Olik Family/Gauihu
Gauihu
Overview
The second oldest son of the Oliks, Gauihu (pronounced Gah-oo-EEH-hoo) was often underestimated by his unfavourable appearance and twisted psyche. He changed careers several times during his career (including a brief spout as a trader, and some not-insubstantial time as a bureaucrat), though mostly he remained a knight.
Unlike many nobles he disdains the use of a horse, and doesn't strain his troops to fly the family crest. Some see this as a sign of shame or disrespect for his family, but in fact Gauihu is a fairly practical fellow and prefers to have every man capable of fighting doing so. Although he has rarely waded into the midst of melee combat, on occasion he's been seen drawing a bow and firing, in the command of an archer unit. Like many nobles he has excellent skill with the bow, but it is not his strong suit. When it comes to riding upon a horse, Gauihu is clearly uncomfortable. This, along with an impressive sword skill, was confirmed at the enormous tournament held in the Cagilan Empire during his 34th year. He lasted into the 6th swordfighting round, competing against six nobles and losing to Zadar Nargath.
A quiet man by nature, he was once egregarious when it comes to drinking and engaged in festivities alongside his fellow nobles, especially after a victorious battle. He became embittered during a battle of Chasnoff, when he thought he was wrongly abandoned by the army and wounded by the Northern Alliance Army that was currently invading at the time. Nowadays, when he speaks out, it is usually with caustic criticism or abrupt cynicism.
Career
Gauihu is by far the most politically successful of the family, quickly gaining land and title in his homeland of Abington, becoming its Arch Priest and, eventually, King.
In August he was appointed one of the three Ministers of the People of Abington, swearing to help guide the youthful nobility and realm's newcomers, and to report on the needs and wants of the people to the Royal Court and Council of the People. He was also appointed as Count of Wynford in September, but lost the title after being imprisoned by the Ash Sea Islands after a battle. He is also the founder of a Fencing Guild dedicated to developing and tutoring in an Abington National Style of swordfighting, a personal skill he has developed reasonably (though he is not a Master).
He became the judge of Abington by a close election with many viable candidates. He stepped down as Minister of the People on that day as well, citing the reason that he would have more than his share of votes on the Court and Council of the People if he didn't.
After the death of his friend, the hero Feldric, Gauihu was noticeably more cold-hearted - and that's saying a lot. The death of his friend Deschain only further compounded this, and by the time his comrade Ulric von Katzing left, he was essentially without companionship. During his tenure as Arch-Priest he developed a legal framework that lasted longer than he did, developing the Abington_Common_Code (laws for commoners), laws for the realm's nobility, prisoner agreements with foreign judges and additional Edicts.
His brutality was no secret even then; he executed five nobles on various counts of treason (Vigilantius, Doad, El Cidd, former king I Will Survive and the outlaw Darmargo) and sentenced to death two more (though both, Fangdor and Doc's Biatch, managed to escape the punishment). He used torture to gain "confessions," and cunningly employed other nobles to help root out possible conspiracies. His executions were horrifying; he even invented a new method of doing so. (He called it "Fitting" on the basis that he viewed its victims as deserving of every inch of the brutality.)
At one point he was accused by the Vatticus of being Savish, one of the Gods of Sother. This accusation, like most of what the Vashmeres of Abington claimed, was quickly dismissed and forgotten. He later imprisoned a third member of that family, Dafayo, who was an outlaw currently participating in the war against Abington.
In his 35th year, he founded the Army of Anchorinn. This Army was later abandoned in favor of both the Army of Suville, and the Queens Blackguard which he personally lead.
When Armitage III stepped down, he ran for the office against Magnus the Mighty, and his own liege Lady Callisto. The latter then decided not to run for reasons of scarce time and openly supported Gauihu, and Magnus offered support to Gauihu if Gauihu would support him for the soon-to-be-opened position of Arch Priest. He won with 48% of the vote and was crowned King of Abington, causing no small amount of consternation amongst nobles of other realms.
Marriage
In (Oct-Nov 06) autumn of his 34th year, he began courting the current Queen of Abington, Armitage III of the House D'Anglos. He proposed and they were married just before winter in Anchorinn, at a modest ceremony attended by roughly two dozen Abington nobles. Whether this marriage was done out of a true sense of love or a political maneuver is not entirely clear.
Fatherhood
On (Apr 30 07) of his 38th year, Queen Armitage gave birth to twins. A son, named Altham II (after his great great grandfather), and a daughter named Inanna (after a goddess of war).
Altham II was stabbed to death two years later, allegedly on orders from Gauihu himself (although this was never officially determined and the matter seems largely to have dropped from public attention).
Abington Legacy - The "Mad King"
In his fortieth year, Redspan had collapsed in all but name, and Spiritmonger, Duke of Riverholm, seceded the city after a ban was threatened by Magnus for Conspiracy to Commit Treason. (It was widely suspected at the time that the evidence showing Spiritmonger taking part in the rebel underground was flimsy or falsified).
Spiritmonger vehemently proclaimed his innocence, but the secession ended the controversy for most Abington. Gauihu, knowing that unification was what Abington needed to survive, accused Spiritmonger of working alongside Abington's enemies, working to destroy Abington itself. The secessionist realm, Aquitaine, made peace with Abington's enemies but was declared war on by both Abington and the Ash Sea Islands. Wynford, Lanston, Rustton were recaptured with minimal effort and Riverholm overran with an allied army. The takeover took several days, and just as it happened, a Talerium, Cagilan Empire, Darka and Carelian force marched on Abington soil.
Enraged, Gauihu declared war on the Cagilan Empire. This sudden move was ill-received by the royal court, with Xuanye in particular leading the arguments against it. Gauihu maintained that Vengence would have declared war anyway (and showed a message from Vengence himself proving this). But the bad feelings created by the sudden move would not be erased.
Quickly, Magnus the Mighty seceded Wayburg to create Caergoth, along with Swanfolk, Chasnoff, Matakonis, Monagle. He announced that the kingdom of Abington was lost, and that there was nothing anyone there could to to save it, and he heaped blame on Gauihu and the flaws he saw in Gauihu's character. Callisto, as well, announced she intended to secede Suville. Later, Martok of Narville me a similar statement. To make sure Riverholm was in hands he could trust, he appointed his cousin Athys II to the Duchy of Riverholm. But even this didn't work. Protests were growing; loud segments of the nobility of Abington protested Gauihu's reign. And Athys II joined these protests, proclaiming that his cousin was quite clearly insane and a great danger.
Gauihu declared war on Darka, Caergoth, and Tara, and then questioned the nobility of two of the younger protesters. He made many statements, some defending his actions, but an increasing number making insulting "explanations" for why things were happening. In one rant, he likened himself to a titan, and his opposers as "mice" whose only advantage was "sheer mass." He grew increasingly paranoid, and slew Captain Bremham, who'd been his trusted attache and leader of his Royal Guard for months. Later, he could be found asking where Bremham was.
The madness of Gauihu, long in coming, was an equally long birth. It took many forms as he went through various cycles. Sometimes, he would be calm, but vaguely confused-looking, uncertain. Then he might be wrathful, shouting and giving stirringly angry speeches at the top of the lungs, when no one was around. Sometimes he smiled his nasty smile and seemed confident that all would turn out well. Other times he was afraid, and his hands might shake or spasm, while sweat drenched his face and dripped off the crown. Sometimes, he seemed other-wordly, and it as in these rare but increasingly common moments that others could see not a man, but a savage beast, a "butcher covered in blood." He reportedly hung suspected rebels, criminals, courtiers who looked the wrong way, soldiers he didn't trust for some petty reason. The palace of Riverholm was mostly deserted on account of this, but that didn't stop Gauihu from brining in peasants and townies from the outside, promising them or their families food, and then murdering them in a variety of violent, depraved ways.
Meanwhile, Caergoth struggled in anarchy, and the other secessions had yet to occur. A rebellion was in the process, but seemed doomed to failure. Gauihu had nothing but bravado for his enemies, stating that he would fight all of Atamara by himself if he had to. He cursed them for cowards, curs, and sons-of-bitches. Gauihu's ambition wavered; it was now about how much longer he could be king, and what he would do as king. And now, he began to think of after. Where might he go? He could bide his time, wait, for years if necessary. But there was the matter of his children, already 2 years of age. In his paranoia, he believed they might turn on him, and as he was leaving to meet them and his wife, he was attacked by Enthar, wounded, and forced to lay in bed. During this process, he wrote more in his diary, and he felt overtaken by a sense of "destiny." He spent the next days alternating between an insane, angry, confused and paranoid state of mind, with a chillingly amused, cold, detached pseudo-rational state of mind.
Obsidian Islands
Gauihu moved to the East Continent when it became clear that the second rebellion would succeed. He found his new home on the shores of Kalmar and fell in love with the Wasteland by the Chaos Temple. He swore an oath to Wasteland's Baron, and after a time settled in.
He found many of his enemies or families of past enemies at the first Tournament he attended in the East, among them relatives of Doc's Biatch and Gabriel. He fought off three or four assassination attempts by two family members of an Abington noble who'd found himself on the wrong side of Gauihu's wrath in the last few days there. But as he normally did, he refused duel challenges, claiming that his opponents were not worthy of his sword and that it was much more entertaining to deny them the vengence they wanted.
The Awakening and Return
Gauihu founded a religion known as The Awakening, after briefly serving as Baron of the Wasteland. The faith managed to spread quietly throughout the islands, and he attempted to gain followers on the mainland of Kazakh, but was arrested twice for it. After some time, professing that he had a desire to return to his 'homeland' and cease 'hiding,' he emigrated from the East Continent back to Atamara.
Knight of Darka
Gauihu surprised many nobles by joining Darka, a realm he had spared no mercy in his propaganda campaigns over the years. It was more of a surprise still when Lavigna, the judge of Darka, allowed him to continue to reside in Darka. He swore an oath to the Count of Maycxal, Doromir, and went about his new life as a knight of Darka.
He survived several assaults, one of which seriously wounded him and resulted in an infiltrator collecting the ~650 gold bounty that had been on his head for years. Another was from Darkwind Bedwyr, his former student and still a Knight of Anchorinn - Gauihu, in a bloody but decisive fight, killed Darkwind.
Timeline
- Began his career in Abington 2004-10-04
- Appointed as Minister of the People (late August/early September 05)
- Nominated as Lord of Wynford (week of September 10)
- Appointed as Count of Wynford 2005-09-19
- Founded the Abington School of Swordfighting 2005-10-16
- Elected as Arch-Priest of Abington 2005-12-08
- "Appointed" as Count of Anchorinn 2006-02-02
- Founded the Abington First guild 2006-04-17
- Stepped down as Judge 2006-04-17
- Re-elected as Arch-Priest 2006-04-18
- Married Queen Armitage III 2006-11-17
- Founded the Army of Anchorinn 2006-11-28
- Child Conceived 2007-1
- Became Father of Twins 2007-4-30
- Elected King of Abington 2007-6-9
- Emigrated to East Continent 2007-9-3
- Became Prophet of The Awakening 2008-03-07
- Emigrated to Atamara 2008-07-12