again... the later history reflects my campaign. but if you find the character interesting.. he might be usable. Even with the Great Crater... displaced nobles in Glantri should have been given new dominion. Another fault of the later canon products...
Quanil Urbaal
Marquis of Satolas
1014 AC
"what does Henri think I should do.. my father never taught me how to deal with this"
I. Appearance
Quanil Urbaal would never be mistaken for what he is not. Quanil is perfect stereotype of a pure Alphatian and wizard. He has strikingly pale skin, and like his father sport a full blue-black beard. His emulation of his father goes to his clothing of choice, always wearing he traditional Alphatian garments, the kihara, in shades of blue and light grey. While he tries to emulate his father in every way and does look a great deal like his father he is different from him in one important aspect. His father was large, well built and athletic, from years spent boxing. Quanil looks as if a strong breeze might blow him over. Frail and small in statue, with a nervous disposition, Quanil has never been one to make a good visual first impression as a strong leader.
II. Personality & Quirks
Quanil was completely devoted to his father, and after his father’s death he continues to honour him by striving to emulate him as much as possible. Unfortunately his attempts to successfully emulate his father have only managed to extend to dressing as his father. Where his father was decisive, Quanil is wracked with self-doubt. Emeth Urbaal was a noted member of the secret craft of Air Elementalism. Quanil, though a capable mage, has not been able to establish himself among the ranks of Air Elementalists. He felt the weight of being the highest ranked Alphatian noble in Glantri at the end of the Great War and having the pressure of being thought of by others as the standard bearer for Glantrian-Alphatians. Slowly over the years it has worn him down and his confidence has really started to suffer, and it was never that high to start with. These days he keeps to his tower, and leans heavily on his Averoignian advisor, Henri Chartaine, for advice on how to deal with the politics and administration that comes with his position. He deals with the rest of Glantri through hired spokesman. Quanil has an older brother, Yarov, who seems to have inherited Emeth’s talent with Air magic and is a rising star in craft of Air Elementalism. Yarov lives in Aalban and since their father died they have little to no contact other than meetings of the Secret Craft. Relations between the two are little more than civil with no affection between the half-brothers.
III. Background
Quanil Urbaal was born in 988 after his father had a liaison with a pretty Alphatian mundaner. Quanil never met his mother and was raised by his father and a hired nursemaid. He was spoiled by his father and suffered for nothing. Quanil never had much of a relationship with his brother who was 14 years older and away at the Great School when Quanil was born, so Quanil grew up for all intents and purposes an only child.
When Quanil turned eleven, he was torn away from his sheltered life, and he was shipped off to Glantri City to begin study at the Great School of Magic. He had a difficult time adjusting to life at the Great School. He was constantly bullied by the Flaemish and Thyatian students. Desperately seeking friendship and companionship Quanil turned to the son of the Prince of Prince Volospin, Lathan Aendyr, who was the same age as Quanil and entered the Great School the year after Quanil. Lathan being a much stronger personality as well as a quicker study than Quanil, did shield Quanil from the worst of abuses since Lathan naturally drew the abuse upon himself with his less than affable personality. If Quanil was looking for a confident and a lifelong best friend he made the wrong choice in the vicious and completely self-centred Lathan. Quanil thus became more a sycophant of Lathan than a friend. As the Great War against Alphatia began in 1004, taunts came towards him from those groups who didn’t normally give Alphatians in Glantri a second thought. This caused Quanil to withdraw farther into his shell and dream about returning to his father’s tower and being able to help him with his research. Some social salvation came in 1005 when he was invited to join the Secret Craft of Air Elementalism. Here he would see his half-brother who had graduated the Great School years before and was working as a researcher for their father. At these meetings he would occasionally catch his father, when he was between experiments. This social contact gave Quanil a needed respite from the pressures of the Great School.
In 1007 Quanil entered the last year of his studies only to hear that the Orc-King Thar had launched a massive invasion of Glantri directed right towards Blackhill and his father’s dominion of Wylon. Reports of heavy fighting and defeat reached the Capital in bits and pieces through the summer. Some rumours even said that Blackhill had been overrun and humanoids had entered Wylon. Quanil talked directly with some of the many wounded soldiers flooding the Capital from the south, that the rumours were true. He immediately went to the Great Master, Prince Etienne, and asked if he could return home and help his father and brother defend their dominion. He was tersely told to not worry about those matters and to concentrate on his final studies so he might pass his test to become a wizard of Glantri. Soon rumours of fighting in the Blackhill region were replaced by news of a major defeat of Glantrian forces in the Battle of Hightower. Any question as to whether this was merely rumour or fact was answered that evening when the messengers from the Grand Master called for an immediate assembly of all students and faculty in the courtyard of the Great School. Student were told to memorise all combat related spells they knew for tomorrow and report back to the courtyard at 5am sharp. The next morning Prince Etienne appeared before the students and faculty and told them that they would be going to the city walls in squads of 20 under command of their instructors. The given orders were simple, to kill anything that moved towards the city wall. Quanil though sick with worry over his family was overjoyed to put his studies to the test and avenge the fallen at Hightower, the fallen of Blackhill, and the fallen of Wylon.
Two days later the hordes of Thar appeared before the city walls of Glantri City. Quanil peered over the battlements of the section of wall he was placed, he saw what looked like tens of thousands of humanoids of all types before him. Soon after arriving the Humanoids began their first assault. Quanil was later heard to joke that he thought it looked like every one of those tens of thousands was coming straight for his section of wall. The next hour was a blur of furious fighting as he and his fellow students in their squad unleashed great spells of death upon the charging humanoids and repelled that first assault. For several weeks the humanoids assaulted the city every day or two trying to breach the walls but they never get inside the wall. In the third week of the siege Quanil received some wonderful news when a message arrived for him from his father telling him that both he and his brother Yarov were safe and helping tie down forces in Wylon that might otherwise move toward the Capital. The message renewed Quanil’s fighting spirits, as he drew pride and inspiration from his family. That renewed spirit came in hand for that night was the night Thar came closest to breaching the wall. Thar, understanding the time for taking the city had come as scouts had informed him that Glantrian reinforcement were coming, launched an early morning assault at 3 that made it onto the city walls some 20ft to the west of Quanil’s position west of the Northern Gate. Quanil was among the first to arrive to help the exhausted defenders and killed 2 Orcs and 1 Hill Giant. Quanil later received a battlefield citation, the Glantrian Iron Cross 2nd Class, from Prince Jagger himself for bravery in combat.
Not long after, after almost a month of siege, the assembled Grand Army brought together from all over Glantri entered the battle and drove Thar back to the south and away from Glantri City. Quanil’s time of being a defender of Glantri City was over and it was time to getting back to being a student. After all the excitement of the several months it is hard for Quanil and many of the other students to get back into their studies. Quanil did not finally attempt his test for Graduation until the end of 1007. He passed his test on the first try, being rated an average performance, but Quanil could have cared less about style points. He was now a Glantrian Wizard, and free to go back to his home and his father in Wylon. Homecoming for Quanil was short and bittersweet. The countryside Quanil passed through on his way was devastated with burned homes, fields, and the debris of war. Upon arriving in Wylon he was greeted warmly by his father and half-brother who quickly told him of the desperate fight to save what they could of the County and it’s people. What saved them was after the destruction of Blackhill, Thar turned north towards Glantri City with the bulk of his hordes. Wylon had been hit hard but with the help of refugees from Blackhill they were able to hold off the horde until the main Glantrian forces forced them, along with Thar’s main force back into the Western Broken Lands. What surprised Quanil next was the answer to his question as to what he could do to help his father. He was told to go to Glantri City and volunteer his services in the new reserve divisions being formed in the wake of Thar’s invasion. Emeth told his son that the war was soon coming to Glantri. The Isle of Dawn had fallen to the Alphatians and war was soon coming directly to Thyatis and there was no way that Thyatis would stop them. Yavov would be going to uphold the family honour by joining the Glantrian Mage Expeditionary Unit which was leaving for Thyatis in the spring. They were nobles of Glantri and would set an example to their people and his family would never have it's loyalty to Glantri questioned. While his sons were upholding the family honour Emeth told his sons that he would be helping put Wylon back together and assisting Prince Volospin with rebuilding Blackhill. Quanil was not happy about leaving his father so soon after just leaving Glantri City but like the good son he was he followed his father’s orders and soon found himself given command of the newly formed 78th Glantrian Division where he spent the rest of the war stationed in the Principality of Bramyra waiting for expected Alphatian advance.
The end of the war in the fall of 1009 brought what would prove to be a last family reunion. Quanil’s division was quickly disbanded with the sinking of Alphatia and Quanil returned home to Wylon. Yarov had also returned home from Thyatis. Quanil found his father dealing with the shockwaves which resounded across the Glantrian political landscape as the toll of the last ditch attack by the Alphatian council of wizards was revealed. Prince Volospin was killed in defence of Glantri City presumable by a Alphatian arch-mage though no witnesses were ever found, nor was Volospin's body, only a pile of ash. Also killed the same day was the Duchess of Fenswick by a black Dragon, presumed by all to be part of the Alphatian assault. An unknown heir to Fenswick had come forward with a large Dragon carcass and shocked everyone by claiming to not only be the heir to Fenswick but the child of Prince Volospin and the Duchess of Fenswick, Margaret Hillsbury. Events for Quanil moved so quickly that his head literally spun. In a crazy couple of weeks at the capital, Dolores of Hillsbury was confirmed by the Council as Princess of Blackhill after Sir Lathan renounced any claim to the Principality. That opened the Duchy of Fenswick to an awards festival which was won by the reigning Marquis of Satolas, Alasdair McAllister. Emeth decided to campaign for the open Marquisate and surprised many observers who thought an Alphatian could never win such an election by winning the open seat. Quanil felt such pride in his father, and was told that he would remain with his father and learn the ropes of Glantrian politics and leading the Alphatians of Glantri in the post-Volospin Glantri since he was heir. Quanil could have not have been any happier, and welcomed the time he would spend with his father. Unfortunately not more than a week after being confirmed, Emeth Urbaal died in his sleep at the age of 64. Quanil was devastated but unable to grieve as he wished. Quanil had been declared the heir by Emeth as soon as he graduated the great school and was called to the Capital to present himself to the Council of Princes. After noting the legality and validity of Emeth's legal declaration of his choice of heir. Quanil was confirmed by the Council of Princes as the Marquis of Satolas just as the historic year of 1009 came to a close.
Since taking the reins of the Marquisate Quanil has struggled mightily to live up to the awesome responsibilities. Only a sense of family honour keeps him from giving up and just hiring retainers to manage the dominion. He tries to consider what his father might have done and will not allow himself to be seen as a failure. The fact that he was only able to spend a grand total of 3 weeks with his father since the war broke out weighs heavy on him and he misses him constantly. He struggles with the notion of being the leading Alphatian political figure. Only time will tell if he can grow into his position. He has lots of time to learn. The young man is only 26 when this was written.
IV. Web of Intrigue
Quanil Urbaal has many enemies and few friends in the world of Glantrian politics. His traditional enemies of Flaems and Thyatians smell blood in the water and Princess Delores seems to care little for the plight of the Alphatians in Glantri. There is only one lesser Alphatian noble left, a Baron in the western part of Glantri that has never made contact with Quanil and is rumoured to spend all his time in research and not involved at all with politics. Thus many of Quanil’s contacts are with those who want to be nobles and believe that Alphatian power should be restored in Glantri. It is beginning to dawn on them that Quanil appears to man be a man over his head and they are beginning to look elsewhere for someone to carry their banner.
V. Style of Magic & Combat
Statistics: 10th level mage, Air Elementalist of the 2nd Circle; Str 8, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 15, Wis 14, Cha 11; AL Lawful .
Languages: Alphatian, Thyatian (Glantrian dialect), Air Elemental
Weapon Proficiencies: dagger, staff.
Skills: Alternative Magics, Planar Geography, Singing, Alchemy, Military Tactics, Horse Riding, History of Glantri
(Pieter Verlien)