yoke of the newly established aristocracy. After all, what good is liberty if one is not alive to enjoy it?
The newly established court is said to have resembled a nursery at times more so than court. Edmund skimmed the cream of his bounty for himself and is reported to have had in total more than 35 legitimate queens as well as scores of concubines. Favored captains that met his criteria were also given a chance to reproduce and join the aristocracy.
Strict rules for the peerage and relationships between them were set down early, however. Contemporary members of Sun's aristocracy minimize these as old tradition and no longer of importance, but woe be to any of a major house that step across the lines, written or unwritten. The common thread of Edmund's plan is lost in time, but one look at portraits of kings and queen as well as the nobility and one can see plainly the established lines. The Keife, as they have become known, mark the most prominent of the lines. Six distinct ones can be seen in Sun today, with slight variations making up the lesser classes of nobility.
In the beginning the Kingdom of Sun consisted of just two main areas. These were the lands around the port and the lands around the castle. With time, however the borders were pushed farther a field and more lands were added. First were the dry steppes about the mountain, until the Sun King and his army controlled the entire crown of the mountain. Next the fertile valleys around the Lismare River were settled and claimed. The human-elf wars halted all expansion of the kingdom into the Wolfswood. The final area to be settled was that in the region of Maiden to the northwest of the kingdom.
The Sun throne fell to mostly pomp and circumstance with very few public displays of power in the Milara years. In fact, the kingdom of Sun fared well during this time when compared to her neighbors. Now, the people of Sun watch with bated breath to see if the new Sun Queen can capture the glory of her ancestors. The sun may be setting on the Sun Kingdom or it may just be rising once again.
