Noble Ranks (Not set in stone until you agree):
King/Queen
Grand Duke/Grand Duchess (Only royal relatives who cannot be considered princes or princesses will hold this rank.)
Duke/Duchess
Prince Landgrave/Princess Landgravine
Count/Countess
Viscount/Viscountess
Baron/Baroness
Ser (Knights)
Name: Princess
Landgravine Laine Martel of the Marvaka Oldlands, Daughter of Silas Martel
Age: 20
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Appearance:
Laine is 1.53 metres tall. (5 feet)
History:The House of Martel ruled the Oldlands of Marvaka for nearly a hundred generations, though Laine would be the last ruler of the Oldlands that bore the Martel name. Her father, Prince Landgrave Silas Martel, was a strong supporter of the kingship of George Kelvan (George III) and served as the Grand Marshal of the Kingdom up until the king's death.
Silas had fathered 2 sons and a daughter, though both of his sons, Kevin and Lyle, were cursed with illnesses that left them with little strength in their bodies. The traditions of Martel demanded that a child of the Prince Landgrave serve as the commander of the armies, which meant time on the battlefield and required some sort of capacity for combat. These traditions usually meant a son, but a lack of clarity in the text allowed Silas to exploit a loophole and nominate his daughter, Laine, as his choice to fulfil the tradition.
At the age of 6, Laine was suddenly plucked from her training as a lady-in-waiting/future wife and put to the proper training of combat. Even as a girl, Laine was considered somewhat short, and she struggled to learn how to use a sword and command. Laine feared death in battle and the pains of war, but she feared her father's disappointment even more. She would fight her first battle at the age of 16, against
When Grand Duke Lucian Cromwell, the Regent, seized power and declared himself King, Silas was out of the capital at the time and spared the subsequent executions of the king's former council. The House of Martel, however, would be the first target of King Lucian's attempts to consolidate his power. The moment the royal armies were capable of mobilisation, Lucian made his move against the House of Martel. Lords that were neutral or stayed ambivalent against Lucian's attempts to bring the House of Martel to heel were brought to his side by promises of lands and titles House Martel held at the time.
When the royal armies gathered the regional lords and mercenary companies under one banner to crush Martel, their armies numbered 5 times the size of House Martel's forces. The war was decided before the first battle even began. The royal army, under the command of Admiral Helmut Zeppelin, first clashed with Laine Martel's armies at Pollelin Pass. Though terrain favoured the Martels, not even the sudden and desperate reinforcement of Laine's forces by her father would stop Zeppelin's slow but steady advance into House Martel's lands.
Silas died in a desperate attempt to hold the rearguard against Zeppelin, his last will and testament appointing Laine as Princess Landgravine, the first time a woman would take the title in House Martel. Laine mourned her father's passing, but managed to hold some strength against Zeppelin. After the Battle of Pollelin Pass, there would be no more pitched battles between both sides. Laine ordered hit-and-run tactics and evacuated the peasantry, but true to Martel traditions, she never had the nerve to scorch the earth in retreat.
1 year passed.
When Martellai, House Martel's home city, fell, Laine was captured in battle. Brought before Admiral Zeppelin in chains, the admiral was ordered to deliver Laine to the capital for trial. While the allied lords disbanded and went their separate ways, Admiral Zeppelin delayed his own return to the capital for one reason; Laine. Laine protested many things, but the most important of that being King Lucian's utter intolerance of dissenting opinion, even if it was innovation or in the guises of it.
To the admiral whose great-grandfather invented the weaponised airship, it struck a chord in Admiral Zeppelin. He freed Laine and asked her to join his side in overthrowing Lord Lucian, though she would decline. Her brothers were missing, escorted away by Martel retainers while she tried to defend the city. Their fates were unknown, but Laine was determined to find them, even if the truth was a tragedy.
Admiral Zeppelin allowed her to leave his prison and even recommended the Castian Free Arms (a mercenary band, also known as the CFA) to recruit her. Laine served with distinction in the CFA in some minor regional clashes across the land. When she heard that Admiral Zeppelin began an insurrection, she called upon the CFA to join him, though no one at the time doubted Admiral Zeppelin's chances of victory at the time.
The news about the war between King Lucian and Admiral Zeppelin, widely expected by many to be quick, turned into a quagmire for both sides as nobles and lords were recruited to both sides. Betrayal on both sides was common, and the population grew war-weary. Admiral Zeppelin was assassinated by an agent on Cromwell's side, but the news only reached the CFA when Laine managed to persuade them to join Zeppelin's rebellion.
The king managed to gather more forces, almost annihilating the remnants of Zeppelin's armies, also with most of the CFA. 3 months after the death of Admiral Zeppelin, Laine, the CFA and the last bunch of mercenaries, Zeppelin loyalists and those who simply hated Lucian, would be holed up in the mysterious temple of Flarkonnen, with no obvious way out.
It would probably be their last stand.
