Boss Profile: Tybalt

On a snowy Ilian night, Marshal Tybalt fell . The young champion Zealot (or Jerrot, as some call him) exposed a classic case of corruption; the good marshal ordered his men, under the guise of banditry, to steal back the supplies rationed for the villagers by the Knight's Union. Tybalt would then supply the goods to merchants—at inflated prices, of course—by selling from the union's "excess supply." He gouged the impoverished, starving citizens for every speck of gold; it never really bothered him too much, either.

With Zealot's victory, justice . It came, however, with a price; before his death, Tybalt managed to land a strong blow at Zealot's leg. He could no longer walk. Poetic, almost, considering that Tybalt himself endured a similar fate in his earlier life. Tybalt famously used a Bernese wyvern as his mount. A heated room was kept for the creature, courtesy of the homeland guard's small mage corps. The beast was fearsome indeed, but Tybalt trained originally as a footsoldier. During a year abroad in Bern, Tybalt sustained a critical hit to the right leg, a crippling injury.

Bonus points if you see the error in that shot.

Back in Ilia, Tybalt was something of an upcoming celebrity. Ilians revere their mercenary champions, it's very much a part of their culture. Tybalt made a name for himself as a young captain, bringing success in battle and more contracts for his union. That was, until he returned from Bern with a lame leg. Because of his stature, Tybalt received a plum "retirement" post overseeing the territory of Edessa.

Despite the leg injury, Tybalt trained himself to fight with a mount. Initially the marshalship was only a temporary position in Tybalt's mind. He wanted to return to the mercenary life. The comeback campaign began, to little fanfare (and frequent opposition from the union), and he returned home after only one month. Maintaining a wyvern proved difficult for a lower-level mercenary unit, and Tybalt's injury made it difficult to maneuver as a group. In battle, he simply couldn't pull his weight.

So, Tybalt returned to the marshalship in Edessa, where he remained ever since. Over the years he's seen new heroes come and go; Tybalt, really, was quite bitter about this fall from grace. He felt abandoned by his nation, and thus felt no remorse when his schemes began unfolding.

Imagine the sheer rage induced by Zealot's presence. The young man enjoyed a similar stature to what Tybalt once was; one of Ilia's upcoming heroes. Not only that, Zealot's chosen to stay in Ilia this year, in order to stay close with his lover, Juno. Tybalt wanted nothing more than to deploy, to be able to fight again on the battlefield as a mercenary. Instead he'd resigned to being forgotten. This isn't to say that Zealot was at fault, Tybalt certainly deserved his fate.

However, it's interesting to remark on the similarities between these two characters. With his last breath, Tybalt inflicted on Zealot the same fate he'd endured. Enraged, facing defeat, Tybalt refused to die without ruining his opponent. Given the chance to strike, he took it—a blow to the leg, and he died with a grin. From this point, their stories diverge. The next year, Zealot returned to the battlefield on Ilia's behalf, after training himself to ride a horse (it wasn't his ideal fighting style, but it worked). He rebuilt his career, eventually ending life as Ilia's first king.

Tybalt's tale ended quite differently. The funny part is, it didn't really have to.


P.S. The beta patch is coming out tomorrow.
P.P.S. Yes, actually. For reals. No yokes, I promise.