Fiera-bras
| Continent: | Ishgar |
| Government: | Monarchy |
| Ruler Authority: | King Adrien de Valcour |
| Capitol: | Valcouronne |
| Major Families: | [Information Missing] |
| Prominent Clans: | [Information Missing] |
| Core Magic: | [Information Missing] |
| Primary Exports: | Wine, fine cloth, perfume, worked steel and maritime trade |
Fiera-bras is a kingdom of river palaces, cathedral spires, vineyard estates and crowded streets where a polished bow may conceal a challenge. Its court prizes wit, elegance and daring, while its roads carry royal couriers, ambitious young swordsmen and letters that powerful people would rather never see delivered. The country evokes the intrigue, comradeship and swashbuckling adventure of Three Musketeers-era France.
Fiera-bras is country 2 on the Ishgar map. Its king rules from Valcouronne, balancing the old nobility, a politically formidable cardinal and the protectors sworn to carry the crown's authority beyond the palace gates.
Crown, cardinal and court
King Adrien de Valcour
King Adrien de Valcour is an observant sovereign whose easy charm encourages courtiers to underestimate him. He enjoys the theater, fine horses and arguments conducted with sufficient grace to avoid becoming insults. His principal concern is holding together a kingdom in which great houses can afford private soldiers and coastal powers can delay royal policy simply by keeping their ships in harbor.
Adrien holds the final authority of the crown, but depends on reliable information. He sometimes asks a junior courier to describe a provincial town before hearing its governor's report. This habit has won him affection among royal messengers and considerable irritation among governors.
Cardinal Séverin de Rocheval
Cardinal Séverin de Rocheval is the kingdom's senior religious statesman and a leading minister of the crown. His influence rests on cathedral institutions, educated clerks, charitable houses and a correspondence network reaching far beyond the capital. He believes that a weak crown invites civil war, and that preventing such a war justifies decisions the king would prefer to make publicly and slowly.
The cardinal is neither a second monarch nor a harmless ceremonial figure. He and Adrien cooperate where their interests meet and contend over appointments, secrecy and the limits of royal power. Séverin's quietest question can be more alarming than another courtier's threat. Even his opponents acknowledge that his relief houses keep people fed when noble patrons lose interest.
The Royal Aegis Cavaliers
The specialized protector title is Aegis Cavalier, borne by members of the Royal Aegis Cavaliers. Their commander holds the title First Cavalier of the Crown; the present commander is Captain Éloise de Varenne.
The Cavaliers protect the royal household, escort endangered witnesses and envoys, carry sensitive dispatches and investigate threats directed against the crown. They train in swordsmanship, riding, firearms and the recognition of magical deception. Their deep blue mantles bear a silver shield crossed by a narrow sunburst. Provincial recruits must pass the same trials as nobles; a famous surname cannot parry a blade.
Their oath is "Stand together; let none stand unguarded." It obliges them to protect the people entrusted to them even when a fashionable court faction finds those people inconvenient. Their greatest disputes with the cardinal concern who may demand a prisoner's surrender and whose sealed order should prevail. The king's law, rather than an individual minister's private wishes, defines their office.
The four peacock shifters described below were knights of Fiera-bras. Their membership in this particular protector order has not been established.
Valcouronne and the provinces
Valcouronne, the capital, stands on both banks of a broad river. The royal palace faces formal gardens; across the water, the cardinal's cathedral rises above printers, booksellers and lodging houses. Bridges connect districts whose residents can hear the same bells while receiving very different accounts of the day's politics.
Wine-growing valleys and grain country supply the cities. Noble estates host hunts, marriages and negotiations disguised as entertainments. Market towns maintain fencing schools and coaching inns, where young recruits hear tales of court life and discover how quickly an allowance can disappear.
The coast contains wealthy harbors with their own armed traditions. The existing World Leaders registry records Ansel Nyoka, Edmond Dechuy and Scourge Orber as Fiera-bras pirate lords. They remain significant maritime powers alongside the royal government; their precise legal arrangements with the crown are not defined here.
Society and intrigue
Court fashion favors embroidered coats, lace, boots, bright sashes and hats whose feathers can identify a regiment or advertise a personal taste. Public grace matters: a person may lose influence by telling the truth clumsily, while a graceful lie can travel through three salons before its victim hears it.
Dueling is a persistent problem for royal officers. Fencing schools cultivate discipline, but rival households turn private quarrels into public tests of loyalty. Cavaliers are expected to settle disputes without wasting the lives of people they may need beside them tomorrow.
The kingdom's workshops include skilled textile workers and Weaver Mages. Peacock shifters are part of its people; the four known in Seven retain their Fiera-bras origins. Their beauty, magical skill and former knighthood do not diminish the violence of their kidnapping and enslavement.
The four peacock knights
Athos, Aramis, Porthos and D'Artagnan are peacock shifters and Weaver Mages originally from Fiera-bras. All four were formerly knights. They were kidnapped into slavery and taken to Seven; their presence in Seven arose from forced displacement, not a voluntary departure from their homeland. The circumstances of their capture, their captors and their subsequent freedom or present legal status are not specified here.
Their thread and textile magic is distinct from the luck-changing Webweaving of Catine. The supplied collages provide the following character references.
| Name | Shifter form | Magic and reference details |
|---|---|---|
| Athos | Silver pied peacock | Weaver Mage; thread, pattern and illusion. His collage includes a dragon back tattoo and blue, white and gold ornament. |
| Aramis | Peacock | Weaver Mage; thread, color and creation, weaving fabric, magic and memory. His collage shows blue-green peacock imagery and a dragon back tattoo. |
| Porthos | Black peacock | Weaver Mage; pattern, thread and illusion. His collage specifies a golden dragon back tattoo. |
| D'Artagnan | Peach peacock | Weaver Mage; thread, pattern and illusion. His collage specifies a golden dragon back tattoo. |
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Athos — silver pied peacock shifter; former knight of Fiera-bras. -
Aramis — peacock shifter; former knight of Fiera-bras. -
Porthos — black peacock shifter; former knight of Fiera-bras. -
D'Artagnan — peach peacock shifter; former knight of Fiera-bras.
A court incident: The Letter Without a Seal
A young Cavalier once reached Valcouronne carrying a dispatch with its seal cut away. The palace guards refused it. The cardinal's secretary offered to receive it privately. Captain Éloise asked why the messenger had not turned back.
"Because they wanted the seal," he said. "They did not trouble to read the letter."
Inside was a list of villages whose grain levies had been collected twice. A provincial lord had used a stolen royal seal to authorize the second demand. The messenger had removed the seal himself when he realized that anyone searching for royal correspondence would follow its mark.
Adrien ordered the accounts examined. Rocheval sent clerks who knew which ledgers to request. Éloise sent Cavaliers to protect the witnesses before either court faction could claim them.
At the next reception, a nobleman complained that the messenger had shown extraordinary disrespect to royal authority.
"Yes," said the king. "I intend to promote him before he acquires more expensive habits."
For once, the cardinal smiled at precisely the same moment.
