LMFAO I CAN'T EDIT SO DON'T JUDGE THE TRAILER, IT'S MOSTLY JUST A DUMP OF FACE CLAIMS LMAO

but, on the plus side, let us take a moment to appreciate that ethelind's face claim has a scottish accent

Characters featured in order of appearance:
- Grace ( Anne Boleyn, the Tudors )
- Audrey ( Sansa Stark, Game of Thrones )
- Aella ( Jasmine, Aladdin )
- Landon ( King Henry, The King )
- Lorcan ( idk, blonde guy from Virgin Territory )
- Ulysses ( Jack, The Pillars of the Earth )
- Lol we can pretend Will is one of the archers
- Ethelind ( Queen Mary, Mary Queen of Scots )
- Jax ( Francis, Reign )
- Althaia ( uhh Red Riding Hood? )
- Clovis ( guy after Althaia )
- Tinley ( person next to Landon )
- Anastasia ( ahhh my queen Inej from Shadow and Bone )
- Lynne and Filip ( Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia, The Borgias )
- Thyra and Calhoun ( Once Upon a Time )
- Fenton ( brown haired guy from The Three Musketeers )
- Akina ( Ichi )
- Alejandro ( guy you can barely see, The Three Musketeers )
- Adam ( guy from Pirates of the Caribbean )
- Koji ( guy who shows up for like 2 seconds, Ichi )
- Giulio ( Lancelot, Once Upon a Time )

forgive me, idk lots of the names of the face claims lol

i also have a spotify playlist for this called 'stalemate' on my account @ shellyyy m ( or you can find 'queens and pawns' if you want to include the playlist to 'checkmate', the ongoing sequel ! )

okok here's the character list

NOTE: the information listed below is not crucial to know, however may be used as reference later on :)

Each of the Five States are based on a different political system. You might notice references to these different cultures within these states:

The North - England, Tudor times
The East - Roman Empire, Russia
The South - a mix of European backgrounds lol
The West - Renaissance Italy, and Ancient Greece
The Free Isles - Japan

These might be in names, architecture, clothing, or weaponry, but please remember that at the end this is a fictitious piece of work ! These are just historical references that may have been incorporated from research, and any reference that might seem to regard harmful stereotypes is completely coincidental, so please message me if you think I am misrepresenting anything. I will never ignore you and would love hearing from you <33

(P.s sorry I know the map isn't great but it was my first time attempting one on Photoshop and I don't have the energy to redo it)

THE NORTH
Standing Tall

The North is ruled by the family of Everwoods. The first Everwood king started as a humble farmer named Wolfen... little did he know that he would end up unintentionally starting a powerful dynasty that would rule for years.

Lucian Everwood is the eldest son of Valerie Westerling and Magnar Everwood. He was crowned at the age of twenty-five after Valerie died in childbirth and Magnar died of a festering wound. Shortly afterwards, Lucian married Adina Redwing of the North for political reasons (mainly because her father owned many lands and was training disciplined troops that Lucian wanted). He did come to love and respect Adina, however, and they had two healthy children after one miscarriage. Lucian proclaimed Thomas Everwood as his heir while Audrey Everwood, his younger daughter, was given the title of second-in-line. Although Lucian wanted another male heir to fully secure his line, Adina suffered three miscarriages and they later concluded she would not have another child as her womb had become infertile. He focused his efforts on giving his children a good education and made sure that Thomas was trained with a sword while Audrey learnt archery. Later on, Thomas was killed in the Great War and the young Audrey was given the title of heir to the Northern throne.

DECEASED BEFORE THE STORY

Magnar Everwood – usurper of the Southern throne, died of an old wound. Was the previous king of the North and South and succeeded by his eldest children, Emelyn and Lucian Everwood

Valerie Westerling – wife to Magnar, died giving birth to Azalea Everwood

Azalea Everwood – youngest of Magnar and Valerie, died of sickness at fourteen

Thomas Everwood – son to Queen Adina and King Lucian and previous heir to the Northern throne, killed during the Battle of Bloodfield Bay

Taliana Darkwood – Will's mother, deceased

Iowa Darkwood – Will's sister, died of the Blue Fever

NORTHSTONE CASTLE

King Lucian – the king

Queen Adina – his wife, the queen

Audrey Everwood – their daughter and heir

Unnamed bastard – unknown

Edison Greenborn – a nobleman

Lavinia Greenborn – his daughter

Lord Finley Bracken – an adviser and nobleman

The Hound Master – Master of the Horse and ex-soldier

Edith and Katherine – private chambermaids to Audrey

Alika Ashfield – a maid, Chege's sister

Chege Ashfield – a guard, Alika's brother

Lili Brook – a maid

Jorge, Theo, Leif – guards

Ethelind Eternel – a prisoner of war, daughter to Dinah and Reagan Eternel

William Darkwood – an archer

TyrekLongbeam – a seneschal

Clovis Barker – a cartographer

Iris Becker – a cook

ARDENSFORD CASTLE

Lady Hill – a baroness

Luella Hill – her bastard daughter

Lyndsey Hill – her youngest daughter

Aiden Seaborn – a guard

LAKEWOOD MOAT

Damek Westerling – lord of Lakewood Moat, only brother of King Lucian, a prince

Iva Rowan – lady of Lakewood Moat

Benedict Westerling – the heir

CLEARWATER CASTLE

Thomas Greywell – lord

REDBROOK CASTLE

Reagan Eternel – lord

Dinah Everwood – youngest living sister of King Lucian, a princess

Selene Eternel – youngest daughter

THE EAST

Never Yielding

The East is ruled by the Meyirs, an old family that goes back to the Development Years. The Meyirs conquered the Eastern throne over a hundred years before this story is set by starting a war with the Haedley family, the family on the throne at that time. The Meyirs prevailed, and Khari Meyir became the first Meyir king. Since the East does not hold a clear loyalty to a single king and will serve the mightiest–simply whoever can kill the current monarch on the throne– Khari was accepted without question.

His great-grandson King Adebiyi would go on to marry twice, having Damisi with his first wife and Faiza and Tamasha with his second, an ambitious woman named Thyra. She wedded Adebiyi after the death of his first wife despite a ten-year age gap between them, and it is said her parents pressured her into it as her power at court would lift them up in the world. Adebiyi's bastard daughter, Chinue, was born to a concubine who was poisoned just after Faiza's birth, rumoured to have been murdered by Thyra in cold blood. Despite being older than Tamasha, Chinue was given little claim to the throne because of her parentage; Adebiyi agreed to acknowledge her as one of his daughters, but she was made to take her mother's surname to make her position at court clear. The Meyir family remained quiet throughout the duration of the Great War, although they have been known to offer help to the Shadowharts in the past.

Meyirs have a reputation of facing hallucinations or voices, as Damisi suffers from. It is estimated that one in ten Meyirs will face madness at least once in their life, whether permanently or temporarily.

TZSARYAN CASTLE

King Adebiyi – the king

Queen Thyra – his wife, the queen

DamisiMeyir – their eldest son, gone mad and considered illegitimate for the throne

FaizaMeyir – their eldest daughter and heir

Tamasha Meyir – their youngest daughter

Chinue Juno – the king's bastard

Calhoun Aurelius – a knight of the king's retinue and ambassador

THE SOUTH

Fields of Gold

The South is the territory of the Silverlings, an extension to the family of Everwoods.

Emelyn Everwood married Lachlan Silverling at her father's request and together they lived with Lucian Everwood, who had recently become king of the North, while Magnar and Valerie ruled the South. Lachlan hungered for vast lands of his own, however, and was not content when Lucian offered the newly wed couple a castle by the sea. The avaricious Lachlan, instead, turned his sights to the Southern throne, where Magnar Everwood died without declaring a heir to the South. Valerie died shortly after, leaving the Southern throne open. After speaking to Lucian about it, he was finally given the Southern throne as long as Lucian's sister, Emelyn Everwood, could rule alongside him. This caused some anger with Damek, Lucian's other sibling, who believed that as the male he deserved precedence over the right to the throne. Lucian had always favoured Emelyn, however, and had the authority to give them such power as the only named heir of Magnar Everwood.

Lachlan would later be a part of the Great War against Kael and Xavier Shadowhart when they demanded the Southern throne as their birthright. Lucian showed little interest in the war and did not get involved apart from sending supplies to the South. It was only after fifteen years of the war when he finally joined Lachlan at the last battle and together they crushed the Shadowhart forces. Since then, Lachlan has lived peacefully with his four children. Lucian has never forgiven him for not thanking the North for their aid.

TERAVARDI CASTLE

King Lachlan – the king

Queen Emelyn – his wife, the queen

Ulysses Silverling – their son, the heir

Annalee Silvering – their daughter, a twin

Junia Silverling – their daughter, a twin

Malena Silverling – their youngest daughter

Josiah Young – a guard

James Verde – a guard

Katana Westerling – a prisoner of war, daughter of Damek Westerling

Cloud – a dog

THE WEST

Iternito Retivir

The West is the territory of King Filip. Since he has no children, he adopted Edward Braxton as his own kin, even though Edward was a Shadowhart who had been abandoned after his family had refused to pay his ransom money. The sympathetic Filip took the boy in and raised him as if he were his own child. His wife, Lynne, agreed to this, and they were content to have Edward as their equivalent to a son after they discovered that Lynne's womb was infertile. Filip is known for being close friends with his sister, Lady Lucrezia, while their brother, Destrian, is notorious for being a drunk. They gave him a castle to live in and he never asked for much so long as he could drink and deal with few responsibilities.

The West are well known for being a neutral state with a thriving economy and little crime. It runs on a partial democracy with an elected senate, even if there is still monarchy and most important decisions have to be agreed by King Filip. The people are often cheerful and did not get involved with the Great War except to trade and sell supplies to both sides when they were offered pay.

VALKITIA, THE CAPITAL

King Filip – the king

Queen Lynne – his wife, the queen

Prince Edward – an adopted son, previously a prisoner of war

Prince Destrian – Filip's brother, noted for being an alcoholic

Lady Lucrezia – Filip's sister

Leandro Westborn – head guard

Fenton 'Fox' Hobb – a blacksmith

Silas Swordsmith – a blacksmith

THE FREE ISLES

Itsursa eaf Erceda

The Free Isles are a group of three small islands set to the side of the West and named for the freedom that their people cherish. The last conflict they were involved in was the Invasion of the Isles, hundreds of years ago, when the North tried to take over. The Northerners were surprised by the response they received—the small, irrelevant islands thrashed them easily with cunning tactics and advanced technology. After that, the Free Isles incorporated the Old Tongue of the North into Xiakyaore to mock the North's failure.

It is said that King Dorian Everwood started laughing when he heard the news and travelled to the Free Isles to meet Yamamoto, their elected leader at the time, in person. He was welcomed despite his attempted invasion and was charmed by Yamamoto, who claimed she would 'kill anyone who attempted to take away their freedom'. The two sealed a trading pact and swore a truce before Dorian left, and the two states have not gone to war since. A hundred years later, The Free Isles converted from representative democracy to direct democracy.

The Isles are governed by open senates from each province where any civilian can cast a vote and debate. The islanders are known for being apart from the mainland states—they have a different religion, different tongue, and different culture. They are proud of this, however, and their people rarely leave the comfort of the isles. Anyone from the North, East, South or West can go there to trade or seek asylum, as Grace Shadowhart did during the Great War.

XIMORIA, CAPITAL

Grace Shadowhart – Kael's niece and Xavier's daughter, fled to the Free Isles during the Great War

Akina – a samurai

Gioffre Dean – an exiled thief

Hatsuko, Kagami, Emiko – Grace's ladies

OTHERS

DECEASED BEFORE THE STORY

Einar Shadowhart – previous king of the South, cast from the throne by Magnar Everwood

Xavier Shadowhart – older brother to Kael, helped to lead the Great War but was killed in the Battle of Bloodfield Bay

Vittorio Vasili – a criminal who was hung, drawn and quartered for his crimes

ALIVE

Kael Shadowhart – an exiled king

Aldric Shadowhart – his eldest son

Landon Shadowhart – his youngest son

Jaxon Fields – a soldier loyal to Kael

Asher Swan – an infantry commander

Thomas, Hendrik, Japeth, Robin, Rickard, Oakley, Laurent – men-at-arms for Kael

Jasper Northborn – a prisoner of war, taken in as a ward by Kael

Althaia Hood – a bounty hunter

Callista Lark – a fortune teller

Cassius Lark – an assassin

Adam More – a highwayman

Ox Blacksmith – a highwayman

Anastasia 'The Fish' Crassus – a thief

Erik Weaver – a prisoner of Lady Hill

Giulio Svarden – a well-known warrior and ex-criminal

Captain Baynton – a notorious pirate

Cillian Dell – a commoner, rents boats

Kathleen Dell – his granddaughter

Rowan 'Flick' Stonemason – a sailor