“An oath outlives its speaker.”
The motto of Oakenshire
From Moravia to Oakenshire
The heirs of House Vesnik departed Moravia alongside village elders who had witnessed their family’s promises for generations. When they settled in Corvaine, they carried no throne worth displaying. Instead, they gathered their households beneath an oak and renewed their obligations before witnesses. That meeting became the beginning of Oakenshire’s council tradition. Its later governors discovered that royal blood did not excuse a broken agreement. The state’s ancestral story grants dignity to an oath only when someone remains willing to keep it.
The Witness Tree
Before Oakenshire had a citadel, its settlements met beneath an old oak to resolve disputes. Agreements were spoken before witnesses and entered into a common record. When the state accepted royal rule, its first governor took the same oath beneath the same branches as every local elder.
Over time, kings sent officials who considered the custom beneath their dignity. One attempted to cancel a land agreement signed by his predecessor. The villages answered by closing their markets and withholding labor until the crown acknowledged the oath. The governor departed; the agreement endured. A timber beam from the fallen witness tree was later preserved in the citadel's council chamber.
Now would-be rulers promise everything Corvaine's empty throne cannot guarantee. Oakenshire listens, then asks who will witness the promise and how it will be kept. Its people can forgive an honest failure. They are far slower to forgive a leader who never intended to honor their word.
Every state carries its own history. In Law of Kings, players build cities, form alliances, and contest citadels within the same persistent realm. Read the citadel guide for gameplay rules.
Your chapter in Oakenshire
The old history explains how this state reached a divided Corvaine. Your cities, decisions, and alliances will shape what follows.