King Brenden II
Fisher King Brenden Redtail (a.k.a. The Wandering King)
King Brenden II was the maveric Fisher King of Nephatar between 1611 APC and 1638 APC who is often simply referred to by his nickname as the Wandering King.
Magicians' End - Fisher King Brenden II 03 by DMFW with Night Cafe
Mental characteristics
Sexuality
King Brenden II was discretely homosexual but it was an open secret known to the entire court. Given the social norms of the time he could not marry his long term partner, Captain Jamish Kelrog, the captain of the flagship of his personal fleet. His wandering lifestyle, however, allowed them to maintain a relationship that would have been impossible in the city. Kelrog went missing with the King on that fateful day in 1638 when they ventured into the Dark Domains.
Social
Reign
King Brenden II broke with tradition by almost immediately declaring that he would not rule Nephatar from the palace in the way that was expected of the Fisher King. Instead he would continue the lifestyle he enjoyed and travel round the world with a peripatetic court. This caused a great deal of consternation amongst his advisers but the King had the power and the will power to implement this highly unusual style of governance. He justified it, by claiming that he could be simultaneously an ambassador and a ruler and that he would learn far more about the friends and enemies of the city by visiting them in person.
In vain did stern civil servants and military councillors point out the risks. Brenden simply replied that his brothers had stayed in the city and look what happened to them?
So it was that the King managed a remote court, ruling from ships and by messengers who travelled between his personal fleet, wherever it might be, and Nephatar, carrying orders and information to the loyal council that administered the city in his absence.
Brenden did not take much trouble to hide his true desires to simply see the world. When he tired of the ports of Myruthea, Punjuki and Tinturbean, he visited the north polar continent of Zisleth and spent over a year exploring the icy ruins of the Kingdom of Snowborne and the ancient magicians whose end had given the world its modern name. He travelled inland to Gooslyn to see the wonders of the lost ancient civilisation of the Trinity Moon Triple Enfolding and he journeyed along the full length of the Old Pale Empire Road, stopping to visit the Blood Iris Sisters at Lake Oxylium. Somehow the court managed the city in his absence but it was far from easy and he must have been the most exasperating monach to work for.
In retrospect we can see that his final demise was inevitable given his obsession with travel. When there was nowhere else he hadn't been to, of course he was going to attempt an expedition to the Dark Domains. He never returned and he was succeeded by a cousin in 1638 APC.
Family Ties
Brenden Redtail was the third son of King John Redtail and his consort, the Lady Edith Redtail and as such he had never expected to come to the throne. He was born in a time of relative peace when the Puzzle Lords Directorate dominated world politics and the government of Nephatar was only one piece in their endless games, although an important and interesting one.
In his youth Brenden sailed far and wide with the merchant navy of Nephatar and he acquired a taste for travel and exploration, conceiving a desire to visit every major city in the world at least once. He was still a young man when Ingruld, his eldest brother, became the Fisher King, a very short reign which ended when he fell from a watchtower in the harbour whilst inspecting the redesigned customs and taxation buildings his father had ordered to be built. The middle brother, Panarex, had recently married a famous singer, the Lady Valana Trochess and it was widely expected that there would soon be children. Instead, King Panarex did not even last as long as his brother when his wife stabbed him to death in a fit of jealous passion upon discovering that he was sleeping with one of his father's former mistresses.
So all of a sudden, in 1611 APC, Brenden found himself crowned as King Brenden II and at the centre of all the political scheming of the age which he hated.
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Previously Held Ranks & Titles
Date of Birth
24th Tivith, 1569 APC
Date of Death
Authon 1638 APC (Exact date unknown)
Circumstances of Death
Missing presumed dead
Birthplace
Place of Death
Children
Sex
Male
Comments