Lemont Family/Lazlo Lemont II

Lazlo Lemont II is eldest son and de facto Patriarch of the Lemont family.

History

Ascendency to Nobility and Flight to Minas Leon

Upon hearing of the Lemont Family's noble status, Lazlo II immediately married his Wilhelmina and pledged fealty to the realm which had come to rule over his surroundings, Silnaria. Following his marriage Lazlo moved into a premier Shanandoah estate, pledging further allegiance to the Crown Prince Claudius Motosuwa. Initially Lazlo found himself overwhelmed by the amount of messages he received, which promised him a future of raucous activity within the realm. He found, however, that the wealth of writing was built around a dark core. Reports began to come in of Silnarian nobles attacking one another, both by pen and by blade. Consistently orders were given to him which he could not convince his men to take part in (in part due to his family's recent ascension) and, yet, his pleas for clarification or different orders went unheeded by both his liege lord and Marshal.

Lazlo wracked his brain over a solution to his problem. Clearly Silnaria was on the verge of a civil war, and clearly they were utterly unprepared to deal with any outside force. Pausing over a map of Atamara, Lazlo realized that he'd forgotten about Minas Leon, the successor-state to Minas Ithil, in which his family had resided well before moving to Barad Gardor. That night he sent messengers clad in black to send his request for asylum and ordered Wilhelmina to prepare the household for flight. With the ink still wet upon his resignation of land and privilege within Silnaria, Lazlo fled to the region of Winham, where he awaited approval of his pledge for fealty.

Knighthood in the North and Service in the South

After waiting several days, Lazlo received a message from one Lady Lisa Seraphen, Baroness of Yule. She offered to accept his oath, allowing him to join the ranks of Minas Leon nobility. In Minas Leon, Lazlo's family ties to the Vlakider Family received a warm welcome from both the Seraphens (who knew of the Vlakiders) and from King Raoul (who knew Duke Vlad). Lazlo and his entourage made their way to the frigid Northern wastes of Yule, taking up residence in the Roc's Dome. It was while setting up his household that the call came from York: the King had been insulted by Lazlo's former realm. The honor of Minas Leon was at stake. The horns of war blew across the land.

Lazlo eagerly joined the mighty crusade, viewing it as an opportunity to rid the island of what he considered to be a cancerous and treacherous realm. Kissing his wife upon her dainty cheek, Lazlo rode to York and recruited an elite Infantry unit, the Lazlonian Jaegers. From there he rallied with the army, providing support with Scouting Reports and assisting in the acquisition of former Silnarian dominions. When the banner was raised for a raiding party on Silnarian Lands, Lazlo sent his fastest runner to volunteer the Jaegers, who had largely been untested by combat. Though the unit was routed in the second battle of Corniel against Silnarian nobles, the Jaegers proved their mettle, often being one of the first units to crash against the Silnarian horde.

The Establishment of The Leon's Roar and the Rise to Barony

Prior to the raiding party, Lazlo found himself in York preparing to recruit more men to his cause. While frequenting a bar known for its contacts, he came across an old newspaper plastered against the wall- a copy of The York Journal. The yellowed scroll reawakened the bookish nature within Lazlo, a natural bureaucratic demeanor which had been subsumed by his hatred of Silnaria. After contacting King Raoul and Baroness Lisa with his intentions, Lazlo set about developing a new newspaper for Minas Leon. He sent his squire Pots on a mission to procure the former printing presses used in York, and hired some of the few Printers left in the realm. By the end of September, Lazlo had readied a copy of his newest contribution to Minas Leon: The Leon's Roar.

While Lazlo was fighting in Silnaria, the Baron of Upper Tell, Charles Elegant, had fallen prey to a skirmish between Barony of Makar and Rieleton forces. Although this account has not been verified by any of the Elegant family or household, it is assumed that injuries taken in the skirmish led to Baron Charles' abdication of Upper Tell. Though he was new to the realm, Lazlo had impressed King Raoul with his dedication against the Silnarians as well as his development of The Leon's Roar. Thus Lazlo was honored with the Barony of Upper Tell. Altering his men's course from refitting and moving back to war, Baron Lazlo Lemont II made his way back to the Northlands, intent upon seeing this borderland, his region, for himself.

The Resettlement and Conversion of Upper Tell

Drawn now between his obligations towards Upper Tell and The Leon's Roar, Lazlo resigned his commission in the Legion and joined the Home Guard. During his travels North, Lazlo did what he could to study the history and nature of the region. Formerly a Makarian territory, Upper Tell's settlements had centered around the Makarian capital of Icegate, which Lazlo found problematic given Icegate's status as a Rieleston city. Upper Tell's provincial status was further exacerbated by its religion: the Viking-infused Way of the Hammer. Despite being a realm which ostensibly welcomed differing religions, all of Minas Leon's southern regions (and most of the northern) were followers of The Way of the Warrior Saints. Furthermore, Lazlo's sensibilities were incensed at some of the more obscure Hammerian texts which condemned Minas Ithil, the realm which gave bloody birth to Minas Leon. Upon entering the territory to cheering crowds of peasants, Lazlo vowed to bring them solidly under Minas Leon, kicking and screaming if need be.

Lazlo's first step was to order his men to garrison Fort Iceborough, cleaning the area of its wild status and developing it into an efficient base of operations. Once his men and military retinue were in order, Lazlo set about a two-pronged attack against the culture of Upper Tell's inhabitants. Firstly he sent his men to the unnamed settlement cluster in the Northwest, ordering them to prepare the peasants for a migration. Settling upon a windy coastline near the Yule border, Lazlo funded a Warrior Saints temple and, with the help of his remaining retinue, began to develop a small village, Windport, around the temple. Lazlo further sent a letter off to the Cagilan priest Pious Toff, requesting his assistance in converting the Upper Tellians to a more palatable religion. Thus, by severing the inhabitants religious and geographical ties to their past, Lazlo brought Upper Tell peasants to a future within Minas Leon.

Severance with the Home Guard and the invasion of Shanandoah

While Baron Lazlo had found himself content working both to advance the Leon's Roar and the future of Upper Tell, he found himself unhappy with his work within the Home Guard. He and Baroness Lisa both believed the army to be ineffectual in dealing with a realm the size of Minas Leon, and instead opted to form their own army, the Northern Defense Initiative (NDI). Created outside the Royal Authority (it was the first army not funded by the Duke-King Raoul), the NDI was to be a splash of cold water in the face of domestic security. With Baron Lazlo taking lead as Marshal and Baroness Lisa its chief financier, other early members included Tristan Strife, Earl of Melmoor, Spade Seraphen, Knight of Yule, and Demastes Carandeth, Knight of Upper Tell. The army distinguished itself by successfully routing several undead and monster incursions while simultaneously repairing regions afflicted by random Silnarian incursions.

It also distinguished itself during the siege of Shanandoah, which saw Baron Lazlo and Sir Demastes accompanying the Minas Leon Legion in anticipation of the repairs to be made to the city upon its capture. The city, which had been cut off from Silnaria by previous Legion gains, held for several months before a takeover was initiated. Baron Lazlo, keen on overseeing the rebuilding of his former home, dispatched a letter to King Raoul requesting the Margraveship of Shanandoah. The contents of the King's response were not revealed to this chronicler, and Baron Lazlo burned the letter upon reading it- though it should be noted that he voraciously threw his efforts into expediting the takeover. The then-Margrave of Shanandoah, Philip Lacoste Archbane, rescinded his allegiance to Silnaria and carried the region to Tara, a neutral nation in the conflict. This ground the takeover to a halt, as the Minas Leon army had no intention of assaulting property of the Taran crown, whom they had an alliance with. Baron Lazlo uttered many unkind words to the Margrave Philip, calling him a coward and a traitor, and was in turn called a traitor by Philip. It was a quite an unkind time to be in the Baron's camp at that time, and that is all I will say on that.

Blood Feud with The Eastern Puff and The Undead Monster Invasion

After the Siege of Shanandoah, Baron Lazlo began to order the NDI to slowly filter out of the city and begin attending to the regions of the realm, which had laid untouched for some time. With the NDI spread throughout the realm, the call of alarm came from the region of Uforth: an undead army had been sighted and were rampaging throughout the countryside. Baron Lazlo ordered the NDI to marshal forces and begin marching towards Uforth but, being spread out as they were, it took some time for the rally to take place. Meanwhile, The Eastern Puff, Earl of Uforth, battered his forces and militia against the Undead Horde. Upon their arrival, Baron Lazlo was appalled to witness an altercation between his knight, Sir Demastes Carandeth, and Earl Puff. In particular, Baron Lazlo took issue with what he considered the Puff's disrespectful tone and threatening demeanor to a fellow realm member; as such, he declared that Uforth was to be henceforth untouched by NDI Nobles.

It turned out that the Undead Army in Uforth was merely a taste of what was to come. Region after region fell under the sway of monstrous and undead hordes, in many ways challenging Minas Leon further than the Silnarian Army ever had. Baron Lazlo made a valiant effort to attack the issue with the NDI, but the previously mentioned altercation left the NDI without one of its Warriors (Sir Demastes took his leave of the realm) and two of the members were Courtiers, who only took small retinues as a matter of course. The NDI was, in a sense, unprepared for an active war campaign against these rogue elements. Baron Lazlo wisely decided that the NDI would attach itself to the Legion of Minas Leon, joining in their campaigns and utilizing joint operations in an effort to quickly eradicate the threat. It was surely thanks to this strategy that both the NDI, and Minas Leon, was able to quickly overcome their challenges.

Honours and Distinctions

• Appointed Baron of Upper Tell (Sept. 28th, 2013)
• Editor and Creator of The Leon's Roar (First Issue distributed Oct. 1st, 2013)
• Co-Founder of the Northern Defense Initiative (Nov. 21st, 2013)
• Appointed Marshal of the Northern Defense Initiative (Nov. 23rd, 2013)
• Transitioned from Upper Tell to become Earl of Lyton (Feb. 20th, 2014)
• Founded the Leonian Defense Initiative (March 16th, 2014)
• Appointed Marshal of the Leonian Defense Initiative (March 16th, 2014)