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During the years following the Arthurian Empire's fall various Kingdoms rose up in its place.
One was Elmet in what is today the West Riding of Yorkshire. Celts by ethnicity, the people of Elmet struggled from the very beginning of their Kingdom to survive against the onslaught of the Saxons and Angles.
In 720 AD, twenty years after the Kingdom's founding, Ceretic of Elmet sent his greatest General and younger brother, Arken, against the Kingdom of Deira after the Angles attempted an invasion a year before.
Invading Deira, Arken burnt villages and killed hundreds until entering the Vale of York where, due to a spy in the Elmet army, the Celts were ambushed at the supposedly friendly village of Olagan, where the Angle warriors slaughtered the greater portion of their army.
Arken himself was severely wounded and left for dead, but managed to survive the massacre.
Returning to Elmet Arken designed and built a Crossbow capable of firing bolts at great distances, and vowed to hunt down the spy.
Leaving his brother's protection the General hunted the man for two years across Deira until finally finding him in the city of York in a tavern drinking his problems away.
Arken stood at the doorway, loaded his Crossbow, and skewered the traitor through the chest.
The Elmet Prince did not long survive after gaining his revenge, killed by city guards while trying to escape.
Arken's death sealed Elmet's fate. In 724 Edwin of Northumbria invaded, killing Ceretic in battle and absorbing Elmet into his Kingdom.