Born in 457 AA, ruling as King of Akan from 481 AA and King of Kheterata from 488 AA, Sedoric I Crodamos is known as the man who most profited from the rise and fall of Aakhet the Bronze, taking advantage of the power vacuum left by the dragon’s apparent death to assume the Kheteratan throne.
He was not expected to succeed his father, being not only a fourth son but also half-Akani and born to a concubine and so looked down upon by much of the Crodamic nobility. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, his father would send him and a well-equipped army to fight as mercenaries for the Tef Republic in the many wars following the collapse of the Damerian Republic in 474 AA, where he would prove himself an excellent commander and combine traditional Crodamic cavalry skill with the local Akani usage of camels as beasts of burden to pioneer the now-iconic Crodamos Camel Cavalry.
King of Akan[]
In 478 AA, his father - King Karlen the Conqueror, first Crodamic King of Akan - and his eldest son both died in what is believed to have been a poisoning by unhappy noble factions. In response, Sedoric and his two surviving brothers, Princes Bellac and Coreg, all declared themselves to be King, starting a civil war. Though initially supported by nobody but his fellow mercenaries, having crowned himself a king in front of a barn in the Isle of Tef after having won a border skirmish on behalf of a local count, Sedoric’s return home would be accompanied by several other mercenary groups he hired using money he had secretly kept for himself rather than send back to Akan.
His surviving brothers had by this point each consolidated themselves in a different city - Coreg in Deshak and Bellac in Khasa - and began warring with each other. Sedoric would begin his campaign by landing in Benirkes, on the west coast of Akan, traditionally under the influence of the Silver Republic of Ekha, a vassal state of the Kingdom of Akan. The Ekhani, admiring his connections with Cannor and hoping to forge commercial ties of their own, would not only permit his forces to pass through their territory but would secretly grant him a significant loan, in exchange for future repayment as well as mercantile privileges, allowing him to pay his mercenaries immediately rather than rely on promises of future pay.
Marching east, he would rapidly defeat Bellac in the Battle of Addsen, seizing the city of Khasa and declaring it his capital. His war with Deshak would last longer, with the great fortress-cathedral of Desh-al-Akan - ancient capital of the Storm-Queens - proving to be near-impenetrable. It was only after half a year that, by appealing to local Planetouched pilgrims, citing his own faith in Mother Akan to contrast with his brother Coreg’s continued loyalty to Alenic tribal beliefs, he was able to construct a great earthen bridge leading his army directly into the fortress’s courtyard.
The fall of Desh-al-Akan saw most of Coreg’s support among the Akani population and more pragmatic disappear, leading him and his most dedicated followers to take Deshak’s merchant fleet and flee Akan. Sedoric would march into Deshak without a fight, reuniting the Kingdom of Akan under his rule. As a reward for the city’s support, he would grant Saban of Sensha, Mayor of Ekha, the position of Lord Admiral and its accompanying courtesy title of Marquis.
The Mercenary King[]
Having taken the throne and with both Ekha’s fleet as a vassal and Tef’s as an ally, Sedoric would determine Kheterata to be the only real threat to Akan. An admiring and friendly message to its new ruler, the bronze dragon Aakhet, would ensure peace in exchange for Akani tribute in the form of metals from Deshak key to supplying Aakhet’s wars in Bulwar.
With his flank secured, Sedoric returned to his previous profession; that of mercenary. Now under royal sponsorship, Akani mercenary companies would become known during the aftermath of the Dragonwake not only for their professionalism but also their pragmatism - they would kill for anyone with coin, though preferably the Republic of Tef or their allies, but they would never die for them. A core focus on avoiding casualties would characterize his mercenary armies, with injured soldiers returning home to help train the next generation, ensuring the Akani army would be experienced and savvy enough to take advantage of the next big crisis.
King of Kheterata[]
Sedoric’s efforts would pay off in 488 AA, when Aakhet and his armies would be annihilated by the Sand Demon of the Salahad and Kheterata would lose both its King and its only means of defense from the vengeful, recently-subjugated Bulwari. Holding the strongest remaining army in the North Salahad, Sedoric’s ‘request’ to become King of Kheterata would be granted with little resistance beyond the requirement that his army immediately occupy the Salahad Gate to prevent a Bulwari counter-invasion as well as forcibly disarm returning Aakhet loyalists.
With any hope of reclaiming Bulwar complicated by the rise of the Brasanni Hegemony, a declaration of ‘eternal friendship’ with Brasan and the Bulwari in general condemning Aakhet and his followers as enemies of Kheterata would be sent. Intentionally devoid of any real promises, the offer was a simple declaration of non-aggression, offering Sedoric’s lack of interest in Bulwar as an olive branch to prevent any new conflict. Scholars disagree on how sincere this ‘eternal friendship’ was at the time he sent the message, considering Sedoric’s previous admiration of Aakhet as well as personal records found by archaeologists in 1876 indicating a desire to seize Šad Sur as a stronger eastern border, but Kheterata would indeed never wage a war against the Bulwari during his time on the throne.
Sedoric would instead pivot his armies south, seeking to project power from the drylands of Irsmahap around the southern Mother’s Sorrow into the rest of Sarhal. This would see the beginning of a new series of incursions in Eastern Fangaula, as well as the initial Kheteratan settlement of Tijarikhet. For the majority of his reign, however, Sedoric would content himself destroying Aakhetist rebels, fortifying the city of Nirakheta to serve as his dynasty’s southern capital, and training his heir Haldimar in the statecraft and warfare that would be necessary to truly cement Crodamic dominance over Kheterata.
The Crodamic Nobility[]
Sedoric would also begin to shift Kheteratan government practices towards those of the Crodamics and Cannor in general, reflecting his willingness to alternate between Crodamic and Sarhaly practices depending on which was more beneficial. Specifically, rather than rely on either the temple bureaucracies or ahati brotherhoods as most Kheteratan kings had before him, he would begin establishing his own nobility as a new institution tied directly to the Crodamic dynasty.
Such an action would normally result in the ahati and the priests uniting in opposition, leading to the king’s swift deposition, but the two institutions were simply too exhausted by the Aakhetan seizure of power to resist and by the time they had recovered the Crodamic nobility was simply too powerful and they had no choice but to accept Kheterata’s new tripolar social order.
Among the most powerful new noble titles were the Duke of Khasa, the new traditional heir of the Kheteratan throne, and the Marquis of Ibtat, granted military rights as Kheterata’s first defender against future Bulwari threats. Though the Marquis would rule directly from Ibtat, the Dukes of Khasa would traditionally appoint a steward to rule Khasa in their place to remain among the centers of power in Kheterata or Nirakheta. Primarily, these stewards were lesser members of the royal dynasty, and many acquired wealthy estates in Akan during their tenure.