Jaggedking Gilberd Oakhand
Jaggedking Gilberd Oakhand
Born in 63 BHM to Jaggedking Osfirth, Gilberd Oakhand was raised with the weight of empire already pressing upon his shoulders. As the heir to the Vul’Adnian Magistrate, an empire built upon the bedrock of Vuulydon and founded by his forebears, Gilberd inherited not only a vast domain but a doctrine of magical supremacy and unrelenting conquest. From a young age, Gilberd displayed a keen intellect and an unwavering will, traits that would define both his rise and his fall.
Ascending to the throne in 37 BHM after the death of his father, Gilberd was crowned Jaggedking of the Vul’Adnian Magistrate at just 25 years old. Under his rule, the Magistrate solidified its position as the dominant power in Galfin, uniting its various regions through a combination of coercion, manipulation, and raw military force. A master orator, Gilberd believed that magic was the cornerstone of true power. He expanded the Magistrate's already formidable magical academies, conscripting spellcasters into his Spellsword Legions, an elite army that fused martial prowess with devastating arcane abilities.
The eccentric Jaggedking follows the law of his ancestors. The Oakhand's have a notoriously high level of essence flowing through their veins. If a second child is born they become unstable and eventually implode in a devastating manner. Female children are also incredibly dangerous as they have even more magic so girls and second children are unceremoniously tossed from the top of the Spyre. Gilberd has one son named Yssac but all the people of the mountains have heard of Gilberd throwing his baby daughter off a mountain 3 years after his son was born. Yssac is a captain within his father's army which is in a secret alliance with the Windslayer clan. Yssac has spent his life researching devices crafted Dhara, is particular a lost device that was wielded by his ancestor Adonis Oakhand.
His first major campaign came in 20 BHM, when he turned his attention to the City of Traitors, Clarion. A haven for dissenters who had rebelled against Vuulydon decades prior, Clarion stood as a stain on the Oakhand legacy. Gilberd crushed its defences, bringing the masked warriors of the Unna Maska into his ranks. Their loyalty was ensured through ruthless enforcement and promises of power within his empire, marking the beginning of his transformation of the Magistrate into a nearly unstoppable force.
By 10 BHM, Gilberd’s armies completed the generational war against the Unruly Frelheid, mountain folk who had resisted Vuulydon’s rule for centuries. His victory over the Firefang Jags was brutal but decisive, claiming the last province of the rugged highlands and establishing an unbroken rule from the volcanic peaks to the desert sands. Yet Gilberd’s victories often bred resentment. His empire was a patchwork of conquered peoples, and his reliance on magical bloodlines to secure loyalty alienated the non-magical majority.
When the Fracturing War erupted in 4 BHM, Gilberd saw an opportunity to expand his domain further. The Magistrate, already a sprawling empire, allied with the rebel nations of Ivoria and Otrandus and launched invasions into the neighbouring realms of Palandis, Mercadia, and the desert nation of Sirocco. His campaigns were brutal and efficient, but the war stretched his forces thin and exposed cracks in his empire’s foundation.
The war reached its turning point with the rise of Ella Skytracer in 1 BHM. Uniting the hidden elven factions and the northern Boggan family, Ella led a coalition against the Magistrate and its allies. The Windslayer family fell quickly, but the Oakhand family’s resistance was far more tenacious. Gilberd fortified his capital in the Spyre, cutting off access to the outside world and forcing his people to survive on sturgeon fish and mountain plants. For three years, he resisted Highqueen Ella’s forces, refusing to surrender even as his empire crumbled around him.
By 3 AHM, the Magistrate was a shadow of its former self. Gilberd finally bent the knee, accepting Ella as Highqueen and ending the war. His once-vast empire was reduced to the Spyre, and the title of Jaggedking became little more than a relic.
Once the proud patriarch of the Oakhand family, Gilberd is now a figure of tragedy. At 65, his once commanding presence has become a shadow of its former self, marked by the weariness of war and loss. His thinning gray hair and sunken eyes tell a story of prolonged strife, and the heavy cloak he wears is tattered, as is his house. In his throne room, surrounded by echoes of his past glory, Gilberd grapples with the reality of his family's fate. Yet Gilberd’s ruthlessness was not forgotten. In the final days of his reign, a lone assassin from the Frelheid clans slipped into his mountain stronghold and ended his life in the very throne room where he had once ruled an empire.
Gilberd Oakhand’s legacy is one of brilliance and arrogance, a ruler who wielded both magic and might to build an empire that ultimately collapsed under its own weight. To some, he remains a symbol of ambition; to others, a cautionary tale of hubris and the dangers of unchecked power. His name is etched into history as both a conqueror and a king whose refusal to yield brought ruin to all he had built.
Relationships
Current Location
Species
Ethnicity
Previously Held Ranks & Titles
Life
63 BHM
3 AHM
66 years old
Spouses
Elevated Consort Nadeera Caskorn
(spouse)
Siblings
Children
Gender
Male
Aligned Organization