Margget the Wise
Wizard Margget Fields
Wizard under Otgam Wulk, Ollaugh Wulk, and Orman Wulk
Sometimes called The Hand of the West, Margget served all three of the Kings of the West and famously rewrote King Otgam's reign as beginning in 732 RA, rather than 733 when the War of East and West was won. This crucially identified Kurnek Redhammer as a false king, erasing him from legitimate rolls of history.
Margget was a child of Berleigh, raised to ride and hunt in the Elkwood (now the Eskiwood), yet she was chosen by the lords of Berleigh to become a speller, and quickly rose to study under the Wizard Sarai Soft Eyes. Margget was called a difficult child, putting off her studies to hunt or tell tales around camp fires. She was therefore slow to rise under Sarai, though her abilities were obvious.
Margget was three-and-twenty when the Khabarese forces that Oran Wulk had invited into Revellia to aid his cause took Berleigh and the Elkwood. She fled to Saolmoth with the remains of Berleigh, where she helped prevail upon the new king Otgam Wulk to march and deliver Berleigh from the Khabarese threat. Sarai Soft Eyes had been slain in the attack: Rosheen Norfall records that she had a knife in each hand and had slain five Khabarese warriors before being gutted. King Otgam had no wizard to hand, his own Hannah "the Werewolf" Faolan still serving at Dubraigh so Margget was taken under his service. He had been impressed by her forthrightness, and indeed her knowledge of Berleigh proved instrumental in retaking the town. Margget had not officially been recognized as a wizard before Sarai's death, but a king's word opens many doors, and Wizard Margget became the Wizard of the West.
Margget would prove to have many titles, including the Braggart. Before Berleigh had been retaken, she sent spells to wizards in other cantons telling wild tales of the horrors visited upon spellers and wizards by the Khabarese. These were entirely fabricated, but they convinced wizards from other cantons to compel their kings to fortify their own borders, drawing Khabarese forces from Berleigh.
Not since Anna Chains had there been a wizard of such a military mind and strident aptitude for governance. More than one speller mocked Margget as weak in astronomy and maths, though these slanders were likely due to her preference for hunting, fighting, and strategy. Margget reportedly laughed off these insults in most cases, though she supposedly challenged a squire to hollymock for calling her "a harridan in pants." She is said to have won the fight, though no records exist of it at the time. This was notably long before knights and therefore squires were common in Revellia, though admittedly the Khabarese influence from Berleigh may have introduced a few to the canton.
Despite these benefits, Berleigh would change hands several times during the first three years of Otgam's reign. In the end, the region was regained through marriage, not war. Margget tried to arrange peace with the Khabarese governor of Urudun by offering one of Otgam's daughters to him. Otgam was a Westerner, however, and insisted on offering two. This alone was poorly received, for women were regarded as largely the equal of men in Khabar. Worse still, the governor was already married, and viewed this as a savage insult to his dignity. Otgam bellowed loud and long at Margget for her ignorance, but she eventually managed to smooth things over. Otgam's second daughter was betrothed to the governor's first son, and Berleigh was returned to Revellia.
Otgam (and therefore Margget) ruled from Saolmoth for the rest of his life, and the Wizard oft found herself calming the agitations of Clan Graunt, who felt they were being occupied by conquerors despite having supported the Wulks during the war. Bandits roamed the West during the first half of Otgam's reign: he and his son and Mox Master Ollaugh took turns riding out to bring the bandits to justice, and once or twice Margget was allowed to lead a company for this same purpose. Otgam died on a hunting trip when Margget was three-and-forty, and her service moved smoothly to Otgam's son Ollaugh.
The land had grown calm by the time Otgam died, and Margget prevailed upon the son to at last move to Dubraigh for his coronation (much to the Graunts' relief). Once at the port town, relations with Khabar and therefore Urudun continued to stabilize and even improve. Khabar and Western Revellia had very different religious backgrounds, yet both had fought against the Host of Hosts, and this seemed to unite them. Margget's predilections remained in favor of hunting and combat, but in her later years she turned her focus on matters of coin and law, continuing to improve foreign relations and the stability of the canton.
Margget was seven-and-fifty when Ollaugh died of his years, passing the crown to his eldest living son Orman. This was a rare age for a lord's wizard, and Margget's mind had long begun to wander. She still had apprentices, among them Hannah Wallock, who had been assisting Margget with figures and governance even before her age began to tell on her. Margget caught a chill one night while wandering the harbors, claiming to be counting something. She died two days later, and the title of Wizard was passed to Hannah Wallock, called Hannah Humble for her years of assistance. Margget had lived to fifty-nine.
Margget the Wise rarely expressed discontent with her service, yet she was often recalled to have lamented her loss of the Elkwood, calling her early days in those woods the happiest. Under Otgam and Ollaugh she often rode into the Fiirwood instead, but was supposedly heard to say, "They are good, these frozen woods. They are not home, though."
Conditions
Ethnicity
Professions
Life
4709
4769
60 years old
Circumstances of Death
Caught a chill wandering the harbors of Fiirwoth
Birthplace
Berleigh
Children
Eyes
Hazel
Hair
Heather
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Ghast (peach)
Other Affiliations