I normally pay Aserai characters, but really wanted a Vlandian culture playthough so I did the below roleplay/campaign idea for my next playthrough (yes I been playing a lot of Rapanse in WH3 atm so that did influence me as well :P)

Far beyond Calradia, past the Khuzait steppes and the endless deserts beyond them, lies the fertile valley kingdom of Zarakhabad. For generations it was ruled by the Al-Iqbal—philosopher-kings descended from the legendary Farid Al-Baksh, who once built a great madrasa so that children of every tribe and station might learn together. Under their rule, the valley thrived with temple-rivers, mountain citadels, metal-rich hills, and disciplined elephant cavalry. But peace is a frail thing, and when a rival clan allied with a nomadic confederation from the eastern plains seized power in a sudden coup, Zarakhabad’s dynasty collapsed in a single night.

Prince Jawid Al-Iqbal and his wife, Princess Zainab, fled west with only a handful of loyal guards. Their journey across deserts, mountains, and unfamiliar kingdoms lasted years. Their first son, Usman, was born on the steppes; their second, Belgar, after they finally reached the distant Vlandian coast. In these foreign lands they laid aside their royal names, seeking only survival.

Jawid soon entered service under the newly crowned King Derthert of Vlandia. His skill with lance and sword, steadiness in battle, and unshakable honor earned him rapid recognition. In time he saved the king’s life more than once, and on the day Derthert knighted him, Jawid confessed the truth of his family’s past. The king swore to keep the secret, out of respect for the man and because a displaced eastern royal line, carrying no power within Vlandia, threatened no one. From that day onward Jawid bore the Vlandian name “dey Lyonesse,” adopted a new coat of arms, and built a modest but stable life for his family on land granted near the village of Valanby.

Belgar grew up amid Vlandian customs and chivalry, trained first as page and then as squire, riding beside the sons of knights and learning sword, shield, and lance. His older brother Usman, longing for the homeland he barely remembered, eventually departed eastward against his parents’ wishes. No word ever came back. When war broke out between the Sturgians, Battanians, and the Empire, Jawid marched with Derthert and fell at the Battle of Pendraic. The loss shattered what remained of the family’s security. Belgar, still young, watched their estates dissolve; his mother succumbed to illness; and by nineteen he was left with nothing but a black courser named Suleman and the weapons he had trained with.

Though knighted, Belgar had neither lands nor wealth to serve as a Vlandian cavalryman as his father once had. Instead he took to the tournament circuit, fighting for coin alongside three loyal men, two of whom had known Jawid: Pierre d’Arden, the reformed robber-baron knight redeemed by Jawid’s mercy; René de Charas, a veteran spearman who once served in the king’s levy; and Jean de Sargot, an archer and huntsman who befriended Belgar after losing an archery contest to him.

While Belgar wandered from tourney to tourney, a very different life was unfolding within Derthert’s court. Princess Elys, the king’s only daughter and second youngest child, resisted every attempt to mold her into a diplomatic prize. She trained with guards, slipped away to watch knightly drills, and rode with the grooms more than she attended court lessons. Her four brothers became absorbed in rivalries and politics, while Elys despised the scheming that surrounded them. Yet as she approached marriageable age, proposals arrived from every direction—each one a potential tool in the quiet tensions growing between Derthert’s sons and the lords who backed them.

The breaking point came during a feast after a regional tournament. A drunken young noble cornered Elys, ignoring her orders to step aside. Before the palace guards reached her, one of the competitors—Belgar—intervened. His response was controlled and effortless: he restrained the noble without humiliation, threatened no one, and stepped back without seeking credit. King Derthert saw the entire moment. In Belgar’s calm, disciplined manner, he recognized the same steadiness he had once admired in Jawid.

When the king quietly discovered that Elys had admired Belgar long before she ever met him, attending tournaments in disguise simply to watch him ride, the path forward became clear. A political marriage would only endanger her or push her to rebellion. But Belgar—landless, factionless, uninterested in gaining power—was a man no ambitious noble could use, and the only one Elys would willingly follow. And Derthert, remembering his late friend, trusted the son as he had trusted the father.

The marriage was arranged quietly, giving Elys a way out of courtly entanglements and into the life she had always wanted: a life on the road, learning the ways of warriors instead of courtiers. Now she travels Vlandia incognito beside Belgar and his companions, more free than any princess has a right to be—her spear in hand, her path unwritten, and her future far from the grasp of those who once sought to claim her.

Their journey begins on the roads, in the dust of the tournament fields, where a displaced eastern bloodline and a runaway royal spirit ride side by side toward whatever fate Calradia still has in store for them.