Rutgar I

Rutgar Volland (26 March 1033 - 2 October 1114) was the first king of Apfeldonia between 1066 and 1114. He is regarded as the father of the Apfeldonian nation, one of it's greatest kings, and is somewhat of a legendary figure in Apfeldonian culture. He used his willpower, military strategy, and feriocity to conquer most of modern Apfeldonia and form the nation.

He is renown in Apfeldonia, and regarded as a legendary hero, and patriotic figure. However not all of his reviews have been kind, certain members of some liberal and communist parties have tried to paint him as a tyrant, warmonger, and dictator, to no avail.

Outside of Apfeldonia he is well known, regarded as someone who has changed the history of the world, he shows up in foreign textbooks and history siminars alike.

Rise to power
Rutgar was born in Solms castle on the 6th of May 1033, he was the first born son of the king of Lahn, thus making him first in line to the throne. Rutgar lived a quiet childhood, he was mostly stuck inside the castle, taught in the ways of the gentry, he was expected to inherit a small and unremarkable kingdom and thus was not expected to do more than any other noble born son in the land, even as royalty, he was almost only on-par with a noblemans son in terms of expectation, future, and class. Around 1052 Rutgar's father died, he was crowned king of lahn.

The Vision
According to legend, the new king was walking through the royal gardens with a childhood friend, the two where talking, when Rutgar looked up at an apple tree and grabbed a large apple from its branches. Rutgar looked into the apples deep red and focused on the suns and the skys reflection, according to his friend, he stood there motionless for moments, gazing at the apple till he snapped back into reality. Rutgar noted the account and supported the claim that while he was gazing into the apple, he thought of a united nation for the Apfeldites, as the apple was a cultural symbol to them. This was appearently the event that convinced Rutgar to start the unification wars and aim to become king of the Apfeldites.

The Fortress at Lipton
Rutgar had just conquered the neighbouring kingdom of Goldwind, whom had a white stoned castle that was said to be inpinatrable, this proved to be false, but Rutgar was inspired by the castle and the idea. He sought out to find a location to build his new fortress, though there were many good locations for such, he dismissed all advice and potential spots. He was riding near the border of his kingdom, when he approached a spot along the bank of the Uiop river, this spot was a large bare plain surrounded by forest, it was an average location, no different than the other large, bare river banks. When Rutgar reched this area, he slowed down his horse and moved his way steadily across the plain to the side of the river, he stood on the bank waiting and watching, this according to account his horse lent over and took a drink from the river, at that moment he shook his head and decided on building his fortress here.

At the start of construction, Rutgar's kingdom was still considerably small compared to several others nearby, even after conquering Goldwind, it lacked both the money and resources to complete such a ambitious project, in order to acquire the needed supplies, Rutgar invaded the nearby kingdom of Summerfield which was fertile and had a large amount of wealth. The war was quick and decisive, Rutgar crushed the enemy forces in a swift attack and moved on with his new found wealth. The king of Summerfields son, whom had naturally fought against Rutgar was supposedly so embarrassed by such a swift defeat that he turned himself into Rutgar's forces, instead of killing the man, Rutgar saw some value in him and instead allowed him to live if he served. This proved to be a sound move, as the Summerfield prince, Roger Summerfield, would later become Count of Summerfield and one of Rutgar's greatest friends and generals.

Conquest of Verbania and Custach
After the acquistion of Summerfield, Rutgar's kingdom had finally reached a point to which it could stand against the previously stronger kingdoms surrounding them. Rutgar's next move was aimed at two kingdoms to the south, Verbania and Custach. Custach was, at the time, envolved in a succession crisis, so Rutgar moved against them first, though Rutgar was able to quickly invade Custach, their navies sailed up the Uiop and threatened to destroy progress on Lipton, however thanks to a resistant defence, they were unable to cause massive damage.

After subdoing the lords of Custach, Rutgar marched his army into the land of the swann king, Verbania. The king of Verbania was a bitter and unpleasent man, but he was logical and proved to be the greatest challenge to Rutgar yet. The Verbanian king had recently been fighting off Zstatine pirates and invaders near the Sunshore and had already formed a standing and trained army when Rutgar struck. The war was decided by a massive battle in northern Verbania, in which the Verbanian king would be killed. Yet again the son of another fallen ruler was granted pardon and restored into a lesser title, but with almost no lose. Verbania was now under Rutgar's control, however the people of the Sunshore continued resistance and proved to be worth opponents, they would continue to harass Rutgar until a call by the new Duke of Verbania had pressed their lords too call for peace.

Oschtauch, Erstiks, and the North
Rutgar had at this point, ruled over the single most powerful kingdom in Apfeldonia since the fall of the great empires. This lead to a coalition being formed between the architects of Erstiks, the Leischmeirs of Oschtauch, and the Schwartz family of Shulfsrum to curb Lahn's power. This coalition controlled an army almost twice the size of Rutgar's, this lead to some degree of worry and stress on Rutgar. Oschtauch had combined their army with that of Erstiks and faced the army of Lahn at Reisland, though the battle was a close call, Rutgar came out on top and marched into Oschtauch, Rutgar's pardon policy came through and the Leischmeirs were allowed to keep their land. Erstiks soon surrendered following suite and avoided an occupation.

The Schwartz on the other hand refused to give in and in 1058 faced Rutgar's army at the battle of White Water, and despite the fact that Rutgar almost drowned while forging the river when his horse was shot from under him, he carried the day, securing the Schwartz's disgruntled but mild surrender.

Coronations
Rutgar had peacefully annexed the tribes of Nersailles and took small areas from Freiheit, but never conquered most of Freiheit nor Helvetia in northern Ostcelestria. Despite this, he, in 1066 proclaimed himself King of the Apfeldites and founded the nation of Apfeldonia. Rutgar had two coronations, one was by an Apfeldite priest in Lipton castle, the other was a traditional Apfeldite right of rulership.

This ritual was fairly simple and is considered by the upper classes as the official coronation to this day. As per Apfeldite custom, Rutgar was to gather all his lords infront of a hill in the middle of a field, he was then to take a sacred sword, engraved with Apfeldite religious designs, walk up onto the hill and lift his sword into the air, with this move he was to say the vows of allegiance and the lords would repeat them back. With this he would be recognised as the rightful lord and his subjects the rightful vassals.

Personal Life
Rutgar was in essence a reserved man, he disliked having to deal with large crowds of people, and always had his head in the clouds. He was scholarly, he kept a vast library at Lipton, one whos contents would be later donated to the national library by the royal family. Rutgar kept a close relationship with his kids and made their wishes his goals after the unification.

Rutgar however has come under scrutiny for his flaws, he was often unfaithful, though incredibly loving to his wife, and was the supposed father of many illegitimate children, though none have ever been confirmed. He was also subject to wroth, once being heated up so badly by a minor town mayor that he had him executed, though he would later come to regret this.

Legacy
Rutgar remains if not the, one of the, most important figures in Apfeldonian history and is a national icon. Regarded as a hero in both Apfeldonia and former Apfeldonian colonies, much of the undocumented oral stories are mere myths about him. Rutgar has a lasting legacy, for one, the current royal family are derict descendants of his. Statues of him are stationed across the country, the most notable is the one in Lipton and the one in the Solms Valley. Several streets are named after him, and the town of Rutgar in the former Apfeldonian orential colony is named in his honour.

In pop-culture
Rutgar appears in several instances of popular culture:

Rutgar is seen in episode 5 of the hit series Game of Loans the episode titled Lipton Banking

Rutgar and the Sword is the name of a medieval music band that plays for re-enactments

The Legend of Rutgar is an award winning book series

the ghost of Rutgar appears in the movie Jason and the fox

in the novels The Chronicles of Barnia the old man who calls himself Felbar and owns a pet lion is said to constantly make references to Rutgar's life

Rutgar is a playable character in the video game Conquering Kings II

Rutgar is the leader of the Apfeldite faction in the game series Feudal II: Absolute War

King Rutgar is referenced as "The Lion" as a figure that appears to be obsessed with lion taming, and head of the Spamelot Octagonal Table in Ponty Mython and the Quest for the Golden Apple