Raghnall Ralto (RAG-nahl RAHL-tow)
His Royal Majesty Raghnall Falkor Ralto (a.k.a. "The Bastard")
Raghnall Falkor Ralto was King of Bartol from AF 332-373. He took power in a bloody coup when his father named his maternal uncle as Heir to the Golden Throne of Bartol.
Raghnall was born in AF 314 at Boltan Castle in Borland. The only child of Rynna Ralto and Alzena Haverdover, he was raised in the castle and went to school with other children of families living in and around the castle.
Raghnall had a difficult childhood, struggling with social interactions from an early age, and also having troubles in school from the start. Over the years he started to show a number of behavioral issues. The first was a very short temper that turned more and more violent as he grew older. When he was 13 he almost beat a classmate to death while in school, and at 17 he severely wounded a teacher as well as two members of the Royal Guard sent to handle the incident.
At the age of 15, Raghnall reported to his doctors and parents that he had been hearing voices talking to him in his head. It was not clear how long he had been hearing them, but at that point they were disruptive enough that Raghnall often lost focus on the outside world, and could even be seen having active and sometimes loud and even violent conversations with those voices.
Over the years many attempts were made to help the young man, including treatment by doctors, alchemists, pharmacists, and a wide range of clerics and other magical healers. Standard medicines, treatments and spells seemed to have no effect on Raghnall. Even multiple attempts at exorcism, including by High Priests of several deities, made no difference.
His parents were particularly worried about the voices, since some had described Raghnall as mad (crazy) even as a young boy, and this seemed much worse. Over his later teen years, the consensus of doctors and clerics and others trying to help him was that he must be cursed or somehow otherwise afflicted by some heretofore unknown illness or - because of the voices - possession.
Concerned by the lack of any improvement in his son, Rynna decided to name his wife's brother Osvald Haverdover as Heir to the Golden Throne of Bartol in AF 332, just before Raghnall's 18th birthday, when it was traditional for sons to be named as heirs. Raghnall was enraged by this action but retreated to his rooms, though a few friends did visit him.
Three days later, Raghnall emerged from his rooms, meeting with some of those friends and others they had gathered. They armed themselves and the group stormed the Royal Throne Room. Raghnall confronted his father and uncle (who also happened to be present) and accused them of plotting to deny him his birthright. The King sought to calm him, but Raghnall struck down his father with his sword in anger. A melee ensued, with the Royal Guard seeking to protect the fallen king and stop the attackers, but Raghnall had also had people sneak into the Court with hidden weapons, and when they joined the fight, the Guard was badly outnumbered and soon surrendered.
At the end of the fight, Raghnall himself had killed his father, uncle, his aunt Hertha Ralto (who was Captain of the Palace Guard) and numerous other guards and bystanders. The total casualty count was nearly three dozen, including 14 dead. Raghnall declared that he would not kill any others, family or otherwise, but his mother quickly fled the castle along with other family members (both Haverdover and Ralto).
As the news spread across Borland and then across the Kingdom, there was widespread shock and outrage. One of the witnesses in the throne room wrote a summary of the event where they called Raghnall a "bastard", referring to the ruthlessness of his actions (rather than his parentage, which was not in doubt), and as that account spread, the name stuck, and for many Raghnall became The Bastard King.
The first week of his reign was particularly chaotic, as things had changed so rapidly and unexpectedly that few people were clear even where the power struggles lay. A number of the Great Houses refused to recognize the new King, but Raghnall had done his research and made important contacts during his preparation before the coup. It was only five days after the bloody slaughter that the Chief Justiciar declared Raghnall to be the rightful holder of the Golden Throne of Bartol, being the oldest son of the former king, and both the former king and his designated successor being deceased.
Of course many objected at the time that this was utterly ludicrous, but in formal terms of Bartolian law at that time the judgement was both technically correct - and furthermore there were no other grounds on which objection could be made. Under King Mlungusi Ralto the law had been changed such that no member of the royal family could be charged with a crime - mostly to protect members of Clan Ralto from prosecution for "excessive" acts during the Bayerisch Rebellion. (One of King Rynna Ralto's first acts was to repeal that law, and in fact made it legal for the holder of the Golden Throne to be tried for crimes both major and minor.)
While there was some sporadic violence across the Kingdom over the next several months, Raghnall worked quickly to ensure loyalty of key leaders, both political and military, which made his hold on the throne quite solid within six months.
Raghnall showed a remarkable talent for leadership, diplomacy, and administration, especially for one so young. Some of that was bolstered by his retaining nearly all of his father's advisors and administrators. However, even in those first months Raghnall faced significant problems due to his afflictions, especially bouts of rage, and it was never clear how many of those advisors stayed out of loyalty to the kingdom and how many were terrified of what Raghnall would do to them if they tried to leave their posts.
Despite the fact the Kingdom was generally doing well, Raghnall's behavior slowly led to increased unrest among both the nobility and the populace. The continuing bouts of rage, as well as some rather dramatic public episodes of visions and talking to himself in front of the entire Court, meant that after just a few years a number of key nobles were openly talking about rebelling or even simply seceding from the Kingdom.
The most notable of these was Devonna Barrintel, the Duchess of Errestan, who had openly talked about seceding numerous times, even mentioning it in a speech given to a large audience in Errestan, where the idea was loudly cheered. Realizing that losing the Duchy, and thus the East March and easy access to the Eastern Ocean, Raghnall travelled to Errestan to meet with the Duchess to "hear her concerns".
In what may be the most significant event in his reign, that meeting resulted in Raghnall being handfasted to the Duchess' daughter Alaria Barrintel in AF 337. The union did bring greater peace and stability to the Kingdom, though perhaps not as much in political terms as practical terms. For reasons no one could explain, Alaria seemed able to calm Raghnall's bouts of rage as well as the voices he heard in his head.
Raghnall and Alaria had three children, sons Radek (born in AF 343) and Steffen (born in AF 346), and daughter Maiken (born AF 347).
Between the influence of his wife and the responsibilities of parenthood, most of Raghnall's behavioral issues seemed to fade by the mid-340s - or were at least better contained and kept from the public. The rest of his reign was considered stable and peaceful, continuing the economic growth and prosperity that had prevailed since the Founding of the Peace, and in time the epithet "The Bastard" was used lightly, even in jest, for those times he did something slightly controversial.
Raghnall died in AF 373, and his wife died soon after from grief over losing her husband.
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Life
314 AF
373 AF
59 years old
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Alaria Barrintel
(Wife)
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