Mans Kartovy

President Mans Francesco Kartovy, IV

It is not enough to witness our world through the tales of others. To know the sights, smells, and people, you must travel yourself.

— Mans Kartovy

President Mans Francesco Kartovy IV is the current heir to the Kartovy family fortune and the current president of the Kartovian Exploration Society. In his youth, he travelled the world under pseudonyms as a regular member of the Society; indeed, the revelation of his true identity happened at a rather embarrassing time and nearly ended his adventuring career.

the President's Trinket Collection by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Though he has been formally requested to remain at the Society's headquarters in Vaciliano, President Kartovy is regularly spotted throughout the world on "cheery jaunts" to "wonderful domiciles".
Obviously, in fitting with his nature, these have included the outer boundaries of the Heartforge of Iskaldhal, the bug-filled Droning Caves of Areshket, and on one particularly memorable occasion that required the cooperation of two governments and a lesser amount of divine intervention, the interior of Tenaerul.
His daughter, the inimitable Franziska Kartovy, has standing orders to all members of the Kartovian Society - and indeed, one that all of the Vostene Republic is well aware of - to inform her by any means necessary if he has managed to leave Society grounds on one of said jaunts, and to prevent him from getting into trouble if he has managed to get away.
His family have yet to be able to contain him for longer than three months, despite these efforts.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

My Mans is weak? Old? Frail? He didn't seem so last night!

— Yelthe

Mans is a distinguished older gentleman at this point in time, and has both the looks and physique for it. His bushy moustache cannot cover up all the wrinkles he has developed, and his former fearsome strength has faded quite dramatically.
Still, he remains a significant threat in combat - and not only because he's virtually unpredictable. Mans has always possessed a great amount of control over his abilities, and with the aid of his fey wife Yelthe, can easily drop the burden of age if circumstances call for him to do so.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Mans was born in the ancient times before known civilisation, to hear him tell the tale, to a dragon of a mother and a fairy prince. The truth is, of course, far less fantastical; he was born to loving parents in the Vostene Republic, and grew up wanting for very little.
At age 19, he'd grown entirely bored of the lifestyle of the silver spoon, and having enough training to be reasonably competent with a sword (or so he thought), he ran away from home with a small amount of money (read: a few thousand gold, an amount only known as 'small' to the very rich) and crafted himself a disguise. Though he quickly realised he wasn't as competent as he'd thought, he still successfully joined the Kartovian Exploration Society under the false name of Karol Mannowicz.
Things proceeded disastrously in the best way. His chaotic tendencies meant that whilst the quests he went on didn't always go so well (read; usually went horrendously), they were always interesting, and the results did still end up relatively positive overall.
His favourite early story to recount - for he does constantly recount old stories to any who will listen, which is usually anyone in the Society either trying to learn from him, tell him something else, or keep him occupied - is the time he sneezed during his best friend's Teleport spell and accidentally landed them in the Gildón throne room when they'd been aiming for Galasthin.
The king had found the tale hilarious, and hired them on a far better quest than the expected arcane book delivery House Ae'tharis had requested adventurers for.

And the drinks. Lads, lasses, if you're given the choice between Gildón beer and Galasthin wine: go the beer every time.

— Mans Kartovy

He rose quickly in the ranks of the Society after a long string of these adventures and shenanigans, eventually drawing the attention of the then-President: his aunt. Unaware of his identity, she hired "the young mister Mannowicz" and his associates to accompany her on an expedition to a bizarre area of Gothadrun to investigate rumours of adventurers going missing.
Before they could reach the location, however, their group found themselves stumbling through a portal into the First World, realm of the fey. A positively ridiculous series of events followed, culminating in Mans losing a number of bets to a particularly lovely fey woman (who'd stolen the name of Yelthe and was quite happy with it) and being forced to reveal his identity, much to his aunt's shock. Worse still, he'd given it up on the eve of his unexpected marriage to said lovely fey!
President Paulina Kartovy was not impressed, and dragged both her errant nephew and his new wife back to the Society's headquarters for an excessively loud scolding that Yelthe found positively hilarious. He refused to retire then, and she couldn't very well deny someone who was obviously skilled, but it wasn't too long until another unexpected event forced Mans to pull back on some of his adventures: Yelthe was pregnant.
Not only was she pregnant, but she wouldn't leave his side, declaring that the baby could get used to adventuring as well. Naturally, the strongly-worded threats his relatives (especially his mother) gave him for still considering adventuring with her anyway were enough to finally make him settle down, at least for a time.
When his aunt passed away, none objected to him stepping into her shoes - and indeed, other than the sudden influx of fey adventurers, not much changed with the running of the Society when he did finally take up the position. Though she spends longer in the First World than on the Material Plane these days, Yelthe is still close to her partner and visits him often - much to their daughter's dismay, for she is his best assistant when it comes to escape attempts from their daughter's watch!

Sexuality

Jolly good times!

Alignment

Chaotic Good

Current Status

Busy herding Kartovian cats (figuratively)

Current Location

Vaciliano

Species

Human

Year of Birth

5548 EA 78 Years old

Birthplace

Vaciliano

Pronouns

He/him

Gender

Male

Eyes

Heterochromic; brown in one, blue in the other

Hair

Formerly blonde, now white

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

White, often sunburnt

Height

5'10

Weight

How uncouth!

Belief/Deity

Sinashakti

Aligned Organization

Kartovian Exploration Society

Other Affiliations

• Vostene Republic