About Pytros Ex-Lucarus---------------------------------------------------
Pytros showed great promise from an early age. True to the breeding program, he was stronger, faster, and smarter than the average human. He took to his education, drinking in as much information as the librarians and teachers allowed him access to. He mastered every weapon that was placed in his hands. He even learned the theories of magic, to better utilize the talents of the Magistratus. His favored weapon was the whip, despite the disapproval of his tutors for the unorthodox choice. He felt it had as much deadliness as any dagger - but at the end of a fifteen-foot arm. At the age of sixteen, he passed the Test of Citizenship with ease and signed the contract granting his free will to Mengkare's authority. Pytros continued his education after being accepted into the Citizenship. Between his deployments protecting the shores of Hermea, he studied as the assistant to Marcus Ex-Voturia, a scholar specializing in the Outer Planes. Marcus and Pytros quickly bonded, despite being of different generations and different castes. Each respected the intelligence and talents of the other, and Pytros came to view Marcus like a father. Pytros also gladly did his duty to the Glorious Endeavor when he was assigned a mate. His chosen partner, Livia, was of the Magistratus caste. Their partnership lasted a year until it bore fruit. When Livia became pregnant, she left to bear the child, and Pytros awaited his next romantic assignment. In 4711 AR, Pytros was deployed to the shores of Hermea in charge of a small squad of citizen-soldiers. Their duty was to protect the Glorious Endeavor through any means necessary. Any ships attempting to make it to shore were to be sunk, as all sanctioned trading partners know to use only the foreigner's quarter in Promise. His patrol spotted a ship, bearing no flag and showing no signals, sailing within the territorial waters; a squall had seemingly pushed it off-course. After they exhausted attempts to contact the ship - magically and through signals - Pytros ordered his citizen-soldiers to attack the ship. Their combination of siege weapons and magic made quick work of the ship, which quickly ran aground as its crew fled. Per their standing orders, the citizen-soldiers defended the shores by killing the sailors as they arrived. Pytros personally led the investigation into the ship before destroying it entirely. What he discovered on board the shipwrecked ship changed his life forever. Pytros discovered a tome of meticulous records, written in a strange language that appeared to be a combination of Draconic and Abyssal. He took the book, written in blood and bound in skin, to Marcus for translation. Marcus spent a month translating the tome, relaying his horrified findings to Pytros. According to the book, the power of the Wardstones that bind the Worldwound could be corrupted and used to produce great changes in human evolution. Pytros and Marcus realized that this process would weaken the Wardstone, perhaps even destroy it - which would mean the deaths of thousands of people that relied upon the Wardstones for safety. Pytros could not have been aware that the upper echelons of Hermean society have been controlled by Templars of the Ivory Labyrinth, a secret society dedicated to the agenda of the demon lord Baphomet. For over a century, they have meddled in human evolution on Hermea to produce a "superior" specimen of humanity - one that would follow orders without question and without fail. It was for the Templars and their agents on Hermea that this tome was intended. When Pytros and Marcus came forward to the Council of Enlightenment - the thirteen citizens who advise Mengkare and run the daily affairs of governance - with their discovery, they were told to turn over their research and forget about what they had learned. Pytros protested, as it would potentially mean letting many thousands of people die. He argued that it was their moral responsibility to send agents to protect the Wardstone, to protect the people of Mendev. He argued that it was their duty to offer protection and guidance for the rest of humanity. His pleas were promptly denied by acclamation of the Council - most of whom were members of the Templars of the Ivory Labyrinth, a fact unknown to him and most of the citizens of Hermea. Pytros and Marcus returned to the latter's home, preparing to turn over the tome to the Council as demanded. They did not expect the assassin sent by the Templars. They fought the assassin in Marcus's home, which burned around them from the wizard's fire spells. The dark-clad assassin killed Marcus with his curved blade before turning his attention to Pytros. Pytros fought off the assassin, eventually buying enough time to flee by using his whip to bring down a weakened part of the burning house on top of the assassin. As he fled, he saw the assassin without his mask; it was a tiefling male with violet skin, one red eye, and one blue eye. He fled with nothing but Marcus's handwritten notes, the clothes on his back, and his whip. Pytros was hunted throughout Promise for three days. He learned that he was wanted for killing Marcus, and that he had been stripped of his Citizenship for his crimes. He eventually found his way to the docks, where he snuck aboard a ship, the Empty Lighthouse. He hid himself from Promise's guards as they searched the ship, using his whip and his strength to maintain a hiding spot on the underside of the ship's bow. When the ship set off for port, he made his way on and offered his service to the captain - a former pirate called Henray Morgan Jonas - in exchange for the trip. Pytros stayed with the crew of the Empty Lighthouse for a year, always on the move from port to port. He went by several aliases, trying to maintain a low profile, but the tiefling assassin found him twice more: once in the streets of Sothis, and once again in the back alleys of Absalom. Only through his wits did he survive and escape, finding his way back to the Empty Lighthouse and convincing Captain Jonas to set sail immediately. After the second attack, he parted ways from the Empty Lighthouse at the Andoran port of Souston. Pytros headed north, making his way to Mendev. Hiding for a year had not thrown his hunters off his scent, and it was time for him to put his own words into action. He knew that he had a moral obligation to protect Mendev's people by warning them about the Wardstone - even if it was a warning that would be delivered in passing as he stayed on the move. He traveled north in a caravan of traders and crusaders, making his way through the rough lands that border Mendev. He arrived in Kenabres, only to find that he is too late... -----------------------------------
Pytros is quite moral in his outlook. His experience of being an outlaw has changed his views greatly since his exile began. He no longer trusts any government or hierarchy to protect the people. While his views on law and society have changed drastically, his heavily-ingrained worldview regarding humanity has not. He views himself as superior to humanity - even though he readily admits that many "normal" humans can surpass him in certain areas - and sees it as his obligation that he must protect other humans. He tends to look down upon non-humans (except for elves and half-elves) as alien throwbacks, though he saves his outright contempt for tieflings. |
|
