Paparazzi Glantri

Rumors About Klantyre

“Stay away from the Kaelic! They are a dangerous lot! All of them! Those McGregors most of all! Every last Rad-forsaken one of them! From their reclusive undead Prince, to their mad women! Even their children! Magic-wielding demon children!”

—Lord John Beaumarys-Moorkroft, Archduke of Westheath and enemy of the Kaelic

Perhaps the most enigmatic of the noble families of Glantri are the McGregors, lairds of House Crownguard, ruling house of Klantyre—but leave it to the Paparazzi Glantri to crack the mysteries and reveal the truths about the rumors.

Rumors: The McGregors are not natives of this world. They come from another world where they were escaping persecution for practicing necromancy and dark magic. 

Truth behind the Rumors: “According to our history, the people of Klantyre once came from a world known as Laterre, a world were wizards and magic-users were greatly persecuted by the church and the clerics. This is the same world of the d’Ambreville family and even the Fenswick (who were once known as the Fen Witches), and indeed, we all came to Mystara to escape persecution. It was a great and welcome irony that in this new world, the situation was reversed. Wizard s and mages were revered and reigned supreme, while clerics and priests are looked down upon.” 

“There is little truth that the McGregors practiced dark magic—at least, no darker than that of the d’Ambrevilles—for in Laterre, all magic was considered dark.”

Truth behind the Truth: The first of the McGregors who came to Mystara were led by Brannart  “the Red” McGregor, a cruel necromancer from Laterre who was escaping him violent and bloody crimes. The tradition of necromancy has lived on throughout the ages in Klantyre, particularly with the Death Masters, the Kaelic faction of the Secret Craft of Necromancy. The d’Ambrevilles hated the Kaelic necromancers, not only because of their evil deeds, but because the Kaelic migration managed to shut down the magical gate to Mystara, cutting off many of the d’Ambreville constituents back in Laterre.

Rumor: Prince Brannart McGregor rose to power by murdering his father, Prince Duncan McGregor in AC 960, then systematically murdering his relatives who could contest his claim to the throne.

Truth behind the Rumor: That tale sounds more like a Caurenzan novella more than anything else. The truth is far less melodramatic, but no less tragic.

AC 960 was indeed a dark year for Klantyre. It was the wedding of Bradley McGregor, the nephew and godson of Prince Duncan, and Andrea McDonald, a descendant of Lothar McDonald. The whole McGregor clan of course was in attendance at the feasting. By most unfortunate of fate, the beef at the wedding feast was tainted, and most of the guests fell ill to the typhus. That included Prince Duncan, many of his immediate family, and even a good number of his cousins and other kin. Even Prince Brannart himself fell sick to this malady (which explains his weak constitution and his aversion to being exposed to the outside elements). 

Now, the typhus as it turned out was a particularly lethal strain and many of its victims began to bleed to death through all their bodily pores. No doubt, it was the blood that the Kaelic folk remember. But there was no murder as speculated by many. The only blade raised at the time was the physician’s knife in trying to aid the dying patients.

Prince Brannart was one of the few survivors of this unfortunate tragedy that befell the McGregors.

Truth behind the Truth: Prince Brannart did murder his father and all contenders to the throne of Klantyre—as well a good handful of McGregors just to satisfy his malevolence. Some killings were done quietly and discreetly, with poisons or a dagger during sleep. Many were violent and brutal, with savage assassins, powerful magic spells of destruction and death, or with simple bloody massacre—such as during the McGregor wedding of AC 960. Prince Brannart himself had killed more than a few family members personally during this time.

Rumor: The new ruler of Klantyre, Prince Angus McGregor, is no mere child. Due to some strange wizardry, he was magically trapped in the body of a ten year old, but he has the mind of an adult.

Truth behind the Rumor: “The McGregor family has produced child prodigies before. My father, the late Sir Quentin McGregor, was one such prodigy, as it was said that he could cast simple spells even before he could speak. My cousin Sean McAllister is another example. He had to be placed in advanced classes with adults at the Great School of Magic, for he had mastered wizardry beyond the level of other children. And in all modesty, I am thus not surprised that I too have become one of these McGregor child-wizards.”  

“It is difficult to be a child in Glantri,” sighed Prince Angus, “What more to be a child-prince? For matters of security and privacy, I cannot tell you my real age. I am as you see me now, a child who has to live in a world of adults (a world of malicious, conniving, power-hungry adults, I might add!). I cannot be blamed if I managed to be precocious or grow up before my time.”

Truth behind the Truth: Prince Angus was perhaps the most precocious of McGregor child prodigies, for he had learned to wield the powerful magic of the Radiance by the age of ten. However, due to some inexplicable effect of the Radiance, combined with his practice of the Secret Craft of Necromancy, and his evil obsession with newborns and children (Angus had three younger siblings all of whom he murdered when they were babies, for the sake of magical experiments!), he has been trapped in the fragile frame of a ten year-old. Angus is actually in his mid-twenties, but his mind has always been far more mature—and more malicious, conniving and power-hungry as many adults. Angus also takes grave offence at anyone who treats him like a child. Those foolish enough who do find themselves suffering a terrible curse, an incurable magical disease, or a long and painful death. (That being said, his rivals among the Council of Princes know the best way to rile him up is to condescend to him like a little child!)

Rumor: Prince Brannart McGregor was not killed by the invading hordes of Ethengar in AC 1016, rather a violent and bitter duel broke out between Prince Brannart and his mad son, Sir Quentin McGregor, destroying both father and son, leaving only the young grandchild, Angus McGregor to inherit the throne of Klantyre.

Truth behind the Rumor: “That rumor,” explained Prince Angus, straightforwardly and quite bravely for a young child, “is full of malicious lies. First of all, my grandfather and my father both died during the Ethengarian invasion. Second, my father, Sir Quentin, was a genius—a bit odd perhaps, and definitely idiosyncratic—but no more than any eccentric Glantrian wizard. And though, I must admit, my grandfather and my father had their differences, they never took it own to a magical duel. ”

“As to the bloodline of the McGregors, we have always been a prolific lot. My cousin Sean is also a grandson of Prince Brannart, and he is also eligible to inherit Klantyre, although he is mostly likely to inherit the dominion of his father, Sir Alasdair McAllister, who most recently became Duke of Taterhill.”

Truth behind the Truth: In AC 1016, Angus made his move to usurp his grandfather, Prince Brannart, to gain not just the throne of Klantyre, but also to gain the position of High Master of Necromancy, which Angus erroneously thought Brannart was. (Angus discovered that with High Mastery in Necromancy, a Necromancer could become a lich, and he incorrectly assumed that Brannart had attained lichdom through this.) Angus took over the mind of his mentally insane father and used Quentin as a powerful magical weapon against Brannart. In a battle of water elementalism and death magic, both Brannart and Quentin were destroyed. As for Sean McAllister, though he is in the line of succession for House Crownguard and Klantyre, he poses little threat to Angus, as he is deathly afraid of his cousin. Still, Angus keeps are watchful eye on Sean, and has sinister plans for him in the future.

Rumors: Sir Bruce McGregor, who once served as the Castellan of Crownguard, was imprisoned by Prince Brannart, where he remains to this day. Lady Mary McGregor, his sister, continues to find adventurers and agents from the Sablestone area to try to rescue him.

Truth behind the Rumors: “With the passing of my grandfather and many of the older generation, the truth can now be told,” explained Prince Angus in relief.

“In AC 1004, Fort Sablestone under my father’s was enfeoffed into the Principality of Sablestone under Prince Harald Haaskinz. A belligerent group of mundaners and clerics, the Followers of the Claymore, took advantage of the shifting political climate in the area, and began an uprising, wherein my mother, Lady Mary was killed. In AC 1007, my grandfather Prince Brannart discovered that my uncle Sir Bruce (my mother’s brother, who was also once my tutor) was an illegal cleric. And not only this, but that he was one of the leaders of the Followers of the Claymore! That crime and treachery to the family could not be forgiven. Thus, he was duly imprisoned and he died soon afterwards.”

Truth behind the Truth: The Followers of the Claymore have been leading uprisings against the magocracy of Glantri for centuries, mostly in the Sablestone frontier and Klantyre, and Sir Bruce McGregor,  a cleric of the Immortal Razud, was one of its leaders. But Sir Bruce is still alive and imprisoned in the dungeons beneath the Tower of Crownguard. Furthermore, Lady Mary was an accomplice to the Claymore’s activities. In AC 1004, when Sir Quentin and Lady Mary were summoned back from Sablestone to return to Crownguard, the Followers of the Claymore helped spirit her away. She still operates in the area of Sablestone, Egorn, and Estin, trying to rescue her brother and her son Angus from the evils of Crownguard.  (Unfortunately, with her years with the McGregors, she has grown mad and developed multiple personalities!)

Rumor: Prince Brannart is not dead. He is a lich, one of the undead. He has always been in existence, for he is the reincarnation of the ancient McGregor lich,  Brannart “the Red.” He still stalks the halls of the Tower of Crownguard to this day.

Truth behind the Rumors: “Ridiculous!” exclaimed Prince Angus. “My grandfather is dead. I saw the last trace of him destroyed. Granted, there could be some ghosts that haunt the tower. But there was no McGregor lich and there never was. Brannart the Red was a cruel, bloody, brilliant tyrant. My grandfather, great as he was, could not be compared to him! I am the Prince of Klantyre now. That should prove that the old Prince Brannart is long gone.”

Truth behind the Truth: The rumors are most disturbing—to Angus, at the least. How true those rumors are remains to be seen.

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