Chappell Vico Eli Marth

Introduction
Chappell Vico Eli Marth, born Chappell Vico Valachane and more commonly referred to simply as Vico, was a renowned Bannhurstian historian praised today as the only Bannhurstian historian whose documentation of the Binittinge Era remained intact.

Early Life
Despite Vico's attention to detail, he had never written an autobiography, supposedly expressing that autobiographies were only for the self-absorbed. Nonetheless, there had been other accounts written about Vico's life as done by those who had personally known him.

Childhood
Vico was born in 2,092 L.D Bannhurst, 24 years before the Binittinge Era had officially begun. Vico had been born into a fairly unknown House known as House Valachane, an artistic House which contributed to Bannhurst's culture with anywhere from poetry to literature. Though despite the House being rather unknown, many hypothesize that it was actually quite influential, though Vico's abandonment of the House along with the lack of documentation resulted in its apparent irrelevance.

The general consensus is that regardless of how influential House Valachane was, they nonetheless lacked the excess wealth possessed by some of the other Bannhurstian Houses. With that being said, Vico's early life was fairly modest for nobility, growing up in a two story estate tucked away in the heart of the city. Throughout Vico's childhood, the involvement his House had in the humanities had inevitably put pressure on him to adapt to this culture. However, it is said that Vico was much more analytic, forming ideas based on his surroundings rather than possessing the creativity or originality which was imperative to storytelling.

Vico was educated during his childhood at the Bannhurst Youth Academy, graduating at the age of seventeen—one year earlier than what is standard.

Becoming an Author
Though Vico's parents were fairly lenient on him and did not pressure him into pursuing authorship, Vico is said to have "sensed their disappointment", and therefore he carried an unwavering ambition to uphold the honor of House Valachane.

After graduating from Bannhurst's youth academy, the rest of his friends, many of whom would become military scientists or strategists, would go off to the Bannhurst Academy of War. This left Vico to a separate path, going off on his own to the outskirts of Bannhurst to enroll in the Bannhurst Academy of Literature (BAL) to pursue authorship as he had promised to his family he would. As a tradition in the BAL that remains to this day, every new student would be given a lecture by the provost of the university and then would be directed to gradually develop their own unique story over the years they spend within the university, the final product serving as a determinant for whether or not the student is worthy of graduation. Thus upon Vico's enrollment in 2,073 L.D, not only would he become a student but an author as well.

For the next two years, Vico had worked on a book which he would publish two years later titled "The Heists of Crediver and Wint." Despite his hard efforts though, his story had been inspired entirely by the famous Gilnean novel published around a century earlier by Waltham Folkester titled "The Earlsbury Culprit", and thus the narrative was far too similar for any sort of credibility of originality. In summary, the story covered the lives of two best friends, Crediver and Wint, and the various heists they had pulled off together. Vico, confident in his work, had first published the novel to the public before even turning it into the BAL's examiner.

Around a week after its publication, the first people to offer feedback on the book were not thrilled, assering that it was a "clear-cut emulation of The Earlsbury Culprit", or that it "lacked the mystery or originality that came with The Earlsbury Culrpit." The BAL examiner, once having finished reading the novel, had offered the same criticisms to Vico. With how strict he was on himself to strive for perfection, this left Vico utterly humiliated, burning the original novel before expelling himself from the academy rather than bothering to study any further to attempt another graduation. Most of all, Vico was embarrassed to return to his parents' estate where he expected them to disown him, finding himself "unworthy of the Valachane name" and thus bastardizing himself from the family with the unofficial removal of his surname. After abandoning the academy as well as his estate, Vico traveled aimlessly for several weeks, sleeping on park benches and using the remaining money he had on his person to buy food and water. After traveling through several dukedoms, he eventually reached the large but rather barren Dukedom of Porthcawl, a dukedom constituted mostly by rivers and forests.

The massive forest Vico would find himself in would be known as the Dravaine Forest, a beautiful region but unbefitting of nobility. After stumbling upon a small house hidden in the forest, an old man who had been living alone would be seen passed away in his bed, and after a private burial set by Vico, he would henceforth live in said house for five long years. Vico had described these five years as "the worst years of his life", offering the unsuccessful author a considerable amount of time to dwell over the failings of his life.

Becoming a Historian
Unbeknownst to Vico, during his isolation, 2,068 L.D marked the beginning of a historically significant era known as the Binittinge Era (Bih-nit-ing). The Binittinge Era would be an oligarchical era of Gilneas' history in which the Dukedom of Greymane ruling over Gilneas City would attempt to integrate all other existing dukedoms into one centralized government ruled by Greymane, whether by negotiation or force. This era was also defined by the Dukedom of Greymane's ultranationalistic ethos, Gilneas City even temporarily being renamed to "Praymon" in aspiration of the Greymane family's supposed ancestral founder of the nation, Praymal.

Two years after the start of the Binittinge Era, House Greymane had its eyes set on Bannhurst, the second largest dukedom in the nation and not far behind Praymon's population. As apart from most other dukedoms, Bannhurst in particular was resented by Greymane. Though the reason for this resentment was initially unclear, comparing the two dukedoms offered an explanation. Bannhurst had, and still has, less inequality, higher literacy rate, a rich culture known internationally, and a population that closely competed with Praymon's. With that being said, Bannhurst was an obvious threat to House Greymane's nationalistic pride and sovereignty during the Binittinge Era. Despite this resentment though, House Greymane knew that a war with Bannhurst could be costly, and so Lukespar Greymane, the first official King of Gilneas, had requested Catho Dauronnal, the Duke of Bannhurst, to the negotiation table. Bannhurst however was the dukedom that pioneered the idea of a pluralist nation, the vast majority of Bannhurstian politicians being staunch advocates of a Gilnean plurality or some even for complete sovereignty with Bannhurst as a city-state separate from the rest of the nation. With that being said, Catho had not only denied the negotiations, but proclaimed himself as the first King of a new Bannhurstian kingdom and declared war on House Greymane, asserting that his dukedom would never fall under Greymane rule.

Though despite the sudden declaration of war and sovereignty, it was almost universally supported by the Bannhurstian people, as they too were very proud of their Dukedom but simply in a different way when in contrast to Praymon. Bannhurstians were proud of how their city stood as a unique example of how well a Dukedom could be if given the opportunity. Clean streets, avant-garde culture, well-educated people, and political innovations were all characteristics of Bannhurst, and this was known throughout the entire continent. Not only that, but Catho was a man of the people, frequently seen on the streets gathering the opinions of the general populace as to how he should rule. With that being said, his sudden self-proclamation as the king of a new Bannhurstian kingdom was widely supported, and the people put a great deal of trust in his decision to go to war.