Historia Septentriae

Page Two

AS 8, in which Duke Sir Finnvarr arrives in what will one day be Ealdormere.

Before there was Ealdormere, before there was Septentria, there was the wide expanse of wild, untamed land. It was a realm rich with flora, and bears and wolves and other creatures freely roamed the woods and vales. In the eighth year of the Society a long ship came to this place. This vessel traveled across the cold Inland Seas and came to shore in land unclaimed by any King or Queen. Upon that boat was Count (now Duke) Sir Finnvarr de Taahe, a tall Irishman well renowned for his martial skill and his historian’s intellect. Quickly he set to work and began to build a hall. Before long he was joined by Lady (later Mistress) Gillian Olafsdottir d’Uriel, an old acquaintance from his homeland.

AS 9, in which the Royal Citie of Eoforwic is founded, Hugo von Feuerklippe is first seen and the first event in the northlands is held.

Together Finnvarr and Gillian cleared land, sowed fields and built halls. Others came to reside in the land, and soon they had formed the first northern shire. One of those to first join the new shire was Hugo von Feuerklippe, of whom more will be said later. Thus was Eoforwic born in the ninth year of the Society. (Though in documents later procured by certain burghers of Eoforwic, it was discovered that Cariadoc, first King of the Middle, had granted the group city status a full two years before Finnvarr had founded it. This may have had to do with a certain ring they ‘returned’ to him that had been found rolled in the document.)

Eoforwic’s first event was held on the fifteenth of March and was a day of tournies and feasting. It drew many visitors from the southron lands, and this was to continue whenever Eoforwic held an event.

AS 10, in which the northlands produces its first female fighter, a newsletter is founded, Eoforwic travels to its first Pennsic War, Sylard of Eagleshaven is first seen, the canton of Petrea Thule is a glimmer in Sylard’s eye, the shire of Noerlanda is founded, House Fyve’O is founded and the first Feast of the Bear is held.

Jehanne l’Enragee was another early Eoforing, a lady who took to the chivalric arts and would distinguish herself on the field in years to come. During the summer of the tenth year of the Society, Jehanne traveled to Eastmere in the East Kingdom where she was admitted to the Lists and became the first female fighter to come from the north. She would later become a squire to Finnvarr de Taahe.

During this same summer a good gentle called Penberthy did first begin to chronicle the events of the shire in a broadsheet called the Eoforing. The Eoforing would go on to greater things, and more will be written of it later in this history.

In August the shire sent a contingent to War, though Count Sir Finnvarr was the only fighter had authorization to take the field.

September saw the shire hosting a post-war reconciliation tournament. It was at this tournament that Sylard of Eagleshaven, that notorious mercenary and later a member of the Order of the Laurel, was first seen.

In December Sylard first set his eyes to the lands to the north of Eoforwic, looking for unused tracts of land suitable for founding a penal colony. Over time Sylard’s collection of outlaws and brigands would grow into a true canton, known as Petrea Thule. Sylard since moved on again, and took up residence in the thistly land of Monadh. Petrea Thule would gain renown as the birthplace of royalty and nobility. The canton would produce not one, but two, sets of Septentrian nobility. For Petrea Thule was home at various times to Cordigan d’Arnot and Diane d’Arnot (the second Baron and third Baroness of Septentria), and Ieuan McKellmore and Adrielle Kerrec (the third Baron and the fourth Baroness of Septentria). This is the same Cordigan and Diane that would one day be Prince and Princess of Ealdormere, and Baron and Baroness of Ramshaven. Of them more will be told elsewhere in this chronicle. The Norseman, Thorbjorn Osis Brandson, was first seen dwelling in the Thule. Indeed, he and Ragnheithr Thorbjarnarsdottir lived in Petrea Thule during their own reign as Prince and Princess of Ealdormere. Of them, more will be said later.

For a time Petrea Thule would also be known for its shieldwall. The wall, which included Ieuan, Cordigan and Osis, seemed invincible and often took no casualties. One popular legend tells of future Septentrian Baron Aedan na Kincora leaving the field at Pennsic and watching the wall with the yellow scutums destroy their enemies. When he asked what kingdom was so privileged to have such soldiers on the field he was told that the wall came from his newest canton. “Well,” he said, “I am certainly glad they are on our side.”

Many more men and women began to brave the northern weather in this year and they settled to the north and east of Eoforwic. Tierr and Lilladrel founded the doomed Shire of Noerlanda, which would eventually fall into ruin. A ‘Household shire’, called House Fyve’O was formed by Lord Wulfram Wulfscilding and Lord Caelwulf Longstrider (each a cousin to the other).

On the twenty-seventh day of March, Noerlanda hosted the first Feast Of The Bear. This event would become an annual tradition for many years in the lands that would one day become Septentria. Around this time Lady (now Dame) Tsivia bas Tamara of Amberview joined Noerlanda.