Jahn Marshal, Rickard Longreign, and the War of Arms

During the 23rd year of his kingship, Rickard, later titled "Longreign", became increasingly concerned with the paramilitary orders cropping up across his kingdom. These orders were training both locals and foreigners in the ways of war and releasing them on the land. The problem became worse as domestic trained knights left to join the Second Kingdom of Umbria in the border wars with Durlin.

Longreign began viciously press-ganging these orders, offering them the ultimatum: submit or be annihilated. One by one, the orders fell to the crown, first the Falcon, then the Vipers, and so on. The remaining knights were cannibalized into a new Order, the Order of Gold, where they would be given special treatment by the government, thus Rickard approached the problem with a carrot and stick.

But even still, some would not submit, most famously the Dragons and the Pikers. Both these Orders sounded a warrior call and gathered their forces to protest by violence their subjugation. Thus started the War of Arms.

The War of Arms is classically divided into 3 eras: The Campaign Era, the Rebel Era, the Ring Era.

The Campaign Era

During this time, the War of Arms was fought in the traditional way: through the kingdom making a series of skirmishing moves while the Orders maneuvered to face their foe in open combat, where they had the advantage.

I won't really be covering this Era as it's not really important to Jahn Marshal's story, who this is really about. Suffice to say that the Orders were eventually crushed, with the final battle of the Era taking place at Armskirk, the hold of the Order of the Dragon. 

After 5 years of conflict, the remnants of the knightly Orders pledged their service to the crown and that seemed to be the end of it.

The Rebel Era

In the coming months, Longreign actively hunted down and executed the last few knights that went into hiding to escape their treacherous deeds.

On to the stage comes Jahn Marshal, a knight of the Dragon, who before was a complete unknown, now rouse to prominence. With a force of 4, he took castles, ambushed trade routes, and took down knights, spreading havoc through Durlin.

While other knights began to turn over to Longreign, Jahn continued to fight in defiance of the king. His banner: freedom for the Orders. That knights shouldn't be bound to thrones or kingdoms, and that they should have self management.

For 15 years, the Rebel Knight cut a swath through the kingdom, even, at several points, fighting the other Orders of knights that had submitted.

The Ring Era

The turning of the War of Arms happened outside of Bree. Jahn, now fighting alone (his companions having been killed during the intervening years and a skirmish the day before), lay trapped at the Sweet Badger Inn, hobbled by his wounds and surrounded by the entirety of Longreign's army that had been brought to bear to capture this one knight.

As the day dawned and the host prepared itself, perhaps feeling foolish for getting into battle formations to fight one person, saw Jahn walking towards them, a flag of truce in one hand.

Everyone thought he was going to call for a heroic combat, where the battle would be decided by a one on one fight, instead of a mass melee. It would certainly be to Jahn's advantage. Even wounded, none of the knights could guarantee that they could take him.

But no. As the Longreign went to parley, flanked by all the Grandmasters of all the Knightly Orders he had broken, Jahn simply hobbled up.

"You know me and know what I fight for. You know that my cause is just. To Rickard, I cannot be a traitor, for I owe him no allegiance; he is not my sovereign; he never received my homage; and whilst life is in this persecuted body, he shall never receive it."

At this Jahn cast down his ring, "A man does not choose to fight, he only chooses which cause he fights for."

And with that, the wounded rebel hobbled 100 yards away, drew his sword, and charged the army.

Chaos erupted as the Knights of the Order turned traitor, crashing into Longreign's men and spreading panic through the ranks. The army broke and Jahn survived,

It would take another 5 years of fighting before Longreign and Jahn would meet again in person and this time it was to hash out the details of treaty, one that would give autonomy to any Order within the kingdom's borders.

Aftermath

The effects of the War of Arms is seen today as Durlin has now become home to a host of knights and schools of war, but the treaty hasn't been a whole good thing.

During the Summer Skirmishes, many knights, who had lands and titles in Durlin, were able to turncloak to the Dark King without any fear of lingering effects as they were protected as knights under the treaty of peace. This created a huge problem in the kingdom. In one example, two of the knights of the royal guard, Ser Jorian, later known as the Knight of Crossen Pools, and Ser Damari, the King's Marshal, both defected, taking huge sections of the army with them, weakening the crown's ability to fight.

Also, while the freedom for the Orders has strengthened the population, it has also strengthened enemies; foreign knights being allowed to walk freely in Durlinese lands.

 Unsurprisingly, Jahn remains a controversial figure. While, he has done heroic things, the Kingdom of Durlin has made every effort to lambaste him. Even the Knightly Orders that he fought for distanced themselves from him and so, like many controversial figures, he has been largely forgotten.

At best, a plucky rebel, and at worst, a zealous terrorist.