(Please forgive the name change.)

The Principality of Ardolenor

The heartland of the former Kingdom of Ardolenor, today the Principality is composed of only the Duchies of Anumvalnor and Dolcielnor. The kingdom was built by both conquest and diplomacy, with its first king, Aramileon, laying the foundations for its expansion and advancement in the 500th year of the Fourth Age of Elyria.

The Kingdom of Ardolenor grew and prospered for just over two hundred years before it was suddenly wracked by a brutal civil war; the Interregnum, waged between Prince Othelion and his uncle, Tardurion the Usurper, upon the death of King Valorien II. Tardurion was the eldest son of the king, but was not made the heir to the kingdom for reasons known only to the late Valorien II.

The Interregnum left much of the heartland of Ardolenor in ruins. As the royalty fought amongst themselves, many of their vassals too waged war for personal gains. Not but thirty years after that senseless conflict had ended did the Duchy of Ignis, an independent and burgeoning power to the Kingdom's northeast, declare war upon Ardolenor. The armies of Ignis and their Hrothic allies invaded from both the north and west. King Othelion, descending into paranoia and bloodthirst, was slain by his own Queen. Their daughter, the young Princess Aelysia, swifty took leadership of the realm and marched to war. She would not take the title of Queen.

Ardolenor was barely able to bring the war to a stalemate, and at great cost. Ignis had allies to the north and now to the south. Some border provinces of the kingdom switched sides after the turmoil three decades prior. In an effort to curb the decline of their people, Princess Aelysia surrendered to Ignis and their allies at the head of her army, in all their panoply and splendour, with terms. Her House, the House of Aramileon, would continue to rule and govern the heartland of Ardolenor as a vassal of the newly formed Kingdom of Ashland. It would also maintain its culture and laws, with minimal royal interference.

Princess Aelysia swore an oath of allegiance, and the Kingdom of Ardolenor was no more. The southerly provinces in the Tyrifornor, the Great Wilds, were made an independent duchy of Ashland, though most of the people there continue to identify as Ardolenian. The Ost Tyriforn, the great bastion of that region, was abandoned and fell into disrepair.

A quiet sorrow lingers in the streets of its old cities. Its great roads have deteriorated, and its castles are crumbling. The wild forests have retaken the hinterlands, and previously connected provinces have become isolated and insular. Three generations since the War for the Ashlands, and the people of the Principality of Anumciel have only now begun to rebuild. Conflict persists, as some nobles clamor for independence, and others work to end the line of Aramileon.

For decades, the Principality had been in steady decline. Now, it has stabilized, and the hard work can truly begin. The people of Anumciel are proud heritors of a royal legacy, of a lost realm. The banners of the silver swan fly once again from atop the Tower of Aramileon, a glimmering beacon of hope and redemption for a people long facing sorrow and loss...

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