Richard I

Richard B. Volland ( 9 September 1629 - 1 July 1690)  was king of Apfeldonia from 1647-1690. He is best known for ruling during the civil war,  he is also known for expanding Lipton considerably during his reign.

A portion of his reign was plunged in civil war, however he was considered a competant king and he made great strides to centralize the government more, probably as a result of the war, and expanded the city of Lipton heavily.

Early Life
Richard was born on the ninth of September in the Solms valley, as per tradition. His father king Robert was on an expedition to a new colony on Mahboombah. Richard was showered with affection and love by his mother, with whom he would spend much of his childhood. Richard was a shy but courageous boy, he liked nothing more than to play in the royal gardens with friends, always imaginative, he would find something to entertain himself. Richard's father Robert, was like a stranger for the most part, always away and never around, but despite this he was loving when he had the chance, but a much more stern figure than Richard's mother. Richard adored and was adored by his mother, she acted as the sole parent figure for him. As per custom, when Richard reached a much more mature age of his childhood, his focus would be turned to preperation of rule. The first steps of this were to get him familiar with the political layout of the countries gentry, an activity that involved meeting with the various ruling and noble families of the land, more specifically targetted to the children of these families, Richard's future vassals. Richard felt the need to awe and intimidate these other children, an act often portrayed as a sense of arrogance, something probably instilled by his father, whom pushed for the fact that Richard would be king and rule of these people some day. During this stage Richard would meet his future wife, the only daughter of the house of Schwartz, the ruling family of Schulfsrum, swamped with six brothers, the eldest of whom would later start the civil war. Richard became infatuated with her, and this would lead to their marriage later on.

Crowning and the Calm Before the Storm
In 1647, king Robert II of Apfeldonia was killed while leading a squad of frontiersmen into the Mahboombian wilds, it was reported that he was mauled by a lion, along with several of his guard. This was seen as a very bad omen, a king killed by the very creature used to represent his family and his country. Richard was nervous over this fact and was coronated four weeks later. To futher the bad news, lord Schwartz had frozen to death whilst ice fishing, it was said to be due to his old age and lack of proper clothing. His eldest son, now in his late thirties, blind in one eye and with graying hair took leadership of Schulfsrum and his house. Gorivad der Schwartz was said to be a fiery, ill-tempered, headstrong, powerful commander, and whilst under major stress quickly blamed the untimely and strange death of his father on the bad omen which was caused by Robert's death. To rubb salt into an open wound, Richard had already begun remodeling Lipton into a grand capital and not the medium sized castle town surrounding a huge fortress that no one wanted to live at unless made so, up till that point the royal family resided in the Solms valley. This raised already strained tensions by demanding much more gold and material be mined from the Shulfsrum, in order to complete this, he gave full responsibility to the new lord Schwartz. At the cracking point, lord Schwartz soon started speaking out against the royal government and going so far as to call for an "independant Schulfsrum, and independant north". This worried Richard, as it was already said his reign would end very poorly due to the bad omen. Richard whom had already been spending time with his childhood crush, Cee der Schwartz, hatched an ingenious plan to keep balance.

Marriage
Cee, a short lean girl with pale skin and reddish-blonde hair who always seemed uncomfortable at court and who had strong opinions, of which usually stirred trouble when spoken, was the love of Richard's life. Following a short courtship, Richard proposed in hopes that the marriage would fix strains between house Schwartz and the royal government. It did, atleast for a short time, and the marriage went off without difficulty. The bride and groom lived happily ever after, but the peaceful days were numbered.

The Spark
In early 1653, Lipton had been remodeled, the only thing that stood in the way of realizing Richard's dream was the lack of a comfortable and regal residence for the royal family, the damp cold fortress built by Rutgar would not do. Once again Richard raised the resources from the north, but this time he also put an extra tax on the northern provinces. This outraged lord Schwartz and he soon began plotting rebellion with the other northern lords. In march of 1653, lord Gorivad of Schulfsrum declared with the aid of the Leischmeirs of Oustach, the riverlords of Erstiks, and the various counts of the north, an independant Schulfen nation. In outrage Richard called upon all loyal lords to raise arms and crush the rebellion. The first lord to respond was the Duke of Verbania, who raised his bannermen and regrouped with the royal army at Lipton.

The War Years
Richard took command of the royal army, but at the very start of the war, their was fear, fear of betrayal and a fear of a broken family. It was worried that Cee would side with her brother, and either split the family, effectivly taking the now 13 yeard old crown prince into a hostage position, or give secret information to her brother. This was infact an unfounded fear, as Cee sided with her husband and her new family, infact she was enraged that her brother would put her family, husband, status, and empire in jeopardy. She was known for taking action and letting others know of her opinions, without her husband consent, she issued a set of armour made and actually raised an army to fight the rebellion. This was a remarkable feet and she proved a fierce, agressive, and tatical commander. Her victories would lead to her reputation outshining that of her husbands.

At the battle of Campten in 1657 a musket ball hit Richard's left shoulder, this would cause his grip in that arm to be weak and the arm to appear limp.

Victory and later life
On december 18th 1665 the civil war would draw to an end. Gorivad der Schwartz was killed in a cavalry charge at the battle of Littlefield during "bloody September", the northern army in route, Duke Leischmeir of Oustach had already agreed to peace, and the capital of Erstiks was captured. The war cheifs of Freiheit had against the kings wishes, executed the rebellious lords from the area. With the war won and reconstruction under way the king was able to retire to a quiet kingship at his new palace in Lipton. The king would have two more children, three in total. He would spend his later years helping centralize the government to Lipton and Lahn, to insure another civil war would be unlikely.

Death
On the first of July 1690, Richard would lay down for a nap on a bench in the royal gardens in the warm summer weather, he would pass in his sleep. On the 5th of July 1690, his eldest son would be proclaimed king Konrad III. Both Richard and Cee are buried side by side in the "den of lions", the royal cemetary, in Lahn.

Legacy
Richard is generally well percieved in Apfeldonia, especially by those of Apfeldite ethnicity, he ruled one of the bloodiest times in Apfeldonian history and despite this fact, helped centralize the government and build Lipton into a grand city.