GPC SPOILERS BELOW


Just ran the battle in 508. The summary - an opportunity in round three gave them a crack at Aelle of Sussex. They went all in. Six dead berserkers, six dead heorthgeneats, one dead player knight and six major wounds later they have killed him stone dead in awesomely heroic style.

They still lose the battle and then retreat in ragged order to Sarum, anticipating repercussions to come after the death of Nanteleod too.

Any suggestions on how the death of Aelle affects the GPC are welcome. I suppose Celyn becomes King and then dies at Badon. This might leave an empty Earldom after Badon for Arthur to give to an awesome hero.

Obviously in the meantime he will want payback so ideas in that direction are welcome too.

Maybe the knights get wind of Saxon scouts showing up in Salisbury. The next year a Saxon shows up at one of their manors looking for the knight who killed Aelle. If they find him (or if you rule that someone else tells them), then Celyn comes calling looking for satisfaction against the Knight who killed his father.

Maybe the knights get wind of Saxon scouts showing up in Salisbury. The next year a Saxon shows up at one of their manors looking for the knight who killed Aelle. If they find him (or if you rule that someone else tells them), then Celyn comes calling looking for satisfaction against the Knight who killed his father.


Looking at the timeline, Earl Robert is due to be knighted in 509. I might try to work Celyn's revenge into this somehow. After all he knows it was Salisbury knights. It will take a little while for the truth to trickle in to him with the specifics of the who and the how.

Lots of options to consider!
- Salisbury has a bulls-eye painted on it in regards to Saxon raiding in the future. With some knight's manors picked out in particular.
- Salisbury knights get a bonus to the opposition roll in future battles against Saxon armies (bounty placed on them by Saxon leadership)
- Celyn comes out looking for revenge.

There's also something else to consider. How much was Aelle holding together the Saxon forces? With him removed I don't think you necessarily simply get a smooth succession to Celyn being Bretwalda and all the other Saxons simply going along with it. I'd expect there would be some pushing and shoving for better position and possibly Celyn getting some challenges in the next few years. So while the Cymri are reeling from losing Nanteleod and their hope for cohesion the Saxons may be undergoing the same. Which arguably could lead to a relief in pressure as the Saxons potentially fight and posture against each other - and the Gwessi possibly make another attempt to sell themselves as the compromise candidate acceptable to both sides.

There's also something else to consider. How much was Aelle holding together the Saxon forces? With him removed I don't think you necessarily simply get a smooth succession to Celyn being Bretwalda and all the other Saxons simply going along with it. I'd expect there would be some pushing and shoving for better position and possibly Celyn getting some challenges in the next few years. So while the Cymri are reeling from losing Nanteleod and their hope for cohesion the Saxons may be undergoing the same. Which arguably could lead to a relief in pressure as the Saxons potentially fight and posture against each other - and the Gwessi possibly make another attempt to sell themselves as the compromise candidate acceptable to both sides.


This has definite potential. I don't want to just make up a narrative that keeps things largely the same given the total commitment shown by the players in following through on the attack on Aelle.

Given that they are already in a long-running feud with Cerdic (and Cynric) of Wessex, the fact that their heroism could give that snake a leg up in trying to claim overlordship of the saxons would be particularly galling.

The upside may be that Cerdic is looking towards Sussex rather than Salisbury in 509 and his threats and demands for tribute are less convincing. He wants to get a feel for Celyn's strength and the loyalty of his chieftains. If he can get enough to flip on Celyn he can use his political capital from the victory at Netley to make a play for Bretwalda.

An option:
With Aelle out of the way Cerdic may see his change to gain the title of Bretwalda. But to do so he needs to get all the saxons behind him. a way to do this is to exact revenge on those who killed Aelle. So there is not one saxon lord (Celyn) but two saxon lords (Celyn and Cerdic) that want to exact revenge to proof to their own people their worth. In the end you have two saxon armies roaming around in salisbury trying to exact revenge. This could make things messy if they work together, but may give the PKs a chance to play both lords against each other.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

In the end I went with Cerdic trying to make a play for Bretwalda. He sidled up the King Celyn and intrigued him into not requesting aid from Wessex for the revenge attack. It's only one county after all, High King. ;)

He then sent Cynric to Salisbury and had him extract egergious tribute from the Countess. He planned to fund his move for Bretwalda with this cash next year.

After that the PKs got involved. I've never seen such a collection of crits and fumbles. See the Rebuilding Sarum thread for the lowdown.