Tomeric Malastair

Queen Griselda (Step-mother)

Prince Caed (Half-brother; Alive), Princess Meredith (Half-sister; Alive) Prince Arthur (Half-brother; Alive), Prince Stefan (Half-brother; Alive), Princess Frida (Half-sister; Alive),

Orgonian Royal Family/ Imperial House of Malastair (Various cousins, uncles and cadet branches)

### Affiliation

Orgonian Royal Family/ Imperial House Of Malastair (member)

## Physical description

### Height

5'2"

Tomeric Malastair is a prince of Orgonia, and the eldest son of its reigning King, Willem V Malastair.

## Biography

Tomeric was born the firstborn child of Willem V Malastair, the King of Orgonia, and his first wife, Queen Ianthe, daughter of one of the prominent and powerful noble families of the kingdom.

They eventually married soon after King Willem's coronation and reputedly, it was quite a happy marriage.

Queen Ianthe was, by all accounts, was a dutiful and efficient ruler, well-loved by the common-folk. As taught to her, she took her duty as queen quite seriously, and was  very much hard-working, frequently trying to assist her husband in managing the kingdom and participating regularly in its administration and politics, and respected by many of her associates and friends for her diligence and conscientiousness in regards to her duty as a queen.

However, Queen Ianthe was quite a control freak, frequently trying to micromanage everything by herself. Even while pregnant with her first child, she placed her duties as queen before her own health, frequently touring the capital city, participating diligently in the administration of the kingdom, discussing various proposals that she felt could benefit the kingdom with important officials, giving alms to the poor, and staying up late at night holding court with her retainers.

All this work took quite a toll on her, but she still carried on doing her duties with diligence, never slowing down.

Unfortunately, her heavy stress from all her duties eventually caught up drastically with her, when, one day, while holding inspection with her guards and attendants over down parts of the capital city, the heavily pregnant queen felt quite sick and nauseous, and began to vomit, eventually falling down her horse, much to the horror if her retainers, who were too shocked to act.

Before anyone could act, the heavily stressed queen, pale and sickly, went into premature labor.

Although she with the assistance of her guards managed to seek refuge in one of the big houses belonging to a merchant in that area, it was too late to call a healer, and her attendants began to assist her in giving birth.

Unfortunately, the queen, stressed and tired after such a painful birth, died soon after, and the babe, born prematurely and suffering from a fall of the horse, was quite small and frail, with the boy growing up with a horrendous stutter, making it very difficult to even utter one word.

All these defects combined eventually made him a source of frequent ridicule and mockery in the kingdom, with him being believed a lackwit, and labelled "the Stuttering Prince" as well as "the Lackwit Prince", giving a severe blow to his self-esteem early on in life.

At this point after his birth though, the sudden death of the queen caused quite an uproar in the kingdom, with many of her friends and allies and associates being saddened by her death, with King Willem even going into heavy shock and depression for a time, giving much of the governance to his Imperial Court, too engrossed in grieving his wife that he almost forgot about his newborn son for a time.

The little prince, quite frail on birth, was quickly given by the queen's attendants to the court healers to treat. For a few days, the prince was nursed and heavily supervised by the healers, before he eventually began to recover.

Eventually, the King came out of his mourning, hardening himself to administer his kingdom and came to meet his newborn son, naming him Tomeric.

The motherless prince was raised by a host of nursemaids for a time, with his father visiting him frequently from time to time.

Chief among the nursemaids was an elderly matron named Headnurse Birgite, an old maid and trusted attendant of his late mother, who developed quite a grandmotherly affection for the young child, often telling him tales of his late mother and reading to him poems and stories and songs from various books, which started Tomeric's live for reading.

Growing up, though, Tomeric had quite a difficulty in speaking, due to his crushed windpipe, at first only able to make choking, raspy noises, much to the amusement of many of the palace folk, some of whom even started to mock and ridicule him with time, eventually labelling him a lackwit.

Even when he managed to speak out his words, he still held quite a horrendous stutter, making it quite difficult to even utter one word, increasing the ridicule he got, lowering his self-esteem.

Still, trying to prove himself, he worked hard, trying to train rigorously.

During one training session, however, he heard a few of his fellow peers in the training yard, sons of nobles in the capital, glaring at him with derision and calling him "the Lackwit Prince". Something cracked inside the small child then, and he dropped to the ground crying, unable to stop the rush of tears, unable to bear any mockery, eventually running away from the training yard, before his instructors could understand the situation.

This supposed "weird behaviour" of the prince further made the people believe that he was truly a lackwit, though.

His father, on hearing about the incident, already being quite protective of him, eventually allowed him to excuse himself from the training yard, and Tomeric began spending most of his time cooped up in his quarters, free of human contact and of jeer and mockery, able to read and research and do whatever he loved freely, without anybody's judgemental looks.

In Tomeric's other studies, also, due to his horrendous stutter and lack of social skills, he became quite source of mockery, something that caused him a lot of pain, and made him mostly keep to himself and stay quiet, rarely speaking unless absolutely required, and  spending much of his day in his quarters, reading books Headnurse Birgite gave him.

Even during all his struggles, Headnurse Birgitte has still encouraged his love of reading and encouraged him to stay cheerful, giving him quite a source of comfort.

However, when he was ten, the elderly Headnurse unfortunately passed away due to an illness.

Tomeric's Sutter and mood grew worse after that, with him going into quite a depression and gloomy mood after losing a motherly figure. However, remembering Headnurse Birgitte's encouragement to him to stay cheerful, Toemric eventually decided to cherish the affectionate memories he shared with his Headnurse and remain cheerful and optimistic and try his best to overcome the negative feelings caused by his stutter.

When Tomeric was two, his father eventually remarried to Lady Griselda, a scion of another powerful noble family in the kingdom, for a political alliance. Stern and serious, the new Queen took her duties as a royal quite solemnly. She and the King went on to have five children, three sons and two daughters, with the oldest, Caed, being only two years' Tomeric's junior.

Queen Griselda, pitying Tomeric's "condition", tried to have formal, if not overly affectionate but positive relationship with her step-son, though she still felt that due to Tomeric supposedly being a lackwit, Caed was a better candidate for the throne.

Caed and his siblings also had a mostly positive relationship with their half-brother, though due to their mothers influence, they also came to regard him with pity, something Tomeric became aware of and felt quite uncomfortable about.

Tomeric also has a good relationship with his father, who is quite protective of him, but who may still have his doubts whether his firstborn son should be the heir to the throne or not.

At this point, Tomeric is fifteen years old, soon to be sixteen, the age at which, by tradition, the oldest son of a King is officially declared to be the heir to the throne.

Unfortunately, the belief that he is a lackwit had caused quite a debate in the Imperial Court whether an announcement to declare him the heir should be passed or not, with many nobles believing he is not fit to be King, though a group of politically active and ambitious nobles, had started supporting Tomeric's declaration as heir, and began to use Orgonia's strict adherence to tradition as a strong reason of why the tradition of making the firstborn son the Crown Prince must be followed.

These group of nobles, although they ostensibly declare their intention to follow tradition, many of them have actually have more personal motives in supporting the announcement to make Tomeric heir, as they feel a lackwit may be groomed into a good puppet ruler while "better, more efficient men", rule in his stead.

Tomeric himself is at this point unaware of the debate, preferring bto mostly spend his time in quarters trying to be hopeful and optimistic to combat the ridicule he faces and do what he loves most — reading and researching.

## Physical Appearance

Having inherited his father's blonde hair and blue eyes and his mother's pale complexion, Tomeric is a somewhat short for his age and looks slightly "frail" in appearance, possessing a small, round, "doll-like" face, usually adorned with a small, shy smile in an attempt to stay cheerful despite the ridicule he faces.

## Personality

Due to his stutter and his low social skills, possibly bordering on autism, Tomeric has been faced with much ridicule for much of his childhood, causing him to develop low self-esteem and self-confidence, hardly attempting to talk nowadays, afraid that if he talks, his horrendous stutter will again cause him to be embarrassed and mocked. As such, he mostly uses gestures to communicate, and often keeps to himself, mostly studying and reading various books alone in his quarters— something he greatly enjoys, as he doesn't  Tomeric is also quite hard-working and aware of his weak points, and reads and studies with dedication to polish the skill he possesses.

He can also be quite creative and curious at times, and despite the ridicule he faces and his own low self-esteem, he has got quite a hopeful streak in his heart, often smiling in a cheerful and optimistic way to overcome the negative feelings caused by the ridicule.

## Abilities

Due to the vast amount of time he spent reading and researching books, Tomeric has gained quite a bit of knowledge regarding the kingdom's history and culture, though due to his stutter, he is too shy to express himself, often keeping to himself, cooped up in his quarters, studying.

Being particularly skilled in charisma or strength, Tomeric is aware of his weak points, but still tries to stay optimistic despite them.

Quite hard-working and patient, he prefers to stay quiet and inconspicuous during any social gathering, instead trying to observe the surroundings and the people around him and learn from more experienced people what to do.

## Skills

Having a horrendous stutter not only caused Tomeric not only to be labelled and mocked as a lackwit, but also caused him severe bouts of self-esteem, to be unable to train that well in martial skills, with his father and instructors worrying that being a lackwit he may harm himself if given a weapon. Hence, he was not given any steel or iron weapons to use, his instructors fearing that due to his "condition" he might hurt himself, with his protective father also forming a company of guards to accompany and supervise him at all times.

Despite that, as a prince of the Imperial family, he was trained in wooden weapons under heavy supervision.

Tomeric's main skill, though, is his dedication to reading and studying, and is quite interested in various scholarly pursuits, spending much of his time in his quarters reading and researching various books, ranging from books of poetry and songs to historical accounts and biographies of famous figures.

Tomeric has also started keeping his own personal memoir, often writing about various events of the day that took place or his opinions regarding the various books he read there.