The Kingdom of Lorent is one of the great powers of Cannor, located at Lencenor to the west of the continent. In 1444 it was Ruled by Kylian VI and the country had recently come out of the Lilac Wars as the nominal victor, and protected their throne from the Grand Duchy of Dameria. Lorent is a land famed for its tales of romantic chivalry, fashions and courtly manners and most importantly: wine.
If you are here for the monarchs of Lorent, see the List of Lorentish monarchs.
Early History
The Lorenti tribe originated as a smaller subset of the Lencori Rubenti tribe that fled south from the modern-day Small Country due to the Gawedi Invasions of Lencenor, settling on the banks of the Bloodwine River. The Lorentish Kingdom proper would be founded in 523 by Lorenan the Great, whose namesake would later name the Lorenti tribe and Lorent as a whole.
In 525 the disparate Lencori tribes led by Lorenan defeated the Gawedi host at the Battle of Rosefield, shortly after which he was elected as High King of Lencenor and crowned with the newly crafted Ruby Crown of Lorent. By 530 Lorenan would unite all peoples of Lencenor under his banner, offer protection and vassalization to the halflings of the Small Country, and finally repel the Gawedi during the Battle of Red Reach.
Lorenan reigned as High King of Lencenor for the next 59 years, and upon his death in 589 the title of High King was inherited by his eldest son, Ruben. The de jure Lencori lands, however, were split with Lorenan's other two sons, and they all made their own dynasties:
- The House Rubentis: led by his eldest, Ruben, they would rule the Kingdom of Redfort, which consisted of the capital of Lorentei (modern-day Lorentainé) and the Lorentish heartlands down to the mouth of the Bloodwine river: the personal demesne of the High King.
- The House Rewantis: led by Rewan Ironbark, they would rule the Kingdom of Redwood, which ruled the Redwood proper (modern-day Redglades) and the kingdom's northern halfling territories, including Rosefield: the land recovered from the Gawedi invaders.
- The House Caylentis: led by Caylen, they would rule the Kingdom of Enteben, which Lorenan had gained through marriage of Caylen and the Entebic princess Herlinda Enteba.
Upon taking the throne as Ruben I, the new High King would come to conquer the Carnetori Kingdom in a combined effort with the Tretunic Kingdom, splitting the conquered lands and forming Rubentis Carneter in personal union with Redfort. His reign would be short, however, dying of old age in the year 595. With his son already dead by then and his grandson (Ruben II) dying 5 years later, the instability of the Rubentis line sparked a succession crisis in the High Kingdom of Lencenor.
War of the Three Roses (600-622 AA)
With the death of Ruben II in the year 600, his 10 year old son was quickly crowned with the Ruby Crown as Emmeran I. This proclamation, however, wasn't accepted by Caylen I of Enteben, the only living son of Lorenan by then, who demanded the Ruby Crown be given to him instead of a mere child.
King Caylen attacked Redfort shortly after, which caused king Maren I of Redwood (son of Rewan Ironbark) to intervene in the war to claim the throne for himself, as Maren claimed House Rewantis should inherit before House Caylentis. This began the War of the Three Roses, with Lencenor in flames for 22 years. There were three sides in this war:
Lencenor in the year 600, at the start of the War of the Three Roses
- The Rubentis, led by High Queen-Regent Eléanore Verentis in the name of her son Emmeran I, and later by High King Emmeran I himself. Their in theory great position as rulers of Redfort and Carneter was hindered early on by the weakness of the infant king Emmeran I, and the Kingdom of Redfort was turned into a battlefield before its strength could be properly put to use. Still holding onto the Redfort itself, they fought from Carneter together with the Tretunic Kingdom, allied through the betrothal of Emmeran I with princess Elesbed Tretunis.
- The Rewantis, led by King Maren I of Redwood during the entire war. The smallest kingdom of the three yet the one with the most friends, for Maren was able to ally both Iochand and Exwes while keeping his protectorate over the southern Small Country, which supplied his military with food for the whole duration of the conflict. Entering the war after Enteben's invasion of Redfort, they would prove to be a thorn in the side of Enteben.
- The Caylentis, led by king Caylen I of Enteben and then by his eldest son, Trystane I. The strongest of all the kingdoms military-wise, with the most men and the famed Entebenic cavalry, fighting against the Rubentis and the Rewantis on different fronts at the same time wouldn't let the southern kingdom win a decisive victory against either foe, despite pushing Redwood out of High Ording and Redfort-Carneter losing almost all of Redfort itself.
These 22 years see the Sormanni Kingdom quietly withdraw from Lencori politics, retiring its vassalage to a High Kingdom that only exists in the minds of the descendants of Lorenan the Great, as Enteben captures most of Lorenan's Demesne before being attacked by Redwood from the west and Carneter from the east. Redfort turns into a battlefield split between three kingdoms, with no one being able to secure the lands belonging to the High King. In the end, it was in 622 when king Trystane I of Enteben faced the armies of Redwood in the Battle of the Rewanfork. During this battle, the by now old king falls from his horse during the charge of the Entebenic cavalry, and he fell into a deep comatose state, being declared incapable. During this time, his heir Prince Caylen (known for his calm demeanour) met with King Maren and King Emmeran and the three managed to reach a peace treaty: the Treaty of the Redfort. The peace terms were the following:
- The Kingdom of Enteben gained the High Ording from Redwood, and Lorenan Caylentis (second son of Caylen I and uncle of Prince Caylen) was confirmed as the first Duke of the Great Ording.
Lencenor in the year 622, after the Treaty of the Redfort and the end of the War of the Three Roses.
- Enteben gained the Upper and Lower Bloodwine save for the territories which belonged to the Lorenti prior to Lorenan "The Great"'s rule, taking them from the Kingdom of Redfort.
- The High Kingdom of Lencenor and the Kingdom of Redfort are taken from House Rubentis, with the core of Lorenan's Demesne, and put under a regency. From this point onwards, a council of local nobles elect one of their own as Lord Regent of Lencenor with the regency being guaranteed by the Kings of Enteben, Redwood and Carneter.
This peace treaty formally ended the Kingdom of Redfort, with House Rubentis now being solely the kings of Carneter.
The Years of the Broken Rose (622-878 AA)
The following period was one of general instability in the kingdoms of Lencenor, with border conflicts being a common occurrence. The newly set of borders agreed in the Treaty of Redfort were respected, however, and even though there were occasional tensions and skirmishes, they didn't end in open wars.
Enteben: Now the largest kingdom in Lencenor and with a new king on the throne (Prince Caylen, now Caylen II), it didn't take long for the vassals of the Caylentis kings to question the authority of the line of Lorenan, foreign to their lands in customs. This began in the form of disobedience, unpaid taxes and low-level revolts and ended in greater autonomy for the Entebenic lords and the new Lorenti vassals in the Bloodwine. In an attempt to reinforce royal authority king Caylen III, son of Caylen II, attacked the Sormanni Kingdom together with the duke of Crovania (one of his many vassals). Entebenic cavalry performed poorly in the Sormanni hills, and the war boiled down to occasional raids for decades, until formal peace was signed in 704.
Redwood: The most solid of the three roses, Maren I died soon after the war. His heirs established a Protector-Tributary relationship with the Small Kingdom, following Lorenan's steps. The rich lands of the halflings provided produce for the kingdom, and the Rewantis helped the small people fend off any Alenic power that would try to attack them. The arrival of reavers to the Small Kingdom in 806 and their sacks and demands of tribute would leave Redwood with none of their own, and so they sacked Roysfort, with relations breaking down afterwards.
Carneter: Early Rubentis Carneter focused on establishing a Lorenti court in foreign Carnetori land at first, then had land feuds with their former allies in Tretun for the land that had once belonged to Old Carneter. Carnetori support for the Roilsardi saw revolts appear in the Tretunic Kingdom, yet the Tretunis kings managed to suppress them.
The Spring of the Three Kings (720 - 805 AA)
The three kingdoms of Lorenan's descendants stayed mostly at peace, and prosperity extended across the region. It is during this time that the Counts of the House of Harascilde become hereditary Lord Regents of the High Kingdom, guarding Redfort and the Ruby Crown itself for more than a century.
The prosperity of Carneter under King Ruben V "the Wise" (720-771) became so apparent during this time that the Damerian nobility invited him to the realm as king of Dameria in the year 757, starting the line of Rubentis kings of Dameria. His reign would make Dameria prosper as much as Carneter if not even more, with Ruben gaining the loyalty and respect of the Damerian lords by rebuilding the old Damerian Parliament and, together with his son Lorenan, recovering part of the East Dameshead from the Wexonards.
Ruben V had five children, and he created a web of alliances marrying them off to heirs and relatives of the other kingdoms in an attempt to peacefully reunite the High Kingdom of Lencenor. This bid for the High Kingdom failed, but the effort created a peaceful Lencenor instead, one that saw regional trade flourish and general prosperity soar, becoming a favourite age for bards to sing about.
It was during the reign of Lorenan II of Carneter/I of Dameria, son of Ruben V, that the Damerian nobility split between two unofficial factions: Rubentis loyalists (firm believers on the benefits of the union with Carneter and the Rubentis right to rule) and Damerian dissidents (who wanted Dameria to not be subordinate to what they saw as a newer, less relevant kingdom). Carnetori-Damerian politics became an intrigue game centered around the Parliament, with House Rubentis favoring those who showed loyalty to the crown and appeasing the dissident faction with military campaigns against Wexonard and Vernid encroachment in East Dameria (and bribes, of course).
In order to solidify his rule as king of Dameria and not just the foreign king of Carneter, king Lorenan II took control of the Damesear as a new crown duchy and installed his nephew Rogec Rubentis as Count of Damucen. This cousin would then found House Dameris and begin building a keep on the eastern hill of the city: the foundations of Castle Dameris, what would eventually become the Imperial Palace of Anbenncóst.
The Era of Black Ice in Lencenor (805 - 879 AA)
The Spring of the Three Kings began to wither with the first sightings of reaver along the coasts of Lencenor slowing naval trade, but the dream wasn't broken until the Sack of Daromath in 805 and the various assaults on the coasts of Enteben and Iochand took place. The following years saw wars and internal struggles take over Lencenor as reavers appear as raiders, traders and mercenaries.
The stability that had characterized the region was severily weakened, but it was still in place when Derhilde arrived to northeastern Enteben as a reaver in the year 860, raiding the coasts of Enteben and up the Lencesk river before winning a series of battles against Enteben. King Caylen VIII of Enteben considered his options and offered Derhilde a vassalage pact: becoming the duchess of her own lands between the Lencesk and the Iochander border, on the condition that she would defend the kingdom from other reavers.
All seemed to follow king Caylen's plans as Derhilde joined her fellow Entebenics in a military campaign against Redwood in the year 863, but it was at the battle of Kingwood where the reaver and her Gerudian army arrived late on purpose to the battle. Both Entebenic and Redwooder armies were almost spent at this point, with the arrival of the reavers raising the morale of the Entebenic host until Derhilde, for the first time ever, unfolded the banner of the Kingdom of Deranne. She and her reavers backstabbed king Caylen of Enteben, routing both armies and sending two of the most powerful kingdoms west of the Dameshead in disarray. Various Entebenic and Lorenti lords bend the knee to her rather than fight long, bitter sieges against a superior force, and Deranne rises as a power on its own.
By the year 867, Derhilde's hold over former Entebenic lands and the duchy of Rewanwood was strong enough for her to demand the submission of the Lord Regent and attack Redfort when he refused, besieging the capital for two long years. The family of the Lord Regent fled to Rewanwood, but Lord Regent Caradan of Harascilde defended the Redfort to the end. The castle fell in the day 12 of Yshdament of the year 869, with the regency ending with the death of Caradan. Being most powerful ruler in Lencenor and now possessing both Lorentei and the Ruby Crown, Derhilde crowned herself as "Reaverqueen", High Queen of Lencenor, to the outrage of all Lencori realms.
In the year 879, unrelated to Derhilde's feats, the reavers of Henrik Divenscourge invade the Tretunic Kingdom. The Roilsardi lords rise against their king, seeing an opportunity, and the kingdom collapses. Henrik founds the Kingdom of the Pearl and Tretun is reduced to a mere duchy, a shadow of its former self unable to participate in the War of the One Rose.
The War of the One Rose (878 - 900 AA)
It took 9 years for the Lorenan III of Carneter-Dameria to secure his eastern border, but when he could turn his attention west a coalition was finally formed by the kings of Redwood (Lorevarn I Rewantis), Enteben (Caylen VIII Caylentis) and Carneter-Dameria (Lorenan III Rubentis). The three kings declared war on Deranne at the same time, with the intent of destroying the reaver kingdom. King Lorevarn I of Redwood died during the first year of the war, however, leaving a 10 years old Lorevarn II as king. Despite this setback Deranne kept losing land slowly but surely, as it could not contain the combined armies of the four realms.
The position of Derhilde was desperate when the battle of Daromath took place in the year 885. She gathered all her troops in one last try to break the tide, and despite the reavers losing the battle king Caylen of Enteben and his son Prince Arnalt fell during the final cavalry charge, with the Entebenic host retreating afterwards despite winning the field. Seeing weakness in the two other kingdoms, Lorenan III of Carneter-Dameria turned his back to the coalition and took the former kingdom of Redfort by force, with the king moving his court to Redfort and claiming the High Kingdom for himself, which he considered his rightful inheritance. This move was widely unpopular amongst the Damerian nobility, making the realm Lorentish-centered and moving Dameria away from the political center of the kingdom.
With the Rubentis leaving the war, Lorevarn II of Redwood under a regency and with Enteben's succession uncertain, both kingdoms signed a peace with Deranne, allowing Derhilde to keep the territories that were once given to her by Enteben. As part of the deal, Derhilde returned the Ruby Crown.
The next two years, from 885 to 887, see hostility towards the new Kingdom of Redfort from both Enteben and Redwood, with the three realms preparing for war as the regency of king Lorevarn II of Redwood came to an end.
It was in late 886 when king Gawan of Enteben, brother of the late king Caylen and last male heir of House Caylentis, was warned of a plot by the unruly Entebenic nobility to oust him as king of Enteben on the basis of him having no male heirs. Anticipating their move, Gawan contacted Lorevarn II of Redwood and offered the hand of his only daughter, Aunnia, to him in marriage, forging a strong alliance and naming Lorevarn as his heir as soon as they married. It was at this wedding that the Rose Letter arrived from Redfort, with Lorenan of Redfort, Carneter and Dameria claiming the Ruby Crown they possessed alongside High Kingship and the vassalage of both kings. They refused, and so one final war began.
War for the High Kingdom (887 - 900 AA)
In the summer of the year 897, after a whole decade of back and forth in an extended war and with the death of king Gawan of Enteben 3 years earlier uniting Redwood and Enteben under king Lorevarn II, Redfort-Carneter-Dameria loses the Battle of Lorenan's Rest against the Rewantis united host, with King Lorevarn having finally brought the Entebenic nobility fully to his side in the years prior. Having suffered heavy losses, Prince Emmeran of Redfort-Carneter-Dameria retreated with the Lorenti and Carnetori troops towards Redfort Castle, while his father King Lorenan III took the Damerian half of the army to Dameria by fleet, expecting to get more troops from the Damerian nobility and money to hire Wexonard mercenaries.
The sky was covered, the moon not visible as the fleet was hit by a sudden storm, sinking right in front of Damucen and the Moonmount, with only a few Damerian survivors. Moments later, the skies cleared and a full moon appeared its full glory, shining over the water full of debris. It is only a matter of days before the Damish Temple is deep in debates of this event being the Dame’s doing.
The prince, now King Emmeran IV, received the news days later and abandoned Redfort, pulling back to Carneter for a better defensive position and to reign in the unrest he expected due to the sudden, unexpected succession. It is then that he sends his first missive to a Damerian Parliament that is officially mourning king Lorenan, demanding troops and money to retake Redfort before the united Redwooder-Entebenic troops consolidate their control of the area.
The Damerian Parliament discussed this claim, as the election of a new king hadn’t even taken place yet.
Two weeks after the sinking of the Royal Fleet, the Luminary of the Temple of the Highest Moon opened the gates of the temple with a proclamation to the lords of the Damerian Parliament, who were gathered and in waiting:
“The sinking of the Royal Fleet was the Dame’s doing, a symbol of her disapproval of the subordination of great Dameria to a new High Kingdom of Lencenor. The late king Lorenan sank in front of Damucen, where the full moon shone as the Dame pointed at her chosen heir, her Moonborn!”
The Damerian parliament, now incensed by the Luminary’s words and the demands of the young king of Carneter, officially refused the demands of King Emmeran and proclaimed, that both the king and his father had lost their ways. With the full support of the Luminary behind him and as a distant relative of the Rubentis kings, Canrec “Moonborn” Dameris, Count of Damucen, was elected King of Dameria and immediately makes peace with Redwood-Enteben, leaving Carneter isolated and surrounded by enemies.
In early 898 Canrec Dameris and Lorevarn Rewantis met in Rubyhold after a series of letters on future boundaries between the realms of both kings. Lorevarn himself had little interest in overextending his realm, having just reigned in the Entebenic nobility, while Canrec worried about a vengeful King Emmeran aiming for a conquest of Exwes if he was left to rule in Carneter. In the end, an alliance between both kings was formed with the betrothal between Prince Aucanus Dameris and Princess Aunnia Lorentis, with an agreement to fight Carneter together. The kingdom would be given to King Canrec, who refused any claim on Redfort or the High Kingdom of Lencenor as part of this alliance.
With a Damerian landing in Wesdam lead by Canrec’s right hand man William, future duke of Wesdam, and a Lorentish push into Ordóin from the west, the two kings would ultimately defeat Carneter in the last days of the year 899, with King Emmeran dying during the defense of the capital itself and his wife Onna fleeing with their daughter to the Kingdom of the Pearl, fearing what the new conquerors had in store for them.
The Aftermath
Lorevarn Rewantis, now king of Redwood by inheritance, Enteben by marriage and Redfort by conquest, gathered his vassals in Lorentei on the first day of the year 900 and announced the union of the three kingdoms into the new Kingdom of Lorent, formally dissolving the High Kingdom (thus ending the notion of vassal kings and the disunity and inheritance partition it had caused for centuries) and forming the new united House Lorentis. With his ally King Canrec as King of Dameria and Carneter, the King of the Sormanni sending his congratulations for his great victory and his son Rewan being betrothed to Anna Derhilding, daughter of king Askel of Deranne, it is said that Lorevarn II of Lorent sat on the throne of Lorenan, wore the Ruby Crown and, for the first time in decades, had some good rest.