The Maritimes

Early History
As is true elsewhere the early history of the Maritimes is shrouded in myth and uncertainty. From what little we know the lands of the Maritimes were once part of the ancient Dominion of Canada and followers of Christ. In the centuries after the Event the people of the Maritimes turned to the mysterious practices of the heathen Druids. The lands were ruled by numerous petty chiefs and kings, all steeped in myth and legend. By far the most famous are the legendary Irving kings of New Brunswick. According to early chronicles their line was founded by King Kenneth the Golden, who lived to be one-hundred years of age. He was succeeded by his son Sulliman the Songbird, who, in turn, was succeeded by his son Whelan the Warrior. Few records exist in these times, although the druids would have us believe it was a time of peace and plenty when the Gods walked among men and Kings were just. While nothing can be said of his predecessors, we can with some confidence say that Whelan Irving was in fact a powerful local chief or king. Both Druidic and Occultist records and myth speak of him, as well as his fate at the hands of Vincent Mahonic. Following the conquest of the Maritimes sometime in the 24th century, the Mahonics would rule over New Brunswick for more than a century, and extend their influence over the rest of the Maritimes. The Mahonics were far more concerned with their territories in New York to the southwest than with the Maritimes. While tribute was extracted in the form of crops, fish, and levies the Maritimes were of little importance to their Yankee overlords. Only a few Yankee lords ventured north to establish chiefdoms in the farmlands of New Brunswick, with local rulers often left in place so long as they payed tribute to the Yankee High Chiefs. During this time missionaries from the Anglican church in Ontario began to make their early journeys east, hoping to bring the Maritimers back into the fold. Although the early Christian missionaries were mercilessly persecuted by the Occultist Yankees, they were tireless in spreading the word of God, and slowly the people of the Maritimes were shown the light once again.

Vincent Mahonic may have established himself as hegemon of the Atlantic coast, but his successors were not as capable, dragging themselves into a long and ultimately unsuccessful struggle with the Rodhams of Hudsonia. The influence of New England over the Maritimes weakened, first the tributary chiefs broke free, and soon the lords of New Brunswick began to declare themselves independent. There was no great revolt, the Mahonics were simply to preoccupied with wars in the south to intervene when one chief stopped sending his annual crops, or a Yankee lord was driven from his hall by Maritimer peasants. All the while Christian influence in the region was increasing. Anglican missions had been spreading the faith among nobles and peasantry alike, and it was accepted with great fervour. In the early years of the 25th century Archbishop Thomas Beckett made the decision to locate the official seat of the Anglican Church to the village of Canterbury, legendarily the seat of the ancient Canadian church and recently free from New England. Although a baffling choice to many the move had two purposes, the first being to extend the frontier of Christendom further east by solidly placing the Maritimes at the centre of the Anglican church. Secondly the move served to situate the Anglican Church as a dominant political power in the region, and away from the squabbling nobles of Ontario who had always meddled in the affairs of the Church.

Reign of Tarleton Irving
In or about the year of our Lord 2460 Tarleton Irving first appears in our histories as lord of Moncton. His father had taken control of the city when its last Yankee lord fled south, claiming a dubious descent from the legendary line of kings bearing the same name. A shrewd leader and skilled warrior Tarleton soon established himself as a powerful lord in the north of New Brunswick, freeing the lands around him from the ever-shrinking Kingdom of New England. He had greater ambitions than just New Brunswick however; the collapse of New England left a power vacuum in the Maritimes, and Tarleton saw an opportunity. Tarleton hoped to bring the Maritimes back to what he believed was an age of greatness. A time of Druidic mysticism and legendary kings, which he saw himself as the successor to. A time free of what he believed to be corrupting foreign influences of the Occultists and Christians. While many of the other lords of the Maritimes rightly saw him as an ambitious opportunist, and a deluded zealot, Tarleton proclaimed himself as a great liberator both wise and righteous. Tarleton was ruthless in his conquest of the Maritimes, committing deeds of cruelty towards the Christian faithful far worse than any that had occurred under the Mahonics. As he became more powerful and his enemies, both real and imagined, became more numerous it only fueled his cruelty and paranoia.

Tarleton first consolidated his control over New Brunswick by allying himself with Duke Malmure Criss to the south, marrying his daughter Slaine. The Irving and Criss families would maintain a long alliance and remain some of the last devout Druidic followers in the Maritimes. In quick succession the lands of Miramichi, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton fell. Even the Archbishop of Canterbury let himself be put under Tarleton’s protection, under threat of Tarleton razing Canterbury to the ground. In the year of our Lord 2470 Tarleton was crowned as the first King of the Maritimes in Moncton. Despite his accomplishments of establishing a united Maritimer realm free of Occultist control Tarleton was far from secure in his position. Even in its death throes the Kingdom of New England still remained a great threat, and even greater was the threat from his own vassals. The lords of Nova Scotia in particular, allied with the Archbishop proved a significant threat to the King’s authority. These dissenters objected to Tarleton’s fervent support of Druidic practices and discrimination against Christians. They were led by Archbishop Thomas, and Ivor Beaton the Lord of Sydney. The divisions between the Druidic supporters of the King and the Christian supporters of the Archbishop only widened as Tarleton’s mental faculties deteriorated. He began to see plots everywhere, and would trust no one not even his own councilors. He feared the Archbishop to be using perverse witchcraft against him, and dozens of intriguers and mystic druids were brought to court in order to protect the King. Matters came to a head in 2485 when Tarleton accused the Archbishop of sorcery and attempts of regicide and had him beheaded as a traitor. Lord Ivor and the other powerful Anglican lords, outraged by this abuse of power, rose up in revolt, and over the next several years a brutal civil war was fought. Tarleton himself was killed at the Battle of Antigonish in 2488, and the victorious rebels declared Ivor Beaton their new King, crowning him on the battlefield. In Moncton, Queen Slaine declared Tarleton’s son Galen the new King, but with the Criss family remaining the Irving’s only supporters few recognized him. Ivor’s forces marched into Moncton virtually unopposed, with the Queen and her supporters fleeing to Saint John. Seeing no further need for violence Ivor offered amnesty to the Queen and her supporters. Slaine and her father Malmure were taken captive by the citizens of Saint John and later died while trying to flee, but Galen was spared and delivered to Ivor. A compassionate man, Ivor let Galen live and left the city of Moncton to the Irvings, moving the capital of the Maritimes to his own lands in Cape Breton.

Beaton Dynasty
King Ivor brought new life to the Maritimes, spending most of his reign consolidating them into one unified kingdom. Convincing the petty kings and chiefs of the Maritimes to accept him peacefully as their new king was no easy task, but Ivor ensured that the Maritimes stayed peacefully united. He was widely known for his kindness and generosity, and did his best to ensure peace between both Christian and Druidic faithful. Ivor never forced the Anglican faith on his vassals, and allowed the Criss and Irving families to keep the faith in their own lands, however he always encouraged willing converts and the Anglican faith spread rapidly under Ivor and his successors. Ivor died in 2502 and was succeeded as King by his son Trelane, a man of a much different disposition. Where the father was soft spoken, generous, and pragmatic the son was bellicose, and preferred hunting and dueling to ruling. Much to the chagrin of his vassals he even allowed his daughter Mayann to train in the ways of a warrior and accompany him on campaign. King Trelane’s reign was cut short however when in the year of our Lord 2512 King Vincent III Fennimore, last King of New England, assembled a great host and invaded the Maritimes, hoping to reassert his supremacy over the region. King Trelane, eager to fight, met the invaders at Welsford. In the ensuing battle both Trelane and his heir Labhras were killed, and the Maritimers fell back to the slopes of Mount Douglas to make their final stand. It was there that his daughter Mayann, now Queen, rallied her forces and smashed the Yankee host. King Vincent III received a crippling blow to the head during the Maritimer charge, some say delivered by Mayann herself. The Occultists retreated back south with their wounded King, who would die some weeks later along with his Kingdom.

Queen Mayann proved an able leader both in war and at peace, and ruled over the Maritimes for almost 50 years. Her son Innis proved to be a much less capable ruler. Living most of his life in his mother’s shadow he took on few real responsibilities as prince. Mayann’s preferred heir was, after all, her grandson Burke, who she had spent her last years training as a future King. Burke was seen as another Ivor, intelligent, hardworking, well spoken, and well intentioned. However, tragedy would strike, in only his twenty-eighth year of age Prince Burke was found dead in the royal forests of Ben Eoin. His death remains a mystery to this day, with the Prince being in perfect health and no signs of violence found upon his body. Foul play was suspected but has never been confirmed. After the death of his son King Innis was never the same. Always morose and uninterested in ruling beforehand he became even more withdrawn, turning to wine to ease his pain. Innis would die at the age of 48, seemingly of natural causes. Innis’ infant grandson Teague was crowned, but Innis’ indifferent rulership left the young king with few allies.

Irving Insurrection
All the while Denholm Irving, the young lord of Moncton, had been plotting his family’s return to power with the support of their kinsmen the Criss family. Denholm and his supporters soon made their intentions clear after the death of Innis and declared the Beaton family usurpers, marching towards Sydney to unseat them. Denholm was and handsome, making him popular among the lower aristocracy. The King’s supporters were hesitant and slow to react, and as Denholm neared Sydney new supporters flocked to the Irving cause. Left with little other choice the young King’s supporters secretly fled south to Halifax where they hoped to regroup. Archbishop Dunstan, himself a Criss, had planned to legitimise Denholm’s rule by crowning him in the old capital of Moncton, however he died before Denholm’s return from Cape Breton. His successor Archbishop Whitaker was a much less enthusiastic supporter of the Irvings, but did not wish to go against the will of his late predecessor and his numerous supporters. In 2579, over a century after Tarleton Irving himself had been crowned king, the Archbishop reluctantly coronated his descendent Denholm in Moncton. His eagerness to be king ultimately hindered his cause, as many Anglicans were scandalised by the Archbishop’s crowning of a new King while the old one still lived. Teague’s supporters rallied in Halifax led by the young Duke Liam Carmody of Nova Scotia. In his short time in power, Denholm failed to fully secure his authority and legitimacy, and remained a usurper in the eyes of his unruly vassals. In the ensuing civil war Denholm was captured and Teague one again placed on the throne. Duke Liam in his new role as King Teague’s regent had the usurper executed, cementing Beaton control over the Maritimes.