The Battle of Beauvais, 1468.
The history of Sanguifleur is storied, interlaced with historical fact and obfuscated conspiracy. Sometimes, truth and lies blend and weave, creating a narrative that countrymen themselves find hard to decipher - but whatever is truth and whatever is lie, it instills a strong sense of pride in the people of Sanguifleur, that they persevered through hardship and bloody conflict to reach a new life on their own terms.
The following are excerpts from A History of Sanguifleur, written by Sabine Chastain.
Chapter 3
It was here, in 953, that Sanguifleur was ground-broken. That same odd Lord from lands now named as Rulan saw it fitting to make his mark here, taken by the beauty of those blood-red wildflowers. Only a village at first, but the village grew as more were told of the beautiful lands ripe for settling. A village grew into a proper town, the town of Sanguifleur, and then expanded further until the label of “town,” even of “city,” no longer encompassed it. The outskirts were dotted by vineyards, a staple of the land in present day, and smaller settlements still under the Lord’s banner sprouted up farther away from the initial town [1]. With enough motivation from close friends and confidants, Lord Stanislas renamed the town of Sanguifleur, choosing to give it the name of Auclair. Coincidentally, such was his daughter’s given name. Sanguifleur as a name was not thrown out then, rather, it now referred to the entire holdings under Stanislas’ rule.
Nearly a century after its establishment, Sanguifleur was continuing to prosper and still tightly latched to a trajectory of growth. The land claim made up more or less the modern-day area of Éclatier, and Auclair had persisted to become the de facto capital. Auclair the person was by now long laid to rest, but the control of Sanguifleur had remained in Stanislas’ blood - when Auclair came of age, the metaphorical crown was passed to her, but when she died of a severe fever (ruling from 1000-1013), Stanislas in his old age returned to rule until Auclair’s son, Charles I, came of age in 1026. Only a day after Charles “the Farmer” took power, Stanislas died peacefully in his sleep, leaving behind a legacy of achievement and inspiration that would underscore Sanguifleur for centuries to come. Even to this day, his memory endures as that of a beloved founding father - but it isn’t without conspiracy. Stanislas’ suspiciously bountiful resources have caused some to doubt his self-reported story of being an ousted noble who seized the opportunity to make a name for himself; many refute this by pointing to the consistency in his public and personal writing on his background. Other, more outlandish theories even broach the Lord using magic to forcefully keep himself alive long enough to see a transfer of power to Charles I [2].
[1] Despite modern day fierce dispute, it is a historical fact that Beauvais was the second settlement to spring in the Sanguifleur area.
[2] Though there are accounts of healing magic performed in Sanguifleur as early as 978, the claim of Stanislas seeking arcane methods of extending his life are purely conspiracy.
Chapter 7
At the dawn of the 13th century, Charles IV “the Conqueror” was thirty-three years into his reign and already being hailed alongside figures such as Stanislas. While his father was marred by countless scandals of illicit liaisons and military failures that resulted in Sanguifleur losing land, Charles the Conqueror seemed gifted on the battlefield, in the warroom, and even on the public stage. His campaign to expand westward to not only regain the lost land but also bring more under the bloodflower banner was a decisive success. Particularly, tales of his bravery and tenacity during the Battle of Jargeau, on the same battlefield where his father had perished decades ago, are still sung. At home, Charles IV was a hero - even under a stiff, unforgiving rule, his charm and courage bought him enough favor with Sanguifleurians. His ruthlessness in battle was never hidden away, only excused and ignored in favor of the achievements it brought with it. Returning home to Auclair after planting the Sanguifleur banner on the beaches of modern-day Cazmuth, he left the newly-conquered lands painted red; not so unlike Auclair, if only the red was petals and not blood.
Though Charles had multiple heirs waiting to take the throne, he enjoyed another thirty-three years ruling over his expansive kingdom. His strategic instincts were on display - the campaign of slaughter left the west of Sanguifleur as little more than a blood-stained trophy, but he managed to woo the remaining Lords and Ladies of the land with promises of rebuilding better than before. Some were given larger domains to rule over and overflowing warchests with which to construct cities upon the ruins of their villages. In the instances that there was resistance to the Sanguifleurian rule, the resisting parties would, for whatever reason, cease to make trouble while someone close to the Court would take over their land.
Chapter 10
The inklings of revolution truly began under rule of the House Leclair. While House Stanislas represented the foundation and expansion of Sanguifleur, the “original” bloodline with a claim, House Héroux represented the stagnation of power and the refusal to hear demands from the peasantry. This atmosphere of political unrest is what prompted an end to the short-lived Héroux reign of barely 20 years, leading to a tumultuous century of Leclair rule.
Lucile I’s ascension to power was hardly violent - an understanding between new blood and old, that one was outdated and the other was inevitable. The sentiment toward Auclair, the stronghold of power, was potent by 1330 - growing, slowly, slowly, until attempts at pleading for change repeatedly fell on deaf ears. Much of the frustration was driven by economic conditions, but a populace set alight without much fuel meant the ensuing violence was less in the direction of change and more in the direction of letting out those stifled emotions. Violent outbreaks and loosely planned attacks began to ramp up in the decade leading to Lucile II’s ascension to the throne [1]; small in scale and scattered across the kingdom until resistance groups began organizing in a more cohesive capacity around 1361. Their effort was more successful than any resistance in the decades prior - but as was the response from the Sanguifleurian forces. The “Decade of Darkness” that followed was never to be forgotten, marked by an unprecedented level of punishment for speech and free expression and a record number of royal executions meant to make examples of dissenters.
[1] The circumstances of Lucile I’s death were never publicly clarified - evidence points to foul play on the part of her successor; with modern historians suggesting Lucile II took advantage of the political climate to prematurely grab for the throne.
Chapter 12
A violent overthrow of the ruling class was rumbling to a start by the 1430s. Empowered by the series of failed attempts in the past century, this time, Sanguifleurian resistance forces waited, biding their time and allowing patience to guide their strategy. It was only once they’d amassed enough support amongst villages and towns throughout Sanguifleur did they begin to mobilize and begin scattered sieges on the holds of power. Even so, it was clear the monarchy under Élaine of House Leclair’s rule was willing to expend as much of its resources as needed to crush dissent. As makeshift militias rose from the rural parts of Sanguilfeur, Élaine responded in kind by fortifying Auclair and other major cities’ defenses, sparing no mercy when it came to the royal army’s response.
The political unrest caused by such turmoil was ripe for a power play, with the House of Clair-Yves seizing the opportunity to usurp Élaine by indirectly aiding the militant forces where it was favorable. This led to Fabrice’s rule from 1450-1561, marked by a notable rise in force deployed against even the Sanguifleurian peasants. It was a reign intended to induce peace through fear and strength, a strategy his successor, Frank I, would employ upon taking the throne as well. However, these actions did little to deter movement on the ground - when pushed harder and beaten bloodier, Sanguifleurians responded in kind, showing their resilience and their commitment to a break from living under a choking rule. It was after 1450 that the Valkian Realm, occupied with unifying eastern parts of the Midlands, took an interest in this beautiful land that seemed so easily conquered if they played their hand right. Still to this day, no real documentation exists of how it happened, or what the terms were - all that’s known is what outsiders were told; that Valkia offered to aid the Sanguifleurians in some sort of agreement, and that certain parties made it out better than others. Speculation of talks behind closed doors between leaders of the revolt and representatives from Valkia made rounds, but many brushed it off as simply hearsay.
With money, weapons, and even mercenaries from Valkia, the tables began to turn for Sanguifleur. In 1455, La Révolution commenced, a full-scale civil war to overthrow the brutal House of Clair-Yves fully began. The conflict was bloody, enough even to disillusion many from the cause itself - was it worth it? What would come after, anyway? The territory now known as Cazmuth felt such inclinations to a high degree, and given their distance from Auclair, it simply wasn’t worth it to sacrifice more countrymen. With a symbiotic deal cut with the ‘leaders’ of the revolution, Cazmuth seceded from Sanguifleur as a whole in 1468, swearing fealty to the Valkian Empire as sea-side county.
It only two years further until the monarchy of Sanguifleur was finally overthrown, dissolved, made nothing more than history - by 1470, the revels had prevailed, and in the following years, Valkians swept in to make good on their prize from the deals they’d cut before, splitting the kingdom in two and establishing the County of Éclatier and Viscountcy of Coteaux. Officially made a Duchy of the Valkian Empire through immediate, pre-drafted treatise, the Sanguifleurians found themselves trading one master for another - only, this one knew how to placate its people.