Aranast Aragis's Son was the oldest of several sons of Aragis the Archer and was heir apparent to his father's kingdom. When the Elabonian Empire returned to the Northlands and attempted to subdue Gerin's kingdom by force, reverting it to its earlier feudal state of a barony, Aragis placed Aranast in command of the army which held the kingdom's southern border against the imperials while the king himself traveled alone to Balser Debo's Son's keep. There he met with his fellow Northlander king, Gerin the Fox. The two kings had been on the verge of going to war over Gerin's acceptance of Balser's oath of fealty. Aragis proposed that, since the imperials provided both of them with an even greater threat than each posed to the other, they leave aside the issue of Balser's fealty for a time and