Chapter Text
AN OVERVIEW OF AURADON
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE UNITED KINGDOMS OF AURADON
AS RECORDED BY THE WIZARD, MERLIN
The United Kingdoms of Auradon, formed during the reign of King Stefan II after the marriage of his daughter, Aurora, to the son of King Hubert, Phillip, inspired by the period of peace brought on by their union. Stefan turned his sights towards forming a larger alliance across the kingdoms of Western Europe.
Rallying the rulers of surrounding kingdoms, Stefan’s efforts proved slow due to King Hubert’s involvement, a stubborn negotiator himself, though they found an ally in Queen Snow White of Blumental, and her king-consort, Florian, the younger brother of the King of Orvallee. Together, the four rulers formed a council of monarchs and were the first to lead the United Kingdoms of Auradon, with King Stefan elected as the High King, though there were movements for Snow White to be chosen as High Queen instead, which she graciously declined.
Although now operating under a single banner, the four kingdoms were free to govern individually as they saw fit, as Auradon was conceived as an allied union rather than an empire, and only decisions of continental import were decided among the union’s monarchs. Although the transition was not smooth, the kingdoms found ways to manage, and with their new alliance the benefits of Auradon began to outweigh the detriments. Trade flourished, and the sharing of resources led to a brighter future, and drew other monarchs of Europe to join the United Kingdoms.
THE REFORMATION
A RARE TRUE EXAMPLE OF ‘MIGHT MAKES RIGHT’
The formation of Auradon came with a number of revelations for the monarchs involved, which also threatened the formation of Auradon as old enemies began to spring up around them. These villains were not the result of some hellish exodus from the underworld, but rather by a lack of examination.
First among the villains that returned was the former queen regent of Blumental, Grimhilde von Ballenstedt, stepmother to Snow White, who was discovered to have survived her fall from a cliff in the Schwarzwald by good fortune of a river below. It came to the attention of Snow White that her stepmother had returned to their former home in Lohrer Schloss overlooking the village of Lohr in Blumental, since abandoned following Snow White’s marriage to Florian and decision to live in Orvallee for a time.
Grimhilde was apprehended, and put up little resistance in her weakened state, and imprisoned in a tower to await trial after negotiations for Auradon’s unification were complete. The discovery of the wicked queen sparked paranoia in King Stefan, who sent knights out to Montagne Interdite – the Forbidden Mountain – in order to investigate rumours of activity there and discern whether or not brave Prince Phillip had truly slain the fairy.
The knights Stefan sent never returned, and so taking this as a sign of her survival, he launched an assault against the ruined fortress. Yet following the sorceress’s death, Maleficent’s dark troupe had long since abandoned the fortress, and Stefan’s knights found no opposition awaiting them. Yet within the bowels of the mountain, deep beneath the fortress itself, he discovered the fairy sorceress, and apprehended her to be executed. Yet containing her proved troublesome, and so it was on the advice of the Three Good Fairies that he sought out the wizard, Merlin, in the Broceliande. Sending an envoy to the Broceliande Forest, Stefan asked for a way to securely contain her, fearing death would elude her again should he have her killed.
It was this that led to the establishment of the Isle of the Lost. With the combined efforts of Merlin, the Three Good Fairies, the patron fairy godmother to the royal family in from Occitaine, and many other fairies, wizards and good witches of the kingdoms, that the isle was raised from the depths of the ocean, and a nexus cast over it to inhibit the magic of whomever stayed on the isle. Maleficent was sentenced to live on the isle for the rest of her days, and with the formation of a potential prison for all criminals in the Union, Grimhilde was sentenced to the isle alongside her.
This was the beginning of the reformation, with many surviving villains being tracked down across Europe and sent to the Isle of the Lost, converting it into a prison colony for exiles and those who helped them.
UNIFICATION
THE REALISATION OF A KING’S DREAM
King Stefan II did not live to see his dream of a completed Auradon, with his death of King Hubert weighing heavily on his heart in the months to follow at the loss of such a dear friend. It was not until he received encouragement from his wife, Leah, and his daughter, Aurora, that he chose to pursue Auradon as he and Hubert had envisioned it. Stefan convinced other kingdoms to join the union, using his prior dealings with the fairy godmother from Occitaine to convince King Henri-Christian and his queen, Cinderella, to join the union, as well as cementing an agreement with Gascaine’s Grand Prince, Adam, after years of battling with Gasconian aristocrats who didn’t wish to bow to foreign laws.
Shortly after, he also began negotiations with the kingdom of Regnomaria, though they were never completed. It was on the arrival of King Eric and Queen Ariel to cement the alliance that Stefan fell gravely ill, soon passing away before a dialogue could be made. Though mourning Stefan’s death, his queen, Leah, now Queen Dowager, nevertheless took initiative with King Phillip, and completed her husband’s negotiations with the Regnomarian royals and completing Stefan’s Auradon as tribute to him.
Following her success, Leah retired from the throne and handed the kingdom to her daughter and son-in-law entirely, and saw them finally conjoin the kingdoms of Stefan and Hubert as a singular nation now known as Pryleaux.
Queen Aurora committed herself to maintaining her father’s legacy, and with her husband’s help, she reached out to other kingdoms beyond the borders her father had set, such as Corona, Arendelle, and even the mythical kingdom of the merfolk known as Atlantica and Agrabah in the middle east. However, her efforts proved more difficult than her father’s had, due to her own inexperience as a ruler, never having learned in her youth due to her seclusion in the woods.
Other factors also complicated her efforts, such as Arendelle’s former queen, Elsa, being suspicious of Auradon due to its relations with Corona, which had indirectly become involved in an attack on Arendelle from the southern isles known as the Danes. Furthermore, Atlantica had once again become separated from the world above the ocean’s surface, prompted by the newly crowned Queen Attina’s brush with pirates who attacked and kidnapped some of her retinue, resurfacing old memories of her own mother’s death at the hands of pirates. As such, Aurora’s communication with the merfolk has been relegated to correspondence with Queen Ariel, who remains the only port of call between the land and sea now.
Agrabah was the only region to respond to Aurora’s outreach, though even Sultana Jasmine is apprehensive about joining her realm to a predominately Western power, though she has agreed to trade relations and made use of the Isle of the Lost herself to incarcerate the sorceress, Nasira.
CONCLUSION
It is King Stefan’s triumph in facilitating the union of the kingdoms that marked him as one of the most capable leaders of his time, and following his death he was canonised by the church as a patron saint of peace and unity.
Though his daughter struggles to come to grips with ruling, it is with careful guidance from her mother and her husband, Phillip, as well as cooperation from other rulers in the union, that the United Kingdoms of Auradon have maintained peace. However, it is with the passing of Grand Princess Belle’s petition to bring children of the Isle’s prisoners to the continent, branded wicked for their parents’ sins, that dissention has begun to spread throughout the kingdoms.
As unfortunate as it may be, this chapter of peace in the history of the kingdoms may well be threatened, should Queen Aurora prove unable to uphold her father’s legacy and stifle public outcry against the petition, and thus have the Union collapse under her reign.