"King Louis the Righteous, Duke of Aquitaine, seated upon his snowy destrier, Chevauchee, riding through the broken walls of Lasheik to rout the hosts of the Sultan Jaffar. King and warhorse were depicted life-size, a nimbus of light surrounding the sovereign's head and drawn sword. Before him, the swarthy Arabyans cringed in terror, behind him the face of every Bretonnian in his army was filled with awe."
- —Description of a portrait of King Louis, depicting one of his many heroic battles during the Crusades.[1b]
Louis the Righteous was the fifteenth King of Bretonnia, Grail Knight and younger brother to the legendary Red Duke.
History[]
"So much had been lost at Ceren Field, things that no victory could restore. The Aquitaine he had known was gone, as dead as the knights of Cuileux and the dragons of Tarasq. The king lowered his eyes and looked upon the body laid out at his feet. The crimson armour shone like a mantle of rubies in the blazing sun, the jewelled necklace about the corpse’s throat was like a burning star. There was no cruelty or malice in the lean face of the dead man, only an expression of peaceful repose. How hard had that face fought to have that look upon it, all down the Estalian peninsula and out across the sea to the desolate shores of Araby and the thorny walls of Lashiek. The dead knight had fought so terribly hard to find peace. In the end, it had taken the king’s lance to bring it to him…"
- —Louis looks upon his fallen brother.[1c]
Louis had been the secondborn in his family. While his older brother inherited the title of Duke, Louis would dedicate himself to the Grail Quest and join the ranks of the Grail Knights.[1e]
Louis was a fearsome warrior and a great leader who glowed with the grace of the Lady of the Lake. Such was his presence that he inspired men to feats of heroism that had not been seen since the time of Gilles le Breton himself. It was Louis who organised the crusades against Araby; alongside his brother the Duke of Aquitaine, he led Bretonnia's forces into the blistering desert.[1b][2a]
The innumerable armies of Sultan Jaffar could not stand against the might of Bretonnia, and thousands fell beneath the charge of the noble knights. Not even the harsh desert conditions could perturb Louis and his army, the Sultan was ultimately defeated and Louis' army returned to Bretonnia with honour and fortune.[2a]
Despite this great victory, Louis was deeply saddened as his brother, one of Bretonnia's greatest Knights, had been turned into a foul Vampire during their crusade by Abhorash himself.[1f]
Louis mourned for his brother, knowing that the good and honourable man he once knew was dead. The Red Duke, as he was now known, sowed wreck and ruin across his former lands, giving no quarter and using the dead to forge an unholy warhost. Louis took solace in a Prophetess known as Isabeau, who advised him to face the Vampire at Ceren Field, where the armies of Bretonnia could charge without obstruction and trample the Duke's undead hordes.[1d]
The battle at Ceren Field was long and brutal. Needless to say, however, no undead creature could stand against the King, and Grail Knights do not fear the spirits of the departed. Louis rode into the thick of battle, smashing rotted faces with his lance and breaking fleshless bones with the heels of his armoured boots. For hours he fought, cutting down mighty Wights and destroying droves of skeletal spearmen and rotting Zombies. Against this sea of undeath Louis fought until, eventually, his enemies paused to make way for their leader, lowering their weapons and returning to a state of stillness. The Red Duke sat astride a steed of spectral bone and witch fire, its corruption swathed in a black caparison. Louis looked at his brother with tears in his eyes and vowed to defeat him, not to destroy the monster, but to avenge the man he had once been.[1a][3a]
As the two knights charged, a beam of pure light surrounded the King of Bretonnia. His armour dazzled and shimmered under this holy light, casting a wondrous glamour to the vampire's hideous countenance. The Red Duke reeled in his saddle, throwing his arms towards his burning eyes. Louis drove his lance into the creature's breastplate, tearing through it as though it were parchment. The Red Duke was lifted clear from his saddle, his heart pierced. King Louis held the struggling vampire aloft, repeating his vow over and over again, not to kill the monster, but to redeem the man.[1a]
After his brother's defeat, Louis refused to burn his corpse out of respect. Despite the priestesses of the Lady and even his own Lords urging him to destroy the Duke's body completely, the King’s will was law. The body of the Red Duke was not consigned to the flames, but was instead borne from the field of battle. A great tower of marble was erected and into the pillar the vampire’s body was placed. The Prophetess Isabeau warned against honouring a thing that had turned to evil and visited such wickedness upon the land, but her words fell upon unheeding ears. The King’s grief was great; only by paying tribute to his dead enemy could he ease the burden of his heart.[1c]
Upon his return to Castle Aquitaine, Louis vowed to raise his brother's son, Galand, teaching him to become a just and noble knight. Indeed, the King's nephew would go on to become a renowned hero of both Aquitaine and Bretonnia itself.[1f] Louis also commanded to strike the real name of the Red Duke from all records, so that the terrible shame would be forgotten and the relatives of the Red Duke could live without constantly being reminded of the evil that once carried their name.[3a]
In modern Bretonnia, any familial association between the King and the Red Duke is forgotten. Generations of Dukes have scoured all histories, documents and monuments of his true name and to insinuate that a King of Bretonnia could share the heritage of an infamous vampire is seen as akin to claiming that Karl Franz was descended from the Reikerbahn Butcher.[1g]
Wargear and Abilities[]
King Louis was a Grail Knight, and thus a living saint who possessed abilities beyond mortal warriors. He was capable of defeating the Red Duke in single combat, one of the greatest Blood Knights since Abhorash himself.
- The Crown of Bretonnia - This crown was blessed by the Lady before being set upon the brow of the first King of Bretonnia by the Fay Enchantress. It shone with a golden light, enhancing the character of its wearer and inspiring those near him.
- Chevauchee - A great snow-coloured destrier, famously ridden into battle by King Louis during the Crusades against Araby.[1b]