It is 460AD and the last Roman legions have left Britain never to return and now the cash rich and resource ladened Island stands alone against the dark age hoards.
It is a time of darkness and a time of opportunity, but will Arthur arise from the chaos to lead your people to ultimate victory.
When the last of the Roman army left Coel Hen (Coel the Old), wore the title as the Comes Britannia and he most likely based himself at York. As the Comes, he was simply promulgating the Roman military system in Britain. A similar example could be seen with Aedgious after 459AD and then later Sygarious in Gaul. Through military valor and wisdom he maintained British supremacy in the North repelling the invasions that occurred. After his death the Roman authority rapidly decayed and the Roman Provinces began to fracture into smaller British Kingdoms. The British Kingdoms began to take matters into their own hands with many of their leaders proclaiming a royal ancestry to legitimize their power. Coel Hen became the progenitor of several kingly lines in the Hen Ogledd. But a most powerful kingdom rose in Powys under Vitalinus. The British civitates now no longer acting on any Roman authority elected Vitalinus as the overlord King (The Vortigern) of all the British Kingdoms.
Under Vortigern Powys had prospered and it became the most influential kingdom within Britain. Vericonium, one of the few surviving cities of its time in Powys, was restored and benefited strategically with its central position next to the River Severn. From his power base in Powys, Vortigern began to consolidate his power by the old Roman practice of using foederati with the price of granting them lands within Britain. At his royal center at Vericonium, he strengthened his position. Re-introducing the Comes Britannia(Protector or Guletic) he granted the title to Cunnedda, a very powerful sub king from the Northern Votadini tribe of the Gododdin, to be in charge of Britain's mobile field army. He became Cunneda's father-in-law by giving him his daughter's hand in marriage and allowed some of the Votadini nobles to resettle some of their people in Gaelic, Scotti settled lands in Wales. He gave the Scotti within Wales foederati status and created dynastic ties with prominent Scotti families there that were linked to the High kings(Ard Ri) from across the sea. To combat the dire situation in the north due to the Pict invasions he continued the foederati practice and hired Anglo-Saxon mercenaries to crush them. He rewarded their successes with British lands to settle in. As the Anglo-Saxon settlements grew and increased in numbers so did the price to keep them happy. Vortigern created dynastic ties with them by marrying a Saxon princess and thus for the time being, keeping the peace.
Under Ambrosious the Elder the heavily influenced Roman Kingdom of Dummonia in the south remained to some extent autonomous. Dummonia's influence extended eastward to London and into the Gallic lands of Brittany. During the first of the Anglo-Saxon rebellions it is likely that this Ambrosius and many of the Romans in their occupied estates were targeted for their potential wealth thus perishing in the initial onslaught. Following the destructive assault the survivors gather together under the leadership of a young Ambrosius, who is described as "a gentleman who, perhaps alone of the Romans, had survived the shock of this notable storm". Dismayed at the destruction to his lands he asserted his power and waged a civil war against the forces of Vortigern winning a decisive battle of Guoloph in the year 459AD. By the year 460AD Vortigern abdicated the throne, and retreated to one of his strongholds, possibly in one of the Irish held regions in Western Wales. Ambrosius, consolidating his power, built a Royal residence, perhaps a "Capital" of sorts, reoccupying and refortifying the Iron Age hillfort of Cadbury Castle in Somerset, a base where he could launch his counter offensives and campaigns against the Anglo-Saxons.
The British people longing for a unified Britain rallied behind their kingdom's leader with the hope that he may become the Protector, or even their high King other than a Vortigern. From the increasing Gaelic influence and presence would emerge an Ard Ri (or Arth Ru in Welsh), an Arthur that would bring stability and prosperity to their torn lands once again.
From all these very different regions the valor of a historical King Arthur manifested itself along with other heroes and villains alike. From one of these British kingdoms the leaders and their heirs will have the ability to become a Protector of Britannia(Comes Britannia) and then the Arthur(Arth Ru), a title as the High King of Britannia. As an example, the Ambrosius faction(Regnum Britanniae Imperium) will be represented by Ambrosious Aurelious and an heir with a description of the circumstances that surround them in an historical event. After uniting key British areas , the building of 5 great fortresses, and the acquiring of key ancillaries that ends with the Arth Ru, the British champion will then be proclaimed the mighty King Arthur, King of the Britons...
5 British factions in all have a genuine historical claim to a King Arthur. The faction leaders and heirs contributed historically to the truth to who he was. So let one of them try and prove it through one of their best Arthurian historical candidates
IB2 Conquestus Britanniae needs you.
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