In 1776, King Thorold II, son of Bernard the Great, hosted the great nobles of the four Grand Duchies at the Palace of Rhondisfarne in observance of the Highsummer Festival. That night, armed men from the Duchy of Irie, and acting on orders from Duke Cormac, attacked the festival, trapping the Royal Family in the ballroom and burning it down around them. Only Sigrid, daughter to Thorold, was able to escape, accompanied by several loyal companions. Using the Teleportation Circle at the castle, they were thrown deep into the Darkwood. Cormac’s Folly, as it came to be called, launched the War of the Half-Penny King, also known as the Irien Insurrection. The war would last for three years, with Queen Sigrid battling both the armies of Duke Cormac and the internal divisions caused by her grandfather’s conquests, as well as political turmoil as ambitions nobles sought to control the young queen. She signed the Accords of 1779, ending the war and granting certain accommodations to the rebels to prevent another rebellion.
The year is 1799, on the cusp of a new century. Queen Sigrid I still reigns over a peaceful kingdom.