Ardamine Rhodes

Ardamine Rhodes is the Duchess of Lynnmore and Grand Bashar of Yimmu-Audal. Serving as regent in Tarnwick while her father was commanding the Audalad volunteers in the Battle of New Dorasterrock, she inherited his titles and lands after his death.

Early Life
Ardamine was born in the years before Lynnmore’s War for Sovereignty to Theodore Rhodes and a minor Savonne noblewoman before became a host for the Fungus and turned into a Sporeborn. In her youth she was trained in swordsmanship by Sir Courtland, and in statecraft and rulership by her father.

Duchess of Lynnmore
The relatively young Ardamine was given the ceremonial and temporary title of regent while her father was away with the Audalad volunteers in the Battle of New Dorasterrock. In the days following the battle, Sir Courtland returned home with battle-weary knights and yeomen, and shared that her father was slain by the Bardonians in the aftermath of the battle. After assuming her father’s titles, she was kept on by Yimmu-Audal as Grand Bashar and as a member of the high court.

War of Lardburgian Independence
Early into her reign, Ardamine, accompanied by Sir Courtland, sailed to the far off land of Rhell to assist the League of Free Lords in their struggle against the Archduchy of Coenia, otherwise known as the Caeronate of Carn, under the Empire of Aldovir. The two were smuggled into Lardburg to join the rebelling Lardburgians, who were facing a siege and a larger although poorly trained force. Under the command of Peter Elernel, Ardamine and Sir Courtland joined the defenders in fighting off the invaders in the town's southwestern quarter. There they went over the walls and halted the invaders' construction of siege weapons, harassing their engineers, before returning to the city. As the walls of Lardburg began to fall and the invading force made their way through the city, Sir Courtland seized Ernir the Eternal, a powerful weapon wielded by a fallen invader, and used it to wreak havoc on the enemy's forces. The League of Free Lords emerged victorious and gained independence from the Archduchy of Coenia, becoming the Caeronate of Lardburg. Ardamine and Sir Courtland, who left Ernir hidden in Rhell, then sailed home to Lynnmore.

Audalad Politics
Theodore and his advisors had been working on a proposal to the Ningal for weeks before the Battle of New Dorasterrock, petitioning for greater autonomy within Yimmu-Audal. Ardamine took the petition and, as one of her first acts, delivered it to the Ningal and her court. The request was accepted, granting Ardamine the title of Gidesh within Yimmu-Audal.

For her family’s service to the nation, the Opkaituru of Hukar Sharud, the ancient faith of Yimmu-Audal, canonized Ardamine as a member of the Audalad Dynasty. Ardamine took the honor as a title rather than adoption into a dynasty, finding the strange religious practices of the Audaladae primitive and pagan. She uses the title in all official correspondences with Audalad nobles.

Edict of Forbiddance
After being granted her request for greater autonomy, Ardamine began negotiations with the neighboring Duke of Pearls aiming to have ownership of the mostly abandoned county of Revanov, seeking more space for her subjects. A deal was struck and the county was quickly integrated into the Duchy of Lynnmore, referring to themselves in all official documents by their traditional name.

Anticipating unrest in their new territory, Ardamine and Eleanor Oakes, continuing her service to the realm even after Theodore’s death, began drafting an edict mandating all citizens of the duchy become Isidoran and speak Bophan. The Edict of Forbiddance, as it is called, reads as follows:

 By the Grace of our God, for the Health of our Souls, in the Memory of our Ancestors, and in the Interest of our Heirs, Lynnmore issueth a ducal Decree, this Edict of Forbiddance: 

" First, to ducal Subjects: speakest thou our common Language of Bophan in Worship, Commerce, and all Matters Civil. An Exception is made for scholarly Work, and in Speech to those Foreign to Lynnmore. "" Second, to Landowners of the Nobility: thou wilt raise Knights for the Defense of the Realm, or oblige oneself to paying the Fee of Scutage, in Proportion to those in thy Demesne, for which Free Tenants of the cities of the Dwarves account only Partially. "" Third, to All of the Realm: the Church of the Saints of the Sun and Moon shall be unimpeded in upholding the Faith. None shall partake in foreign ceremonies. The Nobility, to Whom our God granteth Sovereignty, shall not bear a Title without submission to His Grace. "" Any of the Nobility who oppose this Edict of Forbiddance shall issue a Challenge, answerable by a chosen Champion of Lynnmore. The Challenger shall be entitled to produce a Champion in turn. "