Karameikos - Vaults of Pandius
Karameikos - Vaults of Pandius
Karameikos - Vaults of Pandius
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Strolojca and DraconiusBessarion (Lawful 9 th -level Fighter, Str 16,Wis 18) is the first son <strong>of</strong> VanyarineDraconius. He is a solidly built man, 5’10” tallfor 165 lbs. <strong>of</strong> weight, who doesn’t show at allhis 48 years <strong>of</strong> age: his hair is a full lightbrown colour, lacking any sign <strong>of</strong> age, and hisbody is a warrior’s, well-toned and muscled.His clean shaven face always has anauthoritative – if tired – air, and his blue eyesseem to look deep into one’s soul.Although the deaths <strong>of</strong> his two wives hauntedhis early adulthood, Bessarion has risen as amuch stronger man. During his travels withhis daughter Stephania in AC 991-994, hemanaged to trace the activities <strong>of</strong> a group <strong>of</strong>slavers who were smuggling slaves into andout <strong>of</strong> <strong>Karameikos</strong>, and his deeds earned himthe title <strong>of</strong> Knight from the Grand Duke. Hewould have liked then to take paladin vowsand go wandering in the name <strong>of</strong> the Church<strong>of</strong> <strong>Karameikos</strong>, but his family and politicalduties prevented this.Returning home, he assumed the rule <strong>of</strong>Glucynthos, securing it against goblins andbandits, improving villages and roads,building bridges, and ploughing new lands tosettle and farm. He also built a chapel in hiscastle, devoted both to the Church <strong>of</strong>Traladara (Traladaran clerics saved his sonPetrus from a fatal disease in AC 988), and tothe Church <strong>of</strong> <strong>Karameikos</strong>. Near his chamber,he erected a shrine to the Immortal Valerias,in front <strong>of</strong> which he prays every night for thesoul <strong>of</strong> his beloved Adrianina.In the years since his return, he has also tried(or is trying) to put his children on theirrespective roads: a life to be enjoyed forStephania, an advantageous marriage forArcadia, and the role <strong>of</strong> his heir for Petrus.Bessarion grew up in the Thyatian Province<strong>of</strong> Traladara, among Traladaran relatives,and as a result he doesn’t feel any realdifference between Thyatians andTraladarans; he feels that the Immortalshave led the Thyatians to Traladara for apurpose: bringing the Thyatian efficiencyand organisation and merging it with theTraladarans’ traditions and identity to createa new, prosperous culture. Bessarion isdeeply convinced that the <strong>Karameikos</strong> familywill succeed in giving his new people abright future, in spite <strong>of</strong> any difficulty ahead.Bessarion knows he has not been the best <strong>of</strong>fathers, and knows that Arcadia wishes himill for the time he spent away with Stephania.Because <strong>of</strong> this, lately he has tried to spendmore time in Glucynthos with Petrus andArcadia, than in Specularum at the GrandDuke’s court.At court, Bessarion supports Stefan’s policy<strong>of</strong> a future <strong>of</strong> integration between the GrandDuchy’s two cultures. He is one <strong>of</strong> the morerespected Thyatian aristocrats, both becausethe wisdom he always shows in his words,because <strong>of</strong> the tragedies he had to bear in hisfamily life, and because <strong>of</strong> hisunquestionable martial prowess. ThereBessarion strongly represents the NewKarameikan nobility, born from mixed bloodfamilies, and indifferent to ethnic andreligious differences in favour <strong>of</strong> a commonKarameikan future. Bessarion is also a strongsupporter <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Karameikos</strong> family, and heis also on very good terms with the Korrigan,Prothemian, and Hyraksos families. He hasgone so far as to betrothing his son Petruswith a scion <strong>of</strong> the Prothemian house, theyoung Lady Selina (niece <strong>of</strong> the Duchess);the two should marry soon. Despite theresentment his father felt toward his cousin106THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1