Michael O'Donovan
Deceased - Duke of Keswick, Lord Regent of Albion
Group: Ordo
Hwyt Draga, House d'Arby
Race: Human
Barony of residence: Rufford
(in the County of Nottingham and the Duchy
of Keswick)
Michael was born in Kildare, in the province
of Meath; the bastard son of an Albion noble and
a poor Erin woman. He never met his father and
has scarce little memory of an elder half-sister
who left home when he was but an infant.
His mother's health was frequently poor leading
Michael to work hard as a child, and by the age
of twelve he had managed to secure work in the
estates of a minor lord around the outskirts of
Meath. In a few years Michael had managed to save
enough money move his mother to the area and there
he worked until the imperial invasion of Erin.
When Albione troops under the command of Finn
Dracha arrived in Meath, Michael met Harts for
the first time and was one of a number of Erin
natives who helped smuggle food out of imperial-held
lands to the Albiones. Relatively inexperienced,
Michael's efforts were largely unsuccessful however
the one occassion he did get past the occupying
forces was to prove disasterous, for imperial
rangers traced the missing supplies back to the
farmstead.
One night a 20-strong group of black orc legionaries
attacked the farm estates; killing and eating
anyone they found there. The feared "Ghost"
legion knew no boundries of mercy or morality
and as Michael hid he bore witness as his friends
and mother were brutally slaughered like animals.
Later that night he crept away from the carnage,
found the Albione troops once more, and travelled
with them until they returned to Albion. It was
at this time made the acquaintance of William
Hulce and Samuel Coleridge - men with whom he
was later to find shelter in Albion.
A devout follower of the White Dragon, Michael
was pleased to join the Ordo Hwyt Draga, but his
views and beliefs are still different to those
of the many Albion noblemen that fill it's ranks.
Wanting to repay a perceived debt to Albion Michael
volenteered to join the Harts' ambasadorial staff
, where he served under the authority of Prudence deGales-Falcon as ambassador to the Vipers faction.
A year later Michael found his sister Alish was married to the Lord Regent, Sagramor ap Albion and that his father was the late Richard d'Arby. By this time Michael had been the High Ambassador like his sister, but on the death of Jac and the Queen, Michael was granted the position of Lord Provost of Albion. Here he served his new home and tried to serve the country the best he could. During this time Michael met his cousin Nathanial and was granted the right to wear the colours of House d'Arby.
When Sagramor stepped down as Lord Regent at the Heartland Games of 1106, he nominated Michael as his successor. This was quickly accepted by the Royal Council and his term of rulership of Albion began.
Compiled from various
sources by the royal herald
Spring 1106 |
Michael O'Donovan - Lord Regent of Albion, Duke of Keswick and high incantor of the White Dragon - was killed in battle at Warwick two days ago. Nearly a dozen others fell with him in an incident which, to my mind, falls only just short of the tragedy at Dunwich Vale.
It remains the duty of those of us who survived to honour his memory, avenge his death through the destruction of the liche Castel, and to continue building the strong Albion that Michael strove so hard for.
William Hulce
Statement following the death of the Lord Regent,
Autumn 1106 |
Obituaries
Michael O’'Donovan was born in Erin, the unsuspecting
son of Albione nobility. His path in life drew him
inexorably back to his spiritual homeland though and,
when his family were murdered by Imperial troops at
Meath, Albion welcomed him as her own.
His courage showed itself endlessly as he flung
himself into battles to save his fellows, uncaring
of the potential harm to himself. Many lives were
saved by him when he led where others had not dared
to tread. His faith in his fellows truly made him a
hero in the acts he carried out, and his devotion to
the Pendragon Throne was a beacon to those around him.
Even at the cataclysm of 1106, as the troops took
the battlefield to fight for the future of the world,
he walked alongside them,stating he would fight with
the rest of the people for Albion, her people and the
future of the entire world. Dragged unconscious from
the horrors of that field, he felt only guilt for
being alive where so many others had perished. Yet
Albion needed him and so there could be no regrets
that he had lived to continue to protect her through
his role as Lord Regent to young King Edward.
It was one of the blackest days in Albion'’s history
when Michael O’'Donovan fell, left to die on the
ground in the blackness of foul night, as the liche
Castell’'s necromancy lay thick upon Albion’s soil. As
the man he was, he would be the first to dismiss this
story of his life,saying he did no more than any other
would do and that he was not important. But Michael
O’Donovan was a true hero of Albion. He inspired us
all, he brought confidence and determination to this
land and her protectors, he fought for what he
believed – and he deserves to be remembered nobly and
for all time.
Thenni, High Bard of Albion
Winter 1107 |
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