Deeds of the Dukes of Chariton

VIII: New Wife, New King
August 2691 – October 2694

In August 2691 Duke Lyman of Chariton married Juniper Ramsays of Little Egypt.

In November of the same year, Duke Lyman began preparations for a great feast for his vassals. Due to his obligations in Des Moines, it was to take place there rather than in Maryville. Count Hannibal was dispatched to hunt boar and Duke Lyman spent lavishly on food and entertainments. Count Hannibal of Hannibal, Count Napoleon of Moberly, Abbot Lee of Bethany and Mayor Isaac of Rock Port were invited, and all replied that they meant to attend.

On December 28 2691, after a prolonged illness, Duke Lyman of Chariton’s sister Evanora Still, Duchess of Driftless, died in Dubuque at the age of 23 years. Her husband Duke Roquat of Driftless was commanding troops in Illinois when she died.

Count Hannibal and Mayor Isaac were each attacked by bandits near Des Moines on their way to the feast in February 2692, but otherwise the feast passed without incident.

In March the Atomicist Duke Grannuslav of Calumet attacked Duke Keifer of Illinois, claiming to be the rightful ruler of Kannakee. In early March, an Illinois army and a Calumet army, each of about 1000 men, fought near Kankakee while 3800 Indianapolitans began to retake Joliet and Chicago from Illinois and King Franklin’s army began laying siege to Champaign, which had been held by a small Indianapolitan garrison after its surrender.

In June, the Iowan and Indianapolitan armies met near Streator. In the Battle of Streator, 1700 Iowans under King Franklin met 3300 Indianapolitans, including Northlander mercenaries in the employ of the Duke of Indianapolis. Some 800 Iowans were killed or wounded, and about 200 Indianapolitans met the same fate. Later the same month, the Ursuline Abbess-General declared that any true Christian who took up the cross and fought the Rust Cultist Oligarch Grimhilt Stahlbleche of Cuyahoga, Upper Ohio, and Miami Valley would be absolved of their sins. The Oligarch Grimhilt ruled most of what was once called Ohio, on the eastern border of the Duchy of Indianapolis, and this news was mostly met with apathy in Iowa.

In August the court in Des Moines recieved news that Prince Franklin had been captured by Duke Ralston of Indianapolis after the Battle of Mount Zion, which saw 4500 men from Iowa and the Duchies of Illinois, Little Egypt, Great River, and Lead Belt defeated by some 3100 Indianapolitans and their mercenaries. About 2400 Catholics were killed and wounded, as were some 1200 Indianapolitans and their mercenaries.

In September, Duchess Juniper of Chariton was named High Almoner by her husband Duke Lyman.

Lavon, who had been a friend of Duke Truman’s and ably served both Duke Truman and his son Duke Lyman as a chancellor, regent, and spymaster in spite of his long-standing demonic possession and heretical Neo-Gnostic beliefs, was murdered on the orders of his wife Pamela on October 30, 2692. Paul, a son of Duke Truman’s old steward Sheldon, replaced him as Duke Truman’s spymaster and Melville Baltic replaced Milo Trenton as Duke Truman’s chancellor. Chancellor Melville was dispatched to improve relations with King Franklin.

In late March 2693, a group of soldiers in the service of Count Napoleon of Moberly set up camp in a field belonging to a farmer in Nodaway. The farmer claimed that their campfire spread and burnt all of his crops and, in early April, the farmer brought the matter before Duke Lyman’s court and demanded compensation. Duke Lyman paid the farmer from his own treasury.

In late December, a Consumerist merchant named Marius came to Duke Lyman’s court and requested permission to stay at court and carry out his trade in luxuries and rare artifacts. Duke Lyman granted him permission, on the condition that he answer a few questions about the political situation on the East Coast. A few days later the same merchant came to Duke Lyman requesting special privileges in the markets of Duke Lyman’s lands, which Duke Lyman granted for a period of 6 months.

In early 2694 the Indianapolitan duke made peace with the Duke of Illinois and the various Catholic rulers who had come to his aid. In late June, the Consumerist merchant Marius requested his trading privileges be renewed for another 6 months, which Duke Lyman agreed to. After less than two months, in August the Consumerist merchant left Maryville for Cincinnati.

On October 16, 2694 King Franklin Stonewall of Iowa died at the age of sixty-five years. He was succeeded as King of Iowa by his eldest son Franklin, who at the age of twenty-three became the third of that name to rule as King of Iowa. Prince Peter, Franklin Stonewall’s second son, inherited the Duchy of the Quad Cities, and Prince Cole inherited the County of Fort Dodge. The new king retained Duke Lyman of Chariton as Lord Marshal of Iowa.