Phillipe V Clemente

Samuel Harrington (Samuel Redbeard): "And now it begins."

Phillipe V Clemente (Pearson): "Now it ends."

~ Phillipe V Clemente speaking to Samuel Redbeard after his victory over the British at the battle of Toulouse, the first battle of The Paradoxian War

Sir Carlos Clemente, more commonly known as Pearson Wright (Pears) or formally, Phillipe V Clemente is a major character within POTCO's world roleplaying community. He is the patron and founder of the House of Clemente. Phillipe founded the nations of Russia and Switzerland, and also ruled as King of Spain (1701 ~ 17..), and King of France (1709 ~ 17..). Clemente came to power in Spain through a grusome rebellion against his father, Spartan Petalbee from 1697 through 1701. Following the climax of the rebellion, fearing future rivalry, Phillipe butchered the armies of his three most prominent revolutionary allies, Simon Treasurehawk, Nate Raidhawk, and Dog O'Hawk. 

Phillipe is the oldest of eight siblings, including Hannibal Clemente, Samuel Creststeel, Jade Stormfury, Johnny Goldtimbers, Carlos La Verde Sanita, John Fatbeard/Jack Darksteel, Elizabeth Pondbellows, and James Warhawk. 

Phillipe is considered by most to have taken more wives and fathered more children than anyone else within POTCO's roleplaying community. Some of Clemente's most well known spouses include Grace Goldtimbers/Duchess of Anemois, and Isabella V Clemente. Some of Phillipe's most well known children include Ferdinand Clemente, Hannah Bluefeather, Ben Squidskull, John Macbatten, Robert Shipstealer/Don Roberto De Muerte, Taylor, and Bobby Moon.

Phillipe has also "maxed" (Invited the maximum number of players into a guild: 500 people) 11 guilds, more than any other single player on POTCO has ever done. Some of Phillipe's most well known guilds include The Paradox, Caribbean Rangers, Imperio De Espana, and The Delta Empire.

Background

Phillipe V Clemente, or Phillipe V Petalbee as he was called until his ascension to the throne of Spain in 1701, is believed to be the eldest son of Spartan Petalbee and Pearl Petalbee. He was born in Palma, off the coast of East Espana in 1670. Phillipe is a devout but troubled Catholic who is often seen holding a Bible in one hand during political meetings only to later use the other to drink wine from an iron flask. Phillipe, like most Spaniards is also a very strong nationalist who believes in Spanish/Catholic elitism and frowns upon the likes of people of British descent. 

Phillipe is often described as a tall and burly man standing 6,5 with thick and somewhat long dark hair and a coting of natural eyeliner beneath his eyes giving him a very intimidating and mischeavous look. He is also rarely seen without entirely dark attire on, and in place of a crown Phillipe prefers a dark ostrich oval shaped captain's hat symbolizing his loyalty to the legendary Ranger Order. Ironically, when forced to pick between the two, Phillipe left the Order and went on to pursue his own absolute monarchy. The hat that Phillipe wears is said to be the only thing about him that is still loyal to the old cause of the Ranger Order ~ Freedom and Justice. 

Early Life

Unlike most of his time, Clemente was born into one of the most powerful families on the continent. His father was the infamous Spartan Petalbee, self~proclaimed "Lord of Avaricia" and "King of Spain", and most importantly, the leader of the Spartans Savvy guild enterprise on POTCO. At first glance, one would think that all of these advantages would put Clemente on an immediate path to success in the roleplaying community. Unfortunately, shortly after Clemente's ascension into the Spanish royal family, everything took a hard turn for the worst.

In 1690, at the young age of 16, Clemente's father came under the affliction of a menacing disease which had devastating effects on his judgement and sanity. Shortly after this, Spartan exiled all of his sons under the false belief that they were going to stage a rebellion and have him burnt alive. Johnny Goldtimbers fled to the North. Hannibal Clemente fled to Morocco. Carlos La Verde Sanita fled to Portugal, and James Warhawk, Samuel Creststeel, and Phillipe all fled to Hispanola in the Caribbean. Only Jade Stormfury and Elizabeth Pondbellows, Petalbee's two daughters, were allowed to remain in the capital, in Spain. Elizabeth, however, fled to the British Isles shortly after her brothers were exiled having a newly profound great disdain and hatred for her father. 

Upon arrival into Hispanola, Phillipe's vessel was ambushed just outside Santo Domingo by the EITC (East India Trading Company) or (East India Company). After a short 30 minute skirmish, Phillipe surrendered along with the remaining crew. However, James and Samuel were nowhere to be found. Phillipe was taken prisoner but was later pardoned and set free by Lord Benjamin Macmorgan (EITC) under the condition that he served a penace of 2 years in the EITC as an informant on Spanish activity in the Caribbean. 

After some months, Phillipe began to notice a potential uprising within the company and jumped at the opportunity by supporting its leader, Lord David Bladekidd. Unfortunately, the uprising was put down and the partakers, namely Will Raidskull, David Bladekidd, Admiral Quwas and Phillipe were all dishonorably discharged from the company and branded enemies of the EITC. 

Half a year later, Phillipe met with a man by the name of Hector Wildhayes who had, like Phillipe, been exiled to theCaribbean by Spartan. Phillipe also met with various other famous individuals such as Lunius Sargento (Luuluu) and Landon Clegane. Together, they led the first open rebellion against the EITC in their own guild, "Freedom Empire". This rebellion, however, proved to be a catostrophic failure, forcing Phillipe to re~organize his forces into a new Freedom Empire. This one, like the first, however, also ended up being a major failure. At this point, Phillipe acknowledged that an open peasant rebellion would not work and so therefore, with the help of Lunius and Hector Wildhayes, created the legendary Ranger Order (Caribbean Rangers). Within 6 months after the founding of this order, Phillipe had defeated the EITC and kicked Macmorgan out of the Caribbean and forced him all the way back across the Atlantic to England. 

Clemente's Rebellion

Three years later, in 1695, Spartan Petalbee recalled Phillipe to Spain due to a growing threat that a revolutionary front under Simon Treasurehawk was rising up and had intent to bring down the Spanish monarchy entirely and instate a constitutional government. During his time in the Caribbean, Phillipe had re~united with his brother Samuel Creststeel and together they had raised an army of 70,000. 40,000 were under Phillipe in the "Caribbean Rangers" and the other 30,000 were under Samuel in "Casa De Los Bandidos". Still loyal to his father, Phillipe accepted Petalbee's invitation. He was welcomed back whole~heartedly by the Spanish people. Word had reached the shores of Europe of his victories in the Caribbean and Spanish children went to sleep every night hearing about the tales of the legendary privateering prince, Phillipe V Clemente. 

Almost immediately after Phillipe returned home, Petalbee ordered him to quell a resisting force of 15,000 in Cordoba under Simon Treasurehawk. Phillipe defeated Treasurehawk at Cordoba and continued to battle with him for another 2 years, but as the war raged on, more and more former Spaniards began to take up arms against Petalbee. Duke Nate Raidhawk of Valencia, and even Dog O'Hawk of Bordeaux had joined the fight.

In November of 1697, an incident occurred at a high council meeting where Lunius Sargento allegedly stabbed two members of the King's guard. In response, Spartan demanded that Phillipe personally kill Lunius to make an example out of him to everyone else present. Phillipe refused without hesitation, and Spartan drew his sword and renounced Phillipe, declaring: "You are no son of mine!" Phillipe remained calm, and exited the room as his personal guard followed him out. 

A few weeks later, Phillipe joined forces with Simon Treasurehak, Dog O'Hawk and Nate Raidhawk, signing a pact of mutual amnesty, and putting the past behind them. Samuel Creststeel and his army joined shortly after. At this point, it is estimated that Spartan Petalbee's forces amounted to roughly 180,000, whereas the combined revolutionary forces amounted to about 150,000. Having had time to prove himself to the Spanish people, Phillipe himself controlled more than a third of this new army. 

Backing Petalbee however was the legendary general, Samuel Ironshot. There was also rumor that Portugal and even the Church may potentially enter the war on Petalbee's side. There were even threats in the revolutionary army itself. Phillipe's third in command, Hector Wildhayes' father was Lord of Coin of the Petalbee dynasty and had demanded that Hector maintain allegiance to the crown. 

In January, 1698, Phillipe engaged Samuel Ironshot outside Barcelona and won an overwhelming victory for the revolutionary forces. Ironshot suffered 43,000 casualties, while Phillipe's army suffered a meagre 14,000. In June, 1698, Nate Raidhawk defeated Carlos II Petalbee, Spartan Petalbee's brother at Cordoba. In September, 1698, Phillipe and Dog O'Hawk defeated Ironshot again at Grenada. In March, 1699, Phillipe repelled a massive counter offensive under Samuel Ironshot into Barcelona. In December, 1699, Hector Wildhayes killed his father, Juanito Wildhayes, and brought the House of Wildhayes into the Revolutionary fold giving Phillipe a major boost since Juanito had been the Lord of Coin for Petalbee. Phillipe now had access to the entire Royal treasury devastating Petalbee's regime.

For the next year, no major offensives were made and both sides remained at a standstill save for a few smallskirmishes. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, in June of 1700, Dog O'Hawk turned on the Spanish revolutionary forces and ambushed Phillipe, Treasurehawk, Creststeel and Raidhawk at The Battle of Barcelona. Having feared Dog O'Hawk's deception for some time, Phillipe was ready, and despite numerous casualties, was able to defeat O'Hawk and push him back into France where he would go on to face the wrath of Queen Marie Antoinette and King Johnny Goldtimbers (Phillipe and Samuel's brother). O'Hawk's betrayal is what is said to have been the first thing that began the feud between Johnny and Phillipe. 

Shortly after O'Hawk was defeated, fearing a potential future rivalry with the other revolutionary leaders, Phillipe turned on Treasurehawk, Cresteel, and Raidhawk. All three of their armies were annihilated save for Samuel's who Phillipe spared and allowed to merge into his own. Treasurehawk was killed on the field of battle, but Raidhawk escaped at the last moment and fled to Africa.  

In April of 1701, Phillipe landed the final blow to Petalbee in Leon in Northern Spain. However, having too much love for his mother to do anything too drastic, Phillipe spared his sister Jade, and his mother and father, Pearl and Spartan, and exiled the three of them to Tunisia, in Northern Africa. He also exiled Samuel Ironshot, who he felt was a worthy opponent, and should therefore be allowed to live.

Unmatched, Phillipe assumed total control of the Spanish government in July of 1701 ushering in a new age for Spain, and for the World. The war was over, and now completely uncontested in Spain, Phillipe had a big decision to make; rule as an absolute monarch of his new empire, or establish a precedent of a newly formed republican oligarchy in which the Ranger Order would reign over all of Spain.

From Monarchy to Democracy and back to Monarchy

From 1701 to 1703, Phillipe attempted to allow the Ranger Order to rule Spain together in one unified "Ranger Lord's Council". Unfortunately, many outside nations such as France, Portugal, and The Vatican saw this as a threat. The Rangers had a dark past, and had a thirst for war. Shortly after Phillipe came to power, Marie Atnoinette of France

and Jeffrey Blasthawk of Portugal both threatened to declare war if Phillipe didn't get things to together and assume power as an absolute monarch. For the next two years, he contemplated on what to do, and then finally in 1703 he went to the Ranger Lord's council chambers and told them that he would be taking over as king. Many opposed this, which began a small civil war between those rangers loyal to Phillipe and those loyal to the code. Over 1/3 of the rangers perished through this chain of events. In 1704, Eric Gunrage, (a hero of the revolution against Spartan Petalbee) led a peasant army of 4,000 against the King and marched on Madrid. To make an example of him, Phillipe rode to meet him with 300 of his best "Ranger Knights" and slaughtered all 4,000 resisters, including Gunrage. Their heads were all put on spikes and placed throughout Madrid as a warning. 

After the resistence had died down, Phillipe addressed the entire nation from a high balcony in Madrid. He explained that nothing hurt him more than having to kill his own kin, and expressed his reasoning for abolishing the oligarchy, as he was under pressure from both France and Portugal to do so. He used his slaughtered of the 4,000 man resistence army as an example of how far superior the ranger knights were and how he would be able to defeat anyone who dared to oppose him and that they would share the same fate.

News of Phillipe's bold power grab spread through Spain like wildfire putting an end to any potential thought of rebelling against the crown. Furthermore, it also spread to France and Portugal, leading Jeffrey and Marie Antoinette to respect Phillipe for his daring and audacious decisions. 

The Dawn of a new Empire

In 1707, Marie Antoinette passed along the throne of France to her daughter Grace Goldtimbers/Duchess of Anemois. Intrigued, Phillipe visited France two years later and within just a few shorts months married the young Grace Goldtimbers giving him enormous power in France and uniting Spain and France as Client~Kingdoms. Of course, many people, particularly in Britain/EITC were strongly against this marriage as they feared it gave Spain too much control and could pose a potential threat to the company (EITC). 

In 1711, Phillipe met with a Danish Lord by the name of "Francis Chiphawk" who spoke of great opportunity and fortune to the far NorthEast. He claimed that there were thousands of miles of uninhabited land for the taking. Intrigued by this grand opportunity, Phillipe marched an army of 20,000 to the East Coast of the Baltic Sea and established the city of St. Petersburg. He then added yet another title to his trophy list and proclaimed himself the first "Czar of Russia". He began rapidly expanding this new Russian/Spanish region in every direction possible, as quickly as possible, claiming hundreds upon hundreds of miles of land. 

Unfortunately, in 1712 Phillipe received grevious news that France had been invaded by the notorious British EITC Lord "Leon Goldtimbers", commonly referred to as "Captain Leon". He was advancing with an army of 150,000 and pillaging and burning every town he passed through. Scared for his wife, and for his French titleship, Phillipe raced across Europe with 5,000 of his initial 20,000 men and met up with another 30,000 Spanish there who were aided by an army of 50,000 French under General Francis Bluehawk. Together, the two devised a unique and deadly strategy to push the British invaders back into the Sea. It became known as the "Scorched Earth" policy. Phillipe burned every village, and every farmhouse in Leon's path, thereby starving his army of much~needed food and munitions. By the time Leon finally reached Paris he'd lost over half his men to starvation, disease, and/or desertion. At this point, Bluehawk and Phillipe's combined forces crushed Leon's remaining forces with ease and sent him running back to England in disgrace. 

The Delta Warring Period

By the early 1720's, Phillipe had gone on to become perhaps the most powerful man in the POTCO's history to date. His dynasty had spread into Austria, and Germany, Sweden, and Russia, and his youngest son, Don Roberto had claimed much of what would eventually become The Ottoman Empire. However, as his power grew, so did that of his enemies, particularly those in the British Isles. Though Leon had been defeated, the stern will and might of the EITC had endured. 

Roughly 2/3rds of the elite "Ranger" army which had helped Clemente rise had been destroyed through years of endless conflict. Though Phillipe had been hardened through countless battles, underneath it all, the glue holding it all together was beginning to crack. Although extremely powerful, Clemente had lost almost all of his closest companions, friends, and allies. For the first time in his life, Clemente felt that he was truly alone. From time to time, Clemente would disappear from the political stage for months and go out into the wilderness posed as a wanderer. Before long, people within Spain began to take note of this.  

As Clemente began to realize his fate, that he was destined to inevitably lose all those he once held dearest, he distracted himself by maxing yet another guild - "The Delta Empire". In this guild, Clemente for the first time in history managed to unite leaders from across the whole of Europe under a single banner. He then initiated a series of campaigns against Leon Goldtimbers for several years, which eventually resulted in Leon's capture and unconditional surrender in 1725.  

However, this victory was short-lived. While Clemente was distracted in the West with Leon, Benjamin Macmorgan and Andrew Mallace seized Russia out from under him in a brutal coup against the magistrate there.  

Almost immediately after Leon was defeated, The Delta Empire collapsed and many of those who had initially pledged loyalty to Clemente betrayed him.  

An Empire in flames

From 1736 to 1737, huge scale British-sponsored rebellions in Austria, Sweden, and France occurred simultaneously decimating Clemente's empire. Though it is widely believed that Clemente had the forces necessary to retain control of all three of these provinces, many consider that the betrayal by his wife Grace Goldtimbers, and his two children John Macbatten and Hannah Bluefeather was simply unbearable for him. Shocked, and unable to put his own wife and children to the sword, Clemente withdrew all of his forces, and summoned them back to Spain in a brutal march home which would become known as "The long way back". It took nearly a year for the entirety of Clemente's army to finally cross back into Spain.

By the time all of his forces had returned home, there were over 2 million Spanish soldiers throughout Spain confused, disheartened, and infuriated by the militaristic disaster that had just occurred, and at Clemente's failure to prevent Austria, Sweden, and France all from being overwhelmed by rebel forces.

Month after month went by and Clemente continued to conceal himself within the depths of his palace in Madrid. However, as the rest of the world was boasting, and laughing, Clemente was preparing. A small fire continued to burn in the heart of Spain which was destined to change everything.

The Paradoxian War

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The Post~Paradoxian War

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Closing years

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