Welcome to The Exile Series!
As the author, I want to thank you for stumbling onto this page. If you keep reading, I hope you’ll continue to stumble into the historical fiction series set in the Bulgarian Empire during the mid-9th century. Exile is not an essay nor entirely academically accurate–this is an adventure story, with fictional characters, or characters based off of real historical people. This is purely my imagination and research. It is meant to be read for entertainment and will be entirely free to read and enjoy. I plan on keeping it that way. New chapters will be posted at least once a month. Some months will be more productive than others–be patient with me, woes of a writer. A few notes: the story is meant for mature readers. There is graphic violence, language, and sexuality. Discretion is advised.
Use the Category Archives section at the bottom of this page to navigate to specific parts and chapters, or click on the desired page above and then on specific chapters.
Without further ado, I give you: Exile.
-Natalie Kreider, Author
EXILE: General Introduction
“Exile” is based off true historical events:
During the mid-9th century, commonly known as the Medieval Era, Southeastern Europe is ruled by the Bulgarian Empire. Rival countries such as the Empire of Byzantine to the south, and Serbia from the west, fight over the unclaimed Balkan land between them. The Bulgaria-Serbia wars of 840 CE light a fuse for the beginnings of a three-way, bloody war.
In the year 839 CE, the Bulgarians are losing the war with Serbia. Prince Vlastimir, the young ruler of Serbia, annihilates the Bulgarian battalions in the battle of Macedonia. Using militia instead of horsemen in the rocky Moesia plans, the Serbs had terrain advantage and weakened the Bulgarian army, claiming the western half of the empire. The Danube kingdom, and the Bulgaria capitol city of Sardica, was under threat.
Suspicion of treachery and conspiracy with their rivals plagued the Bulgarians. The Bulgarian King, Khan Boris I, converted his empire to the early Christian faith in an effort to bring peace. Many Bulgarian people, suspected of betrayal and conspiracy with Serbia, were unrightfully sentenced to death under Boris’s righteous reign. Transylvania, an unclaimed Romanian wilderness in the heart of the Balkan Mountains, was the only safe refuge for fleeing innocents.
Corruption infests the Bulgarian royalty—Boris has six daughters, five illegitimate, all of whom he makes his wives. Queen Anastasia, his first and non-incest wife, is the mother of only two children: Gavril, Boris’s deceased son, and Pavla, the youngest princess. After the death of her son in the battle of Macedonia, the Queen becomes deathly ill. Boris, meanwhile, fumes over the loss of Prince Gavril, the only heir to the Bulgarian throne, and frets over which daughter will bear his next son.
Princess Pavla, an exceptionally beautiful woman of eighteen, has high status in the Bulgarian court. In secret, she mastered the art of the sword and war politics. She struggles to keep the Bulgarian Empire afloat, especially when her father only follows the advice of his snakelike hand, Sir Bogdon. For years, she has evaded the poisonous incest infecting her half-sisters, but her chastity drives King Boris mad. He becomes obsessed with the idea of forcing her to be his seventh wife, convinced she will be the one to bear his son.
The Empire of Byzantine is powered by Constantinople, the most powerful capitol in the world. King Omurtag, the fresh new Byzantine king, still mourns over the loss of his honorable father. He is determined to follow in his father’s mighty footsteps and fight off the Slavic invasions, take over Crete, and keep peace with Serbia and Bulgaria. His wife, the Queen Euphrosyne, is with child, and his teenage daughter, Princess Ariadne, has been offered two marriage proposals: one, to Serbia, the other, to a Turkish Prince. Ariadne defies her father by running off with a poor servant boy.
Serbia, during the war, is subdivided into three united provinces: Duklja, Raska, and Kingdom of Serbia. Sir Dragomir causes problems in the court of Prince Vlastimir of Duklja. A lifelong friendship between Dragomir and Vlastimir is destroyed—differing opinions on the Bulgaria-Siberia wars, and the battle over a Serbian woman, the voluptuous Desislava, turn them against each other. Desislava, won over by Dragomir’s charms, chose him over the Prince. Vlastimir, desperately in love with Desislava, fears Dragomir’s infamous reputation to subjugate the women he courts. Attempting to deceive Dragomir, Prince Vlastimir offers his friend a marriage to the Byzantine Princess, in efforts to unite Serbia and Byzantium, as well as claim Desislava for his own.
Dragomir refuses.
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Bulgarians:
King Boris I-Queen Anastasia
-Prince Gavril (deceased)
-Princess Pavla
Sir Bogdon (Boris’s hand)
Fidanka (Pavla’s handmaid)-Histro (Bulgarian soldier)
Serbians:
Prince Vlastimir
Sir Dragomir
Lady Desislava
Nerbojsa (Serbian general)
Byzantines:
King Omurtag-Queen Euphrosyne
-Princess Ariadne
-Prince Belisarius
Nicholas
General Petronas
Other characters:
Yasen Drobomir (Slavic King)
Zora (Slavic girl)
Sel (Turkish Prince)
The Exile Series 