Description

Personality

Personality:
Lucius has a strong air of nobility around him and a powerful presence. His clear, soft voice commands attention and his great intellect and oratory skills grant him extraordinary respect. He is a master strategist and tactician in addition to being an accomplished fighter and manipulator of people. However, thanks to this he finds himself unable to express his feelings well, being so used to manipulating others through words. Ironically for someone so able to read others he cannot understand his own feelings.
His sardonic temperament and sharp tongue make him as many enemies as they do friends. Lucius has a tendency to over think things and has a philosophical outlook, preferring his own company a lot of the time. He has a soft spot for women and children but has no compassion for those who would betray another‘s trust. He is generally rather pragmatic, believing that the ends justify the means and is intensely driven. He carries a slight hint of darkness about him.
Lucius is a firm believer in the philosophy of ‘the ends justify the means’. He will use whatever methods he deems necessary to achieve his purpose, up to and including theft, bribery, blackmail and murder. Despite this he has a strict sense of justice and personal honour that he abides by absolutely.

Goals and aspirations:
Lucius aspires to regain his kingdom and free its people from their oppression at the hands of the Sarifen Empire. He will go to any lengths to achieve this, no matter the cost to himself or others, seeing it as not his right, but his duty. He also seeks to reunite his family, whom he holds as dear as anything in this world.

Fears:
Having lost all he holds dear Lucius believes he has little to fear, however deep in his heart he fears solitude and the emptiness that it brings. His time spent isolated as a prisoner of the Empire has left him scarred.

Likes:
Lucius enjoys intellectual pursuits first and foremost, being learned in the classics and history, but also the arts. In his studies he has developed a great interest in the sciences, though he keeps alchemical and mystical sciences at a distance due to his distaste for their methods and a belief that they ‘corrupt the soul’, a remnant of his Puritanis Erusian upbringing. Though he hates to admit it, he derives some thrill from fighting and killing.
Foremost in Lucius’ heart are the people of Valania and he claims he will do anything to uphold his duty as their one true ruler.
Lucius loves his family, though he believes all but his younger brother Rothion to be deceased. He would gladly sacrifice his life and even his reputation for them.
Lucius’ relationship with the crown Prince and Princess of the Sarifen Empire causes him much distress, for though he considers the two of them close to his heart he cannot forgive their father and the Empire for the suffering that it has caused him and his people.

Dislikes:
Lucius despises the Emperor of Sarife with all his heart.
The Sarifen Empire as a whole is also the subject of Lucius’ scorn, something that was branded into his mind through his uprbringing as a Prince of Valania. He considers the nation his sworn enemy an will do everything in his power to destroy it. His ordeal as a prisoner of the Emperor has only deepened this hatred.
Lucius cannot abide traitors of any kind.

Equipment

Notable Skills and Abilities:
Able swordsman and knife fighter, though far from a master in either.
Accomplished tactictian, strategist and leader.
Genius intellect and animal cunning.
Highly developed knowledge of psychology, philosophy, oration and manipulation.
Adept at stealth and sleight of hand.
Knowledgable in the arts, sciences, history and economics.

Equipment:
As a political prisoner of the Sarifen Emperor Lucius is not allowed access to any weapons or other equipment, having nothing to his name besides the clothes on his back. However, with the help of his teacher Sytonia and his own sleight of hand and ingenuity he has managed to improvise a crude but effective lockpick capable and training weapons.

Other Notes:
Despite his athleticism Lucius has a weak constitution and is physically frail and prone to injury, being in his own words 'cursed with the body of a noble, rather than a warrior [...] most unsuited to war'.

History

Biography:
Lucius was born Lucius Vi Delacroix the young prince of the nation of Valania, which shared it's borders with great nation of Sarife and prevented its advance further into the continent of Ea. Before his birth, the oracle Lyscia prophecised to Lucius’ mother that he would destroy the world. As a child Lucius' parents were assassinated under orders from his uncle.

Lucius was crowned king at the age of five and his retainers, including his uncle, would manage the affairs of the state until he was old enough. However his uncle plotted to kill him and his younger brother, Rothion, and his younger sister, Catherine, marrying Lucius' elder sister Marianne to complete his rise to power. At the age of six the assassination plot failed when Lucius struck down the assassin with his own hands.

He had his uncle arrested and executed soon after, showing his ruthless and calculating nature at an early age. It was not long before Sarife invaded his land and took it as it's own, the kingdom of Valania which had for so long stood as the only line of defense separating the empire from the other kingdoms of Ea was now in enemy hands and Marianne was believed dead.

Lucius and Rothion were held as political hostages in Sarife as a cultural exchange. His younger sister Catherine, still an infant at the time remained a captive of the new ruler of Valania, a vassal of Sarife's emperor. To protect his brother, Lucius suffered cruelty and barbarism beyond reckoning at the hands of the foreign ruler, but also learned much of their ways. They allowed him to wander the palace grounds freely. For even if he managed to escape, where would he go? He knew that he would be caught again quickly and before long he fell into despair. During his stay in the palace he became close friends with the young prince of the empire, Bahramesh. It was during his time he met the Suitanian philosopher and fellow prisoner Sytonia. The elder man tutored Lucius, in culture and philosophy, strategy and tactics, politics and manipulation as well as in the arts of psychology and leadership. He also instructed the boy in the arts of combat that Sytonia had learnt during his travels to distant lands. Over the years Lucius developed a profound animal cunning and deadly skill in fighting. Sytonia understood the boy’s intentions well enough. He sought revenge on those who had damned him to this hell. For several years Lucius painstakingly planned for his escape.