Jakov Rodin

Jakov was born the bastard of Lady Izabella Rodin in 412 AE.

From early childhood, he knew what he was the result of. The cajoling of his especially cruel cousins Bradwen and Tristan constantly rang in his ears, as they mocked him and his mother constantly. Jakov had no qualms about fighting boys six-to-ten years his senior, but of course he never won . Eventually he just learned to avoid the boys and other members of his family.

Jakov expected his mother to eventually marry and birth a legitimate heir. He began combat-training from an early age, actively serving as a page and squire by the age of ten. As everyone in his life also expected Izabella to remarry and provide an heir, he wasn't treated specially. In fact, he was always treated quite harshly, his bastard status often used against him. He used it as fire to fuel his strikes and was soon fairly respected by his trainers.

Another expectation that Jakov grew to have was that one day when an heir was provided, he would be charged with protecting them as the older bastard brother. Upon this assumption, he demanded tutoring so that he might also be a fine advisor, and it was provided.

In 427 AE, when Jakov was 15 years old, he discovered his cousin Darren Rodin raping Izabella, with another cousin Llew Rodin holding her down. In a fit of rage, Jakov killed them both - Darren before he knew what was happening was stabbed through the heart, and a brief scuffle with Llew ended in Izabella tripping him and Jakov choking him to death.

Izabella sent out a warning to other nobility, claiming an assassination attempt had been made on her life. An attempt was made to contact the rest of the Rodin family, but upon realizing Darren and Llew were dead, it seemed they had fled, their scheme busted open.

Jakov became extremely protective of his mother and rarely left her side other than to train and sleep. Only weeks later, while he was sleeping, his cousins Bradwen and Tristan stole into his room and attempted to assassinate him. He was badly hurt in the struggle, but he killed Bradwen by smashing his head into the brick of a fireplace mantle. Tristan fled at that point and Jakov was unable to pursue.

Jakov would walk with a limp for the rest of his life due to the injury he sustained that night, but he also didn't give himself time to heal. By the time he was 16, finally caught mention of his uncle in a local bar and went on the hunt with a small group of men. In one evening, they hunted down Jac Rodin II, Jac Rodin, and Iver Rodin. They killed Jac's two remaining sons and dragged Jac back to the Rodin Estate for interrogation.

Under torture, Jac finally revealed the truth of what happened the day of Jakov's conception.

*It all started in 411 AE. Vedran - her father, and the son of Jac's half-brother - , Izabella, and her older brother Maddock were traveling from the Rodin Estate to Everglow City for a wedding. Jac, jealous of his half-brother's title, organized some of his men and his own sons to act as bandits and murder the three of them so that the lordship title might finally pass to him. However, after Vedran and Maddock were killed, the men had some fun with the young lady Izabella - an untouched 15-year-old up to that point. While Jac and some of his men were staging the murder scene, Izabella finally got free and killed one of his men with his own dagger before fleeing. Jac admitted that although some of Izabella's cousins raped her, there were other non-noble men involved - any of which could be Jakov's father.*

*She* *wasn't meant to escape. Jac, concerned that she would launch a campaign against his family, visited her at the estate once she had returned. She claimed not to remember the incident, thankfully for his sake, and he vowed to hunt down those bandits and kill them. When Izabella's pregnancy became evident, Jac started insisting that she speak to a wise woman and abort the pregnancy. But the entire time, she denied she was pregnant until the baby was born - even while in labor, she screamed the baby wasn't hers.*

*Jac knew another attempt on Izabella or baby Jakov's lives so soon would cue suspicion. An attempt at poisoning her during her labor was accidentally thwarted, so he was resigned to waiting a few more years. For fifteen years, Izabella adamantly refused to have a husband or lover. But by the time Jakov was fifteen and Izabella thirty-years-old, talks with a Dalman gentleman began. Jac realized his opportunity to stop Izabella from producing a legitimate heir was slipping away and he sent Darren and Llew to kill Izabella. But as before, they were distracted by having some fun with her before they murdered her - which led to their demise at Jakov's hands.*

*The year was 427. Jac and his family fled. He didn't order the attack on Jakov by Bradwen and Tristan - they chose to take up their childhood grievances with the bastard who murdered their uncles.* *Tristan came back bloodied and beaten. The family reached out to their Umbridge cousins for refuge, claiming Darren, Llew and Bradwen acted on their own in the two separate assassination attempts on Izabella and Jakov.*

*Lord Geraint Umbridge hid them for a time: Jac (81), his children Jac II (63), Iver (60), Elinor (58), Telyn (43); and grandchildren Aures (29), Rhion (27), Tristian (21), and Iola (30). Geraint believed their lie, and assumed the family conflict would die down in a few years so long as the family didn't show their necks - also, if Izabella didn't produce a legitimate heir, it certainly wouldn't hurt to be in Jac Rodin's good graces.*

*Jac, Jac II, Iver, and Rhion started recruiting mercenaries from taverns and inns. This was how Jakov found out about them - they were intending to come back as a large force and eject Jakov from the Rodin Estate. The plan was then to force Izabella to marry Rhion - who would have been the rightful heir had the title passed through Jac and his sons. Izabella would then bear Rhion's children who would continue the Rodin line.*

Rhion had been fortunate enough to not be nearby at the time Jac was captured and the others murdered. But Jakov realized by now he would have reported back to the family. Jakov relished in torturing Jac to a slow, painful death.

Jakov and his men traveled to Huperbrigge and spoke with Lord Geraint Umbridge. He confirmed the family had fled with the news of Jac's capture. Geraint implored a peaceful resolution between the cousins, revealing that one member of the family had been abandoned in his care - Telyn Rodin, Jac's youngest daughter born 384. Despite being family, Jakov could never remember having met her.

Upon meeting Telyn, Jakov realized she couldn't be guilty of such schemes as the rest of her family. She suffered from multiple mental disabilities and could hardly hold a conversation, reverting to a child-like state every few minutes. Geraint confirmed she had been like this the entire time and assumed she had become too much of a burden to the fleeing Rodins.

Jakov took Telyn home with him to the Rodin Estate where she was cared for by a small team of servants. By this time, Izabella had told him she had aborted a pregnancy borne of that violent night a few months ago. Jakov was furious what his cousins had done to his mother, but with no leads, all he could do at this point was get on with his life.

In 430 AE, Izabella finally wed. Her new husband, Alonzo Dalman, knew of her turbulent history and was a gentle man. But it wasn't long before Izabella's health issues were revealed - the abortion had damaged her too badly to carry another baby to term and she suffered a miscarriage not even a year into her marriage. Although she fell pregnant easily again in 431, she again had a miscarriage.

This was when Elinor Rodin raised her ugly head. She wrote to the Senate, explaining the crimes of her brothers and nephews, feigning innocence, and revealing the nature of Izabella's broken womb. She claimed that Tristan had left the family and his whereabouts were unknown, and that Jakov had kidnapped her dear little sister Telyn. She asked the Senate that they revoke any opportunity Jakov had of becoming Izabella's heir and instead transferring the lordship to her nephew Rhion Rodin.

Geraint Umbridge again entered the scene and supported Rhion Rodin's claim to the Rodin lordship - although he knew Telyn hadn't been kidnapped so much as abandoned, he believed Rhion was a far more stable man than Jakov and would prefer him as a neighboring lord.

At this time, Alonzo began an affair with a woman and had his marriage to Izabella annulled seeing as she could not provide a child. Jakov made a public spectacle over this, leading to only more criticism of his rash ways. Izabella finally took the reins and pulled him in. She made it very clear to him that if they were going to keep the House - and he was going to keep his life - they needed to make a good impression to the other houses.

So while Izabella worked with healers to try and bring Telyn to some resemblance of a credible witness, Jakov hunted down the remainder of his cousins. He returned to Geraint Umbridge, reminding him of the family's abandonment of Telyn and how he now took care of her in his own home. He told Geraint everything Jac had confessed - leaving out that it was under torture. After a long evening of discussion, Geraint finally ceded that he didn't want to be in this as deep as he was and said he would withdraw his support of Rhion.

Jakov then went to Alonzo Dalman and apologized in a public setting for his outburst. He vowed that should he receive their support, he would wed a Dalman when the time came and both their houses would be made stronger for it. Alonzo still held some compassion for the boy and his mother and agreed to support his claim.

Order of Kills:

* Darren Rodin and Llew Rodin (427)
* Bradwen Rodin (427)
* Jac Rodin II and Iver Rodin (428)
* Jac Rodin (428)
* Rhion Rodin, Aures Rodin, Elinor Rodin and Iola Rodin (431)
* Tristan Rodin (431)
* Telyn Rodin was left alive, as Jakov realized she wasn't capable of being implicit in the scheme due to her mental disabilities and trauma. She died of old age in 464 AE.