House de Montluzin
Leone VI de Montluzin is the current comte of the de Montluzin demesne. He is a quiet man, with no great talent for war, or an exceptional administrator, but he does possess a keen eye for understanding politics and maneuvering his family into the best possible circumstances. He has raised both of his sons to excel in both stewardship and war, so that they may specialize in the areas he does not, and that they compliment each other’s strengths as he relies on them to complement his own. His wife, Isabeau Dauphin, was from the noble house of Dauphin, which rules over the Summer Islands, cementing a political alliance between these two houses. Tragically Isabeau died five years ago from the flux. She gave birth to two sons and one daughter, Isabelle de Montluzin.
Isabelle de Montluzin is the youngest of the de Montluzin children. Isabelle bears striking similarities to her mother in terms of beauty but takes after her father with her active interest in the politics of the realm. Isabelle is a courtesan, and some would call her a mastermind, seeking to ally potential courtiers with her family’s name and align their objectives with her family’s. Her enemies, no one hears about, either due to her popularity at court, or because of her ability to silence them so quickly that no one hears their whispers. Her training and education focus more on the diplomatic and political schemes of the realm, and less with the “material necessities” of it that her brothers take part in.
Leon de Montluzin, the first son of Leon VI, will likely inherit the demesne and rule as Leon VII. He is currently the comte’s steward and seneschal, charged with the collection of taxes and ensuring economic prosperity across the demesne. A clever lad, he has always been fond of numbers, calculations, and building wealth rather than amassing strength of arms. He spent time as a monk among the Pelor mission in Viviers, where he advanced both his spiritual and material education among the other monks. Traditionally, the comte appoints either his wife or heir as steward of the demesne, to both prepare the heir for rule as well as allow a smooth transition to power, in the event that the comte does not have the capacity to rule. Viviers horse-farms and vineyards, as well as the demesne’s general wealth, have seen a slow trickle in economic profits, leading back to Leon’s economic policies, even without incorporating slavery into the realm.
Lastly, Louis de Montluzin, who in the unlikely event he should inherit, would be Louis IV, is the second son of Leon VI de Montluzin. He was made marshal of the demesne and knight-captain of the Lions of Luzin. Since he was a boy, Louis showed that natural Acadian affinity for horsemanship, and while his brother was the brains of the family for managing their demesne, or his sister’s cunning for diplomacy, Louis was no slouch in the field of wise rule and political treatises. His true area of expertise was in the field of war. Louis was a strong and hearty boy, and only became stronger as he reached manhood. Despite being at an age of 23, Louis has shown even-handed justice in his judgement and treatment of county criminals, is said to be an exceptional Chevalier, or Cavalier in standard Common, and he possesses a strength few in all of Eregoth can match. He is also content with his role as the second son, saying “I possess the strength to act for my family, whereas my brother Leon possesses the intellect to wield that strength, and with it, create the future for our family”. If Leon is the pinnacle of chivalric rule and conduct within the counties, Louis is the pinnacle of chivalric combat and duty of the noble family.
The de Montluzin children, are stars for the future of the demesne, and will only enhance its already bountiful artisanal wealth, strength in arms, and political gravitas outside the demesne. Lord de Montluzin is extremely proud of his children, and implicitly trusts their judgement, not because they are his children, but because they all have talent that even commoners and foreign lords can see, and the de Montluzin children use their talents to enhance their strengths. When something is beyond their expertise, they call on each other, and rely on the other’s judgement to carry their decision. When the time comes that Leon VI will step down and his children inherit the lands, surely only greatness awaits them.
Structure
The House de Montluzin follows the common primogeniture inheritance laws of Eregoth, despite the gavelkind inheritance laws of the Acadian common folk. The Lord of the House is the primary actor and deciding figure for the House, with their sworn swords and sons behind them.
Public Agenda
The wellbeing of the common folk in their domain and beyond, restoration of House Cervantes, and the Unification of Eregoth.
History
Sections from “The Noble Families in Acadian Lands”, by Historian Guillaume Corbet
The House of de Montluzin, from Acadian Common, or literally, “House of Mount Luzin”, is a noble house that dates its origins to the Age of Heroes, around 1300-1400 HE. In that time frame, the Shadar-Kai, devotees of Nerull, were launching a dark crusade against the City of Five Towers, and for a short time, had a hold on the region. A holy crusade was called against the Shadar-Kai and many Acadians joined, due to both their close connection with Pelor and their connection with the old country from which their ancestors sailed from, Kaduland, which certain regions were occupied by the Shadar-Kai. The Acadian March ruled over Acadian lands, where it was ruled by a Captain-General, that was in turn a vassal of the Cervantes Crown. The Captain-General, Alarich Beaufort, felt a personal obligation to fight the Shadar-Kai wherever they were, and took 4000 Acadian Crusaders with him, who fought alongside other crusaders from Eregoth and Norstir warriors on the frontlines. Luzo, who was born to a peasant family in the plains of Viviers county. He always had a natural ability to connect with animals, and he went to the town of Viviers and applied to be one of the gendarmes. Gendarmes were not noble knights, but armored lancers on horse, and many were volunteering for the crusades. Admittance into the Gendarmes raised one’s status, pay, and through enough service, higher positions within the Captain-Generalcy. Luzo applied for both the Gendarmerie and to be a crusader within the Gendarmerie, and through martial and horsemanship tests, was accepted into the Gendarmerie at the age of 18.
Luzo sailed with Alarich and his men to Norstir and fought the Shadar-Kai, participating in several battles until the Captain-General was recalled to protect the Acadian March from a small force of Nerullian Cultists who had managed to gather the peasantry. By this time, Luzo, 24, had risen through the crusader ranks to become one of the Captain-General’s top lieutenants, astonishing, given that Luzo was not particularly exceptional in martial skills, however, it was in large part due to his ability to carry and convey messages by horse with great speed. He then soon learned to lead cavalry into battle with ferocious charges with lightning speed, earning him and his unit the moniker “the Lions of Luzo”.
The crusaders returned home to repress the Nerullian cultists, maneuvering and skirmishing with them until the Cultists became trapped by the mountains near Lyonnais. Desperate, the cultists tried to raise dead mountain lions to kill Alarich, who had been wounded in the fighting on the mountain, in order to create a route in the crusader army, but Luzo, praying to Pelor, asked for protection, and he reached out with his instincts towards a pride of mountain lions encircling him and his wounded Captain-General. Pelor answered Luzo’s prayers, and with the combination of faith, divine intervention, and natural instinct, Luzo was able to calm the Lions, and supposedly convince them telepathically to attack the cultists who had killed them to be their slaves. The lions did so, and upon completion of their task, released a roar, and were allowed to pass into Pelor’s arms.
For his heroic acts, and for saving his life when it could have easily cost him his own, Beaufort, a noble, gave his daughter, Clere, in marriage to him. However, to legally sanction the marriage, Luzo needed to be a noble that was landed. Alarich petitioned the Cervantes king on behalf of Luzo to be knighted and granted land for the act of saving his life and serving the realm’s interests abroad in the holy crusade against the Shadar-Kai. What the Cervantes king did instead, was reinstitute a feudal duchy that oversaw the Acadian people, and granted said duchy to Alarich, allowing him full control over who should serve as his vassals. Alarich gave three counties to Luzo, who was then legally allowed to marry Clere. They were married in the plains of what is now Cleremont, where they broke fresh ground together to build a new city that would outdo the old village that served as the regional capital for that county. He made the capital of his demesne Lyonnais, for it was in those mountains that Luzo earned his reputation for bravery in overwhelming odds, and where he had a divine intervention from Pelor himself (according to personal accounts). He named the mountain of where the battle took place Mont Luzin or Mount Luzin, and named his noble house “de Montluzin” which his heirs would forever bear, as well as their sigil, the Gold Lion sitting at the base of a mountain amongst a sky of suns representing Pelor’s Justice and Pelor’s Love. The changing of his name from “Luzo” to “Luzin” also showed deference to the Cervantes court by promoting the more Common-speaker friendly Acadian culture and legal code over the old Kaduring ways. The shift would be complete when “Luzin” could be translated into either “Leon” or “Louis”, the traditional names of the de Montluzin heirs today.
As Comte, or Count, of Lyonnais, Viviers, and the new county of Cleremont, Luzin (I will not refer to him as Louis, since his firstborn son was named that, and neither Luzin himself, nor his Acadian contemporaries, call him that.) did not know the first thing about ruling, and relied heavily on his Cervantes advisors. Not speaking the Common tongue with the fluency he liked, he turned to his new wife, Clere, who could speak both Kaduring and Common, and left much of the actual stewardship of the realm to her. Fortunately, she was a capable steward, and was able to lay the foundations of Cleremont as a trading hub between Cervantes lands and Beaufort lands, as well as increase the tax revenue and keep the common people happy by providing like free education to artisan families and clerical families, a free loaf of bread a day, and free water in the cities, without raising present economic inequality in the demesne.
Clere set out to create a demesne that was both wealthy through the efforts of all avenues of income from trade in Cleremont, Agriculture in Viviers, and Mining and Industry in Lyonnais, and she achieved that, especially when Cleremont became more than a small town after her stewardship. Clere needed funds to build up Cleremont, and the rest of the demesne, and petitioned Cervantes for financial aid. In exchange, Cervantes could send advisors to draft legislation which the Comte would be inclined to sign, promote Common as the demesne language and culture by building Cervantes schools in both the cities and the countryside, and by giving Cervantes traders a toll-free pass through Cleremont. This financial aid gave the short-term economic boost that Clere needed to fund her projects, which enriched the demesne, allowing Luzin to focus on creating a professional retinue to guard his new lands.
Luzin knew the army and worked diligently to reshape the peasantry into a potential professional army. Luzin first instituted compulsory service into the county militias a requirement, insuring that everyone in the counties were trained in the arts of war, and he kept the Gendarmerie, for having a cavalry force that was not exclusively comprised of the nobility enhanced the overall strength and composition of his forces. He used the idea of the Gendarmerie, town commoners who lived and defended the town with equipment lended to them by the state, to form a retinue of professional soldiers who used the same farming tools that they would use in the militias and trained them as a professional army for the comte to use group tactics to defend and hold a position while the Gendarmes or knights would charge the enemy from the flanks. The infantrymen and militia who were trained in this fashion were called “Voulgiers”, that is still in place today. The weapon they wield is a polearm called a “voulge”, which is the Acadian version of a halberd that can cut deep into the enemy at range or can be lined up in a pike-wall and prevent cavalry and infantry charges from 10ft away. It also has a small spike on the reverse side that can be used to hook cavalrymen off their horses. The idea Luzin had of the voulgier was to be an infantryman that could fight both in close quarters, at range, with a group, alone, against a mounted, or a dismounted opponent. In the Acadian mind, the voulge is the perfect weapon.
Luzin also created a new noble order to police all three counties under the direct command of the comte, known as the “Lions of Luzin”. To be admitted, one does not need to be a noble, but many noble sons are in the ranks of the Lions. They will accept only the strongest, the most able, and the most chivalric of people (women, and members of other races can enter the armed services of the comte in de Montluzin lands). Once one is admitted, both the physical and mental training is grueling, as one must not only be to perform combat maneuvers, but survive in each of the counties individually and be able to know the laws of the land and apply them fairly.They only take orders from those within their ranks, and comte himself, who placed his second son, Louis, in charge of when he came of age. They settle most county dispute with the comte’s authority, acting as sheriffs for each of the holdings within a county. Though they act independently of each other, if there is a bandit camp that needs to be eradicated, or civil unrest in a town, the Lions will gather in strength to quell the fires of dissent. If there is a ruling that is in dispute between the local populace and the Lions, complaints are sent directly to the comte and his marshal, who usually oversees the Lions of Luzin, thus the second son is usually the Marshal of the demesne as well as the head of the noble order. The Lions of Luzin also act as the comte’s bodyguard, in addition to professional retinue that acts as the comte’s personal army outside of his levies of militiamen.
With the combination of order, justice, law, economic growth, and a prevailing sense of duty to both Pelor and the new Acadian comte, proper stewardship of the realm was achieved early on, and the dual efficiency and specialization of fields by both Clere and Luzin allowed the demesne to prosper and set an example for future de Montluzins. Clere and Luzin had five children, three girls and two boys. The girls, Clere, Constance, and Elizabethe, and the boys Leon, Louis, and Roland.
"Through Right, Might"
Type
Geopolitical, County / March
Alternative Names
"The Lions of Luzin"
Demonym
Acadian
Controlled Territories
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