Difference between revisions of "Nikolos Saint Sistomul of Kaapasart"
| Line 25: | Line 25: | ||
Nikolos became priest at St. Sistomul's during the small war between an element of the Knights of St. Quadrain, led by Sir Tellemant of Bastias, and the Viscount of Kaapasart, Lord Galladion Phylanthion. Tellemant had once cleared lands of monsters for Lord Phylanthion, and been given lands about the Agnusian Forest as reward, including a baronial title. Tellemant and his followers however found ways to antagonize the Encyclonian lord, and when they were attacked for taxing lands that were not their own, Tellement claimed injury, rallied low knights and serjeants of St. Quadrain to his cause, and the feud began in earnest. | Nikolos became priest at St. Sistomul's during the small war between an element of the Knights of St. Quadrain, led by Sir Tellemant of Bastias, and the Viscount of Kaapasart, Lord Galladion Phylanthion. Tellemant had once cleared lands of monsters for Lord Phylanthion, and been given lands about the Agnusian Forest as reward, including a baronial title. Tellemant and his followers however found ways to antagonize the Encyclonian lord, and when they were attacked for taxing lands that were not their own, Tellement claimed injury, rallied low knights and serjeants of St. Quadrain to his cause, and the feud began in earnest. | ||
| − | For Nikolos, he remained peaceful for two years, avoiding skirmishes between the two factions, and seeing to his lands and the maintenance of St. Sistomul's. He also served as a neutral messenger between both factions, and took in orphans at the church, as the deaths began to mount, including [[William Angus Armstrong]]. Although not an able fighter and because of his position as a ''pronoiar'' land-owner, Lord Phylanthion nonetheless also charged Nikolos with the office of chaplain of Kaapasart, and thus Nikolos participated in skirmishes and expeditions against the goblins venturing from the the Great Dennelyen Forest, as well as to the great military musters outside of Gromassarow, the comital capital, where Nikolos met Count | + | For Nikolos, he remained peaceful for two years, avoiding skirmishes between the two factions, and seeing to his lands and the maintenance of St. Sistomul's. He also served as a neutral messenger between both factions, and took in orphans at the church, as the deaths began to mount, including [[William Angus Armstrong]]. Although not an able fighter and because of his position as a ''pronoiar'' land-owner, Lord Phylanthion nonetheless also charged Nikolos with the office of chaplain of Kaapasart, and thus Nikolos participated in skirmishes and expeditions against the goblins venturing from the the Great Dennelyen Forest, as well as to the great military musters outside of Gromassarow, the comital capital, where Nikolos met Count Thiomond Olynthius and his dashing paladin son, Sir Theolonus. |
By the spring of 856, the farming raids and feuds between Sir Tellemant and Kaapasart had cooled. Nikolos had brought his sister Alathaya to stay with him at Kaapasart, and it was she who became friends with the viscount's daughter Nolomie, and Alathaya proposed the marriage between Nolomie and Sir Tellemant's bastard half-Encyclonian son Morovian. Morovian was not fond of his father, and in his embassies to Kaapasart he had converted to the Abbadonian rite under Nikolos at St. Sistomul. Without surviving sons of his own, the viscount Galladion assented to the marriage. This was a pleasant time for Nikolos. He and his sister traveled to Gromassarow in 857 along with the viscomital family, and Nikolos met with and became friends of Solophothos, the new archbishop there, and for the first time Nikolos was recognized archpriest of St. Sistomul, as had been his namesake. As for Alathaya a well-educated and intelligent young girl, she was introduced to Theolonus, the comital heir apparent, and it was widely known a courtly romance began between the two. Rumors persisted that the two would be wed, and Nikolos' status grew. He was sent as an archepiscopal agent on various clerical duties, and grew in reputation and confidence, dispelling ghosts and haunts, reordering failing parishes and settling church land disputes, throughout much of the Istanok. | By the spring of 856, the farming raids and feuds between Sir Tellemant and Kaapasart had cooled. Nikolos had brought his sister Alathaya to stay with him at Kaapasart, and it was she who became friends with the viscount's daughter Nolomie, and Alathaya proposed the marriage between Nolomie and Sir Tellemant's bastard half-Encyclonian son Morovian. Morovian was not fond of his father, and in his embassies to Kaapasart he had converted to the Abbadonian rite under Nikolos at St. Sistomul. Without surviving sons of his own, the viscount Galladion assented to the marriage. This was a pleasant time for Nikolos. He and his sister traveled to Gromassarow in 857 along with the viscomital family, and Nikolos met with and became friends of Solophothos, the new archbishop there, and for the first time Nikolos was recognized archpriest of St. Sistomul, as had been his namesake. As for Alathaya a well-educated and intelligent young girl, she was introduced to Theolonus, the comital heir apparent, and it was widely known a courtly romance began between the two. Rumors persisted that the two would be wed, and Nikolos' status grew. He was sent as an archepiscopal agent on various clerical duties, and grew in reputation and confidence, dispelling ghosts and haunts, reordering failing parishes and settling church land disputes, throughout much of the Istanok. | ||
| − | It was in 857 that the issue of the seeming waning power of House Savenfannetsen, the Grand Dukes who ruled that region of Encyclon, at last came to ahead. Upon the new year, Count | + | It was in 857 that the issue of the seeming waning power of House Savenfannetsen, the Grand Dukes who ruled that region of Encyclon, at last came to ahead. Upon the new year, Count Thiomond, awash in pride and power, glorying in the martial abilities of his knightly son, and assessing the weakness of the young new Grand Duke Mӓanshesfӓan, decided he would no longer serve. Taxes were not paid, and the grand ducal agents were removed from the county. Nikolos even accompanied Archbishop Solophothos all the way to Prioma in the Core Lands, to seek the Patriarch's blessing to crown Lord Olynthius as King of the Istanok. |
This however was not to be. | This however was not to be. | ||
Revision as of 15:20, 29 August 2021
Str 9(-)/24 Dex 7(-) Con 10(-)/(-) Int 12 (+1 age, 13) Wis 16 (+1 age, 17) Cha 15
Born in 830, January 29th, at Elvenspire
Contents
Family Background
Nikolos was born the only son of Dalmanos, a former Encyclonian knight of the Istanok. After his death and raising from the dead by the bishop of the Istanok after a lost battle with monsters, Dalmanos retired to the frontier castle town of Kaapasart, where he was given lands and a healthy comital pension. Although a much older man, Dalmanos was of high status and without family, and so therefore married his second wife, Alastosia Ethereyen, the daughter of a local land owner, who bore him three children, two daughters and a son, Nikolos, who was second-born.
Increasingly religious, Dalmanos financed improvement's to Kaapasart's castle church, dedicated to St. Sistomul, and befriended its priest, Nikolos, after whom he was to name his son. Eventually Dalmanos joined the clergy, and moved the family to Elvenspire, where he became a deacon, eventually dying of old age as the arch-deacon of the Abbadonian cathedral there.
Early Life
Nikolos was born at the Cathedral of St. Malkus the Wise in Elvenspire, on 29 January, 830. After his father's death when he was 5, Nikolos's mother remarried a Knight of St. Quadrain named Nalath Palantanas. Sir Nalath. Although Dalmanos had himself determined that his son should join the clergy, Nalath elected to have the boy first labor for the Bailiwick of Isial of St. Quadrain. For a time he entered into the order as a lay monk, and took to the iron mines the monastery ran, learning from the overseeing monk there important aspects of mining.
Just before his eighteenth birthday, Sir Nalath died in combat against local monsters, and so Nikolos' mother removed him from the Bailiwick of Isial and had him enrolled at the Cathedral College. Nikolos was not the best of students, chafing somewhat under the academic aloofness of the faculty, but he excelled in engineering. When he was twenty, Nikolos encountered Professor Nikolos Athalosia, the archpriest of the Church of St. Lykolos, taking a year-long class with him in planar theology.
Upon earning his degree (850), Nikolos's mother arranged for him an engineering position over the iron mines of the Bailiwick of Isial, and for a time he pursued this career, expanding and professionalizing the monastic mines. Assuming control of his father's lands from his mother and receiving a tidy share from the mine's profits, Nikolos grew reasonably wealthy, and continued to take occasional classes at the university. He also traveled several times to Kaapasart to visit his father's lands and resolve issues there, and in so doing met his namesake, archpriest Nikolos, providing the arch-parish further funds. Invited to holy orders by the Bailiwick of Isial, Nikolos merged his mining career with monastic duties (853), advancing all the way to the degree of acolyte (854), but before taking his final oath, he was notified that archpriest Nikolos of Kaapasart had died, receiving a final letter from the old man, imploring him to take over the church of St. Sistomul. The letter also wrote of adventurers from the Kingdom of Pompiers, out from Elvenspire, threatening the viscounty, and these were men that Nikolos knew, or had heard of. Feeling the call for life in Kaapasart, and increasingly partial to the Abbadonian rite and his Encyclonian heritage, Nikolos abandoned the Danian rite as well as his monastic career in the Order of St. Quadrain. Appealing to the Abbadonian bishop of Elvenspire, Armoragard, Nikolos was quickly ordained to holy orders as a full priest (854), and traveled quickly to the Istanok in the hopes of helping to stave off the aggressions of the Mandadorian adventurers that threatened it.
Nikolos in the Istanok
Nikolos the Peace-Maker (854-856)
Nikolos became priest at St. Sistomul's during the small war between an element of the Knights of St. Quadrain, led by Sir Tellemant of Bastias, and the Viscount of Kaapasart, Lord Galladion Phylanthion. Tellemant had once cleared lands of monsters for Lord Phylanthion, and been given lands about the Agnusian Forest as reward, including a baronial title. Tellemant and his followers however found ways to antagonize the Encyclonian lord, and when they were attacked for taxing lands that were not their own, Tellement claimed injury, rallied low knights and serjeants of St. Quadrain to his cause, and the feud began in earnest.
For Nikolos, he remained peaceful for two years, avoiding skirmishes between the two factions, and seeing to his lands and the maintenance of St. Sistomul's. He also served as a neutral messenger between both factions, and took in orphans at the church, as the deaths began to mount, including William Angus Armstrong. Although not an able fighter and because of his position as a pronoiar land-owner, Lord Phylanthion nonetheless also charged Nikolos with the office of chaplain of Kaapasart, and thus Nikolos participated in skirmishes and expeditions against the goblins venturing from the the Great Dennelyen Forest, as well as to the great military musters outside of Gromassarow, the comital capital, where Nikolos met Count Thiomond Olynthius and his dashing paladin son, Sir Theolonus.
By the spring of 856, the farming raids and feuds between Sir Tellemant and Kaapasart had cooled. Nikolos had brought his sister Alathaya to stay with him at Kaapasart, and it was she who became friends with the viscount's daughter Nolomie, and Alathaya proposed the marriage between Nolomie and Sir Tellemant's bastard half-Encyclonian son Morovian. Morovian was not fond of his father, and in his embassies to Kaapasart he had converted to the Abbadonian rite under Nikolos at St. Sistomul. Without surviving sons of his own, the viscount Galladion assented to the marriage. This was a pleasant time for Nikolos. He and his sister traveled to Gromassarow in 857 along with the viscomital family, and Nikolos met with and became friends of Solophothos, the new archbishop there, and for the first time Nikolos was recognized archpriest of St. Sistomul, as had been his namesake. As for Alathaya a well-educated and intelligent young girl, she was introduced to Theolonus, the comital heir apparent, and it was widely known a courtly romance began between the two. Rumors persisted that the two would be wed, and Nikolos' status grew. He was sent as an archepiscopal agent on various clerical duties, and grew in reputation and confidence, dispelling ghosts and haunts, reordering failing parishes and settling church land disputes, throughout much of the Istanok.
It was in 857 that the issue of the seeming waning power of House Savenfannetsen, the Grand Dukes who ruled that region of Encyclon, at last came to ahead. Upon the new year, Count Thiomond, awash in pride and power, glorying in the martial abilities of his knightly son, and assessing the weakness of the young new Grand Duke Mӓanshesfӓan, decided he would no longer serve. Taxes were not paid, and the grand ducal agents were removed from the county. Nikolos even accompanied Archbishop Solophothos all the way to Prioma in the Core Lands, to seek the Patriarch's blessing to crown Lord Olynthius as King of the Istanok.
This however was not to be.
Nikolos at the Imperial Capital & the War Between the Istanok and the Savenfannetsen
Grand Duke Mӓanshesfӓan, sensing the weakness and undependability of his father's Encyclonian army, turned instead to mercenaries and Encs. Parrassar Nine Leaves, the half-elf Ranger Lord of the Savenfannetsen, known for his long-standing iron loyalty to the grand ducal throne of Thelokosia, was given command of a small but well-trained, well-disciplined and heavily armed army of mercenaries from Keld in far-off Pompiersia, supplemented by elves, Encs, and the military tributes of the grand duke's most loyal and militarily able vassals.
The war was not an easy one. By the winter of 857, when Nikolos had at last reached Prioma, it was the clear the war was far from over, and that the Patriarch of Encyclon would not soon crown any King of the Istanok. Residing with Solophothos and other subordinate clerics, he and Nikolos remained in Prioma for some time, during which time Nikolos learned much of politics and high church affairs.
Current Adventures
Nikolos to the Furnorkanasos
By the summer of 872, Count Parrassar, lord of the Istanok, had fallen in the War of the Princes, and the Zaamanthuessen Encs threatened the Istanok, especially in the north. Suspicious of his fellow lords of being partial to the imperial Mancranese claim, and not wishing to pay the Zaamanthuessen to not raid their lands, Viscount Fallast Bowhaven of Kaapasart decided to reach out to his old allies in the Furnorkanasos for aid and alliance. Learning that the Kanosian League was once again gathering that late summer, Lord Bowhaven gathered a small party to arrive in embassy to the Furnorkanasos, to help them fight against the Zaamanthuessen, and also to forge an alliance of mutual self-defense against the Zaamanthuessen. To lead this party, the viscount appointed the Archpriest of St. Sistomul, Nikolos son of Dalmanos.
