List of Rogarvian Kings

[KingmakerDM]

Greetings! I am looking at expanding my Kingmaker campaign to include more action in Brevoy and utilizing some of the political tension there as my PCs advance in levels.

I am currently looking at some of the background for that and was wondering if someone has already created a list of the Rogarvian kings back to Choral the Conqueror? A brief synopsis of each would be nice as well.

So, anyone see or have anything like that? Also, if this is in some source book that I'm just missing I would appreciate being directed to that.

Thanks!

[Gambit]

Aegon, Aerys, Baelor, Viserys....oh wait, nevermind.

[Damir]

Things we know:

• Choral the Conqueror (Choral I | 4499 - 4509)
  Possibly not technically a Rogarvia (if that just was the name of the house established by the Nikos-Choral alliance*), but definitely related. United Brevoy through conquest, had the whole dragon stuff, etc. He eventually left the kingdom to be ruled by his descendants and his fate is unknown.

  Given that he ruled for only 10 years (and 4499 is just the date of his alliance with the Surtovas and the marriage, so even less than that when you include the time it took to pacify Rostland), it's quite odd that "his descendants" took over.

  Either:
  A) The actual marriage was between Choral's son and Myrna Surtova, thus forming house Rogarvia. The son would then be able to take over 10 years later.

  B) The marriage was between Choral and Myrna Surtova, but Choral had previous children as well. This would explain why the main branch took over, while the current king (Noleski Surtova) would be descended from the Choral-Myrna branch (which was for one reason or another exempt from the Vanishing**, which only affected Choral's firstborn line?).

  B.5) Choral had a son (and heir) and also a daughter (Myrna Rogarvia) who married Nikos Surtova. This would also make Noleski a direct descendant of Choral.

  C) There was a Regency period, probably with Nikos Surtova unofficially running the show.

  D) You have a 10 year old king (at best) right after the warlord who managed to unite two previously warring kingdoms just disappears.

• Urzen Rogarvia (Urzen ?? | ??? - 4699)
  Urzen disappeared, along with his potential heirs, for mysterious reasons.

  It's suggested that the common people of Brevoy didn't care much for the Rogarvias (but people stayed in line because of Rogarvia's military strength and the possibility of draconic intervention). The latter kings may have been cruel and/or demanding.
  

There's 190 years to fill. It's hard to get a good basis for the lifespan (or at least average length of reign) of Rogarvias, since I don't think we know Urzen's birth or coronation dates and Choral just disappeared.

Going arbitrarily to Wikipedia's List of Kings of Spain for a baseline, it seems reasonable to switch kings every 30 or so years (barring those who have really short reigns - often due to disease*** - or really long reigns [see: Queen Elizabeth II] ). That gives us about 7 kings after Choral (including Urzen).

Here's a possible timeline (assuming a regency, for variety's sake):

• Choral the Conqueror | 4499 - 4509 (disappeared)
  United Brevoy with sword and flame (and, not mentioned as much in history, some good negotiation skills). Bold, clever, and charismatic. Choral always had the long term in mind, making sure his family would be well entrenched in a longstanding realm. However, as with many men who always are looking to the future, Choral always seem impatient and dissatisfied with the present.

• Interregnum | 4509 - 4520
  Myrna is declared regent for her son, Cibor Rogarvia, along with an absurdly large council of "advisors" from every major family (as each demanded to have some influence in the situation). In truth, Nikos Surtova controlled most of the workings of government. Surtovas got many important positions in government which they have managed to keep in the family ever since.

• Cibor Rogarvia | 4520 - 4572 (died, age 72)
  A fairly unremarkable king, not used to command and fairly dependent on his advisors. Still, trade flourishes, swordlord rebellions are put down, and the influence of Issian nobility in Rostland increases during the stable years of his reign.

• Bonamis Rogarvia | 4572 - 4603 (died, age 74)
  A bold knight who was known for his code of laws, which were generally seen to be fair and reasonable (and which also reduced the number of succession crises happening in the minor noble houses, thus solidifying the borders of the major noble houses to the borders we recognize today [with minor changes] ).

  While he was good at lawmaking, it bored him and he really wanted to have a good war. He responded with great force to the minor revolts during his reign and tried to provoke Restov and the remaining swordlords into rebellion while pushing for aggressive actions against rising powers in the River Kingdoms (which actually caused many to back down from their plans of River Kingdom domination, frustrating him greatly).

  He attempted to re-establish control in the Stolen Lands, but colonization was sluggish and prone to disasters.

• Vuyic Rogarvia | 4603 - 4605 (died, age 24)
  Died from a plague caught in the Icerime Peaks - presumed to originate from Ioberia (may have been poisoned).

• Sudomir Rogarvia | 4605 - 4618 (died, age 77)
  Bonamis' younger brother (ascending to the throne due to the death of Bonamis' only heir - Sudomir's descendants would become the royal line up until the Vanishing). Known for his great interest in the observatories in Skywatch.

• Daris Rogarvia | 4618 - 4649 (died, age 67)
  Known as an avid hunter and collector of artwork (which is often credited to his Lebedan mother). He left New Stetven much more cultured and beautiful - with statues, parks, and a more refined style. He also left the kingdom near the brink of debt.

• Edert Rogarvia | 4649 - 4670 (died, age 74)
  Edert famously quarreled with his father over expenses, and many thought he would be the answer to the debt crisis. He was, but most found that his solution of heavy taxation - while effective - was not what they had been hoping for. Some see Edert as a harsh and uncaring king while others see him as an efficient bureaucrat who did what he had to to keep the kingdom running.

• Urzen Rogarvia | 4670 - 4699 (disappeared, fate unknown)
  Urzen eased the taxation of his father, but his shy nature (especially after the death of his first wife) made it difficult for him to win back the trust of the peasantry.
  

--------------------------------------
* In which Nikos Surtova and Choral the Conqueror decided not to fight but to peacefully unite Issia under Choral's control. This included the marriage of Myrna to... someone. I don't have the relevant books here (Stolen Land and the Inner Sea World Guide), and a quick search online brings up two conflicting stories: Either she was Choral's daughter and married Nikos Surtova, or she was Nikos' daughter and married Choral. The second makes more sense and seems to be quoted more often.

** Or, if the Vanishing has to do with blood relationships, somewhere along the line there could be a bastard. Or, if the Vanishing was purely a mundane assassination string, Noleski just cut off everyone above him. It depends on how you run with that bit.

*** Or warfare. Those kinds of deaths tend to lead to overthrows (either because one house replaces another or because infighting destabilizes the ruling house), though. House Rogarvia seems to have been pretty stable (it sounds like they held Brevoy continuously for 200 years without any major periods of civil war in between), so I'd avoid these kinds of deaths.

[redcelt32]

If you want to expand things to include Brevoy, you may want to consider taking each of the noble Brevic houses (Lebeda, Rogarvia, etc) and making them duchies, with a handful of barons under them. This allows your players to interact with Brevic nobility, have enemies, and make allies with Brevic nobles more on their level of power.

This worked well for our group, and the party was able to play several barons off against each other for advantages, but also made some enemies along the way that are not quite as powerful as the Regent.

In particular, this turns Rogarvia into sort of a "Wild West" in Brevoy, where there is no ruling Duke to keep the Rogarvian barons in line (They all disappeared years ago), so they are able to flex their political and military muscles a bit more. Since some of these baronies share a border with the Stolen Lands, you can have some fun with intrigue, back and forth skirmishing, economic sanctions, etc.

There are also quite a few threads by folks about interactions with Brevoy politically and militarily you could draw some ideas from in this forum. One in particular detailed a war with Brevoy over the creation of some locks that opened up trade to Restov more than Surtova desired.

[KingmakerDM]

Damir wrote:

Things we know:

• Choral the Conqueror (Choral I | 4499 - 4509)
  Possibly not technically a Rogarvia (if that just was the name of the house established by the Nikos-Choral alliance*), but definitely related. United Brevoy through conquest, had the whole dragon stuff, etc. He eventually left the kingdom to be ruled by his descendants and his fate is unknown.

  Given that he ruled for only 10 years (and 4499 is just the date of his alliance with the Surtovas and the marriage, so even less than that when you include the time it took to pacify Rostland), it's quite odd that "his descendants" took over.

  Either:
  A) The actual marriage was between Choral's son and Myrna Surtova, thus forming house Rogarvia. The son would then be able to take over 10 years later.

  B) The marriage was between Choral and Myrna Surtova, but Choral had previous children as well. This would explain why the main branch took over, while the current king (Noleski Surtova) would be descended from the Choral-Myrna branch (which was for one reason or another exempt from the Vanishing**, which only affected Choral's firstborn line?).

  B.5) Choral had a son (and heir) and also a daughter (Myrna Rogarvia) who married Nikos Surtova. This would also make Noleski a direct descendant of Choral.

  C) There was a Regency period, probably with Nikos Surtova unofficially running the show.

  D) You have a 10 year old king (at best) right after the warlord who managed to unite two previously warring kingdoms just disappears.

• Urzen Rogarvia (Urzen ?? | ??? - 4699)
  Urzen disappeared, along with his potential heirs, for mysterious reasons.

  It's suggested that the common people of Brevoy didn't care much for the Rogarvias (but people stayed in line because of Rogarvia's military strength and the possibility of draconic intervention). The latter kings may have been cruel and/or demanding.
  

There's 190 years to fill. It's hard to get a good basis for the lifespan (or at least...

Thank you, Damir, that's just what I am thinking about and was looking for. If no one had already done this I was also going to go to a list of historical reigns and pull out some interesting characters as well as based the length of reign off there.

Thanks again for what you've already put together here.

[KingmakerDM]

redcelt32 wrote:

If you want to expand things to include Brevoy, you may want to consider taking each of the noble Brevic houses (Lebeda, Rogarvia, etc) and making them duchies, with a handful of barons under them. This allows your players to interact with Brevic nobility, have enemies, and make allies with Brevic nobles more on their level of power.

This worked well for our group, and the party was able to play several barons off against each other for advantages, but also made some enemies along the way that are not quite as powerful as the Regent.

In particular, this turns Rogarvia into sort of a "Wild West" in Brevoy, where there is no ruling Duke to keep the Rogarvian barons in line (They all disappeared years ago), so they are able to flex their political and military muscles a bit more. Since some of these baronies share a border with the Stolen Lands, you can have some fun with intrigue, back and forth skirmishing, economic sanctions, etc.

There are also quite a few threads by folks about interactions with Brevoy politically and militarily you could draw some ideas from in this forum. One in particular detailed a war with Brevoy over the creation of some locks that opened up trade to Restov more than Surtova desired.

Thank you, redcelt. I will be using the houses as baronies in my campaign and they are all going to be maneuvering politically to take advantage of the regency and will provide some interaction for the players as they progress with their campaign. That's why I'm looking to get together a better understanding of how I want the history of Brevoy to have evolved and in particular the kings. I would like to include some marriages in the line of kings to the houses so that they all (or most) have some claim on the throne. Although some of them would be quite tenuous at best.

Thanks again for your comments and ideas. I am using your previous posts and material on your campaign as an aid as well. I really appreciate it.

[Golarion In-Depth]

I'll be honest, I'm a little confused. Stolen Lands seems to contradict itself on page 61 where it says that Myrna is Choral's daughter and page 64 where it says that Myrna is Nikos' daughter. Can someone clarify?

[Touc]

Myrna Surtova (Nikos's daughter) marries Choral and begets a child. Choral vanishes and the Rogarvian line rules. I'm using Damir's timeline for my campaign and the twist that Nyrissa has the Rogarvian line in soul jars, leaving an end-of-campaign major decision for PCs that would likely decide if Brevoy descends into civil war, if it hasn't already.