Thyatian Senators part 4

(or - “After this I’ll never need to think of a Thyatian NPC for my Campign again”)

Dear readers, it is with pleasure that I introduce you to the fourth and last part of the gallery of Thyatian Senators and their families, relatives and allies, continuing the articles that you can find starting in Issue #2. In this last part, we will complete our survery of the Thyatian Senate with the ecclesiastical senators, who include priests of the Church of Thyatis, diviners, sages and prophets from all the corners of the Empire, and the Conscripti, meritory people who have been awarded a personal, permanent seat in the Senate.

3. ECCLESIASTICAL SENATORS¹ (16)

Along with the Emperor, the Aristocracy and the elected Senators, a less obvious but nonetheless major factor in Thyatian politics are the religious faiths. The most important faith is clearly the Church of Thyatis, which informally is called by Thyatians the “Ecclesia”, or “the Church”, in the same way that Thyatis City is called the “Urbs”, or “the City”.

The role of the Immortals in Thyatian politics was recognized early on with the establishment of Senatorial seats reserved to the most important religious representatives in the Empire. Originally, there were three seats reserved to the so-called Flamines (chief patriarchs) of the Immortals Tarastia, Valerias and Solarios (Ixion).

In time, with the rise in importance of the Church of Thyatis and the increase in number of Senators, there were established another 12 seats for important representatives of the Ecclesia chosen from among all the priests, clerics, diviners and sages of the land: these are called Pontifices.

Six Pontifices are chosen by the leadership of the Church of Thyatis, while six others are elected by the followers of the Church of Thyatis. Regardless of the means of their selection, they serve for their lifetime. Last but not least, the Emperor or Empress is always considered by the Ecclesia the 13th Pontifex, and he bears the symbolic title of Pontifex Maximus (“Greatest Pontifex”).

When one of the six elected Pontifices retires or dies, there is an ecclesiastic election to choose his or her replacement. This election requires registration and a fee to be paid to the Ecclesia. The fee can vary from a few copper pieces for beggars and the poor, to lavish donations from the rich and powerful - the registration is subject to the approval of a priest of the Church, and is the subject of the usual rolling of eyes and backchat about Thyatian corruption like all other aspects of the Empire’s civic and political life.

The Church of Thyatis, or Ecclesia, is a polytheistic faith which aggregates followers of 12 Immortals: Asterius, Diulanna, Halav, Ilsundal, Khoronus, Korotiku, Odin, Protius, Tarastia, Thor, Valerias and Vanya (also known as the “Thyatian Twelve” or “Thyatian Pantheon”). This doesn’t mean that all followers of these Immortals belong to the Church of Thyatis, nor that all priests and followers of the Church follow one of these specific Immortals.

A good example of this comes from the followers of Solarios (the ancient, traditional Thyatian name of Ixion) and those of Koryis, the patron of Ochalea. Solarios was once a major Immortal in Thyatis and belonged to the Thyatian Pantheon, but he was removed from it, and many of his most prominent followers fled or were exiled to the Savage Coast after spreading an ideology which was considered heretical by the Ecclesia and dangerous by the Empire. Many of the followers of Solarios who stayed true to the traditional view of the Ecclesia have since been trying to be re-admitted into the official ranks of the Church ( even patriarchs of Solarios are currently just considered simply faithful like any common man by the official ranks of the Ecclesia), and to bring Solarios again into the Thyatian Pantheon. In this, their major allies are, unsurprisingly, the followers of Valerias. At the same time, some of the followers of Koryis would like to get the Ochalean patron into the Ecclesia, although their efforts have been in vain so far, especially since the priesthood of Vanya has been fiercely opposed to Koryis’s pacifism.

In recent times, Gens Aurelia managed to pass a bill (backed by Sergii, Zendrolian, Pure Ones and many Populares) by which the Church of Karameikos, although officially a different church altogether from the Church of Thyatis, might propose one of their members to the Senate. It is then up to the Church of Thyatis to approve of the suggestion, or to ask for another name.

The Church of Thyatis and Gens Aurelia are trying in this way to hold some control over its daughter Church. How all this will change in the future, when and if Stefan decides he is strong enough to declare himself King, is uncertain. But Gens Aurelia has done this also to separate the fate of Karameikos from that of its state Church, and to secure themselves an extra senatorial seat.

As the Church of Thyatis includes followers of several Immortals, it holds a wide range of different positions among its priests and faithful.

Pontifices

1) Okaka Nuar. Chosen by the Ecclesia. Philosophers.

One of the foremost representatives of the Church of Thyatis, Okaka Nuar (born 945, C9 (of Korotiku), CG) has been Senator for several years, first as an elective representative for the Pearl Islands and then as one of the chosen Senators of the Ecclesia. Okaka is the leader of the progressive branch of the Ecclesia and is an eager supporter of the Philosophers’ faction.

Okaka is married to Amina Badu (born 953, T (Rake) 3, CG), a famous paintress. They have a small villa in Thyatis City, where they spend the spring and summer, while they tend to live in a small village on the island of Nuar during the winter months. They have three children: the only male, Ogbonna (born 975, F4, NG), is a Navy officer on the Isle of Dawn; Deianira (born 979, NW, CG) is studying ancient history in the University of Biazzan; while the youngest daughter, Aretha (born 985, NW, NG) still lives with the parents, and even at her young age is a promising paintress and sculptress.

Okaka is tall (1,80/5' 11") and was a strong, muscular man in his youth. Now in his mid-fifties, he is a little overweight, but nonetheless he looks young for his age. He has short black hair and eyes, and a full salt-and-pepper beard.

2) Theophila Leparulos. Chosen by the Ecclesia. Gens Zendrolian.

A staunch supporter of Thincol, Theophila Leparulos (born 940, C10 (of Tarastia), NG) is a close friend of Demetrion Karagentereopolus, with whom she shares many ideas and points of view. She has provided clerical support and spells to further many of the Magist’s plots, and adventurers in the service of Demetrion can easily meet her if the help of a patriarch-level cleric is needed. She maintains her age about 20 years younger with longevity potions provided by her friend.

Theophila was born in Kerendas, the daughter of a wealthy family, and enjoyed some adventuring in her twenties before settling down in Thyatis City and becoming a key figure of the Church of Thyatis. She was briefly Demetrion’s lover, before marrying another patriarch of Tarastia, Kostantinos Melicenna (born 930, C16 (of Tarastia), LN), a half-Tel-Akbiran half-Kerendan cleric and a renowned adventurer and politician who did hold several times the position of Quaestor and Praetor in various parts of the Empire before retiring a few years ago. With the support of Kostantinos and of most of the Tarastian clergy, Theophila has been a Pontifex for many years now and enjoys her role. She is among the most beloved ecclesiastic figures in Mainland Thyatis, liked for her sense of justice, her dedication to common people and her support of the Emperor.

Theophila is a short (1,55 m) woman, with green eyes and raven-black hair with a few grey stripes. She is busty and slightly stocky, but a very beautiful woman.

3) Benedicta Innocenti. Chosen by the Ecclesia. Gens Zendrolian.

Benedicta Innocenti (born 959, C11 (of Diulanna), TN) was born in Thyatis City, third daughter of an impoverished woodcrafter and of a washerwoman. While her two oldest daughters tried to escape poverty through marriage to craftsmen, Benedicta was attracted by the faith of Diulanna and its progressive view of women and their role in the Thyatian society. As an adventuress, she rose among the ranks of the Ecclesia and later traveled to the Hinterlands, where she has got in touch with the Thratian followers of Diulanna and tried to help normalize relations with the conquered Hinterlanders and open diplomatic ties with the hostile locals who combat the Thyatian invaders. She is a progressive imperialist and is well liked in the Ecclesia, something that explains how a relatively young priestess has got to such an important position. Among her chief enemies in the Senate is Terentius Thalassonion, the anti-imperialist and pro-hinterlander Populares Senator from Actius.

Benedicta is married to Paulus Saburra (born 957, F7, TN), a Thyatian colonist in Raven’s Scarp, and they have two children: a son, Marcus, 6 years old, and a daughter, Arena, 2 years old.

Benedicta is a thin, tall (1,75 m/5' 9") woman with hazel eyes and light brown hair. She has a charming smile and lively eyes, and while she is in great shape she is not exactly a beauty with her long nose, big ears and heavy cheekbones.

4) Michele Kostantinidis. Elected by the Faithful. Gens Aurelia.

Elected into office fifteen years ago, Michele Kostantinidis (born 938, NM, TN) is an important politician of Gens Aurelia, formerly an elected Senator from Thyatis City. Kostantinidis, son of an important priest of Tarastia, became a scholar and a theologian, but never took the clerical vows and entered politics at 40 years old. Since then he has split his time between teaching theology and leading the conservative faction of the Ecclesia. A bald, thin, wrinkled man with a lush, well-kept white beard, Michele is a very cautious man who is especially devoted to the Immortals of the Sphere of Time.

Michele is married to Diana Errante (born 944, P6 (of Khoronus), LN). They have two sons, Ludwig (born 970, F7, NG), who is an officer in the Hinterlands; Darius (born 976, P6 (of Khoronus), TN), a priest; and one adopted daughter, Adriana (born 979, NW, NG), whose parents, friends of Michele and Diana, died shortly after her birth and had no close relatives. Adriana loves her adoptive parents but she would like to have more autonomy. While Michele pushes for her to marry some promising politician and Diana to join the ranks of the Ecclesia, Adriana would like to do something more creative with her life - though what exactly, she still doesn’t know.

5) Albrecht Reus. Chosen by the Ecclesia. Gens Aurelia.

Albrecht Reus (born 942, P9 (of Vanya), TN) is a Hattian priest of Vanya who was chosen by the Ecclesia about ten years ago for the Senatorial title. He is a worried man who has spent most of his life to maintain the power and reputation of his Order, hampered by the flight to Heldann of many priests of Vanya on one side, and by the presence of many priests of Vanya among the Storm Soldiers on the other.

Albrecht is a cold-blooded, cautious and analytical man, who is only concerned with the prestige and fame of the priesthood of Vanya. He defends the traditional values of Vanya in Thyatis, like the imperialist attitude and the importance of conquest and expansion, but he is considered a bit narrow-minded. He respondsto this criticism by noting that the priests of Vanya are on the defensive at the moment and that only a rash and foolish general enters a war when his army has to be rebuilt and reorganized. His critics reply that the conquest of Heldann happened fifty years ago and he should move on - or, even better, step aside and leave the leadership of Vanya’s followers to younger, more energetic priests.

Reus is one of the most ruthless enemies of the Storm Soldiers and despises racists like Alkybiades Nemeicus and the Pure Ones. He is more annoyed than enraged by the pacifist Philosophers. He dislikes Thincol: a gladiator is a fighter who can help to defend an invaded country, but he should never have reached the throne. Only the Ecclesia can provide the Empire with the backbone of values and virtues by which it will move towards expansion. The Heldannic Order is only a bunch of heretics who will be in due time subdued. For his views, personal integrity and charisma, he is considered a primary political figure and spiritual master in the Ecclesia both by imperialist and conservative clerics.

Albrecht, a tall (1,80 m), heavy, bald man with blue eyes and a thin blonde-grey moustache, is married to Gertie Ritter (born 950, NW, NG), the daughter of a Hattian landlord. They have four children: Mario (born 970, NM, TN), a professor and researcher at the University of Biazzan; Karen (born 973, W6, NG), who works at the Ministry of Magic; Steffi (born 976, T3 (Rake), CG), who is second-in-command on a commercial ship; and Peter (born 982, P1 (of Vanya), LG), an enthusiastic and optimistic youth who is a novice among the priests of Vanya.

6) Theodosia Martino. Elected by the Faithful. Gens Zendrolian.

Theodosia Martino (born 960, Diviner 10, TN) is a supporter of the Emperor. A quiet magic user born in West Portage, she travelled on the Shadow Coast for some time, adventuring and studying the local mysteries before moving to Thyatis City to work in the Ministry of Magic, where she rose to the higher ranks in a very short span of time. She was elected a few years ago into the position with the support of a former, retiring Pontifex, Valente Sempronius (born 916, Diviner 15, NG), a major prophet and seer - and a friend of Demetrion Karagenteropolus - hailing from Port Lucinius, where he has now retired.

Outwardly Theodosia is calm and professional, but she is quite rash and emotional in her private life. Knowing this, she tries to separate completely work and home, something that has become a painful strain now that she is a Senator - Andrew Selkirk, the Populares Senator for Kendach, was a former lover more than ten years ago, when they both were adventuring, and he is trying to rekindle the flame of their relationship. Theodosia is extremely anguished by this, for she still feels attracted to the roguish Selkirk. Among Theodosia’s friends in the Senate is Leonardo Casto, the Magister Arcanum, who was a former superior at the Ministry of Magic.

Theodosia is beautiful, of average height to be a Thyatian woman (1,63 m/5' 4"). She has high cheekbones, a pale freckled complexion, black eyes and dark brown hair, which is usually kept in a long braid.

7) Paulus Minutarius. Chosen by the Ecclesia. Gens Zendrolian.

The sly Paulus Minutarius (born 960, F3, LE) is a corrupt politician and a former Army officer who has more or less bought his way into the Senate - and found that the best way to do so was through the imperialist branch of the Ecclesia. His religious credentials are dubious at best, but Minutarius has many friends among the priesthoods of Valerias and Solarios, and is a close friend of Eusebius Torion, being part of the Prince’s closest entourage.

Paulus is of medium height (1,70 m), and is an extremely strong man (Str 18). He is of powerful built and has a deep, bass voice. He is an accomplished singer and plays very well a variety of musical instruments. He is a balding man with dark grey hair, a well-trimmed grey beard, and sardonic green-brown eyes.

8) Terentius Torquatus. Chosen by the Ecclesia. Gens Aurelia.

The leading figure among the Patriarchs of Khoronus, Terentius Torquatus (born 927, P19 (of Khoronus), TN) have been in the Senate for over 30 years. Torquatus was born in the City of Thyatis and adventured for the most part of his youth. He was already a Patriarch when Thincol repelled the Alphatian Spike Assault in 959, and rose through the ranks to become a chosen Pontifex of the Ecclesia only 40 years old.

Terentius has always put the Ecclesia before the petty matters of internal divisions; he hasn’t put the good of the Ecclesia above the good of the Empire only because he thinks they are the one and same. He respects the institution of the Throne more than the current Emperor, whomhe considers an upstart that hasn’t been able to solve the chronic problems of the Empire. Torquatus doesn’t like elections very much - he doesn’t really believe that commoners can take the best decisions. On the other hand, he humorously comments himself that neither can aristocrats and priests, given the huge amount of corruption and greed found among their ranks.

Terentius is a short man (1,60 m/5' 3") with a large girth - the fondness of the man for venison pies and honeyed ham is renowned. He has humorous brown eyes, sparse white hair and a heavy white beard.

9) Silke von Ravenschlöss. Elected by the Faithful. Gens Aurelia.

Silke von Ravenschlöss (born 967, P5 (of Vanya), LG) is a relatively young priestess of Vanya and an ally of Albrecht Reus. Hailing from the Hattian seashore, the heir of Hermann, a landed Knight killed by the Storm Soldiers, Silke is a supporter of the Thyatian multiethnic culture and sees the polytheistic and open Pantheon as the perfect religious expression of the Thyatian culture. Silke is a progressive member of Gens Aurelia, sympathetic to the Philosophers and to the priests of Solarios. This is increasingly worrying Reus, who is starting to think that Silke is too young to be a reliable ally in the Ecclesia and the Senate.

Silke was a fighting priest early in her career, but she isn’t a bullheaded imperialist. She thinks that the war in the Hinterlands is a waste of resources, that should be employed to rebuff the Alphatians on the Sea of Dawn and in other potential areas of conflict like Norwold. According to her, Heldann and Oceansend should also be drawn into the Empire in due time.

Silke is a very independent woman and is disliked by the more conservative priests and Senators. She had a short affair with Maldinius Kerendas that didn’t go very well. The malevolent Duke has since made her subject to quite gross public sexual innuendos, and she has always despised him since. She is an extremely beautiful lady with red-brown hair, green eyes and milky-pale, heavily freckled skin and face.

10) Ilian Cestis. Elected by the Faithful. Populares.

Ilian Cestis (born 948, W13, NE) is a wizard from the City of Thyatis who holds one of the estates on Sclaras reserved for the powerful mages of the Empire. Ilian is a selfish man, who has entered the Senate through using his contacts in the Ecclesia and his relations with the Shadow Hand and the wererats in Thyatis to get himself elected to the role of Pontifex.

Ilian is considered affiliated to the Populares because he is a commoner who despises the haughty senatorial families and people who are not able to carve a living out for themselves. After several years as an adventurer, Ilian became a wizard-on-hire for people who could pay him enough - and more than once he has backstabbed his own employers for his own benefit. He has hoarded riches and worked for Helenites Osteropolus, the Shadow Hand and the Westies (the West Portage Thieves’ Guild) as a ‘free agent’, but he is not inherently evil, and when paid well enough he has operated for others, especially patriarchs and priests of the Ecclesia in the later years, to establish a reputation on which to build his election to Pontifex.

Ilian doesn’t care much for the Immortals or religion, but is careful to look very pious in public to uphold his reputation. The thin, middle-heighted Ilian has in recent years carefully developed a very somber look: he dresses almost always in white, grey or black, and has grown a grey beard and started shaving completely his head.

Ilian is currently into his third marriage, and has several son and daughters from his former wives. His children are the only real persons he cares for, and he has tried to teach them to become something and not rely too much on their father’s personal wealth.

11) Traianos Brevis. Elected by the Faithful. Populares.

Traianos Brevis (born 963, Diviner 7, TN) is a well-known adventurer and criminologist, known for his interest in solving ‘cold cases’ from the past through his magic powers. A serious man with little personal ambition or greed, he was elected Senator a few years ago, after having been sponsored especially by Antonius Merula. Traianos is not too interested in senatorial matters, but has taken seriously his duties as a Pontifex, and sees his entrance among the Senators as a way to build contacts in the Ecclesia through which further his scholarly interests and continue his personal quest for justice.

Traianos is a typical Thyatian of medium height, with a common, homely face, brown eyes and receding brown hair.

12) Antonius Merula. Elected by the Faithful. Populares.

Antonius Merula (born 930, P10 (of Asterius), CG) is a major figure of the Ecclesia and the most loved priest among Thyatis’ commoners. The friendly, sympathetic cleric is a born politician: shrewd, he is a man of goodwill and compromise, and an enemy of corruption and treachery. He is a vocal opponent of the Shadow Hand, is one of the few Senators that can reply publicly to the Emperor’s face, and dislikes very much (and very publicly) people like Helenites Osteropolus and Maldinius Kerendas. Since the affair of Silke von Ravenschlöss with the Duke has ended very sourly, he has taken the young Pontifex under his personal protection.

Merula, an old man with a flowing, luxuriant grey-white beard and deep black eyes, has been married for about fifty years with Serena Izirne (born 933, W10, NG), a skilled wizard from Helskir of pure Alphatian origin. Serena is a Populares meritory senator.

Antonius and Serena have three sons and four daughters, and a score of grandchildren and some grand-grandchildren. The Merula are minor nobles from Halathius, and their family seat is an old-fashioned castle in the hills north of the city of Goldleaf, where the couple spend most of their time during the summer.

Flamines

13) Gaia Ephore. Flaminia Tarastiana. Gens Aurelia, Quaestor of the City of Thyatis.

The aristocratic, charismatic, brilliant Gaia Ephore (born 958, P17 (of Tarastia), LN) is among the most powerful women in the Ecclesia, having been chosen as the new Flamina Tarastiana only two years ago, after which she left her previous post as Pontifex. Gaia, the daughter of a noble landlord from the County of Retebius and of a distant cousin of Leana Scaurus, adventured far and wide in the Known World and Sea of Dawn during her youth, before retiring at the age of 33 to pursue her political career as a loyalist in the Ecclesia.

Gaia is married to Maximinus Aurelian (born 956, F11, LN), a Thyatian General coming from a branch of the Aurelian senatorial family. Maximinus, a red-bearded, bald man with dark eyes, is the cousin twice removed of Tracin Aurelian².

Gaia and Maximinus have three children: two daughters, Devota (born 992) and Aurelia (born 996) and a son, Rufus (born 994).

14) Silvia Kommodoris. Flaminia Valeriana. Gens Aurelia.

The experienced leader of the priesthood of Valerias is Silvia Kommodoris (born 923, P14 (of Valerias), CG). The old priestess, who keeps her age (and her sexual life) 40 years younger thanks to potions of longevity, is close to retirement: she is just waiting to find a good replacement. Silvia has always kept a compromising position between the followers of Valerias’s attitude towards the cult of Solarios and that of the Ecclesia. She thinks that the time is not ripe to allow the cult of Solarios back into the Thyatian Pantheon. She thinks that the priority of the Ecclesia and of Gens Aurelia is not the plight of the few followers of Solarios, and she is suspicious of Eusebius Torion’s interest in the cult.

Through her life, Silvia has had several husbands and lovers, and has seven children and sixteen grandchildren.

15) Papirius Rubens. Flamen Solarios. Gens Sergia.

Papirius Rubens (born 937, P11 (of Solarios), LN) is an ageing man who has tried most of his life to uphold the residual power of the Cult of Solarios (Ixion) in Thyatis. Rubens is an embittered man with few friends, and is an anomaly among Thyatian priests as he is a supporter of Gens Sergia, something that hasn’t helped him to convince the Ecclesia to give Solarios back his role in the Thyatian Pantheon. Rubens is a short, olive-skinned man with a clean-shaved head and long, thin fingers. He is ambidextrous and is extremely skilled at handcrafts - he is renowned for his ability to write at the same time with both hands, is an amateur jeweller and watchmaker and has even written a few monographies and biographies on goldsmiths, jewellers and watchmakers in the Known World. Not unsurprisingly, among his closest friends in the Senate are the dwarven Senators. Rubens has travelled several times to Rockhome and is well known in the gnomish kingdom of Highforge in Karameikos.

Rubens doesn’t look with favour upon Eusebius Torion’s friendship with one of the most influential and charismatic young upstarts in Solarios’s ranks, Xenos Dracma (born 966, P9 (of Solarios), LN). Dracma wants the priesthood of Solarios to take a more aggressive stance. He doesn’t care much about re-joining the Ecclesia. However, he is carefully grooming Eusebius’s support in order to bring the order of Solarios back to prominence independently of the Ecclesia. Rubens considers this idea idiotic: since the times of the heresy, the cult of Solarios has little support outside the Ecclesia, and in the multicultural, polytheistic Thyatis, the support of a Prince (or an Emperor, for the matter) would not be enough to restore its power.

Representative of the Church of Karameikos

16) Gregor Kelvin. Gens Aurelia.

Second cousin to Desmond, Baron of Kelvin in Karameikos, Gregor Kelvin (born 970, Pal7, LG) has been chosen as a triple-compromise between the two factions of the Church of Karameikos and the Ecclesia.

Gregor, a Paladin born and raised in Thyatis, moved to Kelvin and has been involved in several missions on behalf of his cousin and the Church of Karameikos. Gregor is a tall fighter in his prime, with fiery black eyes, dark brown hair and a short beard; strong and heavy as a bull, he is not exactly beautiful, but has a powerful personal magnetism. When he was chosen in 998 AC for the role, he was not happy, as he had to come back to the capital, where he feels he is not able to live up to the standards required by his order. He is trying to convince the Pontifices to replace him with someone else - Antonius Merula and Albrecht Reus have promised to support him as soon as they find a suitable replacement.

4. CONSCRIPTI (23)

The Conscripti are the Empire’s Meritory Senators. They can be up to 39 - this for an ancient Thyatian tradition: as the aristocratic Senators (the Patres) are 40, they could never be more than them. Things obviously changed with the introduction of elected senators and dominion ruler representatives, but the rule remained.

The choice of the Conscripti follows generally the balance in the Senate among the factions. Gens Zendrolian tends to have most conscripti, also because it is customary to appoint to the Senatorial title most of the major ministers chosen by the Emperor. Populares and Philosophers tend to have much less meritory Senators, although they can try to force some of them in the ranks after a favourable election, or if they feel they can be helped by popular support to a sympathetic, charismatic candidate.

Moreover, the Emperor is always immediately conscripted into the Senate after his appointment. As being conscripted is for life and is not formally linked to any previous title, an abdicating Emperor would not be required to leave his position as a Senator.

1) Emperor Thincol Torion, Princeps Senatus, Pontifex Maximus. Gens Zendrolian.

Little needs to be said about Thincol Torion (born 938, F23, TN), the Emperor of Thyatis and Princeps Senatus. Born on Oceansend as Thrainkell Torson, in a comfortably wealthy shipwright’s family, Thincol became an adventurer and gladiator and, in 960, when the Alphatian Spike Assault nearly led to Thyatis’ conquest, he organized a force of gladiators, soldiers and adventurers and led a crushing counterattack that set the stage for the successful driving out of Alphatians from the Thyatian lands. Thincol persuaded Princess Gabriela, whose father Gabrionus had just perished by Alphatian magics, to marry him and associate him to the throne.

A hard, ruthless, uncompromising man, he has no true friends and loves only his family and his power. He considers Senatorial debate a waste of time, preferring the efficiency of direct autocratic control. He loves the Empire in the same way a rich entrepreneur loves the company he owns (or in which he is the major stakeholder). He is, quite obviously, the leader of Gens Zendrolian. Thincol keeps his age around 40 through the use of potions of longevity. He has hard and hawlike features, dark brown hair with hints of balding, and black eyes.

His wife Gabriela (born 944, NW, LG) is a bitter, aging woman. In 960 the Alphatians conquered the Imperial Palace, and murdered her parents and five older siblings during the Spike Assault. Young and impressionable, she agreed to marry Thincol, who wooed her, married her, fathered children upon her, but never really cared for her. Thincol kept her for the sake of legitimacy and their children, but takes mistresses as it pleases him and ignores her most of the time. Depressed and old in body and spirit, she does not take the potions of longevity her husband buys for her.

Their first son Eusebius (born 961, F14, LN), Duke of Thyatis, entered the West Reach cavalry academy at 18 and spent a dozen years as a good cavalry officer. At 32 he married Lucianna, and now has two children, Coltius and Gabronius. Very much his father’s son, only in a more calm and cold way, Eusebius loves little beyond his family and wants little more than to be the new Emperor. The only private interest of his life, the faith of Solarios (Ixion), is also taking a more and more public dimension, much to the dislike of the Church of Thyatis and of the Aurelii - Solarios is not part of the “Thyatian Twelve”, and many of his followers were exiled to the Savage Coast about a century ago. Moreover, even among the Zendrolian faction, some have reservations or outright worries at this fascination with such an unpopular and out-of-fashion deity.

Thincol and Gabriela’s second child is their daughter Stefania (born 970, T12, CG). Stefania ran from home after killing a major Ostlander prince on their wedding night in 987. It took Thincol eight years, during which she travelled under the assumed identity of the adventuress Demetria (an alias she still uses from time to time), to relent and accept her back in the family. Stefania, despite (or because of) the Emperor’s obvious disapproval, has begun a love story with the adventurer and gladiator Anaxibius (born 970, F20, LG), now a rich man who has settled his family from Machetos in a large estate on Emperor’s Hill, and one of the most popular men in Thyatis City.

The royal couple’s third and last child, Asteriela (born 979, M4, LG) has been in Sundsvall for a year as a hostage to Empress Eriadna of Alphatia, in exchange for Eriadna’s son Tredorian (born 983, F4, LG) staying a hostage of Thincol. Asteriela is studying magic with Tylion, the Empress’s father. She has grown to love the colorful city and the undemanding and warm Empress. She loves but fears her father, and her loyalty is slowly shifting towards Eriadna. On the other hand, the same is also happening to Tredorian towards Thincol.

2) Demetrion Karagenteropolus. Gens Zendrolian.

Demetrion Karagenteropolus (born 895, M23, LG), a powerful mage and dragon-rider hailing from Julinius, had already retired on Sclaras when the Alphatian Spike assault began. Demetrion returned first to Julinius to help his family and then moved to Thyatis to help Thincol in his counter-attack on the invaders. Since then he has become Magist to the Emperor and a consultant to the Retebius Air Force, and even held for several years the post of Magister Arcanum. He is a great supporter of Thincol and one of the few truly independent individuals who can criticize the Emperor to his face, and has more than once leaked information to indirectly help to stop what he believed were misdeeds on his part. An aged man, he keeps himself about 30 years old through potions of longevity but uses illusions to look 65 years old.

3) Leonardo Castro, Gens Zendrolian; Magister Arcanum³.

Leonardo Castro (born 950, M16, NG) is one of Thincol’s ministers and one of a few but prominent friends of Demetrion Karagenteropolus in the Senate. Castro, a former adventurer, was given the position by Thincol under the recommendation of Demetrion.

Leonardo is a middle-aged man with a few black curls and brown eyes, with strong, homely features, and slightly overweight. He holds an estate on the island of Sclaras, and is married to Diana M’vula (born 960, M9, CG), a Nuari wizard. Leonardo and Diana have four children: Demetrion (born 986), Gabriela (born 989), Tanarobi (born 991) and Tanja (born 994).

4) Nabila Al-Taracena, Gens Zendrolian; Magistra Aerarii.

Thincol’s Chancellor of the Sacellium is Nabila Al-Taracena (born 955, W9, LN), a noblewoman from Biazzan of Espa and Alasiyan descent who studied Economics in Biazzan and Selenica. Her family preferred to deny its faith in Solarios to avoid an effective exile and retain their possessions in Biazzan and Machetos. Nabila is a personal friend of Emperor Thincol, and has shortly been one of his lovers, but their relationship is now of a purely professional nature.

A few years ago she married a wealthy battle-mage from Biazzan, Rasheed Tourabi (born 955, W14, TN). They have one son, Mehdi (born 996). Nabila, a very beautiful woman with olive skin, green-yellow eyes and black, curly hair, keeps her appearance ten years younger thanks to a potion of longevity.

5) Retameron Mura, Gens Zendrolian; Magister Vestarii.

Hailing from Carytion, Retameron Mura (born 952, W12, TN) belongs to the lesser nobility of the island, and a cousin of Ignitia Saragat, the wife of Senator Traianos Murco⁴. A second son, Retameron worked in the Ministry for most of his adult life, after having studied at the Great School of Magic in Glantri. He is mostly disinterested in politics, but is an efficient archivist and planner. Thincol chose him as Magister Vestarii because he is rich from his family estates, is a reliable supporter of the Emperor and is not politically ambitious. As is often the case with the four major Magisters, he was conscripted to the Senate shortly after his appointment.

Retameron is short and lean like most Carytians (1,60 m for 50 kg). He has a short-trimmed black beard and small black eyes, and suffers from beta thalassemia, a hereditary blood disorder that is relatively common among ethnically Carytian inhabitants.

6) Petrus Umbra, Gens Zendrolian; Magister Officiorum.

Born in the forested hills of Halathius, Petrus Umbra (born 955, T13, NE) is Thincol’s Magister Officiorum (the Thyatian minister of information networks, communications and counter-intelligence). Petrus began his career as an elite soldier in the Thyatian Legions, before entering the Speculatores (military explorers at the orders of the Magister Officiorum) and then the special Agentes of the ministry. He rose to the top ranks of the ministry thanks to his skills, his enormous and methodical knowledge and memory, and his incredible analytical intelligence - but also thanks to his skills in oiling mechanisms and corrupting and blackmailing thanks to his information network.

Petrus Umbra has been chosen by Thincol as he has proven himself loyal in more than one fishy occasion that benefited the Emperor, but he is slowly and cautiously moving towards Eusebius, as he recognizes that the Prince is the future of the Empire, and Petrus wants to stay on top also when the throne will change hands.

Petrus is taller than the average Thyatian (1,78 m/5' 10") and is in perfect physical shape. In addition, his jet black hair and beard without a hint of grey, contributes to making him look at least five years younger.

7) Cabirio Nasica, Gens Zendrolian.

Cabirio Nasica (born 960, T11, CE) is one of the most important Alphatian spies in Thyatis. He is a relative of two other Senators, Ulpius Nasica, elected Senator for Redstone, and Antonius Nasica, elected Senator for Sclaras.

Cabirio was born on the Isle of Dawn, the son of an impoverished landed knight. He became a thief-adventurer and later an important guild member of the thieves’ guild in Dunadale, working also in Helskir and traveling all over the Isle of Dawn hoarding riches through adventuring and theft. He built a personal web of connections and in the end decided to become the Alphatian master spy in Thyatis, where he poses as a supporter of Thincol.

Cabirio Nasica is a member of Prince Eusebius’s closest group of friends. He is a dangerous man with no scruples whatsoever. He can be used as a master villain for a Thyatian campaign, or the hard and unscrupulous employer of Alphatian characters to operate on Thyatian soil. Cabirio’s goal is to replace Petrus Umbra as the Magister Officiorum when Eusebius reaches the throne - it would be a major coup for the Alphatian master spy to get his hands on the secret services and information network of the Empire.

Cabirio Nasica is secretly married with Dalida Linn (born 966, T9, NE), a Master of the thieves’ guild in Dunadale, and they have two boys, Yldian and Jorek, 8 and 4 years old respectively. When Cabirio Nasica spends time with his family in Dunadale, he does so with the assumed identity of a dunadalian adventurer and traveller known as Pyr Adrius. With this name he has also published a few travel reports about the Isle of Dawn and Sea of Dawn, in which he displayed a humorous and life-loving side that people who should know who he really is would find amusing.

8) Philippos Abete. Gens Zendrolian.

9) Hans Larsson. Gens Zendrolian.

Philippos and Hans are two close friends of Emperor Thincol. They were chosen as meritory persons after Thincol’s ascension to the throne, when the Emperor’s popularity forced the Senate to accept without opposition his choices and nominees. Things went quite differently with the two friends, however.

Philippos Abete (born 936, F11, CE), a gladiator at the time of the Alphatian Spike Assault, has become a corrupt and decadent Senator. Although still a strong man with few hints of old age (thanks to a couple of potions of longevity), he is up for sale whenever the Shadow Hand or a powerful Minrothaddan or Darokinian merchant house needs a help for a bill or a push in the Senate or in governmental agencies. Both Thincol and Hans Larsson (born 941, F16, LG) know this, but while the honest soldier of Oceansend origin, an old adventuring companion of the Emperor, is disgusted and enraged by this, the pragmatic Emperor simply uses Abete’s weaknesses to control him and use him as his eyes and ears to inform him on the less pleasant activities going on in the Senate. Hans Larsson doesn’t like it: he tells himself that Thincol is sacrificing honesty in the name of matters of state, but wonders more and more whether the Emperor has always been a cynical man of power and never the good hearted friend he remembers from their old days together.

10) Destinus Giovanni. Gens Zendrolian.

Destinus Giovanni (born 888, F18, P9 (of Nyx), TN) is a nosferatu, and a sworn enemy of the Storm Soldiers and of Count Oesterhaus of Hattias (in fact, an avatar of Thanatos). Destinus is a supporter of Gens Zendrolian very close to Empress Gabriela’s family. He was a close friend of her father Gabronius, and was a retired General and a conscripti Senator already when the Spike Assault stroke (as a former Magister Vestarii). He tried to advice Gabriela against marrying Thincol, and disappeared for a while after Thincol’s ascension. The reason for that was that the Emperor tried to kill and dispose of him. However, Destinus was able to escape, and went on the run for some time.

During this time, he planned his return, first rejuvenating with spells and potions, and then trying to establish a base for a coup. However, Destinus, being a loyalist aristocratic supporter, saw that Thincol managed to save the throne against the menace of populares, republicans and aristocracy, and understood that he had to set aside his personal hate for the good of the Empire.

Embittered and confused, Destinus left Thyatis again to become a mercenary leader in various parts of the Known World and beyond, to the Savage Coast, and ended his days killed by a nosferatu priest of Nyx in Karameikos. As an undead, he became an apprentice of his killer, and then took against the leadership of mercenary companies in Ethengar and Norwold.

As he has never been officially dead, Destinus is still a Senator, but he is almost never seen in Thyatis. His fame means that, whenever he is seen in the City, every politician, spy, ambassador and commoner smells something very big going on.

11) Mauritius Palykratidius, Gens Aurelia.

12) Valerius von Lustig, Gens Aurelia.

13) Marino Asforteris, Gens Aurelia.

Valerius and Marino are both former Pontifices. They both resigned when Gens Aurelia managed to make them conscripti, a practice Gens Aurelia has used to get more power into the Senate after favourable elections.

Valerius von Lustig (born 820, F14/P14 (of Vanya), LG) is an elf priest from Hattias. His ancestors moved from Terentias to Hattias a couple of centuries before the establishment of the Empire, and embraced partly Hattian and Thyatian customs and culture. Valerius’s father Hermann von Lustig (born 633, F9) is a Lord Knight (the lower landed aristocracy). Valerius is a very peculiar figure: the tall, blond, green-eyed elven priest is almost always seen dressed like a Hattian priest or aristocratic knight, and is an unusual and immediately recognizable sight in the capital. He is a very moral person, unsmiling and stern, and although he gets along reasonably well with his fellow elves in the Senate, he is sometimes mocked for his attitude. One of the most famous jokes about him goes like: “What do you get when you cross an elf with a Hattian follower of Vanya? A tall, unbearded dwarven priest”.

Valerius married Federica Lorindel (born 828, F3/W3, NG), an elf from Terentias, and they have two daughters, Findula (born 963, NW, NG) and Karen (born 978, NW, NG). Federica is much less austere than her husband. The couple has a nice villa in the Silver District of Thyatis and Federica loves to hold parties where she likes to mix the guests in the most bizarre ways: aristocrats with artists, ambassadors with actors, elves and Glantrians with dwarves and Alasiyans, foreigners with locals. An invitation to the couple’s villa can be a good starting point for the weirdest adventures, and Federica might be the unsuspected person to turn to in order to get in touch with an elusive or peculiar character.

Marino Asforteris (born 938, P12 (of Vanya), LN) is a priest of Vanya and one of the leaders of the Brotherhood of the Grey Lady, the biggest fighting order in the Empire of Thyatis.

14) Orane Lamrabet. Gens Aemilia. Imperial Envoy to Tameronikas.

A naval officer with a Nuari mother and Tel-Akbiran father, Orane Lamrabet (born 944, F7, LG) was for many years Magister Fabricae (the governmental officer in charge of the imperial arsenals in Thyatis, Lucinius and Beitung). He resigned from the position in 986 to become an envoy in Tameronikas (Ylaruam), and was conscripted to the Senate in 991 as the result of a compromise to hold the balance in the number of meritory Senators among the aristocratic factions.

Orane is a honest politician - many point at his racial ancestry to say that it would otherwise be impossible for a Mainland Thyatian to be honest - and still lives and operates as an envoy in Tameronikas. He is married to Sade Trinca (born 954, NW, LG), an ethnically Thyatian/Tel-Akbiran woman born and raised in Port Lucinius, that he met during his years as Magister Fabricae. They have three children: a son, Camus (born 982, NM, LG), and two daughters, Victoria (born 984, NW, LG) and Aysha (born 987, NW, LG).

15) Aemilius Fabius. Gens Aemilia.

A member of the wealthy (and huge) senatorial-aristocratic Fabius family, Aemilius Fabius (born 941, F3, TN), born and raised in Redstone, is the typical Aemilii meritory senator. The Aemilii make it a point of honor to appoint some of the politicians from their faction that fulfill the whole cursus honorum (holding at least once all the major senatorial governmental positions - Praetor, Quaestor, Aedilis, Consul and Censor) - another example is Damianus Paulus (see below). A major figure of the aristocratic party, Aemilius Fabius is not overly corrupt to be a politician - and he never acts from personal benefit, using treachery and money to further his faction’s goals, that he (like many senatorial aristocrats) consider equivalent to the Empire’s goals.

Aemilio is an ageing man with brown eyes, grey, sparse hair, and a short goatee and moustache. Although he is still powerful and strong, he is quite overweight.

Aemilius is married to Antonia Retebius (born 947, NW, CN), a strong-willed, hot-tempered aristocratic lady that breeds running horses in the family estates on the Isle of Dawn, and they have three sons: Liberius (born 968, F8, LN), a naval officer on Terentias; Valen (born 970, F9, CN), a hippogriff rider in the Retebius Air Fleet; Plutarch (born 972, NM, LN) a lawyer and local politician in Redstone; and two daughters: Cynthia (born 974, P3 (of Faunus), CN), a veterinary doctor, married to her cousin Lavinio Retebius (born 960, W16, CN), one of the powerful wizards of Sclaras; and Plotinia (born 976, NW, TN), a young architect in Redstone.

16) Damianus Paulus. Gens Aemilia.

17) Maccio Paulus. Gens Aemilia.

Damianus Paulus (born 944, F6, LN) and Maccio Paulus (born 928, F4, TN) are two important members of the Pauli family, one of the leading families of Gens Aemilia (see also Threshold #5, page 200, for more information on the Paulus senatorial family).

Damianus is the younger brother of Tiberius Paulus, who holds the family’s senatorial seat. He was chosen not only because of his family relations - he has also held all the positions of the so-called cursus honorum (Praetor, Quaestor, Aedilis, Consul and Censor), and has proved himself a honest and reliable politician. Damianus is of average height (1,70 m/5' 7") and weight. He has brown eyes and short grey hair with a bald spot on top.

Maccio is Tiberius and Damianus’s uncle. He is a respected patriarch of the Pauli family, although he has never been a prominent leader of Gens Aemilia. However, he is a shrewd observer and intelligent man who has always been content to play second fiddle for the good of his party. Maccio is slightly below average height (1,65 m/5' 5") and is overweight. He has brown eyes and is completely bald, but bears a salt-and-pepper beard that make him look a few years younger.

18) Mongezi Pukwana. Gens Sergia.

Hailing from Dwair in the Pearl Islands, Mongezi Pukwana (born 940, Bard 12, NG) is a famous and respected Nuari who has spent many years as an adventurer and has published many travel reports who are among the most read popular narratives in the Pearl Islands and Ochalea, and have sold moderately well also on the Mainland. After having spent many years as an ambassador in Minrothad, Ierendi and as a consul in Thothia, he was chosen a few years ago for a meritory Senatorial title. After many years in the employment of the Empire he is a little too ‘governmental’ to associate himself with the Philosophers - however, he is still a very good friend of Archduke Tanarobi and of most of the Nuari and Ochalean senators.

Mongezi is married to Melina Osei (born 945, Bard 3, LG), a Nuari playwright and actress, and they have three sons: Amarfio (born 970, F6, LG), a ship captain married with two daughters, Spartacus (born 973, T (Rake) 1, NG), a naval engineer married with one son, and Lasisi (born 978, Bard 2, NG), a musician and actor.

19) Skrain Syrklist, Gens Sergia, Imperial Envoy to Denwarf-Hurgon.

The only other demihuman conscriptus in the Senate is Skrain Syrklist (born 873, F14, LG), a dwarven champion from Buhrohur. His father was a Syrklist from Stahl in Rockhome, while his mother was a member of the baronial family Blyskarats. Skrain served many years in battle in the Thyatian Legion, becoming the most famous dwarven General in the Legion of all Thyatian history. After he retired, he fought on with mercenary companies and adventurers, being for some time the right hand of Destinus Giovanni in Ethengar. He was chosen as a Senator in 989 with the support of the dwarven senators, Destinus Giovanni and Gens Sergia in particular, after the death of a former dwarven conscriptus Senator. (Somehow, the Thyatian Senate has always deemed necessary to have at least one dwarven meritory Senator in their ranks.)

Skrain is essentially a military man. He says of himself that he is not able to do anything else but fighting, but thinks the most important thing is to know what one fights for. Notwithstanding his words, Skrain has also been a skilled (albeit rough) military diplomat in matters involving conflicts between Thyatis and Alphatia, and this is why he has been nominated as Imperial Envoy at the newly established Thyatian Consulate in Denwarf-Hurgon in 994. Since then, he has spent most of his time in Alphatia, although he comes back to Buhrohur and Thyatis at least for a couple of winter months every year, to avoid feeling too homesick.

Skrain is essentially a good man and loves equally his race and his country. He lives in Denwarf-Hurgon with his wife of many years, Dania Buhrtar (born 900, F4, LG), a Torkrest dwarf from Dengar in Rockhome. Dania loves Skrain and is happy that he has finally settled down after a lifetime of fighting. They have two sons and two daughters.

20) Yi, Mei. Philosophers, Praetor of Ochalea.

An Ochalean priest in his middle fourties, Yi Mei (born 946, Pr 14/Philosopher of Neutrality, TN) is a follower of Mystic Way of the Eight Immortals. While Baoxin Shendao priests are never named as Ecclesiastical Senators, and rarely participate in elections, Yi Mei was conscripted after he defeated, with the help of his fellow monks, an epidemic of vampirism that had taken hold in the province of Sung. The epidemic, carried by a Thyatian vampire from Furmenglaive, threatened to halt the mining of gold, a lucrative activity that supports the entire province as well as lining the coffers of the Grand Duchy of Ochalea and the imperial treasury.

Thanks to his combat experience, powerful magic, and expertise in facing mysterious threats and a variety of monsters, Yi Mei has been selected as the Praetor of Ochalea. This allows him to spend most of the time in his monastery on the Five Peaks in Sung, when he is not travelling through Ochalea to carry out his duties.

In his travels, he is never without his twin Ochalean houndling apprentices, Ah Hao and Ah Fang (both are born 983, Pr5/Philosopher of Neutrality, NG). Both Yi and his apprentices are Philosophers both from the political and the religious point of view -- their magic comes from their deep understanding of the neutral philosophy rather than from any of the Eight Immortals.

21) Noureddine Neqrouz. Populares.

A Tel-Akbiran of Alasiyan descent, Noureddine Neqrouz (born 934, F18, NG) won his seat thanks to his twenty years as one of the foremost officers in the Isle of Dawn in the years after the Alphatian Spike Assault. He was voted in office a few years after Alkybiades Nemeicus, after a Populares-favorable election, and as a sort of counter to Alkybiades’s prominent racist stance. Noureddine is a moderate, who dislikes Republicans and has great faith in the multicultural and multilateral nature of the Empire. He is well liked by all people of the Empire, including Dawn citizens of Alphatian origin, who have learned to trust the deep respect of Neqrouz for their culture. Noureddine is on surprisingly good terms with the Philosophers, given his military past. His enemies are, unsurprisingly, the Pure Ones, Storm Soldiers and most Thyatian ultranationalists.

Noureddine is a tall (1,90 m/6' 3"), slim man in great shape to be over 60, almost completely bald, with a thick, grey beard and piercing green-brown eyes. He is married to Amanda Bint Sina (born 942, T(Rake)5, CG), and they have four children and ten grandchildren. Noureddine is a moderate follower of Protius and is sympathetic towards followers of the Nahmeh, a book for which he holds great respect.

22) Serena Izirne. Populares.

Serena Izirne is the ethnically Alphatian wife of Pontifex Antonius Merula. See above for more information on Serena.

23) Alkybiades Nemeicus. Pure Ones.

Alkybiades Nemeicus (born 924, F20, LN) is a former General, maybe the mightiest in the last forty years of Thyatian history. He led the most spectacular and dangerous missions and battles on the Isle of Dawn post-Alphatian Spike Assault. He is also a strong believer in the paternalistic vision of Thyatian enlightenment having to be spread to all people over Mystara, a nationalist who hates Alphatia passionately and dislikes all the other cultures that make up Thyatis as “inferior” or “savage”.

1 See also “Patres et Conscripti”, Threshold Issue #2, page 149, for an introduction to Ecclesiastical Senators.

2 See Threshold #5, page 190, for more information on the Aurelian senatorial family.

3 The four major ministerial positions of the Empire (Magister Arcanum, Magister Aerarii, Magister Officiorum, Magister Vestarii) are described in Threshold Issue #3, pages 213-214.

4 See Threshold #5, page 200.