As with the many Matildas in real history and the World of HOOD, our worldbuilders also had multiple Ranulfs to keep straight. This one – known as “the petty” – was married to Lucy of Bolingbroke, and turned out to have an important role in the First Hycath War. His son Ranulf also had a role to play, though a far more comical one than his father.
Ranulf le Meschin became important to our worldbuilding because he was a specific kind of magic user called an Andratha. Though only women can be Hycathae, anyone can use a Hycath relic to use the power of a dead Hycatha as their own. But there are also terrible consequences….
Marriage to Lucy Bolingbroke
In 1098, Ranulf married Lucy Bolingbroke in Lincolnshire and became a major English landowner. The marriage was purely political and came with the Royal patronage of King Henry I. Ranulf served under the King as an officer of the Royal household while Henry went campaigning. Lucy not only brought great swaths of land to the marriage, she was also a powerful Nyridia, and she opened Ranulf’s eyes to the potential of Hycathic powers. She agreed to teach him how to use Hycath Relics to his advantage, a process which resulted in him becoming an Andratha.
