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.

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

Physical Appearance

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.

Family

• Son of Korval Keldi Imthereli and Malavi 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

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. Instead, he arrived 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." 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." Queen Liolesa recognized his restive nature and his desperation to be used to his potential; in response to the Alliance's request, sent him as Ambassador to the Chatcaavan Empire.

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...")

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

• Sent away from the Chatcaavan court, and is pursued by another faction of Chatcaava
• Eventually comes to the idea that he would still be needed in order to create a place for himself in the Chatcaavan Empire on the Alliance side
• Supplies the idea of ambushing a Chatcaavan ship while the one he's on is drifting

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.

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

"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

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 just...a friend with extravagant benefits.”

Farmer's Crown

"If you think waiting is inaction, you have never seen a hunting cat at work."

"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."

"Death always walks along side 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." Some Things Transcend, Chapter 12</ref>

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."

—Jahir Seni Galare

"I am an arrogant and violent prince who suffers nothing he does not find just." <ref name=fr-13">