Jorjaeryn I Grenthyx

== Overview ==
King Jorjaeryn I Grenthyx was the legendary first King of The Continent and hero of The Unified Retaliation. He was born to King Pierton Grenthyx and Queen Aerinne Grenthyx in 28 BG and was the younger brother of Prince Quinton Grenthyx. After establishing the Grenthyx Dynasty and being named King of The Continent, Jorjaeryn married Syrell Juillard, with whom he had a son, Harter, a daughter, Syris, and adopted another daughter, Jarmina. Throughout his prosperous life Jorjaeryn was recognised for his compassion for the common people and his trusting relationship with them. He was also a natural leader and warrior; the young King led the entire realm of The Continent during the pivotal invasion effort by the Ivar Grexcese.
== Appearance ==
Jorjaeryn was a man of pale complexion with dull-brown hair and, being a member of House Grenthyx, distinct copper eyes. He stood above 6 feet tall and had an imposing muscular frame. Jorjaeryn's facial features were strong and striking. As a young man his hair was kept in styles that contrasted with the rest of his family, befitting his idealogy. He was also typically clean-shaven.
After becoming King of the Chaestlands, his wavy hair was kept in a mid-length fashion and he trimmed his facial hair to befit his royal status and to compliment his thick eyebrows.
== Biography ==
=== Early life ===
In 28 BG, Prince Jorjaeryn Grenthyx was born to King Pierton and Queen Aerinne Grenthyx, the latter of which was a commoner prior to falling in love with and marrying the King. He was 8 years younger than his elder brother Quinton, who was the heir to the throne of the Chaestlands.
Jorjaeryn was placed with a lot of responsibility in his youth whereas his brother was favoured and pampered by their parents. Both boys were mischievous but only Jorjaeryn would receive blame and punishment for not only his own actions but the actions of his brother as well. Jorjaeryn understood from a fairly young age that he was practically his family's whipping boy and that it wouldn't matter if he misbehaved or not and thus came to accept that he would never receive his parents' love and resigned to a life of disobedience.
In his teen years, Jorjaeryn associated with people around his age who lived around and worked in Chaesterlyn. The teenage Prince spent many days training and perfecting his combat skills, not only with various weapons but also with his bare hands. He became exceptionally strong and a formidable duelist. He was feared by visitors and some of the castle staff due to the intensity of his training on the castle grounds. Outside of his training, Jorjaeryn spent a lot of time with his friends, with whom he would usually relax and enjoy drinking. Jorjaeryn also experimented sexually with some of his acquaintances of either sex but remained discrete about his sexuality as he didn't deem sexuality important matter. He was known amongst his wide circle of friends as being outspoken in his views on how the kingdom should be ruled - the young Prince firmly believed that change was needed in terms of how the common people were treated compared to the rich Lords who dwelt in castles and had many servants, goods and acres of land at their disposal.
In 10 BG, Quinton married Lady Ferilla Garadé, with whom Jorjaeryn would have an incredibly strained relationship. Jorjaeryn resented Quinton in every regard and failed to understand how anyone could love him, thus suspecting that the new Princess had a more serious ulterior motive behind her decision to marry him. Jorjaeryn felt the need to thwart her despite his disdain for his brother as he felt it paramount to protect the Kingdom from any potential insurrection. It was before an attempt to sabotage the relationship between the two that Jorjaeryn noticed Quinton behaved completely differently towards his wife and seemed compassionate while Ferilla seemed to be sweet and innocent, which caused the young Prince realise that their relationship was legitimate; instead, Princess Ferilla must be exposed to the true nature of her new husband. Soon afterwards, Jorjaeryn met with her in private and attempted to expose his brother to the Princess as he viewed her as an outsider who might be able to sympathise with his point of view. Ferilla was repulsed; she had already been informed about the relationship between the brothers by Quinton. She told Jorjaeryn that Quinton felt remorse for how he treated his brother but she said in defence of her husband that Jorjaeryn deserved his treatment by his family for being "spiteful" and "a degenerate" for his activities with commoners. Jorjaeryn demanded that she leave his chambers and fell into despondency after her departure. 
=== Death in the family ===
In 8 BG, Jorjaeryn's father and brother were killed when their carriage was attacked by rebels as they were travelling from a tourney near Meadow's End; his mother, however, was spared. Jorjaeryn felt little emotion from this development and tried to comfort his devastated mother with little success. These surprising deaths meant that Jorjaeryn would be the new King of the Chaestlands and he was coronated at age 20. However, it was revealed that Princess Ferilla was pregnant with Quinton's child; according to the laws of succession in the Chaestlands, this child would be the true heir and replace their uncle, Jorjaeryn, as ruler. Suspicion arose from Lord Stephos Garadé that the new King Jorjaeryn was responsible for the untimely deaths of the previous King and Prince in order to claim the throne and that Garadé's unborn grandchild was in danger of facing the same fate. Jorjaeryn, however, paid no mind to these absurd claims.
In 7 BG, Princess Ferilla Garadé died due to complications of childbirth and the child was stillborn, marking a great tragedy for the Chaestish people. King Jorjaeryn was to remain on the throne. He soon held a public ceremony in honour of his deceased relatives outside Chaesterlyn. With these tragedies out of the way, Jorjaeryn declared that his rule would be a new era in Chaestish history. Prominent Lords in the Kingdom became sceptical of the King due to his reputation of being disobedient and intense, his outspoken and forward-thinking nature and the circulating rumours suggesting that he murdered his family. The Queen Mother, Aerinne, became reclusive due to grief. 
=== Early rule ===
While met with scepticism from the Lords of the Chaestlands, King Jorjaeryn was widely loved among the common folk as was seen as their champion due to his radical changes in Chaestish law - namely that he put an end to many unsustainable practices by various households by reducing the size of their territory in order to accomodate growing populations and increased agriculture. However, the Chaestish Revolt, an extremist, anti-religious group who sought the destruction of hierarchical structures due to past failures of the Royal Family and who were responsible for the murder of King Pierton and Prince Quinton, continued to wreak havoc across the kingdom. Rumours between Lords suggested that Jorjaeryn was a key part of the orchestration of the rebellion, either prior to his coronation in an attempt to ignite a revolution or after his coronation in an attempt to create a scapegoat to please the Lords of the Chaestlands, causing Jorjaeryn to lose hope in his vision as he found the Lords, particularly Stephos Garadé, impossible to please despite his best efforts while still pertaining to his vision for the kingdom. Lord Stephos frequently brought Jorjaeryn's integrity and quality as a ruler into question. Stephos worked tirelessly to try to defame Jorjaeryn due to his conviction he was responsible for the deaths of Stephos' daughter and grandchild. He also unsuccessfully attempted to stage coups against the King. Jorjaeryn silently became increasingly frustrated and grew to despise Lord Stephos, however he did not make any effort to disprove the unfaltering Lord as he deemed him and his actions insignificant.
Throughout the early stages of Jorjaeryn's rule he attempted to console his mother but she seemed to have become deluded and deranged in her grief; she never seemed to recognise her youngest son nor recall that she had a second child. Jorjaeryn was upset by this but realised that there was nothing in his power, even as King, that he could do to change her view. Thus, he resolved to comfort her on occasion out of pity.
In 6 BG, Jorjaeryn was met by Lord Keral Juillard in Chaesterlyn who congratulated the King on his successes and admitted that while he was initially sceptical of him and his practices, he came to understand and appreciate his ideas. However, Lord Keral revealed that he came to Chaesterlyn for a graver purpose - to plea to the King for aid after villages near Meadow's End had been ransacked by the Chaestish Revolt and left warnings for "the obsequious". Jorjaeryn was charmed by Keral's unexpected validation as it was the first he had received from one of the prominent Lords. After a thorough meeting between the two, Jorjaeryn resolved to take action against the rebels. It was around the same time that the King also sent his friend, aspiring explorer Phiricos to journey to the northern reaches of The Continent in search of potential new territories.
Jorjaeryn soon met and fell in mutual love with Keral's daughter, Syrell Juillard, who discovered that she had a lot in common with the King. When not spending time with her at her home in Meadow's End, Jorjaeryn was working closely with Lord Juillard to try to foil the extremist rebels.
The conflict eventually came to an end when Jorjaeryn correctly predicted where the rebels would be at a pivotal stage in their efforts and had the leading figures of the Chaestish Revolt killed in a summary execution. This abrupt end to the rebellion was met with approval from Jorjaeryn's advisors and vassals, however there was, even centuries after the event, a distinct lack of precise information on the confrontation.
=== Settling down ===
Jorjaeryn and his lover, Syrell, became betrothed to one another in 5 BG. It was around this time that Queen Aerinne passed away after struggling from trauma and grief for some years. Jorjaeryn did not mourn his callous mother but sympathised with her pained late stages of life and held a ceremony where she was buried with her beloved husband and child, marking the end of Jorjaeryn's difficult family life and the beginning of a new chapter with his soon-to-be wife.
=== Word from the Northern Lands ===
=== The Unified Retaliation ===
Category:Characters
Category:Chaestlands Character
Category:Rulers