Player: Rich J
Rank: Irish Baron (Rank 1)
Religion: Church of England
Reputation: Respectable
Email: luca_braganza@albion.chaosdeathfish.com

A mercenary commander, he at least seems to be loyal to those who pay him first, rather than the most. He is married, with a young son. Recently gained control of Irish lands for England and styled himself the Baron of Trilee.

Excerpts from A History of Ireland.

Though Lord Braganza’s bravery had seen a good half of Ireland walled off and brought under control, it would ensure that he did not live to see his son become Minister of the province.

A steady stream of false information was fed to the Baron through Patrick Stevenson, one of his spies who had been turned traitor by the promise of Spanish gold. Some of this was grounded in reality, most meant to play on his fears. That there was a large base at Kinsale, plotting to bring down the wall was true – that they already had the alchemist’s fire to do this not. There is no evidence to suggest their plans to follow this up with a strike on the Braganza estates were anything more than fiction.

Though he kept no diary his wife’s tells of increasingly troubled sleep. This, combined with occasional records of collapses on the battlefield suggest that Braganza was troubled by demons throughout his life, and it was this that caused him to launch a strike on Kinsale.

That he took with him a small group of volunteers suggests that Luca had suspicions of Patrick’s loyalty, and no expectations for his own return. Plans were made, and one of the more potent Franzburgs unearthed from the bunker with the Duke of Somerset’s permission. Those who accompanied him were almost all veterans – youngsters out for glory and riches having been turned down.

The attack on Kinsale was swift, Luca’s previous experience fighting in the area allowing him to pick out the best route to, and subsequently into, the base. The fighting in was brief and mostly bloodless, it was only when the gunpowder cellars had been reached, and no alchemist’s fire found, that the resistance grew.

The rebels had underestimated Luca and his men, though, and Luca held the cellar hatch long enough for the Franzberg to be carefully set up. Badly wounded from this, he stayed behind to watch over the Franzberg as his men made a fighting retreat.

The pillar of flame which followed could be seen from England.

The Braganza Institude for Martial Studies, founded shortly before his death in 1621, went on to become the place to send your child if you wanted them to go into the Dragoons (and come out alive). Staffed after his death by many of those who had accompanied him on that fateful mission to Kinsale, preference was given for ability over rank. Those noble children who thought they could relax as long as father’s money came in were swiftly set right.