Becoming a Count at age eleven is hard work, especially when your uncle has a valid claim on your title and may just be hoping you get some intestinal worms and keel over in the next five years.

Needless to say, Guy de Macon was simply hoping to survive long enough to marry and have children. Guy did little of note in these early years, preferring to wait things out. He was a gregarious child, adept at making friends, and quite energetic, even for his age. He would grow to become a brilliant military strategist who was also an excellent steward for the county.

His first wife, whom he married when he was very young, was very well-position and if they had any heirs, they might become the heirs of two titles. His wife was also quite brilliant and adept at any number of arts–be they military or diplomatic. It seemed like a perfect match, and Guy and Gisela, a German Catholic, were relatively happy together, and she helped Guy lead a court that was feared for its military prowess. Even better, she was known for being, ahem, well inclined to engage in acts that might produce children.

An overview of the land around Macon County.

Unfortunately, the complication was that Guy’s wife was much older than he. More specifically, over twice his age. A miscarriage and a stillbirth later, and Guy’s wife had utterly failed to produce any living children, and had gotten of such an age that it was unlikely that she would get pregnant again. Guy began to despair.

Meanwhile, Guy’s uncle Robert, the heir apparent in the case of Guy’s death, began to despise Guy. A fierce rivalry broke out, and Guy became increasingly nervous about the possibility of his uncle planning his untimely death. He needed and heir, but was saddled with an infertile wife, one much older than he, but nowhere near death’s door. In his frustration, he carried out an affair with a married courtier from a nearby county, a lovely young girl named Camilla.

Guy greatly feared death and his uncle Robert. He did the only thing he could think of: he tried to assassinate his wife, Gisela.

The plot failed and he was discovered. His reputation was badly tarnished by the event, and Guy became known as a man who was willing to kill his own family to get his way–not a positive trait by any means.

Rifts began to appear in his marriage. Gisela became first stressed, then depressed, for years on end. Finally, Gisela took her own life, leaving Guy a widower.

The three wives of Guy the First.

Guy immediately assassinated Camilla’s husband and took her as his wife. She immediately produced two heirs, Charles and Louis, and a third son who would die in his first year. Eventually, she would also produce three daughters, before dying in childbirth. She was, like Gisela, quite wily and wise in her own way, and was quite adapt at intrigue and diplomacy, although she shied away from them military arts. Guy loved her immensely, and mourned greatly when she died.

Guy de Macon's sons, and their wives, where appropriate.

For some time, he focused on the raising of his children. His main heir, Charles, did not take after his father in the realm of military–in fact, he barely knew which end of a cannon fired the charge. However, his diplomatic skills were quite good, and Guy was not disappointed in his heir, so much as confused.

An early childhood rivalry lead to stress in Charles’ life. This stress, over the years, turned to depression, and nearly a year after marrying his young wife, Charles had killed himself, without leaving an heir of his own.

Louis quickly followed, succumbing to the intestinal worms that had plagued him since his early childhood. Louis, at least, had a male son–also named Louis–with his wife before passing on. This blow struck Charles especially hard: Louis had looked exactly like his father, and Charles saw la mort chasing him.

Guy, in his misery, mistreated both of his sons’ widows, and they soon departed from court. The resulting fight was a great blow to Guy’s prestige, which dropped to a record low. Meanwhile, Guy was also manufacturing claims on all the titles of a neighbouring duke, as if he had nothing else to do. He was filling his life with distractings to avoid the unpleasant reality of his situation: everyone he loved was dying, and eventually, so would Guy.

Eventually, he married Ida. In a repeat of his first marriage, she was too old to successfully bear children–Guy had many talents, but learning from his mistakes was not one of them–and what’s more, she immediately during to absolute chastity after their wedding. Apparently all her years are a courtier in a bishopric had turned her mind to God and God alone.

Guy was furious with his chaste wife, but was not willing to risk another assassination–especially as Guy himself was reaching old age. Instead, Guy took to shtupping the local commoners, eventually producing a bastard son named Geoffrey.

As well as frequenting the local taverns–which, it must be said, Guy himself built, after a long period of doing nothing but improving the infrastructure of Macon and ejecting the thieves’ guild–, he spent considerable energy on marrying his daughters off. Distracted as he was, the matches were often adequate, but very few of his daughters married counts, only courtiers or potential heirs. In short, he had failed his daughters.

Guy's daughters, and their marriages.