Flavian

Flavian is a Koan barrister who is running against Sir Reglas's Senate seat in the coming election. An opportunist by nature, he employs nationalist rhetoric harping on the Koa's diminished position among the races of the spheres since the fall of the Empire to win Koan citizens to his cause. While Sir Reglas dwarfs him in popularity, Flavian has amassed a group of loyal followers who hang on his every word.

In the shadows, he works at the behest of the secret organization known as the Blue Frogs to help them overthrow the Koan republic and restore the empire. He uses his legal connections to cover up the Blue Frogs' illegal activity and his popularity to recruit new followers to their cause. Despite his grandstanding and bluster, personal gain motivates Flavian moreso than the imperial ideology, as the Blue Frogs have promised they will ensure he defeats Sir Reglas if he lends them his aid.

Early Career

Born a commoner, Flavian started far from the halls of power for which he lusted. He started his career as a self-made man, working as a defense barrister in the city of Balphuran. However, with the fall of the Koan Empire opportunities emerged for Flavian to join rarified circles that would have rejected him under the old regime. With criminal charges flying at imperial officials and reparations decimating the old upper class, once powerful individuals found themselves relying on men like Flavian to keep themselves afloat under the new regime.

Through graft and his silver tongue, Flavian ingratiated himself to once powerful families by representing them in court, successfully hiding their crimes and wealth or advocating for pardons. His efforts brought him wealth and connections to once powerful people. He built a gaudy mansion amidst the dilapidating estates in the patrician district and became a rising star amidst a decaying aristocracy. He collected memorabilia and artifacts from the Empire's heyday, appointing his living spaces with items that once were reserved for society's highest elite, now being sold at firesale prices as thier possessions were stripped from them and sold at auction to repay the victims of their crimes.

Alliance with the Blue Frogs

With wealth firmly secured, Flavian next sought influence and power. His unscrupulous methods and connections to old Koan families brought him to the attention of one Corvus Vile, the leader of the Blue Frogs. Vile sought the restoration of the Koan Empire, and his assassins had waited in the wings in hiding for centuries to be called upon to restore the empire should it ever fall. While he had plans well in hand to eliminate the Republic, he needed a legitimate face to help navigate the unfamiliar new regime while he set those plans in motion.

Flavian was happy to comply, lending the Blue Frogs' assassins the use of his mansion, beneath which he built a secret warehouse and submarine dock for them to smuggle firearms and weapons into the city while Flavian funneled food, resources, and kidnapped squires out of the city to the Blue Frogs' secret base in the sunken Ziggurat Lofts. He also hosted secret meetings in the upper floors of his mansion among other luminaries in Koan society who supported the Blue Frogs' cause.

His largesse toward the Empire did not come for free. The Blue Frogs' promised him that he would defeat Sir Reglas if he assisted in the Blue Frogs' takeover. Flavian had always coveted Sir Reglas's seat in the Senate. Once thought unassailable given his popularity, Flavian believed he stood a chance of unseating him with the help of his new backers. Other opportunities also arose when the Homyn Prince Lucas destroyed the Koan Moon, Aspidie. While Reglas tried to mend the relationship between the two peoples by proposing marriage to Princess Halle. However, some Koa--already weary of the Alliance's restrictions on their military and the reparations their people had paid them for the Empire's crimes--expected a more aggressive response. Flavian capitalized on this disappointment, claiming to be a voice for Koan nationalism seeking justice for the families torn asunder from the moon's destruction. Whatever action Reglas took to maintain diplomatic relations, Flavian answered with loud and reactionary criticisms--a few of which were valid, and many more wholly fabricated. He supplemented his speeches by catering to conspiracy tabloids like the Atrabaxis Tribune, who claimed that Sir Reglas and the Chimera Alliance were the puppets of an ancient race of aliens called the Progenitors.

Of course, Flavian's efforts to undermine the current regime only served to benefit the Blue Frogs' plans. While he happily played the stooge for them, he did not do so without caution. Fully aware of how dangerous dealing with an ancient sect of assassins could be, Flavian hired an archivist to attempt to decode the secret language the Blue Frogs spoke so he could have advanced notice if they planned to betray them. He suffers a somewhat uneasy alliance with his assassin patrons, often butting heads with them when he needs to bail them out of legal trouble or when they treat his collection of imperial artifacts like their own personal armory. Nevertheless, Flavian knows to hold his tongue when his bellyaching gets on Corvus Vile's nerves.

Flavian's Party

With the arrival of Princess Halle and her Corsair escorts, Flavian saw opportunities as well as great dangers. The Corsairs had caught one of the Blue Frogs' assassins and brought him to the authorities, forcing Flavian to tip his hand about his connection with the Blue Frogs. However, he had been rallying to get Sir Reglas to debate him, and with the Corsairs investigation into Flavian and the Blue Frogs managed to secure the famous knight's presence at one of his fundraisers. The debate would score big points to legitimize Flavian's campaign, and with a Home field advantage and sympathetic audience he could not have picked a more favorable venue. However, with ongoing Blue Frog activity in his mansion, Flavian knew that letting Corsairs inside could put him in hot water.

True to his prediction, Flavian's big night did not go as smoothly as he expected. The Corsairs found their way into his basement, discovering his secret docks and freeing a squire he had kidnapped during the party for the Blue Frogs to brainwash. They even stole Flavian's pet dog, Brutus, from his cage. What's more, his VIP meeting of donors sympathetic to the Blue Frogs was infiltrated by a member of the White Lion Armada named Desmond Eld, who proceeded to slaughter all the officials in attendance.

A Bill of Attainder

With the Corsairs' investigation into Flavian complete, accusations of Flavian's connection to the Blue Frogs became public. However, if his legal career had taught him anything, Flavian knew that accusations alone were not enough to put someone in prison. He leveraged his legal connections to interfere with legal proceedings against him and curb any potential case, a task that was not so difficult given that most of the evidence was obtained by trespassing in his home in contravention to his civil rights as a Koan citizen.

With legal authorities doing little to act on the revelations from Flavians party, Sir Reglas and his Corsair friends were forced to take drastic action. If the courts would not convict, the Koan Senate technically had the authority to try him through a vote using a process called a Bill of Attainder. Since Flavian's influence in the Senate was nowhere near as strong as the courts, the Bill of Attainder had a serious chance of putting him in jail. However, even in these threats the sleazy politician saw opportunity. The Bill of Attainder had not been used since the Koan Empire tried to execute Nasser Graham, and the mere fact that Reglas was considering one against him gave ample opportunity for him to play the victim. Whether Flavian is more dangerous as a free agent of the Blue Frogs or a martyr for their cause remains to be seen, but anyone invested in protecting the Koan Republic should be wary of his growing influence.