Daltas Carlisle

Lord **Daltas Carlisle** is the head of House Carlisle, Lord of Syderhill, Warden of the North and Adviser to the King for Warren I Boyce. He is the father of Kevan, Andrew, Kyra and Mathos. He is also the grandfather of Ethon Rocke. Daltas is the last surviving leader of the War of the Bears, having been both a Royalist and a Rebel in the war.

## Biography

### Early Life

Daltas was the second born son of Ethon Carlisle and Jeyne Brask. For much of his childhood, he remained in the North and trained as a knight. His older brother, Harrin, was prepared to become the next Lord of Syderhill and the two often trained together. Their youngest brother, Corban, was not inclined with a sword and instead enjoyed reading books; a trait that Daltas admired while his older brother made fun of.

### War of the Bears

Daltas' father was summoned to the capital in 334 AF to serve as Master of Laws in King Dannis I Boyce's High Council after the execution of Lord Alwyn Alder. He appointed the seventeen year old Harrin as Castellan and asked the fourteen year old Daltas to assist his brother. For two years, the two boys effectively ruled over the North by themselves while their father was in Newcastle serving the King.

In 336 AF, Daltas and the now-Sir Harrin received the call to arms by King Dannis to put down the rebellion led by Prince Kaegan. They had also received a falcon from their father with the same orders and instructions. Harrin and Daltas raised the Northern Army under the banner of the Royalists, not entirely sure why they were fighting, and marched south to Heartsgrasp, the seat of House Marver in the middle of the Green Plains at the border with the Marshes and the Lakelands. They had received orders to encamp there and wait for the arrival of the Slait army and the inevitable march of the rebel army into the Marshes. During this encampment, the two brothers received a royal messenger who informed them that their father had been executed for treason during the massacre of Newcastle and that Harrin was to journey to Newcastle to pledge fealty to the King. Daltas and Harrin were then informed by other messenger that he was executed because he refused to order his forces to crush a commonfolk rebellion in the city through means of burning down their homes and slaughtering them as ordered by the King.

Daltas and Harrin both decided that they would not bow to King Dannis and instead pledged themselves to the Rebels. They allowed the Royal Messenger to carry the message to the King while they sent another to Prince Kaegan to declare allegiance to him. The Northern Lords all declared for Kaegan as their new King and Harrin as their new Lord. After remaining encamped at Heartsgrasp and wary of the nearby Lords of the Marshes who had remained loyalist, Harrin and Daltas decided to march their army into the Lakelands in order to join Kaegan's host and pledge fealty in person as they feared the messenger must not have made it.

As they were marching through the Green Plains in the Lakelands, their scouts informed them that the rebel army was closing in on the Pyke army who had fled following the Sack of Eden's Rest. Lord Harrin ordered Daltas to take a half of their army south while he would take the other half and go North with the rebels attacking from the west. During the Battle of the Fields, Daltas fought valiantly and ended up fighting alongside Prince Byrron Boyce, who was notably confused to see Carlisle men fighting in the battle. It was discovered that Harrin had fell in battle and Prince Kaegan comforted Daltas for his loss. He knighted Daltas and declared him the new Lord of Syderhill and Warden of the North. Daltas also received news that his youngest brother, Corban, had been executed in retaliation for the Carlisle defection.

Daltas was ordered by Prince Kaegan to meet the approaching Slait army who were now marching toward Syderhill and then go on to secure the Borderlands. This would become known as the Battle for the Borderlands. Daltas and the Northern Army successfully repelled the Slaits, led by Harald Slait, at the Battle of Oakenhill. He then marched further north and into the Borderlands. Over the course of the several months, he and the northern army engaged in fierce fighting with the Bordermen who were extremely resilient and determined to repel the Northmen. By the time of the Battle of the Spear, the Northmen had captured just under half of the Borderlands, primarily the southern lands of the region. House Cherman and several other Borderland Houses had switched sides and the Battle was turning in their favour. Hearing that Kaegan was soon to be marching on the capital, Daltas took a smaller host and rushed south as quick as he could as he realised the rebels would not have enough men to capture Newcastle. He left Lord Lanard Lanser, the son of Olivar Lanser who was killed alongside Ethon Carlisle, in charge of the Northern Army and the Borderlands campaign.

The army led by Daltas arrived just in time to relieve the Knigh defenders at Seawatch who had been holding out since the War began. Crossing over the northern banks of the Spear and scaling the largely undefended northern wall of the city, Daltas led the charge himself. This prompted the rebels on the other fronts who were beginning to falter to pick the fight back up and soon take control of the walls. With the Battle of Newcastle nearly over, Daltas and some of his men convened on the Winter Keep where they ran into Prince Byrron and a group of Boycemen who were fighting toward the Great Hall. Daltas locked blades with Sir Axel Lanser, a fellow Northman and the brother of Lanard, while Sir Asten Knigh cut through Sir Marlon and engaged the King and Prince Byrron fought Sir Mace Rowen. By the time Daltas had killed Sir Axel, King Dannis had been slain by Sir Asten who was standing over the body of the King. Daltas accepted the surrender of Lord Margan Tarbor and with the King dead, Rodrick Ross killed in battle and the Royalist army throwing down their weapons, the city surrendered and the rebel Lords, including Daltas, raised their banners alongside the Boyce banner atop the Winter Keep.

Daltas was present in the Great Hall when Kaegan was crowned as King Kagean III Boyce by the Lord Commander, Prince Cayle Boyce. Daltas was one of the first Lords to pledge fealty to the new King. For his actions in the war, Daltas became a hero of the rebellion, despite having started the war as a Royalist. He disliked the attention he received as the "Saviour of Newcastle" and other epithets given to him as he perceived his actions as not enough and resented the fact he originally served the King who murdered his father and brother.

Kaegan asked Daltas to serve as his Master of Laws but Daltas respectfully declined, saying that his place was home in the North and that he needed to rebuild what his family had lost. As the last surviving member of the main line, he did not want to stay away from home and the position went to Lewys Farrest instead who had fought at the Battle of the Spear. Daltas and the Northmen returned home.

### Ruling the North

After Daltas' return to the North, he quickly took to rebuilding the damaged lands and proved to be a brilliant administrator. He reimbursed the Houses who had pledged forces to the war and had lost men. This money was given to both nobles and commonfolk, gaining the loyalty of both groups. He also sponsored and supported the merchants of Hallowport, the closest thing to a city the north has, bringing the region trade and wealth. During this time he married Enith Lanser, the sister of Lanard Lanser, and fathered four children with her. In 357 AF, he took in Warren Boyce and Lewin Knigh as wards and raised them as his own sons, instilling into them the same sense of honour and duty that he had. Later in 362 AF, he fathered his first son with Enith, Kevan, who grew up with Warren and Lewin as older brothers in a sense. Daltas raised Kevan to be honourable and taught him from a young age the importance of honour. He decided not to inform his son about the horrors of war that he had experienced and the lessons he had learnt.

### Master of Laws and Return to the North

In 367 AF, King Byrron II Boyce summoned Daltas to the capital. It was the first time since Byrron's coronation that they had seen each other. He informed Daltas that Lewys Farrest, the Master of Laws appointed by Kaegan and carried over by Byrron, had died and Byrron intended to ask Daltas to serve as Master of Laws. Daltas accepted and left his wife and his infant second-son, Andrew, and took Kevan to the capital. He served as the Master of Laws for the next eight years and provided great counsel to King Byrron and strengthened the City Watch of Newcastle, established by Kaegan, in that time. Upon the death of King Byrron in 375 AF and the ascension of King Harlow I to the throne, Daltas resigned as Master of Laws and returned to Syderhill again. He fathered Kyra and Mateo in 376 AF and remained in Syderhill to rule over the North. Kyra was his pride however. He loved his sons but he took great care of his daughter. He sought to find a match suitable for her by his standards and rejected countless offers. He often remarked that had Kyra been born sooner, she would have been a perfect match for Byrron Boyce. He ended up betrothing her to the second son of Lord Anron Rocke, Ed Rocke. His son Andrew, at sixteen years old, was knighted by Sir Mancel Graen and joined the Bronze Cloaks. Before Andrew left Syderhill, Daltas spoke to his son for the first time about some of the things he had learnt during the war but never disclosed much of it.

Daltas continuously refused to pledge any forces to Harlow in his endeavours to conquer the Alba and he again refused to pledge any soldiers during Harlow's Northern War. He had remorse when he heard that King Harlow had fallen in the war but he was glad that none of his sons had died or gone to fight in the doomed war. Andrew had remained at Newcastle to protect the Royal Family and was appointed the new Lord Commander when Warren was crowned King. Daltas was a key supporter of Warren during the Great Council of 390 AF. Warren asked Daltas to serve as Adviser to the King and Daltas accepted, returning to the capital and staying there while Warren marched north and fought the Great War of 391 AF. Daltas had appointed Kevan as Castellan of Syderhill but his son had decided to raise an army and march with the Boyces, despite Daltas ordering him not to do so.

### Recent History

Following the Great War, Daltas and Warren worked hard to repair the realm which had suffered greatly under the disastrous reign of King Harlow. The realm was in a lot of debt to several Houses, notably House Ross, and the Faith and a harsh, three year long winter began in 397 AF which undone much of what they had worked to rebuild. He was also a key supporter of sending aid to House Rocke who were amidst a rebellion by the Brotherhood of Wolves. Daltas also had to frequently quell infighting between House Durham and House Ross, both in the Southlands by decrees and in the capital by silencing Lord Lorgan Durham, the Master of Laws, and Lord Ruban Ross, the Lord Chancellor. The infighting and the weakened state of the realm led to great stress on the King's health and by 402 AF, Daltas had already began handling matters that the King would usually perform. Despite the hardships, Daltas remains a hero in the eyes of most and the last leader of a Golden Age of House Boyce and the Kingdom, and a hero of the rebellion against Dannis the Cruel. Many say that the only reason the realm has not fallen into civil war is because Daltas Carlisle remains the true power in Newcastle.