OOC | The Devestation of Solemont
so i wanna hear everyone's thoughts!! this is v much just a thought and not smth im tryna push or anything, we def do not have to do any of this for my vision of him to work out!! <3 but id promised to explain my thoughts so...here it is at long last hahahah
ok so i mentioned [ here ] that i thought there was some potential that aurelian was, in fact, a seventh son (like just of the boys, sisters might be older/younger etc idk) rather than an eldest, bc i thought there was a chance that most all of his brothers had died (i feel like the disinherited one may have survived potentially?) and i wanted to get into that. some of them probs met the usual ends of war and illness common to the ~middle ages~ situation in which lfr exists (and esp the ovn feels v warlike etc), but, as i alluded in the linked post, i ~also feel like there may have been an attempted coup against them, [ not unlike there was in later generations against alistair ] bc frankly i do think of the ovn as a terribly cut-throat kinda place alksdjfljksdf
TL;DR: so!!!!!! basically, perhaps the solemonts had rival great house in the ovn and the two were forever taking pot shots at eo until essentially the ~other house tried to exterminate house solemont (at least in the male line) so they could claim it all for themselves, but they missed aurelian bc he was legit a lil kid fostering somewhere else, at the time, and so they weren't too worried abt it, until he ofc came back to make them rue it, and revisited on them what had been done to him
for more details, and notions, read on!
ok so!! i def feel like this rivalry was a looooong, multi-generational thing, maybe even a multi-centuries thing, and if these are indeed two of the most powerful houses in the ovn, then i def feel like there was a big sorta ~faction element~ happening, too.
([ here's aurelian's timeline ] and the [ ovn kingslist ] btw just bc idk it helps me wrap my mind around stuff and i thought it might help you, too!)
i feel like it all came to a head around the time of aurelian's birth in 1224.
HOUSE VARMONT & QUEEN DISPUTE
why then? we know that both amalric (the king) and athaulf (the crown prince) were single around the same time, since athaulf wed in 1226 and amalric wed his second wife in 1231. this means that one of the most important roles in court politics -- the queen -- is up for grabs and not just the standing one, but the future one too. plus, w athaulf being (before bar's birth) the only varmont heir, its possible that ~either amalric's or athaulf's new bride will be the future queen/mother to the next king. having a single heir, after all, is an extremely dangerous position for ~any dynasty, after all, bc heirs can die and then where are we wo a backup, so it was extremely important that both men wed, and quickly, to produce more heirs just in case.
if we like the write ups i did for aurelian's various siblings, we know that amalric heeded hildegard solemont as a holy woman and advisor, whereas athaulf rejected her, and seems to have cultivated aurelian's enmity, in that aurelian later did away w him, as well as euric to secure roderick as king. killing euric alone would've accomplished that. killing athaulf, too, was a choice and, tbf, it sounds like athaulf was lowkey eating away at the ovn so it ~was probs at least partially strategic but still. killing a prince is one thing, but full-blown regicide? basically, there's a chance he did this impartially and that def still works, but i do ~also think there was (whether caused by this or not) some sort of grudge between aurelian and athaulf, ~as well.
notably, we know that athaulf did love the woman he ultimately wed, the princess of antilla, and this led to him basically letting her country run roughshod over the ovn, politically, once he came to power. we also know that he DESPISED his second wife, millicent (roderick and alaric's mom). we don't really know that much abt amalric's first wife (athaulf's mom) except that she died before he came to the throne, but we do know his second wife was isabeau, princess of faulia (bar's mom) and she was a powerhouse both during her time as queen and even after millicent's reign began (and basically responsible for bar being ~the way he is~ and not ~like the other varmont men~)
so my thought is that, while many candidates were doubtlessly discussed for both varmonts, as the list of ladies were narrowed down to two per each, the solemont faction favored one candidate for each royal, and the other faction sided w the ~other one. im thinking that the solemonts were pro-isabeau for amalric, and against the princess of antilla for athaulf. since we know they succeeded with one push and ~not the other, this both positions the solemonts as aligned ~w the king and, effectively, ~against the crown prince, who is probs ~also angry they made it difficult to marry the woman he loved. it also means they're now invested in ensuring isabeau and ~her line really goes places bc isabeau is team solemont whereas athaulf is anti-solemont. their rival faction, however, equally is in bed w the crown prince and against any heirs that might come from the new bride of the king for the same reasons.
we also know that 1) athaulf was ~unstable, particularly after the death of his first wife, but probs even before it esp given how euric turned out, and that 2) athaulf was a bully at home but a weakling abroad and this feels both like reasons it might've developed that way, too, as well as informing what happens next...
ok!! so, its 1231, aurelian is 7, both varmonts are wed, and the stage is set. not only is this fierce rivalry between these two powerful houses blazing, but now they've dragged the two most powerful couples in the land into it, too.
on a side note (of no small significance later) for our guy aurelian, 7 is ~also the age that you become a page, so this would make sense as a time for aurelian to be sent away from home to foster w another house.
so my thought is basically that athaulf and unnamed-house begin to collude. they say that they want to ensure peace for the land, as this rivalry has gone on ~way long enough!! they arrange for a marriage between the head of ~other house~ or his heir, and the eldest daughter of solemont. now, as ive said, possibly some of aurelian's bros are dead, already, given war and disease etc, but there're still plenty of sons out there. notably, tho, i def think this is ~after ascelin and his entire line have been publically disinherited and ostracized from the house of solemont if he ~does survive hahaha
another possibility -- whether in conjuction or instead of -- is that ascelin wed not a serving girl but rather a girl from the ~rival house, and that's why his dad disinherited him etc and the rival house took this as a huge insult etc. also, if this marriage was supported by the king and his dad ~still rejected him and it, that might've angered amalric against them at a time when he was their big ally really so yeah that's a possibility too
anyway!! so the marriage goes through, lowkey strong armed, no doubt, after all peace is everyone's interest, right?
eventually, w the lady now pregnant, suddenly their rival house learns the truth that house solemont had been conspiring to assasinate the crown prince! T R E A S O N ! ! ! they call their banners, assemble them, march, and attack the solemonts, only sending word to the king afterwards. the land is overrun, the lord is killed, his sons mostly killed and those who manage to escape are hunted down and killed as well, the girls are held hostages. only ascelin, away bc of his banishment and unimportant bc he's disinherited anyway, and aurelian away bc he's fostering elsewhere and unimportant bc he's legit a child and couldn't rule for some time, ~anyway, are left.
amalric is LIVID but there's not a lot he can do bc the coup is already pulled, plus they've got their full standing army already mustered ~and athaulf is backing them quite literally to the hilt as well.. bc of the marriage to the eldest daughter, the rival house is now claiming ownership of all in the right of his wife/future child
the sun in its splendor is being put out
they do try to seize aurelian (and he probs woulda lived out a princes in the tower scenario if they'd gotten him), but he'd gotten word ahead and slipped away into the unknown a la henry vii as a boy. feel like he ~may have sought refuge in faulia? bc im ~guessing the solemonts had a good relationship w them there, given they backed isabeau for queen etc.
ok so aurelian grows up fully thinking obsessively abt his murdered parents and brothers, his captive sisters, and his denied birthright. he is ~singleminded in his purpose of returning and reclaiming his birthright, and def addressing himself in letters and thing as count solemont, despite his rival having given that title to his heir. He grows up suspicious and watchful, operating in the shaodws, learning how to manipulate and powerful and pull the strings from behind the scenes to get what he wants as well as obsessively studying his enemy etc.
we've talked before abt the solemont lands being lowkey inspired by the rhine and mosel river valleys in germany, and abt how the ovn was originally a place of trade.
so, keeping the rhine in mind, which flows directly to the sea, im thinking ~around the time he was abt 20, he finally gets his chance.
idk if he's in faulia, now, or somewhere else, but he's found someone who's ambitious. if the solemonts do, in fact, control a river that flows directly from somewhere like amsterdam, thats a hugely powerful position, esp in a trade and/or military land and like...the ovn is both???? plus, like, aurelian hasn't been there in at least a decade, true, but he grew up there. he knows even the secret bits, so he finally finds someone whose looking to get better deals w that area for trade, someone who has beef w the rival house, someone who has beef w athaulf, etc, etc. he brings this coalition together...and he attacks.
he carried out to the letter all that was done to his own family and, when he's done, he lies out the bodies of his enemies for all to see, he puts paper crowns upon their heads, claiming they made as if to steal the royal powers of the king by usurping him for only a king can appoint new powers.
leaving some men garrisoned at solemont to hold it for him just in case, he marches to the capitol and he bows before amalric but now wo his allied army at his back -- swearing them all to treaties and alliances w the king if they accept him...w the underlying unspoken threat that they will turn deadly enemies if he does ~not, and reminds everyone that he was a child -- if there was indeed a plot against the crown prince's life, he most certainly was not a party to it.
his enemies are wiped out. there will be no riprisals. aurelian is recognized as count solemont and weds leora, etc, beginning his life anew. he devotes much time and effort to clearing his familiy's name of the assassination charge (whether they truly ~were trying it or ~not...)
so yeah that's the idea!!
i did have some ideas abt the identities of the rivals!!
potentially, leora was a surviving daughter and they wed to like ~ensure there would be no further enmity there -- as well as to allow aurelian to now claim all that was theirs, just as they'd once done to solemont, and could further create an interesting dynamic amongst the family also [ 'hr pickens, i married ur daughter...' ] vibes (also s/o to a wild cassimir/valentina's dad ;D) lakjsdfkjdsf anyway, might also explain why they've variously been described in comments as merchants and as kings in their bg (not that you cna't be both) but maybe leora's is the merchant bg, or whatever?
alternatively, house grey, as we know them to have been one of the most prestigious houses in the land but, once they lost much of their holdings/standing etc they were bascially devoured by what they had left, unable to sustain it w what little they had left. this would also further inform alistair's desperation to ensure that ~he has an heir, as the grey/solemont wedding(s) probs mean that his closest relative is in fact a solemont and, given that they murdered his entire family except his dad, and stole sm of his lands and rights that he lived in destitution and almost got killed by the late king for what was left, etc, i can't see alistair much wanting that, either
the third possibility is just...we can make up a new house or whatever, maybe a few survivors, maybe none, but yeah!!
also obv someone i didn't think of is def just as possible etc!! def open to any and all thoughts abt this!! <3
anyway, what're ppl's thoughts? do we like any of this? better to just scrap it? im down w anything <3
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