Grand Duke Stefan Karameikos

Overview
The history of King Stefan Karameikos is tightly woven with the recent history of the land that bears his name. He was named after a now-dead uncle, and had he retained his connection with Thyatis, he would be known as Grand Duke Stefan III; as the first ruler of a new nation, he has dropped the numeric designation.

History
A Thyatian noble and the son of the Duke of Machetos, Stefan was a well travelled, open minded military man. Whilst Machetos held rich farmlands, the Duchy was a sleepy hollow for such an ambitious man.

Stefan had “fallen in love with” the wild, unruly and well resourced neighbouring protectorate and petitioned the Emperor Thincol I to excise the colony into an independent nation in 970 AC, in exchange for his family lands and title.

He restyled the protectorate the Grand Duchy of Karameikos.

The fledgling nation settled and started to flourish and the Grand Duke married his betrothed Olivia and had a daughter and two sons.

Personality
The Grand Duke shows more than faint emotion only to members of his family and his closest friends. His speech is gruff and his opinions candid and uncompromising. His judgments in trials are no gems of legal precedent, but are fair and even-handed. He is regarded by his people as intelligent and wise, if often wrong-headed and in error.

He appeals to his people as a stern, fair ruler. Regardless of their heritage, the Karameikan people have adopted their royal family, and Stefan expects his wife and children to live up to the respect they have been given. He is famous for saying, “There are no Thyatians here. There are no Traladarans. There are only citizens of Karameikos.”

Amongst some Traladarans, Stefan is seen as the second coming of King Halav. They note his stern personality, military prowess and dark red hair. The Cult of Halav is key to the spread of this idea and it actively seeks to convince others that the Duke will lead Traladara to a new era of power, influence and prosperity.

Stefan is the sort of general who leads from the front and is greatly concerned with the wellbeing of his men; he is a skilled military officer and probably more effective there than as monarch.

Note that while Grand Duke Stefan is a good-aligned individual, not all of his decisions and actions are good for the player characters. He does have a strong sense of tradition, responsibility, and duty to his noble heritage, and he is often seen as stiff-necked by those demanding immediate change (those calling for a representational democracy, for example, would find their cries falling upon deaf ears).

Unfortunately, his majesty is blinded by the duty and love he has for his family. For example, he justifies his cousin Ludwig von Hendriks, who pillaged the Black Eagle Barony while the king stood aside, saying "such reports are undoubtedly exaggerated by the separatist rebels". And now Grand Duke Stefan is very busy with trying to stabilize and consolidate his power. He is reluctant to act on reports about Ludwig because there's a lot on Stefan's plate to keep him distracted, and Stefan would be loathe to move against one of his Barons, since it would potentially cause tension among the rest of the nobility and weaken loyalties.

Influence
Stefan's shadow (and those of all the royal family, for that matter) is long in Karameikos, and while player characters should be quite aware of his influence, they are not likely to encounter him until they attain higher levels.

For low-level adventures the king will be a fabulous personage the characters have heard of but never met.

In early mid-level adventures, characters may find themselves meeting him at the court in a social environment. His underlings may ask them to go on adventures that help the king, or they may stumble across plots that would harm him. By the time the characters have gained reputations for themselves, they may have helped King Stefan on numerous occasions; depending upon the circumstances, you may wish to have him grant them titles and land as they assume notoriety (9th level or higher).