de kroonprins van Unauwen—de Vorst van Eviellan

The relationship between the Crown Prince of Unauwen and the Lord of Eviellan is the royal family’s central fracture: brothers born on the same day, alike in appearance and intellect, become opponents divided by succession, ambition, and the future of the realm. Their conflict moves from resentment over a difference of minutes to armed resistance and a break in the kingdom’s peace. Even after the Crown Prince repeatedly seeks reconciliation, the Lord of Eviellan refuses it; only later do reports suggest that the estrangement might be repaired.

Identity and the Succession

The brothers are the two sons of King Unauwen. The elder, older by only a few minutes, is the Crown Prince by custom. From his eighteenth year he serves as viceroy and governor of the realm, a position that establishes his succession not merely as a future claim but as an existing public responsibility. The younger becomes the Lord of Eviellan, but he does not accept the difference in rank that separates him from his brother.

Their resemblance intensifies rather than softens that difference. They are described as each other’s likeness in appearance and intelligence, yet their characters diverge as they grow older. The Crown Prince resembles their father in his concern for the kingdom and its future subjects. The Lord of Eviellan is characterized as power-hungry. Thus the brothers’ shared royal standing and likeness do not produce a shared political identity: one is associated with stewardship of the realm, the other with a growing desire for power.

From Resentment to Rebellion

The Lord of Eviellan considers it unjust that his brother should inherit the throne when the age difference between them is only minutes. His dissatisfaction develops into hatred, and the brothers’ disagreement becomes open enmity. King Unauwen repeatedly tries to reconcile them and persuade his younger son to accept his position. On the central constitutional question, however, the king will not yield: he refuses to divide the kingdom and insists that it remain united under the ruler designated to govern it.

The king’s appointment of the younger prince as governor of the southern Province of Riverlands initially appears to offer him substantial authority within that united realm. Instead, the Lord of Eviellan begins to govern increasingly independently and at times acts directly against his father’s wishes. He then invades Eviellan, conquers it, and makes it a province of Unauwen’s realm. King Unauwen reverses that decision and orders his son to withdraw. The prince answers by declaring himself king of Eviellan and his father’s equal, claiming that he no longer has to obey him. That assertion transforms a dispute about the brothers’ relative status into a direct challenge to their father’s authority and to the unity of the kingdom.

Armed Conflict and Its Cost

King Unauwen removes the Lord of Eviellan from his governorship, but the younger prince refuses to accept his dismissal. He retains support among many people in the Province of Riverlands, giving his resistance a political base. The Crown Prince arrives with an army to take over the governorship, and the resulting fighting pits brother against brother. The Crown Prince’s side prevails, but victory does not restore the former peace. The account presents the kingdom as changed by the conflict: peace and friendship no longer prevail everywhere.

The estrangement also extends beyond the brothers’ direct confrontation. The Lord of Eviellan sends bands of warriors into his father’s country to stir unrest. Fighting continues along the border and in the south even though there is no formally declared war. One such band hides in Vorgóta Forest, where King Unauwen sends Edwinem to drive it out; Ewijn serves among Edwinem’s fighting men. This episode gives the brothers’ political break a continuing military consequence: their conflict is carried by armed groups into places beyond the court and battlefield where the succession dispute first took shape.

Failed Reconciliation and an Uncertain Opening

The Crown Prince makes several attempts to establish peace, without success. It is said that he still loves his brother, a report that places enduring familial attachment beside the political consequences of their hostility. The Lord of Eviellan, by contrast, rejects every approach described in the account. Unauwen’s knights therefore take up their white shields and prepare for further fighting, their response showing how a private rupture has become a continuing danger to the realm.

Shortly before Ewijn tells the story, hopeful rumors circulate that the Lord of Eviellan may finally be willing to make peace, surrender Eviellan, and travel to Unauwen Capital to be reconciled with his father and brother. These reports are not presented as a completed reconciliation. What is confirmed is that the Lord of Eviellan has sent messengers to King Unauwen, and that the king has dispatched an embassy in return to negotiate peace. Edwinem, Lord of Forèstèrra, is among the envoys. The account ends with the mission under way, leaving the brothers’ relationship suspended between a history of refused overtures and the possibility, not yet assured, of a settlement.