Position: Duke of Keswick
Group: Ordo Hwyt Draga
Group: House Hulce
Barony:
County:
Duchy: Keswick
Race: Human
Charles was slain in battle when the Heartland Nations attempted an assault on the personal circle of Lord Rone of the Akari.
Childhood friend of Miles Hulce, and probable cousin if the family’s records are accurate, Charles grew up with Miles in Italia, when the majority of House Hulce departed Albion after the declaration of the Civil War (and the predations of Roxanne against the family). It was here that the two of them met Addam Polliver; it was under Polliver’s mother that the three were tutored, and the three of them became inseparable.
All three were known to cause mischief throughout their formative years, which continued, along with their friendship – studying the art of magics, and the traditional Hulce weapon of paired knives on each other, often leading to an ‘indescribable mess’ a butler was once heard to say.
Charles was later introduced to the ‘wonderful world of Alchemy’ (his words) by Marcellus D’Castiglione, and spend a goodly amount of time training in the Guild of Alchemists. Though it is rumoured that brewing potions was not the only reason for this, as his guild title of ‘Entertainer and Escort to the Ladies of the Alchemist Guild’ also suggests!
News of Miles’ death, at Dunwich Vale, devastated Charles, who threw himself further into this work with the Guild and his own private studies. It was during this time however that he and a number of others started receiving dreams of a White Dragon, a calling, which had already led his two cousins William and Georgiana Hulce, to seek out and join the Ordo Hwyt Draga. A group dedicated to serve Albion as protectors of the land, the people, and the King. Here he made many new firm friends and ultimately lost them too, to the enemies of Albion over the years.
Preferring to take tea and cake in the presence of beautiful and alluring company rather than the fuel in a fight, he has been known to take up sword and don ‘rough’ clothing when required. His penchant for Tea, Cake, the company of Beautiful Ladies, and of course Trampagne only serves to encourage him to organise parties where all can be enjoyed. Whilst this frivolity is prevalent, his has always taken his duty to the crown extremely seriously, and although he has never sought after recognition for his work, he was rewarded by being made Her Majesties High Alchemist in 1104, and bestowed the title of Baron of Rufford in 1105.
1106 was something of a turning point in Charles’s life when he found himself thrust into command of a Harts warband, when they combined forces with the Viper faction in a mission against the Conclave. It brought to light a new side to Charles, one that other perhaps had overlooked in the past, choosing to focus more on his foppish persona. It was shortly after this mission that Charles was made the Earl of Nottingham.
In recent months events such as his cousin William becoming the Lord Regent, have kept Charles in the forefront, and he has continued to work tirelessly for King and country. In the spring of 1107 he was made the Duke of Keswick, which coincided with the opening of the new Cathedral to the Trinity, in Milford, and a gathering of the various Nations in the Duchy.
Charles believes and works constantly for the people and the land of Albion – the reason he believes he was called to the Ordo Hwyt Draga in the first place.
Burke’s Peerage, 1107