Lisinthir Nase Galare

Ambassador Lisinthir Nase Galare

Dancer, dueler, and last son of the House of the striking drake. Now Lisinthir Lauvet Imthereli. Currently Third in the Chatcaavan Empire, and consort to the Emperor Kauvauc Ueneuvin and the Queen Ransomed.

Pronounced lihs-ihn-THEER nah-SEH gahl-AWR-eh.

Appearance and Personality

Stands 6'3", with a typically slender, elongated Eldritch build and white hair that falls to his thighs. His height puts him somewhat taller than the Emperor, and two heads taller than the Queen Ransomed. His face is angular with a pointed chin and sharp nose; he has a scar bisecting his right eyebrow. Lisinthir's eyes are an unusually dark shade of sapphire. He bears grey scars on his chest, back, flanks and arms from the Chatcaavan Emperor's testing, as well as multiple duels and one memorable fight aboard a Chatcaavan starship. His voice is baritone; he plays several instruments and can sing, but not at a professional caliber. He dresses elegantly for every occasion, whether it be traditional Eldritch clothing for court, Chatcaavan robes and trousers or hot outfits for clubbing. His personal scent is reminiscent of ambergris.

He is left-handed, but his fencing master taught him to use both hands interchangeably; while he is completely ambidextrous in battle, he still defaults to the left hand for handwriting.

Family

• Son of Korval Keldi Imthereli and Malavi Nase Galare.
• Brother of Aeremina Nase Galare.
• Consort of Emperor Kauvauc Ueneuvin and the Queen Ransomed.
• Children: firstborn twins, Kolvin and Niriel. Thirdborn Alari, a girl. Fourth, Sarkhan, named after the Emperor's father.

History/Bio

Born in 162 BA, Lisinthir Nase Galare is the only son of Malavi Nase Galare and Korval Keldi Imthereli. A superb swordsman, he was probably trained by Shoriven Fol Nase, a legendary swordsman in the north. As a child, Lisinthir was raised in a hostile and loveless environment, often used by his parents as a weapon against one another. In later years, he reveals to his cousin and lover, Jahir Seni Galare, that his parents never gave him a milk-name or love-name, the shortened version of a child's formal name used by intimates and bestowed as a mark of love; Jahir gifts him with the name Lin.

As a youth Lisinthir had three minor affairs, having been chased by the women in question. Two wanted money, and their interactions were minor and not consummated fully; one wanted a baby, and her husband had not been capable, and that one wasn't a fertile union but they dallied.

An excellent huntsman, Lisinthir chose upon entering adulthood to reside alone in a hunting lodge his mother bequeathed to him, attended by his butler Pellen. He spent his time afield on his ugly but reliable horse, Dart, hunting for meat and pelts to feed his mother's household and pay the servants, usually thicket boar and ice deer. He spent several years alone at a time.

Forced under threat by his father to attend court -- introduced too late in age to be considered an important player -- Lisinthir was charged to secure a wife who would be able to bear a child to re-establish House Imthereli and restore his father's pride of position. He wore his father's house ring, a striking drake on a red jewel, even though his mother's was more valuable, because "to be a prince among many princes is not as fine as to be a solitary king." However, he did not follow his father's instructions; instead, he arrived at court with a massive chip on his shoulder and spent his time dueling nobles whom he thought had insulted him or his House, never losing and establishing a reputation for ruthless aggression unbounded by House alliances; he'd been "willing to fight not out of some sense of drama, but to prove that when he said he would answer with a sword, he could, and he would, and he did. At Ontine, this had made him more of a man than almost every courtier there." It also left many of his targets offended for a lifetime, such as Gaviin Telde Sovanil, and his lack of consideration for political allegiances alarmed the court. Recognizing his restive nature and his desperation to be used to his potential, Queen Liolesa dealt with the court's objections by sending him as Ambassador to the Chatcaavan Empire, in response to the Alliance's request.

He is over 300 years old at the beginning of Even the Wingless. ("So he'd left his home of over three hundred years to present himself to the youth and arrogance of the Alliance...")

Timeline

• Born in 162 BA during the last years of Maraesa's reign; this makes him 176 years older than Jahir and 206 years older than Sediryl (but still in their generation)
• Sent to the Empire in 480 BA, a little over 300 years later.

Events of Even the Wingless

• Sent as the Alliance Ambassador ad'Chatcaavan Empire, with an initial tenure of two years. Went under the Galare name at the Queen's suggestion, as it would offer him more protection than Imthereli.
• Lisinthir was the first effective ambassador; after his successful freeing of a group of slaves, the diplomatic corps "expected miracles of him. Immediately." He succeeded in backing Second into a corner: when the Chatcaavan Empire did damage to Alliance colony worlds, he threatened to withhold debt forgiveness for debts incurred due to natural disaster relief. In return, he negotiated for changes to import taxes: taxes on luxuries would be cut in half, and reduced them to a quarter for essential aid items. He later freed a second group of slaves.
• Ascends to the second pillow in the Chatcaavan Court, displacing Second
• Seduces the Emperor, who admits himself "enthralled."
• Successfully rescues two groups of slaves. The groups included Bethsaida Emil Galare, Laniis Baker, and eighteen other unnamed slaves.
• Displaces Second on the second pillow at the evening meal, and takes over his role as poison-taster for the Emperor.
• Regularly raped and tortured by the Emperor while being tested in the way of males, including use of whips, clamps, and the rack. Continued to bear it because the Emperor first threatened to kill a member of the Imperial Harem and later the Slave Queen if he did not. Suffered this one last time at the (disapproving) hands of the Surgeon, while allowing the Emperor to feel his pain, to encourage his empathy.
• Survives an attempted poisoning attempt by one of Second's people.
• Develops an addiction to hekkret, used to develop a resistance to the substance when used to poison him, and an alcohol addiction as well due to heavy drinking while with the Emperor, both of which cause health problems. The Surgeon had no interest in weaning him off the drug, but did prescribe the amount of their use to maintain immunity "and not a roll more." Lisinthir sometimes ignored this.
• Takes breakfast with the Queen every morning while teaching her Universal and telling her tales from the Eldritch
• Forces Second to acknowledge the depredations by Chatcaava along the Alliance border. He uses the threat of withholding loan forgiveness for debts incurred due to disasters on Chatcaavan colonies to negotiate fifty percent lower taxes on luxury items and twenty percent lower on essential items. Also insists on receiving a list of people and places from which the Chatcaava bought their slaves. In addition, he manages at some point to get the border moved
• Was enraged by Third's treatment of the slaves. Their state was what tipped him over the edge, and he decided then to kill Third.
• Begins to convince the Emperor that the Alliance is a threat, and realizes nearly too late that this is dangerous, as the Emperor crushes anyone or anything he sees as a threat.

Events of Some Things Transcend

The Chatcaavan ship carrying Lisinthir to the Alliance was attacked just short of the border by other Chatcaava. He was rescued by Jahir and Vasiht'h and the crew of the Quicklance, but at the price of four of their crew and nearly all of their propulsion. While the Fleet ship drifted, Jahir discovered that his cousin was in dire condition physically, what with drug addiction, malnourishment, and injury, but mentally whole, having found love and purpose in the Empire. However, Lisinthir's animal magnetism woke desires in Jahir that threatened the therapist's mental equilibrium. So it was that Jahir helped Lisinthir survive his drug-withdrawal seizures, while Lisinthir helped Jahir make a start toward unrepressing his carnal side.

When the Quicklance's crew decided that they couldn't fix their ship, Lisinthir suggested and helped implement a rescue plan: they sent out a distress call and took over the Chatcaavan ship that responded. Lisinthir tortured the identity of the attackers out of a dragon: they were Navy. Then he had another seizure, and spent the next several days under Jahir's psychic care while the commandeered, damaged Chatcaavan ship made its slow way toward the Alliance. Eventually, they were rescued by the UAV Starsight, and Lisinthir was rushed to Fleet Central's hospital. His body violently rejected his own blood, cloned and filtered, but accepted transfusions from Jahir, and thus he was healed to begin his next task: convincing the Alliance to his Emperor's side in the imminent war.

Events of Amulet Rampant

Lisinthir found himself with several weeks free before his promised ride to the border was available, so he invited Jahir to Starbase Alpha for their promised tryst. On their very first night, they discovered that Lisinthir could control another's body with his thoughts, and that Jahir could project his own thoughts and emotions into another's mind: they were mind-mages. Thus they spent their time together exploring minds as well as bodies, with excursions on the starbase to test their new abilities: riding solidigraphic horses, dancing at nightclubs, sparring in a salle, exploring a concert hall and then attending a concert in it. Lisinthir tested his Fleet-issued roquelaure on Jahir, and they discovered that that bit of nanotech could not tell the two Eldritch apart. The cousins trained each other, loved each other, and healed each other, until Lisinthir was called back early to meet his Fleet ride. He gave Jahir a secret rampant before they parted. Then Lisinthir went to join Fleet Intelligence's Hold 22 -- along with their loaner, Laniis Baker -- on the UAV Silhouette.

Events of Only the Open

Lisinthir went with Laniis and Hold 22 to Sharsenne, where the Chatcaavan harem was arriving, and where he met his cousins Sediryl and Amber Seni Galare. He and Sediryl offended Amber by sending him to shepherd refugees instead of allowing his uncontrolled anger and ignorance anywhere near the Chatcaavan border. Sediryl he sent ahead to meet Jahir while he gathered everyone to go see what was going on in Apex-East. Unfortunately, pirates and then Chatcaava got to Jahir first, so Lisinthir ended up going to the Emperor's rescue without his cousins.

Lisinthir used the replacement roquelaure to become the Sword, a freelancer with a burn-injured wing, who was accompanied to the Apex world by his matched set of Seersa slaves (Laniis and the Knife). The Sword visited the Worldlord, who hosted him, Deputy-East, and Manufactory-East to a hunt party. In the Worldlord's slave quarters, they found a human called Dainty: the Emperor, broken by abuse and a head injury. The Sword convinced the Worldlord and Deputy-East to stop being slaveowners, killed Manufactory-East, rescued all of their slaves, and returned with them to the Silhouette.

(The Sword was a silver Chatcaava with bright blue eyes and a long mane.)

Events of In Extremis

As the Silhouette snuck its slow way out of the Apex-East system and then headed for the Source, Lisinthir sent a message to Deputy-East, asking him to spy for the Emperor's cause. One result of that was that the Worldlord's second son greeted them at the Source with his command, the naval reserve for the Eastern sector -- a force several thousand strong. The Emperor took a few days from the military preparations to take Lisinthir and some others to the temple on the homeworld, where they learned many things about the Change and the history of the Chatcaava.

Events of From Ruins

As the Silhouette accompanied the assembled Chatcaavan loyalists to the Apex-East system, Lisinthir and the Emperor explored the practical applications of mind-magery and the Change in the ship's gym. Lisinthir stayed on the Dusted Fleet ship for the battle, and watched from its bridge when Emperor Kauvauc Uenuevin announced himself, and also while the Emperor used what he had learned in the gym to trounce all of his challengers at once in the naval base's auditorium.

Lisinthir joined the Emperor on the base for the scant week they spent there. He showed his true shape to the Worldlord and Deputy-East, and sparred with the Emperor, mind-magery winning agains the Change fully half the time. He rode on the flagship to the Throneworld, and accompanied the Emperor planetside to kill the Usurper and save Jahir. His cousin was still in the gel tank when the Emperor sent him ahead to speak for him in the Alliance.

Lisinthir delivered his intelligence and his advice to the Alliance. When the system lords arrived in force at the edge of the capital system, he was back on the Silhouette, heading for the battle, and it was there that Jahir -- with Vasiht'h's boost -- spoke to him from the Emperor's flagship, and they coordinated the Twelveworld Lord's rescue fleet with the Alliance command.

In the aftermaths of the battle of Selnor, Lisinthir spent a day on the Silhouette helping with cleanup, then went to reunite with his beloveds -- Eldritch and dragon -- at Fleet Central, then accompanied Sediryl on her mission to the pirate base and the subsequent rush back to the hospital. Then he stayed to be Jahir's minder as his cousin kept vigil at Sediryl's bedside. Once she recovered, Lisinthir returned briefly to Escutcheon, where in private audience, Liolesa gave him Imthereli, and he named his family Lauvet, which is Chatcaavan for "Love": "Because Love gives claws to Duty that Duty alone could never don."

Events from Jubilee Summer books

After he became Lord Lauvet Imthereli, Lisinthir returned to the Throneworld and won the position of Third, and the Emperor and the Queen Ransomed made him their consort.

A year later, he accompanied the Queen Ransomed to Escutcheon for his cousins' wedding and investiture. He took the Queen to Imthereli to conceive his heir, and took her entourage hunting and flying on his lands, and taught them to ride in Laisrathera, where they were staying -- except for Lisinthir himself, who often slept at Seni, with Jahir. At the wedding, Lisinthir helped choose the memory of a kiss that Jahir gave to Sediryl as his troth gift.

At the wedding feast, Lisinthir made friends with Tolden, one of his former dueling victims. Thus it evolved that when Lisinthir joined Sediryl's village visits to deal with the threat of native monsters, Tolden came, too, and when monsters were discovered in Imthereli, Lisinthir invited Tolden and friends to join the Chatcaava in hunting them.

At the ball following Sediryl's investiture, Amber tried to provoke Lisinthir into a duel, with insinuations about offensive and licentious behavior, but Lisinthir just said "Oh?", pointed out that his cousin had dropped a glove, and walked away.

Trivia

• drinks tonic water, as a substitute for alcohol
• His original House ring, or signet ring, is made of silvery-pale metal with a central red stone. Words in Eldritch are wound along the inside of the band. On either side of the central stone are engraved two swords on one side, and a wreath and a wheeled vehicle on the other. The red stone is carved with an inlaid wingless dragon: the striking drake. He was entitled to wear the Galare signet due to his mother's lineage, but chose not to. It is later replaced with a winged striking drake with the same color.
• finds that hekkret makes him feel fluid and watery, filing off his constant sense of entrapment and making things seem more bearable, resulting in both a physical and a psychological addiction.
• Responds very poorly to being restrained; the Emperor eventually stops and turns to other tortures because he was concerned that it would eventually drive him to madness, and he preferred Lisinthir sane.
• Trusted the Emperor even while he was still being abused by him because he always kept his word.
• Came to be called "Perfection" and "Beauty" by the Emperor, meaning the ideals, not the more mundane sense of the word.
• Smells like ambergris, rope and integrity

Quotes

Even the Wingless

• "I do not plead or cajole or hope, Second. I require, demand, and occasionally compromise. You will deal with me accordingly."

• "I am not Chatcaavan, lady. Your endings cannot hold me. I belong to a different story."

• "Anger whittles at your soul. It becomes you. It moves you to acts you would otherwise abhor."

• "One man is nothing beside the welfare of millions."

• "...to be a prince among many princes is not as fine as to be a solitary king."

• Of the Queen Ransomed:
  • "You, who have been my grace and my anchor. For you to die for my pride is more than sin. It would be evil."

• "Why yes [...] I freed twenty slaves personally from the Emperor's harem, found you a list of pirates selling people to the Empire, lowered the import taxes and even managed to get the border moved. I've also slept with the Emperor, killed one of his officials and become a drug addict."

• "You want to know what good it is? I will tell you, then. Because to bear the misery of others takes ten times the strength of bearing your own."

• "I love life, Exalted. I serve life."

• "There are some joys that touch suffering. [...] But they come to that place honestly. Not seeking the suffering, not gloating over it in others."

Some Things Transcend

• "Love must have a context. It is society's work to give it one. Where there is no context, there is violence, because love will force its way in where there is no place to receive it."

• "There is a moment, when you are in motion, and it is the move that will grant you victory over a foe against whom you might have lost. A moment where their life is yours. Where their death is yours. That moment, that power... that is what draws me. I fight to defend the innocent. But I love it for that moment."

• “I am never annoying. I skip directly from distracting to infuriating. Saves time.”

• "Do you see? This beautiful state you come to by trusting another with your safety... I reach by opening throats and feeling the blood surge over my hands, hotter than fire." -- to Jahir

• “Death always walks alongside us, no matter how we might blind ourselves to him. It is only when he is obviously stalking us that we can no longer deny it.”

Amulet Rampant

• "A weapon is blameless. It can be a tool of oppression in the hand of a tyrant and a liberating force in the hand of a paladin."

• "Doing something as honest as hitting someone we're disappointed in would be gauche, when we could and should destroy them with words instead."

• "If we do not resist society when it is stupid, we allow it to march to its destruction. Societies evolve, just as people do. They mature; they see the follies of their childhood years and amend their behavior. When a people's traditions and customs do not serve its survival, they must change."

• "I fled the homeworld's safety for the Empire, if you'll recall. I am hardly one to judge you for leaning into the knife."

• "All the best things in life are high maintenance, cousin."

From Ruins

• "I am an arrogant and violent prince who suffers nothing he does not find just."

• “I am just...a friend with extravagant benefits.”

• "Because Love gives claws to Duty that Duty alone could never don." (explaining why he chose the Chatcaavan word for "love" as his new family name)

Farmer's Crown

• "If you think waiting is inaction, you have never seen a hunting cat at work."
• Sirithiniel: "You consort with dragons now, do you not." Lisinthir: "I do, yes. Greatly to my profit and much to my delight."

Quotes and Observations by Others

• "You are a dancer, a dueler and the last son of the House of the striking drake. You will acquit yourself magnificently."

—Liolesa Galare

• "You have made my life different [...] And that was strange enough. Then you made Laniis's different. And then Second's, and the Emperor's ... and the Surgeon's, and now the Mother's. You are everywhere. You make people behave in ways they do not behave. [...] Tell me a story to explain this. There must be an explanation in some language, somewhere."

—Queen Ransomed

• "One does not admonish the wolf when it hungers to be slaying monsters."

• "You sent the striking drake's scion to an empire of dragons, and a wingéd lord returned from that crucible. ... That is a beast that will bear the touch of neither rein nor spur, anymore... but if respected, will serve until his heart gives."

—Jahir, writing to Liolesa

• "The middle ground. I wouldn't have thought of it. Of some other ambassador, to some kinder court, mayhap. Of the ambassador to the Chatcaavan Empire? Compromise? No, never."

—Jahir Seni Galare