Nikephorus III Monomachus

The Despot of the Reman Empire

Nikephorus has ruled the Reman Empire for less than half a year. The hideous death of his brother, the popular and successful Despot Andronikos, thrust Nikephorus into power unexpectedly. Andronikos had reigned for nearly twenty years, and during that time had expanded the lands, influence and treasury of Remas considerably. Shortly before his death he was even rumoured to be planning an invasion of Araby. Andronikos was a shrewd, frugal man, interested only in the business of governing the empire. He never married, and so the succession fell upon his only brother.

Nikephorus is physically imposing, tall and broad-shouldered. Despite his advancing years – for the Despot is nearly sixty-three – he is strong, agile, and a formidable combatant. Even so he has never shown any aptitude for commanding troops in the field. Also, in direct contrast to his brother, he is tremendously fond of luxury. The imperial palace has been lavishly redecorated on his orders. Wild parties fill his nights, and endless feasts his days.

Nikephorus is cowardly, foolish, and profligate. His solution to any problem is to throw money at it, and he will attempt to buy off any outside force that threatens him. His brother left him with a full treasury, but Nikephorus is capable of emptying it within a few years at most. He is casually brutal towards his own people, taking a perverse delight in the infliction of grotesque punishments. He is also inconstant in his opinions, impatient, childish and lazy. His ascension to the Reman throne is utterly disastrous.

Leonora Pelavicino

The Duchess of Miragliano

The shocking and inexplicable murder of Duke Azzone of Miragliano, which took place shortly after the death of the Reman Despot, has left the city with an underage ruler. The Duke’s son, Massimiliano, is only nine years old. His mother, the forty-five year old Duchess Leonora, has surprised everyone by taking over as regent. While her husband was alive, Leonora devoted her time to the care of her two dozen pet dogs, showing no interest in statecraft. However, driven by the need to defend her son’s throne from the scheming nobles of Miragliano, she has risen to the occasion magnificently.

The duchess is a very tall, frail woman with elaborately-styled red hair. She is especially gifted in the fields of logistics and diplomacy, but relies completely on the judgement of her advisors in military matters. Nevertheless, she is careful not to allow any of her advisors too much power, skilfully playing them off against each other. Only Count Galeazzo, rumoured to be her lover, is able to exert any real control over her decisions.

Leonora is patient and rational, unless her son or his duchy are threatened. Her sense of duty is unshakable. She will not hesitate to employ violence to protect Massimiliano.

Pietro Tiepolo

The Prince of Sartosa

Calling the man who rules Sartosa a prince is really quite misleading. The leadership of pirates is anything but hereditary and is ironically one of the only reasonable democracies of Tilea. Pietro was elected ruler only a few years ago and his rule has been one of subtlety. Rarely does he do anything rash or give into emotions preferring to keep a safe distance from the troubles of the mainland. Instead Pietro organises the pirates raiding regions making sure to pick at only the fingers of the other nations and never the hand. If the nations become too crippled then who would the pirates be able to raid after all. This has led to the unusual pirate nickname of Pietro the Administrator. Though rarely to his face.

To prevent the other nations uniting to crush Sartosa takes great skill and leadership, he is firm with the captains inhabiting his lands and he rarely picks on one target for too long. Preferring to attack when opponents are distracted. A relative ally one week could easily become the next target soon after should the fates turn against them. The pirate way is to stop anyone becoming powerful enough to stop them after all. Losing honourably has no purpose.

Pietro is no fool. His plans are fluid and ever changing. Those wishing to align themselves with him should be of open mind and flexible morals.

Leonard II di Lucci

The King of Luccini

The city of the twin Gods has long been the most arrogant region of Tilea. Each potential king or queen of the grand city of Luccini has to be able to prove direct lineage to those the general population sees as Gods. Of course there is one major downside to a city destined to be ruled by a single king being founded by two such individuals – Which line of decent takes precedence? The Lupo clan claims decent from Lucian whilst the di Lucci clan claims their heritage from Luccina. Throughout the history of Luccini the city has seen countless assassinations as the descendants of the twins fight to prove their right to rule. This has unsurprisingly lead to one of the least stable governments in the old worlds already unreliable cultures, this is not particularly helped by the requirement of all inhabitants to be perpetually happy.

Leonard di Lucci is one such descendant. The seventh son of patriarch of the Lucci clan Leonard worked his way through the ranks of heirs. All six of his elder brothers met with suspicious deaths or ironic accidents. For example, the eldest Lucas was impaled by a heavy blade “dropped” out of a third story window during an outdoor feast celebrating the weather. Most recently Lex di Luccis horse apparently spontaneously exploded whilst out hunting. Each time a brother has met a fatal ‘incident’ Leonard has had a clandestine alibi to hide any guilt that could be leveled towards him. With the death of all the other potential heirs to the throne when the head of the di Lucci clan finally passed away Leonard became ruler of the realm.

The rule of the king has been an effective one. Trade has flourished and the eternally turbulent realm has had a period of unusual calm. However the number of accidents has been dramatically increased and a number of high profile nobles apparently have been very clumsy! Although the ruling class fear Leonard he is incredibly popular amongst the lower classes. His outwardly cheer and extroverted personality has left him a very likeable character, yet not an entirely trustworthy one.

Giacomo Lomellini

The Doge of Tobaro

The Doge was once a renowned leader of men whose immense personal charm caused many a noble woman to swoon into his arms. His military victories were flawless, his mercenary unusually loyal and his personal combat prowess doubtless. Over centuries he won massive public favour defending Tobaro against it’s many enemies on the fields of battle. The people of Tobaro happily accepted him as their newly elected Doge upon his fathers death many, many years ago. The near unanimous democratic support of potential rivals being all too rare in the turmoil stricken region of Tilea.

However this was in the long distant past. The Doge is now solidly into his winter years and he is fast succumbing to the afflictions of age. His mind has become clouded and slower than it ever was in his younger years. His strategic genius remains at times, yet at others he misses the obvious opportunities that are presented to him. He has begun leaning heavily on lesser generals to enact his orders and organise the defence of his kingdom. Whilst he has unofficially relinquished overall command of Tobaro’s forces it does not stop him interfering in military matters should a general ignore a barely lucid command. Many would be generals of Tobaro have been dismissed promptly for little real reason in the last few years at the Doges command. Despite the inconsistency of his current situation he is still much beloved by the people of Tobaro and any rivals are reluctant to encroach on his position knowing they would not be able to sustain their power without strong foreign support. Though it is a republic there has been no elections since the Doge came to power.

The Doge appears to be rapidly losing his mental functions. In recent months he has began muttering about the abominable ratmen encroaching on his borders to the north. Extensive scouting has not backed up any facet of his paranoia yet his subjects reluctantly send out messages seeking help against this invisible and apparently imaginary foe. Who knows, dark times for Tobaro may be coming soon.

al-Ibn Sadaqa

The Old Man of the Desert

al-Ibn Sadaqa has long been a thorn in the side of the rulers of Tilea. Little is known of his origins and the rumours concerning him are inconsistent at best. Some say he is an exiled prince of Araby, a rejected son of the harem. Others claim he is just a puppet of a greater power from the desert realm. Whatever his origins are is irrelevant, what is known is that he commands the most powerful assassin clan in modern Tilea – the Hashasheen.

If a ruler can get the killers of al-Ibn on his side for a while then his rivals will surely be eliminated brutally and shockingly. As a region Tilea has never been known for its subtlety, the women appear like peacocks and even the military styles are fabulously flamboyant. It comes as little surprise that this also applies to the ancient traditional Tilean art of assassination. If the Hashasheen can be persuaded to act then their target will invariably die in an incredibly public manner. Many would be rival political figures have received a daggers point in broad daylight or their carriage attacked in plain view of the citizens.

al-Ibn and his clan of merciless killers are loyal to no man or god, should a client overstep his mark then he may in fact become the target. They are however marginally loyal to coin, those who can afford to hire them – or to pay them off – are safe for the time being at least. For the Hashasheen do not follow orders, they take only requests. To betray this rule can result in a fate best left unclaimed.

Ennio Mordini

The Duke of Mordini

In the distant past a powerful mercenary general was betrayed by his employers. Whilst this is hardly unique in the constantly turmoil of Tilea it did have rather major difference… He came back. Ennio Mordini was charismatic and flamboyant man bordering on severe arrogance. Many nobles met their end on the ever sharp point of his a blade after an ill advised jibe at his expense. Inevitably this self aggrandizement caused his mortal death. Mordini made the city of Lambrusco of his home for much of his life, fighting the many enemies of the Duke Fabriano and defeating them consistently. The fortunes of the city had never been greater than when the banner of Mordini flew at the head of its massed ranks. It was during a forced march through the Apuccini mountains that the Duke betrayed his servant. The general had become too good and the Duke became fearful for his own position. Fearing a coup ranks upon ranks of Lambrusco pikemen blocked the way through a narrow section of mountain and a well aimed landslide prevented retreat. Mordini’s men were mercilessly spitted on arrows trapped in the devious ambush.

Barely five years later Mordini rose from the dead. How he achieved it is unknown to all bar Mordini himself: and he has never spoken of it. What is known is that he brought his entire army back from the dead with him. The immortal army immediately marched upon Lambrusco scattering the army that had grown weak without their genius of a general in a pitched battle. Barely stopping at the walls the undead force took the city in a single week of brutal murder. Thousands upon thousands of Lambruscans died under the command of their previous hero. His revenge was swift and disturbing.

If anything had been living after the extermination they would have woken to find a macabre version of the decimated city. Skeletons wandered the streets acting out of their former life seemingly unaware of their death at the hands of their new self appointed prince. Mordini now resides in his palace as he has for countless years. He rules his eternal realm from a polished black throne as schemes the downfall of the others who betrayed him. The fact they’ve been dead for decades has done little to reduce his anger.