Derian Isilviere

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Derian Isilviere was the son of Percy Isilviere and Arwen Mierelen. His uncle, Teried Isilviere arranged for his marriage to Gwyneth Jheron of Diemed. They had three daughters and a son. Vaesin Isilviere was their son, and Erin Isilviere, Arwen Isilviere, and Renae Isilviere his daughters.
Count Teried believed that Boeruine was losing influence in Taeghas, and sought to make alliances elsewhere than the Western Coast, in order to insulate the families fortunes from any possible decline of the Archduchy. Though he married his eldest son, Oisín Isilviere to Jehanne Tielen of Rivien, he arranged for his nephew, Derian to be married to Gwyneth Jheron, the daughter of Count of Aerele in Diemed.
The son of a second son of Isilviere, Derian was unlikely to inherit the family estates, and so sought his fortune as such cadet scions often did. Not inclined to the priesthood or to trade, he took up soldiering as a living, finding adventure and warfare throughout Anuire. A bold knight with strength and cunning, as often ran in his family's bloodline, he was quickly noticed by his captain, a man named Daen Roesone.
Unlike Derian, whose family was ancient and of the second rank in Anuire, behind only the greatest houses, Daen sprung from the lower nobility of Diemed in the rougher lands of the east of that realm. Daen, however, was a great leader of men. The combination of Daen's leadership and vision and Derian's tactical and diplomatic skills made them a powerful combination. Derian took second place in the relationship because he saw in Daen a special spark of destiny.
Though they campaigned most of the year, Derian took leave during the winter to return home to Diemed where his wife, Gwyneth, lived with her damily in Aerele. Meanwhile Derian encouraged Daen to likewise take a wife. A soldier wedded to his company of mercenaries, Daen could not see himself with a family, until he met Saraele bint Daouta, youngest daughter of the Patriarch of Elinie. The old Patriarch was wary of his hired captain, for Daen was a noble certainly, but a rough man of military camps and not a land owner. Derian, however had a name that was known to the four corners of Anuire and a smooth and persuasive nature. This knight of Isilviere persuaded the great Patriarch to favor the match, and so Daen and Saraele were wed in Elinie in the custom of the Life and Protection of Avanalae.
Almost immediatly, a son was born to Daen, and the captain of men began to consider settling down and living all the year under a proper roof. This appealed much to Derian as well, for his own family was growing as well. Daen had grown up in Caercas, and longed to return and bring some order to his homeland. Petty guilders and law holders ruled in eastern Diemed, and the result was near anarchy. The proud Diem family had little sway in the east of their realm. Dean had fought for honorable regents and trusted that Diemed's ruler was just such a man.
In 470 MR, his third child on the way, Daen proposed a contract for his company of men to pacify the local lordlings of eastern Diemed and win pay for his men and security and prosperity for his homeland. Daen contributed his profound leadership, attracting respect and devotion where ever he went. He started with his father's old crew of men, who swore allegiance to Daen and turned their backs on their old ways of petty banditry and forced taxes on local merchants. Derian contributed tactical genius to the effort, overawing every local figure who considered bringing armed men against Daen. Within a matter of months, all of Caercas was under his control. Daen went to the city of Aerele and swore fealty for his law holdings, and was named Governor of the East.
Over the next four years, Daen and Derian brought order at the point of a sword. Pirates in Abbatuor, a province in Aerenwe were also brought under Daen's orderly domain, and made to abandon crime for a life of productive peace and prosperity. With the east pacified, Daen quite reasonably imagined he might be granted a title in recognition of his achievements. In 474 MR, Daen sent his right-hand man, Derian, to negotiate a title for the lands Daen now ruled in Diemed.
Derian had come to Diemed as part of a diplomatic effort by his family to win friends on the Southern Coast. This policy had been carried further by Derian's cousin, Oisín Isilviere, who had married his daughter, Faelnie Isilviere, to the ruler of Diemed, Vandiel Diem the younger. This made Vandiel his cousin once removed by marriage. A skilled diplomat in service of a just and noble cause, coming to the court of his near relations, it might have been supposed that this negotiation would go swiftly and be well recieved. However, Vandiel had granted Daen authority as a governor in eastern Diemed and saw no reason to extend that authority.
Darian's cousin, Faelnie, tried to reconcile the positions of her husband, Vandiel, and his captain, Daen Roesone. Vandiel was determined to make the same mistake his namesake and ancestor, Vandiel Diem the elder had made with Endier. When the cause was lost, she advised her cousin that Vandiel was determined, and Derian returned to Caercas.
Vandiel's refusal would not have been warmly received in Caercas, but Daen would have waited to produce still greater results until no one could deny him a title. But Vandiel compounded his mistake by naming his own cousin, Uchaene Shaeme, as Count of Caercas. At this insult, Daen flew into a rage. With some reluctance, yet ever dutiful, Derian organized a force and promptly defeated the small army that Uchaene had brought with him to Caercas. This incident precipitated a full-scale war.
Aerenwe, as so often before, took up the cause of Diemed, for in politics and religion they are as one. Faced with a two front war, Daen and Derian were against the wall. Every ounce of Daen's leadership and Derian's tactical eye were required to resist two large, established realms. Even so, in three years, during what is called the War of Roesone's Independence Daen Roesone not only lead his forces to victory, but conquered and held the province of Bellam was well. Aerenwe's regent, a young King called Laurens Swordwraith was unable to best Roesone's armies and in 477, after the disastrous Battle of Halried Plain, he was forced to concede Bellam and Abbatuor and to acknowledge the independence of a new Barony of Roesone in order to secure peace.
Shortly there after, Diemed signed a truce, but refused to acknowledge Roesone as independent.
In 491, Daen and Derian, always friends and allies, united their families in marriage, joining Daen's son, Morghan Roesone and Derian's daughter Erin Isilviere in blessed union. Two sons and two daughters were the result, though none could have suspected that it would be Morghan that would ultimately succeed his father.
In 505, Vandiel Diem died, and his wife, Faelnie Isilviere, convinced their son, Heirl Diem that formal settlement with Roesone was necessary. Once again, Derian Isilviere came to Aerele, his wife and their grown children all together. The family was once more reunited and in the old knight, now Count of Fairfield, received the formal peace and cession of Roesone from his much younger cousin twice removed, Baron Heirl Diem.
The old man returned home, his life's work at an end. He had exceeded his family's expectations considerably, winning a county and a principle role in a new realm. He turned over control of the country to his only son, Vaesin Isilviere, and retired. Two years later, after a feast at which all of his grandchildren were in attendance, Derian Isilviere passed to Haelyn's Eternal Court, where, the priests assured everyone, Derian would be hailed as soldier, diplomat, and lord of men. A knight of chivalrous valor and a ruler of firm and righteous justice.