Pristoleph

Pristoleph was a fire genasi sorcerer who was active in Innarlith in the Lake of Steam region in the mid-to-late 14 century DR. He came from an impoverished background, but eventually rose to become the Ransar, the leader of the city-state of Innarlith. ""And you're wondering how you might benefit from the chaos?" asked Wenefir. "If you can find a way to benefit from it," Pristoleph told him, "it isn't chaos.""

- Wenefir and Pristoleph, 1367 DR

Description
He didn't tell people that he was a fire genasi and the people of Innarlith seemed to just accept that he had strange hair. He wore makeup on his face to lighten his complexion and told people that he was Chondathan.

Abilities
As a fire genasi, he had better vision in the dark than humans and had some ability to control flames.

Possessions
He was extremely wealthy and had much property. Pristal Towers was a palace that belonged to him in the fourth quarter of Innarlith. Determined was his personal ship on the Lake of Steam. He was the castellan of Firesteap Citadel as well, although officially it was property of the city-state.

Marek Rymüt, a Red Wizard, gave him a gift of magical pince-nez with opaque magenta lenses that he could use to see through the eyes of Phyrea, daughter of Senator Inthelph, without her awareness of it.

Relationships
Pristoleph was raised by his human mother, whom he left at a young age to live on the streets of Innarlith. His mother had been wealthy at one point, but had lost her wealth and resorted to working as a prostitute. He never met his fire elemental father. He was disgusted by his mother and didn't maintain contact with her after he left home.

In the 1360s DR, he became an ally of the Red Wizard Marek Rymüt, who was stirring up trouble among the poor and working classes. He assisted Pristoleph in becoming Ransar himself in the 1370s, only to turn on him later when Pristoleph went against his plans regarding the canal project.

Wenefir was Pristoleph's friend since childhood. The former eventually became a cleric of Cyric. Wenefir offered the help of the Church of Cyric for Pristoleph to become Ransar, but Pristoleph distrusted using them to take power. Wenefir counseled Pristoleph not to trust Marek Rymüt.

Phyrea was the daughter of Senator Inthelph and she became Pristoleph's wife after she divorced from Senator Willem Korvan.

Olin was a black firedrake who served as Pristoleph's bodyguard and saved his life from an attack by a maurezhi.

History
Pristoleph was born in Innarlith in the early 14 century DR. His mother was a human woman who worked as a prostitute. She was raped by a fire elemental who was disguised as a human client soliciting for her services.

He left home at a young age to live on the streets of Innarlith in the fourth quarter of the city. He got into trouble with a gang of child-aged burglars who were led by a boy named Mandalax. Mandalax wanted Pristoleph to join his gang, but Pristoleph refused. Mandalax then went after him because of his refusal. After a violent confrontation between Pristoleph and Mandalax's gang on Eleint 7 in the, Pristoleph succeeded in winning over the gang and became their leader, aged only 12.

Eventually, he came to work for the city guard of Innarlith under Lieutenant Ptolnec. He organized a brothel during his time in the city guard with the prostitute Nyla. He left the city for a period and returned later.

Later, Pristoleph succeeded in becoming a member of the Senate of Innarlith. He was present in the city as a senator in the, when strikes and social action were being taken by the working class and poor of Innarlith. He allied himself with Marek Rymüt, who was regularly appearing at demonstrations and giving speeches in favor of the workers. Pristoleph advised Rymüt on how to gain control of the various work gangs in the city in order to set up a collective organization of workers to engage in collective action.

During this turmoil, Pristoleph presented a public image of himself as a man of the common people who had come up from poverty in the fourth quarter of Innarlith, even though he had since acquired immense wealth to make him an aristocrat.

He developed an attraction to Phyrea, the wife of Senator Willem Korvan, and decided he would take her as his own wife. Phyrea, who detested Willem, decided to divorce Willem and marry Pristoleph.

He long had ambitions of becoming the Ransar of Innarlith. He made plans and assembled an army at Firesteap Citadel with which he planned to invade Innnarlith. Ransar Salatis became aware of Pristoleph's ambitions and he sent T'juyu, a spirit naga assassin, to kill him and Phyrea, but the attack was foiled by Pristoleph, who used his control over flames to burn the naga and cause it to flee.

He took his army to invade Innarlith and besieged the city for a year. In the, as his soldiers had captured much of the city and came near the Palace of Many Spires, Salatis's bodyguards betrayed and murdered him. They handed the Ransar's corpse over to Pristoleph, who then was appointed as the new Ransar of Innarlith.

T'juyu then went to the canal site to murder the chief builder of the canal that was intended to connect the Lake of Steam to the Nagaflow. Pristoleph investigated and he found that Ivar Devorast, who had earlier been the chief builder of the canal, was still at the site and secretly directing the workmen on how to build while he posed as a common laborer. Pristoleph had him arrested and locked in his dungeon for a year. But over time Pristoleph became convinced that Devorast was not guilty of the assassination and had him released. He asked Devorast to take over construction of the canal, and Devorast agreed to do so.

Marek Rymüt, who had profited from the sale of magical items and services for the canal project, was very upset by this turn of events and was strongly against it, but Pristoleph refused to change his mind. Pristoleph and Devorast later traveled together to Shou Lung for half a year and when they returned, they found that a magical portal had been created for moving ships instead of the canal without Pristoleph's consent. Pristoleph was annoyed by this and found that some of Marek's henchmen were behind it.

Marek sent a maurezhi disguised as Svayyah to assassinate Pristoleph. Svayyah was a water naga that had earlier made an agreement with Devorast concerning the canal, but whom Marek was trying to incriminate and get Innarlith to distrust. Pristoleph's bodyguards fought off the assassin and Pristoleph immediately went to the canal site to question Devorast about what happened. Svayyah then appeared and showed that she was not the assassin that Pristoleph had encountered, since she was not wounded and Pristoleph's bodyguards had cut off the maurezhi's ear during the fight. The severed ear itself later transformed back into its original form after it had been cut off and Pristoleph could tell that someone had been trying to trick him.

Pristoleph came to suspect that Marek Rymüt was attempting to kill him and tried to find a way to get Marek arrested, but this wasn't possible since Marek refused to leave the Thayan enclave in Innarlith, which put him legally on foreign soil and not under Innarlith's jurisdiction.

In the, Devorast detonated large quantities of smokepowder that destroyed the canal. Pristoleph immediately had him arrested but kept him imprisoned rather than executing him. A faction of senators that were being secretly manipulated by Marek then began a civil uprising against Pristoleph, with the intent on ending his term as Ransar. Wenefir betrayed Pristoleph and assisted the rebellious senators in the struggle.

After much destruction in the city, Pristoleph announced that he would agree to step down as Ransar on condition that Phyrea and Ivar Devorast were both permitted to leave the city unharmed. The other side agreed, and after Pristoleph had both of them moved out, on Kythorn 10, 1374 DR, he went to the Chamber of Law and Civility to give his formal resignation to the senate, as well as to Senator Meykhati, who was the nominal leader of the faction and set to take over the post of Ransar. Pristoleph diverted from the statement that both sides had agreed upon to openly accuse the senators of being puppets of a foreign power seeking to control Innarlith. Pristoleph then used his control over flames to cause the chandeliers and candles in the chamber to burn the people in attendance, who immediately began scrambling out of the room. Pristoleph then fought his way out of the chamber into the city, where he had arranged for wemic mercenaries to surround the building and secure his escape.

Pristoleph gathered together his allies in the city, while Marek and his allies took formal control of the Senate. Pristoleph's forces succeeded in capturing Marek and the lead senators in the conspiracy, whom he had bound and brought to the Palace of Many Spires, where Pristoleph resumed his lordship over the city as Ransar. Pristoleph had the conspirators judged. He handed Marek and his fellow wizards over to Thayan representatives who took them and agreed to punish them. Several others were exiled or executed.

He then met with Ivar Devorast again and Devorast agreed to continue his work on the canal with funds from the Ransar. He gave Phyrea to Devorast, as they had long had feelings for each other, under the premise that she had never really belonged to him.

Rumors & Legends
On Nightal 24, 1361 DR, there was a general strike that occurred in the third quarter of Innarlith that was rumored to have been instigated by Pristoleph while he was serving as a senator.

He was rumored to be the richest man in Innarlith.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Whisper of Waves • Lies of Light • Scream of Stone
 * Bloodwalk
 * Bloodwalk