General Durigreck Drakegranite

A male, Duergar/Fire Genasi general of The Empire of All. He is known for his loud, jolly personality and aggressive, direct military tactics.
Durigreck was the first ever general appointed by Trisha, and was a natural choice, already having a high-ranking position and long military career. He was then a loyalist once several of the generals joined the Imperial Fist, making him the only current general to be a Trisha appointee from before the rebellion.

Physical Description

Identifying Characteristics

Durigreck's most notable feature is a large, braided red beard that is always burning at the edges and inside its mass. Smoke drifts out from it constantly, and a small glow of embers can be seen inside the hair. The long mane of hair going down his back is the same way.

Special abilities

Durigreck has a natural affinity for fire and magma, and can lightly manipulate both.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Lesser known to most people in the Empire, Durigreck was actually the King of Underforge, the Duergar kingdom in the underdark beneath Brekor. As is tradition for the royal Drakegranite line, he was sent into the Plane of Fire as a young boy and raised by Efreets, infusing him with the power of flames and molten rock. He emerged as a young man, with burning eyes and a flaming beard, to take the throne after his father was slain in battle.
He led his people as King when the Empire invaded Underforge with the help of the recently conquered Brekor, their ancient enemy. He fought valiantly against overwhelming force, but unlike the King of Brekor, yielded when it was clear there was no winning. He was unseated as King by Emperor Leonidas himself, who sent him into the military as he often did with deposed leaders.
Unlike many deposed kings though, Durigreck accepted his new position as a soldier with grace, immediately seeing the benefits of his people joining the empire, allowing them to finally emerge from the deep earth and join their dwarvish cousins as equals. He worked hard, and quickly climbed the ranks of the military, gaining a command position and a reputation as a strong and talented leader. After many of the generals died in the war with Issilidor, he was a natural pick to be a general.
He was very opposed to Brekor seceding from the Empire, seeing it as a potential for a massive backslide cultural, but he had no more say in it, and accepted the results with bitter grumbling. Though his people asked him to return and reclaim a ceremonial "joint" throne with the new King of Brekor, he refused, claiming he was not a king, but a soldier.

Social

Family Ties

Mother

Durigreck had little interaction with his father in his youth, but a great deal of respect and adoration for his mother, who would often come to visit him in the Fire Plane. She was the actual bloodline heir to the royal line, but since she was a woman, she was not allowed to rule according to Duergar tradition, and was general looked down on for daring to "overshadow" her male counterparts. Yet, she'd never once seemed to let it bother her, at least in front of her son, and it was that great strength he saw in her that made Durigreck feel that traditional views on women were wrong in his society, and he'd actually planned to change them during his rule, but was unseated by the Empire before he'd gotten the chance. It all worked out from his perspective though, since the Empire enforced equal treatment anyway.
Unfortunately, his mother never got to see it, having lost her life in an assassination attempt against her husband years before. Durigreck remembers her fondly, and swears on her life, instead of his father's, when making promises, another break of tradition.

Wife

The other major family figure in Durigrek's life is his wife: a mountain dwarf woman by the name of Brylmura Coinborn, who ironically ended up the daughter of the current King of Brekor: King Armdalum Coinborn. The story of the unusual pairing is an interesting one: years before the Empire conquered Brekor, Ardalum's son, Brylmura's younger brother, was captured during one of the many dwarf-duergar wars. Coinborn ignored his daughter's insistence to negotiate for his release, not wanting to "lower" himself to meet them at the table, and out of frustration, long built up from years of neglect and mistreatment, Brylmura ran away from home, venturing into the Underdark herself. Sneaking her way in, she brazenly appeared before the King, asking for her brother's release and offering herself in place of him.
Intrigued by her bravery, Durigrek took her up on her offer, releasing her brother back to his home. But rather than a prisoner, Brylmura was treated as a guest, and she and Durigreck formed a fast friendship, both wanting to learn more about the others' people. It was through this friendship that she eventually persuaded King Drakegranite to release all of his prisoners as a show of good faith, which he did, and for a time, brought a semblance of peace between the nations. He declared her free as well and offered to let her return home, but she responded by using her freedom to declare her love for him and choosing to stay with him instead. It is said that the King's laugh could be heard in every cavern in Underforge that day.
Durigreck wed her without shame, despite the scandal that it caused in his own kingdom, and the outrage it caused in Brekor. He loved her with all his heart, and also hoped greatly that such a public display would help to build peace back between their peoples, and change the minds of his own people about women, since she had proposed to him and was a powerfully independent figure, whom he always made sure to treat with respect.
Ironically, it was this that finally brought Ardalum Coinborn to the negotiating table, trying to get his daughter "released" from her captivity. Durigrek endlessly tried to explain that nobody was keeping her and she could return if she wished it, but Coinborn, to this day, refuses to believe his daughter wasn't kidnapped and coerced. Brylmura refuses to speak to him until he apologizes, which of course, he refuses adamantly.
When Durigrek was unseated, Brylmura went with him into the Empire. The two life in the All Capitol together, and have a baby boy.

Age

85

Eyes

Fiery Orange

Hair

Black and Red with flames always burning in them.

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Ashy-Grey