Senna Lótebrius Tevis

Ancestry and early life

The Lótebrius family was one of the most esteemed families of the ancient city of Kelónia in todays state of Palissa, the southernmost state of the Confederation of Tarrabaenia. When Senna was born in 1799 of the Era of the Earth, his family was firmly established, owning several dozen farms worked by bondsmen, hundreds of slaves and they controlled a good part of the olive and olive oil trade of the city. Belonging to the highest of the four classes of citizens, the Lótebrius family was eligible to hold every position in the political system and historical sources tell us of at least six members of the family in the position 'Lord of Rites', three 'Lord of the Assembly', seven 'Cavalry Officer' and five 'Infantry Officer' and two 'Highest Strategist'. Sennas father, Mares Lótebrius Salsissimus was an 'Infantry Officer', his grandfather and one of his uncles was in the Elder Council and one of his other uncles was Lord of the Assembly.

With a family background like this it is no wonder that Senna received a good education and inherited the good connections of his forefathers. He grew up learning to read and write, spear-fighting, horseback- and Keros-dragon-riding and was fluent in his dialect of Tarrabaenian as well as the Mdûlûn language of the neighbouring Mdûlûn state of Kissalinn.

Career and private life

In 1815 of the Era of the Earth, Senna joined the military and became head of a cavalry squad. In the same year he was betrothed to Rheana Molla Équalii, whom he was to marry after his year of military service. The Équálius family was probably the most influential family of Kelónia at that time, making this a very advantageous match for the Lótebrius family. Senna was formally made overseer of the family's olive trade, as placement in the army is based on a persons income, to enable him to be accepted into the cavalry rather than the infantry.

Historical impact

The safety measure of having him join the cavalry instead of the infantry didn't help him much, though. He was taken prisoner during the second month of his service, when he was deployed at the border to fend of Mdûlûn atttacks. This marked the beginning of his infamous machination that ultimately lead to the downfall of his family as well as plunging Kelónia into utter meaninglessness.
When he was in captivity his ability to speak the language of his captors and his wits and charme helped him to get better treatment. He was not held to ransom but rather befriended his captors. At first they tried to extort land from Kelónia, but later the captive Senna caught the attention of the then leader of the Kissalinn army, Maluninnam Intarien. Senna, not only scheming, but also easy to give in to all kinds of distraction pretended to return the feelings in the hopes of being able to negotiate an easy way out of his predicament. This plan worked out quite well and after one year Senna managed to engineer his escape, while he was on an excursion with Maluninnam. Instead of his old gelding he mounted Maluninnam's stallion and rode off to the north, back to Kelónia, taunting the left-behind Maluninnam from horseback.

One of the things he taunted her with was his beautiful wife-to-be, whom he could get together with again. Unbeknownst to him though, during his time with Maluninnam he got her pregnant, something she desperately tried to keep secret, as to not fall even more in her familys disgrace, as they were more than sceptical of her relationship with Senna. From then on it is not known what exactly became of Maluninnam within her society. But she somehow devised a plan to take revenge - with the help of either her family or with the help of friends and allies or both.

The Équalius family was even better established than the Lótebrius family. With Rheana getting married to Senna a huge dowry was to contribute to the Lótebrius' wealth and cement their position even further. This was seen with some scepticism in some branches of the Équalius family. As usual the marriage contract was made and accepted shortly before the wedding itself. The celebrations were some of the most luxurious Kelónia had ever witnessed. The morning after the wedding though, Rheana was found dead in the marital bed by the maidservant, while Senna was next door getting dressed up for the day. The murder weapon was Senna's very own dagger.

The murder had been planned by Maluninna and the day and way it was done was carefully chosen as to direct all suspicion to Senna himself. This worked indeed very well. With Senna's dagger being the murder weapon and him found in the bathroom the Équalius family immediately started accusing him, as being in the bathroom was taken as a hint that he wanted to get blood of his hands. With the marriage contract being valid, many thought he had just staged the marriage to amass more wealth for his own family.

As the Kelónian society was shaken by the murder and the accusations, there where plenty of opportunities for Maluninna to cause even further damage. Members of both families or their allies started to disappear, mostly during trade expeditions, but also directly from the city. Maluninna also had some bondsmen killed, mostly by burning their farms down at night. The families suspected each other for all these atrocities and assailed each other with lawsuits. It took only one year to have the entire city of Kelónia in shambles with the population split into two parties: Those who stood with the Lótebrius family and those who stood with the Équalius family.

By that time, with Kelónias military weakened by the events, and her honour at home restored by virtue of her efforts to break Senna, Maluninna got permission to equip an entire military expedition. Other than expected, she did not lead a regular army north, but rather had the entire cavalry wear parade armour. Maluninna herself had a special gown fashioned, that looked like a mix between traditional Mdûlûn clothing and a Tarrabaenian wedding dress, so it was easily recognisable as the latter for the people of Kelónia. She rode up to the city, her infant in her arms, flanked by her cavalry and announced:

"Dearest Senna, who promised me peace and prosperity, after taking care of some important business back at home. Now, a year later, I have borne your child and miss you and your sweetness dearly. Your parents-in-law to be couldn't take me longing and yearning for your love any longer and thus they sent me north, so we could be together again."

It was easy to confirm, that the child was Senna's, as a Kelónian priest was sent outside by the Équalius family to examine it. Maluninna explained she would return home, now that she reminded him of his promises and would wait for him, as she could not usher him to leave right now. Unsurprisingly after her retreat the divided city of Kelónia fell into a civil-war like state. Maluninna would later return to lay siege to a city, that had basically already torn itself apart. The Tarrabaenians later managed to reclaim the area, but Kelónia never rose back to its former glory.