## **King-Regent Noleski Surtova (Deceased)** _Last King Regent of Brevoy; the man who mistook control for power._ ![[Pasted image 20251012192733.png|200]] ```toon character: identity_id: noleski_surtova_v1 name: King-Regent Noleski Surtova species_or_type: Human apparent_age: 50 height: 180 cm build: "lean, regal posture" skin_tone: "#c6a68c" face: shape: angular brow: "sharp, slightly furrowed" eyes: color: "#2a3a52" shape: narrow distance: average nose: "straight, aquiline" mouth: "thin lips, precise expression" distinctives[2]: silver streaks in hair faint lines from sleeplessness around eyes hair: color: "#1e1b18" length: medium style: combed back with subtle wave part: center palette[6]: "#1e1b18" "#2a3a52" "#c6a68c" "#0e0e14" "#3b3b47" "#2d2e41" signature_items[3]: sapphire signet ring of House Surtova ceremonial rapier (never drawn) royal ledger clasped in black steel wardrobe_default: "dark Brevic velvet coat with sapphire trim and high collar, House Surtova crest at shoulder" allowed_variations: hair: silver streaks may increase with age; no style deviation makeup: none aging: none — fixed at death age 50 weight: stable do_not_change[4]: eye color hair color and streak pattern facial structure signature ring notes: "Depict as poised, calculating, and fatigued; expression controlled and cold. Lighting should emphasize the contrast between regality and looming downfall." ``` --- ### **Basic Information** - **Name:** King-Regent Noleski Surtova - **Race/Species:** Human - **Class/Profession:** Noble (Aristocrat / Strategist) - **Alignment/Morality:** Lawful Evil → Lawful Neutral (in his final days he claimed to rule “for order, not glory”) - **Age at Death:** Approx. 50 years - **Gender & Pronouns:** Male (he/him) - **Status:** **Deceased (4722 AR – the Week of Falling Krakens)** - **Cause of Death:** Assassinated by agents of Valerius Crowne after issuing a bounty of 75 000 gp for Crowne’s capture and execution . - **Appearance (in life):** A regal figure with sharp features, silver-streaked black hair, and cold, calculating eyes. He favored dark Brevic velvets, a sapphire signet ring of House Surtova, and a ceremonial rapier he rarely drew. --- ### **Personality & Traits** - **Summary:** A master politician and calculating regent who believed stability could justify any means. Though pragmatic to the end, his paranoia and control grew into isolation. In his final months he appeared haunted — some say by the knowledge that his own schemes had summoned his doom. - **Strengths & Skills:** - _Strategic Intellect_ — capable of multi-year political planning. - _Rhetorical Authority_ — could turn foes to tools with measured words. - _Brevic Realpolitik_ — expert at balancing feuding nobles and merchant guilds. - **Weaknesses & Flaws:** - _Chronic Paranoia_ — trusted no one outside his own blood. - _Moral Isolation_ — believed order itself excused cruelty. - _Hubris_ — his bounty on Crowne triggered the chain of events that destroyed his house 【user journal quotes】. - **Mannerisms & Speech:** Measured and icy; spoke in quiet edicts rather than threats. Never raised his voice; preferred to let silence do the wounding. --- ### **Background & Story Role** - **Rise to Power:** Claimed the title of _King-Regent of Brevoy_ after the Vanishing of House Rogarvia (4699 AR). He governed as a placeholder who never yielded the throne — balancing Brevoy’s noble Houses through espionage, marriage pacts, and blackmail. - **Reign:** For two decades he maintained tenuous unity between the north’s Issian lords and the south’s Aldori Swordlords. Publicly he spoke of order; privately he used the [[Lords of the Black Sails]] as his covert fleet of tax collectors and assassins . - **Fall of House Surtova (“Week of Falling Krakens”):** - _4722 AR:_ Naval disasters and coordinated financial collapses crippled the family. - _Scandal:_ Forged correspondence exposed bribes and incestuous alliances. - _Outcome:_ The Surtovas’ fleet on Lake Reykal was burned, their coffers emptied, and their spymasters vanished. - _Culprit:_ All signs pointed to Valerius Crowne’s invisible network — operating through rumor, economic sabotage, and murder disguised as suicide. Quinn Harrow’s later investigation confirmed Crowne’s hand in every step of the collapse (see _Private Journal of Quinn Harrow,_ Kuthona 15-17, 4725). - **Death:** Noleski was slain in the final days of the collapse — his body found in the royal study of New Stagfall, rapier drawn but unused. The bounty he issued for Crowne’s head was never collected. - **Aftermath:** The Aldori Council dissolved the Surtovan claim to the throne and declared Brevoy a republic under Swordlord [[Lady Jamandi Aldori]]. House Surtova’s survivors fled north to Issia or into exile. --- ### **Connections & Relationships** - **Allies (in life):** [[House Surtova]], [[Lords of the Black Sails]], certain Brevic merchant cartels. - **Enemies:** [[House Aldori]], [[House Orlovsky]], and ultimately [[Valerius Crowne]]. - **Posthumous Allies:** None; his legacy is claimed only by bureaucrats who still invoke his laws. --- ### **Factions or Allegiances** - **House Surtova (of Port Ice):** An Issian dynasty once ruling Brevoy through trade and naval dominance. Now defunct. - **The Surtovan Secret Police:** Disbanded after his death; records absorbed into Aldori archives. - **The Crown’s Ledger:** A blackmail book rumored to have passed to Valerius Crowne after the assassination. --- ### **Notable Items** - **Surtova Signet Ring:** Recovered from the ashes of Port Ice, now kept in the Aldori Vaults as a symbol of the Regency’s end. - **Ceremonial Rapier:** Never drawn in battle; its blade was still sheathed when he was found. - **“Black Ledger of Brevoy”:** A compendium of nobles’ debts and scandals — source of many of Crowne’s operations during the collapse. --- ### **Legacy & Themes** - **Themes:** Hubris, paranoia, and the illusion of control. - **Legacy:** To the people of Brevoy, his death ended decades of fear but ushered in a new era of uncertainty. To the Aldori, he was the final obstacle to restored autonomy. To Crowne, he was merely a proof of concept — that empires can be dismantled without a single battle. - **Player/GM Notes:** Mentions of Noleski or his ledger should tie into political intrigue in Brevoy and Rivermarch. The lingering question — _who now controls Crowne’s network?_ — remains a thread for future plots.