WIP Update – 18 Mar 25
I just worked on the WttW peripheral materials. I’ve gotten to Gregor III (#30), who I was looking forward to as his legal reforms represent a major pivot for the World. While I was at it, I was having to build up the family tree for the Duchy of Eisenschien. You remember that Duke Heinfried that came up in the conversation between Pawel and Oscarius back in Chapter 5. Well, he was the previous Duke of Eisenschien at that particular point in history.
For a little bit of backstory, the territory in Lower Midgard that includes the lair of the First Trial Master used to be known as Dünwald, but when the Duke of Dünwald refused to pay homage to King Raibeart I, the King stripped him of his title and dissolved the duchy, replacing it with a new one named Eisenschien with a loyal vassal as the 1st Duke. You might think that would put Eisenschien firmly in the Robertite camp, but they switch to the Donaldites after the deposition of King Cailean III and he didn’t live long enough after his restoration to pay them back for their betrayal.
With Eisenschien having ingratiated itself to the Donaldites, the 6th Duke succeeded in getting one of his cousins married to King Tearlach I and later his own son would claim the throne as King Donald VII. (The 6th Duke was actually the great-grandson of King Domhnall VI who was adopted by the 5th Duke. He had no designs on the throne himself, but his son had other plans.) The family would then split between the half that held the throne and the half that held Eisenschien. This may change as I detail the next few generations, but for now, this is the situation that holds as of the present in the story. (I may decide that the royal side gets taken over by a different family if we get a generation with no heirs.)
In case you were noticing it about the names of the High Kings, their rendering changes over the course of time to reflect the slow progress of linguistic modernization. For instance, Culién becomes Caileann becomes Colin and Domnall becomes Domhnall becomes Donald. Although the spelling changes, it’s the same name and so the Kings are numbered accordingly, e.g. Culién II from 0103-0137 is followed by Cailean III from 0351-0355&0357. I do the same thing in other genealogies, such as the Emperor of the New Earth Empire with the Santana pretender Juan Carlos II coming after the mainline Emperor John Charles I Augustus.
I’d like to round out the next four or five generations of the High Kings at least before redirecting my energies elsewhere. Stay tuned.
Tags: Else Arc, Welcome to the World, WIP Update, WttW
Else Arc, Welcome to the World, WIP Update | James Carmack | 19 March 2025 |
