by The Dynast Cyte Leuko Character sheet
- On House Cyte, an analysis of the Isle dealing with the origins of house Cyte:
To understand the very new lesser house known as Cyte, one must approach it from the point of view of understanding it's founding and the events that lead up to it.
Fifty years ago, the ever-wise House Cynis looked to the actions of House Nellens. While publicly they must of course maintain the popular mild distaste for the manner in which the house is run, they could not help but notice that it was effective. And while there are many things that can be said about House Cynis, an inability to notice things is not one of them. It was decided, behind closed doors in absolute secrecy of course, that they should experiment with a more open and loose organizational structure themselves, to conclusively evaluate it's effectiveness. Of course such changes could not be done in the House itself, it would be far too great a risk. So they set about searching for suitable candidates, grooming them for the roles they would fulfill and finally in the year 740 (current year is 768) the house Cyte was amiably formed, with one formerly Cynis Cyte taking the role of Head of House, with her daughter Viridis slated as heir. Due to her advanced age, it was expected that this transfer of power would take place within 25 years, allowing Cyte to seek a dignified death. It was deemed vital for social adaptation reasons that Cyte not rule the house overlong, lest it's governance behaviour pattern ossify into the traditional ones.
And thus the new house was born, Cyte being granted some minor mining, farming and trade concessions on the south-western region of the blessed isle that house Cynis has little critical need for, as well as the highly profitable control of several Satrap city-states to the north. These satraps were to form the financial bread-basket that would ensure that the house would last centuries or more so that the full impact of the social policies could be evaluated. The properties on the Isle and some of the ones in the north remain under the control of the house to this day.
- Everything was fine until the Bull of the North:
And all this was indeed going exactly according to plan. Until 761, when the Bull of the North inflicted a significant loss on the Tepet Legions. While House Cyte was not directly involved, several of the Satrap city-states they oversaw drew inspiration from the rebellion of the Bull, and engaged in rebellions that drove out the control of House Cyte from the cities, including the city of Ulslr where Cyte Viridis, her husband, and three eldest children resided. The rebellion was lead by a trio of lost egg exalted, which no doubt contributed to the swiftness of the overthrow and the later brutality of the rebel leadership. However it was this brutal abruptness that caused Viridis and her family to flee with great speed, pausing only briefly to loot as much of the treasury as possible on their way. Unfortunately this slight delay caused the family to encounter the enemy leadership on their way out of palace. Fighting a distracting battle, Viridis gave her life that her family might escape. Unfortunately split from the remaining family members, Leuko was driven away from the docks, and instead had to flee inland, which ultimately is what saved him. While the rest of the family reached the docks and were able to escape, their ship was attacked by pirates while attempting the crossing to the Isle, and ship was lost with all hands and all treasures the Cyte family and servants spirited away.
From there, Cyte Leuko stumbled upon the elemental frost giant Ymir, who assisted him to get back to the Isle out of respect for the Dragonblooded of the Isle and the Houses.
And that brings us to a point 7 years ago. House Cyte had lost a large fraction of their resources in the north, Viridis who had been groomed for leadership of the House was dead, her husband and two eldest children who might have absorbed some of the years of training Viridis were likewise dead. For Cyte, there was little time and much to do. Leuko started undergoing intensive training under his grandmother's direction, often with the faint hope that he was merely a late bloomer and would be chosen of the dragons. The drills, the tricks, indeed house Cynis itself took note of some of the extreme tactics such as turning the boy out into the street armed with naught but his training and wits and expected to crawl his way up the business ladder, and routinely poisoning his food. The training was extensive, brutal and he was expected to excel in it. At one point, he was sent to live with Ymir for a year and a day to learn the ways of the spirits and the ways of the peasant economies of the north. He returned after two seasons with understanding of the spirit courts, reformed several trade practices that increases his personal profits, and with the enlightenment of Sorcery.
It is with that last edge, gained 5 years ago combined with the uncertainty that was resulting from the disappearance of the Empress that Cyto decided he was sufficiently trained and with enough talent that he could run the house when she passed. Since that time, Cyto Leuko has been running more and more of the house affairs, including the most recent radical decision to sell off most of the assets they had in the north and relocate the seat of the house off the Blessed Isle. While Cyto Leuko is excessively young, he has again and again showed great skill in matters of trade and organization, to the point where the house itself has now regained much of the value it lost from the rebellions in the north.
- A Realm analysis of Cyte Leuko (Age 25):
Seven years ago Leuko was considered to be a highly intelligent and gifted young man who, while unlikely to exalt at the age of 18, was expected to be of great value to house Cyte in the areas of trade and organization. Four and a half years ago after two years of intensive training by the head of the House, and extensive sorcerous training by the frost giant Ymir he was declared acceptable as Heir to the house. and in an exceptional show of faith made the provisional head of House. Since that time, Cyte Leuko has demonstrated exceptional skill with money and organization as expected, but has aggressively negotiated with the Houses of the Isle both great and minor to adopt lost eggs and marry many people into the house, including of course his own wife Peleps Saeled. He has shown a tendency towards investment both in ongoing trade concerns, as well as to investing small to moderate sums in what are best described as excessively high risk ventures. Such ventures rarely pay off, but when they do they generally pay exceptionally well, and Leuko seems to have fortune in picking winners. Originally, there were several objections in house and out to his being made into the effective head of the house most of which have since stopped. Cyte Leuko has proven himself adept at identifying poisons, a brutal willingness to put down threats and the ability to negotiate with non-fanatical people who tried to kill him have swung the house decidedly into his favor. The periodic discovery of traitors and plotters hanging from the masthead of his wife's ship has likely also contributed to the dedication of the family to keeping insurrection down.
Personally, he is a man of moderate vices. He enjoys the company of exotic men and women, but not to excess. He delights in fine wines and spirits, but not to excess. He is exceptionally fond of northern style foods, but again not to the point of excess. Slightly abnormally he is almost completely public about his affairs, tastes and vices, this has been attributed to the combination of intentional openness of the house and the Cynis derived values. He is a dedicated but not devote follower of the Immaculate Faith, being a solid follower in the mildly obscure sect known as the Prima Fide, For those not familiar with this philosophical branch of the Faith, the followers maintain that the dragons created the dragonblooded and thus the nobility of the isle first and foremost as warriors, and thus it is wrong to NOT have armor and weapons to hand, to speak the language of the isle, to rationally evaluate situations from a military position, and to obey orders from superiors in the recognized chain of command.
- A Realm analysis of Peleps Saeled (age 117):
Saeled married into house Cyte approximately 4 years ago, as part of a mutually amiable arrangement that exchanged territory in the north for the resources of her and her small fleet of privateer vessels. While she has had some remarkably public disagreements and disputes with her husband, they seem to be in a stable relationship. Saeled has embraced much of the "openness" of house Cyte and has publicly taken a lover. She has expressed personal and professional interest in Morgan Edward Crowe, resulting in private bets being placed within house Cyte on the topic of how long before she seduces him, and if she leaves the doctor she has now or starts a harem of men.
She is first and foremost a privateer mercenary. Selective in her clientele, in the past she has worked for various Great House factions, primarily in eliminating smuggling and pirate activity with zeal. She is noted for being brutally efficient in carrying out any threats that she feels the need to make in the course of her work, at the same time being sparing of such threats, earning her the epitaph of "The Thin Red Line".
- On Cyte (age 399):
Cyte is a supporter of the sect of Immaculate Faith known as Prima Fide, a fact that while slightly odd, endears her to the Imperial Throne, as her religion and her training both place the Empress at the pinnacle of authority.
- On the former Realm Satrapy Ulslr:
A group of three exalted, previously called outlaws with a few dozen loyal fighters was all it took to take over the city. They slaughtered the families of the Realm satrap, they slaughtered the wealthy, they slaughtered anyone with a pretense of power or authority. Oh how the people loved them, they had freedom from the Realm. Freedom from the laws, freedom from the realm taxes, and as declared by the new rulers freedom from slavery. They called it an abomination. The city rejoiced, celebrations were had, freedom was won and a new government hastily assembled.
Reality set in as it tends to in such situations. The Realm system that ran the city may have been brutal, even cruel as it swept up people from the streets to become work-slaves, as it gave criminals years-long punishments as indentured servants, but it worked. Without the threat of such punishments it was weeks before the courts were so flooded with criminals ranging from people arrested for stealing food to murderers that there was not room to stand. The new government was floundering, the people were turning from love to hate. But they could not go back on their declaration of freedom from slavery and freedom from forced labor. So a new solution was found. The old punishments. Steal a loaf of bread? Lose an arm. Don't have an arm to lose? Lose a leg!
This deplorable state continues to the current date.
- Cyte Leuko - The Dark Story (aka the super-secret unknown to the world origin note):
In truth, Leuko is in fact an Exalted, Anathema of the Night Caste. He achieved this cursed state some five years previously, when he was sent to the care of the frost giant Ymir to study the spirit courts and to study the economics of the north. His Exaltation is a tale of risky ventures, black market deals gone wrong, and a number of people now dead. Currently there are three people that know of Leuko's true nature, Cyte Leuko, Ymir and his grandmother Cyte.
Last edited by Odd_Canuck on Sun Sep 11, 2016 11:28 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : correcting name typo)
