When Viscount Thomas Chandus was born, nobody around him would have ever thought that he would be a Lord - let alone a Baron, then a Viscount. Soldiering would have been an easy guess, knighthood a strong possibility; but nobility in his own right? No, such things did not cross people's minds. As the fifth child of Lord Edward Chandus and his wife, Lady Victoria Langer, Thomas was born the 12th of November, 1842 behind John, Elizabeth, William and Charles. He was followed two years later by Henry and finally, the “baby”, Isabelle. Thomas grew up only sporadically seeing his father, who was off fighting in the Thirty Year War. This same war would take Lord Edward's life, though the House's standing would do well and the Valley of Scales was barely touched, other than by an apparently opportunistic raid from Caltu tribes, repelled. Raised by his mother, Victoria, called the Iron Lady, the House's master of arms Sir Philip Chandus, an uncle too old to campaign but certainly fit enough to ensure that the fief was defended and a host of devoted, martial soldier retainers, Thomas was well equipped to be trained. When he was eight years old his father died at war and his eldest brother, John, became the Lord of Sun Shield, Strand & the Valley of Scales. Very soon after this new spread, the aforementioned Caltu raiding party descended on the Valley of Scales and burned some outlying villages, sacking them. As they moved in they were met by the remaining cadre of Sun Shields, the House's professional infantry, a strong force of Yeomanry, their pike militia and supporting arms, and the tribesmen were heavily defeated. Weighted down by booty they fled into the mountains. Sir Philip, though too old for a prolonged campaign in the north, was not too old for a punitive expedition close to home.
At the Lady Dowager Victoria's command, Sir Philip took young Thomas along with his soldiers as a page and proceeded to hunt down the barbarian tribesmen and exterminate all those who he deemed responsible. This, Sir Philip explained, was distasteful, but the Chandus owed it to their vassals that they would be protected and avenged. While some of the friendlier tribes assisted them, Sir Philip was absolutely ruthless with those identified as raiding the Valley. The soldiers spared only women and children, having found Aequor coin on the dead raiders in the initial defence and assumed a payoff by their northern enemies. Whether this was true or not was never determined, nor deemed important; retribution was sought and found. This left an important mark on Thomas at a very young age, teaching him necessary brutality for practical, honourable reasons, as well as serving to introduce him to soldiering itself. His brother Lord John came home a little over a year later at the end of the war, their sister Elizabeth having been slain in battle shortly after their father and their brother Charles swearing to the One Faith as a militant, convinced by the innate Chandus devotion to One and Faith and the brokering of peace by the High Priest Alejander II. Sir William, the middle brother, took up his role as John's right hand man. Though sad to have lost a father, Thomas barely knew the man and, having been surrounded by people who'd lost fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters, this seemed the norm. In any case, he was ecstatic to have his brothers home. He became page to his brother, Sir William. Several years were spent training and recovering.
And then, of course, King Lucas died and the Rose and Thorn postured and dug their heels and fought. House Chandus, being sworn to House Reine and therefore House Tarris, were for the Thorn. It was never really even considered that the Rose might be a better king or more legitimate. Loyalty demanded a certain reaction from the Chandus and, they being who they were, the line of obedience was maintained. They fought hard and fought long. Thomas saw it all and his teenage years were spent on the campaign or at home training and recovering. Though affable by nature, the years of warring deepened his already innate pragmatism and aversion to extremes of emotion. He judged by the performance of House Chandus's soldiers that their way of doing things was correct and the ideal and that he should continue his family traditions. On campaign, Thomas grew from page to squire and eventually, at the age of seventeen, to a knight in his own right, prompted by the observations of one Sir Ryker, who just happened to be the Duke Gauvain of Tarris's master of arms. This event is forever tinged with both pride and sadness in Thomas's mind. As the Tarris forces, Chandus soldiers amongst them, descended on the Thorn loyalists in the early morning of the day that would become the Battle of the Betrayer, the Sun Shields and Yeomanry advanced at great speed into the Thorn camp, supported by their archers, the Leatherbacks, while the light cavalry, the Hobelars, was skirmishing and carrying messages elsewhere. While the pike defended against Thorn horsemen and pushed forward, the Sun Shields struck out to cut a swathe through the beleaguered Thorn defenders. It was only after a few minutes that Lord John noticed that contact on their left flank was tenuous at best with the rest of the Tarris force.
As the enemy became more and more organised and resistance began to stiffen, such an frayed, open flank wouldn't do. Enemy soldiers began to fill into the gap and although Lord John shifted Sun Shields onto the flank, they simply did not have the manpower to be on their own. Held at bay by the discipline of the heavy infantry, the arrows of the archers and the wall of pike, he sent his two brothers, Sir William and squire Thomas to make contact with the House Tarris proper soldiers through the gap. Being a horse poor house, the two nobles and a handful of retainers mounted their stout mountain ponies and took off at a gallop. At first they tried to get around the enemies, but taking arrows and crossbow bolts (and several casualties) they instead darted through the enemy lines. Sir William took a crossbow bolt through his eye and fell, dead. At this point, Thomas was alone, but continued on doggedly. He made it, twenty yards out, only to have the pony cut from under him. Falling in a roll, he was able to pull his kite shield off of his back. Though Tarris lines were in sight, he was now surrounded by more men than he could count. The squire fought doggedly, he fought hard and he fought with movement and purpose, turning blows away with his shield, now thrusting into an exposed hand, now through a visor, always moving. By the time he made it to the right flank of the Tarris line with his message, he was exhausted, drenched in blood and had felled six Thorn loyalists. He delivered the message and led the right flank's commander, Sir Ryker, back to the House Chandus men, all the while cutting a swathe through the enemy.
But it was too late – Lord John had been seriously wounded and the Chandus men had been forced to consolidate a hundred yards to the rear. They were defending their position well and stoutly when the Tarris right fell upon the Thorn loyalists. In the confusion, the Chandus third in command, a hedge knight named Sir Carl Wayland (shortly to become the House's Captain of Guard) charged the Sun Shields through the pike lines and utterly routed the enemy in that sector, turning the battle into a bloodbath. A seventeen year old Thomas would always remember the sight of men dropping their arms and running with abandon, throwing each other out of the way and being cut down by swords and skewered with spear and pike. Sir Ryker recounted the tale of the squire's exploits to his brother, the wounded Lord John, as well as to their liege, Baron Varian and Duke Gauvain. He was knighted on the spot and became Sir Thomas. This was not to last for long. His brother, John, had been seriously wounded by an enemy poleaxe which badly mangled his leg. He survived two days, long enough to arrange his affairs and then die in a coma. The title of Lord of Sun Shield, Strand and the Valley of Scales passed to Sir Thomas, who had only been a knight for the blink of an eye.
Smartly, though he had a talent for command and an excellent read of the tactical situation within the chaos of battle, now Lord Thomas delegated much of the tactical command to his new guard Captain, Sir Carl and other senior hedge knights and yeomen. The rest of the war proceeded slowly but far less bloodily. It was two and a half years since the soldiers returned home to lick their wounds and rebuild. Thomas married his late brother John's widow, Alexandra (born Daltre); the marriage had been arranged while the war was on, not consummated and both newlyweds were much closer in age. In any case, Thomas viewed it as his duty. They initially had one child, Edward, named after Thomas's late father. The Valley of Scales experienced a baby boom and, rather surprisingly, has received an inflow of Caltu tribesmen who decided to abandon their barbaric ways and settle in the valley, sworn to the Chandus. Though the recent history was been more than grim, times were beginning to look up for this very ancient but small house and their young Lord, Thomas Chandus.