Swin Liamia II

Swin Liamia II or Swinn Liamia was the 7th Utyr of the Unified monarchy of Utlia and a respected abstract-shotist painter. He ruled the kingdom from 898 to 855 TT. He became renowned for his ability to ignore his advisors and hide from nobles wishing to speak to him.

Early life

Swinn was born on 26-7 928 TT at the Liamia manor in Kelna-Ut to his father Swin and mother Leyyet, he was not raised with the expectation of becoming Utyr and as a child spent most of his time invested in fishing, as a teenager he became obsessed with the art of Lyremen Shote, attempting to recreate the style as accurately as he could. In 910 TT he was arrested at the border of the at the time semi-free Mersen for a number of counterfeit artworks in his possession, after being taken inside of the border outpost he confessed his intent to sell the paintings as the true original to ignorant Merriyem collectors. He was bailed out by Vyme Liamia, who at the time was Utyr. This was the first time the two had met and despite the poor situation, they quickly became friends. Up until the death of Vyme in 898 the two would meet twice a week at Iruchaa coffeehouse in Kelna-Ut. Swin would continue living in Kelna until the death of his cousin Jrinea Liamia in 898 TT, Jrinea having no living heir meant the title of Utyr was given to the Kiyr Committee to bestow. The Kiyr Committee heard of Swinn and Vymes friendship and after a 10 minute meeting on 5-4 898 TT, voted Swinn Liamia as the 7th Utyr of Utlia. According to Liamia family historian Kerye Beryn, upon hearing this news, Swinn was greatly annoyed.

Rule

Upon taking power Swinn became the first and so far only Utyr to deny a coronation parade, instead opting to visit the seaside town of Surpa-Ut on the northern coast of what is now Azznin. While in town, he spent his first official day as Utyr by eating at a bakery, walking along the beach and talking to locals. After his day-trip to Surpa he returned to Kelna and made preparations to move to the Liamia Wyckryn in Tinlea-Ut.

On 5-7 898 TT Swinn had moved into the Wyckryn but had not appointed any noble duties or positions in his court, leading to a confrontation between him and the chief advisor to former Utyr Jrinea Liamia, Hetswern Inereu. The argument ended with Swinn agreeing to appoint positions on the condition that he did not have to do make public announcements of monthly news, as was tradition at this point, the position of Utyr Crier was created as compromise.

Swinn became embroiled in a schism between Nereset Shote and Caerm Terent over which had the rights for mining in central Mountange, the dispute stemmed from the granting of land to the Terent family 10 kilometers north of Mt. Utlia for resource extraction such as logging or construction, leading to the Terent's beginning a mining operation in the area. This angered the Shote family because at the time they held ownership of all mines outside of Azznin. Swinn himself learned of the dispute within a day of it happening but chose to ignore it, believing that they would resolve things on their own. A month later on 12-7 898 TT he was confronted by the two men, at this point exhausted after weeks of squabbling, the nobles approached the back of the Liamia Wyckryn and yelled up at Swinn, who was painting on the balcony, this was the first time the two men had met Swinn at all due to his over-reliance on aides during meetings. The meeting was chronicled by resident historian Kerye Beryn, who described it as a civil discussion of land rights, in the end it was decided that the Shote would trade mining privilege for military control and the Terent would gain mining rights. This change would drastically alter the Shote family, who hadn't controlled military since Lofses Liamia and would continue to control the Royal Army for the rest of Utyr history. Swinn would end the meeting by gifting the two men a painting each.

On 23-10 883 TT Swinn was declared missing after chief family advisor Inereu could not find the man after thoroughly searching the Wyckryn, a search party was assembled and on 30-10 Swinn was found camping in a North Utlian forest, upon being found and asked why he didn't tell anybody about his trip, he responded with confusion as to why he would need to mention it. Swinn was then escorted back to Tinlea-Ut and given a lecture about safety as an Utyr.

On 28-7 873 TT Swinn married his wife Syeren at a closed off, private venue in his hometown of Kelna-Ut.

During the Uyrinnaara of 862 TT, Swinn gave his first public speech at the seasons Naarafest in Tinlea, during which he was noticeably drunk and rambled about his love for syneri, coffee and his collection of rare paintings. The speech ended after Swinn left the crowd to get a hog sandwich at one of the event food vendors. This would be his second to last public appearance before his infamous 857 TT "nature of evil" speech, during which he compared the Utlian people to a blight on the great natural world.

On 5-1 855 TT Swinn was found dead by suicide by his daughter Erynt, he had killed himself while his wife and daughter were making a royal appearance. To show respect to him in death, his funeral was not public and he was given a standard service, making him the only Utyr to not have a grief parade or funeral festivities.

Legacy

Swinn is regarded as politically one of the least important Utyr by historians, his reign was generally uneventful when it comes to important events in Utlian history. Personally he has been adopted as a symbol of counterculture, specifically by the Sabayyre art collective, a shotist group that adopted him as their mascot shortly after their founding in 12 TT, their headquarters in Tinlea-Ut features a large mural of the man painting on his balcony.

Despite his unimpressive reign he is considered the "Last Good Liamia" before a series of leaders that would slowly erode the power of the dynasty, eventually allowing the Aremt family to sneak in and win the succession war.