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Borgio the Besieger

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Borgio of Miragliano, nicknamed "Borgio the Besieger" because of his unsurpassed expertise in siege warfare, is the former Prince of Miragliano, a city-state of Tilea, and one of the greatest mercenary generals of his age. It was said that no Tilean city, not even the ingenious ramparts of Miragliano itself, could defy him. Borgio was also an expert tactician and won most of his battles.[1a][4a][5a]

During his life Borgio fought against every major principality in Tilea. He established Miragliano as the most powerful principality in Tilea over the course of three great victories. After these, his enemies usually avoided open battle and shut themselves up behind the walls of their cities, only to succumb to Borgio's siege techniques. He was equally astute as a politician, but rather tyrannical, and those who opposed his will or sought to rival his preeminence rarely lived for long.[1a]

Borgio was strategist enough to understand that a hungry army would win none of Miragliano's many wars, so the huge fields of grain and vegetable crops, orchards of fruit trees, labyrinthine vineyards and vast expanses of pasture for cows and sheep he maintained outside the walls of Miragliano were protected by forts with garrisons of soldiers drawn from the retinue of the prince himself.[2d]

The more prosperous districts of Miragliano in the heart of the city were also protected by the personal guard of Prince Borgio. These were hard-faced men, scarred veterans of many battles. Over their reinforced leather armor, each of them wore a tabard decorated with the scarlet field and black tower that was the heraldry of the prince himself.[2b]

History[]

Securing Miraglianese Hegemony[]

Over the course of his lifetime, Borgio fought against every other principality and republic in Tilea for one reason or another, from wars fought over trading rights to pure vendettas against rival princes who had tried to have him assassinated. Indeed, there were so many failed attempts to assassinate Borgio that he gained a reputation as a man who had to be killed more than once to be sure.[1a]

It is said that Borgio once defeated an Orc horde by splitting them into three parts. Opinion is divided as to whether this refers to the horde or the individual Orcs. It is also said that Borgio could ride a horse, go to sleep and read a book at the same time.[1a]

It is said that the mercenary captain Pirazzo became so wealthy during his voyage to Lustria that Borgio tried to assassinate him in order to steal his wealth.[5a]

Another apocryphal tale says that early in his career Borgio was once taken prisoner by the Pirate Princess of Sartosa and escaped by diving into the sea from the dungeon tower, which was conveniently leaning over a high cliff. He then swam the Pirates' Current across to Tilea. Then he returned with a mercenary fleet, captured the princess and would not let her go until her pirates had paid him an enormous tribute gathered from their far-flung stashes of plunder.[1a]

A student of Myrmidian tactics, Borgio was the first to use many martial techniques, from employing cunning ruses in battle to inspiring his troops by being the first into the fray and even aiding in the construction of moats and earthworks. In 2489 IC, he defeated Remas at the Battle of Villa Vennia, where he famously goaded the Reman army over a freezing river and into an ambush. In 2495 IC, he defeated Verezzo in the Battle of Via Veddia where he is said to have hidden half his forces behind a small hill. In 2497 IC, he defeated Trantio in the Battle of Vittoria Viccia after luring them into an encirclement.[4a]

During this battle Borgio was aided by the intricate schemes of the princess of the city-state of Pavona, Lucrezzia Belladonna, who poisoned her husband Donato after his decision to make an alliance between Pavona and Trantio against Miragliano. With his death she married the mercenary captain Ranuccio who drove the troops of Pavona against those of their former allies from Trantio. After this unexpected turn of events, Borgio decided to richly reward the city of Pavona.[1a]

Yet Borgio also excelled in defensive battles. During the siege of Miragliano, he managed to repel the army of Remas led by the mercenary general Mandalari the Magnificent, even if the latter proclaimed that if it wasn't for the terrible wounds he suffered during the battle, he could have foreseen and countered Borgio's strategy.[2c]

After the defeat of the Reman army at the siege of Miragliano, the merchant Emiliano Tacca, employed by Umberto Gambini, one of the three Triumvirs of Remas at the time, was sent to Miragliano accompanied by Manfred Zelten's mercenary band to arrange a new trade agreement with Borgio's chamberlain.[2c]

Case of the Mirror[]

When the rumours of a perfect mirror, an item viewed with mystical reverence by Miraglianese society, spread in the city, Prince Borgio himself inquired whether he might buy it. Acutis the Glassmaker, its creator, was reluctant, but the ruler insisted. When the prince saw how the mirror reflected the tattered state of his soul rather than his magnificent physical appearance, he ordered the death of its creator, who fled to Altdorf in the Empire.[7a]

Death[]

It is said that Borgio finally met his end after a long and distinguished reign when he was stabbed with a poisoned toasting fork in his bath. This was one of several deaths which he reportedly suffered, but it was the only one that he did not survive. The circumstances are mysterious, but this was probably the only occasion when a man such as Borgio could be taken by surprise. Many say that his marriage to Dolchellata, the rather bad-tempered older sister of Lucrezzia Belladonna, was his undoing.[1a]

Borgio's demise resulted in street fighting in Miragliano as various factions vied for power. Borgio's excellent army fragmented and many illustrious regiments went their own ways under their captains, to become notorious regiments of the Dogs of War, available for hire to the highest bidder.[1a]

Another mercenary company, Vespero's Vendetta, was at the time in Miragliano, where Borgio gave its master, Vespero, the opportunity to get even with his pursuers as part of one of the great prince's political intrigues. After the assassination of his patron, Vespero took advantage of the factional fighting in the streets of Miragliano to disappear. It was likely that Vespero disappeared to seek out those behind Borgio's demise and gain a posthumous revenge as a final act of loyalty to his former protector.[1b]

Even today, decades after his death, Borgio is renowned as a great leader in Tilea and his statues can be admired alongside those of other Tilean heroes, even in cities outside the Principality of Miragliano.[6a]

Notable Events[]

  • 2485 IC - Borgio made himself Prince of Miragliano. He executed so many of his enemies by hanging them from Miragliano's leaning towers that the buildings are said to lean more during his reign than at any other time.[1c][4b]
  • Before 2497 IC - The Reman General Mandalari the Magnificent lay siege to the city of Miragliano. Thanks to a stratagem plotted by Prince Borgio, the Miraglianese army managed to disrupt the attack; routed by the timely counter-assault, the Reman host was forced to flee.[2a]
  • 2503 IC - Borgio the Besieger is murdered in his bath with a toasting fork. Street fighting breaks out in Miragliano as various factions vie for power, and Borgio's excellent mercenary army fragments as its captains lead their regiments away from the city in the hope of finding new employment. Braganza's Besiegers, Vespero's Vendetta, and Bronzino's Galloper Guns are just a few of these regiments of renown among the Dogs of War to seek new employment.[1c][4b]

Personality[]

Unlike many of the decadent merchant princes of Tilea, Borgio was a man great skill and many laudable character traits. It is rumoured that Borgio wrote very good poetry, did all his own cooking (to avoid food poisoning) and wrestled with lions on occasions.[1a]

Borgio is noted for devising unusual battle tactics and new troop types, which usually took his opponents by surprise. He certainly had access to Leonardo da Miragliano's manuscripts in the library of the princely palazzo in Miragliano. Borgio was a very big and imposing man of robust physical stature. In a siege he always dismounted to lead the assault over the walls in person and would strip off his armour and jump down into a moat to dig with the common soldiers.[1a]

This tendency to not ask of his troops what he himself was not willing to do endeared him to the troops and he commanded a loyalty among his mercenaries which has been the envy of every Tilean prince since. However, Borgio could not always count on similar loyalty from his courtiers, who were often intriguers and spies in the pay of his rivals, who knew they could not defeat him in battle and so resorted to underhanded means. There were numerous assassination attempts against Borgio and many occasions upon which he appeared to fall in battle. However, he strangely defied death time and time again, enhancing his reputation only further.[1a]

Wargear[]

  • Monstrous Mask Helm - Borgio wore a grotesque helmet with a fearful visage sculpted upon it. This, combined with Borgio's imposing stature, greatly increased the fear of his enemies in battle.[1a]
  • Mace of Might - Borgio wielded a hefty mace made from a cannonball which failed to slay him at the Siege of Remas and ended up embedded in his breastplate. Borgio, regarding the cannonball as a lucky talisman, had the iron projectile made into a mace.[1a]
  • Armour of Brazen Bronze - This is the very suit of bronze plate armour which Borgio was wearing when struck by the cannonball at the Siege of Remas. The armour was forged in Miragliano from melted-down statues of bronze dredged out of the Blighted Marshes. Whichever deities were represented or whatever magic was wrought into the metal, the armour certainly proved formidable.[1a]

Trivia[]

Borgio’s Brew is a potent poison, which takes its name from the famous merchant prince.[3]

Some sources call the great prince "Borgio of Miragliano," a common surname in Tilea that can indicate simply the place of birth of the individual in question. This makes it difficult to understand if Borgio is a member of the same family as Lorenzo of Miragliano, who were the rulers of the city earlier in its history.[2a][5a]

Borgio's name and personality resemble that of Cesare Borgia, an Italian politician and mercenary leader during the Italian Renaissance.

Borgio's three victories in the Battles of Vennia, Veddia, and Viccia are a pun on the celebrated Latin phrase, Venni, vidi, vici said by Julius Caesar about his victories in Gaul.

The same can be said of Borgio's victory against the Orcs that is a play about the phrase "Divide et impera", also attributed to Julius Caesar when referring to how he defeated the Celtic tribes of Gaul.

Miniatures[]

Sources[]

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