Introducing the newest nobleman to Lenfald, Alexander DeCoboray...
Lord Alexander DeCoboray, of the Lenfald Province.
Introductory MOC --
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Lord Alexander DeCoboray with his retinue, and the good Lady Roweena DeCoboray --
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And the backstory:
Herein lies the true accounting of the personal history of Lord Alexander DeCoboray, known only to my lord, his faithful wife Roweena DeCoboray, and myself, Monk Galus – humble and loyal servant, scribe and monk, and to the Almighty Builder who knows every heart and brick in all of Brickdom.
Lord Alexander DeCoboray was born Alexander Woolman, son of Alan Woolman who was a meager Shepherd and Wool merchant – he understood wool and sheep husbandry, but failed through his life to understand business and so was never able to achieve any noteworthy financial gain. The Woolman family were residents of the Province of Lenfald, thus when the wool trade failed from time to time to put food on the table, young Alexander could hunt deer, rabbits, and other game in the bountiful woods of that region.
At the age of 12, young Alexander was hunting in the woods when he stumbled upon a cave set into a rather large hill. Being young and inquisitive, he boldly explored the cave, which he soon discovered to be, in truth, a tomb. The tomb was rather ancient and had been ill-treated by time and neglect. To whatever lord or king this tomb belonged, his life story and whatever people he ruled disappeared into time with him. But, as with so many pagan rulers of ancient times, this ancient king believed that he could take his vast wealth with him into the afterlife if it were buried with his earthly form.
All further speculation aside on this discovery, young Alexander had discovered a king’s treasure horde, untouched and waiting for him to claim. Excited beyond belief, he returned home to tell his loving parents of his great discovery.
Sadly, Fate has a way of sometimes taking as it gives, or perhaps there was a curse on that tomb; either way, soon after and before the Woolman family could change its circumstances, young Alexander’s parents caught an illness and passed away. Young Alexander still had his discovered wealth, still lying in the tomb where he found it, but he was now alone in the world.
Not knowing what to do, young Alexander took a tiny portion of the wealth and went to the capital city of the Lenfald Province, and proceeded to attend schooling and to gain himself an apprenticeship in matters of business. The years went by and young Alexander grew into a handsome young man with great learning in business, trade, and in classical education. During this time, he met the young and beautiful Roweena, daughter of a lumber merchant who did moderately well with his trade and business. The two youths fell in love.
By age 18, Alexander departed the capital city, and returned to the land he once called home along the northern reaches of the Lenfald Province, not too many miles south of the northern shore. Remaining grown over and hidden, and still untouched, he once again found his treasure trove. But now he had purpose to apply this wealth toward – setting himself up as a lord.
Alexander had already given himself a new name, a lordly name, when he had gone away to the capital for school – DeCoboray. Now, with his immense wealth, he marched north and eastward to the northern end of the eastern mountains of Lenfald. Here, between the north sea and the foothills of the majestic peaks, he set to work creating something new.
There were already a few scattered villages – fishing villages along the coast, villages of sheepherders in the hills, and villages of woodsmen in the forests and toward the mountains. In the center of this small region, on a gentle but strong hill, he established his castle – Castle Corburg. It was not a grand affair, but certainly a home worthy of a lord. While construction was underway, Alexander, now well known as Lord Alexander DeCoboray, used his wealth to recruit a small and loyal following of fighting men, then equipped and trained them. He also returned to the capital city to ask for Roweena’s hand in marriage, which her father agreed to, considering that his daughter was marrying into wealth and nobility. Alexander and Roweena went home together to Castle Corburg.
Alexander then began developing trade in the region that he now commanded. There were already some wealthy merchants and leaders of local communities who resisted Alexander’s taking power over this region and declaring himself the lord of these localized lands, but the combined strength of Alexander’s great wealth and having a small army to support him overcame their resistance. In time, he would display such benevolent and wise leadership over these people who had never really known an lord that both public opinion and those opinions of community leaders turned to Alexander’s favor.
Using his education, Alexander improved the economy, ordered the improvement of local roads, widened and deepened a small river that ran from the mountains to the sea so that it could be navigable by small boats (this small river connected two villages with the coast) and that was sufficient enough to greatly improve transportation of goods to merchant ships who could take the goods to distant ports. And, Alexander had built several trade vessels of his own to further encourage trade and commerce as well as to help create an income for himself.
After several years, Castle Corburg was complete, and the local area was fast becoming prosperous with wise land management, healthy commerce and trade, new transportation infrastructure – all instituted by Alexander -- and strong protection from DeCoboray’s loyal army.
Visitors to Castle Corburg might notice the number of antiquities and artifacts. No one knows this, but Alexander’s collecting auspicious artifacts began with the treasure trove he discovered, which had many great and wonderful items in addition to great wealth. When away at school during his youth, he had access to many, many volumes of history, legend, and learning where he came to know the identity of some of the antiquities in the tomb. And, he learned the value and worth of many others through the lands. Since establishing himself as a lord ruling over a sizeable fiefdom, he has pursued collecting other historical items – some of which are rumored to have once been magical items, though this fact is kept secret.