About Nico TegustusDescription Nico stands 6' tall and moves with a swiftness and grace that is unexpected for his size. His hair is a natural, deep red that looks almost brown, and his face a little rough but not unattractive. His tall frame is not particularly muscular, but neither is it wiry. When you talk to him, his eyes look away from time to time and he shifts his weight from foot to foot as though he's not comfortable meeting your gaze. Background Nico Tegustus grew up as Nicoli Arvina-Medvyed. He spent the first seven years of his life with his parents, Aemilia and Quaris, living near the Gronzi Forest. His family was connected to the Noble House of Medvyed by marriage through his great-grandmother. But as House Surtova rose under the rule of King Noleski, House Medvyed found itself in decline and nowhere was that felt more than the distant relations with a passing connection to the nobility. Nicolai's grandfather, Ruti, was an exception: politically savvy, extremely wise--some might even say shrewd--and generally well liked, he was relevant if not influential even in New Stetven. He maintained his estate there, and when he died, that estate passed on to Nicoli's father. Quaris moved his family to New Stetven when Nicoli was eight years old. He inheriteed the manor home, a modest amount of gold and liquid assets, and a steady income form property and investments. For Nicoli, Ruti had left a trust fund, sizeable enough to ensure a proper education in a cosmopolitan (for Brevoy) city. Unfortunately for the family, Quaris had neither his father's business acumen, nor his financial discipline, and over the next several years the coffers drained at an increasing rate. At first it was simply a matter of spending more money than was coming in, but it was Quaris's ill-fated efforts to fix their finances that accelerated the pace. Attempting to solve the problem on the wrong end--increasing their income--Quaris turned to investment opportunities and schemes, nearly every one of which failed due to bad judgement or mismanagement. As Nicoli grew older, he began to notice the things which a young child does not: the staff slowly shrinking in size, items wearing out or breaking without being repaired, the grounds becoming increasingly rough as caretakers were dismissed, and so on. By the time he was thirteen, the house looked shabby and he could see more clearly the differences between his own standard of living and those of his friends. He still knew that he lived better than the vast majority of the people in Brevoy, but he could tell that this would not last. And then there were the fights. His mom and dad were having more of them, and had stopped any attempts to hide the conflicts from their son. At one point, his father had even accused his mother of stealing from him, a thought that Nicoli found absurd because for one, the root of their problems lay in his father's mismanagement not some conspiracy involving his mother for gods' sakes, and two, they were married and by law had joint assets so what his father suggested was nonsensical, even if it were true. As the situation grew more dire, Nicoli saw his father's interventions as increasingly dire and desperate. At one point, Nicoli--who had inherited his grandfather's head for numbers--tried to steer his father away from obvously bad investments and outright scams but magical thinking and self-denial proved an impenetrable barrier. Those homes located in a flood plain? "They haven't flooded in years. It was a one-time event, caused by storm debris. It won't happen again." This was not how flood plains worked. Investing in crop futures without knowing anything about agriculture? "I lived in the forest all my life. I know the old ways, and the ways of the land." A farm was not a forest. His dad was irritated by these criticisms from his adolescent son, and finally snapped. "If you're so smart, why aren't you fixing this!? Either contribute, or shut the Hell up!" And that was the problem, really. Nicoli didn't have any solutions. He knew nothing about finding business opportunities, investments, or making deals. He wasn't a negotiator or a businessman. He only knew bad opportunities when he saw them. And his dad had a nose for them. Fortunately, Nicoli was nearly an adult and all-too-happy to move out of a home increasingly bathed in conflict and desperation. The trust would pay for continued schooling and living expenses, so he found an apartment of his own and enrolled in an academy of magic, inspired by the Forest where he lived as a young boy. During his last month of school, his mother came to visit and said, simply, "I am leaving your father. I hope you understand." The only thing Nicoli didn't understand was what had taken her so long. But when he asked, "Will you be OK? Financially?" he found out why. His mother had seen the writing on the walls years ago, long before Nicoli was old enough to understand. Unwilling to spend her life in poverty, Aemilia started skimming money from the family accounts and placing it in her own, personal, savings. It was easy enough to do this and keep it hidden from her husband: his bookkeeping was so chaotic that nothing balanced, anyway. A few hundred gold here and there never even registered. She had finally built up enough to live out her days comfortably, not extravagantly, and that was that. As happy as he was for his mom at finally getting out, Nicoli was disillusioned by the years of deception. His dad, he realized, had been right, and his mom had lied to him by denying it when accused. Nicoli couldn't really blame his mom for what she had done--she deserved better than what the last decade had given her--but it left him feeling hollow. People were complicated. Life was complicated. And he didn't really understand any of it. When his father's financial collapse finally came, Nicoli changed his last name to his mother's maiden name--Tegustus--and moved to Restov. In less than 20 years, the accomplishments of his grandfather had been completely undone, and the family name was not even worth the ink used to write it. The only way for his life to move forward was to start anew. ___________________________
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