Elwin Grest

Elwin Grest III is the leader of the Empire of Yaleakasardia, colloquially known as the Grest Empire, styling himself as the Emperor of Yaleakasardia, since the 1,200^th year of the Storm.

A member of House Grest formerly prominent in Larendor, Grest ascended to lordship of Pennetine County in the 1,178^th year of the Storm at the age of 10 following the death of his father, Elwin Grest II. At age 12 after ruling for two years, Grest disappeared, leading him to be thought dead and the lordship of Pennetine empty since he had sired no heirs.

In the 1,185^th year of the Storm, Grest reappeared in Western Yaleakasardia, leading a Barbarian host that he used to conquer much of central Yaleakasardia, including the Kingdom of Yeowendia in the Imperial Wars. Throughout the myriad conflicts, Grest recruited a sizable army of former deserters and mercenaries loyal to him before being abandoned by his Barbarian host in the 1,196^th year of the Storm.

By this time, much of the central part of the continent had been effectively consolidated under his rule. In the 1,200^th year of the Storm, Grest crushed the last of the Yeowendian resistance in the Siege of Fort Crisus, and returned to Yaleakasard where he declared himself the "emperor of all of Yaleakasardia".

Despite his grandiose claim of dominion over the rest of the continent, Grest has never achieved any larger territorial claims. He fought a short war that ended in defeat with the Golden Coast between the 1,205^th and 1,206^th years of the Storm, and began a drawn-out war with the Brauro River tribes in the 1,215^th year of the Storm that has not yet ended. During the 11 Years of War, his empire lost large swathes of territory due to an independence revolution in Graris and another in Kirnen. Shortly following the 11 Years of War's conclusion, Yeowendia and the Republic of Rhone rebelled against his rule beginning in the 1,252^nd year of the Storm.