BELANTINO BLACK
married at 40 | died at 60 | would be 170 in present day
24/04/975
Belantino was Belzeneff's father and the previous King of Wiz. He was raised personally by his parents, instead of nannies, and they taught him what it meant to be a 'just' King. As a child he was well mannered and treated everyone with respect, learning how to share his toys with his playmates and then donating them to the poor districts when he grew too old for them. His father made frequent journeys into town to speak to the commonwealth and always bought Belantino along, trusting the people so much that he would only ever bring one Protector with him and for all the visits that he made, he was never once attacked. Belantino grew up this way, thinking that if he could get his people to love him enough, then he would never have to worry about his safety for the rest of his life. Along with social skills, Belantino learnt swordfighting and bakery from his father. After a tiresome swordfight, he and his father would always wind down with a delicious piece of cake that Belantino had made earlier, or some sugary croissants and tea. From his mother, Belantino learnt the arts. She had been a gifted painter in her prime, talented enough to catch the attention of the Prince during one of her gala displays, as well as his heart, and passed her art on to her son. When he wasn't studying his magic or baking in the kitchens, Belantino would spend his time painting the scenery of the castle, as well of the magnificent gardens and lakes that surrounded it.
Unfortunately, Belantino's parents passed away at an early age, leaving him to take the throne when he was only 28 years old. Even with all the things that he had learnt from his parents, Belantino was still too inexperienced to rule a kingdom. His father's advisors did everything they could to try to steer him into the right direction, but the new responsibilities that were placed on his shoulders was all too much and he even thought about formally resigning from his duties until help appeared out of nowhere. The man's name was Demarcus Lutece and he offered his assistance to help Belantino find his way. Instantly, the young prince recognized his last name as one of the 6 noble families and that he was a descendant of Demostenes who had been the advisor to his own great ancestor Belizano. Belantino accepted his help, albeit hesitantly, and together the two attempted to rule the kingdom. As it turned out, accepting Demarcus' offer was the right thing to do and within a year, Belantino was prepared enough to become the Prince he was meant to be. A year after the death of the King and Queen, Belantino was officially crowned as Prince of the kingdom.
Over the next 10 years, Belantino ruled Wiz as the splitting image of his father. He was just as kind, if not more, to his citizens and believed wholeheartedly in equal opportunity. He would often go out into the slums and hire some of the people there to become his servant staff in the castle. Of course many of them took this as an opportunity to steal his most precious items, and when they were caught and almost thrown into prison, Belantino would stop the guards and say " Stop! I gave these to them as a gift. But my friend you left so early, surely something slipped your mind. You forgot I gave these also. Would you leave the best behind?" And then hand them something that costs twice as much than the item they had stolen. They were then released without anything going on their record. Belantino quickly became known as the 'People's Prince' and as he walked through the streets people would kneel and kiss at his feet.
However, this didn't mean that he was completely naive. He had no sympathy for murders and rapists and made it a point of hanging them, many times in public, to set an example for the people. He crushed any who turned against him and banished many dark mages to the Under. He is also known for having only one Protector with him, when the usual was 3-4, because of his remarkable ability to protect himself, both with magic and sword. It was under his rule that the Knight division flourished and he would always show up at the yearly graduation ceremonies to give a speech.
Belantino was perfectly content with ruling as a Prince for the rest of his time, but his advisors were pressing him to get married. Only in marriage could one become a King and his advisors constantly reminded him that the country needed a King, not a Prince. All but Demarcus believed this and finally Belantino allowed them to arrange a marriage for him, since there was no girls that he was interested in and he didn't want to go through the process of choosing a wife himself. A month later, Belantino met Trrancedigaeth Quintana who was to become his new wife and Queen of Wiz. They only met three times before the wedding night and seemed nice enough, so he agreed to wed her against Demarcus' warnings. The two were married and Belantino was crowned King at age 40. Trrancedigaeth changed her name to Bellarose Black and became Queen.
Now that they were married, Belantino was treated to Bellarose's
true nature, horrified to discover that she was nothing like she had seemed. She was ugly and cruel and took enjoyment in other people's pain. Many times she tried to overthrow his laws to make way for her 'new and improved' ones, but luckily only Belantino had the right to veto those laws. This went on for the next 2 years, with Belantino and Bellarose fighting against each other on everything, and it got so bad that Belantino was contemplating divorcing her. But this didn't happen and their marriage was saved when Bellarose announced that she was pregnant. Belantino was absolutely against leaving Bellarose to raise the child alone, already knowing that if she did, she would corrupt their mind with her evil ways, so he stayed married to her for the child's sake. On the first day of the year 1017, prince Belzeneff Black was born into the world and Belantino couldn't have been happier. Having children was always one of his greatest dreams in life and he was ecstatic to become a father.
For the most of Belzeneff's childhood, Belantino kept him in his sights, never letting Bellarose be alone with him for too long. When he went away on trips or to do his Kingly duties, he would bring Belzeneff with him, or leave him in the care of Demarcus. He was afraid that Bellarose would do something drastic like try to take Belzeneff away with her, something even
worse, so he did his best to be a constant presence in his son's life. Because of this, Belzeneff became very attached to his father and the two were like best friends, always at each other's side. But this also caused a rift between Bellarose and her son and the two never got along well. The gap between Belantino and Bellarose grew even more in the years to follow and eventually Bellarose moved out of the Main castle into one of the surrounding ones. Belantino was fine with this, the further away the better, and now that he didn't have to worry about her being a threat, he went on to teach Belzeneff everything he knew about being a King. Their life was simple from there on out and they lived their days in peace.
Until Belzeneff turned 18 and everything started to go wrong. Belantino, at the young age of 60, developed a serious illness. It had started off as just a cough and he paid no mind to it. However, over the following weeks, it progressed into something terrible where the coughing fits would last
hours, making it hard for him to sleep or get any rest. It had barely been a month since he got sick, but from the way he looked, it had seemed that he had been sick for years. Fearing the worst, he held a private meeting with his advisor and placed all his power with Belzeneff, knowing that if Bellarose got even an inch of his power, she would mess everything up. Demarcus promised to uphold his wishes and that night, Belantino passed away. His funeral was large and extravagant, thousands and thousands of wizards coming to the Main City to pay their respects and watch the casket be paraded through the streets. He is buried in the Main City's cemetery, along with the rest of his family line.