Ludlow Castle

[Gandalfus]

LUDLOW CASTLE, SEAT OF THE PRINCE OF WALES

Here lies the court of England's heir, Edward of Grafton; Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Grafton, Earl of Chester and Earl of March. From the ancestral castle of the Mortimer family here in the Welsh marches, this future king of England shall be shaped to rule under the watchful eye of his guardian and uncle by marriage, Edmund Kyriell, the Earl of Cambridge. All manner of men are employed here in the service of the juvenile Prince; clergymen, learned scholars of Oxford and Cambridge, and men of martial and sporting prowess. Away from the stifling, stinking atmosphere of London and the royal court, it is the King's hope that this future monarch will flourish here in the relatively rural Welsh marches.

DEMESNE, CHARACTER AND INCOME

EDWARD OF GRAFTON, PRINCE OF WALES, DUKE OF CORNWALL, DUKE OF GRAFTON, EARL OF CHESTER, EARL OF MARCH Heir: King Edward IV of England (33 years of age, born in 1442) Guardian: Edmund Kyriell, Earl of Cambridge (All income from these estates pass to the crown until the holder is of age) Principality of Wales with all estates and manors traditionally bestowed upon the Prince included thereof (Caernarfonshire) Duchy of Cornwall with all ancient manors traditionally included thereof. Earldom of Chester with all ancient manors traditionally included thereof. Earldom of March with a third of all the Mortimer estates included thereof. Incomes: Cornwall: 50,000 Crowns per annum Caernarfonshire: 40,000 Crowns per annum (10,000 real income) Cheshire: 40,000 Crowns per annum (10,000 real income) Powys: 40,000 Crowns per annum (10,000 real income) Real income total: 80,000 Crowns per annum

PROVINCIAL BUILDINGS

N/A

PROVINCIAL MILITARY

Militia Troops: Cornwall: 1500 men Caernarfon: 1500 men Chester: 1500 men Powys: 1000 men Standing militia troops: N/A Livery troops: N/A Retinue troops: 500 man upkeep free retinue.

PROVINCIAL BONUSES

Cornwall: Extensive Mining: Extreme southwestern England is known for its substantial mining industry, particularly of tin and copper. Zinc, arsenic and silver are also found in abundance in their mines. +10% income. Cheshire: The Walls of Chester: Chester's sturdy walls had their beginnings in the Roman fort of Deva Victrix, a castrum that was larger than Eburacum (the future York). Those early defenses were vastly expanded and reinforced by the Saxons and later the English, ensuring that Chester's residents would have little to fear from any foe that may come to dash themselves against their walls. +5 Siege rolls, -5 Raiding rolls. Caernarfonshire: Caernarfon Castle: As the administrative center of Gwynedd and the base of the Prince of Wales, Caernarfon Castle must by all rights be the greatest fortress in Wales - and its builders did not disappoint. Originally raised by the Hammer of the Scots, the castle wound up taking until 1330 to complete (sans a few extra internal fortifications) and cost more than two of the most impressive fortifications standing at the time, Dover Castle & Chateau Gaillard. It is also directly connected to the walls of Caernarfon itself. +7 Siege rolls, -7 Raid rolls, and the castle's central keep is strong enough that a defender who loses its outer walls can hold out there for half a year more (3.5 days). The Walls of Caernarfon: The circuit of stone walls around Caernarfon was built by Edward I around the same time as the castle, and is further bolstered with eight towers and two gatehouses. After being overrun by Madog ap Llywelyn's Welsh rebels in the late 13th century they were built back up stronger than ever by Edward, and today present a formidable challenge to anyone who would dare to assail the town (nevermind the castle looming over it, which is also connected to these very walls). These walls increase Caernarfon's garrison capacity by 200%. Powys: Welsh Marches: In the past, the lands of eastern and southern Wales formed the front line of English expansion into Wales. The 'Marcher Lords' who called these territories home accordingly built up strong castles and maintained substantial forces to defend themselves against the Welsh...or take the fight to said Welshmen themselves. +2 Siege rolls, -2 Raid rolls, extra 500-man upkeep-free retinue. Other: Ludlow Castle: One of the first stone castles to be constructed in England, this imposing fortress has stood on the Welsh border for centuries as a foreboding symbol of English power and authority. More recently, it was owned by the Mortimer Earls of March, before passing into the hands of the House of York. A favoured residence of Richard, Duke of York, this bastion of power has now become the seat of the Prince of Wales and thus the de facto capital of that country. +5 Siege rolls, and if the outer walls were to fall the defenders can hold out in its keep for half a year (3.5 days).

[Barry Goldwater]

Some time after departing London...

The Prince of Wales and his retinue, led by the Earl of Cambridge as the royally-appointed Governor of his household, finally arrive at the young boy's home for the foreseeable future - Ludlow Castle, in the Welsh Marches. Besides Cambridge himself & various household knights, guards and lesser servants, said retinue also included various tutors and administrators to educate & support the Prince: the Welsh knight and experienced treasurer Thomas Vaughan would serve as his chamberlain, Abbot Thomas Millyng of Westminster was named his Chancellor, and Sir Humphrey Dacre came along as his steward. As the party made their way through central England, they also picked up the Prince's various tutors: several noted scholars from the University of Cambridge to educate the Prince in the liberal arts from mathematics to rhetoric & history to other languages including French & Latin, and a stern Dominican friar to provide him with his religious education. Finally, Edmund had sent his own children and a few servants to join the rest of the royal staff in Ludlow Castle ahead of their own retinue.

As the castle itself came into sight and the party took a short break outside of one of several nearby peasant hamlets, Edmund dismounts to hail the Prince. "We're almost there, Your Highness. Did you enjoy the journey here? And what do you think of what you've seen of your lands so far?" The lands around Ludlow were a natural marvel, gloriously green forests and pristine rivers occasionally broken up with gently rolling hills or fields worked by well-behaved peasants, and the castle itself was built on a great promontory overlooking the River Teme.

[Gandalfus]

Edward, being merely four years of age, found the sheer distance from London to Ludlow rather difficult to comprehend. It was rather a lot to take in for the boy, being spirited away from his father, mother, and siblings fairly quickly to an alien environment had left the Prince slightly overwhelmed. Sat upon a dainty though well trained pony, the heir of England was clearly quite worn out, and was looking forward to actually getting to the castle more than anything else.

"How long before I see mama?" The Prince asked, curiously, with a bemused frown etched into his youthful brow.

[Barry Goldwater]

"At least a few months, most likely," Cambridge answered truthfully. "But she, your father and your sister will visit you every now and then, as they promised. And you can join them for Christ's Mass, Epiphany and other important festivities, as well. Don't worry about it, Prince Edward." Cambridge pulled a skin from his own horse's side and drank deeply - it was water, of course, since he really couldn't get drunk around his new charge. "Would you like to enter your new castle? Everyone else should be just about ready to meet us in the great hall by now."

[Gandalfus]

"Yes." The young Prince eventually replied, after an extended pause of thought. Months? That was a long time, too long a time for his liking. But his father had told him to not embarrass their family, as he would be King one day. Kings don't cry, or so he'd been told in his fit of wailing. It never did much to help, though in that moment the Prince showed a remarkably stoic resolve not to shed tears.

[Barry Goldwater]

"Very good." Cambridge was impressed that the young Prince didn't seem to come close to crying at the news, his own sons had been inconsolable the day he had to ride north to fight the Scots around Berwick. "Then, let us not tarry in this place any longer. Soon enough you'll be free to spend as much time here as you want, anyway."

Soon, orders were dispatched to the rest of the royal party to pack their things and prepare to move again. Within less than ten minutes, they had taken off to complete the last leg of their journey to Ludlow Castle.

----------------

The sun was still up and shining brightly by the time Edward of Grafton and his party passed through the castle gates. Every guard and servant they came across on their way to the main doors, all dressed in royal livery and wearing badges denoting their allegiance to the Plantagenets above all other houses, bowed or knelt before the Prince, as well. Finally, past said front door Cambridge took the Prince to the main hall of the castle, where the majority of the castle's servants, workers and guards were in attendance - there was clearly not enough room on the floor for them all, so some were looking down on the royal party from the stairs and second floor - to hail the royal boy, just as Edmund had said. Those who had children brought them out to see Edward as well, either setting them on the ground and holding them by the hand or carrying them on their shoulders. At the forefront of the crowd were Cambridge's three children: his sons Harold & Thomas and daughter Soleil, the latter of whom was still holding the doll gifted to her by Edward's older sister Elizabeth from the last time she met the pair in Baynard's Castle and waved at the Prince with a bright smile of recognition on her face as soon as she saw him. As if on cue, everyone in the crowd bowed, curtsied or knelt before the Prince and issued a chorus of "Welcome to Ludlow Castle, Your Highness."

Cambridge grinned at the sight and lightly clapped Edward on the shoulder. "You see, my Prince, everyone's eager to see you and be your friend. Why don't you go and introduce yourself? You can start with my own children, if you'd like - I brought them here to keep you company, and thought you might appreciate at least one familiar face. You've already met with my daughter Soleil, of course, back when you lived in Baynard's and I had to visit your mother on some urgent business, but I don't think you've ever met her brothers before: that's Harold, my eldest," He pointed to the taller of the boys and then to the shorter & squatter of the pair, "And that's my youngest boy, Thomas. Don't be shy now, go on ahead."

[Gandalfus]

Edward shuffled forward, relieved by the friendly face of Soleil, perhaps the only person he recognised in this vast crowd of people that had come to hail him as their Prince and lord. It was frightening, and it took all the Prince's inner strength not to stick out his lower lip and wail as he first addressed the children of Cambridge.

"My... name... is Edward..." He said quietly, trembling slightly in fear. Never before had he spoken to so many people at once, it was doubtful many would hear the child's straining voice. His instinct was to bow, though he remembered that he was in fact their own liege and they should rather be bowing to him.

[Barry Goldwater]

"H-h-hullo, Prince Edward. I'm uh, T-Thomas," Thomas Kyriell replied ahead of either of his siblings with his head bowed. From his stutter, the way he spoke too quickly and the sweat making his honey-colored hair stick to his forehead, it was clear he was extremely nervous while addressing the Prince, at least as or even more nervous than Edward of Grafton himself.

The older Kyriell son, Harold, shot a withering look at Thomas (whose head remained bowed, but whose eyes shot sideways to respond with a hostile glance) before smoothly bowing a second time before the Prince of Wales and adding, "Your Highness. I'm Harold Kyriell, and I hope we'll all be good friends," with a genial smile, all trace of irritation at his little brother banished from his face. At age seven he seems to have been taught his manners well, even if he was virtually bouncing with the Kyriell energy he must've inherited from his father, and clearly thought little Thomas was embarrassing himself.

Soleil, as the only Kyriell sibling to already be familiar to the Prince, opted to extend an equally familiar greeting - perhaps, at age four, she just forgot the formal style of address for the kingdom's crown prince in her excitement, or she had noticed how he trembled and sought to comfort him the way her father & brothers did when she felt afraid, or (most likely) some mixture of both. "Hullo again, Ned!" She curtsied a second time and extended her arms to hug Edward; her smile expressing a combination of cheerful excitement at seeing an old friend and nervousness at the knowledge that he was no longer merely the Duke of Grafton, but the Crown Prince of the realm. Clearly, she was hoping that wasn't going to affect their friendship.

[Gandalfus]

Edward embraced Soleil gladly; his friend a welcome distraction from the growing sense of dread that seemed to expand within his stomach. "Hello..." He replied breathlessly, the air squeezed out of his lungs by the bear hug. In that moment, he missed his sisters dearly, especially Elizabeth. "Nice to meet you." He simply replied to the others, once Soleil had deigned to let him go. Though he did not realise it, his prolonged silence thereafter only served to make the situation even more awkward.

[Barry Goldwater]

The Kyriell boys waited while their half-sister exchanged a hug with Prince Edward. When she let go and he answered their greetings in turn, Thomas nodded silently while Harold responded, "Yes, nice to meet you too, Your Highness." A few more moments passed in awkward silence and Cambridge nearly decided to step forward and clear his throat to prod the Prince along, but just as he prepared to move Soleil stepped forward to reassure Edward, having noticed (as had effectively everyone else in the room) that he seemed to have frozen up. "Ned...you need to say hello to everyone else, too. It's okay, some of them might even seem a bit scary, but they all want to be your friend. I was shy around them too, when I first got here, but they're all really nice." She held a hand out to him. "We can come with you, if you want. My brother Harry walked with me when I was greeting some of the servants."

[Gandalfus]

Edward gave a brief nod, reassured by the presence of those he at least saw as friendly. The Prince was ushered towards a collection of courtiers. Deafening silence ensued for a time, with the fluttering of the royal standard in the wind being all that was heard.
"Hullo... Nice.. To meet you..." The Prince managed, holding his nerve. He swayed from side to side, apparently unable to stay still during the encounter.

[Barry Goldwater]

"Hello, Your Highness." The pack of courtiers he was hailing responded as a chorus, bowing and curtsying as they did. All of them were courteous enough to avoid pointing out their liege's nervous swaying, and politely waited for him to proceed to the next batch of courtiers and servants to greet.

[Gandalfus]

Eventually, the whole ordeal was done, and the Prince was exhausted. Both glad it was over, and because they'd been travelling for what felt like forever. All he wanted was a long rest - and to see his mother again, of course.

[Barry Goldwater]

"Well done, Your Highness!" Cambridge looked up from a parchment bearing the royal child's daily schedule to hail him once he had finished. "That wasn't so bad, right? It's never a bad thing to become friends with your courtiers and servants, and I see you've made many friends quite quickly today." If you at least know your servants' names and faces, that makes it that much harder for a spy or assailant to sneak up on you in the guise of 'just another servant', the earl thought, but he figured that such grim lessons could wait until the boy was older. Noting that the four-year-old Prince was clearly tired, he kindly added, "If you'd like, I and Sir Vaughan over here can take you to your room. We'll wake you in time for supper, of course, but that won't be for a few hours; and if you rise before then, well, you can play with my children in the courtyard." It'd be awfully unkind to inflict him with lessons on his very first day here, and after having him introduce himself to the castle staff at that, Cambridge thought. Now that he's gotten the business of at least learning the names of everyone who works here out of the way, he should have the rest of the day off. God knows he'll need it for tomorrow. Get up at approximately seven in the morning for matins and then Mass, followed with breakfast, then 'virtuous learning' under the auspices of the stern Black Friar Gilbert, then lunch followed by the reading of heroic stories, yet more studies with the Cambridge scholars after that, sporting activities and finally supper, a spot of free time and it was off to bed again by eight...the daily life of a Prince was much tougher than he had expected, to be sure.

[Barry Goldwater]

The next day...

For the Prince's official first day at Ludlow, his guardian saw to it that they all followed the King's instructions for how the day should progress: Edward of Grafton was gently awakened at seven for matins and then Mass, followed by breakfast at approximately eight-thirty, followed by an hour and a half of religious education under the Dominican friar Gilbert, then lunch at ten. After lunch, it was story time with Uncle Cambridge, who was now busily thumbing through the castle library's collection to find a suitably 'virtuous and heroic' story for the Crown Prince in the last minute or two before Edward arrived.

[Gandalfus]

Edward waddled into the room as only a toddler could, still getting used to the surroundings. In the morning, he had briefly cried, and now just felt forlorn after spending what seemed like an age with the stern friar Gilbert.

[Barry Goldwater]

Cambridge had just selected a copy of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for today's reading when he caught sight of young Edward. While a servant brought out a smaller seat for the Prince of Wales, the earl noticed that he seemed somewhat down. Well, I might too, if I spent more than a few minutes in his company - the man only seems to smile when he hears of heretics and infidels getting their just desserts, he thought. "So, how did your first lesson of the day go, Your Highness? I trust Brother Gilbert wasn't too hard on you?..." Kyriell finally asked as he plopped himself down into the seat directly facing the Prince's own, frowning.

[Gandalfus]

"Boring." Edward responded simply, visibly slouching in his seat. His lower lip was protruding slightly; he appeared to be in a great sulk.

[Barry Goldwater]

Cambridge's look of concern changed to a slight smirk at that. "Well then, I believe we both agree on something, Your Highness. Brother Gilbert is dreadfully boring unless he's talking about holy wars with the heretic and the heathen, at which point I think you'll like him a lot more," Or when he's railing against clerical corruption in general. But that's too sensitive a topic for a four-year-old, I should think, he thought. The man wasn't a big fan of hypocrisy in general, and railed against the likes of the Avignon Popes with as much vitriol as he employed against the Lollards & other heretics, which was why he had been recommended to the royal party as they made their way to Ludlow in the first place. "But all of his lessons really are necessary, I promise. Anyway, forget about him for a moment...you know what isn't boring? This."

Cambridge set the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle down on the table and began flipping through its pages to the sections on Alfred the Great. He cleared his throat and began to speak in a tone he found to be suitably dramatic, "The story of Alfred the Great, the king who - against all odds, and even after losing most of his family to war - began to unite all of England into one nation, drove away the pagan Viking savages who had despoiled much of the country and struck down so many of God's shepherds, and saved the true faith and proper learning in England. You know, he was exactly your age when his father took him to Rome to be blessed and confirmed by the Pope himself." Cambridge stopped there with a smile, clearly hoping that relating Alfred's experience at age four to the similarly-aged Prince of Wales would attract his interest. "Shall I go on, Prince Edward?"

[Gandalfus]

"Rome? What's that?" Edward echoed, clearly unfamiliar with the name. His brow furrowed under the golden fringe that stretched to his eyebrows.


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