Tag: human

Jorge Gel, Ship Captain

A fantasy -themed character illustration.

 

Name: Jorge Gel
Race: human
Location: Wherever his ship ‘Raimelho‘ happens to be; port of call is Cuervo Garrac in Ferria

Jorge Gel was born in the port city of Cuervo Garrac in Ferria to a family full of sailors – some being accomplished veteran seafarers and others less so but pretty much all of his family members has a long history on the seas. He spent his early childhood aboard his uncle’s small cog and already at the age of ten he was baptized in combat against pirates trying to hijack the ship; luckily no lives were lost at that time although the cargo was. It was a defining moment in Jorge’s life as he then and there realized his entire future would be aboard sailing ships until his demise and he gladly accepted it.

As an adult Jorge spent many years on and off many merchant ships traveling the coastal regions of Ferria and Calishem mainly and saving any and all earnings he got in order to some day get a ship of his own. Finally at the age of 29 he bought the wrecked cog Raimelho from an old merchant Tirrana Welmius who called it quits and retired after defying one storm too many. Welmius did not have enough money to get his ship repaired and instead offered it to the Gel family – who were a known family of seafarers – and managed to convince Jorge that Raimelho would have many decades ahead of it after some simple repairs. As it happens, repairing the damaged ship cost far less than what the old merchant had assumed leaving the new owner with some excess capital to start his own business.

Now at the age of 42 Jorge is a veteran captain. His ship has served him well and is still in a fine condition thanks to Jorge’s interest in both maintaining it and understanding it’s limitations as well as his own. He has amassed a respectable fortune during his years as a merchant captain although there has been darker times involving lost cargo and lost crew members. He probably would have enough to get him a bigger ship but he is quite happy and satisfied with his current one.

As a person Captain Gel is stern and just with a twist of quickly cooling temperament and a quirky sense of humor. He considers himself a reasonable and upright man and takes great pride in having achieved a reputation as a fair and trustworthy merchant in all the ports he frequents. Captain Gel has also frequently paid his crew bonuses for runs that go well. When on land, Captain Gel resides in the heart of the Cuervo Garrac city on a mansion (named Gelanto with a long and important history in the city) owned by his family.  He spends a total of 3-4 months a year in Cuervo Garrac between merchant runs getting new deals agreed upon and spending time to maintain the ship.

 

Baron Egor Malekov

2016-09-25

Name: Baron Egor Malekov
Race: vampire
Location: Tarzhov, Zarnova

One of the ruling vampires of Zarnova, Lord Malekov is also one of the less known and deliberately reclusive of the bunch. He is a member of The Roskov Ring – a ring of ruling lords commanded by the Vampire Queen Anya Voorish. He would rather he wasn’t but his former close alliances with the vampire queen have locked his unlife existence with the fate of her. Lord Malekov seeks no fame and doesn’t really care what history books say about him. He doesn’t share the vampire queens’ thirst for ever more power. He is quite happy living in his remote castle surrounded by restless wild life, untamed sea and fear infused trembling villagers of the nearby villages.

Lord Malekov rarely travels away from his castle near the small town of Tarzhov which is the capital of the barony. And when he does he is most probably going to or from The Castle Roskov where the vampire queen holds meetings for the ruling lords of the land. Lord Malekov holds many enemies – some of his feuds span over centuries and are still active – but his few friends are immensely powerful providing him pretty much free reign in his daily activities. He was a fierce adversary of the country’s former ruler Lich Lord Tomas Vladovych whom Lady Voorish “replaced” and Lord Malekov’s assistance in that coup d’etat was inherently important. However, the former ruler still has a strong following (mainly consisting of a group of his disciples) just watching and waiting for a change at retaliation. Lord Malekov is thus quite uncomfortable while outside the confines of his castle and uses whatever measures required to mask his traveling schedules and identity and always has a few trustworthy aides with him.

Lord Malekov is properly old. He is one of the eldest active vampires in existence and as such possesses amazing powers justifiably feared by the local townsfolk and denizens of nearby villages. His powers easily match and even surpass that of the vampire queen but he has no interest in ruling a country and no desire to attain a position that attracts the attention of foreign nations. In fact, he has an agenda to protect her interests fearing that should she be thrown out of The Castle Roskov, he would be forced to step in.

Many times during the last century the villagers have tried to burn his castle with him inside but somehow he has always been aware of these attempts and subverted them with very rough and brutal punishments to the ones leading the people to these activities. Lord Malekov has always had well paid spies on every village nearby and consider these a clever early warning system against threats both domestic and foreign. He oddly likes to see the villages do well and while of course it is handy to have fresh bodies available to quench the thirst for blood, he also treats the nearby inhabitants much better than he would have to. In fact, by proxies he donates back to the communities some of the taxes he collects and while not all people know of this, many do and those happen to be important individuals with power over the others in their respective communities.

A good strategy to keep human emotions at bay. And he doesn’t actually need the money anyway.

 

Marcheval Dufien “The Beheader”

2016-08-13

Name: Marcheval Dufien
Race: Human
Location: Udynaesses, Groam

The city of Udynaesses located in the border region of Groam and Caheb has been a lawless pit ever since the area was ravaged by a devastating plague and while the region in general has more or less recovered, the city of Udynaesses unfortunately has not. With a long and glorious history as the once capital city of Caheb, Udynaesses was seized by Groam during the period of plague some 80 years ago and is the southernmost population center of Groam. Groam hasn’t had an interest in keeping the place in line though and mostly this is because it’s hard to reach from Groam – one would have to travel through dense jungles, cross snow peaked mountains or risk dehydration if reaching by desert.

The de facto ruler of Udynaesses is now Marcheval Dufien who is known and feared in the region less affectionately as “The Beheader” because beheading his enemies is his signature gesture of power. Marcheval lives in a small fortified desert castle (Villa Hargassah – in reality not a castle but a well fortified villa) just a few kilometers south of Udynaesses. His power in the region is partially backed up by groups of Caheb origin wishing to see the city revert back to Caheb and this goal can possibly be achieved by disrupting the nominal leader of the city – commander Remnor Galant. Galant is appointed and backed up Groam but in truth has little say in the day-to-day affairs of the city.

Marcheval is of mixed descendence himself having a father from Groam and mother from Caheb and he himself initially had no political motivation – he didn’t care which country called the city as it’s own – but things have changed since the day when he saw a possibility,  grabbed it and became the feared ruler of the city by joining a few of the bigger outlaw groups and creating a unified force with him in the lead. Formerly he had made a name for himself by running various small-time crime operations in the region and gradually becoming a prominent crime ring leader. Since effectively taking over the city he has had ample opportunities to further line his pockets with coin and strengthen his presence in the region. He has no official intention of competing with the mighty countries Groam and Caheb – both of which countries haven’t shown much interest in returning rule of law to the city – but lately he has been contemplating with the possibility of forming an independent city-state and also seizing control of the harbor towns of Tash and Calemnor located in the south coast of Dhaira Bay. His plans are known only to a select handful of his most trusted men. Common people see him only as a violent opportunistic brute whose aim in life is to cause misery and pain.

As a man Marcheval is cunning and brutal. He believes that maintaining and attaining political and military power as well as coin actually requires the use of violence and that the brutality of the violence used must exceed that of the opposition – whoever it happens to be. Mercy and forgiveness are not words in his vocabulary. In a relaxed state he is actually quite jovial and friendly even but he rarely shows that side of himself in public; it’s strictly reserved to close friends and manifested within closed quarters.

It has been rumored that Marcheval is somehow linked to the so called Dhaira Cult and one of it’s leaders – the High Priestess Chya. The nature and intimacy of their relationship is subject to speculation, however, but apparently Chya has been spotted at Marcheval’s villa on several occasions when wild (and some witnesses would use the word vile as well) festivities have taken place. Whatever their relationship actually is, some of Marcheval’s backers are less than thrilled about it since Chya’s activities directly threaten many prominent families and the coastal city of Tash in particular. And since the city of Tash is firmly under Caheb control, groups that are friendly with Marcheval against the invading Groam are very wary not to undermine their own country’s power in nearby Caheb -controlled cities.