Normandie

Normandie , in english Normandy , is a Region of France , historically related to the Vikings and England.

Its name means Land of the northmen.

Settlement of Normandie during the Dark Ages

Normandie during the Dark Ages

Normandie was an important Duchy of France , created in 911 when the king of France made an alliance with the viking warchief Rollon . By giving this land to  him , the king of France stopped the raid of the warchief on his own possessions.

For long years Normandie was a battlefield for men , as for supernatural forces . Celtics came with Gangrel, gauls with Ventrue and Silver Fangs, raids of viking with Get of Fenris , Brujah and Gangrel. But most importantly since 1066 William the Conqueror invade England , making of himself and his heirs french duke but also english kings . Which led to so many more confusing territory conflicts amongst mens , and supernatural beings.

In 1242 , the Duchy is part of the Royal Domain , even if the England' king Richard III is still officially Duke of Normandy ( until 1259 ).

Description

Normandie is on the north-west coastline of France . It is known for its apple orchards , its horse breeders , its cereals and iron production and its vast forest. The climate is mostly oceanic and the rain is an important feature of the area. Which led to a very green country. Rouen , on the major river the Seine , is a major city of France and its directly linked to Paris

History

The Times before

Initialy inhabited by celtics tribes , Armorican in the western part around 2300 BCE , and Belgian in the eastern part around 600 BCE .

The area was conquered in 56 BCE by the roman legions , and became part of the Gallia Lugdunensis , which started a period of construction of roads and citys . Rouen, known as Rotomagus, is considered the second city after Lugdunum ( Lyon) itself.

The gaulish population thrive even if around the third century began barbarians raids on the area , to counter that , germanic people are welcomed in the area to defend it. Then came the fall of Rome and the rise of the Frankish .

Before being called Normandie , the area was known as Neustrie in the latin chronicles , from 486 to 987 . Which was corresponding of the old frankish Syagrius' kingdom in the north-west part of France , and then part of the Frankish Empire. The barbarians raids continue.

Birth of Normandie

In 911 BCE the french king Charles III gave the north part of the area to the viking leader Hrolfr Rögnvaldrsson , better known as Rollon ( Rollo in english ) , to protect the area and prevent other viking raids on the Seine and then to Paris. Rollon accepted to become christian , the area is given the name of Normandie. Rollon ended by conquering the rest of the actual Normandie along the years. But more than a powerful fighter , Rollo was a cunning leader , allying himself to the Church and creating the Échiquier Normand ( Exchequer of Normandy in english ) to rule and administrate the duchy. This tool would be use and copy by the cainite later.

Then came William II , a fascinant man who rise to became a duke as powerful as the king of France. Enforcing a powerful administration in the Duchy he create the city of Caen to become his new capital. In 1066 he managed to conquer England . From then his heirs would be french duke and kings of england. The perfect recipe to create trouble between the duke of normandy and the kings of France .

The 25th of november 1120 , the ship named the Blanche Nef ( White Ship or White Lymphad in english ) shipwrecked along the coast of Normandie , after its departure from Barfleur , an harbour near Cherbourg . On board more than 150 english barons and their ladies . As the english throne heir. All of them dies. This incident put even more turmoil in the now nebular chain of succesion to the throne and led a period of civil war in England , but in the same time it weakened the power of France by strenghtening the size of the domain of the king of england , and duke of normandy .

A time of battle came from this situation until the rise of Phillipe II , new king of France in 1180 . From a small royal domain , this political genius , managed to slowly came back as one of the most powerful lord of France. While in 1192 Richard Lionheart is prisoner of the roman emperor , Philippe help the brother of Richard , John Lackland , to take the crown of England. In the same time the king of France is given back a part of the duchy of Normandy.

When Richard came back he reclaim his crown but die before managing to reconquer his lost domains. Meanwhile in 1194 , to prove his loyalty , John Lackland , in Evreux , invite to a large banquet 300 french knight loyal to the king of France. It's a trap and the french knight are murdered.

Then would follow a period of many battles between the french and english army in the area . During ten years , Normandy is ravaged by armies and multiples cities are burned to the ground. At the end of 1205 , forced to choose their allegiance , half of the great barons of Normandie exiled themselves to England.

But in the end Philippe II win and become one of the powerful of Europe . In Normandie he let the mortal administration of the Échiquier Normand to rule as he sent baillis as royal administrators to survey the taxes , administrate justice and survey the duchy. By political manoeuvers , and wars , Philippe managed to legally take back Normandy ,as many others part of France , to the king of England.

The supernatural Normandie

The Gangrel and Nosferatu were the first cainite inhabitant of France , trying to survive against the werewolves.

Around 800 BCE a war erupt between celtic werewolves ( mostly Fianna and White Howler ) and the Faerie in an area which include Ireland , Normandie and Bretagne . It is the War of Silver and Iron, which deeply wounded the two people.

The Gaul fell to the roman legion when Antiorix , the mighty ventrue metuselah decide to join the roman empire. The roman army was supported by powerful cainites , Ventrue , Lasombra and Malkavian , but also Silver Fangs. The gaulish people were supported by Gangrel and Nosferatu but they lacked cohesion, as for the Red Talon tribe. The most resistant part was the Armorican Gaul where the fiannas and the white howler dwell , but at the end the roman victory is inevitable.

With the barbarians raids , the Brujah and Gangrel forces come to take revenge on their enemy , romans ventrue , malkavian , lasombra and Toreador. At the same time the Get of Fenris are part of the germanic people.

With the rise of the frankish people , the secret hand of the ventrue metuselah Alexandre is felt in the shadow , especially as he is figting for the control of the merovingian dinasty against the Celestial Chorus.

Finally the ventrue won against their enemy , especially with the rise of christianity . In 508 , Alexandre create his Grande Cour in Paris , where he gather all the most influential cainite of this part of the frankish empire . In the same time a war emerged between the silver fang and the get of fenris tribes , the later loosing the battle in the long term.

But with the viking raids on France brujah , gangrel and get of fenris arrived to take their revenge too.

Then in 911 , Rollo is given the area of eastern normandy to help against these raids. The brujah thought they were winning as they were behind it , but secretly the Triumvirat Ventrue managed to pull the strings . Making the brujah warlords going head to head against the powerful Grande Cour of Alexander. In the same time the lasombras and toreador infiltrate the rising Church in France , helping to the fall of the northerner brujah . As Alexander was crying the death of Lorraine , the Triumvirat Ventrue rise to power in Normandie.

With the rise of Saviarre d’Auvergne in Paris , Alexander came back on the political chessboard and start to look back at Normandie . The metuselah is fascinated by the young duke of Normandie , Guillaume II ( the future William the Conqueror ) , but the ventrue didn't act against the triumvirate , waiting for them to do a fatal mistake.

And this mistake came in 1069 . Following the conquest of William , the ventrue triumvirate awoke the powerful Mithras and the normand ventrue leaders disapeared in the years to come.

With Mithras , the Baronies of Avalon rises , as in the same time the Grand Court took over the domain of the Triumvirat . Conflicts expand between now english ventrue and french ventrue , the clan of king lose a lot of influence in Normandie , supposedly a part of the Barony of Avalon.

During this time , the toreador Court of Love rise in France , but they fail to gain power in Normandie , mainly because of the ventrue presence and the instability of the area . The Amour courtois was never really a thing in Normandie . Of the toreador , only the more warriorish came in the duchy , wishing to fight against brujah, gangrel and werewolves.

In 1120 the shipwreck of the Blanche Nef , near Cherbourg , took by surprise a lot of vampire. A few suspected the hand of Saviarre , unhappy of the relation between the Grand Court and the Barony of Avalon then. Most suspected Salianna's hand to destabilize the relationship between the two court. But unknown to most , the ship transported an emissary from the Matriarch of Paris. he was supposed to allow a secret alliance between Mithras and the toreador . This was for the eviction of a more and more unstable Alexander , as his counselor Saviarre. The coup was just delayed of a century. No one know the truth , but of course the nosferatu Mnemach wanted a statu quo between the most powerful cainite of France.

In 1160 , during a resurgent rise of the power of the Baronies of Avalon in Normandie , Mithras send to Caen , as the new Baron of Normandy , his own grand-childe Aethelbert , showing his dominance to the normand's ventrue.

When Aethelbert came to pay tribute and carry a message from Mithras to Alexander , the Prince of Paris disdained to received it . Saviarre tried to save the situation but the Aethelbert disdained to talk to a "simple counselor" . While in Paris the Baron meet Salianna who enforced an alliance between her and Mithras , aiming for the silent support of the Prince of London when the Matriarch will move against Alexander.

During the 12th century, the capital of Rouen is still a battlefield between ventrue and silver fangs against gangrel , brujah and get of fenris barbarians , and that since a long time. Due to its strategic place , Goratrix wanted to make an alliance with the ventrue. Since the baron Aethelbert refused to intervene in the quarels , the mighty tremere decided to make alliance with the local ventrue. In the middle of the 12th century , the creation of the Rouen tremere chapter allowed to help the ventrue , managing to make the silver fang to go away , as for the barbarians.

Even if they were more than happy by the result , the ventrue had to share power with the powerful tremere newcomer. From then the Échiquier de Rouen' was created to rule the city of Rouen , and from then partially the entire duchy. Since this time , the tremere had , very quickly, taken a very important part of the power here , acting in the shadows like during the fall of the Baron , or even maybe with some magical intervention leading to the death of Richard Lionheart.

With the rise in 1180 of the french king Philippe II , later known as Philippe-Auguste , Alexander is interested and come back on the political field , especially in Normandie. Pulling strings he managed the fall of the normandy's Barony of Avalon . Saviarre is especially happy about that , as war began again between the two lands. War confront english and french ventrue in Normandy . In 1204 the Baron Aethelbert had to flee Caen to Chateau Gaillard , a mighty english fortress. It was a disastrous decision , especially with the implication of the tremere'Goratrix and his forces . Aethelbert is destroyed in the castle , as Thomas de Cherbourg is forced to take his blood.

With the fall of the Baron , the french army took back Caen and Rouen , but in the same time a terrible attack destroyed the ventrue of the two camp and their allies. The brujah Arngrim le Fier and the gangrel Runi , the Grey she-wolf , now at the head of the Alliance de l'Orme had used the battle between ventrue to strike fast and strong. Their attack was so perfectly coordonate that the nosferatu clan is suspected to have helped. It is still considered as one of the bloodiest night for the kindred of france , until the Albigensian Crusade. From then Caen was the exclusive domain of the Alliance de l'Orme . The gangrel and brujah have taken their revenge on their enemy , and now are looking to the city of Bayeux.

During the same war , Philippe's army destroyed Evreux , remembering the massacre of the french knight in 1194. The cainite population is severly wounded by the attack. A lot of ventrue knight , ally of the Grand Court , who support the ventrue who helped John Lackland , are destroyed. This event was known as Évreux' Treason and will shape the hatred between the french and the english ventrue for the centuries to come.

Facing the menace of the Alliance de l'Orme , the tremere and ventrue of the Échiquier de Rouen are attempting to gain back the control of the situation but the victory of Philippe had given back the power in the hands of the Grande Cour as a new bailli has arrived in Rouen.

Political Forces

Normandie was for a long time the domain of Ventrue

Le Triumvirat Ventrue

(The "Triumvirate" or "Ventrue Triumvirate" in english )

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Les Baronies of Avalon

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L' Échiquier de Rouen

More known as the Échiquier or Échiquier Normand by the kindred . (The "Rouen's Chessboard" or Exchequer of Rouen in english )

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L' Alliance de l'Orme

(The "Elm Alliance" in english )

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La Grande Cour

(The "Grand Court" in english )

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Main Site

• Avranches , purged of its vampiric population by the Inquisition and a much more sinister threat.
• Bayeux , site of multiple war between [[Ventrue (VTM)|Ventrue and Brujah .
• Caen , the new rising city of the Duchy . Main domain of The Alliance de l'Orme
• Évreux , known for the ignominious Évreux' Treason.
• The Mont-Saint-Michel , wonderful christian sanctuary , in the hand of the Inquisition
• Rouen , capital city of Normandie . Domain of The Échiquier de Rouen.

Main Cainite

• Adelphe le Germain , Ventrue Prince of Évreux . Known as the "Fratricide".
• Arngrim le Fier , scandinavian Brujah leading the fight against the Ventrue . Master of Caen
• Aymeric de Sées , Ventrue member of The Échiquier de Rouen
• Constance de Lusignan , Ventrue Prince of Bayeux
• Eudes de Saint-Gilles ,Lasombra member of The Échiquier de Rouen. Angellis Ater and corruptor.
• Maître Benoît , Tremere Regent of Rouen's chantry. Member of The Échiquier de Rouen
• Runi , the Grey she-wolf , Old Gangrel , ally of Arngrim le Fier to reconquer Normandie.
• Théodran de Savara , Gangrel bailli of the Grand Court sent to the Échiquier de Rouen.
• Thomas de Cherbourg , Tremere masterspy. Secret ally of Esclarmonde la Noire

Other Forces

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References

• DAV: France by Night, p. 106 to 116
• Wikipedia - History of Normandy