By the time Vojnomir, the second son of King Stephen II of Croatia, of Dalmatia and of Neretvia had taken the reins of the weakened nation, isolation became the flavour of the day within the realm. The reign of his predecessor left far too many wounds and cracks of the War of the Kinsmen unattended. The festering, gangrenous things had, thus, largely evaded the royal court's attentive attempts at cleansing them. Whether it was for the courtiers' general lack of ability or care for these matters, it is up to debate even to this day. What is certain, however, is that Vojnomir had not seen a Ban rule alongside his king for any longer than three summers ever since Božetjeh's death, only half a dozen moon cycles before his own father's.
Mayhaps it was a curse meant to punish his grandfather's kin for his own misgivings and uncouth deeds, mayhaps it rather depended on the quality, or lack thereof of the persons that the King himself had appointed. What is quite certain, however, is which one of these thoughts Vojnomir had favoured.
Though it is unclear whether or not Vojnomir had taken the reins of power peacefully upon his kinsman's passing, what is straightforward is that it had all occurred on a cold winter's day, where the heavy snowfall menacingly overshadowed the Sun itself and made for the most frigid Sun cycle in living memory – surely a sign of things to come.
Much like the rumours following his unfeeling person, Vojnomir's children had likely suffered from the same relations that Vojnomir would pressure his new courtiers into. Nevertheless, each and every one of them, six women and one man, would later in their lives openly admit that they greatly respected the kind of upbringing present at Vojnomir's seat of Mokro during his tenure as the Headman of the Neretva and later at Knin as he remained regent for the three young brothers left behind by their late kingly father.
The eldest daughter of Vojnomir was Zima. Born during one of the harshest winters in Croatia during her grandfather Stephen II's rule, she would retain the reserved, cold visage her father had crafted for himself before. Her cunning nature was immediate from the start, for she always found new ways of attaining the things she had desired from people all around her, whether they were her siblings or Vojnomir's closest advisers at court.
Rosa, Vojnomir and Maslenica of Neretvia's second daughter, was birthed just as the short-lived king passed away and the claimants made their moves to conquer the throne of Croatia for themselves. During the War of the Kinsmen, Vojnomir was tasked with defending his County against the Venetian onslaught, as the Golden Lion lay waste on island after island of Dalmatia while the Kinsmen murdered each other. As the Venetians attempted to attack Neretvia, Vojnomir held them back, but one man cannot hope to save an entire kingdom all on his own.
As the islands finally fell to Venice, Doge Ottone proclaimed an important victory and the War of the Kinsmen was brought to its unceremonious conclusion, Vojnomir's third daughter was birthed – Vojislava. Despite her wholly inapt name and symbolism behind it, it still remained a testament to the resolve of the Neretvians and of Vojnomir's character, for the bubbling resentment he felt toward the new eastern Adriatic hegemon was palpable, his dry humour and cynical wit ever stronger at every mention of them during court proceedings.
Despite all his closest male relatives staking out their own claims for the throne of Croatia at the beginning of the War, Vojnomir made none at all, his duty and the promise of his grandfathers still ringing true to him. Unfortunately for the Konduran Tribe, the Headman of the Neretva made himself a persona non grata in the eyes of any winning claimant that was to take the Klis Fortress for themselves, as his perceived inability to choose sides made a lot of men deem his actions as nothing less than treason.
Vojnomir Konduran brooding in his solar in Mokro
During the reign of the Kinsmen's War winner, Vojnomir's wife gave him two more daughters – Dubravka and Domaslava. Yet, even after siring five children, the God Above seemed to have mocked Vojnomir, for he still had no male heir to his name nor his holdings. Deacon Adam of the Monastery of Saint Bartholomew in Mokro cites this as the main reason why Vojnomir's relations with his daughters were
laconically fond during the best of times, and
incomprehensibly distant during the worst. In 1045 the King passed, though not before inviting Vojnomir to have an audience with him for the first time since the War.
During this meeting, the King was thought to have written a letter bearing the royal seal in which Vojnomir's actions in the war were reaffirmed, and he was duly appointed regent until Trpimir's eldest son Miroslav reached his majority. This is also believed to be the first time that Vojnomir had earnestly smiled, for his whole life's work, once insulted and believed unworthy of his stature and name now stood respected and tall, and he took this duty with open arms and a welcoming determination.
Just as his predecessor released his last breaths on this Earth, Vojnomir's sixth daughter was born. Utjeha, as her name suggested, was meant to bring solace to the people of the isolated realm, though empty gestures such as those did not really endear the regent to anyone but his most loyal men. Nevertheless he trudged on, resolute and undeterred in his duties.
Save for putting down a revolt of tree-worshipping pagans in the County of Pset, Vojnomir's reign was not one of outstanding achievements. Wroth with tragedy and his self-imposed isolation of the kingdom at large, his rule in Miroslav's stead is still counted by many within the so-called Dark Age, where loneliness and inability to project power seemed to have plagued Croatia and nigh brought it to ruin.
In 1049, during one of the royal hunting parties in the woods around Knin, Vojislava passed away upon being struck by an arrow through her skull by one of her servants. Despite it being deemed an accident by all who attended, Vojnomir was shaken with grief, though many believed he more deemed it an affront to his family's name than anything closer to losing a loved one. He ordered the servant's arrest and during the poor man's stay in the chambers of one of the darkest cells in Knin, Vojnomir is thought to have flayed the man with a dulled knife. The screams, some say, still ring out in the forests around Knin, though whether the screams are the servants or Vojislava's, none know, nor are there any who find it worth their luck to find out.
By 1050, Vojnomir began to suffer from the same illness as his predecessor. Feeling himself getting weaker with each passing day, he ordered his family be moved from the royal capital in Knin to Mokro. None may know why he decided to do so, as his detractors believe he intended to usurp the throne from Miroslav, who he deemed a dangerous man unable to shake his bodily vices, and to put Miroslav's younger brother on the throne, a much calmer and more controlled man by nature. Nevertheless, during the winter of that same year, Vojnomir would pass away without as much as a last will, and thus leave the running of the realm to Miroslav.
Meanwhile, the dying Vojnomir knew not that his wife of past twenty-something summers was pregnant once more, though her age did seem to present a problem for her and the doctors at the Neretvian court, as she found the bearing of her seventh child to be a far more difficult task than any of her previous daughters. Many attributed this to her advanced age, and fear of bearing a stillborn for the second time in her life brought Maslenica and her remaining daughters unimaginable weariness and pain.
The next year, when spring already began to wrest the nature away from winter, Maslenica brought the child to the world, though none knew just what that would entail. The daughter of the former nobleman of Neretvia would die with the child half-way outside, and the doctors cut her stomach to force the seventh child of Vojnomir the Protector outside on Zima's orders. In the end, the child would be a male, though none of it mattered now, as it would meet neither of his parents. Zima and her four sisters named the child Radovan, as a hopeful sign of good things that would come from this.
With her mother gone, Zima took up the role of Radovan's regent, intending to raise her brother the same way her father had done with her all those years ago. In spite of these sanguine thoughts, on Radovan's second birth-day his regent received word of her sister Dubravka passing away, apparently having drowned at sea whilst returning from a trip to Brač and visiting a potential candidate for betrothal.
Zima during the regency for Radovan
The Lecher's reign turned out to be a far greater tragedy than that of his father's, and the consequences of it could be felt as far away as Neretvia in the southeast. Regent Zima, on the other hand, continued raising Radovan with her sisters' assistance, and according to many, after a decade having passed following Vojnomir's death, Zima would enter secret talks with Mihajlo Slavijan, Miroslav's younger brother. For a few years it was not known what the talks would amount to, but upon the raising of Mihajlo Slavijan's banners in open rebellion in 1064 Anno Domini, many finally became certain.
The rebellion was rather hasty, having lasted for seven moon cycles before Miroslav II's corpse was prostrated upon the floor of the palace at Knin before Mihajlo Slavijan's feet. The subsequent coronation was attended by all the nobles throughout the realm who had sided with Mihajlo Slavijan, now Michael II Slavijan, including Zima, Rosa, Domaslava, Utjeha and Radovan representing the victorious Konduran Tribe, while those who surrendered were allowed to watch from the furthest corners of the large audience.
During the time of Michael II's ushering of reforms, Zima slowly gave more and more power to her youngest sibling and brother, thus relinquishing her influential position of regent, but just as Radovan had officially reached his majority, Michael II Slavijan called his banners once more – this time to reclaim Venice. Radovan sought to go, but Zima refused to even consider it, fearing the potential developments if he were to die somewhere on the desolate rocks and islands of Dalmatia. Instead, her sisters Rosa and Domaslava, most impulsive and warmongering of late Vojnomir's brood, were sent as assurances of loyalty to the great reformer-king.
Rosa would return triumphant from the war, though Domaslava would not be as fortunate. During the reclaiming of Rab island, Domaslava was cut down during an ambush in one of the dense, black forests found there, while Rosa would receive a nasty cut across her whole face, blinding her in one eye and rendering her
one of the ugliest creatures one should ever have called a woman, if Deacon Elias of the Monastery of Saint Bartholomew's word is anything to go by.
Zima remained one of Radovan's most trusted advisers, and she is, even after her passing, deemed the most important person behind Radovan's successful marriage to Slavomira of the newly elevated Goryan Tribe (
Gorjanski in the tongue of the Slavs), now the Headmen of the County of Livno after Michael's Rebellion. Mostly, though, her actions behind the scenes also made her one of the most dangerous and influential women in the realm's history, almost as close as Helena the Glorious, the mother of her great grandfather.
Rosa, after her participation in the Dalmatian War, retired to her husband's castle at Stori Grod on Hvar island, helping him raise their two healthy daughters and spreading her fierce and independent nature on both of them. She would pass away around 1079 Anno Domini, purportedly from the sweating sickness.
Utjeha decided to stick close to both Zima and Radovan, happily helping them with the Kondurans' county's affairs, and in spite of it all, her loyalty to her brother remains ever high and present. In 1090, Zima would pass away in her sleep, leaving behind her grief-stricken sister, as well as her brother Radovan. The Konduran Headman of the Neretva, upon finding out about her death, ordered a month of mourning at his court in Mokro, with everyone having to wear black uniforms during the proceedings and insubordination being punished with whipping.
Earliest known coat of arms of the Konduran Tribe, c. 1090s
In the present, Radovan remains a well-respected man, his influence and control of the County of Neretvia making the Konduran Tribe synonymous with the pirating Paganian realm of yore. His two children, son Družak and daughter Jelena, are also attempting to make a name for themselves in the ever-evolving world of politics and cutthroat medieval relations. None are certain as to what aspirations for the throne of Croatia Radovan truly holds, if he does have any at all, but with Cresimir III slowly withering away, it may be possible that the Kondurans will, for once in their existence, go against the promises and duties bestowed upon them by their forefathers, and make a claim on the throne they had vowed never to take.
