Roger Celestine

King Roger Celestine was the first King of Cattala and the founder of the Kingdom of Cattala, the House of Celestine and what would become the city of Celeste, the capital of the nation for more than 890 years.

Origins
Roger Celestine was born into a noble family that controlled land in modern-day Amosseri, including a port town in a natural port. It's believed he was born in 968AD. The island was ruled as part of the Byzantine Empire and knights and wealthy families were loyal to the Emperor, despite the century-long war between Byzantine and Arabs in Sicily. Roger's family was the richest in the south-east of the island and he was a well educated heir with plentiful lands and estates of his own.

He succeeded his father in the year 992AD, at the age of 24 years old. His court was said to have been energetic, focused and determined to widen the power of the House of Celestine, which Roger was personally dedicated to raising into a powerful position as Byzantine rule collapsed after Sicily was entirely captured by Emirati legions. He saw it as his "responsibility" to make his family into the successors of the Byzantine establishment.

War with Arabia
With Sicily entirely captured by Muslim armies in 965, Cattala was becoming increasingly vulnerable to attack from the Emirate of Tunisia and was increasingly isolated from the Byzantine Empire, which lost control of Sicily and had control over only coastal Calabria in Italy. In 995AD an Arab war fleet attempted to land in modern-day Amosseri province, and was met by a small fleet of Fierantese war galleys who stalled them off the coast. The fleets of House Aroe in Fieranti and House Celestine were alerted and Roger convened a War Council in his castle. It became clear that the Byzantine were no longer able to rule or protect the island and the two houses sent their fleets our to meet the Arabs in battle off the coast whilst their small armies were hastily assembled. The battle lasted three days as the Celestinian and Fierantese warships fought against the large Tunisian flotilla but eventually won, despite suffering large casualties.

Coronation of a King
The Emir of Tunisia gave up his claim to Cattala after the decimation of his fleet and the War Council met once again. House Aroe, lords of much of the west coast of the island, declared they had no interest in being ruled by Constantinople any more and wanted a King of Cattala to command the whole island. Roger married Clarissa, daughter of the ruler of Fieranti in return for House Aroe's support of his claim to the crown.

Roger was declared King of Cattala for his leadership and decisive command of the battle against the Arabs. The wealth of House Celestine ensured he successfully built up a new royal navy and expanded his own army. Roger was crowned in a new cathedral, built in Calora, where he would later marry his wife and his children would be baptised.

Reign
The first King ruled for 26 years, but never completely conquered all of the island. Despite having a strong power base across the west of the nation, Roger failed to influence the largely independent eastern principalities and self-interested lords. In the provinces under his control though, living standards and agriculture benefited greatly from his rule as House Celestine sought to cement its position as the dominant house and ensured self-sufficiency in food supply in case of war with the food-rich eastern states. He also began the construction and planning for the creation of the grand capital, Celestine, which would become the biggest city in Cattala for more than 600 years and is still the capital to this day.

Despite his rule helping many peasants and landowners in the west, Roger was most famous for his military efforts, both prior to and during his reign. King Roger's efforts to create a vast standing army and unrivalled navy ensured easy victory over House Garlas, who refused to dip their banners when his force attempted to ride through their holdfast. King Roger ordered their castle and stronghold razed to the ground and all the peasants and nobles were butchered. The army that Roger created would later be used by his son, King William, to conquer northern and eastern provinces and the navy he founded would evolve to become the dominant naval power in the eastern seas of Ionia, where once House Maietta and House Kadra were all-powerful.

Death and Legacy
King Roger died at the age of 53 in the capital of his kingdom, the port city where he first ruled as lord. The port would be swallowed up by the city of Celestine within 100 years. He died after being wounded in battle in the mountainous regions of what is today Monte Calida, and returned home to die. The battle continued without him and was won by his son, William I.

William secured the crown for House Celestine by the time he died in 1064, after all of the royal houses had submitted to his reign, which ultimately resulted in the Kingdom being independent for another eight centuries.