Begild of Kythelum

This article is about the mortal life of Princess Begild of Kythelum. For her current status, see Begild.
Princess Begild of Kythelum was the younger sister of King Almaer. While she did not inherit the throne, her influence over the course of Esperean history surpasses the rest of her royal family combined, by some estimates. Begild was an unmatched divination wizard, and she orchestrated both the Southern Esperean Consolidation War and The Divine Coup through the use of her control of information, magical and otherwise. The siblings went on to co-found the Kythel Federation.
After unseating Dubain, Begild attempted to investigate a new enemy that she suspected had arisen in the desert. The story of her human life ended when this investigation was derailed. She went on to become a Patron of Southern Espere, supported by the Begildan Church.

Personal History

Early Life

Three years after the birth of Prince Almaer, during the height of the Soul Crisis, the royal family of Kythelum suffered a twofold tragedy as Queen Algild was kidnapped by an errant knight from Ionad Mor-Thir and King Ordmaer was wounded during the rescue. Ordmaer died a few days later, leaving the queen to lead Kythelum while pregnant with Begild. Tensions between Kythelum and Ionad Mor-Thir had been fomenting for quite some time, and the kidnapping nearly led to an outright war before King Raghnall of Ionad Mor-Thir made a solemn apology for allowing it to happen.
After the incident, Algild developed a gradually worsening hypervigilance that came to define how the prince and princess were raised. Begild was taught to be independent and cautious, but wasn't given the same access to combat training as her older brother. Instead, she spent much of her time studying the contents of the royal archives, allowing her to pick up the basics of magic and display some talent for it. The queen initially encouraged Begild's magical studies.
Around the time that Begild began to study divination, Algild began to question the merits of letting a child learn magic. Now fifteen, Begild took issue with the queen's ever-increasing distrust of anyone besides herself, speculating that Algild was using magic as a proxy target to attack her independence. After months of arguments and politicking, Begild suddenly seemed to concede the issue.

Betrothal

Even as Queen Algild and King Raghnall privately continued to prepare for war with one another, the two monarchs reached a tenuous peace agreement to finally quell the conflict between Kythelum and Ionad Mor-Thir before it could erupt at scale. For the purpose of solidifying this agreement, Begild was instructed to pack up everything she considered hers and hers alone, then travel by convoy to meet with Raghnall's son, Prince Cormac. Begild declared that only her knowledge was hers and hers alone, and she boarded her carriage before any of the attendents were actually ready to leave.
Shortly after Begild left, Algild accused two members of the royal guard of conspiring to have her husband killed. This decade-and-a-half-late attempt to betray her most understanding and loyal allies capped off the gradual fraying of trust between Algild and the rest of Kythelum's royal court. When nobody raised a hand to carry out her orders, Algild withdrew to a private room and locked herself in, sliding a letter under the door to abdicate the throne to Almaer.
In Ionad Mor-Thir, Begild asked Cormac what his thoughts on the two of them being married were. Cormac stated it was preferable to a war. Begild said that, with all due respect, she disagreed. Taken aback, Cormac impulsively challenged Begild to a duel. She laughed, agreed, and told Cormac to meet her at sunset. When attendents tried to talk Begild out of fighting her alleged husband-to-be, she complained of missing her brother's "big day" and insisted that she be allowed to entertain herself, much to the confusion of the servants.
As the duel at dusk began, Begild declared that if Cormac tried to go easy on her because she was a girl, she would kill him. She won without killing the prince. Cormac asked her where she learned to fight, and Begild claimed that she'd learned in the library. Before departing with the convoy, she assured Cormac that she had no hard feelings for him on a personal level. Begild returned home a few days after Almaer's coronation.

The Orphans' War

King Almaer asked his sister to help him find his footing and adjust to his new responsibilities. Begild agreed, on the condition that she could do one selfish thing. Almaer asked what it was, and Begild requested that the agreement for her and Cormac to marry be overturned. Not fully aware of how fragile relations between Kythelum and Ionad Mor-Thir were, Almaer made the deal. Early in her role as advisor to the king, Begild was called on to use her now-potent divination magic to predict monster attacks so that forces could be shuffled to mitigate the damage.
King Raghnall, who hadn't even been informed of the duel between his son and Begild, was furious with the letter declaring the annulment and sent a threatening response, insinuating that Almaer was only getting the benefit of a chance to change his mind because of how recently he had taken the throne. Begild informed Almaer that Raghnall had been preparing for a war with Kythelum for the siblings' entire lives, and making concessions to feed his aging pride would be the worst way to step up as king. Reluctantly, Almaer took a key role in Begild's plan for a Kythelish victory.
As Almaer sailed to Terriche to seek an ally in King Bastien, Begild led the majority of Kythelum's army to the wall on the border between Kythelum and Ionad Mor-Thir. Her seige force was intended only as a distraction, and the distraction worked as intended. Begild remained in contact with her brother through a magical telepathic bond, instructing him as he made his way around to flank the enemy with the Terrichan army, which was led by Crown Prince Mercer after a stroke of bad luck led to Bastien's demise. Almaer and his forces were able to successfully invade the Mor-Thirian capital and defeat Raghnall.
With Kythelum victorious in the abrupt war and the kings of Terriche and Ionad Mor-Thir both dead, Begild invited Almaer, Mercer, and Cormac, as well as King Carwyn of Depwynt, to a meeting regarding how to proceed. Begild accused Ionad Mor-Thir of taking both her parents as well as inciting the war by attempting to take her away from her home just like Algild had been. Cormac objected to these claims, turning the issue around and pointing out that Almaer had killed not only his father, but Mercer's father as well, and that Ordmaer was killed by a common bandit who merely happened to be from Ionad Mor-Thir. Almaer defended himself by pointing out that Bastien and Raghnall had become literal soulless monsters, which Mercer confirmed.
With the topic of the monsters now broached, Begild shocked the table with an offer to end the Soul Crisis. She said that her reading indicated it was caused by petty infighting, and that building a sense of community across Espere would mitigate the issue. However, she would need Kythelum to annex Depwynt, Terriche, and Ionad Mor-Thir. Almaer attempted to dismiss the idea, but Carwyn backed Begild's proposal. Taken aback, Almaer asked why Carwyn would voluntarily hand his kingdom over. Carwyn said that his honest answer was because he was old and had no heir, and Kythelum's rulers were young and ambitious. He was skeptical that Begild could put a stop to the monster attacks, but he was willing to give her the resources to try. With the armies of Terriche and Ionad Mor-Thir recovering from the war and Kythelum already taking the unscathed Depwynt, it became difficult to refuse Begild's plan. Mercer and Cormac subordinated their newly inherited kingdoms to Kythelum.

Integration and Insurrection

With Kythelum, Depwynt, Terriche, and Ionad Mor-Thir now tied together, Begild undertook an effort to enact unified education standards throughout the alliance. This included a new language she called Common, which sat in a middle ground between the national tongues and served as a bridge over the communication barriers that existed. To accomlish her vision of a unified people in Kythelum's sphere of influence, Begild magically shared much of her knowledge with hand-chosen teachers that could manage local schools in accordance with her curriculum.
Even with the cultural shift appearing to come from members of their own communities, though, many people opposed Begild's education reforms and her push for unity. In Kythelum, the demand to learn a new language was met with reluctance or scorn, and detractors wondered why Begild refused to simply force Kythelish on the conquered territory, with some even questioning her loyalty to her country. In the other nations, Begild's sweeping changes seemed to many to be the work of an invading force, not an ally. Small pockets of unrest were dealt with by local authorities without Begild even having to mandate it, but the more fervent resistance made use of the new Common language to organize across borders.
Not wanting to be seen as a complete tyrant, Begild allowed the rebellion to gather and make their plans. When one of those plans involved sending a small team to break into the castle and try to kill her, Begild finally took the issue to her brother's attention. She speculated that the nation of Koleby was arming the rebels, citing the weapons used by the would-be assassins. Almaer agreed to investigate, verified the rebels' Kolebian backing, and asked Queen Hedvika to stop her subjects from interfering with Kythelum's business. Hedvika responded with a declaration of war, forcing Almaer to make use of the newly expanded army at his disposal. In the meantime, Begild went on a journey east of Kythelum's sphere of influence to a forest dominated by elves.
With Kythelum's army having to split its attention between the rebellion and their new enemy, Almaer requested Begild's aid in Koleby. Taking the long way around, Begild was able to attack the capital of Koleby from another angle, replicating the strategy that had worked before with the roles reversed. Almaer and Begild led their forces to victory against Hedvika, capturing Koleby for the alliance. After the battle, Begild gave Almaer the sword Felsader, which she'd been offered by the dwarf who made it as a hospitality gift for passing through the Bergsclans.

The Consolidation War

With the rebellion more or less disarmed and even more territory brought into the fold, Begild returned to her education reforms. Common was now living up to its name, and she capitalized on this by translating the continent's primary religious text, the Patronic Manifesto, into the new language, with some additions of her own. This new translation became the standard in Kythelum's sphere of influence, making Begild one of the widest-read authors alive.
During this span of time, King Emmerich of Nocham worried about the empire on his southern border and asked Kythelum to leave Koleby. Almaer and Begild declined on the grounds that Hedvika's successor, Princess Lenka, was too young to rule, and leaving the area functionally without a head of state would subject the Kobelians to a potential succession crisis and the accompanying chaos. Emmerich then asked to take over the regency of the territory, and repeated his request that Kythelum pull back the north end of their sphere of influence. Begild asked Emmerich if he planned to turn Koleby over to Lenka when she was old enough that a regency was unneccessary. Emmerich said that he would, and Begild said that he was lying. This served to end the negotiation, with Kythelum intending to remain in Kobely.
Assuming that the empire would eventually decide to expand again, Emmerich declared war on Kythelum preemptively, under the guise of freeing Kobely, which was integrating fairly smoothly compared to the earlier annexations. The invading force struck Kobely itself, targeting Begild's postwar efforts to rebuild and rallying the Kobelians against Nocham. Begild continued to attend to matters within Kythelum's sphere of influence while Almaer led the counterattack against Emmerich.
Once Nocham was defeated and annexed, Begild instructed Almaer to meet with Nocham's neighboring kingdoms to make sure none would follow in its footsteps, claiming that she was stretched thin rebuilding so much territory and managing so many people. During Almaer's circuit of meetings, Begild set out on her first trip through the desert to the north, where she completed a network of arcane signposts that she called pulse totems. The totems rested on the ground right above the root structures of the Heart Stone, allowing Begild to direct information and energy across the continent by riding the forces of the Pulse. Upon returning from the desert, she privately shared with Almaer that new monsters unrelated to the Soul Crisis had begun to take shape in the north, but that her preparations were essentially complete. She finally revealed her plan in full and what its goal was to the unit she and Almaer led as they marched to the battlefield.

The Divine Coup

Long before conquering Nocham, Koleby, or even Ionad Mor-Thir, Begild had turned a corner in her study of divination magic that allowed her to learn magic (and other skills) through divination. This cheating of the learning process allowed her to unearth secrets about the world she dared not share lightly for fear of retribution. Among these was the blame for the Soul Crisis — Begild had determined the source of the mysterious ailment that had been cutting Espeareans' souls from their bodies and allowing Droswal's Ambient Magic to warp them into monsters. It was none other than the Patrons of Espere, the pantheon created to serve and embody the interests of the nations of the continent. Dubain and Ameya had been feuding for some time, and Dubain had resorted to abandoning his positive Patronage in favor of sabotaging Eastern Espere so that the south looked better more by comparison than by actual quality of life there. Ameya was retaliating, but Begild took Dubain's betrayal harder than the influence of the comparatively foreign deity.
Once she had finally gathered everything she needed to strike out against her target, Begild made her move. Calling on the pulse totem network and the collective confidence she'd convinced people to have in her, she used and amplified a spell that she'd learned from the elves. The spell was designed to reveal the unseen and untouchable elements of a humanoid (their spirit, soul, and the elves' horns) and root those elements in the material plane. With the vastly empowered version, Begild anchored Dubain, Patron of the South, to the land he was supposedly responsible for looking after.
As Almaer, Begild, and their forces fought Dubain, the Patron mocked the attempt to act so far above their station as humans. Despite this, Dubain was wounded not long after the battle began. Begild revealed that the blade of Felsader, the dwarven sword she'd given Almaer, was a fragment of the roots of the Heart Stone. Since the Heart Stone created the Patrons, it could damage them, and therefore, so could anyone holding it. Furthermore, the Heart Stone acted out of general will, detecting popular sentiment through the Pulse and converting it into something real. With her pulse totem network active, the propaganda that Begild had written in her translated manuscript gave the Kythelish forces a collective strength on par with the deity, whose popularity had been waning as the Soul Crisis continued without his intervention. Dubain dismissed the humans amassed against him as ungrateful and wished them the natural consequences of losing their Patron, then left Droswal to recover from his injuries and sulk.

Federation Era and Later Life

Begild's response to her victory against Dubain was muted at first, a mix of relief and exhaustion as a years-long struggle finally ceased to weigh on her. The end to the wars and to the Soul Crisis was cause for celebration, but Begild's fatigue limited her participation in the initial festivities.
The calendar system from Begild's educational reforms was reset to the year 0, citing Dubain's retreat as the end of the Patron Era. Kythelum's sphere of influence was reorganized to give the royal families from the annexed nations a more equal hand in ruling the massive area. Almaer, Begild, Mercer, Cormac, Lenka, Emmerich's son Sebastian, and Carwyn became the inaugural Council of Kings for the newly established Kythel Federation. This arrangement returned self-rule in large part to the nations, but retained an overarching "federation-level" structure with the authority to overrule "province-level" decisions. Begild protested against having her own seat on the Council, but she was outvoted by the group. Carwyn's seat was short-lived, as he had taken it in advanced age after living through the stress of the Consolidation War and Divine Coup.
Once the statecraft required to make the Kythel Federation function had been completed, Begild returned her attention to the monsters in the desert. She wrote in her personal journals that she worried her own efforts to drum up the fear of monsters in order to rally support had triggered the Pulse, and had led the Heart Stone to create something that had nobody's best interests in mind. Begild left alone to search the desert for what she hoped not to find. Before she ran into the Fear of Monsters, though, she found something else her efforts had caused the Pulse to create. Begild was confronted by an empty vessel at the power level of a deity, searching for the person so much of Southern Espere had either put their hopes in or given grudging respect to. Despite her dreams of an Espere that was ruled by human agency instead of the whims of the pantheon, Begild was absorbed by the Throne and became a new Patron for her people.
Begild still considers herself the same Begild of Kythelum as she always was, but she knows she no longer qualifies as human. The exact mechanics of her apotheosis are a subject of theological debate, with some arguing that she died and the Throne became a copy or an imitation of the Begild that people idealized. The mainline Begildan Church position is to agree with Begild and to consider the event a transformation, rather than a replacement. Whatever the case, Begild as Patron of the South has a separate article.

Current Status

Ascended to deity

Species

Human

Year of Birth

833 AMD 79 Years old

Sex

Female

Eyes

Grey

Hair

Red, cut to shoulders

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

White

Height

5 feet and 5 inches

Weight

110 pounds