Full Name: Brennus Ribbell AKA "Lord Toad"
House (Family) Name: Ribbell
Title (if any): The Emperor's Fist, third in line to inherit Blackmark (After his older brother Magnus' son and daughter)
Sex: Male
Age: 53
Appearance:
Court Role: The Emperor's Fist
Social Class: Noble
Backstory: Brennus was born the second son of Baltus Ribell, the "spare" to his elder brother Magnus' "heir".House Ribbell was an old but minor marcher family who rule the swampy, forested land of "Blackmark" in the northern territories. Brennus was less restricted in his hobbies than his brother Magnus, and he often spent time hunting or exploring the forest with the peasants of the land, who taught him the values and knowledge of the northern folk that the Vexian-influenced northern nobility had mostly forgotten. This changed when Magnus became an adult and decided to make Brennus his squire, as the two boys became inseparable friends but Magnus was not allowed to leave the castle as often as Brennus had been.
When he was twelve, Magnus and Brennus were taken by Baltus southwards to a great tournament at Bargainton hosted by the Emperor (Brandon's grandfather) and Prince Jakar. Brennus helped Magnus compete, and it was there that Brennus first met Jakar, who was squiring for his father. After the melee was concluded, the two boys snuck off into the city and played for hours in the streets, until eventually they were found by the Golden Falcon and Magnus, and chastised by Baltus for putting themselves in danger.
Baltus, however, recognized the potential advantages of having the ear of the Crown Prince, and arranged for Brennus to be fostered in Vexia as a ward of the crown. Brennus was disappointed to no longer be able to see his brother or his friends among the peasants of Blackmark, but soon came to understand and thrive in the south with the help of his new friend Prince Jakar. Brennus was never fully accepted by the other courtiers of Jakar's father, who saw him as all but an up-jumped commoner because of his family's poverty and "uncivilized" northern origins. For this he was given the derogatory nickname "Lord Toad" behind his back, referencing the Ribbell heraldic sign. (Three brown frogs on a white field.) Brennus only saw his family a few times in this period, but was always happy when his brother Magnus came to visit, and was overjoyed when he heard his sister-in-law had given birth to a twin son and daughter. It was not soon after he came of age, however, that Brennus would have to return to Blackmark.
Not long after his seventeenth birthday, Brennus received a concerning letter from the north. A confederation of northern tribes had united under the leadership of a rebel who called himself "King Twice-Hanged" and had launched a devastating invasion of Vexia's northern territories. Most of the cities had been sacked, and almost all of the keeps were besieged, including the Ribbell castle in Blackmark. The Emperor raised a force to deal with the invasion, and Brennus petitioned to lead it, citing his knowledge of the territory and its people.
Brennus lead his host north as fast as he could, but it was too late - Every village he travelled through was half-empty, the streets littered with corpses, many of whom were those he had known when he was a child. When he finally arrived at Ribbell Castle, The tribesmen had taken it, and imprisoned Brennus' father and brother. (Magnus' two children had been hidden when the war began.) The Vexians encircled the castle and demanded the surrender of the tribes. All they received in reply was two heads - those of Baltus and Magnus. Brennus retreated to his tent alone to consider what had happened, and did not emerge for the next six hours. When he finally emerged, he calmly announced that since the tribesmen had foolishly executed their only hostages, his men were to begin preparations to assault the walls. Brennus took the castle within a day and had every single tribesman put to the sword.
Magnus' 3-year-old son was installed as the new Lord of Blackmark, with Brennus as regent. Brennus spent the next five years driving out the remaining invaders and was the
de facto overlord of the northern territories. Many people in those lands were sympathetic to the invaders or simply despised Vexia, and aided King Twice-Hanged by hiding him or his warriors. To counter this movement, Brennus installed an elaborate network of secret police and spies throughout the north, often torching entire villages when it became clear anti-royal sentiments were ingrained. In the end, almost every tribe that had united against Vexia was exterminated, with King Twice-Hanged ultimately being hunted down and eaten alive by Brennus' hounds after he was discovered hiding in a small village's brothel. The power of the northern tribes would be broken for almost a generation, until the Saxxars returned seeking bloody vengeance long after Brennus had left.
A few months after King Twice-Hanged was killed, Brennus was visited by a royal herald requesting he return to the south - the Emperor was dead and Jakar had taken the throne, and he wanted to see his old friend again. With the north pacified, Brennus resigned as regent of Blackmark and marched to Windstard. The reunion between now-Emperor Jakar and Lord Brennus was melancholy, however - Brennus was clearly not the man he had been when he left Windstard that fateful day five years ago. Nevertheless, Jakar was impressed with Brennus' victories in the north, and he appointed him to the position of Emperor's Fist after he was formally coronated.
Brennus since then has served thirty years as Emperor's Fist, loyally serving the interests of Emperor Jakar. He replicated the tactics he employed in the north to serve in the south, installing an unofficial secret police and a network of spies within Windstard that serve only him. He sacked more cities in the south than he ever did in the north, put down numerous plots by ambitious members of the Vixis family to crown themselves, (Mostly by disemboweling the plotter's agents and leaving their corpses in the plotter's bedchambers as a message - Not killing or arresting them ensures there are numerous heirs to the throne, and the plotters themselves deal with cleaning up the bodies to avoid being named a traitor.) and has hand-picked a personal guard of fiercely-loyal longbowmen nicknamed "The Toad's Men" to serve him. "Lord Toad" went from being an insulting nickname to a euphemism used by terrified people who believed that saying "Brennus Ribbell" would summon the man to kill them.
Probably his greatest achievement during his tenure as Emperor's Fist was the war of attrition he waged against the Karosate tribe, one of the many eastern nomadic groups who would later submit to the Khuphate. The Karosate entered Vexian territory while Emperor Jakar and the Marshal of the Royal Army were distracted by war in the south, leaving Brennus to lead the defense of the eastern territories. Brennus did this by burning down enormous swathes of Vexian forest and farmland, then cutting off the Karosate supply chain, leaving the Karosate warriors to starve. He then ambushed the Karosate horse archers with the Toad's Men, negating their superior mobility with the range of his longbows.
Brennus retained his position as Emperor's Fist when Jakar died and Brandon came to the throne. He has thus far served his friend's heir just as loyally as he served his friend.
Stewardship: 4 (1 + 3)
Intrigue: 13 (11 + 2)
Martial: 6
Diplomacy: 1
Renown: 4 (1 + 3)