a forgotten house of dark repute...
The scandal of the House of Mortlac unfolded twenty-five years ago (Annum Cyrona 2985), and ended with disgrace and the fall of the noble line. An investigation sanctioned by the Clarion Court discovered gross abuses by the Count De Mortlac in his administration of the Greval province, exposing decades of corruption and petty despotism. The Count was arrested and executed on charges of theft of crown revenues, sedition, and acts of treason against the Clarion Throne.
But De Mortlac's crimes against the people of Greval were greater than most knew...
In the remote Greval province of Delon, the House of Mortlac traditionally served as the territorial governor over the rebellious Grevallais vassal lords and robber barons of the region.
The late Count Hugon de Mortlac was from a long and established noble line, and although he had never himself been to war, he was a great student of the history and craft of warfare. De Mortlac had even authored several volumes on tactics and martial traditions through the ages. These volumes would eventually be banned by the Clarion Throne, but copies are still known to exist, and are highly sought after by collectors.
The Crimes of the Count
In the remote Greval province of Delon, the House of Mortlac traditionally served as the territorial governor over the rebellious Grevallais vassal lords and robber barons of the region.
Although the official Clarion records of the Mortlac affair were expunged, by assembling the scant text sources available, anecdotal accounts from those who lived in the region, and insights culled from the Baron's intelligence network, a fuller picture begins to emerge...
The late Count Hugon de Mortlac was from a long and established noble line, and although he had never himself been to war, he was a great student of the history and craft of warfare.
(*De Mortlac had even authored several volumes on tactics and martial traditions through the ages. These volumes would eventually be banned by the Clarion Throne, but copies are still known to exist, and are highly sought after by collectors.)
The Count de Mortlac had taken the normal practice of adopting wards into his household to serve as hostages from unruly Grevallais lords and expanded it further, obliging all petty nobility, influential families, and townships in the region to cede sons to him to serve in his castle. While initially this was presented as a prestigious and educational opportunity, it soon became clear that De Mortlac’s intentions were far more sinister.
The youths taken as wards of Count Hugon were instead forged into his personal janissaries. Seized at an influential age, they were submitted to a regimen of brainwashing and physical abuse, leaving them psychologically broken and dependent upon the Count. Through brutal training and mind-altering serums they were conditioned to become De Mortlac’s personal bodyguards and secret police.
De Mortlac’s fascination with creating so-called “ultimate soldiers" led him to cruel and esoteric techniques, twisting the flower of Greval's youth into animals with no sense of self. He then compelled them to execute whatever atrocities deemed necessary to protect his position.
The murderous efficiency of his wards was exceeded only by their unwavering, fanatical loyalty. In this way, Count Hugon held the lands of Greval in an iron grip for a decade. When local families attempted to petition the Clarion Throne about the Count’s excesses, these voices were quickly and bloodily silenced - in some cases, by the hands of their own errant sons.
When a secret inquisition by the Clarion Court brought the Count’s crimes to light, Royal Officers were sent to Greval to arrest Hugon and his household. The Count was forewarned of their coming, and a brief and bloody siege ensued.
The raid upon the Mortlac fortress was hard-fought, and ended in massacre. The young scions of the region who had been remade as Hugon’s Wards fought their would-be liberators to the death, staining their hands with the blood of even their own kin. All who remained of the Wards perished when Castle Mortlac was razed to the ground.
In the ensuing chaos, Hugon de Mortlac himself had escaped the Clarion authorities, but was soon after captured while fleeing along the backroads. He was never to face a Royal Tribunal - instead, the vengeful justice of the Grevallais families prevailed. The Count was beaten raw by the mob. His broken body was hanged in public, and later torn apart by the grieving mothers of those sons who had fallen under his unholy influence.
With the De Mortlac line extinguished, the family was expunged from the lists in disgrace. So dire were the Count’s crimes that the Clarion Throne suppressed most of the details. The affair was reported mostly as a simple arrest and execution of a rogue lord for treason.
The record states that none survived the Fall of Mortlac.
Rumours...
While officially, the entire De Mortlac household perished when their castle was put to the torch, some questioned whether a Mortlac heir might have escaped. It has been speculated that Hugon’s youngest son Aubert, might have been sent away for his education before the Clarion Officers arrived in Greval, sparing him the fate that befell his family.
Of course, there is nothing to actually substantiate this rumour. There is precious little information about Aubert de Mortlac, beyond a single line on an old family tree in the Clarion lists, indicating a birthdate some time between 2975 and 2978. If such a child had indeed survived, he would have been condemned to exile. Even today, as the Clarion Throne empty... still, no Mortlac would be welcome in Delon.
Of course, there is nothing to actually substantiate this rumour. There is precious little information about Aubert de Mortlac, beyond a single line on an old family tree in the Clarion lists, indicating a birthdate some time between 2975 and 2978. If such a child had indeed survived, he would have been condemned to exile. Even today, as the Clarion Throne empty... still, no Mortlac would be welcome in Delon.
* * *
See Also:
The Wards of Mortlac
The Wards of Mortlac
