Koramia and the Rise of the Greysword

This is an article on the History of Feyworld
Years: c. 1900 NC to 1961 NC
Age: The Third Age of Man
Continent: Duria
Main Article
The History of Koramia
Previous Article	Following Article
Koramia and the Heresy of Garimund of Ryard	Koramia and the Rise of the Greysword

In 1152 IC, a son was born to the Lord Earl of the southern city of Paeldain, and named William Greysword, after his grandfather. This son assumed his title of Lord Earl of Paeldain at the age of 18, and one of his first actions was to eradicate the various warring religions in the city and re-establish the Koramic code amongst the lower classes (the upper class had clung to it for quite some time). By 1173 IC, William made a case before the Supreme Assembly of Paeldain that he was the direct descendant of Andros, the brother of Garimund the Sainted, and therefore not a mere Lord Earl, but a monarch. In an extremely close vote, the Supreme Assembly dubbed the young Lord Earl William I, King of Paeldain and Lord Protector of the Koramic code. William I sent priests, under the direction of the Prelate of Paeldain, out to neighboring kingdoms, in an attempt to convert the populous back to the Koramic code and end the endless warfare his people seemed to be caught up in. Some of his neighbors considered his priests to be spies, and had them executed as such. William's retribution for this crime was quick and final. He executed not only the lords who had ordered the executions, but the executioners themselves, and confiscated the lands of those lords he had executed.

The night after he had tried and executed 20 nobles for crimes against Vortumnus the Glorious, William had a dream in which he was transported back to the days of Simmeria, when chivalry was flowering its brightest and the nation was whole. He was told by Vortumnus himself that he could unify the land, bring it under one king, and give it life again, or he could doom it through inaction to eternal warfare and destruction. The next day, William began to march with his troops across the coastal fields of Koramia, either forcing petty rulers to vow fealty to him with the sword, or, more often than not, using diplomacy and guile to convince them to join his cause. The first to rally under the Greysword banner was King Charles Crownwarden, King of the nation of Firthham. He pledged himself to the Greysword's cause, becoming the Earl of Firthhamshire.

Within a five year period, William I had conquered most of the southern coast of Simmeria, including the nations of Dunkirk, Sarworth, Calmirsha, Tracinia, Kirthdan, Collochia, Harkworth, Nordaria, Estoria, and Markham. Unfortunately, one of his most powerful allies, the Prelate of Paeldain, died in 1201 IC. The Emperor Plancus of House Zetar, in his role as Pontifex Maximus, sent an Imperial priest to take up the powerful position as the Prelate of Paeldain, but, upon his arrival, he discovered that the Prelatal Estate was already being inhabited, by an individual chosen by William himself. The nominee was outraged by this blatant disregard of the Emperor as the voice of the gods themselves, but found little assistance among the local priesthoods of Vortumnus. The nominee fled, and the Emperor made no real protest, so Urbanus became the First Prelate of Vortumnus, and King William I made a vocal and very public denunciation of the Emperor and the Imperial pantheon as being heretical in nature to Vortumnus. The Emperor never recognized William's proclamation of independence or his claim to the right to select clergymen, but neither did he oppose it.

William continued his conquests, absorbing Vascore, Fortani, and the Schal. In 1208 IC, he was crowned William I, King of Koramia by the Prelate of Paeldain, and proclaimed himself and his descendants monarchs over the new Kingdom of Koramia by right of divine selection by Vortumnus. William I died three years later, at the age of 49, after conquering the Iceni and Norlunders of the northernmost coasts (the former of which so repulsed the aging King that he refused to name one of his Earldoms in memory of it). His first son was crowned William II upon his father’s death. William I had succeeded in unifying all of the former states of the province of Simmeria, excepting the mountainous regions in the center of the nation to which the surviving bandits, orcs and giants fled, and the nations of Nagos, Pelusia and Illyria.