Karameikos - Vaults of Pandius

Strolojca and DraconiusThe senior branch instead, kept the old familyname. Having acquired lands in the region ofRetebius and settled down there, theycontinued the family airborne militarytradition. It is from this branch of the familythat the Karameikan Draconius descend.Among the foremost members of the oldThyatian Draconius are: Hypatius (AC 496-578), who – after a successful career in theRetebius Air Fleet as white dragonrider - wasprofessor at the Retebius Air Academy;Urianus (AC 589-661), who was Minister ofWar under Empress Valeria II of theMonomachos dinasty; Polydorus (grandsonof Urianus, AC 646-712), unsuccessfulgeneral of the Thyatian army during the waragainst Alphatia at the end of the 6 th centuryAC; Victoriana (AC 651-739, cousin ofPolydorus), a magic-user Knight of the Airwho was also the family’s first golddragonrider. Victoriana and her gold dragon,Yskuomar, became famous thanks to theiraerial assaults against the Alphatian forces,which slowed down their invasion of theThyatian mainland from Alasyia in AC 728.Victoriana married Flavian III, Duke ofRetebius at the end of the war (AC 732). In AC802, the great-grandson of Polydorus, FabiusVictorianus (AC 773-848), another bluedragonrider of the Retebius Air Fleet,received from the Duke of Retebius the titleof Baron of Clivus Draconis (“Dragonhill”),located on the banks of the upper MesonianRiver. Since then, the baronial title has passedfrom father to son; family tradition has alwaysrequired that the first male son of the familyhad to become a member of the Retebius AirFleet or of the Knights of the Air in order toinherit the barony. After Fabius Victorianus I’sdeath, the barony passed to his son FabiusVictorianus II (AC 824-898), to the latter’s sonNestorian (AC 873-925), then briefly toNestorian’s lesser brother Urianus (AC 882-926), and finally to Urianus’ son Tarastion(born in AC 917 and still living).Urianus was a pious adventuring cleric ofthe Church of Thyatis; he had not beentrained to become a member of the RetebiusAir Fleet because it was not expected that he,third son of Fabius Victorianus II, could havea chance to inherit the barony. Thus withhim the airborne tradition of the Draconiusfamily was broken. Moreover, his prematuredeath in AC 926, during one of hisadventures, left his wife Regula in charge ofhis sons Tarastion and Vanyarine (bothyounger than ten years at the time), and shedidn’t enforce the family tradition.Nevertheless, Tarastion was raised tobecome a proper nobleman, and served foryears as advisor to the present Duke ofRetebius’ father; Vanyarine, instead, chosethe military path, enlisting in the imperialarmy. He served on the Isle of Dawn(Redstone and Westrourke) during thepeaceful reign of Emperor Gabrionius V,then in 952 was chosen as legate to the nextGovernor General of Traladara, and movedthere with his recently-married wife GynethMabbot, a Westrourkian woman he had metwhile he was stationed at Newkirk.TARASTION S FAMILYTarastion married a cousin of the Duke ofRetebius, Glorianna, who bore him threechildren: Ovidius, Eudocia, and Diomedes.Ovidius, an enthusiastic admirer of thefamily’s past heroes, insisted he be trained asan air-knight, and managed to become agriffon-rider in the Retebius Air Fleet. Uponthe end of his service, he entered theKnights of the Air, and prepared to succeedhis father as baron, but didn’t outlive him,100THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1