Mathamere
Mathamere Half-Elven, Bailiff of the Bailiwick of the Blessed Tharvane, Knight Commander and Mandadorian Archpriest of the Order of St. Quadrain, Ranger of Manlen Grove
9th level ranger/9th level cleric, Neutral Good, born in 810
Background
Born in 810 as an orphan and delivered to the Bailiwick of the Blessed Tharvane, he became an acolyte of archpriest Brenthan, the old bailiff there. As a half-elf, his childhood was much troubled, but he found solace in the Church.
In the late 820s and 30s, Mathamere, while a young priest and retainer of the bailiff, became involved in a significant border war between Mandadorian Quadrain and the Melistoese pagans. Although young in this conflict, he began to forge a name for himself.
In 829, the Neutralian Scourge began and devastated southern Quadrain. There was mass rebellion amongst the peasantry, and in a few short months the entire Barony of Quadrain nearly collapsed into Neutralian inspired anarchy. Amidst this, in a fearsome battle, Mathamere was all but slain by the Neutralian commander Nicamur, whose mace caved in part of his skull--a wound which still has its mark to the present. After receiving this blow and being left for dead in the battlefield, Mathamere crawled into the great Osholoan Forest, where the rangers and elves of Manlen Grove healed him. Eventually, after many tests, Mathamere was admitted into the Order of Manlen Grove.
Returning to the almost shattered Bailiwick of the Blessed Tharvane now as a ranger, Mathamere likewise took on Holy Orders bestowed upon him by Archpriest Brenthan. Fighting in many skirmishes with the Melistoese, Mathamere was a member of a party that dared the ride deep into Faelin into the heart of Melistoese territory, where he discovered that a large army of monsters and undead were forming. Although quite junior in the battered armies of Quadrain, upon his return Mathamere led a direct appeal to Nicamur, the main Neutralian commander in southern Quadrain. For several years the Neutralians had been ravaging Quadrain, and seemed to be deliberately fomenting chaos and all but inviting the Melistoese scourge into Quadrain. Mathamere was the man who convinced mighty Nicamur to turn his army not to the final destruction of the barony, which was at hand, but instead to march it in defense of the Melistoese, whose undead and monstrous army would otherwise bring doom to all the humans and halflings in their path.
A series of terrible border battles began, with Quadrain finally losing hold of the halfling domains known as the Holding. Outside of Murthorg in 832, the massive Neutralian peasant army smashed the Melistoese army and forced it into a final and decisive battle in which the Meliostoese leader, the lich known as Mind Reaver, appeared personally. Amongst the rallied forces of the Kingdom and Quadrain, Mathamere, although still quite junior in rank and power, surged to the front of the battle. He beheld the incarnate form of Mind Reaver, as well as the spell-inflicted madness he had placed upon Nicamur. Seizing Nicamur's mace of disruption, it was Deacon Mathamere who destroyed Mind Reaver's potent physical form, sending his spirit back to Melisto and achieving the stroke of victory for the allied army.
While on the field, Mathamere was knighted and made a knight commander by the Quadrain commander-in-chief of the battle, the Deputy Lord General of the Order of St. Quadrain, Lord Dareth. He was also promoted to full priesthood. The destruction of Mind Reaver on the 28th of the Festivals of Dance in 832 marked the turn of the war between Quadrain and Melisto, as well as it marked the first significant Pyrrhic victory for the Neutralians. Mathamere's actions there have earned him eternal glory, and remain the crowning achievement of his career.
For years, Mathamere continued to serve in the army of the Order of St. Quadrain. Although the Neutralians forced the capitulation of the Order shortly after the Battle of Murthorg, Mathamere was involved in the Order's wars at the bounds of Encyclon, when nobles there were attempting to take vast lands left in chaos after the Neutralian scourge. Acting mostly as a military scout, Mathamere saw many lands at the borders between Pompiers and Encylon, and learned an appreciation for their culture and politics.
Returning to his home at the Bailiwick and the Osholoan Forest, Mathamere soon learned of the return of Mind Reaver and his destruction of Nicamur and his castle with terrible magics in 839. Indeed, Mathamere was one of the first to realize that Melisto had forged an alliance with the hobgoblins and monsters of Shel'Mather, an ancient undead kingdom. Appealing to the leadership of his Order, Mathamere participated in the subsequent war against Shel'Mather, led by the new Baron of Quadrain Aldam Sizimar. Mathamere saw numerous skirmishes and battles, and fought alongside great heroes, including Elendas's father Sir Zathial and the wizard Lastius. Mathamere also again won glory by covering the famous advance of Sir Swiftarrow, who nearly destroyed the dwarven undead Coward King, the true master of Shel'Mather.
After this war, it was not much later when Mathamere was named Bailiff at the Blessed Tharvane's, his old home. Done in 849, Mathamere has administered and protected his bailiwick for nearly forty years, and has developed a great reputation for wisdom, temperance and justice seen almost no where else.
Governance
The Bailiwick of the Blessed Tharvane, over which Mathamere governs as bailiff, falls under the baronial religious administration of the Order of St. Quadrain. As a
- Mathamere Half-Elven, a Ranger Priest of Manlen Grove, Archpriest of Mandador, Bailiff of the Order of St. Quadrain (9th level ranger/9th level cleric, 78 years old in 888; elven chain, mandadorian shield +2, footman’s mace of disruption, archbishop Brenthan’s blessed boomerangs x2 +2); Mathamere falls under the baronial jurisdiction of the seneschal of Castle Nolath, a nearby priory of St. Quadrain, which itself falls under the Grand Priory of Tharkin, which falls under the Baron Milotho Sizimar
