Kindred of Spain

There are three main powers that rule Spain. To the South, the Lasombra Ibn Abi Amir rules over Muslim Spain and the land held by the Almohads. Cordoba is his seat of power, and he rules through a loose group of tafias. The most powerful of these is the tafia of Valencia.

For centuries, Christian Spain was split between the Brujah Monarch Theudis, who rules over Portugal and Leon, and the Lasombra Monarch Ramon Gonzalez, who rules over Castile, Pamplona, and Argon. There are times when Theudis and Gonzalez have allied in favor of the Reconquest, but for the most part the animosity between them was real. It is generally considered fact among the Chamberlains that the Lasombra had the greater domain, but he also had the greater concerns. Not only are there Brujah to his West and Muslims to his South, but the Toreador Lords of France had set sight on his lands through the Lord of Barcelona, Charles Marseille.

Northern Navarre had been entrusted to the Lasombra Lord Fernando Buesa. While he had ruled strongly for the last two hundred years, the Reconquest has come to occupy more and more of his attention. When the Navarre army left to fight the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, he and many of his Lasombra Knights went with them. The rule of his Domain was therefore left to the three Princes of the area: The Nosferatu Prince of Roncesvalles Edrigu, the Malkavian Prince of Pamplona Isidore, and the Lasombra Prince of San Sebastian Nazario Garcia. During the absence of Buesa old cultural and political divisions began to pull between Roncesvalles and Pamplona. The normal bickering between the citizens of the two cities began to grow into something far more.

Finally, the body of a dead Nosferatu neonate was found swinging from a lamp post outside the royal Palace of Pamplona. Prince Edrigu was furious, but Prince Isidore dismissed the matter by using an excuse the Basque Kindred have often used for the disappearance or unfortunate accidents be following others in their region: The Curse of Abarrane. This lead to the inevitable: the armies of Pamplona and Roncesvalles met on a large field outside of Zalba, a small farming community that both Princes claimed as their own.

Since the War of Princes had begun, such battles were not uncommon - but the ferocity of the fighting horrified even the most jaded Kindred observers. Those participating continued on long after the battle should have disengaged, and the armies of both sides, Kindred and Kine, were decimated. Those that survived were left to limp back to their cities and lick their wounds, nothing resolved.

Despite the toll that the Battle of Zalba, as it soon became called, claimed on both sides, there was little doubt that Prince Edrigu and Prince Isidore would continue their campaigns against each other. But before they could restock their armies, a letter arrived from Lord Buesa expressing his "disappointment" at the situation and strongly urging both sides to come together and setting a time table for his return. Still the two princes remained at odds until finally they were brought to the table by Prince Garcia and a treaty between them was worked out. A halt in the hostilities was promised for a year and a day, after which a new and more permanent treaty would be negotiated. His role in the negotiations gave legitimacy to the Princeship of Garcia, which, until that point, had been largely discredited by both his young age and the small size of San Sebastian.

However, Garcia's time was not to last much longer: in 1216 he was destroyed at the hands of mortal hunters. And the reign of Edrigu came to a violent end at the hands of Lord Trajan, who declared Praxis in Roncesvalles. His own rule was short: a year later, he handed over the Princeship to the Tzmisce Zaldi Zuri. This, along with news that Lord Buesa had been captured by the Emirate, left many to question the future leadership of Navarre.

And then, in the summer of 1217, emassaries rode into Pamplona baring the heraldry of Lord Buesa, and announcing that an agreement had been arranged to bring the absent Lord home from the Emirate.  And, true to their words, Lord Buesa set foot back upon the ground of Navarre on August 8 th, 1217.  In the end there was no contending his return: both Prince Isidore and Prince Zuri reaffirmed their oaths to their Lord.

During Christmas of that year, while holding his Yule Court in Madrid, Monarch Roman Gonzalez declared Lord Buesa an outlaw and a traitor; accusing Lord Buesa of abandoning his post at Las Navas and taking sides with the Emir.  Lord Buesa did not bother to reply, simply inviting the Monarch to visit Navarre to perhaps discuss their different takes on the war in the South.  And so, on March 1218 Monarch Gonzalez lead a small force of Kindred Knights across the Castilan boarder with the obvious intent of overthrowing the Lord.  Lord Buesa met the Monarch on a small plane not to far South of Logrono on the bank of the Ebro river.  The sides were fairly matched, but the battle ended when it became obvious that the Monarch had fallen and ashed. 

It may have seemed that Buesa would then be a natural candidate for Monarch of the lands formerly held by Gonzalez, but considering the allies and support that Gonzalez had throughout, particularly, Castile, this was far from a sure thing.  Buesa immediately left Navarre to attempt to secure the lands and his own support, and left the protection of Navarre under the watchful eye of his one of his Knights, Leocadio Reyez. Reyez would eventually become the diplomatic link between the Monarch and Navarre. 

Navarre was still left without a Lord - in the end, Isidore and Zuri came to an arrangements of sorts.  Both would be the final word in their own Domains.  Disputes outside of the Domains would be submitted to third party, most likely the Warlord or another Kindred with ties to the fledging Monarch.  Zalba would be considered off limits to Kindred interference – ostensibly because of the high profile it had taken in the eyes of the Church.

What was nearly lost in the discussion and rumors that swirled around this was consideration for San Sebastian.  For all practical intents and purposes, San Sebastian was not involved in the discussions and negotiations – as it had not been apart of the politic in the region since the death of Nazario Garcia.  And, in fact, without any word of explanation, Buesa declared he no longer acknowledged any claim of Praxis to the city, and both Isidore and Zuri seemed to go along with this: after all, it was one less power to contend with as they divided Navarre between themselves.

In the fall of 1218, Eduardo Guerrero, the Toreador Prince of Burgos, overthrew the Lord of Northern Castile in his own bloody campaign that waged for nearly a year.  He declared himself Lord of everything in Castile north of the River Douro and was recognized by Buesa after offering his allegiance to the new Monarch.   Lord Guerrero's ambitions in regards to expanding his own boundaries have been transparent: over the last decade, he has engaged in skirmishes with the Brujah to the east in Leon , as well was the Lasombra along his southern boarder.  And his political influence has been overtly used to reignite boarder disputes with his neighbors, including Navarre .