Life Story
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Lanavaille was a queen who founded her own kingdom during an era of petty kingdoms. Her life was an epic tale of war and love.
She was born in the small frontier Kingdom of Chloroa, wedged between the kingdoms of Magill to the east and Sui to the west, both of similar size. The three kingdoms, which fought over borders, had long maintained maintaining a sort of balance, but at one point the eastern and western countries joined forces and invaded Chloroa together.
The king of Chloroa, Lanavaille's father, was a brave warrior who had conquered each of the barbarian tribes that had ravaged the country. Both the eastern and western kingdoms felt threatened by Chloroa's emergence under Lanavaille's father.
The Chloroan king led an army against this unprecedented danger. Fifteen-year-old Lanavaille, the only daughter of the late queen, secluded herself in the temple to pray for victory in the war.
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The war raged for three months and Chloroa's forces held out against both armies all the way to the capital. But, frustrated with this tenacity, the rival kings led in reinforcements and brought down the Chloroan king who had fought so hard. The front line collapsed and the Chloroan forces scattered.
Their king lost, the panicked retainers gathered. The only royal left was Princess Lanavaille in the temple. They argued about which nation to align with, and whether to give the princess as a bride or to offer her head. A messenger rushed into this tumult bearing word that the princess herself joined battle on her own.
Before leaving, Lanavaille had sent messages to each of the other kings. "The crown of Chloroa shall belong to the victor of Hoplier Plains."
If they wanted the only daughter of Chloroa's king, if they wanted the kingdom itself, they had to settle it there. Standing at Hoplier with only a handful guards, she was the image of a youthful and graceful princess, even if her face could not be seen from a distance.
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When the kings of Magill and Sui saw Lanavaille in the distance, they immediately turned their armies on each other and began attacking. The alliance between the two countries was easily broken.
The two countries are evenly matched. The armies fought fiercely, with even their kings drawing their blades and joining the fray. As the fought, a storm of arrows suddenly rained down on both armies.
The soldiers of the Magill and Sui kingdoms had come to find themselves surrounded by Chloroa's forces, which was believed to have been scattered. Standing at the forefront, sword held high and clad in armor, was the princess general, her golden hair whipping in the wind. It was the true Princess Lanavaille, who until then, had disguised herself as an attendant as her double stood in her place.
The soldiers, having already slain each other in great numbers, fell to arrows one-by-one. Staggered by their predicament, the two kings were cornered by Lanavaille who took both their heads.
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The day the war began, Lanavaille's father had ordered her to join the battle while pretending to be in the temple. From the age of 12, she had been taken out to the front lines, disguised as a page boy, and trained by her father in the ways of life and death. Even now she was a greater warrior than the Chloroan king.
Having them battle each other to weaken both sides, and then ambush them was the strategy Lanavaille and the late king had devised in response to the plight of their homeland.
"Father taught me with his life that there is no royal who would not sacrifice themself to protect their country, and what is a king that cannot defend country or people?" With that, the princess raised her father's sword, and every last one of her soldiers prepared themself to fight to the death.
"I am the ruler of Chloroa!" It is said that as Lanavaille held forth the heads of the two kings and made this declaration, the Hoplier Plains resounded with the cheers of the Chloroan soldiers.
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She then led her army into the other two kingdoms, and within a year, had conquered them both. She has become the most beloved queen of the people of Chloroa, taking up the reign of her hot-blooded father.
Soon after, however, Queen Lanavaille stopped appearing before her people. An announcement was made by the government that the queen had taken a serious illness.
However, it was all so sudden that the people did not readily believe it. That the queen, the woman who had led her country in battle and had unified the three kingdoms, would be defeated by mere illness.
When people began to whisper that the young queen had met with insurrection, or that she'd been locked away or worse, rumors began to spread in the city that the queen had been seen.
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A beautiful woman with golden hair had been seen quietly leaving the castle and slipping into town, led by a man who seemed like a knight. Though she was dressed as a commoner, it was undoubtedly Queen Lanavaille. This rumor of unknown origin spread like wildfire among the people, spoken about as if someone had indeed seen them.
Lanavaille was adored by her people. "Queen Lanavaille has fallen in love with a scoundrel." "She's renounced her throne and run away for love." some said. But finally, perhaps wishing her well, despite the sadness of her flight, it was said "She left with a look of happiness."
And so, unknowingly, Lanavaille's life came to be told as a romantic tale.