The House that Never Was, Part 1: Alabard's Rebellion

The House That Never Was

An Alternate Timeline to TES Canon

Part 1: Alabard's Rebellion

Alabard Endel was the second son of a knight known as Sir Gryteron Endel of the Order of Saint Pelin. Sir Gryteron, in turn, was the grandson of the little-known first knighted Endel.

How Alabard came to be the ruler of the independent Barony of Markwasten is unclear. The Endel Legends claim that Alabard rebelled against the “royal tyrant” Heseph Bracques of Evermore, who eventually granted him and Markwasten independence. Most of those who do not believe in the Endel Legends say that Alabard simply took advantage of King Heseph’s weak reign to revolt, assassinating his older brother and his father in the process. I, personally, do not wish to reveal which side I am on; I would prefer to let you decide through the evidence I shall give you.

According to the Legends, King Heseph of Evermore had convicted and hanged Sir Gryteron and his firstborn son for treason two years into the Interregnum; the Legends also imply that they were innocent, according to one of the Endels themselves. Alabard, in response to his father and brother being killed for what he thought to be no reason, led a peasant revolt in Markwasten. At first, they were defeated by only eight of the king’s knights at the First Battle of Markwasten, but when a small adventuring company of twelve came to Alabard’s cause, the tides were soon turned. Within seven months, King Heseph and Alabard had signed a five-year truce, as well as a peace treaty ceding the territory of what would become the Barony of Markwasten to Alabard.

In recent years, some scholars have challenged what was written in the Legends, stating first and foremost that Alabard merely took advantage of the chaos of the Interregnum to revolt against King Heseph. According to a few of them, Alabard was no more of a tyrant than how the Legends described King Heseph, with one scholar even proposing the idea that Alabard was the one who killed Sir Gryteron and his firstborn through hiring assassins. Most of these scholars have met an untimely demise through the hands of the Endels due to publishing their ideas; in that case, everyone today who has agreed with these scholars, if any, have not revealed their opinions to the public.

Nevertheless, one thing is certain about these events: the outcome. The Treaty of Portdun Creek, the earlier-mentioned treaty that ended Alabard’s Rebellion and established the Barony of Markwasten, has been on public display in Wayrest since the Endels united High Rock, and has often been scrutinized by scholars on both sides of the debate over how the Barony of Markwasten came to be.

The things that happened during Alabard’s reign over Markwasten are still vague, but generally accepted by the majority of scholars. I shall write about them in the next part of this Chronicle.