Dafyd Mefredeal

Prince of Powyar Dafyd ap Gwynwyr Mefredeal (a.k.a. The Pillared Star of Powyar)

Famed Areul rebel leader who commanded a 15-year revolt in the Soulin river valley of Pozar against the Kingdom of Tiranar before he was killed at the Battle of Hywel against Tancred de Marteau, the Mayor of the Palace in Caistnac.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

A son of the proud and influential Mefredeal family in Powyar, Dafyd was the only child of Gwynwyr Mefredeal and his wife, Elen Wenre, daughter of Maelgwyn Wenre of Ferch. Dafyd showed adeptness at socializing and nimbly moving between Areul and Halsat courtly life. Growing up to be a strong, charismatic, and handsome man, Dafyd earned his role in King Rousel's retinue due to his own personal proficiency and his father's friendship with the King. Despite his clear role as an appointed knight, Dafyd remained interested in judicial matters and even apprenticed under a practicing lawyer for a time and became quite skilled and knowledgeable in legal affairs. Dafyd inherited his family's vast estates when his father passed and he became head of the family at about the age of twenty. The prosperous Mefredeal family was a historic one as they began as a cadet branch of the House of Vere which held the Kingship of Tirbrenin under Iorweth the Great and the combined crowns of Tirbrenin and Rhunigion under his son Mechwyn Gryg prior to the Halsat conquests of Pozar under King Hugh the Tall.
Dafyd's revolt began due to a falling out between himself and the Halsat monarchy as he was attacked quite violently by his neighbor, Count Corbin of Sulien who himself was related to the monarchy via his sister's marriage to one of the King's sons. Dafyd himself traveled to Caistnac and appealed to the King directly on the grounds of improperly engaged warfare among the King's vassals. Dafyd appealed for a council to determine the matter without violence but it seems this was rebuffed and Dafyd himself was continually dismissed and ignored. Without other means of resolving the conflict, Dafyd returned home to his familial castle in Pozar and rallied his considerable troops to fight Corbin. The conflict with Count Corbin was notably short as the count was not very astute in military affairs and it seems his troops abandoned him when confronted by the considerable Mefredeal army.
After his quick victory in the conflict with his neighbor, Dafyd remained emboldened and was reinforced by Corbin's deserters who had joined him. After correspondence with the court of the new King Romel devolved into argument and threats made by members of the king's court toward Dafyd and his lands, Dafyd refused the call to lower his banners and let them fly in open rebellion against the king. The rebel began styling himself as Prince of Powyar, his ancestral title as the head of House Mefredeal. Dafyd was reinforced and joined by his maternal cousins Rhys and Garen de Brugge who were key figures in his war tent for the remainder of the revolt. In these initially chaotic months of the rebellion, Dafyd and his men took and looted several castles on the border of his lands. Garif, Kudfrow, and Harlane castles were all seized and Dafyd received weapons and new recruits from the deserting garrisons.
Dafyd commanded a considerable force composed of his personal troops, reinforced by the troops of his cousins and also by a stream of new recruits joining the fight against the Halsats turned a personal revolt into an independence movement for native Gwerins under the crown of Tiranar. Dafyd's title of Prince of Powyar was a direct challenge to the title as it was being used under the Halsat monarchs as the heir apparent was designated as the Prince of the duchy. In response to his revolt, Dafyd was formally declared an outlaw and the subject of numerous assassination attempts afterward, each paid in full by the Tiranar crown. Dafyd's continued defiance of the monarchy truly rallied his countrymen into their own personal brands of defiance as humorously, Gwerin students at Synath in Vaseau and Edierton in Archeau openly saluted with "the forks" a gesture in support of Dafyd whose family had been known to do it in the past. Students weren't the only demographic aiding Dafyd, numerous groups of veteran footmen and longbowmen had deserted in droves and flew to the aid of the hailed "Pillard Star of Powyar". Smiths, shopworkers, farmers, and judges began a slow migration south to the newly established court of Prince Dafyd Mefredeal of Powyar.
Prince Dafyd also opened negotiations with Menschan King Reiner II Hohengoff to recognize Powyar's independence and receive monetary and even direct military aid from the powerful kingdom. These negotiations would include various ambitious projects like a royal marriage between Dafyd and one of the King's daughters, a reinstatement of native Gwerin law in his lands as well as the possibility of his future crowning as King of Powyar though this was opposed by Reiner who did not wish to dilute royal prestige in the area as only Tiranar and Menscha were properly recognized kingdoms.
By this time, Prince Dafyd's revolt had amassed considerable support in opposition to a generally disliked monarchy. However, a figure behind the throne would use this national crisis to catapult himself and his house to new heights. Dafyd's great foe would be the grim Mayor of the Palace, Tancred de Marteau who would reorganize the royal army and lead it himself to the hedgerows of Powyar and personally snuff out the rebellion in a destructive campaign that effectively forced Dafyd and his men from their dispersed raiding parties and forced a fight.
In the leadup to the showdown at Hywel, a contrast in the apparent demeanor of the two leaders was shown by the calm and stoic leadership of Mayor Tancred unlike the tangle of misleading messages coming from the Prince's tent as his army slowly and disorderly made their way to the plain at Hywel where they were finally met by the Halsat forces. Despite his own apparent illness from what was likely dysentery, Dafyd mounted his horse and led his men in the fight directly. The fight at Hywel was a poetic affair as initially, Dafyd's presence proved reassuring to his men and they fought viciously and valiantly in their peppering of the Halsat line with their famed longbows. With the footmen holding, Tancred ordered a charge on the vulnerable left flank led by his own young son Odo which smashed through the lines of the rebels and left Dafyd's cousin Garen dead and his standard unheld. According to Gwerin accounts of the battle, Dafyd himself rallied his men by picking the standard up himself and loudly screaming toward the departing Halsat horsemen. With some of his best men behind him, in a fit of passion, Prince Dafyd led a charge at the departing horsemen who had struggled to ascend a hill and so were bogged down and immobile. Despite the initial phase of the charge being a resounding success, Dafyd was killed by the splinters of a shattered lance puncturing his eye. The Prince recoiled and seemed to be able to get to safety but slowly died from the wound, still fighting among his men and fighting his enemy of 15 years.
The Prince's death ended the battle and the Halsats would be victorious and Tancred and his family would have their great triumph. It would be the shadow of his ending of the Mefredeal rebellion that propelled the House of Marteau to the throne of Tiranar as Tancred's son Hasculf would become the first king of the line to be crowned. After Dafyd's death, his body would be recovered and quietly buried in the Ecclesial grounds of the Blessed Denburn with an epitaph attributed to Modagni, the old Areul chieftain who briefly led a massive revolt against the Rasennan Republic led by Suffete Lucius Decimus Kotta. Dafyd's epitaph read "Buaidh no Bàs", Victory or Death.

Education

Tutored in the confines of his family's ancestral castle of Mathradal and later at the royal court in Caistnac

Employment

Knight in the royal retinue
Lord of Mathradal
Proclaimed Prince of Powyar

Accomplishments & Achievements

Successfully conducted a guerrilla rebellion for 15 years
Seizure of Garif, Cudrow, and Harlane
Inspired a wave of Areul patriotism still felt decades after his death

Failures & Embarrassments

Failed in negotiations with the Menschan Salians
Defeated and killed in battle at Hywel

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Freedom, independence, and liberty for himself, his family, and his people

Virtues & Personality perks

Benevolent
Generous
Ambitious
Lawful
Calculating
Bold

Vices & Personality flaws

Gallant
Simplistic
Assertive
Proud

Social

Family Ties

Son of Gwynwyr, Lord of Mathradal Castle, and count of Pervin
Cousin of Rhys and Garen de Brugge and Artur MacBrus
Father of Vera Mefredeal
Grandfather of Black Rhys Rudaig

Religious Views

Characterized in later periods as an eccentric proponent of poorly understood Areul mysticism and magic. This is likely attached to him in due part because of stereotypes associated with proud Areuls such as himself being in league with dark grove spirits and sprites. In his time, Dafyd was a fervent and even zealous believer in the Ecclesia and as such, his practicing of dark forest magic would have likely been fervently denied by him if he were alive to hear it.

Social Aptitude

innately ambitious, Dafyd seemed an overeager proponent of Areul self-determination and after being reassured of his position by the large defections and projected sympathies of native Areuls in nearby lands, styled and acted in the manner of a proper monarch of Areul fashion. Dafyd grew out his facial hair and became known for his burly mustache and long hair, in contrast to his clean-shaven and short hair beforehand. As Prince of Powyar, Dafyd adopted an almost paternal view of himself and his cause and fully enveloped himself in seeing his people obtain a sovereign land for themselves outside the jurisdiction of their Halsat overlords.

Speech

Well spoken and proficiently fluent in both Arish and Hasdinian, Dafyd spoke eloquently and was well known for his passion and flair for the dramatic in negotiation and discussion.

Relationships

Dafyd Mefredeal

spouse

Towards Sian Fech Olawain

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Sian Fech Olawain

spouse

Towards Dafyd Mefredeal

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Ethnicity

Gwerin

Other Ethnicities/Cultures

• Halsat

Honorary & Occupational Titles

Prince of Powyar
Guardian and Lord Protector of the lands of the Areuls

Date of Birth

21st of Herrena

Date of Death

10th of Modia

Life

608 A.E 649 A.E 41 years old

Circumstances of Birth

Son of prominent noble Gwynwyr Mefredeal and Elen of Ferch

Circumstances of Death

Died in battle leading a charge against the Halsat cavalrymen

Birthplace

Mathradal Castle, Southern Pozar

Place of Death

The Plain of Hywel

Parents

Gwynwyr Mefredeal

Elen of Ferch

Spouses

Sian Fech Olawain (spouse)

Siblings

Gender

Male

Eyes

Hazel

Hair

Long, Brown, Bushy Mustache

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Swarthy and Ruddy

Height

5'10

Weight

210 lbs

Quotes & Catchphrases

"Behold us today, singing here atop this hill, let any who come here say, we are still here." -Said before the Battle of Hwyel

Belief/Deity

Mundana Ecclesia

Aligned Organization

Duchy of Pozar

Other Affiliations

• The Mundana Ecclesia