Jennor Kaudus, 12th Duke of Besiktas

Jennor Kaudus is the last in the line of warrior Dukes who have ruled over the great city of Besiktas in the name of the Empire. One of the few Dukes not called to serve with the Imperial army during the first few years of the Scourge, Kaudus was instead tasked with bringing in the greatest harvest his city had ever seen. Surrounded by rich land planted with easily stored vegetables, Besiktas was expected to provide much of the food that would sustain the caers through what – at the time – was expected to be the 25-50 years of the Scourge. Originally, his people were to be split between the caers at Belix, Andurrial, and Faroe (thanks to trade agreements and promises of excess food to the gnomes and dwarves), but the destruction of the Imperial army at Viti Fields signaled the end of that plan. Instead, Kaudus found himself defending a vast city against an increasing number of monster attacks. While his defenses held against threats on the ground and in the air, the more insidious dangers of the Scourge took a great toll on the struggling city.

By the time the doors of the Imperial caers closed in 10 YS, Besiktas was in chaos. Disease and confusion ruled, and though the walls held, the streets were choked with smoke and the smell of rot. As the evil that plagued his city worsened, Kaudus was forced to pull his diminishing population back within the walls of the old city, then back within his fortress, then within the castle itself. Finally, as the undead and other foul creatures howled in his courtyard and pounded on his door, he and the last two hundred survivors of his once great city were able to force a captured demon to create two great artifacts that sealed them off from the world, in hope that one day, rescuers would come to release them from the prison they’d built.

Kaudus is not a powerful warrior, but he is an experienced, determined leader, used to making difficult choices in impossible situations. His few remaining subjects are fiercely loyal, and he, in return, will do anything in his power to protect them. Though he loves Besiktas, he knows that it is nothing without its people. If forced to abandon his city to save his people, he will do so; but before he does that, he will wear his sword arm to the bone in its defense.