Okay, one more kind of slow prequel-chapter, and then I promise we'll get into some fun battle-stuff. Thanks to everyone who likes this enough to follow, review, etc. Please enjoy.
In 1658, during the Great Northern War, King Charles X of Sweden enacted his bold March Across the Belts in which he lead thousands Swedish troops across miles of frozen water from the Jutland peninsula to reach the island of Zealand and the city of Copenhagen. In doing this, landing a crushing blow to Denmark, and forced upon it the Treaty of Roskilde, which ceded a third of Danish territory to the Kingdom of Sweden.
The treaty demanded that Denmark supply Swedish troops with provisions until May, something Charles knew could not be accomplished.
In order to bring the Baltic trade under Danish control, and therefore secure the necessary provisions for his troops, King Charles elected to attack Denmark once again, aiming to dissolve Denmark as an independent nation, placing its' territory completely under Swedish sway.
As the Swedish fleet sailed for Copenhagen, a certain number of nobles in northern Denmark panicked, and desperate to maintain some measure of autonomy, carried out a short, sloppy rebellion declaring themselves a kingdom independent from the rest of Denmark.
They quickly declared their new kingdom "neutral" in the war between Sweden and Denmark, hoping the Swedes would spare them after victory.
On August 9th, 1658, a quickly slapped together council met in Skagan, and the Kingdom of the Southern Isles was proclaimed, encompassing Vendyssel-Thy, and some other outlying islands.
Since a large part of these secessionists traced its' ancestry to Norway and Arendelle, where Denmark had been colloquially known as "The Southern Isles" for centuries, this was the name chosen for the new nation.
That caused some consternation amongst the populace, since it implicitly recognized Arendelle-a foreign nation-as a point of reference for all other regions, but overall, fear of the Swedes made the secession fairly popular.
Supposedly, when King Charles learned of this, he laughed, remarking that; "if the Danes are so afraid they are prepared to raise up new nations to please me, this will prove an easier campaign then I could have ever anticipated"
He was wrong. The Dutch intervened in the nick of time on Danish behalf, and the outcome of the war was decidedly less favorable towards Sweden than Charles would have liked, allowing Denmark to continue its' existence as an independent nation.
Many Danish elements following the armistice wished to take back their rebellious little island, but the Southern Isles quickly drew the support of many enemies of Denmark, who saw an advantage in having an ally right on Danish borders, making a campaign against the northern traitors more costly than it was worth.
So for nearly one hundred years, the Southern Isles and their former mother country maintained an uneasy and bitter peace.
In 1798, King Eric II of the Southern Isles died without a male heir. The Aristocracy, not keen on his daughter Princess Sarah ascending to the throne, immediately married her to Prince Wilhelm of Corona, making him the Southern Isles' new King.
King Wilhelm and Queen Sarah wasted no time in producing a male heir themselves. In fact, over the next twenty-six years, the new rulers produced thirteen, all of them boys. Compared to the earlier king's impotence, it was so peculiar that Sarah later wrote that it seemed almost like; "God having fun with my father and I."
Their younger sons, with no real hope of ever sitting on the throne, and therefore no reason to put up a respectable front, quickly gained reputations for being frivolous spenders and cads who were all too quick to take advantage of their station in life.
A very angry Captain Michael of the Southern Isles armed forces recorded in his journal what three of the princes had done with one of his warships;
Evidently the young princes Johann, Samuel, and Hans decided it would be great amusement to ride up to the docks, breathless, proclaiming to all that would listen that we were at war with Denmark and that the enemy fleet was already sailing towards the Southern Isles. I am still unsure exactly what transpired, but in the ensuing panic, the crew of one of my frigates attempted to leave the docks. They did so too quickly it seems, for they succeeded only in gouging a deep hole in the side of the ship when it crashed against a pier, sinking one of the most valuable assets of my entire navy.
Miraculously, no one was killed or even seriously injured, but thousands of krones worth of weaponry, food, and countless other provisions were lost.
If those three were not the King's sons I would have them flogged at the very least, if not hanged in the city square.
Prince Hans, in particular, was the one most often responsible for this and similar antics, which was only logical, as he was the youngest of the thirteen princes.
Hans was born on December 18th, 1823, in Skagan, the northernmost city on the Jutland peninsula and the capital of the Southern Isles. He would be his mother's latest and final son. Bearing twelve children in merely twenty-six years had taken its' toll on the queen, and she died in childbirth.
If certain accounts are to be believed, Hans' birth was accompanied by a whole host of bad omens besides his mother's death, from cattle dying in fields to the moon being blotted from the sky. However, since none of the sources attesting to these events can be traced earlier than 1850, it is more likely that they are simply libel added to his life story later, after what he wrought as King of Denmark.
King Wilhelm was cold and distant to his youngest son, likely blaming the boy for his mother's demise. Ignored as well by his oldest brothers, Hans seems to have found a surrogate father figure in Nicholas Andersen, Grand General of the Southern Isles' armed forces.
Andersen was routinely present in the royal palace and its' environs, bringing him into constant contact with the Royal Family. As a close friend of the king's and an important member of his cabinet, it can be assumed he knew Hans since soon after the latter's birth.
Andersen was a decorated war hero, who had fought against French and Danish forces in the Napoleonic Wars, earning him several accolades and titles as a result of his service. He seemed to take a shine to the young prince, who he allowed to accompany him to the various military installations across the small nation since Hans turned ten, fostering a love of soldiering and combat in the boy, who quickly became a skilled fighter himself, under Andersen's tutelage.
When Hans was only thirteen, Andersen recommended to the king that he undergo training to become Grand General of the Armed Forces himself when he came of age. This did not sit well with many of his brothers, who had hoped to take the position themselves in lieu of becoming King. Nevertheless, the king agreed, and Hans began to attend the Southern Isles' Royal Military Academy at fourteen.
His many tutors spoke well of him, a certain Captain saying;
The boy has a soldier's mind. He is a quick and incisive thinker with a very logical approach to things. Rare is the pupil who outscores him in any task or exercise, or in combat training, for he is very proficient with a sword and a musket alike. He would and will make a fine leader of men.
Militaristic matters became the focus of Hans' life, and he spent most of his adolescence and early adulthood training to be a better soldier and commander.
In the winter of 1845, a revolt (likely one sponsored by Danish elements) broke out in the western regions of the Southern Isles. Andersen, apparently eager to prove the worth of his pupil, ordained Hans the commander of a small military force and dispatched him to quell the unrest.
The disorganized rebels were easily lured onto the frozen shores of the Limfjord by a flashy and distracting, but in reality rather unimportant, detachment of troops, only to be surrounded on all sides by the true bulk of royal forces.
Hans ordered cannonballs fired at the ice surrounding the enemy, cracking the frozen water under their very feet and sending dozens of rebels to freeze or drown in the icy waters below. Those that escaped were quickly cut down or taken prisoner by the soldiers.
The leaders of the rebellion were chased to a small town called Hanstholm, where they attempted to hole up in a farmhouse. The soldiers set fire to the structure, killing all inside with the exception of one man who attempted to escape through the window. He was quickly shot by the surrounding troops.
Upon return to Skagan, Hans was met with the immediate acclaim of Andersen, and was quickly promoted to captain by the proud General, something he greatly enjoyed flaunting before his title-less brothers.
He took to taking advantage of this rank and the respect it afforded, indulging in antics such as the ship incident related previously with shocking frequency, usually joined by the next youngest of his brothers, Johann and Samuel.
Besides mean-spirited jokes played on palace officials and townspeople, Hans quickly gained a reputation for dalliances with ladies of his father's court, drawing the ire of more than one father or even husband. Protected by his status and his close relationship with the Grand General, there was little risk of retribution for his actions.
However, he had only months to enjoy his new position, as on May 18th of 1846, Andersen died, leaving Hans to take his place, as had been ordained years ago.
As Hans made preparations for his graduation ceremony, being fitted for a uniform and selecting the perfect sword, the king died, only five days after the general, on May 25th. Hans' oldest brother ascended to the throne, becoming Gustav IV of the Southern Isles. Gustav, instead of honoring his father's promise, passed over Hans, giving the position of Grand General to his third youngest brother Prince Victor instead, probably at the request of the latter.
Hans was devastated. In one of the few of his writings preserved until today, he outpoured his rage over this perceived slight against him;
My 'brothers', and indeed, I can call them brothers only in blood, have insulted me in the worst way I can possibly imagine. It is not enough that I will never be king here, that I am the lowest of us all. No, they have to take everything from me. They must spit on me and wear me down, simply because of sheer malice and the desire to cause me misery. They are no true brothers at all, and so I swear I will not treat them as such.
The melodramatic young prince, wallowing in self-pity, exiled himself to a small house in the countryside immediately following Victor's promotion.
Two weeks after Gustav's coronation, Hans chartered a private ship to Arendelle, which would soon be celebrating the inauguration of its' own ruler. He told no one, leaving in the dead of night on June 19th, 1846
I Feel like this chapter was kind of rushed, if you think it read that way, please tell me, and advise me what I should do to avoid that in the future.