PrepMo 2023 Day 28 Plot backstory

Lord Malachar Shadowbane came to power when Icerna was a young girl. She had not known anything but his rule. Her mother took ill when she was just a teen. Shortly after her death, Icerna’s father was taken away by Shadowbane’s men, leaving her alone and destitute. She could not reach her brother, who was away at a university in Alzeban. By the time of his return, Icerna had met Aelar. She did not know of Aelar’s involvement in an attempt to overthrow Shadowbane at the time, and Thalric (Icerna’s brother) did not like the man, five years her senior. She did not know why. Thalric had come back to work in service in some capacity to Lord Shadowbane. Icerna pleaded with Thalric to not take this position. The ruler had taken away their father. But Thalric seemed oblivious to her pleas. However, he did so to protect her. He learned she was to be taken away to a regime-run orphanage. Children who went into that facility never left it, at least not alive. Most of the bodies were burned right there, as they had no families to pay for their burial.
When Aelar disappears, Icerna first blames Thalric, who had repeatedly told her Aelar was bad for her and she needed to stop seeing him. She had plans to marry the man. If it was not Thalric, then surely it was another young mage who must have taken him away from her. In her heart, she could not believe the latter, but she also wanted to have faith that her own brother would not hurt her so.
In his early years, Shadowbane was under the wing of an older ruler who served as his conscious and his director. Eventually, this voice of reason passes away. It does not take long for Shadowbane’s young ego to take over. At the age of 23, he is now the lone ruler of the land. Chastised and bullied as a young child, he will now “show them.” Shadowbane will show no mercy to mages or any others who look to get in his way. At the age of 26, he orders a bride, the most beautiful his money can buy. She reveled in the power he wielded over the masses and fed into his hatred of the “common man.” This made it all the more difficult for those under his rule. This was especially true for mages, whose magic was now forbidden.