Baron Wrettin

##### *-Speaking on his experience in the War of Thirst.*

Baron Wrettin was a Kymurian aristocrat, military leader and dictator who took control of the Rum Baroncy after the War of Thirst. He became infamous for his exploitation of racial tensions and acts of cruelty whilst leader of the Rum State.

## Early Life

Wrettin's birthplace is still under dispute, some historians pointing to a wealthy district of Saffir, others to Itenez, in a northern cattle-growing region. His father was a physician, and his mother was of Zeor descent. At some point in Wrettin's childhood, his father went to Anjuin, while sending the young boy and his mother to live in the City of Rum. He attended provincial school there and entered military college at the age of 18.

Known for his torrid, fearless, and reckless temperament, he seemed to dominate the local army by force of his personality alone (in addition to his feats of bravery on the field), despite his relatively lower rank. In the first stages of the War of Thirst, he saved an entire battalion of Drisham Troops from certain destruction during the battle of Gondra, as well as a part of his own cavalry regiment, an action which would later earn him a Baroncy under the then governor of Anjuin, Prince Zrof De Elegaria-Bagranthar. As a Major, he took part, and carried the bulk of the action, in the highly controversial coup d'état that overthrew Prince Zrof, right in the middle of the war and in the very theatre of operations. The reason for this was the constant butting of heads of the Kymurian High Command with King Tejad I, this time overthrowing Prince Zrof's successor and former deputy, Baron Von Mereck, and installing his higher-ranked friend Theodore Toro as de facto ruler of the crumbling Anjuin colony state. Toro presided over a reformist experiment called Military Imperial Rule (championed by Wrettin) for a bit over a year, before Wrettin himself overthrew Toro and installed himself in the White Palace, alleging that he was better off leading the new, independent Rum State.

## Leader of the Rum State

Always tempestuous and volatile, Wrettin was filled with grand ideas that he seemed unable to bring to fruition in the context of the polarized political landscape of the new country. He called a Grand Assembly of the Nobles and restored the Colonial Rule which was suspended after the first coup. A key problem which harried his administration from the start was the embargo of his new "illegal" state by Kymurian officials, which destroyed the vital trade institutions of Rum City, causing the first major uprising, The Black Forty uprising, in which a gang of eponymous assassins attacked Kymurian retainers during trade hours, causing Drisham Troops to storm the Grand Central Marketplace and kill several hundred people.

As a measure of Wrettin's volcanic, unpredictable nature, he once had one of Rum City's foremost Holy Men brought to the steps of the White Palace, and beaten to death by Drisham Red Guards, provoking the Dark Evening, a riot in which upwards of seven thousand people were killed. In response, Wrettin and his brutal Marshal of State, Leyenti Brazoriz enacted the infamous Maroon Decree, which began the Rum Great Terror, in which over 300,000 Anjuins were tortured and killed for crimes against the state over the remainder of Wrettins administration. Wrettin later began construction of the Hanoon Quarter in Rum to allow for the easier segregation between native Anjuin and the white Panguillan settlers known as Lukers.

He also made various attempts to restore the nearly collapsed Rum economy. Later still, he got tired of the "political game" and, totally untrained in the art of compromise, declared himself Grand Viceroy of Rum, thus nullifying the very political order he had painstakingly created. Despite his unpopularity, large crowds gathered to cheer his ascension to the newly restored Throne, and the return of Rum to a traditional monarchy. His repressive politics and colonial systems of government, however, rallied further anger against him, as did the instalment of the brutal Marshal of State Leyenti Brazoriz in the Holy Palace of Peace as a personal property, which violated the centuries old Mumbian rule that the HPP must remain an institution of the people.

As his rule continued to deteriorate, a local noble named Aya Kalahani formed an army several miles from the city and began the Rum Revolt when a three day skirmish began at the Al-Wal Well. Over the next 28 years, the Rum Revolt forged a bloody cull through the population of the Rum State. Mostly fought through guerrilla skirmishes and bandit attacks.

As he finally began to lose his grip on Rum City, he sailed out to meet Kymurian diplomat Lady Chellis aboard the KIV South Rivers, in order to negotiate a safe passage back to his estates in Kymuria, however, Lady Chellis informed him that he had been declared a war criminal and would not be safeguarded. He then received news that the last 200 Drisham Troops had been massacred at the Battle of Stettis-Vaughn Warehouse, and that Aya Kalahani had effectively taken over. Unable to exert any further control, he accepted an artisan pistol from Lady Chellis and committed suicide. His remains were taken back to his estates and buried at the Wrettin family tomb.

Following Wrettin's death, the more conservative and pro-oligarchic elements in the Rum Elite reasserted themselves, concluding that Colonial governance had gone entirely too far. Since Wrettin had proclaimed himself dictator, there was no constitutional succession to speak of, and General Aya Kalahani was proclaimed Emir-Regent by the armed forces. By popular decree, the new Emirate of Rum formally rejoined the Anjuin Sultanate, putting an end to Rum Independence for the last time.