Charles D'Ochre

Portrait of Charles painted after succeeding his half brother Gustav

### Titles

Charles of the Ocher, Charles of Arelon, Earl of Flannings, Earl of Jorif, Earl of the Bath, Earl of Arelon

## Physical Description

### Eyes

Grey

**Charles D'Ochre** is the Earl of Flannings, a nation comprising the southwestern coast of Illyria. Charles is the heir to the House of Allisteir, and as such maintains the traditional title of Earl as opposed to Count. After serving in the Battle of Agabad, he began a campaign to consolidate power in the borderlands of Arcadia and Arborea. This attempt has been focused on acquiring the cultural center of Arelon.

Charles is best known for his development of urban centers in Flannings and having proper manors built for serfs and landless inhabitants of the region. He is sometimes called **Charles of Arelon** for his lifelong attempts to incorporate the territory into Illyria.

## Life

Charles is the son of Robert Ducat, so named because of his preoccupation with commercial enterprise (the silver ducat being a common currency). His own sobriquet, "D'Ochre," comes from Charles' own early commercial endeavors. Charles had many buildings coated in ocher clay, which gave new urban developments a distinctive orange coloration. This left him with the title "of the ocher."

His grandfather, Ricard Allisteir, was Thane during the War of the Dragons. As a child, there were next to no expectations for him to succeed to
any monarchy. Like his father, he wanted to reinvigorate Flannings after the devastation in the late Thirteenth Era.

However, when he was fifteen years old, his father unexpectedly succeeded his own grandnephew as head of the Allisteir dynasty, which had now also received the titles of not only Flannings, but the island of Jorif, the Bath, and been granted parts of Arcadia that had not yet been consolidated. Robert Ducat, though, only inherited Flannings, with other male heirs gaining the other territories. Not wanting to lose these territories in principle, Robert had his son Gustav betrothed to his aunt to have him inherit the Bath in CE 945.

In CE 946, Charles's half-brother Gustav succeeded his father Robert Ducat as Thane of Flannings. Both Gustav and Charles fought at Agabad in CE 953; however, Gustav never returned home and Charles succeeded him. This also meant that Jorif and the Bath would remain in the hands of the Thane. When his aunt passed away a year later, a dispute arose regarding the inheritance of the Bath between whether Charles should succeed Gustav, or Gustav's sister Melinde. To settle the dispute, Charles chose to wed his half-sister, recognizing that the passing of the rights would go to their children. Though controversial, it was met with a lukewarm response to give Flannings claim to the Bath.

After receiving a letter of accordance from the Ilvadi tribe of Arcadia, Charles launched a campaign to secure the coastal areas between the Bath and Arelon in CE 970. This region has historic ties to Illyria despite being a part of Arcadia. Between CE 970 and CE 984, these areas were annexed or otherwise incorporated into the Flannings hegemony.

At the onset of the War of the Lost Prince in CE 984, Charles bestowed the Arelon confederation under the Ilvadi a noble title under Illyria as a Castellan. However, this irked the Zemori, and bordering tribes became openly hostile towards Flannings. Charles, anticipating a diet between Flannings and the Zemori in order to secure Arelon, incrementally paid tribes to join the Ilvadi in his confederation.

Charles, while in Arelon on a diplomatic endeavor, was the target of a siege carried out by former Zemori tribes as a show of force to demonstrate that Charles could not protect Arelon nor himself from their military. On 2 May CE 990, mercenaries were gathered outside of Arelon in the Sinapine River Valley, with an ultimatum given to surrender the Ilvadi nobles or the siege would starve out the city. After thirty-one days, on 2 June CE 990, the House of Merovia had yet to send any forces to relieve the siege.

The House of Darcedon communicated with the monasteries in the city to help Charles escape unharmed, and a plan to lead a team of elite mercenaries through the underground tunnels of Arelon was formed by the monks and Darcedon emissaries. However, after a messenger was captured on 2 June, word was spread through the siege camp that Charles was within Arelon. Seeking personal fortune for his capture or death, the siege broke and the walls were attacked, eventually giving way to the 10,000 strong mercenary army. The city was sacked, but Charles had evaded the mercenaries in the custody of his retainer and a volunteer levy organized by the monks.

Charles hid in the Sinapine mountains for nearly two weeks while the survivors of his retainer met with Darcedon's garrison to the north; following a tense negotiation, Charles was able to come out of hiding and return to Argo. After the debacle that was the Siege of Arelon, Charles realigned himself with the House of Darcedon, breaking a traditional alliance that had lasted for centuries. Charles was then given the superior title Earl and supported in his claim by Darcedon as the inheritor of Flannings, Anders, the Bath, and former territories in Arcadia. His former title, Thane, currently sits unoccupied, thought it will likely be inherited should Arelon be formally incorporated into Flannings.

Charles appointed his porter, Guy, to the position of Marquis over Arelon to act as his emissary and oversee its reconstruction following the sacking of Arelon.