The Santhran Lysmarin Hammerfeld

The Santhran Lysmarin Hammersfled

Overview
Lysmarin was the illegitimate son of the Santhran Lysarian and the Graveness Mariama of Thyslan. He was born in the year 228 a.S., in the estates of Thyram of Herstengrad, the Graven of Cadoth. Lysmarin was the consequence of a tryst between Mariama, who was Thyram's niece, and the incumbent Santhran Lysarian who had been incapacitated by a collapsed bridge on his way south from a visit to Milkengrad. Whilst Lysmarin was publicly acknowledged by his father, Lysarian spent much of his reign travelling to the far-flung corners of his kingdom with the intention of nurturing relations between the provinces and easing any tension between their tentative premiers. Whilst the accomplishments of the Santhran Lysarian during these years were critical to the rapid advancement of the Kingdom of Santharia, it meant his neglected son had scarce opportunity to meet his father whilst growing up.

The subsequent reign of Lysmarin Hammerfeld was a privately tumultuous one. For the many peoples of Santharia his reign was fruitful, peaceful, prosperous and a time of great restoration and craftsmanship, with widespread patronage of the arts. However, for the rigid, disapproving royal court of New-Santhala, and for the house of Hammerfeld and especially for Lysmarin himself, it was a period of greatl hardship. For much of his youth, Lysmarin had made a habit of antagonizing the most powerful men of the land, a bitter specter that followed him to his throne and long after. It is a testament to Lysmarin’s intelligence and moral character that the three decades of his reign, from the year 267 a.S. to 300 a.S., are often recorded as simply another period of ameliorating peace during the Golden Age of Kings. With his wits about him, Lysmarin endured a reign of intense scheming, plotting and coups that left him haggard and aged beyond his years. Much is to be said of Lysmarin, the bastard son of Lysarian the Great, the impassive, reclusive and yet brilliant king who bested the noble houses of Santharia.

Appearance
Lysmarin inherited many of his father’s features. He was slightly shorter and of a lighter build, but he had the same vibrant red hair and well-crafted face, arcing smile and high cheekbones. His eyes were grey like his mother’s, the lady Mariama. In his youth he had the flamboyant charm and easy confidence with which his father had won the hands of so many young girls; the ardours of court, however, soon suppressed the gaudiness his father had gifted upon him. Lysmarin was very deliberate in his movement, and had exemplary physical acuity. Like his father, he enjoyed the pace of the training floor and demonstrated an aptitude for many instruments of dexterity; archery, the Pedalos Harp and, his favourite pastime, sketching. Lysmarin had little personal preference in clothing: he dressed accordingly and with great deference to the diplomatic purpose of his appearance. He knew quite well the affect one’s dress might have on another.

Personality
Those who knew Lysmarin intimately acknowledged the shift in his character after he took the mantle of Santhran and moved to New-Santhala. In his youth, growing up with his younger sister Myrissa and his cousin Ash Longrunner - son of Mariama’s brother, Caric - he was a compassionate and quick-witted boy. He was never bookish, though, nor did he care much for the histories of his father’s courts and their endless heraldry, although tales of Lysarian's exploits and the lavish songs of his praise that made their way to Hestengrad were always welcomed eagerly.

The young prince grew swiftly. He had a fondness for the manor servants and townsfolk, and he swiftly unearthed every hidden secret, tryst or scandal under the walls of his home. He never thought to exploit what he learned; he expressed a strong compassion for others and enjoyed nothing more than the smiles of others. In turn, the many smallfolk of Hestengrad grew to love the young boy with his boundless curiosity.

In his silver years Lysmarin was a much different man. In private, the same curiosity and easiness that had cushioned his childhood remained, if somewhat tarnished and waned. In public he was the model of the stern statesman: as an orator he had no equal, as a conversant he was unmatched, a masterful diplomat. His smiles were rare and yet expertly crafted, and his emotions always calm, always reserved, always appropriate. Sorrow took root in his heart at an early age, however, and he never quite recaptured the spark he once had as a child, the spring that his father had given him, the lightness in his eyes that he had shared with Lysarian when they had ridden together. Upon his death bed, to the very end, not once had Lysmarin borne wickedness, avarice or hatred in his heart.

Biography
Childhood (228 – 251) - Lysmarin was born on the modest estates of the Graven of Codarth, where his ambitious mother Mariama of Thysland, the daughter of Graven Aeric of Thyslan, had been staying. His father at first refused to acknowledge the illegitimate child, although conceded three months later. Close to the lakeside town of Herstengrad, the seat of the fief of Codarth, Lysmarin was raised solely by his mother, a brash and determined woman of considerable education. In 232, the Santhran Lysarian arrived in Salsair on a tour of his royal lands. Mariam seized the opportunity for her child and his father to meet. They travelled to Salsair, were Lysarian was overjoyed to meet his only surviving son. Shortly afer, Lysarian travelled onward to the city of Thyslan, and Mariama followed him, leaving her son in the hands of her younger brother Caric and his wife Ossa of Lannath. Months later Mariama of Thyslan publically declared that she was again heavy with child, once again the child of Lysarian. The Santhran denied all allegations, claiming that they hadn’t consorted during his stay in Thyslan. However, after the turn of Midwinter Lysarian shocked the courts of Santharia with the announcement that he intended to marry Mariam of Thyslan and acknowledge his newest child, the girl Myrissa - Lysmarin's new sister.

During these years, Lysmarin and his close friend and cousin Ash Longrunner, Caric's only child, moved briefly to New-Santhala to be with his father. Lysarian wasn’t one for sitting around however, and he spent very little time beside his thronel. It was also during these years that Lysmarin met and fell in love with the young Rena, the daughter of a silk trader living in the capital; a girl of modest means, shy, demure and perfect for Lysmarin, who felt little desire for the vapidness and ambition of court-bred Ladies. It wasn’t long before she fell for the young prince in turn, but they were kept apart by the strong disapproval of the court and Mariama’s own censure. Instead Rena and Lysmarin had to be content with a simple friendship, an arrangement that caused them much chagrin. Of course, Ash and Myrissa tried their best to facilitate the young lovers.

In the year 249, when Lysmarin was 21, his mother Mariama was ousted from New-Santhala by her husband the Santhros Lysarian, after evidence of her shocking unfaithfulness with the city's Captain of the Guard, Dyrath Jonus, came to light. Disgusted, Lysarian banished her to a convent in Nermeran. Two years later Lysmarin, exhausted with the constant bickering of the royal court which had consumed many of his friends, and forlorn at the absence of his exiled mother, returned to Herstengrad. Much had changed since he had left for New- Santhala all those years ago. The old Graven of Thyslan had died, and his son, Lysmarin’s maternal uncle Caeron, had succeeded him. Thyram, the Graven of Codarth, now a brittle old man and full of bile, had closed his doors to Lysmarin and the royal family over the banishment of his niece Mariama. Despite the frosty attitude of the local lords, Lysmarin settled down in Thyslan in the year 251; his close friend Ash Longrunner and Rena joined him shortly after, as well as his sister Hjaevig. In Thyslan he was now free to pursue a relationship with Rena more closely.

The Bitter War in Thyslan(251 – 267) – Lysmarin’s years in Thyslan were tumultuous and varied: the years leading up to his father’s surprising abdication from the throne saw Lysmarin pitted against the landed gentry of Vardýnn and Xaramon in a serious of political and commercial disputes. Over nearly two decades, the young prince obtained great swathes of rich farmland, wineries, estates and titles across much of the two provinces, accruing immense wealth and a strong monopoly over much of the trade south-bound from Milkengrad. Through aggressive diplomacy he succeeded in drawing the ire of the most powerful men of the realm: The Thane of Vardynn, the Dukes of Graeyerwynn and Aurora, and a slew of rich noblemen between Ximax and Milkengrad who were all at odds with the young prince. Many of these noblemen were also enemies of the Santhros, who felt gilted or ignored by the aging Santhros.

Lysmarin’s rise began in the city of Thyslan. Ash Longrunner, however, quickly fell from the public grace; a very bold and vibrant man, his dislike for the softness and ascerbic nature of the aristocracy sent him deep into the criminal underbelly of Thyslan, and afterwards to Salsair, where he gathered around himself a network of spies and gangs that would soon prove invaluable to Lysmarin. Despite his gilded upbringing, Ash had always felt closer to the workers and townsfolk of Herstengrad and Thysland. Their friendship remained strong, even after Ash was declared fugitive by the constables of Vardynn and soon the whole kingdom - if a somewhat clandestine relationship.

The new Graven of Thyslan, Caeron, viewed Lysmarin with intense disdain. The now ancient Duke of Thysland, Thodan Blackheath, had been bedridden and absent for nearly a decade, hidden away in the reclusive Pyrphagran Sanctuary. Caeron had since assumed much of the old Duke’s rule, exerting his influence over the other Gravens of Thyslan. However, Caeron was not a man gifted with a strong mind; his ripostes were emotionally charged and his own positions soon crumbled before Lysmarin’s power-grabs. Through shrewd mercantilism he dissected the Graven’s estates, and with Ash’s help he took control over most of the Duchy. Caeron’s diminishing mental health soon lead to his forced abdication as Graven. His younger brother Caric refused the proffered position, preferring to remain in his home in the Thyswood with his wife. Lysmarin was appointed Graven of Thyslan by the dying Duke Thodan Blackheath in 258.

Things didn’t stay quiet for long, although not every year was quite an uphill struggle. In 260 Lysmarin and Rena eventually married; she had been by his side for a long time, and eventually Lysmarin summoned the courage to ask for her hand. The marriage was met with some outrage by his critics in New-Santhala, although Lysarian himself approved of the match. Unfortunately, the act resulted in an unexpectedly jilted bridal hopeful from Thalambath, incurring the ire of the Thane of Truban’s own family, if not the Thane himself - the neglected girl in this case being his niece. In fairness, Lysmarin had been unaware of his betrothal to the Lady Sebanin of Truban, a pact made without his knowledge by his careless father.

In the year 261 a.S., Lysmarin’s first son Jaerin is born.

Tragedy struck the Hammersfeld in the year 263, when Hjaevig died abruptly of a violent illness. Suspecting malicious intent, Lysmarin tasked Ash Longrunner with discovering the truth of his sister’s death. Ash’s unforgiving and somewhat unsavoury methods soon took him to Manthria, where he found the assassin in a seedy tavern beside a fat sack of silverbards. It is here that Ash Longrunner began a friendship with the bold and fearsome young heir to the Thane of Manthria, the Young Bear Halvar Jorgar, son of Thane Olf Jorgar; the Young Bear was notorious for whispered tales of his unsavoury dealings with the brooding underworld of Manthria and cities around New-Santhala. With Halvar’s aid, Ash managed to track the silver to a mint in Voldar, where the trail soon grows cold.

In 264 a.S., Lysmarin’s second son Jaek is born.

The Reign of Turmoil (267 – 300) – For the three decades that Lysmarin reigned, following his aging father’s abdication, Santharia prospered enormously. The success of the introduction of the san some twenty years prior helped strengthen the divides between the different peoples of the kingdom.

His father’s abdication came as little surprise, given his age. The old king's lust for women had never waned, and it was clear that he would rather spend the rest of his days in a quiet home with a young wife, than actively ruling the chore that was Santharia. Lysmarin had dutifully prepared for the event; he had spent years preparing for when he would take the throne. This mostly involved clearing out dissidents in the courts of New-Santhala and defanging as many of his antagonists across the continent that were out for his blood. Ash Longrunner and Halvar Jorgan promptly dismantled the existing criminal organisations of Santhala and replaced it with their own – a decidedly more meticulous company of rogues at that - at Lysmarin's behest.

By the year 274 a.S., much of the new Santhran’s estates in the provinces of Graeyerwynn, Xaramon and Sanguia had been lost to land-hungry noblemen. Their schemes were moving closer to home, too; the House of Vaeroc, an aristocratic family hailing from Jernais and now residing in New-Santhala, bayed for Lysmarin's blood and tirelessly schemed for his downfall. At the behest of the Thane of Vardynn, Morach of the Heath, the House of Vaeroc rallied much of the New-Santhalan court against Lysmarin, disparaging him as a bastard, married beneath his station, a womaniser like his father, unfit for rule. The Thane’s influence had since replaced Lysmarin’s rule in his home city of Thyslan, and the new Dukes of Thysland and Aurora weren't too fond of him. By 276 a.S. the only supporters Lysmarin was sure of was the aged Thane of Manthria and some family in Brendolan, relatives of Lysarian's first wife Majida who were oddly sympathetic to his cause.

In 275 a.S., the Santhranna Rena, a much beloved figure to the commonfolk of Santhala and the patron mother of orphans across Sanguia, dies under mysterious circumstances during a midday walk in an enclosed park. Lysmarin’s sister, Skavinna, flees the city in a bout of paranoia, fearing for her life, eventually exiling herself in Bardavos to be with her mother's family. Majida herself had died in the year 247. The death of his wife, and his sister’s abandonment left its toll on the now aged Santhran. He sends his sons, aged 9 and 14, to Bardavos to be raised by Skavinna and Majida's family.

By 280 Lysmarin’s personal estate had crumbled; whilst not destitute, the entirety of his existing property was in his capacity as Santhran, and he deemed the use of the royal coffers for personal use to be improper. Luckily, however, many of his foes are now too aged or already deceased, and the incumbent aristocracy of much of northern Sarvonia is indifferent to his reign. Only the impossibly old Morach, a man Lysmarin had crossed whilst still young, is still at his throat.

His son Jaerin returns to Santhala in 282 a skilled fighter and a lover of women much like his licentious grandfather. Like a storm, he eagerly dives the New-Santhalan courts and begins a campaign of seduction and jilted lovers. His younger brother Jaek takes to the seas as the captain of an exploration vessel.

The Thane of Vardynn dies in 285, and his successor has eyes only for the farmland in Aurora and thus promptly breaks all ties with the stranded House of Vaeroc, who have fallen from grace. Lysmarin begins to enjoy a period of personal peace as his troubles fade away, and he begins to enjoy the finer parts of life.

Lysarian the Great dies in the year 287 a.S. at the age of 90.

In 293, Lysmarin travels to the distant province of Turban to finally foster good relations with the Thane.

In 300, Lysmarin dies and names his son Jaerin as successor; Jaerin "the Hightower" Hammersfeld, a skilled engineer and architect, ascends the Throne.