Bastions
Prologue Three: The Kings of Kings
Part 36
se ármæs uw tea we milánæt sind spæksed tán ænik stul kades.
The arms of those we love are stronger than any steel chains.
The Zähringers' victory over Sweden and Norway shifted the power of the Caliphate east. The Caliph awarded the victorious Germans with parades and titles, crowning them the Dukes of Sverge. Sweden and Norway were left as rump states controlling the northern Lappish regions. In Caliphate, a power struggle was brewing. The Caliphate was ruled by the bin Abbas dynasty, established in Toledo and then consolidated in Barcelona. Like Prussia, many in Iberia spoke a hybrid language, called Istimari. Istimari was a strongly arabized form of Catalan. The other popular native language in Iberia was Vasque (also known as Basque). In France and Germany the native languages tended to remain untouched. The exception was Dutch, which fell into retreat under the harsh rule of the Germans. Breton and Vasque also expanded into the holes left after the Carthaginian exodus. The Caliphate was linguistically and politically divided into three regions: Iberia, Gaul, and Germany. Iberia included the Iberian Peninsula and Sardinia. Sardinia would eventually be transferred to the Gaulish region. Gaul included France and Northern Italy as well as Corsica. Germany included Germany, Switzerland, the Slovenian lands and the Netherlands. The Caliph was advised by the most powerful of his vassals, which at the time included the de Beauce dynasty of Northern France and the von Zähringers of Holstein-Tirol-Sverge. But the Germans were ambitious and wanted to regain their authority as Emperors, and control from within the Caliphate was the best means.
In Prussia, Vishly clamped down on his Kingdom harder than ever. In Memelgrád he completed a massive fortress, dubbed Castle Vishly, which would serve as his palace and military base for the rest of his life. The fortress dominates the skyline of the city even to the modern day. The King feared a return to conflict as the Fraternalists found compromise in his young son, Gunvald, who he had disowned and even went about destroying evidence of their shared bloodline. Gunvald was eventually married to Viba Hadad, the daughter of a prominent member of Prussia's international community, in 1327. The Hadad family had come to Prussia during the reign of King Karnak as cannon makers, but were stripped of rank and title by King Vishly for being Muslim. Gunvald restored many of their titles and ranks in his own realm in order to gain a strong business ally as well as a seasoned weaponsmith. Viba was not, however, a Muslim. She was a Christian by choice, though many accused her of being a Frandist. Frandists were Muslims in Western Europe who had many Christian-like beliefs. Her family was not foreign in appearance, as put by many present at the wedding, Viba herself was three quarters Prussian.
1327 also brought about another series of purges in Vishly's court. Amongst the dead were Marshal Árás Kæstótis and General Juhán Ramondssun, both accused of fraternal sympathies. By 1329 the dead had expanded to include Gunvald's adoptive father, Nigul, and his favorite brother Doyvát. Nigul was assassinated in the open in what was called at the time "nothing less than a public execution." Gunvald named his first son with Viba Doyvát in honor of his brother, but paid his respects to Nigul by keeping the business up and running and by continuing support for the fraternal movement. Vishly wanted to make sure that his son did not have any time to find comfort; he made his intentions known to invade the rest of Finland, thus uniting the region for the first time ever. Of course, Finland is close to Estonia, and the King would put pressure on Gunvald to help supply the war, probably at his own personal expense. The young Duke prepared for the worst, a sneak invasion of Estonia. And he did so by reorganizing the Guard into the Knights of Estonia.