1187 Hessal Varagy, C.

by Old Falsal Caralas & Sepredas Candoam:

* Haital Varagy Caralas
(-11 to ...)
* Tantanal Varagy Caralas
(-2 to ...)

by Old Falsal Caralas & Sepredas Candoam:

* Sepredas Varagy
(-3 to ...)

by Nusal Sarevir-Machyal & Sepredas Candoam:

* Racitas Sarevir
(-1 to ...)

**Hessal Varagy** (born -45)

## Ancestors

Hessal's father Hessaral Varagy is a first generation Provincial citizen, who married into Roaman society after the Inachironic War through Oiblivy Galvens, a woman of reputable Companion stock. The Varagies are from Varagy in Nelunty, a small and independently minded city in the hills near the historic borders with Fuscry, Oscumy and Inachria, although it is now well within the borders of the Neluntian Province.

His mother's father Anylyal Galvens was a forgettable Marshal prior to the war, whereas his mother's half-father Tavengal Panth died the first year of his first posting, as Captain of the Praetelon Well in Nearer Inachria before Hessal was two years old.

His mother's father's father Old Haital Galvens was the son of a Consul and died during the Second Fuscrite War, although likely not from combat. His wife Demiss Anyly was the daughter of two Consuls and Wife of Roam to Young Otibryal Ossopy; she died in childbirth with Anylyal Galvens when she was thirty-four.

Hessal's mother's half-father's father Norbil Panth Barbar was son of Young Interval Panth Juctor and the Consul Pronimal Barbar, both of whom were executed without trial as ringleaders of the Panth Insurrection when Norbil was just an infant. Only the despairing cries of his mother Racitas Candoam, a former Wife of Roam, spared Norbil a similar fate. He went on to serve as Captain of the Varcian and Crestrellian Wells in Straecy and Nelunty. His wife Cacy Oscumy was the daughter of two Consuls.

Hessal's mother's mother's father Scruval Osty died young during the Second Fuscrite War in Old Scruval Sarevir Juctor and Hyberital Barbar Adesican's devastating pincer attack on the Scrutan and Straequian forces between the Straequian and Varcian Wells in Straecy. His wife Tersas Barbar died the year that Hessal was born.

## Early Years (-45)

Hessal was born in Varagy in Nelunty in the years following the Inachironic War, but moved to the Varcian Well in Straecy when he was three. His father had paid his dues in Roaman society for twenty years, and was assigned to the posting by the Senate at the same time as the new Governor Freckled Pronimal Qualens was appointed. Hessal was an only child, but rarely lonely as his father spent lavishly on his tutors from Roam and Issycria as soon as the boy could speak.

When Hessal moved to Roam at age eight after his father's term expired, his talents were already evident. He could recite lengthy extracts from poetry, prose and oratory of both Roaman and Issycrian origin, and his father would often bring him along to meetings and dinners to impress his potential political benefactors. Hessal's mother's brother Tavengal Galvens Panth, who served a term as Bursar shortly after the outbreak of the Crylaltian War, described Hessal as the "*voice of the Provinces, speaking the mind of Roam*". Hessaral not only vied for himself politically, but also competed for the greatest educators in Roam for his only son, eager to nurture his talents that it might provide him with a better life.

The outbreak of the Crylaltian War began to siphon competitors away from Roam, and when Hessal was thirteen his father again secured an appointment as a Well Captain, this time at the Heban Well in Scrutany under Paginal Qualens Sarevir. At first Hessal was reluctant to leave the city, as he was beginning to appreciate the presence of girls, who he found susceptible to poetry, but eventually acquiesced to his father's wishes. Indeed, he found that Scrutan girls were even more impressed by his cultured airs than Roaman ones.

## Provincial War (-30)

*Main Article: Provincial War*
When Hessal was fifteen, the Provinces of Scalify broke out in rebellion at their perceived unequal treatment as both levies and taxpayers for the ongoing war in Crylalt. The discontent in the north of Scrutany was particularly strong, and the garrison of the Heban Well was besieged by the locals, along with Hessal's family and the Roaman citizens who had sought safety behind the walls. The siege persevered throughout the winter, and supplies and morale were dwindling when news arrived of the victory of Moody Machyal Sarevir-Machyal Voriel over the Northern Provincial Army at the Battle of Intrearian Well. A detachment of Moody Machyal's force led by Tavengal Galvens Panth and Anylyal Panth Galvens, who were Hessal's mother's brother and god-brother respectively, arrived to relieve the Heban Well and the rest of northern Scrutany.

Hessal was fascinated by the whole affair, and saw his uncles as heroes worthy of the epics he recited even as the management of the war descended into petty politicking between Moody Machyal and Hyberital Barbar Adesican. Hessal begged his father to begin making enquiries into whether he might be trained as an Officer once he reached his eighteenth birthday, but despite Hessaral's efforts he could not break into the high society that would grant his son the prestige necessary to be selected. Hessal began to study military history and practice riding with his father's soldiers, but never showed much actual prowess in either despite a firm grasp of the theories.

## First Civil War (-27)

*Main Article: First Civil War*
The conclusion of the Provincial War, in which Hyberital Barbar Adesican unilaterally granted the vote to all Provincial citizens and an amnesty for their rebellion led to Moody Machyal Sarevir-Machyal Voriel's first march on Roam. Hessal came of age during this war, with his family tentatively supporting Moody Machyal's faction due to their family connections: his mother's god-brother Anylyal Panth Galvens, one of Moody Machyal's trusted lieutenants, had married his son Proud Machyal Sarevir-Machyal, whose life and military prowess Hessal admired and followed from afar.

During the second year of the war, while Moody Machyal was reaving Inachria, Hessaral secured Hessal a marriage alliance with two of his closest Scrutan allies from his time at the Heban Well. His husband Aquileal Scrutany was more than thirty years Hessal's senior, who had bought his way into Roaman society immediately after the Inachironic War with the profits from his extensive vineyards across northern Scrutany and had already served twice as Marshal in Roam. He had divorced his previous Fuscrite wife Rumeny Seltalt and Inachrian husband Pithonal Xaralis after twenty-one years of producing only daughters. Their wife would be Dutras Peragy, daughter of Old Lucal Pygry, a Scrutan first generation citizen with a similar history to Aquileal's. He was currently serving a term as a Marshal in Roam, largely adjudicating on trade matters for his family run shipping business from Pygry across the Issycrian Sound. Dutras's half-father was Old Dutral Locy Hercudel, an Oscumite. Hessal took up residence in Roam at his husband's house and continuously interviewed his new Provincial relatives about their attitudes to the ongoing war, often beyond the bounds of politeness.

## Crylaltian War (-26)

*Main Article: Crylaltian War*
Hessal remained in Roam for much of the remainder of the Crylaltian War during his early twenties, jockeying to improve his standing in Roaman society and hoping to secure a posting as an Officer.

### The Baby Oiblivy Affair (-25)

When Hessal was twenty, his wife Dutras gave birth to a daughter Oiblivy Varagy, but the girl was malformed. Hessal, following in Roaman tradition, thought it best to practice exposure and leave the girl to die in the wake of Roam-Beast, but his his wife and his husband Aquileal, the girl's half-father, insisted that the girl be allowed to live, as Scrutans found the practice of exposure to be abhorrent. The case was brought before the Marshal Caiacal Buristil, and attracted attention from the Consul Hyberital Barbar Adesican, whose deal had ended the Provincial War, due to the potential discord it could sow between Roaman and Provincial values.

Hessal set out his case with meticulous care, focusing on three major avenues: (1) that he was the legal father of the girl, and that the will of her mother and half-father was subordinate to his, particularly as daughters do not take their half-father's name; (2) that exposure was a kindness for the child, whose life would be painful, lonely and short; (3) that Roaman citizens had a right to assert their cultural values over those of others in the city of Roam, as those were the values that had allowed Roam to subdue other cultures in the first place. The argument won over Buristil, whose family had been Roaman Companions for generations, but the Sentinel Bastal Hebal, who was the first Sentinel to hail from Scrutany was convinced to refer the case to the Senate by outraged Scrutans in Roam, including Hessal's father-in-law Old Lucal Pygry.

The case was settled when young Oiblivy died only eight months after her birth. Hessal was devastated that the girl had been forced to suffer through her short life, and his relationships with his husband, wife and father-in-law were severely strained. He was racked by guilt that he had not made an argument good enough to see the child put out of her misery at an earlier date, but also acutely aware that his argumentative nature — and sometimes patronising tone — was not always conducive to his own happiness. The lack of a resolution to the case also left a continuing tension between the Scrutan population of Roam and their hosts.

### The Pollas Juctor Affair (-23)

Over the next couple of years, Hessal's husband Aquileal and father-in-law Lucal achieved elections to the positions of Administrator and Bursar, but were not inclined to share much of their success with Hessal. When his father Hessaral again won an appointment to the Heban Well, he urged Hessal not to travel to Scrutany with him lest his newfound reputation hamper the mending of relations between the Roamans and the local Provincials.

Hessal grew rather glum and bitter during this time. Dutras bore him a son, Hessal Varagy Scrutany, who he was acutely aware was not his, as she no longer lay with him. In fact, he struck up an affair with Pollas Juctor, twice Wife of Roam, a woman fifteen years his senior and married to Old Gibral Anyly Adesican and Trassidyal Juctor Qualens. Both of her husbands had been humiliated in the war by Osa Tusk and Inachiron: Gibral had been captured as Consul alongside Craven Coltal Candoam in Pricia during the Provincial War, whereas Trassidyal and Tantal Voriel-Cuinsal Juctor had blundered into a trap in Crylalt and lost almost an entire legion. She was enamoured with Hessal, appreciating his mind, his culture and his appreciation of her as a woman independent of her husbands.

Rumours of their affair began to spread. Young Gibral Anyly Voriel, son of Pollas, Old Gibral and the late Old Semural Voriel Juctor, was an Officer at the time and incensed at Hessal's disrespect of his father, who was serving a term as Sentinel. He assembled a gang and confronted Hessal in the Voriel Forum. Hessal attempted to talk his way out of the situation and was set upon, receiving not insubstantial injuries and the threat that further beatings would be forthcoming if he were to remain in Roam. Hessal appealed to the other Sentinel Prellal Barbar Gibruny, who had been cousin and son-in-law to the late Hyberital Barbar Adesican, claiming that his Roaman citizenship guaranteed him a right under the Roaman Constitution to enter and reside in Roam. However, Prellal was unwilling to stick his neck out for such an unprestigious citizen and make unnecessary enemies, particularly as a second civil war was in the offing between the Consul Vulgar Renyal Sarevir Juctor and the Marshal Moody Machyal Sarevir-Machyal Voriel, who was wrapping up the peace negotiations with the Naechisians in Pricia. Hessal gathered his personal effects and left the city, abandoning his family.

## Exile to Issycria (-21)

Hessal fled to Moveream and booked passage across the Issycrian Sound to Chacaeis in the Coastal League of Issycria. He studied the workings of their lot-based democratic governmental system and interviewed the leading philosophers of the city, such as Pteoscalon and his school of Randomists, who believed that all life was better lived if determined by chance than planning by man. He compiled his findings into a short, digestible volume called *The Nature of Chance*. He sent a manuscript to several contacts back in Roam, where it was championed and promulgated by Parytal Candoam Qualens. Roam was descending into the Second Civil War, and some of Hessal's writings on helplessness in the face of seemingly random events struck a chord with the fraught populace of the city.

Hessal also maintained contact with his love Pollas Juctor, who encouraged him to pursue his investigations further into the other esoteric philosophies of Issycria. Hessal did so, travelling around the Coastal League to cities such as Aetmis, where all crimes were put before a jury of which each member could by chance suffer the same punishment that they meted out, and Dioraphis, where the ownership of all land rotated on a yearly basis between the citizens. His works on these city states and their peculiarities were well received back in Roam as it descended into the tyranny of Moody Machyal. Despite continuing his affair with Pollas through correspondence (and his wife Dutras still residing back in Roam), Hessal pursued several romantic liaisons with Issycrian women (and, rumour has it, several men) that were impressed by his oratorical skills. He also developed an enduring love for Issycrian theatre, which was somewhat more pretentious than the rowdy pantomimes that often passed for culture in Roam.

When Hessal was twenty-seven, during his third year in exile, his father Hessaral died in his home town of Varagy in Nelunty, at the age of seventy-eight. Hessal was his only child and thus heir to his hard-earned savings, but the inheritance was seized by the aptly nicknamed Marshal Crooked Nusal Candoam, and distributed amongst the Dictator Moody Machyal's lackeys. Unable to recover his birthright, Hessal began to turn his efforts towards biting criticisms of the regime in Roam. Not content to let his absence from Roam detract from his attacks on Moody Machyal and his cronies, Hessal repackaged any rumours he could find to bolster his more legalistic arguments, sometimes inventing slander whole-cloth. He was ecstatic to discover that his treatises had been banned in Roam by a decree by the cowed Senate, which increased their publicity and covert dissemination manifold. When in Roam, he had been anonymous, but in exile he was the talk of the town. Hessal bided his time, continuing his outpourings of scorn and waiting for the moment to return to Roam and make use of his fame.

### Assassination Attempt (-16)

Hessal had travelled to Bursymon to experience and document the Games of Olives and the Analustrian priests at the temple there, who slept with rich men before they embarked on long journeys to guarantee them safe passage. One night, when he fell asleep in his clothes on his bed in a rented room after a night of drinking wine with some local acquaintances, an unarmed assailant burst into his room and attempted to murder him with his bare hands. Hessal would have been defenceless but for the intervention of his bodyguard Phrogeon, who luckily could not stand the local grape and was still awake in the adjoining room. He plunged his sword into the back of the assassin before cutting his throat so deeply that his head nearly detached.

After Hessal had regained his nerves and thanked his saviour, they reported the attack to the Rod-Bearers, the local peacekeepers of Bursymon composed of freed slaves, who identified the assailant as Pancrison, a Ctinadian wrestler of some repute. Hessal mused that his stolen inheritance had surely been enough for Moody Machyal to afford to equip his assassins with a sword, and used the event in his next treatise to illustrate how tyranny was not only inherently violent, but also myopic, selfish and inefficient; a Roam with a constitutionally sound government would have assassinated him easily. He made sure not to drink again during the games, and still has a pain in his shoulders ever since, which does not allow him to lift his arms away from his body for extended periods of time.

## Return to Roam (-15)

Hessal was informed of the sudden death of the tyrant Moody Machyal by his contacts sooner than some people in Roam were, and grabbed his moment. He sent back a hastily rewritten polemic declaring that he intended to return from exile and run for office in a new, fully democratic Roam, and boarded a ship for Scalify. He found Roam in disarray at the power vacuum, with his idol Proud Machyal, the son of the tyrant, being cajoled into overseeing the ongoing elections by Young Sural Pavinny Ops and his Eminent allies in the Senate. Hessal determined that Young Sural, who had actually been one of the greatest proponents of the dictatorship in its first year before performing a shameless pivot into opposing it, would be a useful ally for his own election and sought an opportunity to connect with the older man.

Sural found time to admit Hessal into his study for fifteen minutes over tea, and Hessal was delighted to discover that Sural had been a keen reader of his works, but was also a stern critic of everything from his tone to his praise of Issycrian values ahead of those of Roam. Nevertheless, he respected Varagy's determination to resist tyranny at a risk to his own safety, even if it had been in exile, and agreed to suggest that his political friends support Hessal's campaign for Bursar — not least because the election of this thorn in Moody Machyal's side would send a powerful message about the new direction for Roam that Sural intended for Proud Machyal's peaceful handover of power.

### Bursar (-15)

Sural's support saw Hessal over the line, and he was returned as Bursar at thirty years old alongside two of his cousins on his mother's side: Young Tannal Moverant Gibruny, her sister's son, and Quiet Tavengal Oscumy Galvens, her brother's half-son. Once he was firmly installed in office, Hessal was confronted with the realisation that he wasn't entirely sure what to do with his tenure. His situation was made particularly difficult by the election of Crooked Nusal Candoam, the man who had confiscated his inheritance, as Consul. Hessal was urged by Young Sural not to make waves, as the year needed to as boring politically as possible for the prospects of the Republic, and that the time would come for Varagy to have his vengeance. In the meantime, Young Sural could afford to support Hessal within reason.

Hessal had other friends — and perhaps more enemies — in Roam. His long-standing lover Pollas Juctor had been become unmarried after both of her husbands had died while Hessal had been in exile, along with the death of her older brother Aloof Prellal Juctor during the Battle of Roam in a trap of Proud Machyal's making had left her a free woman for the first time in her forty-six years. Although Hessal still had a wife and husband in the form of Dutras Peragy and Aquileal Scrutany, and son in their household that was legally his, he rented a house with Pollas and lived with her openly as though they were married. At first the arrangement was exhilarating, and the two threw lavish parties for their friends and guests both exotic and disreputable, with costumes and Issycrian themes. However, when the initial thrill wore off, Hessal found that much of what he had loved about Pollas was withering as she grew older, and without the excitement of subterfuge. That her son Young Gibral, who had once threatened to kill Hessal unless he left the city, now could be found casually lounging around the atrium, more often than not asking for money that Hessal and Pollas didn't really have, drove home the new-found mundaneness of their relationship.

### Three Deaths (-14)

Hessal successfully completed his term as Bursar without causing political upset, and had in truth performed admirably in the tedious pecuniary duties of the role, which had never stretched his oratorical skills. He saw the year as a necessary step up the political ladder which had been firmly enshrined in law by Moody Machyal, and took a year to write a new book on the transition from tyranny to democracy, comparing and contrasting the current situation to the legendary foundation of the Republic and also to similar movements in Issycrian histories, while also considering where he should next seek to make political progress.

His plans were disrupted by the death of his lover Pollas from a vicious and fast-acting bout of the Blue Hand Grip. Hessal was frozen out of the funeral ceremonies by the Patriarch and the Conduit of Juctor, Coughy Pagnal Juctor and Tavengal Juctor-Glumal Voriel, who considered acknowledging her dishonourable dalliance with him disrespectful to their patron god Juctor. Nevertheless, Hessal, feeling guilty about his loss of passion for her in what had been her last years, undertook a period of grief seclusion, taking the time to reconsider his life and priorities.

His grief seclusion over his lover was interrupted by the death of his wife Dutras giving birth to his daughter Tantily Varagy. While Hessal was coming to terms with this, and whether to bring his legal children under his roof, his son Hessal died from a fit of thin lungs. The incidence of so many deaths in quick succession seemed to Hessal to be indicative of a chastisement by the gods of his lifestyle, and he vowed to change his ways. At the funeral of his wife and son, he delivered a heartfelt speech in which he promised to take his duties to his newborn daughter Tantily seriously, and apologised to the dishonour he had brought to his husband Aquileal Scrutany.

Young Sural managed to procure a posting as Captain of the Varcian Well for Hessal, showing genuine concern for the younger man's state of mind and hoping that a stint away from Roam might be able to alleviate his worries. Hessal thanked his friend and left for Straecy with his infant daughter in his arms.

## Captain of the Varcian Well (-13)

Hessal inherited his post at the Varcian Well from Anipryal Aeral, a Fuscrite with a penchant for strict discipline (and a strongly rumoured affinity for male slaves with whips in his private chambers). The military readiness of the well could hardly have been better, but Aeral had somewhat neglected the administration of the local area and political relations with the local Straequians, which had resulted in a slide of the local tax income collected for the Governor Old Lecarol Qualens Juctor at the Straequian Well.

Hessal, now thirty-two, had come to accept that he was not a natural soldier, and delegated much of his military duties to his Officers and deputies so long as they in turn promised to educate him on military matters. He did, however, focus on improving the organisation and efficiency of the local government and even tinkered with its economy by exploring tax policies that he had learned of from the more advanced economies of Issycria, such as Psallon and Dithaclon in the Inland League.

A single man — particularly the last citizen of his family now that his son had died — would not command any respect from his fellows of subordinates, so Hessal made inquiries into possible marriage alliances through a widespread letter writing campaign from Varcy. The most intriguing eligible bachelor within reach of Hessal's reputation was a first generation Inachrian citizen named Old Falsal Caralas, ten years older than Hessal but a great fan of his works from exile. He had previously served well as an Administrator in Roam and as the Captain of the Pygran Well in Scrutany, and had two full sons from his previous marriage to the late Hyberital Varcy through his recently deceased wife Tantily Aeral. Old Falsal managed to secure as their wife Sepredas Candoam, the daughter of the late Lippy Tantanal Candoam Voriel, who had served briefly as Governor of Straecy before dying during the Tyranny. The marriage was confirmed in Roam, and Hessal's new spouses moved to Varcy with him to become better acquainted.

The following year, Old Falsal was elected as Marshal and helped oversee the province of Straecy alongside the Governor Old Lecarol. He advocated the adoption of some of Hessal's imported economic experiments, and made sure to promote his new husband's reputation wherever he could. Hessal, for his part, was quite taken with his young, beautiful new wife Sepredas, and she quickly became pregnant with a son that he was sure was his. Haital Varagy Caralas was born in Varcy, and Hessal thanked the gods profusely for giving him a second chance to be a good father to a good son.

### The Home War (-10)

*Main Article: Home War*
The outbreak of the slave uprising in Nelunty caused all of the Well Captains to tighten their security, and manage suspicion against the slave enemies within their local populace. Hessal and his husband Falsal stepped up military patrols around the Varcian territory, more as a symbol to allay the fears of the citizens than to stand much of a chance of quelling any nascent disquiet amongst the slave class. The area stayed peaceful, with the majority of the uprising taking place to the south and west of Straecy.

In the final year of his post at the Varcian Well, Hessal's mother Oiblivy Galvens died peacefully aged sixty-six. She had been living for the past several years with her nephews — her sister's son Young Tannal Moverant Gibruny at the Zearchisian Well and her brother's half-son Quiet Tavengal Oscumy Galvens at the Tauson Well — in Inachria, where she had found the weather and the warm sea to be soothing to her joints and lungs. Leaving the Varcian Well in his husband's hands, Hessal travelled to Roam to attend his mother's funeral.

While in Roam, Hessal was approached by the Marshal Young Paginal Qualens and the former Consul Loud Gibral Oscumy Osty, who had been collecting a case against Crooked Nusal Candoam, the current Governor of Further Inachria who had earned Hessal's enmity when he had confiscated his inheritance nearly ten years before. Hessal had been forced to hold his tongue against Crooked Nusal for years, but had always been waiting for his chance to strike back. Loud Gibral's original case against Crooked Nusal had been frustrated several years before by Candoam's sudden appointment to Further Inachria by the Senate, but since then it had only strengthened, particularly with the anonymous delivery of meticulous records of bribery, misconduct, larceny and miscellaneous other corruptions to the office of Young Paginal. Qualens and Oscumy were worried, however, that confronting Crooked Nusal without delivering a killing blow would allow him to once again, with the help of his well remunerated allies in the Senate, slither away without repercussions. They were convinced that the personal vengeance that Hessal owed Crooked Nusal, combined with his reputedly unmatched oratorial abilities, were the weapon that they needed. Hessal, invigorated like he had not been for some years, agreed.

### The Prosecution of Crooked Nusal (-8)

"*A Governor of Roam must be above suspicion*", was the opening argument of Hessal's extensive prosecution of Crooked Nusal Candoam. He argued that Governors were not just administrators of their region, but ambassadors from Roam to its people, citizens or not, and, like a husband, owed a sacred duty to two spouses: Roam and their province. He listed in detail all of the rumours and scandals that had dogged Crooked Nusal since his youngest days in Roam, and his collusion with the tyrant Moody Machyal, arguing that perhaps the tyranny would have been only half as bad for Roam if Crooked Nusal and his cronies had not sought to rob, cheat and steal from fellow Roamans during those dark days.

Done casting considerable doubt over Crooked Nusal's character, Hessal continued to, with a show of exhaustion at the length of the list, enumerate the charges of corruption, extortion and other extralegal actions against the accused during his stint as Governor, including the suspicious transactions to certain influential Senators that preceded his assignment to the role in the first place. Crooked Nusal had mistreated non-citizens of Further Inachria, damaging Roam's reputation amongst her people. He had purloined from the tax intake of the province, with Hessal able to list the income to the treasury and the disparity with the amount passed on to Roam when Roam-Beast passed through.

Furthermore, Crooked Nusal had hampered shipping traffic through the Augyron Strait, spuriously impounding ships of Roaman Senators and other merchants that he knew held valuable cargo and only allowing them to be released if extortionate fees were paid, in some cases (particularly for foreign ships) confiscating their cargo. During the ongoing Home War, he had arrested high-class slaves of wealthy Inachrians on baseless accusations of insurrection, only allowing them back into the care of their masters if — Hessal allowed himself here to sound disappointed by the lack of imagination on Crooked Nusal's part — large bribes were paid to Crooked Nusal's estate.

Hessal's opposite in the defence, Machyal Juctor-Ormanal Candoam, widely celebrated as Roam's greatest orator by those who did not appreciate Hessal in full flow, began to look disquieted by the combination of meticulous detail and infectious passion in Varagy's case. The presiding Marshal was Fawning Pampal Sarevir Voriel, who many assumed would tilt towards the Familial defendant, and the jury was also composed exclusively of Familials, but few had expected more than innuendo from the prosecution. Hessal never relented from pummelling Nusal's character, enumerating so many crimes that he sometimes pretended to forget some (and never mentioned the crimes against himself lest he appeared self-interested), and calling forth witnesses from Roam, Inachria and even a merchant from Samyrt who had been extorted by Crooked Nusal to corroborate his arguments. The figures and names in the mysterious ledger that Young Paginal had been provided with all landed direct hits on Crooked Nusal, and everybody could see that the man's defence would be hopeless.

The trial ended when Crooked Nusal Candoam stood to mount his defence and instead admitted a case of no contest. Hessal's full-throated attack had forced the first recall in disgrace of the Governor in Roaman history, and the news spread throughout the Roaman world with astonishing speed, along with Hessal's name, and the greatest aphorisms from within his speech became common sayings. The success of the Provincial son of the first-generation Neluntian in the face of Familial greed and hegemony lit a fresh optimism, ten years after the Tyranny, that the Roaman Republic could deliver justice to all of its citizens, and that even the most prestigious and connected of Familials were bound to the law.

Scruval Qualens managed to secure the vacated position of Governor of Further Inachria, and went on to defeat Trucidal and his army near the Augyron Well with (disputed) aid from Proud Machyal Sarevir-Machyal. The two went on to stand unopposed as Consuls for the following year, and both made overtures to Hessal to run as Marshal under them, to continue his vindication of Roaman law. Hessal, who had long admired Proud Machyal in particular, took them up on their offer, and rode the swell of public support to a successful election.

## Recent Years (-7)

Hessal has largely remained in Roam for the past decade, which has been largely peaceful and prosperous since the end of the Home War.

### Marshal (-7)

Hessal spent his thirty-eighth year as Marshal in Roam, helping to smooth over the legal problems that arose from the quite unconstitutional political manoeuvres undertaken by the Consuls Proud Machyal and Scruval Qualens. Proud Machyal had been married to Hessal's mother's god-brother Anylyal Panth Galvens, and was flattered by Hessal's admiration of his abilities and the transition to democracy which he had presided over following his father Moody Machyal's death. He came to rely on Hessal as a useful deputy in the Senate to convincingly defend his actions in the name of defending Roam from its enemies within and without. Hessal perhaps allowed his admiration to veer into obsequiousness, starstruck by the Consul and his strong sense of purpose.

The appointment of Curly Coltal Candoam Juctor as Governor of Scrutany was easy to defend, despite his illegitimate youth, as a response to a request from the Scrutan allies to the north to aid with the incursions of the Feors. Hessal merely needed to frame the debate in terms of a defence of Roam and her allies in the face of an invasion, with opponents cast as appeasers to the barbarians who had sacked Roam a hundred and fifty years before.

The appointment of Machyal Qualens Voriel, the son of Scruval, as the regent of Further Inachria until Scruval could return following his year as Consul was met with full-throated opposition by Young Sural Pavinny Ops, who had once been Hessal's political mentor of sorts in Roam. Forced to choose between the old man and his new consular allies, Hessal decided to ingratiate himself with the powerful. He conspired with Scruval Qualens to launch a vicious smear campaign against Young Sural, deriding him as an anachronism of a bygone age, and a *Little Roaman* who would stop at nothing to disparage those such as Scruval who had embraced Issycrian culture. Proud Machyal, who had also once counted Young Sural amongst his most trusted allies, found that the Senator's obsession with the constitution was inhibiting the Republic from achieving greatness, particularly his plans to pacify Crylalt, and signed off on the defamation campaign. Although the Consuls were forced to row back their regency scheme in favour of a more traditional governorship, their opponent's political capital was spent, and Scruval, Proud Machyal and Hessal also confirmed Machyal's brother Hessal as Governor of Straecy. To his credit, despite the loss of public standing, Young Sural maintained a bittersweet personal relationship with Hessal born of mutual admiration.

Hessal, having chosen to throw in his lot with Proud Machyal, spent much of the year controlling access to him, particularly after the death of his wife Nusal's Donimy Juctor drove him into grief seclusion at the Sarevir Palace. Proud Machyal became disillusioned with Roam and its politics, which he was not good at, and grew to depend on Hessal as a deputy for most of his quotidian consular duties. Hessal used the opportunity to broaden his range of political contacts, prone to flattery from those who admired his works and speeches.

He was also privy to some of the darker arts of the Roaman political scene from observation of Scruval Qualens, who he slowly came to realise had orchestrated the entire Crooked Nusal trial using loans (more often just bribes) to Senators from his vast landholdings, particularly in Inachria where the installation of his son only served to expand his personal power. Unliked Crooked Nusal, however, Scruval seemed to be meticulous at covering and falsifying his tracks. Hessal's personal wealth was pitiful in comparison to that of Scruval's (although noticeably growing since along with his political success), so he could not hope to buy influence in the same way as the older Consul, but he nevertheless observed his activities in the hope that he might be able to mimic it when the time came. Hessal gave more consideration to his financial affairs, and began to purchase property in coveted provinces in the hope that he might be able to accrue similar power to Scruval.

### Bursar (-5)

Hessal was elected as Bursar in the year of the Consuls Parytal Candoam Qualens and Sepredal Juctor Candoam. Sepredal was an unpopular candidate that had lost disgracefully to Trucidal as Governor of Nelunty during the Home War and had to be flagrantly propped up by his old friend Scruval Qualens. He turned to Hessal as a former political ally of Scruval's to help smooth over the running of Roam.

Blah

### 1174 Proud Machyal Sarevir-Machyal, C.

**Son-in-Law.**

"He is, however, an uneasy politician, and has taken to relying on deputies such as the current Consul Hessal Varagy.
"

"Proud Machyal's third son Nusal was married to the gifted orator and Sentinel Hessal Varagy through Sepredas Candoam, daughter of Lippy Tantanal Candoam Voriel, who had briefly served as Governor of Straecy before dying during the Tyranny. The marriage has produced a daughter named Racitas
 thus far. Proud Machyal's marriage arrangements and increasing
influence in Roaman politics has had great results: this year, the
Consuls are Coughy Pagnal Juctor, the father of his son Lumosural's
husband Odd Otibryal, and Hessal Varagy, Proud Machyal's son-in-law.
Proud Machyal has returned to Roam to seek further support for his
struggles in Crylalt.
"

### 1174 Proud Machyal Sarevir-Machyal, C.

**Father-In-Law** (father of husband 1909 Nusal Sarevir-Machyal)

  • Governor of Crylalt.

### 1666 Sepredas Candoam

**Wife**.

  • Wife of Roam by **1187 Hessal Varagy, C.** (0)