Alain Renauda

**Alain Renauda** was the Maudesian King of Nordain during the late Eighth Age.

## Background

Alain was named King of Nordain and sent there as a punishment for having offended Emperor Maxence somehow. However, before this, the Emperor and Alain were rumored to be lovers, causing much scandal as they were also first cousins. Despite being named King of Nordain, Alain was very unhappy with his position, and longed to return to Maudet. For this purpose, he often wrote letters to the Maudesian Emperor asking for forgiveness and to be recalled to Maudet. However, his requests were never granted.

As the king, Alain did a fairly poor job; he despised the Nordishfolk, looking down upon them as little more than a barbaric and primitive peoples. Thus, he never attempted to appeal to them by adopting to their ways, or doing things that might have made him more acceptable as their king, despite his advisors' advice to do so. Furthermore, he was downright sadistic, often tormenting other people for his own amusement, ordering executions on a large scale, as well as having a habit of beating people who made him angry. He was also remarkably decadent, being used to 'cultured' Maudet; he once ordered all courtiers to wear masks, punishing the noble whose mask he liked least, only abandoning the practice after it led to an assassination attempt. He mostly left the job of ruling Nordain to his mage advisor, Barrault. Overall he ruled through tyranny and military might, carelessly sending Maudesian chevaliers to their deaths.

## Involvement

He mostly viewed the rebellion in Nordain as little more than an inconvenience, and usually left Barrault the task of handling the rebels. When Barrault's double agent readied the rebel army to be ambushed at South Hill, Alain, who was stuck in bed with a fever, changed his mind from capturing Prince Baylor, to having him die in the fighting. When the Battle of South Hill ended in an Maudesian victory, Alain was quick to announce Baylor's death without firm confirmation of it, believing the rebel prince to be indistinguishable from any other Nordishman. He was later utterly livid when Barrault informed him that Baylor had survived, and made it to Dhunne. His survival, believed to be the Watcher's resurrection, spurred on open rebellions amongst the common Nordishfolk, forcing Alain to take the matter more seriously. However, instead of following the advice of his advisors to bide his time, and try to convince the people he was the better ruler, his way of dealing with the rebellion was to impose even harsher conditions on the Nordishfolk than they were already under.

This attempt backfired. The general populace continued to rebel, and many among the nobility joined Prince Baylor's side. Even one of his chief advisors, the Grand Cleric of Nordain, Bronach, abandoned him and voiced her (or rather the Watcher's) support for Prince Baylor Kaulden. Barrault was killed not long after that by Baylor himself. To make matters worse, two legions sent by the Emperor as reinforcements were defeated by Ornand at the Battle of Tolamir River. After that, the Emperor decided that Nordain was a lost cause and abandoned Alain, refusing to send him more men or support.

Despite being robbed of most of its support, Alain's rule still lasted three more years, after which he and his few supporters barricaded themselves inside Fort Volantus in Dersoden when the rebels finally laid siege to the capital. At that point, Prince Baylor challenged Alain to a duel, which Alain accepted, believing he would prevail, and lost. Afterwards, Baylor put his head on a pike outside the gates of the palace, possibly as revenge, for Alain had done the same thing to Baylor's own mother, Naranna Kaulden, and other supporters of his. Thus Alain's rule ended in **9A02**, which also marked the end of the Maudesian occupation of Nordain.