Tristan II of Taran

**Tristan II** was the King of Taran. He came to his throne in 3E 290, succeeding his father following a brief interregnum.

## **Biography**

### **Origin**

Tristan was born on 7th Second Seed, 3E 264, in the city of Taran; not as a prince but as the son of a mercenary captain recently endowed with properties in payment for his success. These the captain soon sold, taking wife and newborn son with his company southward. He began then to carve out his own principality. Some years later, Tristan's father returned to conquer Taran itself.

At the age of four, Tristan was a prince. His father declared himself King Tristan I of Taran, overthrowing the city's child-king and abolishing its ruling council. The young prince was furthermore a veteran of battle already, having been present (safely awaiting victory in his father's tent) for the siege and the battle that ensued once the city defenders sallied forth.

Tristan lived in the city keep with his father. The new King, who could neither read nor write, was committed to training his heir in the arts and studies he himself lacked. To this end, he employed the wizard Simon Croth as his son's principal tutor. Tristan's younger brother Tancred, born in 3E 270, was raised instead by their mother.

### **Reconquest of Taran**

Neither Tristan nor his brother were present for their father's death, both sent to the frontiers in service of their father's warring. The King died suddenly from an aggressive sickness; it was said to be the same illness that killed the Queen two years prior. In the absence of both princes, their opponents and dissidents seized power in the city.

The late King's relatives were arrested or expelled, his knights turned or executed. Some hundreds of his subjects fled into exile while those who remained squabbled over which pretender they would support. When word finally reached Tristan of what had happened, he abandoned the western holdings his father had fought so bitterly to acquire. With his brother, and with what meagre numbers he could muster in addition to his tired army, Tristan marched immediately on the capital.

Before the walls of the city, he demanded its gates be opened to him. When he was denied, he called for his subjects to abanadon the city and swear fealty to him on the field outside. Not a single person emerged to do so that day, or any day after it. Preparations for a siege began.

Unbeknownst to the denizens of the city, who reacted with panicked calls for aid from neighbouring rulers, Tristan lacked the required numbers to lay siege for any extended period of time. Furthermore, his food supplies were rapidly running thin and his soldiers were almost mutinous with exhaustion from battle and the forced march to the city.

One night, barely a month into the siege, a boy arrived at the camps. He carried a message from his father, one of the city gatekeepers: he swore allegiance to Tristan and promised that he would secretly open the western postern that same night. His son was sent as assurance against any trick. Tristan sent his brother to scout the doorway, which was indeed opened. The besiegers began to slowly enter the city, three or four soldiers at a time, until almost all of them were inside the walls. Battle commenced and quickly ended.

### **Alliance with and Betrayal of Derwen**

Following his crowning as King of Taran, Tristan desparately sought an alliance. Orcish raiding parties were already setting fire to villages in the north, while soldiers from the Kingdom of Ogof seized western watchtowers and keeps.

Tristan found his helper in the neighbouring King of Derwen, Charles V, who harboured a bitter hatred for the Queen of Ogof. Charles V proposed that his daughter Mahaut be married to Tristan so that their alliance could be secured. Tristan, who had never met either Charles or Mahaut, agreed to the union. Come the Summer of that year, the two Kings committed to a joint invasion of Ogof.

The western defences were retaken with swift and bloody fighting, as they had been in the days of Tristan's father. Accounts and songs of the battles described a river turned red with blood and dams built with the bodies of the slain. The King himself fought in battle, at one time fighting three knights simultaneously and emerging victorious. With the final tower recaptured, the army of Taran halted its advance to recover its strength. A messenger arrived from King Charles V, instructing Tristan to bring his force into Derwen. From there, they could begin their joint attack.

Learning that his ally had not begun his advance even as his army bloodied the field infuriated Tristan. Nonetheless, he brought his troops to Derwen. While marching through the woods, Tristan's force was ambushed. The King was wounded, receiving a poisoned arrow to his right shoulder before falling into a creek. He was believed to be dead for a time and panic spread throughout the ranks. It was the sorceress Guinevere, a woman of unknown origin who had joined the army as a camp follower some days before, who saved the King's life by various magics. Once he woke, Tristan was smitten with his healer.

It was unclear who had launched the ambush. No heraldry could be found, nor was any man taken prisoner who could be asked. Mutterings that Charles had betrayed Tristan became louder and the King, alive but unwell, charged his brother with exacting his vengeance. Prince Tancred took most of the soldiers and began his march against Derwen, while Tristan was escorted back to Taran.

News reached the King some days later of his brother's great victory against the forces of Derwen. It was said that for every one of his soldiers slain, ten of Charles' were cut down. It was said that Charles fled the battle, seeking refuge with a peasant who—upon learning his identity—murdered him in vengeance for the death of his own son. It was said that the princess Mahaut took her own life, so wracked with grief from her father's fate.

Tancred returned to Taran soon after the battle, ahead of the army with a company of knights. He presented his brother the crown of Charles, found on the field of battle. Tristan accepted the crown before immediately returning it. He instructed his brother to take the throne of Derwen and by doing so, the King of Taran marked the Kingdom of Derwen as subject to his own. A perpetual union between the two crowns was born out of this.