NPC Gallery

[Kylia Quilor]

Any notable or recurring NPCs will be posted here for reference and record-keeping purposes.

 

[Kylia Quilor]

Duke Chelstead of Kardin
 

Though a moderately skilled fighter, Duke Chelstead of Kardin rarely wears armor or carries a weapon unless he's expecting a fight or is in the training yards, which is spends a few hours in a week to keep himself in form.
 

A kind, well-intentioned and good-natured man, Duke Chelstead only comes off as naïve until he's crossed - and then it turns out he was never naïve at all. Under the dandyish exterior, he hides a very sound intellect and an analytical judge of character - though he himself is not an expert on any given field, he knows enough about many fields and knows enough about people to appoint skilled and trustworthy subordinates, largely.

He firmly believes in his capacities and duties as a protector and 'father' to his people. The people of the Duchy are his children, and it is their well-being to which he should always be devoted. Consequently, however, he has much resentment for anything that he feels stands between his ability to directly oversee his subject's well being, such as the elected Alderman's Council that governs Whestil under a Charter granted by one of the Duke's ancestors. Chelstead has little regard for the idea of elections, finding them easily corruptible and that they only meddle with his duties to his people.

It's an open secret that Duke Chelstead thinks very little of King Ildean, though he is a loyal vassal of his King - he swore an oath on his ascension to the Ducal throne, and as long as Ildean keeps to his end of the feudal contract, he'll keep to his.

Edited January 13, 2023 by Kylia Quilor (see edit history)

[Kylia Quilor]

Red Victoria, Court Wizard of Kardin

 

A Cousin of Duke Chelstead - her father was brother to the Duke's mother, the previous reigning Duchess of Kardin - Red Victoria is named for her unusual hair color (black and brown being common among the extended ruling family of Kardin and among half-elf nobles in general) and for her penchant for wearing red clothing.

Trained at in Holisport, at one of several institutions of higher learning in that Free City, Red Victoria returned to Kardin seven years ago to take up the duty of Court Wizard to her cousin after the previous Court Wizard retired. She is responsible for overseeing, directly or indirectly, the purchase of magical supplies for the Duke's government - stockpiling potions, for example - maintaining or improving magic defenses at the Duke's manor and his major castles and providing magical assistance where needed to assist the Duke in executing his responsibilities, such as when the Rosan City Watch has a need or the like.

Red Victoria and her cousin are not especially friendly, but they do have a solid professional relationship, and like the Duke, she has little regard for King Ildean. She's a stoic, quiet sort of woman, who keeps most people at a distance.

Edited January 13, 2023 by Kylia Quilor (see edit history)

[Kylia Quilor]

Captain Mellia Markis of the Rosan City Watch

Born the daughter of a Tanners in a small village not far from Rosan, Mellia was probably expected to follow her parents in the trade. Instead, she proved to be far more interested in the job of the local Sheriff, and pestered him until he took her on as an apprentice and then a Deputy. With a strong belief in law and in the need to keep peace in a community, Mellia excelled as a Deputy, and on the Sherrif's recommendation, got a job in the Rosan City Watch twelve years ago at the age of 21. She moved quickly to the rank of Sergeant, given her skill at calming tough situations down, and her good nose for lies. She became Captain of the Guard two years ago, and started taking some side-training in Alchemy to assist with her duties to investigate crimes last year, but her many duties as Guard Captain mean that she doesn't have much time to actually work on improving her abilities in that area.

Under the Duke's direction, she spends most of her time when she's not overseeing patrols, keeping the peace on the streets, et cetera, leading the efforts to crack down - albeit with a very light touch, ideally - on the sale of duty-free alcohol in and around Rosan. Also at the implied direction of the Duke, She only investigates the issue of duty-free salt when incontrovertible proof falls into her lap, or when she's trying to get a Royal tax official off her back.

Mellia is a somewhat skeptical sort of woman after her years on the Watch, but she has a basic belief in most people's goodness. She's loyal to Duke and Duchy, but sees her primary responsibility to be to the people of Rosan - her pursuit of untaxed alcohol is important to her because of how much the duke's various aid programs to the people of Rosan is funded by the alcohol duties.

[Kylia Quilor]

Countess Viacena of Catrico

Viacena did not expect to inherit her title - her older brother and then his children was to have that burden - but after Biero went and got himself killed in a pointless duel over some arcane matter of honor, Viacena found the County of Catrico falling upon her head. A sorceress of small, but far from insignificant skill, Viacena has been forced to dedicate herself over the last 12 years to ruling, governing and the boring mundanities of government.

Less concerned with the rules themselves than with what they accomplish, Viacena relaxed many of the strictures passed by her more hidebound, but well-intentioned predecessors, and her ceding of greater power to the Catrico Common Council for management of the city in which she holds court is still one more place where she differs with her good friend Duke Chelstead - their differing approaches to the purpose of order and the specific relationship between ruler and ruled form a friendly debate and correspondence they have been having quite regularly for many years.

One of the few places wherein Viacena is strict with her handling of law is her extreme opposition to the custom of dueling - in the County of Catrico, duels are illegal, even nonlethal ones. Harming another in a duel is assault, death in a duel is murder, and simply having a duel where no one gets hurt still leads to fines. Perhaps understandable given her brother's death, but Viacena feels that duels are simply an excuse to arrange for legalized murder, and holds that dying for abstract points of honor is a waste - one should die for their friends, family, home, their people, or for a just cause that saves lives, not for 'honor'.

With her magical talent, the Countess is quite friendly with many magical organizations in the Grand Principality and heavily patronizes the League of Eldritch Practitioners, a local magical society in Catrico and other cities in Pellia and neighboring realms (but not Vancia) made up of sorcerers, bards and related casters that rely on power and will over academic effort.

[Kylia Quilor]

Master at Arms, Doreld Vann

The Master at Arms for Duke Chelstead, Vann is the man who oversees the Duke's sworn men at arms and the levy of soldiers in time of war. The Duke oversees his Knights directly, but in practice, Vann directs them as well, though that does sometimes cause issues with the Knights, who are generally nobleborn men.

Doreld is a gruff, no nonsense professional soldier, who fought in the 3rd Pellia-Vancia war in the Vancian Royal Army and saw the brutality of the war firsthand. He is aggressive about drilling his men, and blooding them when possible, believing that they'll thank him when the next war - inevitable, in his mind - comes. The worst time for a soldier to get their first kill is on the battlefield of war, and as such, he is not above taking a couple new bloods into the Disputed Lands with him to find a small gang or orcs or goblins to kill if there's nothing else that presents itself.

He keeps abreast of information about events in the Disputed Lands for that same reason, and of course, to prepare for raids from bandits or the various species of savage humanoid that live in the region.

[Kylia Quilor]

Harrald Gant

A veteran of the 3rd Pellia-Vancia War, Harrald is a grizzled, no-nonsense fellow, but as long as you give him no nonsense, he's quite friendly. A father to the small crew of his riverboat, Harrald is always 'adopting' younger people, having no children of his own, and fondness for helping others. He refused to help people who don't even try to help themselves, but anyone making the effort can get a hand from him.

He is close friends with his former squadmate Doreld Vann, and runs a prosperous cargo and passenger service through the dangerous waters of the Disputed Lands - he's good enough with a two-handed axe to handle a half dozen of your average goblins or bandits on his own, even at fifty years of age and none of his crew are slouches either.

Still, he's managed this long in the business by being quick and careful, and his boat, the Scarlet Raven is a fast and efficient boat, but rather ugly to look at.

[Kylia Quilor]

Falleen, in one of their guises

A drug dealer that sells to clients across Kardin and the neighboring fiefdoms, Falleen deals in high-class hallucinogens and sedatives, generally shying away from any stimulant drugs. Always speaking of themselves in the third person, Falleen is some sort of shape shifter or illusionist, as they always look different - in race, gender, coloration, size and every other detail one can name - from day to day. Even people who know them relatively well (or at least, see them daily or nearly so) cannot say they've seen Falleen use the exact same guise before.

The one constant is Falleen's familiar, a white ferret.

Falleen often samples their own supply, but never while brewing any, and is always experimenting to develop new and improved ways of getting high, refining and distilling various drugs until they are nearly completely pure and stronger than most dealers would ever dream of. Falleen seems to regard their work as as much a calling as a business, but never fails to cover all costs and 'dues' in full and on time.

[Kylia Quilor]

Quote

a man with goggles over his eyes, a scraggly gray beard and burn marks where his eyebrows should be. He had jowls and a double chin, and the goggles made his eyes look bigger than they were - his pupils were a startling electric blue, but the eyes had several red spots suggesting extensive use of stimulants to stay awake, something the bags under his eyes also alluded to.

 

Alchemist Nerlion Kor

 

A highly skilled alchemist with a penchant for poisons, toxins, diseases and venoms. Seems mostly concerned with the general idea of brewing the most toxic and destructive extracts he can, merely for the sake of it, rather than specifically because he likes killing people. That said, he also doesn't care what people do with his products, and his work is expensive. He raises a vast assortment of poisonous, toxic and venomous creatures and keeps them around his small home in the Disputed Lands, where he plys his trade free from legal interference.

Or he did, before his defeat and capture by a small company of adventurers. He is now enjoying the custody of the Duke of Kardin's prisons, after he tried to both use adventurers to double-cross one of his clients, and then double-cross them in turn. Made the poisons that were used in the very public assassination attempts of Duke Chelstead and Countless Viacena.

[Kylia Quilor]

Quote

The man in front had long white-blonde hair that he had tied back in a simple ponytail, and while he would hardly be described as 'handsome', he did have fairly symmetrical, finely chiseled facial features. 'Pretty' almost a better word for him, though his features were perhaps a little too pointed for that to quite apply. His clothing, as he got off his horse and walked closer, was clearly custom tailored, fitted to him perfectly, gold cufflinks studded with rubies at his wrists, a white-gold ring with an onyx gem on his right ring finger. He walked like a man used to being obeyed.

 

Lord Aldus Vedderak of Hanseval

 

A member of the group that seeks to rebuild the Empire - the Imperial Talons, the former intelligence service of the Empire - Vedderak is a courier and a bureucrat, and has shown no combat capability. Nor has he shown much sign of being particularly strong of spine. While he seems to believe in the cause of the Empire's restoration, he was quick to turn on his masters when faced with the choice of death or doing so. Currently enjoying a cell in the Duke of Karin's prisons. He betrayed the Talons, and several of his 'guards' tried to kill him.

 

Very much a dandyish sort of man, coming from wealth and holding a title - Lord of the Hanseval - that dates back to the Empire, which was used by wealthy merchants to separate out as a tax class. Whether or not his Hanseval Lordship is genuine is unclear, but he certainly has the wealth and arrogance of one.