King Karl of Vittmark

King Karl of Vittmark

Personal details
King Karl
Birth name	Karl Gustavsson ätte av Kulla
Birth date	7499
Birth place	Östervallen, Vittmark
Death date	7566
Death place	Borgö, Östervallen, Vittmark
Burial place	Herrkulla, Kulla, Vittmark
Monuments	several
Nationality	Vittmarker
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Years active	7516-7566
Style	His Royal Highness
Height	174 cm
Predecessor	none as king of Vittmark
Successor	Queen Anna of Vittmark
Spouse	TBA, Annika av Sörenstam
Children	Thomas, Anton, Anna
Mother	TBA
Father	först Gustav av Kulla
Relatives	none

King Karl of Vittmark (in Hallish also King Charles) was the first monarch of the nation state of Vittmark during a short time after its initial formation. He was assassinated in Östervallen in 7566 in an unsolved attack together with his son Crown Prince Thomas. Before becoming the king of Vittmark he served as Först of Kulla, governor for the Auresian protectorat of Nelvesdalia directly after the Pan-Anarian War and as ambassador for Liden to Auresia. He was succeeded by his daughter from his second marriage Queen Anna of Vittmark.

Ambassador to Auresia

During the Pan-Anarian War, the Crown Domain and Liden entered a deep collaboration in order to jointly withstand the Wolgos invasion that was ongoing in neighbouring Mörenburg. Prince Karl was offered a diplomatic position at the joint embassy for Liden and Kulla and was appointed to Cedelphia in Auresia. As a minor state, Kulla never had diplomatic representation in states that weren't predominantly Mellanhand Orkanan, but as ambassador for Liden and Kulla to Auresia he played an important role in building and maintaining a friendly nation with this empire during a crucial phase of the Pan-Anarian War.

Even at a relatively young age and without proper diplomatic training, he flourished in this role, which his father only intended to give him some international experience in politics and government before Karl would take over as Först of Kulla. But instead, Karl started developing his own agenda, working strategically to upgrade the status of Kulla and its head of state within the international opportunity. He saw the Pan-Anarian War as an opportunity to extend Kulla's realm and as such turn it into a mid-sized nation in a Stoldavic context.

Först of Kulla

Karl became part of the Av Kulla line marriage in 75xx. While ruling Kulla was designated to the line marriage, in practical terms it was carried out by the senior male of the marriage, the först. Karl married the daughter of his father's second wife, the Hellish marchioness Valda von Stein. Together they got two sons, Thomas (born 75xx) and Anton (born 75xx). The marriage became stressfull because of two reasons. Karl's ambition to extend his influence was hindered by the Mellanhand Orkanan practice of line marriage. It was difficult to gain foreign support, since the tradition was frowned upon. Secondly, he came into direct conflict with the Mörenburgers and Hellish during the Pan-Anarian War. Even though the jointly tried to stop the Wolgos, King Karl wanted to use the opportunity to acquire more territory in the sparsely populated mountain region. This led to direct conflicts with Valda's family who were openly supporting the Häverist military effort.

As soon as his father appointed him as först of the line marriage, he separated from Valda and thus the rest of the line marriage. He instead allied himself with local nobility in the form of the young junckare Anneli av Sörenstam, whom he married in 7540. They got a daughter that same year.

Governor of Nelvesdalia

At the end of the Pan-Anarian War, Auresia kept a military presence in the region called Nelvesdalia. The area was as good as empty since the original population fled or was killed in the conflict. Auresia saw it as an opportunity to withdraw the region from the influence of Häverist Helreich who were establishing a puppet regime in Mörenburg. On top of that, Auresian surveyors had assessed findings of iron in the region. Even though demand for iron wasn't as large as during the war, Auresia wanted to avoid Mörenburg and Helreich started extracting it.

The only way to cover Auresian interests was to appoint a governor with local roots. Thanks to King Karl's excellent contacts with the Auresian government, he was offered the role instead of possible candidates for Liden. This led to a rift between Kulla and Liden, which ultimately contributed to the Three Ways Conflicts. Further north, Hagen, Liden and Ådalen could not agree on post-war borders with all sides trying to gain territory. The conflict spread towards the regions of Kulla and Nelvesdalia as soon as it became clear the latter was not only rich in iron findings, but also coal.

King Karl came in conflict with settlers from the north who were trying to flee from the Three Ways Conflict, most often families and stims that had become landless due to the territorial conflicts. Most of them also were religious refugees, loyal to other congregations than the ruling ones in their respective states. Many of them settled in Nelvesdalia beside the more official settlers program as rolled out by Kulla and Liden. In return, Ådalen and Hagen also started acquiring land in the mountainous heartland of Stoldavia, most often for forestry but also to create a chain of stepping stones for cargo transports through the mountains. By 7560 there was in intense use of the few mountain passes by steam trucks trying to smuggle ore and coal out of the region.

King of Vittmark

King Karl was considered a steady beacon in this conflict zone that never settled after the Pan-Anarian War. His own conflict with Magnus av Månsta av Liden led to some credibility among the leadership of Hagen and Ådalen, which often used him for negotiations and conflict de-escalation.

In 7564 the Anarian powers had grown tired of the ongoing Three Ways conflict and organised a summit in the Becuvitatian city of Nisipari. After long negotiations, Karl av Kulla's status as neutral part in the conflict was used as a basis to create a loose confederation, in which the bickering states of Ådalen, Liden and Hagen could work out their differences and jointly work on a common future. The confederation got the working name Vittmark and established custody over neutral corridors, mountain regions and territories with a foreign presence by Kulla. This in order to create a territory of equal importance between the three fighting parties, including the old capital of the Greater Stoldavic Empire Östervallen.

Karl av Kulla set out to create the framework between the states by formal, bottom-up treaties and voluntary cooperation across borders. Late 7566 there was a common framework between the confederation states, leaving only Östervallen as a neutral city state to ratify the agreement. After signing the agreement at the Borgö Palace in central Östervallen, Karl declared himself monarch over the confederation. Upon leaving the building, he and his son Crown Prince Thomas were killed by gunfire from a lonely gunsman in the crowd, who in his turn was killed upon an attempt to stop and arrest him.

Assassination aftermath

Even up to today, the attack is an unsolved mystery. Many research reports, studies and books have been published, often trying to build an evidence case against a certain group behind the killings. The gunman was identified as Tor Einarsson, an ethnic Aldsay from the region of Genomhagen, a territory that entered Vittmark after a plebiscite earlier in 7566. This led to the first speculations that the killings were arranged by Aldsay separatists or even the government of Aedeland, trying to create chaos enabling them to occupy the part of Hagen bordering Aedeland.

Further investigation only resulted in more question marks, creating a basis for many theories about the background of the assassination. Einarsson was more or less a petty thief without any history of personal attacks or him moving in separatist or terrorist circles. So naturally the possibility of an attack orchestrated by the Wolgos popped up as an option. It is however unclear what The Bind would have to gain from King Karl's death, even though a connection between Karl's distant cousin Bertil Stensudde and the Wolgos as a result of the investigation by a team of journalists. Bertil claiming Karl's throne to himself is an obvious motive, but his actions after the killings didn't support that theory. He did not oppose Anna av Kulla succeeding King Karl, although conspiration theories point this out as a part of the plan, making sure the only successor in line would fail the task.

Other suggested usurpers to the throne were Göran Ådahl, först of Ådalen and as such a nobleman who had given up a lot of power in order to secure peace. Even Magnus av Månsta av Liden was suggested as mastermind behind the attack. This theory was supported by his later actions when he staged a coup d'état against Queen Anna six years later. However, no clear evidence was found against him during all these years, no connection between the gunman and him or the Lidenite authorities has ever been unearthened.

A large publication in 7601 presented a lot of evidence against Helreich and Mörenburg. Not so much by the centralised Häverist government but by the involvement of regional leadership in Mörenburg with Häverist tendencies trying to start a civil war in Vittmark. This would create an opportunity to reclaim the majority of Nelvesdalia, or maybe even the entire Crown Domain of Kulla.

But beside these political plots, many theories about the lonely gunman having a personal issue with either Karl or Thomas, or having been instructed by someone with a more personal grudge against one of them, have been presented. King Karl was known for his preference for young women, as proved by both his weddings with women who were 17 and 18 at the time of marriage. There have been a lot of rumours about sexual affairs with barely legal or illegally young women. One persistent rumor includes Ingegerd Pettersdotter Liunggren, daughter of the Hagenite businessman Petter Birgersson Liunggren. King Karl and Ingegerd supposedly met each other at a business network meeting where she accompanied her father instead of Petter's wife. A police report about the 17-year old being missing for a few days after the event has been registered, but Ingegerd reported in at a police station in Östervallen explaining that it all had been a misunderstanding and that she had spent time with friends. Which was an unusual explanation because Ingegerd never had visited Östervallen before. There is a thin connection between Petter Liunggren and the region of Genomhagen, where he had acquired the small steelworks in the largest settlement of the disputed region directly after the plebiscite.

The assassination will most likely never be solved, since the people behind it most probably failed in their efforts to create unrest, chaos or even civil war. As such, King Karl's legacy as the architect and builder of a confederation that ended hostilities in the region and ultimately led to one of the most successful economies of Gotha remains unchallenged. He simply did not get the chance to make many mistakes while building and expanding the nation state.