The High Kings

The first High King of the Sicinii was Vraelasa, chieftain of the Odurii tribe. He had been the warleader for the Sicinii for the last decade, and he reasoned that until they could find lands to call their own, the eight tribes had to stay colse together. To keep this group functioning a single strong leader was needed, and he was it. The council agreed, and gave him the ultimate power over every tribe.

Meanwhile Acrian, which was in the middle of a nasty war with the local Akaeia governor to the north, decided to send the problem that now lived in their lands over to the enemy's side. A delegation approached the Sicinii High King, bearing presents and a message that extolled the virtues of the land beyond the Strait of Chanaud. A true land of Milk and Honey, they promised, and what's more, they would help get all one hundred thousand Sicinii over there. Vraelasa was intrigued, and agreed.

A New World

In 979 C.E., of the Year of the Rose according to the old calendar, the great flotilla crossed the Strait and disembarked twenty miles east of the Akaeian provincial capital of Caedentereus. The Imperial Governor, who was in no mood to have 100,000 hungry foreigns wandering about his lands, sent a message to Vraelasa promising all the supplies he would need while he found them a homeland. It was merely a stall while he sent word to the capital asking what should be done regarding thses people. Empire, which was in the middle of a bloody war with the Ice Peoples, or Laatzenians, decided that they could use the Sicinii to be a buffer in between the Empire and the Laatzenians. Once the two groups had worn each other down, the Empire would move in and destroy both. However, the message took the better part of a year to return to Caedentereus, by which point it was too late.

Vraelasa had grown steadily angrier as the supplies promised to them had not arrived and his people began to starve. In 982 he had had enough and the Sicinii launched a surprise attack on Caedentereus. The battle last only a week before the city fell, and after slaughtering the inhabitants fed themselves on the supplies hoarded in the city granary. They were fascinated by the local hot srpings, and renamed the city "Chanaud", meaning hot sone.

Conquest

However, the Sicinii would not stop at merely Caedentereus. When an Akaeian force of soldiers arrived the Sicinii heavy cavalry ran circles around them before slaughtering the entire party. Vraelasa was killed in the action, but his cousin Kailen took up the sword of High King and continued to attack. They pressed deep into Akaeian territory, finally capturing Marteleus, or present-day Martinique.

In August, 1027 C.E. Sicinii forces besieged the provincial capital of Sicinium, and after a bloody escalade captured the city. An Akaeian relief army arrived soon after, but after failing to retake Sicinium left in November.

The capture of Sicinium (present-day Saint Michele) marked the end of the eight tribes of the Sicinii. Before they had been forced the remain close and united, and then pressed together by the barrier of the White Tooth Mountains. However, with the capture of the city the entire West Downs and beyond were open. The tribes could each look their own separate ways, and the age of the High Kings was over.

Continue on to The City Kings