Lord Erac Tallman
Lord Erac Tallman, Lord of Summerswind
Early Life
Erac was born in 414Ks, the first child of Jorah Tallman, the Lord of Summerswind, and Tesha Tallman-Lupine, the captain of The Circle of Wolves, a mercenary company. Tesha died giving birth to Erac.Lord Jorah soon remarried, and in 418KS had a second child, Alise Tallman with his new wife Beylee Tallman.
The Revolt at Summerswind
Many members of The Circle had entered the service of House Tallman when their captain married Lord Jorah, some others had remained nearby in less official capacities. None took the lord's new marriage well. With the birth of his daughter, they began to stoke resentments already building in the holding, until in September of 419KS they rose in revolt against the Tallmans at the head of an army of peasants.They stormed Summerswind, killing Jorah Tallman and his wife Beylee, as well as his sister Madilyn Tallman and her husband ser Gerrard Tallman-Yronsmith. They took Jorah's children, Erac and Alise, as hostages along with their cousins Alysia and Tanea Tallman, Madilyn's children.
Four days later the forces of House Cray of Bayglen, Summerswind's closest neighbour, descended upon the castle. Despite the mercenaries' attempts to organise, the peasants were no match for the force led by ser Matthis Cray, ser Newall Foxworth, and ser Elysande Haynes, who arrested or slew the rebels and freed the children.
Wardship
Following the Revolt Ilyana Cratter, a member of Duke Alvar Blackbar's court, came to Summmerswind to act as Steward until Erac came of age.Erac and the other Tallman children became Wards of House Blackbar, spending the next fourteen years between Castle Blackbar and the Duke's estate in The City of Bayglen, making connections with the other houses of The Blackbar Duchy and building a relationship first with Duke Alvar and then with his successor Duke Croll Blackbar. During this time Erac's half-sister Alise began courting Darron Blackbar, Duke Croll's heir.
In 433KS the family was in the capital to attend the funeral of King Samuel Somercrag. It was decided that when they departed the city this time Erac, now nineteen, would return to Summerswind and take up his responsibilities as Lord. For his half-sister, who had been less than a year when they left their home, departing life at Castle Blackbar was particularly difficult. They travelled to Summerswind in the company of A Band of Young Travellers.
Lord of Summerswind
Over the following years Erac drew close with ser Tyon Cray, the son of ser Matthis Cray, who had been knighted for his part in defeating the rebels during the Revolt. As near neighbours they each spent much time as guests of the other, and the Lord of Baremaw and Summerswind could often be found riding, hunting, or feasting together.Despite not being a martial man himself, Erac lead his men in the war against The Irogonie Aggression in 440KS, fighting alongside the other houses of the Duchy in the North-Eastern front of the war.
Revolution
In 441KS, after the death of ser Sola Somercrag and Queen Malina's Declaration to ser Sola's Vanguard, ser Tyon Cray's route home took him once more through Summerswind. He vented to Lord Erac of his frustrations, and Erac helped the knight to realise he could not sit idly with the injustice.When ser Tyon departed, Erac wrote to Duke Croll, suggesting that he might travel through Summerswind and Baremaw en route to The Tourney at Fairstrand which was to take place that Summer. The Duke agreed, and so Erac and Croll passed through Baremaw some weeks later, where the Duke's counsel helped Tyon solidify his plans to force Queen Malina Somercrag to accept the truth by capturing her sons at the Tourney and holding them as hostages.
Erac rode with Tyon to Fairstrand, where he and the surviving members of Sola's Vanguard sprung their trap on the royal princes. Erac then sailed with Tyon to Castle Blackbar while the better part of the revolutionary army marched back to The Pass.
The Razing of Summerswind
As ser Tyon's forces set out from Castle Blackbar, having already been delayed dealing with House Durbach of Felweather Keep, they received word of armies marching on both Summerswind and Baremaw, Tyon's own seat. Tyon chose to march his army to relieve Baremaw. Erac begged leave to lead his own men, or even just himself, to Summerswind, but Tyon refused. Although Erac was bound by his oath to follow Tyon, he resented it, and made it clear to the knight that their friendship would not survive if his lands suffered while Tyon marched to save his own seat.They were successful in lifting the siege of Baremaw, and were bolstered by the forces there and ser Elysande Haynes, Tyon's Marshal. However, when they crossed the border into Summerswind they found the entire holding razed, from the castle to the farms and forests. Erac cursed Tyon, and left his army to recover what he could of his people.
When Tyon went on to take the capital and depose Queen Malina, putting an end to House Somercrag of Bayglen and raising himself to King, Erac declined to attend his coronation.
The Shadow Council
Shortly after his coronation King Tyon I Cray left Bayglen to travel to on the invitation of the The King of Rotheval to visit his court in Switham. Erac returned to the capital then, and in the company of Lars Stivir and other disgruntled nobles, began to form a Shadow Council to undermine Lyla Fossoway, the Royal Steward.Some months later ser Newall Foxworth, now raised to Duke of the lands North of The Witwells, arrived in Bayglen on other business. With the aid of his daughter Lady Terin Gaunt-Foxworth he discovered the Shadow Council. He called Erac out for a duel, one of the ways the Council had encouraged its members to settle disputes outside the eye of the Royal Court, but Erac was not fool enough to fight the knight, and so his influence over the nobles was broken, and the Council collapsed. Duke Newall appointed himself as the King's Justicar and used his authority to support Lyla Fossoway, and so the King's forces regained control of the capital. Erac returned to Summerswind.
When Tyon returned from Rotheval he appointed a formal Royal Council. At the advice of Duke Blackbar he appointed Alise Blackbar-Tallman, Erac's half-sister, now married to Croll's heir, as the Blackbar representative to the council where she served as his Seneschal. She was encouraged to use the Crown's funds to support projects in rebuilding Summerswind, which was officially reopened in March of 445KS as part of The Royal Progress of King Tyon I Cray and Princett Nym Cimber.
Marriage
As part of an effort to foster a closer relationship with The Kingdom of Rotheval following the marriage of King Tyon to Princett Nym Cimber, a marriage was arranged between Erac and Charlyse Percy, the daughter of a Rothevalian noble. They married in 446KS and had their first child, Byrant in 449KS. He was followed the next year by a daughter, Anari Tallman.In 446KS The Boxsart Hills, which formed the core of The Kingdom of Hillhurst, erupted. They quickly destroyed the islands of Hillhurst, and choking clouds of ash and soot swallowed much of Western Rotheval. The Royal Council pressed the Somercrag Royal Fleet to service rescuing as many refugees as possible. Through clever working of Lady Ophelia Foxworth-Hayford, many of the refugees were matched with settlements who had suffered in recent disasters or during the country's wars, including the still rebuilding hamlets in Summerswind which were boosted by the sudden influx, both of skilled workers, and of highly motivated labourers, allowing the holding to recover in short years what might have otherwise taken decades.
The Foxworth Secession
In March of 454KS, in response to killings at The Hollow and in the Rothevalian court, House Foxworth of Fairstrand declared war on The Kingdom of Irogonie. King Tyon I Cray demanded that Duke Newall stand down, and when he refused, raised his own banners to bring his Vassal to heel. This led to many houses throughout The Kingdom of Somercrag declaring for one side of the other, starting a war that would come to be known as The War For The Foxworth Secession 454KS.In recognition of their long history, and in the hope of closing the rift between them that had already been repaired by the rebuilding of his home and the arrangement of his marriage, King Tyon promoted Erac to the position of Duke of the lands North of The Witwells, to take up the Foxworths' lands once they had been brought to justice.
Erac marshalled his army and sailed North to Prann, where he met one of the King's own armies.
Death
Relationships
Ethnicity
Other Ethnicities/Cultures
Year of Birth
414 KS
41 Years old
Family
Spouses
Charlyse Tallman-Percy
(spouse)
Siblings
Children
Gender
Male
Barden
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