Tomak, son of Cassander

Tomak, son of Cassander

Tomak, son of Cassander 3rd level male mul gladiator, S20 D18 C18 I15 W14 C11

Experience Points: +4,064 + 200 (story points) = +4,264

Family

Father: Cassander of House Rees

Cassander, born Urgus, was born free in an unknown dwarven village somewhere far to the south of the Estuary of the Forked Tongue, in Year 75 of the 188th King's Age, the Year of Silt' Defiance (Free Year -104). When Urgus was eight, in the Year of Wind's Defiance, his village was raided and destroyed by the Black Fleet of Balic under the command of the powerful Navarch Lord Gramedes Basilsaurius. The survivors were herded upon the slave ships, most of them destined for a monstrous doom. Lord Basilsaurius personally decided who was doomed and who would live, and so upon reaching the great port city of Balic, Urgus was sold. He was sold to a silt schooner captain belonging to House Rees, one of the great mercantile dynasties of Balic. Intended to become a shipfloater, a psionicist capable of floating ships above the silt, Urgus was instructed in the Way of the Unseen and became a shipfloater's apprentice. Urgus however was rebellious, and for many years admired and wished become an able seaman. After a near disaster when he was upon the floater's dome, the captain punished Urgus, and then condemned the young slave to serve in the ship mess and other lowly tasks. Eventually, the captain retired, and Urgus managed to become a seaman apprentice upon the decks. After nearly single-handedly saving the schooner during a silt storm, Urgus was hailed by the Balican captain and largely freeman crew, and was renamed by them Cassander, after a legendary Balican hero. Urgus has called himself Cassander ever since.

Eventually, after some forty years of service, Cassander's ship was too old to continue on the silt, and was cannibalized. Although still in a state of slavery, Cassander was promoted to an able seaman and sent to a large brigantine called the White Sail. Sailing farther and longer than ever before, the White Sail was the finest ship in the House Rees fleet, and upon it Cassander proved himself time and again. After another twenty years Cassander became boatswain and even the temporary Third Mate. Finally, convinced of his competence and loyalty, Cassander was freed by his masters at House Rees. On other vessels, in the status of an indentured servant, he was placed in quick succession as 2nd and then 1st Mate, and then finally was granted his first ship, a large sloop, as captain, at which time he was released from servitude and became a freedman of House Rees. After several years of that, having proved himself a shrewd merchant as well as expert ship captain, Cassander was given his choice of ships within the Rees fleet. He chose the White Sail.

For the past two decades Cassander has served House Rees as captain of the White Sail. With the ship Cassander has traveled to the very depths of the Silt Sea, and has earned the loyalty of a famous and powerful crew. Although often very risky, Cassander's mercantile adventures and voyages have proved over the long term to be very bountiful to House Rees, adding ever further to that great House's wealth. In the aftermath of sudden absence of Androponis, the immortal Dictator of Balic, Cassander's loyalty proved pivotal when he convinced several other important House Rees captains to remain loyal to their patrons and not to side with the military powers that were attempting to take over the city. Shortly thereafter Cassander was made a senior agent for House Rees, and oversaw many different ships and mercantile activities. He has also become a trusted member of House Rees' inner circle.

Still acting as captain of the White Sail, in recent years Cassander has become one of the most respected ship captains of Balic. A dwarf of some wealth and reputation, his century of sailing is unmatched, and a fair number of ship captains, merchants and adventurers owe Cassander for their own positions and success.

Cassander Under the Mercantile Triumvriate of Balic

In Free Year 10, or the Year of Friend's Agitation, the sudden disappearance of the Dictator Androponis created mass civil instability until in the end the three great merchant dynasties of the city, House Wavir, House Tomblador and House Rees, seized control of the government and divided the city into three parts for themselves. They also all but ended the democracy.

The merchant dynasties also seized political control of the military, including the large Balican navy, and rotated the ten admiralties and navarchy amongst captains loyal or under service to themselves. As a former slave, Cassander could not assume an admiralty directly, but in Free Year 15 Cassander was named an under-admiral or vice-admiral for the first time, and in many ways became the House Rees admiral of its part of the navy in all but name. With the wealth and influence he accumulated, Cassander purchased the White Sail from House Rees so that he could operate it independently, in addition to other investments. In Free Year 17, Cassander was given personal command of the Dictator, one of the Balican capital ships, a command in addition to his vice-admiralty.

Cassander Under the Military Dictatorship of Xal'gren the Free General

In Free Year 19, the army of Xal'gren, in alliance with House Wavir, seized control of Balic and ended the rule of the Three Dynasties. House Tomblador had fought against the approach of Xal'gren and was forced to flee the city, and although House Rees had not actively fought Xal'gren, they had not been favorable to him either, for Xal'gren intended to follow the example of the city-state of Tyr and free all the slaves. Lady Essen, the matriarch of House Rees, schemed to cause the fall of Xal'gren before the mighty ex-gladiator could fully root himself in Balic and reinstall the democracy.

Mother: Amphia, daughter of Ardavan the Potter

As a dwarf and a slave, Cassander had long felt his exclusion from the ruling class and even the normal citizenry of Balic. As a member of House Rees, Cassander was bound by the Merchant Code, and could never hold civic or military office in Balic. Nonetheless, upon returning with riches from his first year as captain of the White Sail, Cassander's deep ambition began to manifest in pursuit of a human wife.

Cassander chose to pursue Amphia, the humble daughter of Ardavan the Potter, who was a much respected but poor citizen of Balic. Amphia was young and exceptionally healthy, as was her father, but Amphia was also the daughter of Lythae, who was herself the daughter of Anaxander of House Lythane, a famous leader amongst the nobles of the city who in the previous King's Age had led an attempted rebellion against Androponis. The rebellion was nearly successful, but in the end failed, and Anaxander was forced to flee to the desert to escape. For some decades Anaxander and his followers lived as brigands in the desert. As an old man, Anaxander returned with a large army to the Balican peninsula and attempted to cross the Tharian Hills into the city-state proper. Anaxander was assassinated however by agents of Androponis, and the rest of his army was defeated by Androponis himself while still pressed against the west side of the Tharian Hills. The survivors were enslaved. Ardavan the Potter, a famous and respected voice in the Ecclesia or People's Assembly at that time, purchased the young daughter of Anaxander in defiance of the Dictator of Balic, and quickly freed her, and eventually married her.

The daughter of Ardavan and Lythae was a difficult prospect for Cassander, for Amphia was a scion of the defunct House Lythane and symbol of resistance and even rebellion for the freedom faction in the Ecclesia and Boule Council of Balic. Cassander however eventually prevailed with Ardavan, and Cassander won Amphia in marriage.