ser Malrik Caul
ser Malrik Caul, Mayor of Old Caulstid
Early Life
Malrik was born in the year 404KS, the third of four children in a family of smallfolk living in the wilds of The Blackmyre Swamps near Farncombe. Their mother, Marina, had been injured in service of House Ford of Blackmyre. She died when Malrik was barely two years old, and he was raised by his older siblings.The family moved frequently, finding work on small farms or in villages when they could, stealing or poaching when they could not. At times they lived in the barns or warehouses of the people they worked for, at others they lived in abandoned buildings, ruins, under tents and even spent many long cold nights shivering in the open air.
Banditry
By the age of twelve, Malrik was alone. His younger brother had succumbed to sickness, one of his older sister's was imprisoned for thievery, and the other had simply disappeared one night earlier in the year. Having been turned away from the gates of Gladewood House by Some Knight in the service of House Tarbor of Southbay, Malrik became easy prey to the Criminal Underbelly that ran rife throughout Southbay.Life amongst the bandits was not necessarily easier than his early childhood, but there was a fierce sense of community amongst the criminals living in the ruins of Caulstid Castle. And so Malrik's life passed for the next two-and-a-half decades, arguably the most stable period of his life, and Malrik learned a great deal from the bandits and smugglers in the settlement.
Life in Old Caulstid barely changed when Hallkatla Darklyn overthrew her father and claimed Darklyn Point, nor when she descended upon The City of Southbay and destroyed House Tarbor. But when ser Allon Southbay took up residence in the holding in 442KS he began a real effort to remove the criminals in the ruins along the Caulstid Coast.
Malrik, not one to risk his own neck against such clearly overpowering forces, avoided the fighting in the ruins. Each time he chose instead to fade into the tunnels that linked the ruins to the smugglers' coves along the coast, or to the depths of The Burrowood, only returning once the fighting was done. In this way he avoided two purges of the bandits in Caulstid.
In 443KS Lord Tylan Hewlett sold out the bandits in Caulstid and finally brought the settlement under some sort of order. As reward for this he was granted Lordship over the territory. Malrik was once more able to avoid the fighting, and simply rejoined the population of the settlement as it came under the rule of House Hewlett of Greater Stallken.
Revolt
In 444KS, a little more than a year after they had come under the heel of the Hewletts, Malrik gathered the remaining criminals throughout the settlement, along with those who had come in to attempt to capitalise on Lord Tylan's percieved weakness, into a single large host, easily enough to outmatch the soldiers House Hewlett had at its disposal, and marched on Tylan's new seat in South Stallken. They demanded to have their past crimes absolved and to have Malrik recognised as the local authority over Old Caulstid, and Tylan had little choice but to agree.In return, when Malrik returned to the ruins in Caulstid, he set about the bloody business of executing all those left amongst the criminal population who would not, or could not, adjust to a life on the right side of the law. Ever since, he has ruled the settlement, now a thriving city in its own right, with an iron fist, his 'peacekeepers' brutally rooting out any attempts by criminals to gain a foothold throughout Greater Stallken.
Knighthood
Shortly after gaining the Mayoral position in Caulstid, Malrik sought out a knight willing to knight him, and found it in ser Airis Blount. He took the name 'Caul' for his connection to Old Caulstid, and rewarded the Hedge Knight with a place in his court.A short while later he knighted ser Jack Colborn, the former head of his Old Caulstid Peacekeepers, who then became his Sworn Sword.
Mayoral Bonus
New Settlements created by ser Malrik Caul begin with +1 Order.
Year of Birth
404 KS
51 Years old
Children
Ruled Locations
NAME beginning in YEAR KS
Knighted
ser Jack "Black Jack" Colborn in 445KS
