Vaedinhill, the Kinlord's Folly
by Midconjuror Mirmal of the College of Rituals
Few of Sunport's folk venture across the Solstice Range to visit the eastern half of our fair island. Yet this was not always the case. When House Corelanya first settled on these shores, our ancestors looked beyond the mountains and saw a land ripe for settlement. The fact that the Stone-Nest Argonians already lived there did little to deter the interest of proud kinlords and kinladies who desired a realm wide enough to suit their ambitions.
When Kinlord Orlemar came to power in 1E 1017, he decided to act upon those ambitions. During his reign, vast tracts of land in eastern Solstice were parceled out to powerful nobles to settle or exploit as they wished. Yet no one seems to have informed the Stone-Nests about the arrangement. Centuries of strife between Elf and Argonian followed from the haughty kinlord's dealings.
Naturally, Orlemar did not forget himself when handing out parcels of eastern Solstice. The kinlord claimed a magnificent estate in the northern part of the island, and named it Vaedinhill. There he commissioned the building of a great manor-house to serve as his summer palace, a luxurious retreat from the cares of the cares of the throne.
The cost of building Vaedinhill Manor nearly bankrupted the realm. Constructing such an extravagant palace in the wilds of eastern Solstice, far from the resources and workforce of Sunport, proved expensive indeed. But in 1E 1081, Kinlord Orlemar's palace was finally completed, a vision of fair Summerset amid a virgin wilderness. It was not to last.
Argonian resistance to Kinlord Orlemar's policies was growing. While the kinlord enjoyed his palace for a time, travel to and from Vaedinhill became dangerous. Bands of Stone-Nest warriors began to shadow, and sometimes attack, travelers and wagons on the road to Vaedinhill. Orlemar found it increasingly difficult to maintain his court in the east. He did not visit the manor at all in the last ten years of his life, although he was laid to rest there.
When open fighting broke out in 1E 1172, Stone-Nest warriors burned down Vaedinhill. During the troubled years that followed, Orlemar's successors could find neither the funds nor the forces needed to rebuild Vaedinhill. By the time Kinlady Torinwe concluded the Peace of Xor-Hist, House Corelanya had no interest in maintaining grand estates east of the mountains.
One can still visit the ruins of Vaedinhill to this day. Crumbling walls of white stone and weed-choked courtyards attest to the magnificence of Kinlord Orlemar's vision—and his folly.
Vaedinhill, the Kinlord's Folly
by Midconjuror Mirmal of the College of Rituals
Few of Sunport's folk venture across the Solstice Range to visit the eastern half of our fair island. Yet this was not always the case. When House Corelanya first settled on these shores, our ancestors looked beyond the mountains and saw a land ripe for settlement. The fact that the Stone-Nest Argonians already lived there did little to deter the interest of proud kinlords and kinladies who desired a realm wide enough to suit their ambitions.
When Kinlord Orlemar came to power in 1E 1017, he decided to act upon those ambitions. During his reign, vast tracts of land in eastern Solstice were parceled out to powerful nobles to settle or exploit as they wished. Yet no one seems to have informed the Stone-Nests about the arrangement. Centuries of strife between Elf and Argonian followed from the haughty kinlord's dealings.
Naturally, Orlemar did not forget himself when handing out parcels of eastern Solstice. The kinlord claimed a magnificent estate in the northern part of the island, and named it Vaedinhill. There he commissioned the building of a great manor-house to serve as his summer palace, a luxurious retreat from the cares of the cares of the throne.
The cost of building Vaedinhill Manor nearly bankrupted the realm. Constructing such an extravagant palace in the wilds of eastern Solstice, far from the resources and workforce of Sunport, proved expensive indeed. But in 1E 1081, Kinlord Orlemar's palace was finally completed, a vision of fair Summerset amid a virgin wilderness. It was not to last.
Argonian resistance to Kinlord Orlemar's policies was growing. While the kinlord enjoyed his palace for a time, travel to and from Vaedinhill became dangerous. Bands of Stone-Nest warriors began to shadow, and sometimes attack, travelers and wagons on the road to Vaedinhill. Orlemar found it increasingly difficult to maintain his court in the east. He did not visit the manor at all in the last ten years of his life, although he was laid to rest there.
When open fighting broke out in 1E 1172, Stone-Nest warriors burned down Vaedinhill. During the troubled years that followed, Orlemar's successors could find neither the funds nor the forces needed to rebuild Vaedinhill. By the time Kinlady Torinwe concluded the Peace of Xor-Hist, House Corelanya had no interest in maintaining grand estates east of the mountains.
One can still visit the ruins of Vaedinhill to this day. Crumbling walls of white stone and weed-choked courtyards attest to the magnificence of Kinlord Orlemar's vision—and his folly.
