O'Ways/Hamish
Cathay, Far East
High King of Cathay
Commander of the 13th Royal Dragoneers.
After a couple of years, Donovan, Megistos' Estate Keeper, recruited a young orphan to replace his son, who had been killed during the short but murderous invasion by Abbington forces in early 2007. The boy's father had been killed in that same attack on the County, and for a short while he served the family as stable-boy and gardener. Soon, Megistos discovered him to be able with the sword and that his wits were just as keen. He held a family Council where it was agreed that Hamish was to be adopted into the family, thereby granted nobility. He was put in charge of the 16th Alatol Dragonclaws, volunteers who escorted him to the Colonies realm of Giblot, where he staid for a few months, but due to lack of orders and action, he chose to emigrate again.
He chose the newly formed realm Cathay as his new home and became a Knight of Leod. He volunteered for the Kingdom's first foreign military operation, a sortie into Ethalian lands to break the Arcaean siege of Larmebsi. He was almost killed at the subsequent counter-attack, where he shot down Kel Salamat, a former Marshall of the Cagilan Empire that now served with the Arcaean forces and as the fortunes of war decided, attacked his sector of the line.
He became more and more attached to the Kingdom, making ever less likely he will ever return to Atamara. He waited out the second campaign in the homeland defense, much to his discontent, but he became part of the third and started to lead his Dragonclaws as they were intended: in covert missions, fully making use of their elite stealth and marksmanship skills. Upon returning to the heartlands, the drums of war were again beating and this time it was Svunnetland, the mountain Kingdom that was daring Cathay to respond, after several infiltrator attacks on higher nobles and sabotage attempts. He came up with the idea of a superiorly mobile unit, able to negotiate any terrain and specialised in mountain warfare. He led his men to Pates and designed equipment with which they could climb high rocks and use their qualities to the fullest. Several daring exercises and tests were conceived and he re-named the unit the ‘13th Anacan Dragoneer Commandos’.
He led his unit to victory in several battles which led to the final destruction of Svunnetland. After a while, political tension mounted in the Kingdom, with the ever-ongoing discussions between his Liege, the Duke and King Ranulf Miles of Cathay. It came to pass one day that Lady Anya, Cathay’s High Chancellor, banished Galiard, Duke of Anacan and subsequently disappeared. The bulk of nobility was outraged, especially at the Kings’ inaction and the un-willingness of the new Judge to revoke the ban as it was based on flawed accusations. Protests mounted and in a dramatic speech, Sir Ikiwa called for an uprising against the government, which resulted in the May-Revolution of Cathay. Hamish immediately joined the rebels, as he too believed Galiard to be convicted without trial or proof of guilt, which goes in against anything the Kingdom stands for. The rebellion succeeded after some bloodshed, for which Hamish held Ranulf personally responsible. He had pleaded to his former King to avoid unnecessary battles and casualties. In the battles, the 13th suffered five casualties.
Following advice he campaigned for the position of Judge, and won the election with 26, or 31,7% of the votes. He is the first of the O’Ways family to ever reach a government position. Cathay was going through some changes and rulers came and went in weeks time. When High King Brian took the Throne, Cathay launched a small maintenance campaign in support of their southern ally, Nighthelm, so that they could reclaim the region named Edairn that had gone rogue due to constant looting by the Soliferum forces. Due to a lack of communication between the two realms, the Lions' Armies retreated into Leod when threats were sent to Cathay about the nature of their intervention. Four Commanders were left in Edairn to cut off or at least hinder the Soliferum retreat; Viscount Volvus of Pates, Knights Curt and TNaismith of Lenamaziel and High Chancellor Hamish of Anacan. He and TNaismith of the Willarc family, commanding his 'Red Banders' guarded the northern passage into Edairn. They were ready to stand and die in service of the Kingdom, when General Valgar ordered all troops out of Edairn, because the Nighthelm General failed to confirm his sending troops into Edairn to support.
Hamish came back to Leod but fell ill after drinking wine from a cup that had been placed on his desk, apparantly poisoned. He woke after three days of fever and deliria to find himself elected as the new High King of Cathay. It took him some time to make sense of it, but immediately started on the actions he once declared to the Privy Council to be wise: start diplomacy with regards to the war in the south, and to be steadfast and loyal to the founding principles of Cathay: to be the home of the Honourable and the Just.
As a pure-bred soldier, he adapts well in any terrain, but getting used to the life of a King may be asking too much of him. He still trains with his troops and never ceases to criticise the inaction and cowardice in pure courtly life. The only compromise he has made to his new position is to rename his unit the "13th Royal Dragoneers", and to design a few additions to the standard uniform, to make it a bit more colourful at official happenings.
He continued negotiations with the southern nations, in particular Soliferum, regarding the Nighthelmian war. His increasing displeasance with King Thraymn's unwillingness to accept the facts and a truce led him to sympathise more and more with the southern causes. He agreed to the formation of a Soliferan Colony at his southern border, under conditions of an alliance between Cathay and this new colony that would later be named Mosesadelphia, after a relative of the new ruler's former Liege. After this new realms' creation, the war in the south ended with the fall of Apelen, the last of Nighthelms' regions. Hamish accepted anyone seeking a new home in Cathay but refused to allow any hostility against Soliferum or Mosesadelphia to take root. Around this time, Ethiala, Cathay's long-standing ally called upon it's right to annex Anaos, a Papanian region, as they held claims under a treaty from the end of the Lasanar wars. These documents later turned out to be fraudulous. Hamish had ordered his armies to the aid of Ethiala when they were engaged on their eastern borders by Arcaea, under the newly-wed King Jenred. His wife became the first Duchess of Talex when this city fell to the Arcaean forces. Partly due to Hamish' unwillingness to enter into a full-scale war, he ordered his men to work on region maintenance and that alone, in the regions Ethiala held at the time of Arcaean invasion, as Cathay did not recognise Arcaea's claims on those regions. They did however have the right of self-defense and repelled many attacks but also suffered substantial losses, especially at the fall of Treror, where the Cathayan force, later accused of planning a strike against Talex, were ambushed by superior Arcaean foces. At this occasion, Hamish was incarcerated by the Arcaeans and held for more than seven days after his funds were stolen. He had ever held the Arcaeans in high regard, to be a worthy opponent and men and women of honour but this changed his mind.
After his release from prison, he called off all operations in Ethialan territory and urged Greater Aenilia, which had opened a southern front but was taking heavy losses, to sue for peace. Meanwhile, he tried to engage the Arcaeans into talks about the survival of the battered realm of Sartania, also a longstanding Cathayan ally, led by his personal friend Divine Soul Hyrus Kartak, brother to Viscount Volvus Kartak of Pates. These talks never had any chance as Arcaea stated that they would break their treaty with Sartania and join the forces of Arcachon in the destruction of Niel. This earned them Hamish' outrage, and caused the Principalty of Zonasa to rally up a group of southern nations, among which Mosesadelphia, to gather against the imperialist threat that Arcaea was posing by now. Hamish whole-heartedly accepted Zonasa's offer, and in exchange offered an alliance which Regent Alexi signed in November 'O8. He tried to get Soliferum on board in spite of their old alliance with Arcaea but had no success as Prime Minister Conan of Soliferum stated that the reasons for Arcaea to break the treaty, namely the assumption that Divine Soul Hyrus was plotting an offensive against Arcaea, were legitimate, based on a communication from Sartania requesting military aid against the impending Arcaean threat.
Meanwhile, Hamish ceded the mountain stronghold in Haul, a region he was well-acquainted and fond of, to Mosesadelphia to honour an old treaty signed by King Thraymn, Duchess Melpomene of Haul and Prime Minister Conan at the beginning of the war, stating that Haul was allowed to take itself out of the fighting by joining the then new Kingdom of Cathay, but with the promise of rejoining the realm which emerged victorious after the hostilities ceased. Duchess Melpomene emigrated from Cathay on the eve of the Nighthelmian defeat at Apelen, being the last of the surviving Nighthelmians to know of the treaty and presumably hereby attempting to avoid the treaty to be carried out. Hamish was offered the treaty for investigation and together with a team of scholars from both Anacan and Taop universities concluded the treaty to be valid. The newly appointed Duke of Haul, Volvus Kartak, joined Mosesadelphia with it under request by General Lord Valgar and Hamish himself. Volvus somewhat reluctantly accepted.
The entente's forces marched north, after Arcaea's assault on Sartania together with Arcachon, which was succesfully repelled by Sartanian forces. They marched to aid in the defense of Topenah, the last city held by the Ethialans, which had been starved for almost a year by the Arcaeans, thereby decimating it's population, a fact which would later be used by the Arcaeans as a sign of the incapacity of the Ethialans to feed their people. The defense of Topenah would have been a succes, but at last moment the Zonasans decided not to take part in the battles, nor did the Mosesadelphians. The Cathayans were slaughtered.
Hamish decided to stay on until the last of his nobles had a chance to vacate the city. Last we know is that he has been arrested by Arcaean foces which assaulted him and his men as they tried to properly bury as many Cathayans as possible.
He is a tall man with dark hair and light eyes, very straightforward and even more outspoken than Cullen is. With Deirdre he shares the love of battle, although he considers battle and war a nescessity, avoided at best, but preferably fought by professionals. His values are his only doctrine and he will defend them with his life. He has pledged his life to Cathay and to maintain it as a beacon of Honour and Justice.
