Guiscard ''The crafty'' Curze

The barony of the northwest lands of Evramas is at the far ends of the kingdom of Tirisea. Being a low-priority target for the enemies of the kingdom, mainly due to its poor location and lack of any resources capable of improving the lives of even its inhabitants, made this barony quite the eyesore for most of the nobles.

With little to no wield every year, barely qualified to call themselves farmers, each year the impoverished folk of Evramas could barely feed themselves and have enough left to sell to be able to afford their other basic needs.

Cut off from the main roads, unless they were to pay a hefty fee to pass through the neighbouring baronies that almost surrounded them, made the state of the barony similar to that of a decaying wooden house exposed to the rain all day long. It was only a matter of time for it to crumble apart and relinquish its place in nobility, ending the lineage of Curze with it.

Being a relatively new barony, having barely 100 years under our existence, we still couldn't fulfill the basic requirements needed to name our lands.

If one wished to give a name to his barony or lands, he first needed, depending on his nobility title, certain wealth, and military power.

Wealth is to pay for the costs required for the appropriate naming ceremony conducted by royalty, usually a low-ranking prince trying to gather support and strengthen the family ties with said nobility. The military is the backbone of any kingdom that wishes to ensure its stability and of course, continuation.

Military power, mainly in the form of elemental soldiers, goes as high as requiring purified elites for those significantly high in nobility status when one is strong enough to elevate himself in ranking.

If you don't have the strength to defend your land, much less your own family, you are nothing more than a burden to the Kingdom and its prosperity.

To avoid tricky situations like these, rules were established. If a citizen of the kingdom, regardless of status, were to perform meritorious deeds that greatly benefited the Kingdom as a whole, then he had the opportunity to get rewarded with land and nobility titles of his own. The rewards and the lands varied, depending on the service the individual provided, but usually, a small piece of land and a considerable sum of gold was granted as a way to motivate the people and have them fight hard in the future troubles to come.

Guiscard Curze, the grandfather of Julius is a prime example of this.

Serving as a soldier in the imperial guard, participating in the counteroffensive against the neighbouring Kingdom of Falonde, successfully lead a siege towards the bordering city, Lofland.

With no reinforcements left to enable their persistent attacks and zero access to much-needed supplies, Theseus Falonde, King of Falonde, was forced into a truce. This ceasefire drove a wench to his grandiose dreams of turning his Kingdom into an Empire, temporarily ending the war.

The successful endeavour of Guiscard Curze earned him the nickname of Guiscard ''the crafty'' among the populace, quickly becoming well-liked and a symbol of heroism, something the people of Tirisea desperately needed. The war lasted over 12 years, greatly diminishing its military might and morale among the citizens.

His actions, combined with his sudden rise to fame, earned him the hereditary title of baron and the monetary reward of one thousand gold coins. Keep in mind, that a soldier's salary usually ranged between 4 to 8 pieces of silver per month, so a sudden amount of fortune was something a man such as himself could only dream of getting.

Alas, with fortune comes sorrow and with sorrow comes trouble.

His sudden rise to fame and the constant attention he was receiving from the various noble ladies of the court, some of them married, sparked the jealousy of quite a lot of people.

There is a saying that goes like this: never mess with another man's coin, another man's ego, and most importantly, another man's woman. Somehow, someway, Guiscard managed to do just that, earning for himself the ire of a lot of men, wanting nothing more than to tear him to a thousand pieces.

When you have tens of high-ranked nobles that want to tear you a new one because, in one way or another, you screwed them over, It isn't challenging to make your life a living hell.

So you became a noble baron and got granted some land?

We have just the spot for you!

That's how the northwest lands of Evramas, a god-forsaken place nobody even wants to mention, got their brand new owner!