Paksworld

I think I mentioned that thanks to reader comments I’ve now found a way to change one of the A- names (Alured the Black) to something else for a logical reason in K-II.   Alured considers his current name too plebian and associated too closely with his criminal past, so he wants a fancier name.  He has some genealogical records that he thinks relate to his real parentage, so he picks a non-A (not his reason but mine) name from among them.

But while working today on another chapter I realized I had not named the new members of King Mikeli’s new Council (not his regency council, which after all lost some members to death and treason.)    So, I needed a new baron and a new count.  a new Marshal-Judicar (actually already had that one) and also needed the new Master Trader and Master Crafter, each of whom represents the various trading and craft guilds.

Baron Tamis Brenvor:  It’s his first time on the Council and he’s a bit stiff–mostly from nervousness and not wanting to look ridiculous.   He was surprised to be chosen, though he was always diligent in his duties to the Crown, and by all reports an excellent lord of his small domain, which has prospered under him more than under his uncle (from whom he inherited it) or his grandfather.   He is not at all handsome (and knows it)  with dishwater-blond hair and pale eyes; a fair swordsman and a good rider.  The improvement in his domain is due largely to his paying close attention to what grows there and what doesn’t,  rather than insisting on crops better suited to a different soil and climate.  He did not expect to inherit, and had been doing experiments on his own holding.  Very much hands-on, very practical, feels out of place at court, but wasn’t going to refuse the post.  He will be happy with his main assignment, assessing agricultural potential and gathering information for a central database (though it’s not called that, of course.)  He has a plain wife, who really dislikes court where she feels even more out of place than he does (so she will head home very soon) and three plain daughters, all intelligent and capable enough to attract suitors even though they aren’t beauties.   One is engaged, in fact.   The middle one leveled a fool who thought a plain girl should be grateful for anything, including assault.  The youngest spends nearly all her time in the garden, trying to develop new plant strains.    Tamis dotes on her and thinks she’d made a fine baroness.    Some of this may be plot-significant but not yet.

Count Kevre Tivarrn:  another newbie, replacing Count  Konhalt, who is under attainder.  Tivarrn  is a sleek, elegant courtier who had in fact spent much time at court.   His genius is accounting–he does  not look anything like the common notion of an accoutant, in his elegant clothes, but he has an instinct for crooked numbers and can ferret out who’s stealing what where faster than anyone else.    The palace’s own staff recommended him years ago, when he was in his twenties and he offhandedly pointed out an error in the accounting of fodder while visiting court with his father.   Now in his early forties, he’s not anyone’s favorite person (is he checking up on me?  Or the person next to me?)  but he’s valuable.   King Mikeli doesn’t much like him either, but knows he’ll keep the books straight.   Kevre married above himself (he was only a “lord” when he married, third son of a baron) and his wife, though not conventionally beautiful, has a strong sense of style and suits him well.  They have one child, a boy, who did not inherit their brains but is a good-looking lad–unfortunately, easily bribed by those who want Kevre’s favor.    This may or may not be plot-significant.

Oktar, the new Marshal-Judicar,  worked under the previous Marshal-Judicar for three years, so he knows the job well.   He came up through the ranks of the Fellowship of Gird,  being a yeoman in a Finthan grange (slightly more respected than the Tsaian granges), then yeoman-marshal, and then recommended to the Marshalate school in Fin Panir, where he impressed his teachers with his quick grasp of the Code.  After an extra year or two studying the Code in all its complexity, he chose the judiciary for his specialization–but nonetheless was sent to a grange in Tsaia to act as a grange-Marshal, to round his education.   After three or four years there,  he was called to Verella and soon impressed his senior as the best legal mind he’d seen in years…so when Donag was murdered,  Oktar was the obvious choice to succeed him.   Oktar and Donag did not completely agree (legal scholars rarely do agree 100%…)  but the changes will be subtle.