Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7206114" data-attributes="member: 4937">Lord Yudikel Alkeema – Lord Yudikel is patriarch of one the largest and most powerful families of the empire, with diverse holdings and scions in various high positions of power.   The family is particularly prominent in shipping, and holds a great deal of influence over naval matters.  Lord Yudikel wears particularly fine clothing, and a massive elaborate wig, but his bloated, swollen, carbuncle covered face is a thing of horror that only the most strong willed can easily stomach.  Yudikel is a ferociously intelligent man with deep knowledge of even the smallest matter of the Empire’s workings but he keeps his own council and treats knowledge as a strategic resource.  Because of his appearance and the great pain he is continually under, he refrains from appearing in public very often and interacts with others only on his own terms.  For a price, Yudikel will reveal secrets, especially those others wish to keep hidden, but even when he’s paid he only reveals what will be useful for furthering the power of the Alkeema.   To treat his boils and alleviate the pain thereof, he’s very fond of hot baths.   Rumor says that his deformities are the result of an ancient household curse on the Alkeema family. Lord Cosmas Tenjord – Lord Cosmas Tenjord is the orphan heir of the Tenjord family, wealthy vintners and equestrians of an ancient heritage, being descendants of the first rulers of the Empire through the daughter.  Tenjord is an athletic twelve year old boy with wavy golden locks turning light brown, and bronze skin.  He dresses as a miniature noble, but often is sticky with sweets or muddy or smeared with horse dung at inappropriate times.  Tenjord comes off frequently as a spoiled brat, and has the emotional maturity seemingly of an eight year old – but he is no fool when it comes to politics, and the dangers of the court, and has a keen ear for intrigue.  Tenjord is also an expert horseman, and versed in all manner of their appraisal and care.  At twelves he is by necessity reliant on his seneschals and legal guardians, a weakness he is acutely aware of, but he subtly manipulates them against each other by holding out the lure of being his favorite.   Lord Silip Spillium – Lord Silip Spillium is the octogenarian head of the ancient Spillium family, and head of conservative faction of the Senate.   He is a bent and stooped man with a long lined face and thin white hair that does little to hide his liver-spotted pate.  He chiefly wears black, and has a cane of lacquered ebony surmounted by an ivory hornet as a handle.   He is known as a skilled orator, and keeper of all traditions and propriety in the empire.  In his youth, he was known as a fairly skilled swordsman and rider, but all that is now decades behind him.   By all appearances, Silip prizes order and decorum, but he’s said to have a streak of cruelty he keeps buried deep and reveals only by his frequently sardonic wit.  Spillium bucks the general trend in the capital by being a public ascetic, eating sparingly and drinking only tepid water.    Lord Yseult Tykard – Sir Yseult Tykard is the patriarch of the prominent military Tykard family.  An unimaginative and coarse man, Yseult is nonetheless a capable soldier and is as healthy as an ox.   Yseult’s face is divided by a very large and long nose that runs more than half the length of his face.  His brow is overhanging and deeply furrowed and his skin deeply tanned from long periods outdoors.  His neck is usually red, and his elaborate wig (or sometimes helmet) and covers a bald scalp.  Tykard is an ambitious man who is angling to gain control over the military and enlarge his families holdings thereby.  He has many rivals and is not well-loved by his peers, but inspires respect and loyalty among the military and the plebian class.  Tykard has a great love of strong drink, which he drains in large flagons, and is notorious for being able to drink others into complete stupefaction.   Lord Pusile Sorensen – Lord Pusile “the Debauched” Sorensen is the notorious head of the Sorensen family, wealthy land owners and purveyors in stone – especially marble.  Lord Pusile is a handsome lean man with bright blue eyes and dark black hair, just now gaining streaks of gray around the temples.   He is called “Pusile the Debauched”, because he was beaten and very publically raped by a rival in his youth, an event that triggered one of the nastiest house feuds in recent memory that ultimately resulted in the extermination of the rival House Alserda.  Although the true source of his cruel epithet is rarely discussed openly, Pusile has never been able to escape the public shame of that event or the whispers and rumors regarding it, and it haunts all his interactions.   The adult Pusile is a notorious hedonist, known for frequenting harlots, the consumption of vast quantities of wine and narcotics, and his lavish decadent parties.  He’s known as a dangerous man to cross with an ice cold temper and deadly fencing skills.  Lord Edolfus Favenger – Lord Edolfus Favenger is the head of the Favenger family, known chiefly for the exportation of wool and wool thread.   He is a short bushy browed man with white hair and large drooping white mustache.  His body is barrel-chested and his limbs thick and powerful, but this is easily mistaken for simple plumpness, especially when fully garbed and sporting the ridiculous clown like wigs he is fond of.   Aside from his families obvious business, the Favenger’s are additionally a dangerous clan of assassins, and Edolfus is within their ranks the undisputed master, feared and utterly in control within his clan.  This side business is an open secret within the upper ranks of the aristocracy.  What is less well known is that it is tolerated owing to the usefulness of the Favenger’s to the crown – which has more enemies than anyone else and at least as much coin to buy Favenger service with.  By agreement, the Favenger’s bring any contract against the interests of the crown to the attention of the Grand Prince and allow him to make a counter-offer at a suitable discount.  In public, Edolfus is good humored, and even comical and self-deprecating.  He is fond of making jokes about sheep stink and the difficulty has of ridding himself of it, and of his own supposedly failing hearing (which is of course, as keen as ever).    Lord Damien Langlais – As head of the Langlais family, Lord Damien is one of the more powerful men in the empire.   Workers of metal and miners, the Langlais control much of the trade in weapons within the empire and have many high positions within the government and the military.   Lord Damien himself is a round man with the unfortunate look of a simpleton.  His curly boyish locks, large eyes, and round cheeks belie a capable administrator and not incompetent soldier.  Lord Damien further suffers from poor digestion, compounded by his indulgence of rich foods, which leaves him gouty and chronically flatulent.  The Langlais still have a Keleshite look through common intermarriage, and the close ties of the family with Qadira are currently embarrassing at minimum.  Therefore, the Langlais primarily pursue a course of reconciliation with Qadira, in hopes of easing trade and thereby increasing their own wealth and status. Lord Oydis Dahl – Lord Oydis Dahl is a morbidly fat man weighing not less than 35 stone.  Scarcely able to lift his own body, he is normally carried around by eight sturdy servants on a palanquin.  Despite this handicap, Lord Dahl revels in his size and his notoriety as a gourmand.   He considers himself the foremost expert on food and drink within the empire, and his chefs are legendary within the empire.   A ancient patrician family, House Dahl is prominently placed within both the power structures and social life of the capital.  A devoted hedonist, Lord Oydis Dahl considers nothing but his own personal pleasure as filtered through his own jaded tastes and immense appetites.  He is nonetheless no fool, charismatic, far-sighted, and capable of witty banter.   In particular, he has a knack of detecting whatever vice his foe is most embarrassed by, and pointing it out in the most creatively wicked manner.   He also enjoys baiting people into insulting him regarding his size, for within the circles that matter, his immunity to such japes is well known, and those that attempt such ill aimed insults reveal themselves publicly as fools and inferiors to ‘His Immensity’.   Although reviled by many, he is a deft politician and has a tendency to foresee which families fortunes will rise and ally the Dahl accordingly, and likewise is ruthless in maneuvering to block the rise of any household which is a threat to the Dahl.      Lord Ovidius Deschamps – Lord Ovidius Deschamps is an unfortunate hunchbacked, bow-legged and pig-faced man with the arms of a gorilla and a cleft lip poorly hidden by his beard and mustache.   He is famous for is evil body odor, which smells strongly of ripe cheese and can be detected from across the room even within minutes of his bathing.  It’s rumored that his parents three times tried to have him murdered as a boy out of shame and disgust with their child, but he managed – perhaps through the power of whatever curse assailed them – to survive both attempts and his parents, as well as various other rivals and assassins within his house and without.   As a result of these rumors, few wish to cross the ugly man, for it is said misfortune surrounds him as strongly as his body odor, and those that wish him ill come to unexpected bad ends themselves.  The Deschamps themselves are an ancient patrician family who have apparently come to terms with their current patrician, and are likely to duel anyone who speaks ill of him to their face.  Lord Deschamps is himself not an ambitious man, desiring only to live quietly and pass on a strong and prosperous house to his declared heir – a nephew - but finds he cannot avoid the intrigue of the capital.  Marshall Ganet Skjaggestad – Marshall Ganet’s family is of foreign extraction, but his loyal to the empire.  He is a tall, broad shouldered, square jawed man with a small mouth that seems pursed in disapproval at all times.  His hair is short and blond and he forgoes the fashionable wigs of the city.   A great jouster, Marshall Ganet is often found at tournament.   He is also fond of gambling.   Other than indulging his love of risk and sport, Ganet desires nothing but to prove his worth and obtain for his family the repect accorded to the older and more established noble houses.   To this end, his in an absolutely ruthless zealot and patriot on all matters touching defending Taldor and the Grand Prince.  Rumors of atrocities and cruelties perpetrated on the enemies of the Empire have reached even the capital.I know almost nothing about the setting, so adjust titles and positions to suit your needs.  More if you want them.</blockquote>

Verification