Boss Profile: Medeus

He is thoroughly unamused
by this biography.

Long ago, the world was inhabited by dragons and humans. Mankind and dragon always cooperated, and peace reigned as the dragons shared their wisdom and power with the humans. There were five types of dragonkin, each distinguished by their appearance and abilities.

The tribes lived in harmony with each other, save for a few minor quarrels (none of which ever devolved to full-scale conflicts). It was well known throughout the world that Loptyr, leader of the Earth Dragons, had a disdain for Naga, leader of the Divine Dragon tribe. Naga was looked upon by all as the leader of the dragonkin, he was king and his word was law. Despite personal grudges, the world continued to move forward. Mankind and dragon shared their home. The dragons bestowed upon man their miraculous inventions, and mankind, in return, shared everything they had with the dragons. Eventually, however, the dragonkin began to decline. Although blessed with incredible lifespans, the dragons drew their power from another world - as time went on they began to degenerate into feral beasts. To avoid destroying mankind, the dragons would join mankind. King Naga, leader of the Divine Dragons, decided it best for the dragons to seal their dragon forms into “dragonstones” and assume human forms instead, to allow the dragons and mankind to continue their coexistence. These sealed dragons were called “manakete.” With the use of their dragonstones, the manakete could become dragons, but only for a short periods of time. All tribes followed Naga’s lead, except for the Earth Dragon tribe. Loptyr, refused to sacrifice his power to protect the weak men who sought to conquer the world. Medeus, a trusted disciple of Loptyr, urged the Earth Dragons to follow King Naga and seal their forms, doing so himself as an example. The Earth Dragons, however, refused and continued to degenerate.

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.

Boss Profile: Onslow

As a young child, Onslow often dreamt of princedom. He grew up in Worde's poorest village and envied the luxuries afforded to these privileged elites.

Onslow, determined to escape the trap of poverty, eventually became a Lycian merchant. Nothing extraordinary. His business was average; it paid bills, but provided nothing more. With the birth of his son, Onslow resolved to create something worth passing on.

Discontent with the life of an ordinary merchant, Onslow began to explore other avenues for profit. This led him into his first dealings with criminals; he specialized in distributing black market goods to ordinary sellers. What good is theft, after all, if it doesn't translate into gold?

Unable to keep these secrets from his wife, she soon left him outright. At first Onslow despaired, but eventually he found solace by investing himself further in his criminal career. He maneuvered himself from selling the goods to stealing them himself. Bandits aren't typically an intellectual lot, and Onslow, although no genius himself, was smarter than the average brigand. He drew up the plans, his gang carried them out. His right-hand man, Warner, was in charge of the muscle.

Boss Profile: Dawson

Marquess Dawson was a staunchly opinionated man, the adamant ruler of Ryerde, a territory in the Lycian League.

He once, as a young adult awaiting succession, spent a year living as a villager in Kathelet. Dawson was determined to see the world for himself. During that time, he formed many of his opinions on governance—opinions that were often starkly different from the prevailing thoughts of his era. He firmly believes in the benefits of local-based governance, including the popular selection of officials that dealt most directly with citizens. Under his rule, Ryerde one attempted a limited system of local democracy, where the Marquess nominated officials for a popular vote of approval. Dawson took care to nominate local leaders with established reputations in their communities, in order to give those communities a sense of connection with their government.

By some measures, it worked. Dawson oversaw the most rapid growth in military volunteers, as popular support encouraged service to the state. However, without a mechanism for the reconsideration of these officials (they served until they retired of their own accord), the perks of incumbency and power took its toll on Dawson's experiment. Although Dawson nominated local leaders to government posts, the system eventually degraded into a bureaucracy typical of that era's states. The "local officials" grew disconnected, and essentially became the government officials of old. A small burst of democracy and popular support reverted. The decline became undeniably apparent nine years after the system first began. Rarely, a death or retirement would bring in a new face, but with the majority of officials bureaucrafied, they could make little impact.