Calien V
King Calien Ruemtoc, V (a.k.a. Calien the Tolerant)
Calien V "the Tolerant" was the eldest living son of Markus IV, and the first King of the Welds to be born in Weldmere since the Age of Heroes (thus 'Cal-ien', born of the Cal, or born in Calthor).
As he knew only his father and grandfather's (Conrad I) reigns, and governed a kingdom successfully set on the path of renewal by his father, he was a more tolerant - indeed, indulgent - monarch than his immediate predecessors. His was reputedly a fantastic court - the first since the Reconquest made wealthy by growing tax revenues, and his own shrewd policy of no longer paying for restoration from Crown coffers, but instead buying investment in the projects he favoured. This grew the Crown's wealth significantly, and he ended up dying early of stomach conditions before he could realise his plan for a sumptuous imperial coronation to mark the centenary since the Reconquest began.
His moniker "the Tolerant" however, comes not from his indulgent excess - nor from his irresponsible tolerance of Royal officers enriching themselves on the newly enlarged tax revenues - but on his tolerant approach to magic use. Since the emergency of the Exile, even magical ability (never mind practice) had been extremely highly suspect and frequently punished by death (undertaken by a scared population in the instances where Royal justice did not intervene). Calien's 'Edict of the Vik' forbade the execution of any person for possession of magical gift, or for the mere practice of magic. Furthermore, it placed all mages under the protection of the Crown, ordering the death and confiscation of property for anyone who wrongly killed a mage. At the same time, it did regulate a number of magical crimes, and legally limited what mages could do, where they could live, and which jobs they could undertake. As before, the punishment for 'rebellious Vik' were generally mortal.
However, this represented a major step forward in tolerance of magic in Weldmere - and he is fondly remembered by mages unto the present day.
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