Roger II of Cattala

King Roger II of House Celestine was the fourth King of Cattala and the son of King Alain I and great-grandson of the monarchy's founder, King Roger Celestine. Unlike his father, Roger was heralded as a true, just and powerful monarch and became the first King to conquer Roumeli during the Bronze War, thereby ending the Unification Age and uniting all of the Cattalian islands.

Early Life
Roger was raised principally in Fieranti, at his mother's stronghold in the port city of Calora. Unlike his father, he was highly educated and was seen more as a child of House Aroe than his fearful and paranoid father.

Born during his father's time as Crown Prince, he was the first grandchild of a reigning monarch to be granted royal titles. His own father's lengthy term as heir had left him weak, and Roger grew up seeing this as a flaw. His greatest influences were known to be his mother and grandfather, the Lord of Fieranti, a staunch monarchists but one with little time for his son-in-law.

8-year-old Roger saw his father weeping when he was told that he had become King. At his grandfather's funeral, the new Crown Prince comforted his father, who bishops and monks in attendance described as looking like a "man who had never slept".

Crown Prince
Roger continued his education in Calora until he was fourteen, when he relocated to the capital to take up his seat in court. The death of his mother and grandfather in a short space of time when he was just eleven had turned him from a boy into a man, according to canon sources at the time. When he arrived in Celestine, older members of court claimed he had the "eyes and steel of his grandfather", the most popular of the four monarchs so far.

His vocal and public opposition to his father's "Seven Principalities" system was overruled and led to him leaving the capital temporarily and taking his loyalist supporters to Calora for a council with his cousin, the new Lord of Fieranti. King Alain reportedly feared his son would usurp his throne, but a coup never developed.

When he was 19 his father struggled to walk to the altar to receive Mass from the Bishop of Celestine, and rumours circled that he was close to death. Roger began to take on more responsibilities and began travelling the realm representing his father, who spent the final sixteen years of his life in the Citadel di Celestica.

By 1082, Roger was 29 and had vast powers over the country. To many, he was regarded as the first Regent in Cattalian history. His father was struck down with a fever that came close to killing him. For the next six years, he made no appearances outside of the capital. Roger had taken power in the period his father was bedridden and the King had lost control over most policy.

Ascension to the Throne
King Alain died in the early days of January 1088 in the Citadel di Celestica, his own father's pride and glory. Even at his funeral, Alain lived in the shadow of King William, whose tomb was on prominent display in the centre of the cathedral. His death was announced by the tolling of bells in the citadel. Roger orchestrated the funeral and featured a display of military triumph and might that had no relevance to the reign of the "ill king".

Roger was crowned in February 1088 in Celestine, where representatives of all seven principalities assembled for the first time. The new King amassed a host of Celestinian and Aroe soldiers outside the city, with banners waving and daily cavalry parades through the city. It was all part of an orchestrated effort to display the continued power of the Celestine's despite twenty years of weak leadership. Roger left the city before his guests, forcing them to watch his vast army begin a march eastwards after he declared his desire to conquer the Roumelese Islands.

Marriage
With his efforts focused on expanding the army, King Roger was rarely at home and had refused to marry despite his fathers orders for him to do so. When King Alain died, Roger was urged by his senior advisers to marry quickly and secure the future of the monarchy. His cousin and father's close confident, Duke Luciano Aroe, mysteriously disappeared after having a heated argument with the new King about the succession. He was believed to have fled to France without leaving a reason.

After returning from battle in North Africa in 1093, the King was confronted by the Princes of Fieranti, Monte Calida and Hellas, who were all concerned at the lack of an heir. With the King approaching his 40th birthday, they regarded it as essential that he marry. Under pressure, he sought solace with an eastern duke's daughter, 23-year-old Lady Alexandra Beaurein. Within six months of their courtship, they married in Calora Cathedral. This angered local lords from around the capital, none of whom attended the unannounced wedding, having anticipated that the rumoured marriage would take place in Celeste Cathedral, where all previous royal marriages had taken place.

Lady Beaurein was said to have been besotted with her husband, and during the first few months of their marriage she was always around him, despite their seventeen year age gap. Once she got pregnant though, he went off to inspect the barracks of Lessito and left her behind in Celeste. She spent the next nine months alone in the citadel, and was said to have become "greyer as each day past" according to canon sources. King Roger returned for the birth, but upon discovering it was a daughter, quickly left again. Their marriage became based entirely around her birthing a son. By his 45th birthday, she had given birth to two daughters and three stillborns. Court officials were becoming increasingly concerned with the lack of a male heir and the rise of nationalism in Roumeli, which had long been a target for invasion.

The Queen was struggling under the growing pressure on her to birth a son. When she became pregnant in 1098, she was warned by the King in one of their many arguments that she had to give birth to a son or he would send her back to her father in chains. Fortunately for her, the ageing King and the court, she gave birth to a son, David. Her husband was not present at the birth.

Bronze War
Roumeli's Kings had remained independent of Cattala despite the Celestine's pledges of peace and prosperity under their rule. Roger massed a standing army in Lessito with the assistance of House Scavallo. Efforts to persuade individual kings in Roumeli to declare loyalty to his crown and support his claim failed one by one, as any signs of one king considering allegiance to the Celestine's would have resulted in island war.

It was the northernmost King of Roumeli, King Bronze, who began the first war with Cattala. King Bronze invaded and captured the Ontano islands and the Bronze army attempted to attack the mainland. The Battle of Piaré was held on the south east coast, and resulted in a massacre of the outnumbered Bronze troops by Scavallo and Celestine armies. King Bronze lost 80% of his army in one day's fighting and returned to Roumeli humiliated. Roger himself fought in the battle, leading the vanguard.

The attack infuriated the King, who ordered his army to cross the Roumeli Strait and conquer the island by force. After 16 years of building up an army and navy capable of invading, and years of failed diplomacy, the arrival of the vast host in 1114AD meant the four remaining Kings of Roumeli immediately surrendered and pledged allegiance to the Cattalian monarchy.

Death and Legacy
King Roger II died in Thermopylae Castle, the fortress conquered by him and his army just five years before his death. According to sources from the time, Roger had suffered ailing health after receiving various battle wounds early in his reign, and the strain of the Bronze War had left him ill for the final years of his reign. His death because of war led to him being regarded as akin to his great-grandfather, who had also died as a result of a battle wound sustained in Monte Calida, which he had been conquering in 1021.

Roger's reign saw the House of Celestine achieve its century-long ambition to conquer all of the Cattalian islands. With Roumeli now subdued, his son, King David I, was able to focus on building the country's economy and reduce the monarchy's dependence on its military strength.