Usuaria:Truthwatch3r/Coalition

{{group
|founder=[[Dalinar Kholin]]
|leaders=[[Dalinar Kholin]], [[Navani Kholin]], [[Jasnah Kholin]], [[Fen Rnamdi]], [[Yanagawn]], [[Taravangian]] <small>(formerly)</small>
|hq=[[Urithiru]]
|era=[[True Desolation]]
|world=Roshar
|universe=[[Cosmere]]
|books=[[The Stormlight Archive]]
}}

The coalition of monarchs is a coalition of several nations on Roshar dedicated to opposing Odium's forces in the True Desolation. Founded by Dalinar Kholin after the Battle of Narak, it currently consists of Urithiru, Alethkar, Thaylenah, Azir and its member states, and Herdaz, though Alethkar and Herdaz are occupied by the Fused. Prior to Taravangian's betrayal, it also includes Jah Keved and Kharbranth.

History

Founding (1174)

“It's just so big, son. How can I unite all of Roshar when I’ve never even visited many of these kingdoms? ”

—Dalinar to Renarin

Dalinar Kholin was inspired to create the coalition of monarchs after the Battle of Narak when reviewing one of Honor's visions with the Stormfather. After seeing a massive figure bathed in golden light with nine shadows, Dalinar was imbued with a sense of urgency to unite the nations of Roshar. From his new home in Urithiru, Dalinar discussed with his family how to begin approaching the other nations. He and Shallan formed a three dimensional map out of Stormlight, giving Dalinar the leap in inspiration he needed to decide to focus on the kingdoms and cities with Oathgates first.

First to Respond

With this decided, Dalinar assembled a small team to help him: Aladar and his daughter May, Navani, Kalami, Teshav Khal, and two of Teshav's senior wards. The first ruler they reached out to was Yanagawn, the emperor of Makabak and king of Azir. He and his advisors, on the other end of a spanreed, rebuffed every invitation to visit Urithiru, admitted they were negotiating with the newly awakened singers, and claimed that their Oathgate was nonfunctional. They broke off communication abruptly when Dalinar began speaking more forcefully. The Thaylens next signaled readiness to communicate via their spanreed. Queen Fen herself conversed with the group, bluntly asking after Dalinar's true intentions. She also refused to come to Urithiru and even denied Dalinar's offer to send troops to help her rebuild Thaylen City from the destruction left by the Everstorm. The group next approached the rulers of Yezier and Tashikk but received nothing very encouraging from either of them. However, King Taravangian sent a message accepting his invitation and saying that he and one of his Radiants would arrive at a later date via the Oathgate in Jah Keved. The queen of Iri wrote back to Dalinar one day while he was sparring with Kadash, and Navani scribed for him while he fought. The queen reported that the ruling triumvirate had agreed to side with the Voidbringers. Positing that the Kholins had stolen Evi's Shardplate, she categorically refused to listen to Dalinar unless he wanted to return the set of Plate. Aside from those rulers, Dalinar's team reached out to several others. Neither Marabethia nor Rira responded; Babatharnam was evasive; the other Makabaki states were waiting for Azir to decide; Shinovar sent congratulations but no real answer; and the Reshi Isles and other small states didn't really have a leader to contact. The Herdazians didn't trust Dalinar, and the Tukari scribes delayed in bringing Dalinar's message to their god-king, Tezim. The team spoke with Queen Fen and the Azish multiple other times but made no headway. New Natanan was evasive at first as well but then began to warm up.

Taravangian and his retinue were the first to visit Urithiru. They asked after the presence of other monarchs, and Dalinar was forced to admit that he had so far failed to recruit any others. As they spoke, in fact, Tezim sent them a strong message dissuading them from ever thinking of him as an ally. Taravangian assumed that Dalinar meant to conquer the other nations, despite his efforts to explain that he meant to win them over with diplomacy. With Taravangian's presence in the tower, Dalinar called for a meeting with his original team, the group from Jah Keved, Elhokar, and the Alethi highprinces to discuss expanding the coalition. They focused on Thaylenah and Azir as the most important allies. Dalinar deduced from what they knew of the enemy's movements that they were indeed trying to capture the Oathgates and predicted that they would attack Azir or Jah Keved next. After the meeting was interrupted, the group received Azir's decisive answer: a resolution to seal off and destroy their Oathgate. Teshav contacted Queen Fen again at Dalinar's request, but the queen also made one last refusal to join.

Visions

Dalinar discovered that the Stormfather could bring others into Honor's visions to meet with him, resulting in a series of face-to-face interviews with some of the reluctant monarchs. He brought Queen Fen into the Starfalls vision, and after the action was over, the two of them spoke. Fen explained her mistrust of Dalinar, drawing a parallel to Sadees. This provoked an outburst from Dalinar; his passion began to convince her in a way that his previous diplomatic efforts had not, and he saw that he was starting to make progress with her. Indeed, she asked to visit a vision by herself at the next highstorm.

Dalinar met with Yanagawn next in the vision of the Day of Recreance. He, too, was fearful of Dalinar largely because of Sadees' actions in the past. Dalinar countered his arguments, but the conversation ended prematurely with Lift's inexplicable arrival. He brought Yanagawn there again during another highstorm, and they had a frank conversation about the viziers' opinion of Dalinar and Yanagawn feeling like just a puppet of theirs. Yanagawn left, but then Odium appeared in the vision to speak with Dalinar. Having spied on that conversation, Lift emerged at the end and told him that she would convince Yanagawn to visit Urithiru.

Visit to Thaylen City

Queen Fen agreed to let Dalinar, Taravangian, and a small company from Urithiru activate the Oathgate in Thaylen City and come visit. Realizing that though he was making progress with Fen herself, he also had to win over the merchant and naval factions of the city, Dalinar organized a duel with her son. He allowed the young man to stab him, healing the wound with Stormlight and proclaiming to the watching crowd that he really did come in peace. However, it was his labor to rebuild the temple of Talenelat and the healing done by the hastily summoned Renarin that finally convinced Fen to join the coalition.

War Efforts

OB: Thaylen Field RoW (1175): evac of Hearthstone + the Mink; Shadesmar; Emul

Politics

Most of the nations initially resisted forming a coalition out of distrust of the Alethi and because of Dalinar's personal reputation.

Drama prior to Thaylen Field re: eila stele; Dalinar's desire to reclaim Alethkar (wanted to recover Kholinar before stepping down as highprince and becoming highking, per OB 58 - left issue hanging so Tarav could exploit it); Taravangian's betrayal

Notes

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