Robert Dùghlas LeTreis, known as the Usurper King, Albert’s Legacy, and the Bastard King, is a distant Talakar-blooded nobleman who becomes King of Atlania after the crisis surrounding James Talakar Mardrein. Born during the Valarnan campaign of extermination, Robert carries only fractured memories of the war, but enough remains to leave him quietly terrified of Valarnans and haunted by old nightmares he cannot fully explain. Though technically a cousin rather than a true sibling of the main Talakar line, he was raised for all practical purposes by Blaine and Hanna Talakar, growing up alongside Eve, Dana, James, and Luke. At twenty-three, Robert is darkly tanned, thin from early childhood malnutrition, with espresso-brown hair slicked back short, tealish-green eyes, and a reserved manner that makes him seem smaller than his claim. He wanted only to serve the kingdom, perhaps as a knight errant, before Andrew Hayes revealed that his blood gave him a path to the throne. Robert refused the idea at first, but James’s corruption and the nobility’s fear of ceding rule through Eve’s Drachenbär marriage made him the compromise Atlania needed. Shy, withdrawn, and sometimes indecisive, Robert is nevertheless morally strong, idealistic, and quick to defend those who cannot defend themselves. As a spellblade, student of Hayes, and reluctant heir to Albert’s legacy, he becomes the king Atlania did not expect: not the loudest, strongest, or most eager claimant, but perhaps the one most determined to make peace endure.

Usurper King, Alberts Legacy, The Bastard King, Hayes Little Bird ((only Dendre and other courtiers calls him this)the Grand Duke refers to him as little bird affectionately because Hayes signature weapon is the Broken Wing)

King of Atlania

23

Male

Clean Shaven

Robert wears his espresso-brown hair short and slicked back, a controlled style that helps him look more composed and kingly than he often feels. It suits someone who is trying not to be an imposition: neat, restrained, and careful, with little vanity behind it. On him, the style can make his thin face and tealish-green eyes stand out more sharply, giving him a slightly older and more serious look than his age alone would suggest. It is the hair of a young man trying to present himself properly in rooms where bloodline, legitimacy, and confidence all matter more than he wishes they did.

Espresso Brown

5'9"

114

Robert is a little thin from early childhood malnutrition, giving him a narrower and less physically settled frame than many Atlanians of noble blood. At five feet nine and around one hundred fourteen pounds, he looks underbuilt beside the stronger Talakar figures he was raised among, with a leanness that hints at the hardship and instability of his earliest years during the Valarnan war. Training under Andrew Hayes and studying as a spellblade give him coordination, endurance, and practical strength, but he never fully loses that slight, almost fragile look. It makes his moral stubbornness stand out more sharply: Robert may not look like the obvious kingly champion, but there is more steel in him than his thin frame first suggests.

Dark Tan

Atlanian

Tealish Green

Robert is slightly terrified of Valarnans, though he would be embarrassed to describe it that plainly. He was too young during the Valarnan war to retain clear memories of the campaign, but fragments remain buried deep enough to trouble his sleep: fire, shouting, running feet, frightened adults, and the sense of a world breaking around him before he could understand why. His fear is not the hardened hatred of someone like Michael, but something more helpless and childhood-rooted. Valarnans unsettle him because some part of him remembers them as the monsters from the edge of memory, even if the grown man cannot always explain what exactly he remembers.

None

Robert is slightly withdrawn and careful, with the manner of someone who learned early not to make himself an imposition. He tries to stay out of trouble, avoids taking up too much space, and often behaves as though he is a guest among the Talakar's rather than someone Blaine and Hanna truly consider family. That reserve can make him seem uncertain or overly cautious, but it hides a steadier core. When someone weaker is threatened, Robert’s hesitation burns away, and he becomes stubborn, idealistic, and surprisingly difficult to move. He may be shy at first, but once he finds his footing on a matter of principle, he has a habit of talking himself into courage and then refusing to back down.

Robert originally wanted nothing more than to grow up, serve Atlania honorably, and perhaps earn a knight errant title so he could make a real name for himself without leaning on the Talakar household. He wanted purpose, not power. That changed when Andrew Hayes let slip that Robert had a claim to the throne, and that Hayes could put him on it if Robert asked. Robert rejected the idea immediately, frightened by the weight of it and unwilling to disturb the order around him. But as James became increasingly erratic and the nobles began searching for a male heir who would not hand Atlania’s rule to Stanzgar through Eve’s Drachenbär marriage, Robert found himself pulled toward the very future he had tried to refuse. What motivates him most is not ambition, but duty: the need to protect the kingdom, preserve peace, uphold the Treaty of Unity, and stand for people who cannot defend themselves, even when doing so forces him into a crown he never wanted.

Robert can be indecisive, especially when the choice before him affects people he loves or risks upsetting the fragile peace around him. He is not weak, but he feels the weight of consequences deeply, and his instinct is often to hesitate, think, and search for the least harmful path rather than act quickly. This is made worse by his unwanted claim to the throne; Robert never sought power, so when power is placed in his hands, he sometimes doubts whether he has the right to use it boldly. His caution can make him merciful and thoughtful, but it can also leave him vulnerable to stronger personalities, court pressure, and moments where a king must decide before he feels ready.

Robert is one of the few truly noteworthy spellblades of his age, with considerable skill in multiple sword styles and formal training as a battle mage. Under Andrew Hayes’s guidance, he learns to treat swordplay and magic as a single discipline rather than separate talents, blending footwork, wards, strikes, and arcane force into a practical fighting style. He is especially comfortable with a short sword and targe, but his broader training gives him enough versatility to understand and adapt to other weapons and forms. Robert is not the loudest or most physically imposing warrior in the Talakar circle, but his talent lies in precision, discipline, and the ability to stand his ground when skill, magic, and principle all have to meet at once.

Robert enjoys weapons training, magical studies, ancient Atlanian texts, reluctant archaeology, and training squirrels. His hobbies reflect the strange mix of boyish awkwardness, royal education, and Hayes-shaped discipline that defines him. Sword practice and battle magic give him a place where effort produces clear improvement, while old texts let him feel connected to Atlania without having to stand in the middle of court politics. Archaeology began mostly because a girl he liked was taking the course, and he found the subject dry at first, especially since Andrew Hayes had personally lived through many of the events being discussed and had written some of the duller second- and third-hand accounts himself. Over time, though, Robert starts to like the subject on its own terms. Training squirrels is the oddest of his hobbies, but also the most revealing: patient, strange, gentle, and just stubborn enough to succeed.

Robert is shy, morally strong, and far more talkative once he finds something worth standing for. At first, he can seem withdrawn, careful, and reluctant to take up space, shaped by childhood hardship and by growing up as the not-quite-sibling of the Talakar household. He does not seek attention or power, and the throne frightens him more than it flatters him. Yet beneath that uncertainty is a stubborn idealist with a powerful sense of right and wrong. When someone helpless is threatened, or when peace, duty, or fairness are at stake, Robert stops shrinking from the room and begins speaking with surprising force. He may doubt himself as a king, but he does not doubt that people deserve protection.

Fresh marlin fillet with lemon

Squirels

Short Sword and targe

the golden pendant that belonged to his mother.

Yelllow Green

Robert begins as a minor noble of the LeTreis line, raised close enough to the Talakar household to receive royal attention but distant enough that he does not expect power. His intended occupation is modest by comparison: service to Atlania, perhaps as a knight errant, spellblade, or loyal nobleman making his own name through duty rather than inheritance. That changes when James’s instability, Eve’s Drachenbär marriage, and Robert’s hidden claim make him politically useful. To his chagrin, Robert eventually becomes King of Atlania, not because he sought the crown, but because the kingdom needed a male heir who could preserve Talakar legitimacy, support the Treaty of Unity, and keep Atlania from tearing itself apart.

Robert is pro-Talakar, pro-Treaty of Unity, and strongly inclined toward peace in general. He does not come to politics through ambition or factional hunger, but through the fear of seeing Atlania torn apart by succession, war, and noble pride. Because Blaine and Hanna effectively raised him, Robert remains emotionally loyal to the Talakar household even after his own claim places him on the throne. He supports the Treaty of Unity because he sees it as a fragile but necessary foundation for peace between Atlania, Stanzgar, and the wider order forming around them. His politics are idealistic, cautious, and protective: preserve peace, honor the Talakar legacy, avoid needless bloodshed, and use the crown to defend those who cannot defend themselves rather than to glorify himself.

Atlanian Mysticism with an emphasis toward the Gatekeeper.

Minor noble

Early dry season

Robert was born sometime during the Valarnan's campaign of extermination, he has sparse memories of the events, but eventually found himself in the care of Blaine Talakar, his mother having been one of Blaine and Michael's distant relatives. Much of his life was uneventful as important historical figures go, he attended the Atlanian Royal Academy with his cousins, and return to the Southern Palace after finishing to await the finding of a proper mentor to apprentice under. At the time he and his siblings had the great privilege to have the Talakar's immortal Andrew Hayes available, and so he was tutoring the lot of them. Blaine had personally asked Hayes to train James and Robert in swordsmanship, but James and Hayes rubbed each other the wrong way and Hayes eventually refused to engage with him, instead focusing his attentions to Robert and helping arrange for a foreign sword master to train James. At some point Hayes let it slip he had a claim to the throne, and that if he asked he would put him on it, Robert declined not knowing what to do with the information asking that they never speak about it again. When James became increasingly erratic, many of the nobles were looking for a male heir who could take the place of James as Eve had been married to the Drachenbär's and they were not willing to cede rule to Stanzgar. This led to a minor succession issue turning into a major incident when the Grand Emperor used this opportunity to reveal himself as the voices that had been plaguing James, and he himself was an evil lich. A short war was fought, and Blaine seeing a chance to once again shirk his duties abdicated the throne to Robert and promptly moved the family to Stanzgar lands "To protect James look at him!? He's a shell of himself." (Blaine was heartbroken over what had happened to James but was a business man first and grieving came second.)

Well educated, he had several tutors growing up

A squirrel

I am listing him as a sibling, but he is technically a cousin of the main Talakar line. He is distantly related to Albert Dùghlas. The child that was the progenitor of this LeTreis line would have been a bastard child and Albert was not alive long enough to have claimed him as an heir. At some point after Hayes retired they were found to have been related to Albert during a census and were made a part of the royal line given the traditional name of non-inheriting nobility of LeTries.
Hannah and Blaine are for all intents and purposes Robert's adoptive parents.
23 at the signing of the treaty of unity