Alric the Miller

Alric the Miller or King Alric I is a human monarch who lived an extensive life as a renowned adventurer and eventually petty king of the Kingdom of Ive. He is a notable character for his actions which led him to achieve his status in Clamund as a sovereign monarch through conquest of the Kingdom of Davenburt. His exploits as an adventurer have reached all parts of Harfun as he fought during the Saint Barstone's War from 1244 to 1247 in Izdath as well as Xhishun under the Komodo Lords during the Red Sun Peasant Uprisings from 1247-1254 and in Clamund during the Kunid-Visimarian conflict during the year 1254-1255.
Alric would be most notable for the invasion of the Kingdom of Davenburt which would result in the War of the Frogs where he and over 5000 mercenaries would invade the coast of the kingdom to seize it for his own.
== Biography ==
=== Early history ===
Alric would be born in Volksburn in 1218 to a red district worker that gave him away to a local church of Paragon. Alric would witness some action during the Nuln Disaster in 1223 when deserters from the Nuln company would attack a Confessor and him while outside the city walls where the Confessor would slay the three deserters in front of young Alric. Shortly after the Steeltooth raids of 1226 where several bands of tribal horse warriors set upon the city of Volksburn and temporarily occupied it while the palantine guard and several militias gathered at Midheim to retaliate. During the several days of occupation Alric was forced to live in the shadows as the tribesmen raped and pillaged the entire city for what it had. During this bought of violence Alric lost the church he was sheltered at and eventually was forced to eat off the streets. By the time reinforcements arrived was when Alric would come face to face with the Grey Goose Company where he would be adopted by a travelling sergeant who had recently lost his son to the tribal raids. By 1238 Alric would lead his own company of sellswords who would be shipped across Harfun to foreign conflicts as a sub-contractor to the Nuln Company.
=== Grey Goose Commander ===
By the time Alric was 20, he was shipped off to Izdath from Midheim by order of the Nuln Company who had taken control of the Grey Goose in order for both companies to benefit from international service. Alric had spent 4 months on a cargo ship by the time he would arrive at port in Zalam where he and his company would take up a bodyguard role for the local Sultan of Salifal as Sultan Musleh El-Ali feared his allies were conspiring against him which turned out to be true as the Night of Blood would see Alric and his company defend the sultan's palace as legions of Yattish guerillas infiltrated the city. By 1243, religious tensions between the Golden City of Yatt and the Salifal Sultanate would result in the Saint Barstone's War as Alric's company would be ordered to capture and imprison Saint Barstone; a Clannish apostle who had a Paragon church in Yatt, which resulted in a conflict between the two states within the empire. Alric would be influenced by Saint Barstone who he spent a lot of time with during his brief time with the mercenary company as he reminded him a lot of the Confessor that took care of him when he was young.
Alric would take part in early encounters as the Golden Emperor of Yatt would enlist the horse riders of Kozar to harass the border towns of Salifal. Creveb would be the first major encounter for the Grey Goose Company as their split forces would be surrounded by a Kozar chieftain who led the Guukh tribe to attack the town they were stationed in which would lead to a two day battle as the Kozar riders were taken aback by the crossbow-heavy mercenary force heavily fortified within the town, leading to casualties between the riders as they rode down the streets where crossbow's were able to strike from above.
Alric would fight alongside Salifal men-at-arms as they marched upon Ako; which was a town largely settled by Clamundian immigrants, and raze it as to set an example for Yatt which resulted in the Battle of Fertile Crossing in 1245. After being influenced by Yattish nobles, Alric and the company would defect from Salifal to the behest of the Nuln Company who condemned Alric for his decision after hearing word of it after having to kill his own people in Ako. During the battle, Alric would trick the Sultan's army by marching ahead while crossbowmen would turn around to shoot the soldiers behind them, resulting in an unexpected bloodbath that saw Yattish cataphracts and Kozar horsemen drive and capture a majority of Salifal's peasant army. The rest of Alric's career would be forced in siege as Yattish forces besieged several towns and cities along the Griffen Coast until agents from the Nuln Company would direct Alric to Xhishun to help the Komodo Lords in their peasant rebellion.
Alric's time in Xhishun largely encompassed menial tasks as the mercenary's he directed were mainly palace and noble guards since most of the Imperial army was sent elsewhere in the region. Alric would spend over 7 years as a palace guard and a student of Xhishun culture as the nobility and courtiers of the Komodo court taught him the finer points of court life including many encounters with the Komodo Lord's concubines. After receiving complaints from the Komodo Lords, Alric would be sentenced and reduced of rank as his actions were dishonorable at best, leading him to abandon the mercenary company life and to adopt the sellsword life.
=== Life as a Sellsword ===
By 1254, Alric would arrive back in the Free City of Sogo where he would accept menial jobs of bandit hunting and message delivering which was a dangerous job in the Free States. For several months he would do this until taking a job in the Free City of Belna as a secret invasion group of sellswords that would strike into Kunid territory starting with the swift and stealthy capture of Briars Keep. By the late winter of 1255, Alric and over 50 sellswords would infiltrate the Elf Kingdom of Kunid via a merchant's caravan before being caught by a patrolling militia who immediately caught onto their scheme. A battle would ensue resulting in a majority of the sellsword's deaths as half-elf militiamen struck from above with crossbows as the sellswords got out from their hiding places. Alric and a few sellsword would be the lucky few to escape as over 40 sellswords would meet there fate there; ultimately resulting in the distraction needed for Visimar to send an invasion force from the east. Taking a boat from Belna, he and who remained of the shafted mission would sail to the Kingdom of Clonran where they would seek employment as guards, eventually reaching a company of 20 who travelled to the Kingdom of Davenburt by early winter in search of orc-hunting jobs.