The Passion of Hestor | Events of the Ages

  Among the earliest proponents of the newly ascended Regent of Breta was a lord by the name of Hestor. Many tales were told of his heroics, for few could best him in strength, or claim to have his bravery, or match his charisma, even among the Regent's other lieutenants. With the sixth cohort of the Order of Knights under Lord Hestor's command (for at this time there was only one such order with many forces that composed it), there was seemingly nothing that the appointed Lord Exemplar could not handle.

  The kingdom in the north faced many threats as it expanded into the region and Hestor took on the many of the toughest with gusto. The fractious technocults of the Ouroboros doctrine, the half-form abominations of Bleakwinter, the Northwind Raiders and then subsequently the pirate city that the had established; the tally of the sixth cohort's victories and the accumulated glory of their lord grew in bounds with every year. It was therefore no surprise that when the kingdom faced its greatest opponent yet, it would be Lord Hestor and his forces who took on the challenge.
  The kingdom of Gaunne had been a rival to Breta for some time. Gaunne too was a growing nation, whose hand reached into the towns and settlements of the surrounding area in the south. Through a mixture of indirect trade and covert operations, many of the technological developments of the northern kingdom had found their way into the tech savants in service of this ruler. The first step in the aspirations of the Regent of Breta was to unify the whole region under his rule, but the people who now called themselves the Gaunnites were none to keen to give up their independence in face of this aggressor, and now equipped with pseudo-knights of their own were far more prepared than any previous foe had been.
  Before the lord of the sixth cohort set off, he was met by the Lord of Shields and the Lord of Lances, who encouraged him to hold back from pressing too far until the completion of their own duties before fully committing to the battle, so that they might lend him their aid over the greater course of the conflict. At this, Lord Hestor laughed, thanking his friends for their compassion, but swearing that he would settle for nothing less than swift and total victory when the time came. Accepting that he would not be swayed, the two nontheless offered what forces they could spare from the 4th and 7th cohorts respectively, which the Lord Examplar accepted with gratitude. Within the next week, the three, along with the knights marshalled under them, would set off for their respective destinations.

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  Following this, the kingdom of Gaunne would never be part of the kingdom of Breta. Acknowledging their wisdom, ferocity and capability, the regent of Breta would pen a new treaty of unity - one that recognised the two kingdoms as equals with interests in cooperation rather than opposition, and thus would the Northern Kingdoms be formed. It would only be in the coming decades that the Regent of Breta would take up the mantle of Grand Regent of the Northern Kingdoms, and even then the Regent of Gaunne and his new fellows would keep hold of their own rights as rulers.