Aaric Barca

"And we understand him well -- how he comes o'er us with our wilder days, not measuring what use we made of them."

-- Henry V, I.ii

Being the middle child in a small family is difficult enough. Philip, to his personal dismay, found himself the fifth out of a total of eight children. Far enough from the head of the line for inheritance of the Guardians duchy, he did not immerse himself in the training and fighting; far enough from the tail end, he did not gather the attention his younger siblings did. He made his way primarily through diplomacy and negotiation, and unintentionally gained considerable skill in resolving conflicts not only in his own family but among others as well. He has studied fighting and warfare enough to have developed an expertise in strategy and tactics, and shines particularly in the fields of either maintaining or interrupting the flow of logistics.

Having interacted regularly with the Claremont family of Draught during his formative years, he developed a close friendship with Isolde Claremont, at that time the Marchioness. In the early years the pair got along well, playing countless games of chess and developing all manner of secret coded communication. Eventually this friendship led where most boy-girl friendships do despite the disapproval of their respective families.

As part of an effort to separate the pair Duke Damien Barca installed Philip as Baron of Caerdach, in hopes that his secure title and land management responsibilities would sway him from attempts to pursue courtship with Isolde. About that time Isolde's public behavior began to make her a questionable companion for him, and Philip was sent to Caerdach for two years to "learn" his responsibities. During his time away Damien was injured in a mine collapse that left him severely debilitated, mentally and physically, to the point that his daughter Asha Barca became Duchess.

On his return to Gateway in late 502 A.G. for Asha's marriage to Tairell Flint, Philip encountered Isolde, by now without title. Although he avoided public association with her and attempted to maintain a respectful distance, their initial reunion was apparently close enough that nine months later she gave birth to Demetrius Lieberman and Persephone Lieberman. Isolde initially attempted to pass off the children as those of Baron Erich Liebermann, whom she had married shortly after Philip's return (and who died within a fortnight), but the twins were eventually acknowledged as Philip's and the pair were subsequently betrothed. For just under six months he was both Baron Caerdach and Baron Consort Destine. When the appointed date for their wedding came and went without a ceremony it became clear that the match had been quietly terminated at the last moment for unknown reasons, at least one of which might be Philip's regular assertion that he cannot trust the woman.

"Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence. Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."

--Sun Tzu

Philip returned to Caerdach in the spring of 504 A.G. to support the duchy's forces against the rebellion, taking charge of connecting the inter-isle logistics shipments with the legion quartermasters. After his sister's apparent death and transfer of ducal title to Eadric Conway and Arianell Conway (a descendant of an older branch of the Barca line), he continued to serve as Baron Caerdach. Over the course of the next year, however, calls came from many in Guardian and some without for him to reclaim the title. Initially reluctant, Philip began to find increasing support. When a fortuitous combination of events including riots in Trebachas, the disappearance of Baron Tarrant Conway, the sudden death of Dux Bellorum Trahearn Conway, and a Green Fields harvest allowed an increase in shipments of food and weapons to prepare his forces, he moved to reclaim the Ducal seat in an action taken without initial bloodshed but with threat of siege. Following negotiations with Duke Eadric and a fortnight's truce for mourning Trahearn, the sitting duke agreed to step aside in Philip's favor...but not before replacing the leadership of four of Guardian's five baronies.

And so on the 5th of December in the year 505, the Restoration of Barca rule on Guardians was completed and Philip became Duke of the Isles of Guardian and commander of the legions, thereby reintegrating the political and military command on Guardian in a single authority. And yet he did so not as Philip Barca, instead adopting his middle name of 'Aaric' for public use from that time forward. Somewhere, his little brother was laughing himself silly. Aaric's first public moves were conciliatory. He arranged meetings with his new barons, including those who had supported his bid for rule as well as those who had not. A flurry of baronial betrothals were arranged in those first few months of rule, and even the duke himself was not immune. In April bans announced Aaric's betrothal to intelligence analyst Shayne Locksley, eldest daughter of the powerful diamond and shipping magnate Dane Locksley. It is an open secret in Guardian and elsewhere that the Barca Restoration would not have been possible were it not for the proceeds of Locksley mines, and the match caught few by surprise.

(More to come.)

"I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me."

-- Frank Costello, The Departed

No one who knew Philip in his youth would have pegged him as a likely candidate to rule an island renowned for its warrior heroes. But those closest to him will readily attest to private changes in his bearing and person since attaining the ducal seat that extend well beyond the sharply tailored wardrobe, the newfound self-possession, or even the arguably ostentatious discarding of his first name in favor of his seldom used middle. They say it's as if the man has shed the skin of the boy he was and exposed something far sharper gestating beneath. After over two years of (relatively) peaceful rule, P. Aaric Barca has distinguished himself as a shrewd negotiator, an eloquent diplomat, and a sometimes exacting overlord every bit as capable of employing a stick as he is of offering a carrot.

Pragmatic, canny, and possessed of a prodigious strategic insight, the duke also benefits from a robust poker face that betrays little of his calculating turn of mind. Though his longtime love affair with chess has gifted him with an abiding patience, it is also rumored that beneath his stoic front Aaric possesses all the brimming passion of his bloodline. By inclination a private person, the demands of his office require him to become a regular fixture at court -- and a sharp wit, a love of games and puzzles, and a sophisticated but broad-based appreciation for alcoholic beverages (whiskey being his favorite) all serve him well there.

Though he is in regular consultation with his nobles about affairs of the island, his inner circle is quite close. He is rumored to meet frequently with his chancellor, the captain of his guard, and his youngest sister with varying regularity. Rumors persist about tension be between Aaric and the beautiful heiress who was, in many respects, the price tag attached to the Barca Restoration -- but rumors they remain.