King Segoriel Fairbreed

Name: King Segoriel Fairbreed
Door: returning submissive

Canon: original
Canon Point: about a year past his previous one

Age: 32 (probably with enough time in Dup previously to bring him around 33)
Appearance: Segoriel is a fairly tall man of lithe, slender musculature, but he has trouble standing straight, so he doesn't always appear so. He often wears clothing that adds bulk to him, as well -- the style of his culture is for men to wear something like breeches and doublets, and he tends to choose ones that are padded or made of fabrics with volume. He's rarely seen without a black cloak with a large fur mantle, even when it's warm. He has fair skin and eyes with dark hair, usually pulled back into a small ponytail or braid, and he keeps his face clean-shaven. He has a scar over his mouth and chin that's from some kind of sharp weapon or claw.

Additionally, his back is permanently bent to the right, and the muscles of his outer right leg are always seized tight, twisting it to the side. He wears a back brace to force his spine straight and a leg brace to do the same for his leg. Both are made of iron bars (with a knee hinge for the leg brace) that have leather straps on the inside and outside, riveted into place, which buckle like a belt. A darkened, round scar goes through the flesh just above his right hip, and there's a swirling pattern of scar tissue around it, not unlike a paisley sort of pattern. These swirling scars extend halfway down his thigh and a bit above his waist, wrapping around his side to fall a few inches short of spine and navel.

History: Segoriel was not born a prince, though he was born wealthy. His mother was lowborn, with no surname of her own, but she adopted the name Fairbreed when she was marrying his father -- a joke of a name, poking fun at all his noble peers who thought her too coarse to join their ranks despite the wealth and fame she'd earned for herself. The doer of many great deeds, she was known to the world as The Good Crow, then The Defiant Crow, and later The Defiant. To her husband, she was Lynia. She was absent for long stretches of Seg's childhood, traveling and winning glory. The longest period he remembers her staying home in his early years is when she became too pregnant with his little sister to go adventuring for awhile, and then her recovery from birth.

The region had no central government at the time of Segoriel's birth, acting more as a collection of farming regions and city-states with shared culture and strong trade. But when he was eleven, and his sister Vianola was just three, The Defiant had made treaties with enough of these regions that she was able to declare herself the ruler. The castle where they lived was designated the country's capital, and she spent the rest of her life uniting the land, fighting to bring all corners of the island under the High Queen's authority.

Segoriel was educated as befitting a man who would be king -- to the extent possible, starting at the age he did. He would come to understand later that his father was somewhat outcast from polite society, and if not for that, he would have had a tutor in early childhood who would have given him a head start, but as it was, his father couldn't hire one. He watched Vianola with her tutor from a much younger age, and tried not to be jealous of how much more easily she was learning to read.

Naturally inclined to indoor pursuits, Seg made sure not to neglect his education in sport, either, knowing that it was all the more important for him to have a good showing of such in front of his peers. He made himself socialize and make friends no matter how it exhausted him, and if they ribbed him about being a bit of a brooder, he took it in good fun. He was diplomatic in his friendships, never bullying, even if this sometimes cost him closer connections.

When his mother died, Segoriel was a man of twenty, and he knew it was important for the people to see that his mother wasn't the only one who could steward the kingdom. His mother drew the blueprint for the dynasty, but Seg knew it was up to him to build it, that it was truly his accomplishments that would secure the kingdom. So he put his head down and got to work. With a core group of friends, he followed in his mother's footsteps, splitting time as equally as possible between administrative tasks at home, and visiting parts of his kingdom to solve problems with a blade. He knew he needed to marry in order for the bloodline to survive, but he also knew that, should the worst occur, his sister would soon reach maturity, and his father would be an able regent until she was ready to take the throne and marry.

Six years into his reign, things changed. Segoriel went into a cave near a village expecting to find a young troll, or perhaps a pack of direwolves, two threats he had focused his efforts on reducing. He has never spoken of what he found instead, but he was the only survivor. Some think that he was the most able fighter, or at least the most lucky, and was able to kill the thing after his friends had weakened it and fallen. Some think that whatever he saw in there, it drove him mad, and he killed his friends. Some think the whole thing is overblown, and they simply died of too much celebratory drink. There are still whispers in that village that the king was mangled in some way, but surely the public would have noticed by now if that were true, wouldn't they?

What is known is that that was the last time the king has ventured more than two hours' travel from the capital, and that the king is now rarely seen without wearing a cape, cloak, or heavy armor. What is also known is the turn Segoriel's rule has taken since the incident. The king was never overly generous with his people, but he was personally kind, giving alms at the castle gate and making clear his intentions with every new tax or law. Segoriel believes that the people of Astinglen are intelligent adults who can understand the transaction of 'pay a little money, get a road.' Or at least, he did at one point. Now taxes are high and the people are going hungry.

Segoriel could feel the ground beneath his feet becoming unsteady, and began to regret not marrying earlier -- a queen at his side to be a mother to the people would be useful in this situation. He began to bring suits, facing polite decline after polite decline, often with only the thinnest of excuses. Clearly, no one thought he was going to be around too long to remember the insult.

His younger sister, Vianola, was looking more and more attractive as a monarch at this point. Without any issue from Segoriel, she remained the legitimate heir to the throne, and many were starting to murmur of plots to replace him. Segoriel tried to imprison her, hoping to cut the head off the conspiracy, but she escaped. She traveled the countryside, gathering support from the common people by repeating many heroics her mother had done before her -- including the use of magic, believed to have died with Lynia.

As Segoriel returns to Duplicity, Vianola and her army are advancing on the castle, unaware of the threat that's been driving all of Segoriel's action for some years now. He sits in his castle agonizing over what to tell her and how, and wondering whether it might not be better to simply let them all burn.

Seg was previously in Duplicity for around six months. He did make progress at opening up to others, managing to make quota, and signing a contract, but it was slow and hard-won, and he didn't make as much as he'd have liked. Returning in a slightly more reckless mood, he's likely to be less cautious this time. Some of his most important breakthroughs were exploring his physical limitations and what positions he's able to maintain with Jamie; learning the basics of what kink is from Chris Sonom; and getting assistance with new, less primitive braces from Nie Huaisang and Kyle Valenti.

Personality:
-self-isolating: When Segoriel is under duress, he isolates himself before reaching out for help. If he didn't, he wouldn't be in the situation he's now in, with an army advancing on him to take his head. He hasn't explained to anyone what he saw in that cave or even that he thinks there's a dangerous threat coming, only generic statements that they must be prepared, and that Astinglen must bend to the will of its king. Because he hasn't spoken of any of this to anyone, no one understands that "I am Astinglen, and it rises and falls with me" aren't the words of a tyrant who expects total control, but a statement of fear that he will die and the country will be lost in the coming attack.
-paranoid: This one is almost entirely down to the trauma he's suffering from. He has PTSD and it makes him hyperaware of potential betrayal and threats. This paranoia drove him to try to imprison and execute his beloved little sister, setting off a chain of events that has very much hastened his own demise. This was shown in Duplicity with his reluctance to trust anyone well enough to sign a contract -- fortunately, the person he contracted with previously is still here and in need of a partner, so he has the needed basis of trust with someone to sign.
-controlling: In general, Seg is a reasonably competent person, and he was raised by people much more down-to-earth than most of his peers. Most children of nobles aren't particularly good at problem solving, especially not at the young ages when he was interacting much with them. As a result, he rarely trusts anyone to do something well, and he has a tendency to get into the weeds of micromanaging aspects of his kingdom which he really ought to be leaving to subordinates. This was definitely at play in his decision to go into that cave himself instead of sending soldiers to an unknown threat. This was shown in Duplicity by his general reluctance to let anyone see him not fully clothed or to be sexual with anyone when he couldn't control the circumstances -- he was working on it, and will probably continue to do so once he's settled, but not enough to have actually changed it yet. The past year of trying to stop a revolution has only worsened it, making it now his most salient flaw instead of paranoia.
+thoughtful: Segoriel is both thoughtful in the sense that he's good at taking others into consideration, and in that he's filled with thought. His real preference is for scholarly pursuits, and the best possible ending for him in this revolution is to stick him in a monastery somewhere where he can read and write and do little else. He's good at remembering preferences and important dates or names, and he's good at apologizing when he gets these wrong. He's an intelligent man, he's just in over his head.


Powers and Abilities: Seg has no powers beyond what a baseline human can do.
Inventory: (Per the FAQ, his braces aren't counted against his three items)
-his court crown, a fairly simple circlet made of electrum and sapphires
-a woven bracelet his sister made him when she was a child
-his short sword, very much like a roman gladius, well-made and strong with only a little engraved embellishment around the grip and guard

Samples: https://duplicitymemes.dreamwidth.org/27712.html?thread=71610688#cmt71610688