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Kordas Valdemar

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This article is for the king. For other uses, see Valdemar (disambiguation).

Kordas Valdemar, often referred to as 'King Valdemar' or 'Baron Valdemar', was the first king of the nation of Valdemar.

Kordas was born in the Eastern Empire. His family ruled the Duchy of Valdemar, lands along the Empire's western border. The Dukes of Valdemar "had been mages all the way back to the first Duke."[1] He became the Duke in his turn, but was later demoted to Baron. He brought his people out of the Empire, moving far to the west where they founded the modern nation of Valdemar, and he was crowned the first King. He later beseeched the gods to give Valdemar a way to protect itself from any future tyrannical ruler, and the result was the Companions. He established the Herald system which would enable the Chosen to serve and protect Valdemar.

History[]

Early Life[]

He met his future wife Isla when they were both eleven years old, and they became best friends. Kordas enjoyed creating hiding places in the manor to please his grandfather, Duke Werther. At the age of 13 he was sent to the Emperor's Court, ostensibly to be educated, but actually serving as a hostage for his parents' obedience, as was customary. He was accompanied by his illegitimate cousin, Hakkon Indal, as his servant and bodyguard. He found Isla's brother Idor dead at Court when his illness was not noticed. He swore that his own children would never become hostages. Kordas observed that there were three types of "games" taught at Court. Rather than displaying prowess at any one, he learned them, but chose to focus on what he called the fourth game: observing the actions and attitudes of others and learning how to best protect his own people.

Dukedom[]

He returned to the Duchy and married Isla when they were 18 years old. They decided to keep her pregnancies secret, so that the Emperor could not take their children. The three boys were not acknowledged, but instead were raised with the Duke's household children, ostensibly as bastards of Hakkon.

Kordas had several traits that he was not proud of. He personally executed criminals rather than delegating it. He discovered that he had a lot of anger and was capable of rage, which he kept inside himself.

As the Duke, he did his best to protect his people from their tyrannical monarch, but knew it was only a matter of time before the Emperor turned his terrible attention to them. Kordas continued The Plan, secret preparations begun by his father to flee the empire, producing and storing extra resources and barges against the day that they would be able to escape without reprisal. Finally his senior mage Jonaton found the way to reliably travel a long distance to the west, to a wilderness shunned by the Empire as dangerous: the location of the Cataclysm and the monsters it generated. Amidst preparing family and all the people who wished to join him, along with their livestock and possessions, Kordas was summoned to the Emperor's Court, where he was detained for months while his family and retainers continued progress towards their imminent exodus. At court, Kordas discovered more and more entities being tragically exploited, and observed multiple indicators that the Empire was morally[2] and physically crumbling.[3] As he met victims of the Empire imprisoned and enslaved at the palace, he pledged to free each group, extending his obligations and making his own escape more unlikely. On a whim, the Emperor demoted Kordas to Baron. Ultimately Kordas had to take drastic action against the Emperor himself, before he could travel through the portal and join his people in the primitive new land.[4]

After escaping the Empire, they forged onward and eventually settled and founded what is now the city of Haven. The area was established as the kingdom of Valdemar. Through many hardships, Valdemar and his people built a thriving nation. Years passed, and Kordas was crowned King.[5]

Reign[]

He began to worry about what the future would bring to Valdemar. While he was certain his son would be a good ruler, there were no guarantees about who would come after.

Valdemar went into the Sacred Grove one night and prayed to every god he'd ever heard of for help.[6] As a mages, his prayer followed the form of a spell. At dawn, his answer arrived-- the first three Companions emerged from the Grove. One Chose Kordas, one Chose his son and Heir, Prince Restil, and one Chose his trusted herald, Beltran.[7][8] As people straggled out of the castle, pulled from their sleep by impulse, more Companions emerged and Chose them.

Valdemar decreed that the Monarch and Heir must be Chosen. Those who were not were ineligible for the throne. Though the crown has generally passed through the same royal line like in other kingdoms, if the Monarch has no children who have been Chosen, the crown passes to a Herald in a cadet branch of the royal family.[9][10]

The day before Kordas died, a bell was installed in the bell-tower of a little temple in the Grove in Companion's Field. It did not yet have a clapper or a rope to ring it. The next day, when Kordas Valdemar died, the bell rang, even though it still had no clapper. Since that day, the bell rings every time a Herald dies. It is known as the Death Bell.[11]

When he died, there were 21 Heralds, "including himself, his Heir, and his Heir’s second son."[7]

Companion[]

He was Chosen by the very first Companion, Ardatha.

Family[]

  • Ancestor - Lerren, first Duke of Valdemar[12]
  • Great-great-great-great grandfather - Lokan, Duke of Valdemar
  • Great-great-great-grandfather - Polmar, Duke of Valdemar
  • Great-great-grandfather - Hrothgar, Duke of Valdemar
  • Great-grandfather - Ugo, Duke of Valdemar
  • Grandfather - Werther, Duke of Valdemar
  • Father - Erik, Duke of Valdemar
  • Mother - Lady Lyantha
  • Cousin - Hakkon Indal
  • Spouse - Isla
  • Children:[13]
  • Grandchildren - at least two[7]

Gifts[]

Mage-Gift. He is also "Landwise," meaning he has Earthsense.[14]

Timeline[]

See the Timeline of events in the Founding Era

Music[]

In the series[]

Baron Valdemar is mentioned in many books as the creator of the Companions and founder of the kingdom of Valdemar. Some examples:

He appears as a character in the following works:[15]

References[]

  1. ↑ Into the West, Chapter 2
  2. ↑ ''Beyond, Chapter 17
  3. ↑ Beyond, Chapter 14
  4. ↑ Beyond, Chapter 19
  5. ↑ Storm Breaking, Chapter 5
  6. ↑ Including Vkandis per Exile's Honor, chapter 6.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Arrows of the Queen, Chapter 5
  8. ↑ Valdemar novel, Chapter 10
  9. ↑ Magic's Price, Chapter 1
  10. ↑ Exile's Honor, chapter 6
  11. ↑ Arrows of the Queen, Chapter 8
  12. ↑ Beyond, chapter 9. Kordas was able to recite his entire lineage, all the way back to Lerren, the first Duke of Valdemar, who was awarded the title by High King Sonat the First, "when the Emperor had merely been a High King."
  13. ↑ In the non-canon anthology story "For Want of a Nail, another son, Dethwyn, was described as the Baron's disaffected oldest child. He was a foster/hostage at Emperor Soferu's court and was deliberately left behind when the Duchy escaped.
  14. ↑ Into the West
  15. ↑ The anthology story "For Want of a Nail" by Rosemary Edghill and Denise McCune in Changing the World is now considered non-canon as the events of the Founding novels supersede it.
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