Hi guys,

Our group has just defeated Cornwall to Uther can have his wicked way with Ygraine.

Now I assume the former knights of Gorlois will have to swear loyalty to Uther.

What will happen to those loyal knights who refuse, death or banishment?

The reason I ask is the players are on friendly terms with a Cornish knight Sir Gerreth who will refuse to swear loyalty!!!

Cheers,

BigSteveUK

Nice! The options sound limitless. My first take would be to have him vanish into the wilds for a few years, maybe pop up during anarchy to start some trouble!

Hi,

Was Gorlois himself their Liege Lord?

Cant refuse the HIGH KING my friend. They will at best be stripped of knighthood and declared outlaw... at worst , put to death. You dont DEFY the HIGH KING... sorry. ;D :'(

If they just hide out until Uther pulls back to Logres, probably not much.... declared outlaw, but that's not going to matter when their own land is defended by them.

You can defy the high king, Gorlois did;)

Yes Gorlois did..... Look at how nthat turned out for him. :P

Yes, we still talk about him today, now that's glorious!

Cheers for the input.

I think the first thing is the players are going to be told to arrest a knight who refuses to come to Terrabil to have his claims reviewed (Sir Gerreth).
Sir Gerreth will refuse to serve a King who would wage such an unjust war and that Uther dare call Gorlois a traitor when it is he who murdered his lord just so he could covet his wife.

This will go down like a lead balloon, and then just see what the players do. ;D

Long term, I think he is obviously going to be sentenced to death, but I think I will let him escape. I may involve either his sister or wife who may try and involve another player.

Actually, I think what happens would depend on whether the player knights are someone else's vassal's or not. If their liege lord (should they have one) swears fealty to Uther and they refuse to cooperate, that would result in a massive loss of both Honor and Loyalty Lord, right?

If you really want to test your pk's, have Gerreth appeal to their Just trait, using the premise you listed for Uther's covetousness. (I'd bet one of them is famously Just and would need to role on it)
Their Loyalty lord would go down, but remember Honor is only lost if they are caught;)

You can not appeal to justice in this case. The king IS the justice of the land for one thing. It is his example that makes the realm what it is. That is why Uther and many other KIngs ( the Majority in fact) were not known for this trait. Justice is a NEW thing. That is why ARTHUR is considered the Most awesome of Kings. Not because he is the most handsome, brilliant, or powerful... for one reason... He is a king with a sense of JUSTICE. Its a NEW thing. Completely NEW. Thats why we still celebrtate his legend. Period. SO Uther is better than your avereage king of that time actually. AND ...... lets not forget..... We all KNOW that he wants Igraine ( right?) but can that be proven ( in a law court) as the reason that he attacked Gorlois? ..... NO.....it can not be proven against him.... even if it is commonly known. SOOOO the king is GUILTLESS. Gorlois is a traitor. Period. If ur players think otherwise fine. Give them a justice check and then lets get ready for the fireworks baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

I would say that it would depend on how close your knights were to Uther's center of power. If far enough away, make a big noise about how unjust the king was. Just be prepared to have some delicious conflict if your neighbours want to ingratiate themselves with the wife stealer. I doubt Uther will lead an army the length of Britain just to school one or two foul knights. Even less if they are close to kings already opposed or neutral to Uther. I do go with the Excalibur model for this theory... He has enemies, some he may not even know are enemies.

The other option is to give lip service to accepting Uther's actions. Yes some will see this as less than honourable but then it can be said that whatever the knight decides to do, someone will determine that he acted less than honourable.

Uther has a technicality on his side: Gorlois left his court without permission, and refused to return when summoned back. Those would be classified as acts of rebellion. (And it's arguable that even if Uther had been somehow miraculously cured of his desire for Igraine, he would still have had to go to war with Gorlois, since other lords might take advantage of a successful defiance to similarly disobey Uther, without as strong justification.)

Uther might have been able to successfully cover up the real reason for the war. In Malory, he has Ulfius present his marriage to Igraine as a way of healing the late strife with Cornwall. And in "The Great Pendragon Campaign", Gorlois is portrayed as rebellious and unhelpful long before Uther set eyes on Igraine - something which Uther might be able to turn to his advantage.

Merlyn has the right of it. ;)

Just for your information.

They went to arrest a knight who refused to attend at Terrabil to have his lands reviewed and loyalty sworn to Uther. Arawain and the company were a bit shocked to find Sir Gerreth barring their way, the knight were a bit divide, Ferroth said law is law lets get him, but Arawain obviously had a soft spot for him and they agreed to parley. So the knights entered his hall under the rules of hospitality, Arawain argued back and forth and to be fair tried everything to avoid having to fight him, but it was to no avail. I made them feel even worse when Gerreth kept saying how valorous they were and happy he had been to face the Saxons with knights like them by his side.

So Gerreth fought Sir Arawain, after breaking 2 lances and taking a bit of a pasting Arawain shifted the challenge to foot and sword, where he rendered Gerreth unconscious and he was taken to Terrabil.


I have yet to decide his fate!!!

What a great story arc!!! An idea, let him rot in the dungeon until Anarchy begins. Then we could escape, be freed, and return one day, maybe with a vengence...

Just like sir Balin was imprisioned and then let loose, perhaps Gareeth would be the same? :)