Dynasty
The Dynasty Years Cleftlands Hits the Big Time
Sometime after Laurelen and Ithriliel first ascended the dragon thrones, the Middle Kingdom entered a period still remembered by some as the 'Cleftlands Dynasty'. Our barony held great power for several years, during which many of our royal peers were created. I have quoted here three different reminisces of this time, all of which are by non-Cleftlanders.
-Lyonnete Vibert Chronicler
Baker Lounge, where iron-fisted dominion was plotted?
First, Mistress Nicolaa de Bracton sumerizes:
If you have a look at the reigns starting with Laurelen's first in 1978, for about seven or eight years there were a lot based in Cleftlands. I know both Laurelen and Alen were from that area; I think Emrys was as well, and there might have even been more.And the dominance went further than that--for instance, Laurelen had a term as Earl Marshal, and Countess Genevieve was Kingdom Seneschal for a good long time as well. There was a widespread perception, I am told, as a result that Cleftlands "ran the kingdom."
That's what's meant by the Cleftlands Dynasty. Nicolaa
An interjection from Mistress Siobhan O'Neill:
There was more to it than that...
See if I can remember all of this...you other old timers, correct me if I wander off...
Laurelen and Ithriliel were royal twice. He was Knights Marshall, she was Kingdom Seneschal at that same time.
Alen was royal, making three different women his Queens: Emmelyne, Genevieve, and Isabella (whom he married). Emmelyne was also Queen with Emrys.
Genevieve did indeed serve as Kingdom Seneschal
I believe Alen also served a stint as Knights' Marshall
Laurelen and Alen went against each other in the finals at one Crown in Northwoods (just so happened one of the first MK Pentathalons also went on that day), and King Nathan stopped the fighting right before the finals to knight each of them.
[This was the tournament were Laurelen won his first crown, Alen won the next year. -mlv]
It was also referred to as "The Ohio Conspiracy" because so many royals and Great Officers came from Ohio for such an extended time.
They even made little pennants with "OC" on 'em.
If you look at recent royals, you could almost consider a "Pentamere Dynasty", what with Brannos and Rebekah, Tarquin and Aibhilin, Dag and Elayna, and now Ragnvaldr and Arabella. :-) Siobhan
And a final clarification from Catherine Aimee Le Moyne:
To explain just a little more, this followed hard on the heels of the "Northwoods Dynasty". Northwoods had not only several sets of royalty in a very short time period (Irial, Thaid, Merowald, Berengaer, Rolac), but for a while virtually all of the Curia lived in the Lansing, Michigan area - several in the same house. Only the Exchequer lived outside a 2-mile radius, and she was in Kalamazoo. To quote Mark Twain, you "couldn't chuck a brick any direction without crippling a king".
While this seemed quite normal and reasonable to those of us living there, I imagine it caused some resentment to those who lived outside that charmed circle. When the center of political power migrated away - in this case, to Cleftlands - there was a certain amount of consternation amongst the folk in Northwoods, and some hostility to this turn of events.
Bear in mind that there were only four major Midrealm loci at the time: Tregirtsea, Northwoods, Cleftlands-Middle Marches, and Rivenstar-Wurmwald. At any time, you could identify a royal pair's origins with one of those axes. Catherine Aimee Le Moyne
