Dycedarg Beoulve

Background

Lord Dycedarg of House Beoulve was born on October 24 to Barbaneth Beoulve and an unnamed mother thirty-seven years prior to the events portrayed in Final Fantasy Tactics, during an ongoing conflict known as the Fifty Years War. It can be assumed that growing up during such a perilous time left an indelible imprint on the young Dycedarg.

Dycedarg first made his mark during this war, being trained as a Rune Knight and attaining knighthood. During his training, he became friendly with many other nobles, including Duke Bestrald Larg of Gallione. His brother, Zalbaag Beoulve, also showed promise as a knight. The two of them made up the core of the Order of the Northern Sky, a prominent knightly order formed by their father during the war. The Order was so successful against their enemies that Barbaneth Beoulve and his sons were hailed as war heroes, and were instrumental in bringing the war to its conclusion.

Soon after the war, Dycedarg began making his play for power. Having lost respect for Barbaneth following a dalliance with a lowborn peasant woman (producing two children, Ramza and Alma), Dycedarg believed his father no longer worthy of the high standing afforded to him by his rank, and desired this power for himself. To that end, he became an adept student of poison, using a particularly deadly and untraceable variety - Mossfungus - to slowly chip away at Barbaneth's health. To all concerned, it appeared as a slow acting illness, when in reality it was Dycedarg slipping minute traces into Barbaneth's meals.

With his father's declining health, Dycedarg became leader of the Order of the Northern Sky. However, on his father's deathbed, Barbaneth requested the title go to Zalbaag instead, leaving Dycedarg with no choice but to relinquish his position or else lose face. He does, however, inherit his father's patriarchal status as head of House Beoulve, and it is thanks to this that he is chosen as personal retainer and adjutant to the more powerful Duke Larg, brother to Queen Louveria of Ivalice, and thus a very influential adviser.

Events of Final Fantasy Tactics

The end of the Fifty Years War left many destitute, including militia and auxiliaries who had fought on the side of Ivalice. Their discontent manifested in lawlessness, much of it directed at the nobles who had led them in the war. The most powerful group of bandits was the Corpse Brigade, a guerrilla force led by former knight Weigraf Folles that aimed to shatter the power of the nobility. Dycedarg stays at his family fortress of Igros Castle during this time.

To shatter the Corpse Brigade, Dycedarg bribes a high ranking member into kidnapping the Marquis of Elmdore, a border land unaffiliated with Dycedarg's allies, in the hopes that doing so will cause the other nobles to declare outright war against them. The plan is foiled, however, when his half-brother Ramza, fresh from the knight academy, rescues the Marquis despite Dycedarg's direct orders to the contrary. Dycedarg is furious, but Duke Larg points out that Ramza's efforts have likely hastened the demise of the Corpse Brigade.

During the Marquis's rescue, Weigraf learns of Dycedarg's plot and sends his underling Gragoroth Levigne to assassinate him. Dycedarg narrowly avoids death, and uses the anger of his underlings at the assassination attempt as leverage for an all-out assault on the Corpse Brigade fortress. His men are successful and end up shattering the bandits, but at a cost: his sister Alma's best friend, Tietra, was slain. This means little to Dycedarg at the time, but her brother Delita swears vengeance on the nobility as a result, and Ramza discards his family name due to the brutality of the battle. Both will haunt Dycedarg in the future.

A few months later, the sickly King Ondoria succumbs to a plague, causing a major succession crisis in Ivalice. The nobles are divided as to whom they should support for the throne: Princess Ovelia, the king's adopted teenage daughter, or his natural son Orinus, born two years earlier to Queen Louveria. The southern nobles favor Ovelia, as her benefactor, Duke Goltanna, would likely be regent. The north favors Orinus, who through his connection to Larg would allow the Queen to be regent. Dycedarg and the Northern Sky support Larg. Few other nobles support Queen Louveria, who is seen as power-mad.

To this end, it becomes necessary for Ovelia to disappear. Dycedarg hires the ruthless mercenary Goffard Gaffgarion to kidnap Ovelia and blame it on Duke Goltanna's Order of the Southern Sky, providing the Northern army with an excuse for war and a chance to enthrone Orinus. However, the kidnapping is disastrous for Dycedarg: Delita, having joined up with Goltanna, kidnaps Ovelia instead, and Dycedarg's complicity in the plot is revealed. Worse, Goltanna marches on Ivalice's capital and takes Queen Louveria hostage, declaring Ovelia as the true ruler.

Larg dispatches the Northern Sky to rescue his sister, with Dycedarg and Zalbaag marching at the head of the army. Dycedarg leaves standing orders with Gaffgarion to slay anyone who gets in his way, including his brother Ramza. The Battle of Lesalia Plain ends in a resounding victory for the Northern forces.