Description

Personality

Serious and mindful of his duty is certainly one way to describe the King. Certainly anyone who has seen him mediate disputes in the Sun Court or soothe the High Council over a difficult course of action would agree with that.

Those who see him buried in a mountain of books or deep in scholarly discourse with academics from a wide range of disciplines would claim him to be intellectual and open-minded.

His weapons master would claim him bumbling and incompetent, the lords and ladies of his court all agree he’s polite – and probably that he’s playing some Machiavellian game with them all that they haven’t even begun to figure out yet – and the townsfolk in Korona generally say he’s got his head screwed on straight.

He is fond of gourmet food – especially seafood – fine wines and brandy perhaps a little too much, and loves a fine celebration or an excuse to throw a ball. The streets of Korona are often brightened by festival and song and the arts enjoy a renaissance under his patronage. He is also an avid collector of jewellery, and the royal collection is appropriately vast, given the wealth he has to indulge his passion.

On the other hand, foreign diplomats sometimes regard him as a sly snake whom they’re never quite sure of, rebels and border lords in the far reaches of the country think him unstable and unsuitable to rule – whether for some injustice (perceived or actual) or because his style of governance doesn’t fit their expectations, and naturally whenever the tax collectors come around he’s not particularly popular.

Equipment

When not out in dangerous areas (something which his Guard tries to keep him from and generally succeeds; he’s not stupid, after all) and not at one of the great functions – the Sun Court, for example – he wears a fairly simple diadem of gold and purple tanzanites that has been worked to provide a measure of protection from assassination at a distance. Most of the rest of his wardrobe – finely-made silks in elaborate patterns, often with gems or gold embroidery (Theolian has a taste for sartorial elegance, after all) is also ensorcelled in some manner or another, usually with cantrips for protection and health, misdirection and turning.

Rings flash from his fingers – the Royal Seal of the Realm, used to append his royal assent to laws and letters patent – the signet ring that is his right as the head of House Mereille bearing the rearing gryphon that is their crest, and several other jewelled rings, mostly bearing purple tanzanites (the royal colours being purple and gold) or dark pigeon’s blood rubies.

Many of these rings hold power, in one form or another, for Theolian to call upon when necessary – which should hopefully be never, but the King is no fool and likes to be prepared.

When entering a dangerous area (for example, when on procession throughout the realm) or (more likely) when reviewing the military, he wears an elaborate – although not more so than any of his generals - set of plate armour augmented to be light and flexible – he’d hardly be able to move in it otherwise. He eschews the crowned helmet, too, preferring a standard one drawn from the military stores. His philosophy is that all his elite guards know him anyway, and better a general’s ransom if he’s captured than a king’s.

Abilities:

• Silver-tongued. The House of Mereille has long produced some of the finest diplomats in the realm, and Theolian lives up to this proud tradition and has honed it through his years of statecraft.

• Powerful magician. One of the strongest talents, it has led to his unofficial epithet of the Mage-King. His particular brand of magic is orthographic in nature – he either has to write the effects (to produce a more powerful spell) or envisage them as words in his head to be able to bend reality to his will.

• Cunning. No-one survives very long at the pointed end of politics without at least a measure of cunning – and given his relatively trouble-free reign thus far, Theolian has been blessed in this regard. Of course, this could also be due to a relatively competent council and Court.

History

d’Mereille was born into the pinnacle of luxury as the heir presumptive to House Mereille and Avalonia’s crown. Korona is his city and he knows it very well, having watched it from the windows of the Royal Palace every day of his life – even if he isn’t able to explore it as fully as he might like.

As the Coronet Regal and Princeps Avalonia, from a young age Theolian knew that Avalonia – for all her vast reach and the power of her magitechnology – was less of a melting-pot of races than a powder-keg, and it was only through constant application of careful diplomacy, tact, gold and the occasional magitech-augmented sword when the situation called for it that House Mereille kept the country from falling apart into clusters of warring estates or divided along racial lines.

He was, quite naturally, tutored by the finest his father was able to source from across Avalonia’s vast lands – in statecraft and diplomacy, economics and the darker discipline of espionage - and still maintains a healthy interest in learning – Castle Korona’s library and the institute of learning attached to it is famed throughout the country and some way beyond. In this, at least, he far exceeded his father’s expectations, which somewhat made up for his lack of proficiency in certain areas of weaponry.

While a sword is, of course, a kingly weapon, Theolian’s weaponry instructors despaired of him ever attaining proficiency with it. Unlike his father, Theolian never managed any real level of skill with a longsword, and given his build a broadsword or greatsword was out of the question. A poisoned throwing-knife or a foreshortened estoc is perhaps the weapon he’s most comfortable with in terms of steel, but his mainstay is his powerful magic, augmented by the multitude of magitechnological items he always has on his person – displayed rather spectacularly one day in the castle practice courts when the young Coronet Regal bounced his fencing instructor around for half an hour before letting up.

In any case, as the heir and later the King, Theolian has always had his Royal Guard on hand to deal with threats to his person in the form of rebels and assassins stupid enough to try when he wasn’t alone.

When Theolian was twenty-four, his father perished (peacefully, unusual for a d’Mereille) in his bed in the royal castle and without the Coronet Regal’s assistance. The transition was fairly swift and orderly – the old king had been in a long period of decline and for all but the most significant of public functions and duties Theolian had replaced him – from High Council meets to the Sun and Eclipse Courts themselves – and after the usual period of mourning across the country, Theolian’s coronation as the twenty-seventh King Avalonia since the country was founded took place in the royal city’s cathedral, with nary a dissenting voice (those few who hadn’t been swayed by Theolian’s diplomacy and tact were brought into line with some of the d’Mereille wealth and promises of power.)

Since then, the King has worked to keep his country together and to see it thrive and take its dominant throne in the land. His Royal Guard are a well-trained and efficient force that, aside from the units assigned to the protection of Castle Korona and his person, perform many peacekeeping duties out in the countryside.