Engelard of Morfa

## His Sapience**Archmagister Engelard**

**Engelard**, known as **Engelard of Morfa** and **Engelard of Torlan**, was a Breton mage, scholar and statesman.

Engelard was one of the most influential figures in High Rock during the Third Era; his accomplishments were all the more impressive in consideration of his peasant birth. He was an Archmagister of the Mages Guild and the *de facto* ruler of the Kingdom of Torlan. Engelard masterminded the Peace of Torlan and founded the Order of the Chalice. A scholar and patron of scholars, Engelard amassed one of the largest libraries in Tamriel.

## **Appearance**

Engelard, approaching his sixtieth year, was a Breton of middling height and slender build. He wore his receding dark brown hair at shoulder length, and his greying beard long. Both were well-groomed and oiled. Engelard had small grey eyes.

The Archmagister dressed in sumptuous robes of burgundy and blue, reflecting his dual allegiance to Crown and Guild respectively. Engelard wore numerous enchanted rings and an amulet of Julianos. The left-handed Archmagister carried a staff tipped with a gold swan's head.

Engelard spoke with eloquence and deliberation, although some considered him bombastic. The serene Archmagister seldom raised his voice; the rare occurrences of him doing so were said to be terrifying.

At the height of his power, Engelard was surrounded by an entourage rivalling the Emperor's in size and splendour. Around him orbited apprentices, clerks, knights, mages, ministers and scholars, in addition to evanescent diplomats, messengers and petitioners.

## **Character**

Engelard of Morfa was a Breton of great learning, as much a scholar as a statesman. The Archmagister was gifted with an excellent memory (considered a blessing from Julianos) which he wielded as an administrator and an academic. His knowledge of Tamriel's history was encyclopaedic.

Quintessential of a mage, Engelard was haughty, meticulous and unworldly. The *parvenu* Archmagister cultivated lavish tastes: silks from Valenwood, perfume from Hammerfell, and wine from the Summerset Isles. The trappings of power deterred him from spending time away from his residences at Torlan Castle and Engelard's Square, travelling the short distance between them in a covered litter.

Engelard was at best ambitious, dignified and eloquent. At worst, he was imperious, pompous and bombastic. Whilst generous to his servants, the Archmagister's condescension towards his social betters (not least royalty) only deepened their contempt for the upstart.

## **Biography**

### **Early Life**

Engelard was born in Morfa, a fief of the Kingdom of Torlan, in 3E 241. His parentage and ancestry were speculated both during and after his lifetime. Engelard himself alluded to noble, and even merish, descent. His intercessor and biographer Amafinius Torquatus surmised that his patron was the illegitimate son of Imbert, the Baron of Morfa. The Duke of Corsen alleged that Engelard was born to swineherds, who sold their son to the Mages Guild for a meagre fifty septims.

The first certain detail of Engelard's life was documented by the Mages Guild on 9th Rain's Hand 3E 247, when the six-year-old Novice was admitted to the chapter in Torlan. Whilst an Apprentice he demonstrated a flair for enchanting and illusion magic, but was reprimanded for neglecting spellcasting and spending too much time in the library. Engelard did not obtain the rank of Mage until 3E 268, aged twenty-seven, having deferred his examinations to study at the University of Torlan under the venerable historian Hubert Lauris.

In 3E 271, Engelard was appointed Master of Academia of Torlan’s Mages Guild chapter. Five years later he became its Master of Incunabula. As head of the chapter's library, Engelard toiled to enrich it with books procured from across the Empire. Under his stewardship, the collection increased threefold. Engelard introduced a new system of cataloguing (later becoming the standard of guild libraries) and enchanted books with curses to deter theft. No mere custodian, Engelard pored over the tomes of his collection to research his *Bretic History*.

### **Courtly Beginnings**

Engelard completed the fifth and final volume of the *Bretic History* in 3E 284, dedicating and presenting this tome to King Berenger II of Torlan. Engelard was invited by the king to tutor his children on history, becoming a member of the royal court.

In 3E 289, Engelard succeeded the retiring {Predecessor} as Magister of Torlan’s Mages Guild. He owed his appointment to merit as the chapter’s long-serving Master of Incunabula, though his favour with the king far from harmed his prospects. As Magister, he proved acquiescent to the royal will (and avarice) by consenting to a new tax on the guildhall’s services and sales.

On the death of the crown prince in 3E 291, the melancholic King Berenger withdrew to his chambers and neglected affairs of state. The tutors of the king’s surviving son and heir, Prince Elzear, took their leave of the royal court after their pay fell into arrears. Engelard alone remained, assuming an informal guardianship over the prince. This altruism impressed Queen Adelaide, the prince’s mother.

### **Chancellorship**

King Berenger II died in 3E 292, succeeded by his sixteen-year-old son Elzear VII. His mother assumed control of the kingdom as Queen Regent. Engelard’s ingratiation with the queen paid dividends when he was appointed chancellor of the realm. When questioned on this choice, Adelaide declared that ‘*there is no man more learned, nor more leal*’. Importantly, custody of the kingdom’s great seal was granted to Engelard.

The chancellor at once assumed responsibility for the kingdom’s diplomatic affairs, which had been largely neglected in the previous reign. King Berenger’s isolationism endowed Torlan with wealth, but bereft her of allies. Engelard perceived an opportunity: not entangled in the rivalries and wars which consumed the rest of High Rock, Torlan was ideally situated to arbitrate peace in the province. Whilst other members of the Royal Council were sceptical, the Queen Regent endorsed this initiative (and thereafter claimed it as her own).

Overtures to the rulers of the province in 3E 293, penned by Engelard, were met with equivocal replies (if any at all). It was plain that the kings and queens of High Rock would not be moved by the words, however eloquent or sententious, of an obscure mage from a middling principality.

### **Archmagister**

In 3E 294, the aged Archmagister Rocamadour, Guildmaster of High Rock, passed away. As Magister of Torlan, Engelard was eligible to succeed her to the Supreme Council. Though respected as a scholar, Engelard was far from the most distinguished candidate in the province. His secular influence, however, proved decisive.

Engelard submitted his biography of Celestin Forcalquier to Queen Adelaide for her review. This text (which would be incorporated into the *Hexad* a year later) recounted how this Second Era archmagister scolded warring monarchs *'as though they were children tussling over a sweetroll'*, compelling them to make peace. The seed was sown: the Queen Regent resolved that her chancellor must obtain the rank of archmagister *'for the sake of our enterprise'*.

At the queen's behest the favour – and more importantly the endorsement – of High Rock's magisters was courted. Where affirmations of Engelard's merits and virtues failed to convince them, offers of gifts and pensions prevailed. The Magister of Torlan exploited the rivalry between archmagisters Calidius Capito and Nymphidia Trigeminus, procuring a nomination from the latter after penning several unctuous letters to both.

By these efforts, Engelard was at length elevated to the rank of Archmagister and Guildmaster of High Rock in 3E 295. He invited Clovis Helfaut to serve as his personal battlemage.

#### **Guildmaster of High Rock**

Engelard's tenure as Guildmaster of High Rock was a departure from the *laissez-faire* approach of his predecessor. Those who had criticised Rocamadour for neglecting guild affairs had cause to regret the absent-minded astronomer. In Sun's Height 3E 295, Archmagister Engelard convoked the first guild conclave in High Rock and Hammerfell for four decades.

Attended by some two hundred delegates, this council was concerned with both academic and regulatory matters. Whereas Magister Treguier lectured on intraplanar conjuration in the morning, new restrictions on necromancy were promulgated by the archmagister in the afternoon. Several magisters, accused of *'ignorance, negligence and malfeasance'* by their chapters, were summarily dismissed. Visitations to the guildhalls of High Rock were announced to investigate further violations of guild law. Other discussions included the persecution of the Mages Guild in Nafura as reported by Sahir af-Adib, the sole representative from Hammerfell, and the admission of Orcs to the guild.

After the conclave concluded, the guildhalls of High Rock were enthused by the *'silken robes and silken words'* of their new archmagister. The reputation of Engelard, a hitherto obscure figure outside of Torlan, was catapulted. Magister Jargeau, himself a shrewd politician, discerned that this was the Engelard's true motive for convoking the conclave.

### **Ascendancy**

Despite King Elzear VII reaching the age of majority in Sun’s Dusk 3E 296, his mother remained Queen Regent into the new year. It was clear that Adelaide had no intention to yield her power, nor the king to claim it from her. On the night of 12th First Seed 3E 297, the queen was attacked by an assassin in her bedchamber. The would-be regicide was cut down by guards after inflicting dagger wounds on Adelaide’s hands and arms.

The Queen Regent’s injuries were healed, and at the Archmagister’s behest she was given a draught to calm her nerves. The following morning, Adelaide was found by her servants in a catatonic state: immobile and mute. Adelaide’s condition, described as a ‘*malison of Sheogorath*’, was attributed to the shock of her attack.

The regency of Queen Adelaide was ended. Terrified of the sight of his mother’s unblinking stare, King Elzear ordered that she be moved to a secluded part of Torlan Castle. The queen's chambers were soon occupied by Engelard, who replaced its Gloriad [?] emblems with the motifs of his Guild.

At once the king deferred to the counsel of his tutor, the Archmagister. On 5th Mid Year 3E 297, King Elzear celebrated a second coronation to symbolise the beginning of his personal rule. Whereas Bishop Pasquier had crowned the king at his first coronation five years earlier, it was Archmagister Engelard who now placed the crown on Elzear’s head. During the coronation celebrations, the king appointed Engelard to the Order of the Black Ermine.

#### **Rivalries**

Engelard owed his ascendancy to the favour he maintained with successive rulers of Torlan – Berenger II, Adelaide and Elzear VII. His influence over the latter after 3E 297 was absolute. At court it was said that the king could not wipe his nose without the archmagister's leave; a less savoury version of this story was told in the taverns.

As a royal favourite who monopolised both influence and patronage, Engelard incurred the acrimony, jealousy and hostility of many. Malcontents rallied to the Duke of Corsen, the king's uncle, who emerged as the archmagister's arch-rival.

Although Engelard initially brushed off the duke's slanders, the rivalry between the two escalated beyond hope of reconciliation. Their exchanges, rarely in person, were as amusing as they were scathing. When Engelard, fond of perfume, was told that the duke had compared his fragrance to a prostitute, the archmagister quipped that *'on this matter I defer to His Grace's wisdom'*.

After Corsen was implicated in a thwarted conspiracy to assassinate the archmagister, a wrathful Engelard denounced the duke as a *'failed usurper'* and *'aspiring filicide'*. Corsen was thereafter excluded from government and denied access to King Elzear. Conversely, Engelard enjoyed a cordial, even friendly, relationship with the king's other uncle, the Count of Gorlif.

### **Peace of Torlan**

Engelard oversaw several years of careful diplomacy. His vision of ‘*perpetual peace and amity*’ in High Rock was enshrined in a treaty which he personally drafted. Emissaries, such as Esquieu Belvoir, journeyed throughout the province to negotiate its terms. During these years Engelard penned hundreds, if not thousands, of letters addressed to monarchs, ministers, mages, merchants and many more. These missives were often steeped in pointed historical references.

At the close of 3E 297 the Archmagister announced to the Royal Council that ‘*the greater part of the province has assented to our overtures*’, though some rulers still quibbled over terms. The scrimping lord treasurer reasoned that rulers should, at their own expense, send envoys to sign the treaty on their behalf. Engelard, however, insisted that the signatories should meet and seal the treaty in person. He duly summoned the rulers of High Rock to a peace summit in the city of Torlan.

In the months preceding the summit, the Archmagister oversaw preparations for the festivities that would accompany it. The city of Torlan, its streets swept of filth, was bedecked in the motley arms of the visiting rulers. Prodigious quantities of victuals (particularly wine) were imported. Trenches were dug to drain the wetlands surrounding the city to create suitable terrain for guest encampments and tournament grounds.

The cost of these extravagances was enormous. In addition to imposing an extortionate scutage on the magnates and knights of the realm (condemned as the ‘*beggaring of chivalry*’), Engelard incurred massive debts with numerous banking houses (notably the Tiro Bank).

The peace summit, called the Council of Torlan, commenced in Mid Year 3E 298. Its celebrations included processions through the city, tournaments, naumachia, hunting expeditions and gift exchanges. Banquets, prepared by the celebrated chef Guillaume Viandier, were unceasing. Owing to the visiting entourages, swelled by merchant caravans, Torlan could boast the largest population in High Rock for the duration of the summit.

Engelard, nicknamed *The Blue Magnificence*, was ubiquitous throughout the summit. When asked by his intercessor if he had spoken to the king that day, the Archmagister complacently replied ‘*Which king?*’ He arbitrated several disputes and feuds between visiting rulers: the grandiosity of this *parvenu* evoked admiration, derision and loathing in equal measure. As one chronicler observed, ‘*in the throng of golden crowns, is not the bareheaded king?*’

The festivities culminated in the sealing of the Treaty of Torlan. Those who attested the treaty were admitted to the Order of the Chalice, which Engelard founded and led as its first *Grand Cupbearer*. During the Council of Torlan, Engelard negotiated a separate alliance with the Kingdom of Gylfin. This was sealed with the marriage of King Elzear and Princess Julia, the granddaughter of King Regulus I of Gylfin.

At the close of the Council, King Elzear offered Engelard a dukedom. Citing the offence this would cause to the Duke of Corsen, the kingdom's sole duke, he declined. *'There are few privileges greater than receiving a duchy; refusing one is among them'*, he exulted in private. More dubiously, Engelard claimed to have rejected an invitation to serve as the emperor's Imperial Battlemage.

#### **Sack of Uzmakh**

Engelard shared the Breton contempt for Orcs. As Archmagister, he discouraged their admittance to the Mages Guild. At the Council of Torlan, the archmagister was alarmed by King Meurig III's report that his kingdom (a neighbour of Torlan) was assailed by the expanding stronghold of Uzmakh. Warning that the chieftain Yarog aspired to establish a new Orsinium in the region, Engelard urged members of the new Order of the Chalice to prove their *'unfeigned fellowship'* by aiding King Meurig.

Heeding the Grand Cupbearer, a party of Chalicers led by {TBA; Arthur of Eirias?} journeyed upriver with their knights. On 3rd Sun's Height 298, they sacked Uzmakh. In a day the Bretons slaughtered the entire tribe, sparing neither women nor children. The formidable Yarog was cut down only after slaying three knights, a nobleman and a king. The victors returned to Torlan in triumph, presenting the decaying head of Yarog to a queasy Engelard. He awarded {TBA} with the title *Gonfalonier* (standard-bearer) of the Order of the Chalice.

*'This peace was not sealed with wax'*, Amafinius Torquatus lamented, *'but with blood'*.

### **Other Activities**

#### **Scholarship**

In addition to the thousands of letters he penned and dictated, Engelard authored a number of scholarly texts. These were almost entirely historical works, notably the *Bretic History* and the *Hexad*. He also wrote shorter treatises and commentaries, such as the *Discourse on Direnni Law*. Engelard's contemporaries were astonished that the Archmagister found the time and energy to continue his scholarly output despite the demands of state affairs.

#### **Patronage**

Engelard was a munificent patron of learning. He sponsored new works by both arcane and mundane scholars, as well as commentaries and translations of ancient texts. Many tomes written at the close of the third century, from mathematics to mysticism, were commissioned by the Archmagister. Above all, Engelard was an avid bibliophile. Vast sums of gold were spent on purveying books from across the Empire, which were collected in the great library he founded.

Shortly after his election as Rector of Torlan University in 3E 300, Engelard established a new school within an unoccupied wing of the university. Morfa College, at it became known, was endowed to board and educate thirty *'poor scholars'*, children from impoverished families and orphans. Engelard intended the College to be a feeder school to the University of Torlan. Having secured the endowment and privileges for his foundation, Engelard appointed the Hubert Lauris (formerly the university's Dean of History) as the College's first headmaster.

#### **Religion**

Engelard did not attribute his rise from pigsty to palace to his brilliance alone. He considered himself blessed and guided by the Divines, particularly Julianos. He wore the God of Wisdom's amulet at all times, permitting himself respite from state affairs twice a day to pray in private.

Though pious, Engelard was ambivalent towards the Torlanese priesthood. He held the reprobate Bishop Pasquier in low repute. Influenced by Amafinius Torquatus, his intercessor from 3E 295, Engelard promoted the Order of Julianos in the kingdom. After becoming a tertiary (lay member) of the order, he endowed a new temple dedicated to the God of Wisdom in Engelard's Square. Under the stewardship of Torquatus, this temple became renowned for the illuminated manuscripts produced by its scriptorium.

## **Heraldry**

On his appointment to the Order of Black Ermine in 3E 297, Engelard was granted a coat of arms. The Archmagister selected a blue saltire and four black quills as his symbol.

The following year, after founding the Order of the Chalice, Engelard added a murrey *bordure* with a *semy* of golden chalices to his coat of arms to signify his position as the order's Grand Cupbearer.

Retainers, servants and partisans of Engelard wore livery badges resembling quills to indicate their allegiance. Badges belonging to important adherents were made of gold, and were often enchanted by the archmagister.

The names of two Torlan inns – *The Saltire* and *The Four Quills* – were references to Engelard's coat of arms. These were popular lodgings for visiting mages and scholars.

## **Quotes**

### **Quotes by Engelard**

* *"If war is drudgery, then peace is the finest art"*
* *"It is of no consequence. His Grace marshals more spelling mistakes than knights"* – After the Duke of Gefyn declined an invitation to the Council of Torlan

### **Quote about Engelard**

* *"There is no man more learned, nor more leal"* – Adelaide of Glorinel
* *"In the throng of golden crowns, is not the bareheaded king?"* – Anonymous chronicler, concerning Engelard's influence during the Council of Torlan
* *"Not content with the company of kings, Lord Engelard now fraternises with the gods"* – At the unveiling of a statue of Engelard opposite that of the Divine Julianos

## **Notes**

1. ↑ The alchemical formula for fast-drying ink is often attributed to the left-handed Engelard, frustrated by the smudging of his letters. This claim is most likely apocryphal.
2. ↑ Of his favourite wine, a Shimmerene vintage of 2E 430, Engelard quipped: '*A good year for potent wine; not so for Potentates'*. In this year, Potentate Savirien-Chorak was assassinated.
3. ↑ Engelard celebrated this date as his birthday.
4. ↑ Mages wishing to practice necromancy now required a licence granted by the Guildmaster (that is, by Engelard himself).
5. ↑ Alluding to the Duke of Corsen's attempt to usurp the Kingdom of Ystrad from his own son in 3E 295.