King Aldéric of Gallicantu
In the aftermath of the Century’s War and the attempt of the Kings of Gallicantu to stake their claim to the Middelmerish throne, relations between the two kingdoms remain tense cold. While simmering hostilities between Gallicantu and Middelmerish remained in the generations immediately following the end of the Century’s War, neither Kingdom was willing or able to renew outright conflict due to both kingdoms being largely exhausted by the material and human costs of a hundred years of warfare. Relations began thawing during the reign of King Baudouin of Gallicantu, who formally renounced the Gallicantien claim to Middlemere.
Upon succeeding his father, King Aldéric has continued to improve relations between the two erstwhile rivals. Aldéric is the Gallicantien King with the best diplomatic relationship with Middelmere in more than one hundred and fifty years. Aldéric’s overtures to Middelmere include frequent visits to the court of his Middelmerish counterpart and the two have become not only diplomatic partners but close friends on a personal level.
Throughout most of his life, Aldéric has displayed a keen interest in Middelmerish history and culture, likely influencing his policies upon ascending to the throne. More pragmatically, the investment of Gallicantu’s military and treasury into a hundred-year long campaign in Middelmere ending in defeat is still felt by the kingdom even several generations after the end of the Century’s War and King Aldéric’s cordial policy towards Middelmere specifically and the rest of Realmgard in general represents a conscious decision to avoid further straining the Kingdom’s manpower and resources.
Like his father, Aldéric is popular with his subjects. Although his rein has thus far been unremarkable, Gallicantu has faced no major crises. A return to peace and stability is largely welcomed throughout the Kingdom with the end of the Century’s War still recent enough that its effects are still felt in Gallicantu.
The Kings of Gallicantu have long been famous as patrons of art and culture, with many famous writers, painters, and architects throughout Realmgard’s history being sponsored by the Gallicantien court. Aldéric is no exception. The operatic art form has exploded in popularity in Gallicantu after being introduced from Natalis. Aldéric has personally commissioned several extravagant operas, most of them based on Middelmerish history and folklore — the stories of King Cailan are particularly popular for Gallicantien operas, representing the long fascination with King Cailan and his knights that has gripped Gallicantien culture for centuries. While King Cailian was a historical figure, the most famous tales of his exploits actually originate with Gallicantien writers and King Aldéric is famous for his library of centuries-old books containing the stories of King Cailan.
While the common joke at the Gallicantien court — albeit rarely repeated within earshot of the King — is that Aldéric’s frequent visits to Middelmere would no doubt end with him coming home with a Middelmerish wife, Aldéric’s Queen Camila is a Torrean royal. Though the Gallicantien courtiers still clinging to the joke are vindicated to note that Queen Camilia is not only Middelmerish on her mother’s side, but she first met King Aldéric at the Middelmerish court.
King Aldéric doesn’t really correspond to any real monarch, French or otherwise. My main inspiration was a general sense of “broadly good monarch with an interest in foreign culture.” Incidentally, remembering that King Cailan is the equivalent of King Arthur, the fact that the major producers of chilvaric romance about him were the Gallicantiens corresponds to the fact that in real life, most of the earlier Athurian stories are more France.
Looking closely at the picture I chose, I’m seeing how the mind might immediately go to Jesus, but that is, in fact, a member of the Knights of Malta painted by Titian. It’s a bit more obvious in the original picture, where he’s holding a rosary and has the Maltese Cross on his clothes — cleverly covered by me with that rooster. Gallicantu is Realmgard-France and roosters are a longstanding embem of France.
Even before I really stared this biography and hammering out the details of, the portrait of the Knight actually really looks like how I was visualising King Aldéric in my mind. I just had to work around the obvious Christian symbols in the painting — what with Christianity not existing in Realmgard.
Just ignore that he’s clearly still wearing a cross necklace. For the context of Realmgard, let’s say that it’s, like, a fancy compass or something…
Man, I’m only just realising I should have recoloured in green and said it’s a four-pointed Distant Verdant Star.
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