#and his decisions already cursed the fate of the Empire in the lycaon half nabatean AU

[randomnameless]

WoH headcanon?

Uh...

Checking some lines about Hubert and House Vestra -

Hubert, in his Hanneman support, is really pissed about his Father, and how he betrayed 1100 years of loyalty and devotion to House Hresvelg.

(so much about nobility based on merit and family lines not being relevant, Hubert is pissed that his Father didn’t do... what his family was supposed to do?)

In the Library, House Vestra was also said to have been there since the Dawn of the Empire, acting in House Hresvelg’s shadow and, amongst other thing, taking care of, ceremonies, rituals, “darker tasks” and the Imperial harem since the “Dawn of the Empire”.

Does this also means Willy had a harem?

If Seiros was around and the CoS ultra besties with Adrestia, I don’t see why House Vestra should take care of ceremonies, if the Church is already there -

Unless House Vestra and Vestra 1 put a lot of importance on Adrestia being a separate entity from the CoS, and instead of letting the CoS organise the ceremonies, House Vestra coordinated the CoS and the Enbarr’s officials to perform ceremonies?

Now, for the fodlan nonsense, Vestra I stuff :

He was a slave who was "bought" by Willy's family, since might makes right in the back then Fodlan, Vestra 1 was caught on a Dagdan ship and enslaved.

Willy befriended him regardless of his supposed "inferiority" being a slave (to foreshadow how he won't freak out when a lady with pointy ears will pop up).

Vestra 1 helped Willy become one of the most important lords of Enbarr, which made Willy wonder why Vestra 1 was a slave and by nature "inferior" to the citizens of Enbarr if he has that much talent/with/smarts, shouldn't he get a place and a status based on his abilities instead of his birth?

(muhritocracy)

Of course Vestra 1 being the brains of the duo told him not to associate with the "Seiros sect of whatever" but we all know how it ended.

After the general massive hangover following the founding of the Empire, Vestra 1 started to think about the administrative and political and “complicated” stuff Willy - dumb as bricks Willy - being an Emperor entailed.

First, to support his Empire, he will need strong allies.

He has already “befriended” many women around, and even had kids with them!

Amongst his “lady friends”, he has a Princess of Palmyra, the daughter of one the strongest clansmen in Bridget, and a popular Dagdan merchant!

Now, Palmyra has the largest armed forces to protect the nascent Empire from the rest of the world, but Dagda’s naval forces can be used to secure Enbarr as a harbor, but also to secure their coasts, but with Bridget’s ressources, they could assure food income for several years, instead of only relying on the Gronder fields (if they lose it, Enbarr, no, Adrestia, will starve!).

So the usual plan is to make the most profitable ally his official wife, and name their child heir of the Empire, this way Adrestia will be backed up by an existing and powerful force !

Previsibly, everything fails when Willy says Seiros is really pretty (and she’s strong, and she helped him, and they really get along, and he really wants to help her! But to Vestra 1 who knew Willy for several years now, the “really pretty” is he's sure, the argument that convinced Willy.).

“Reconsider, I’m talking about Adrestia here. And Seiros wants to war against Nemesis! Will you throw Adrestia in her war?”

“Yes?”

Thus Vestra 1 created the “Vestra coffee”, because he needed something really strong to support Willy’s “opinions”, but it was a disgusting drink, just something “strong” (coffee beans from Dagda and the worst bacchus he could find).

After several “Vestra coffees”, Vestra 1 thought the child argument - and the forces a possible union could bring to Adrestia - would maybe hit the point home, Willy could still “befriend” Seiros from times to times, but they’re talking about politics here.

“With the child, the countries will be forced to support Adrestia, with men, weapons, ships, food and whatever else! The two countries will be united, and later on, Adrestia will come out on top! Seiros already supports Adrestia, there’s no need to force her to do so through an union!”

Willy seemed to be thinking, which made Vestra 1 happy, is he finally starting to think with his brain??

“Why force them though, can’t we just ask for weapons and all? Besides, if you’re worried, the kids we’re going to have will be super powerful too, they will be half dragons!”

20 minutes later, after Vestra 1 “pinky promised” to never reveal the truth about Seiros’s secret, Vestra 1 ran to Saint Macuil, begging him for help because his Emperor is decidely way too stupid, and he can’t deal with it anymore. 

Vestra 1 died from a liver defect and heart attack - too many Vestra coffees - but made his heirs swear to serve the Hresvelgs, because “dumb as they are they will destroy Adrestia in 3 days without their support”, begging the Goddess to save his descendants from his fate, serving a foolish Emperor.

Only Hubert’s dad interpreted his glorious ancestor’s words as “prioritize Adrestia over the Hresvelg if the Hresvelg is going to destroy it”, but Hubert followed the telephoned version of “support House Hresvelg whatever they do”.