aka: The Laughing Mountain & The Golden Boar of Thessios
One of the Five Outlander Disciples of the Three Blossom Society
T A R O N Y M E S of T H E S S I O S
Brawler, Hero, King
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Ht: 6'4 / Wt: 375 lbs / Hair: black / Eyes: brown / Age: 40
Creed: Aesosian / Clan: Three Blossom Society
Taronymes is the king of the small Aesosian kingdom of Thessios. His family line is of the "old blood" - supposed descendants of the Apotheoi, the race of first men that ruled Aesos in prehistoric times. He is renowned as a great hero in his own lands, but also in the far eastern Three Kingdoms of Tianxia.
As a youth, his feats earned him the title "The Golden Boar of Thessios." However, at the age of 15, he was banished from Thessios by his mother Queen Pherenike after the death of his younger brother Diodoros in a hunting accident.
He remained in exile for 20 years, with most of that time spent in the distant lands of Tianxia. There he learned many esoteric fighting arts as a member of the Three Blossom Society, and earned himself the nickname "The Laughing Mountain."
Learning of his mother's death, he returned to Thessios, and found it threatened by a monstrous boar with a golden pelt. He defeated the boar and brought it before the king, his older brother Methokrates. Overcome with remorse, Methokrates revealed that he had been the one truly to blame for the hunting accident in their youth, and that the boar had been sent as a punishment from the gods. In atonement, he hurled himself into the stormy sea, leaving Taronymes to become the new king.
Taronymes is still a proud and boisterous soul, but he now carries the burden of his birthright with solemnity, knowing the tragic path that brought him here. He wishes to restore Thessios to a semblance of its past glory, and bring prosperity to his people. Although he still has ties to the Three Blossom Society, his responsibilities as king come first.
Taronymes seeks to carry forward the line of kings, and has taken a young bride named Ereteia, who is now with child. His closest friend and confident in Thessios is the scholar Kallistes, who also serves as the kingdom's chamberlain. Kallistes is youthful and beautiful, but he is also as wise and calm as the king is impulsive and excitable. He may chastise Taronymes for his inattention to the necessities of governance, but it is clear that he cares deeply for his king.
APPEARANCE
Taronymes is immediately distinguished by his powerful build and seemingly impossible muscularity. His sun-browned physique gleams like burnished bronze. His massive arms and legs pulsate with power. His torso is so broad and thick as to give the impression of his being practically as wide across as he is tall.
His features are robust but still handsome. His craggy brow and heavy jawline are offset by brightly-glinting brown eyes and a face given to broad smiles and thunderous laughter. His high forehead is crowned by black waves of hair that have just begun to turn silver near the temples. He bears a circlet of braided gold around his head, and his face is ringed by a beard full of majestic curls. Taronymes usually wears a richly-embroidered peplum and a loincloth, with silver-studded, open-toed sandals, and gleaming gold bracers adorning his wrists.
When he isn’t bare-chested, he wears a decorative leather breastplate, inlaid with a golden crest of Thessios. Across his shoulders he once wore a massive shaggy cloak made from the bristly hide of a large boar with a metallic golden pelt. On his head he sometimes wears a large, shiny helmet that continues the boar motif. Around his waist hangs a silver belt with a fine leather pouch. He carries no visible weapon, even when entering battle. With his immense fists, it hardly seems like he would need one.
ABILITIES
Learning of his mother's death, he returned to Thessios, and found it threatened by a monstrous boar with a golden pelt. He defeated the boar and brought it before the king, his older brother Methokrates. Overcome with remorse, Methokrates revealed that he had been the one truly to blame for the hunting accident in their youth, and that the boar had been sent as a punishment from the gods. In atonement, he hurled himself into the stormy sea, leaving Taronymes to become the new king.
Taronymes is still a proud and boisterous soul, but he now carries the burden of his birthright with solemnity, knowing the tragic path that brought him here. He wishes to restore Thessios to a semblance of its past glory, and bring prosperity to his people. Although he still has ties to the Three Blossom Society, his responsibilities as king come first.
Taronymes seeks to carry forward the line of kings, and has taken a young bride named Ereteia, who is now with child. His closest friend and confident in Thessios is the scholar Kallistes, who also serves as the kingdom's chamberlain. Kallistes is youthful and beautiful, but he is also as wise and calm as the king is impulsive and excitable. He may chastise Taronymes for his inattention to the necessities of governance, but it is clear that he cares deeply for his king.
APPEARANCE
Taronymes is immediately distinguished by his powerful build and seemingly impossible muscularity. His sun-browned physique gleams like burnished bronze. His massive arms and legs pulsate with power. His torso is so broad and thick as to give the impression of his being practically as wide across as he is tall.
His features are robust but still handsome. His craggy brow and heavy jawline are offset by brightly-glinting brown eyes and a face given to broad smiles and thunderous laughter. His high forehead is crowned by black waves of hair that have just begun to turn silver near the temples. He bears a circlet of braided gold around his head, and his face is ringed by a beard full of majestic curls. Taronymes usually wears a richly-embroidered peplum and a loincloth, with silver-studded, open-toed sandals, and gleaming gold bracers adorning his wrists.
When he isn’t bare-chested, he wears a decorative leather breastplate, inlaid with a golden crest of Thessios. Across his shoulders he once wore a massive shaggy cloak made from the bristly hide of a large boar with a metallic golden pelt. On his head he sometimes wears a large, shiny helmet that continues the boar motif. Around his waist hangs a silver belt with a fine leather pouch. He carries no visible weapon, even when entering battle. With his immense fists, it hardly seems like he would need one.
ABILITIES
Taronymes' strength is legendary in both the east and west. His body possesses a tremendous inner power, the legacy of the ancient blood in his veins. Even before his training in Tianxia, he was a superb wrestler, boxer, and athlete. With the Three Blossoms, he mastered the Elephant and Tiger rings of the Da Chak style, as well as the Dragon Skin technique and the Iron Dividing Fist. He is most famous for his Divine Mountain King stance, which magnifies his physical size and strength well beyond human limits. Famously, it's said that he once wielded the immense burial slab of the Holy Mystic Mo-Kwei as a club in order to subdue the Twelve Oni of the Yaiba Demon Gate.
as told by King Taronymes
I was the second-born of three princes of Thessios. My older brother was Methokrates, and little Diodoros was my junior by 9 years. Now, I am all that remains of that line…
Behold, the bow called the Arc of Aphaea. Here is a tale of woe that is known to all in this kingdom...
I was a great archer in my youth. I always loved the hunt. When I was boar-hunting as a lad of 12, my bowstring snapped as I drew it. Facing an enraged boar the size of a bull, I had no other weapons at hand, but I would not run. Instead, I seized it by the tusks, and with all of the might in my young body, I threw it to the ground and shattered its bones.
The people loved it, of course. A fearless deed worthy of the heroic myths! They called me the Golden Boar of Thessios! Basking in that love, I grew too proud.
That bow was an ancient treasure of the Apotheoi age, carved from the wing of a giant condor, bound in celestial iron, and strung with braided leather from a sea serpent. This gift was bestowed upon me by the priestesses of Agrotera, the Goddess of the Hunt, in order to honour my feat.
THE ARCHERY CONTEST...
Some years later, I was hunting in the hills with my older brother Methokrates and our cousin Lykotheron of Spirakos. They were great friends, but as usual, they argued over who the stronger archer was. I knew myself to be better than either one, and eager to show off, I suggested a contest to see who could shoot the greatest distance.
They eyed the Arc of Aphaea, and claimed that such a weapon would make any contest unfair. I insisted, and suggested we all use the same bow and the same brace of arrows in turn, so that only the merits of the archer could be measured. We each tied a coloured ribbon to our arrows to know whose flew the farthest.
Lykotheron drew first. He was always a keen hunter, but although we were kin, his blood was diluted, and had less of the Old Strength in it. His arrow flew passing far, and but then it stopped, taking a crane in flight. He said that a loosed arrow that claims no prey is an arrow wasted. We laughed and mocked him for posturing when he knew he could not win our wager. We told him instead to use his eagle eyes to mark where our arrows landed.
My brother Methokrates drew next, and sent his arrow flying over the distant ridge. I was impressed by the power of his shot, but I knew I could do better. On my turn, I loosed and my arrow flew over the ridge and beyond. I began to boast. Methokrates protested, and insisted that the wager was not won till we verified with our own eyes. We mounted our horses, and canny Lykotheron led us on our search.
First, Lykotheron found the crane transfixed by his arrow, tied with a green ribbon. A fine prize, he said, but it was not enough to win our contest. We rode some distance further over the ridge, and he found the second arrow, buried in the mud of the vinyards around the city. This one was bound with Methokrates’ silver ribbon, and I laughed because I was certain that my arrow had flown farther still. We pressed on, and Lykotheron began to grow pale. While he ranged ahead of us, we heard him cry out, and we rushed to his side.
My arrow had flown as far as the Royal Gardens themselves. There we found my youngest brother, Diodoros. He was but a child of six years. He had been playing at climbing a tree when he was struck in the breast. Now, there was no life was left in his small, still form. And sprouting from it, a feathered shaft decorated with my golden ribbon!
I scarcely remember what happened next. I flew into a great rage when the truth dawned upon me. In my grief and my anger, I took the Arc of Afaea in my hands. I wrenched it into splinters, and cast it down into the dust. In my madness, I made to tear out my own eyes and throat, but Lykotheron and Methokrates held me. And then just as quickly, I felt a great weakness swirling around me; the sickness of anguish. I had not the strength to take that tiny body in my arms. I could barely stand for trembling, and I thought I should die right there and then. But I knew that my life was not my own, and that it was the Golden Queen who must pass judgment.
I threw myself down before my mother. I begged her - as the Queen - to punish me, to take my life for this crime! The law was clear; one who spills royal blood deserved death. Methokrates pleaded my case. He said that while my crime was grave, the ancient Creed of Kings stated that one who takes the life of a kinsman is forever hated by the gods, and for her to execute me would violate that ancient oath.
Perhap she was unwilling to lose two sons in one day. Instead, for better or worse, she decreed that I must be banished from Thessios, and from her sight, forevermore. I thought it was far better than I deserved. With a heavy heart, I set sail that very day, with the aim to sail into the harsh bosom of the open ocean, hopefully to perish by the hand of Helicon, the god-stallion of the seas... or to sail off the edge of the world.
IN TIANXIA...
They eyed the Arc of Aphaea, and claimed that such a weapon would make any contest unfair. I insisted, and suggested we all use the same bow and the same brace of arrows in turn, so that only the merits of the archer could be measured. We each tied a coloured ribbon to our arrows to know whose flew the farthest.
Lykotheron drew first. He was always a keen hunter, but although we were kin, his blood was diluted, and had less of the Old Strength in it. His arrow flew passing far, and but then it stopped, taking a crane in flight. He said that a loosed arrow that claims no prey is an arrow wasted. We laughed and mocked him for posturing when he knew he could not win our wager. We told him instead to use his eagle eyes to mark where our arrows landed.
My brother Methokrates drew next, and sent his arrow flying over the distant ridge. I was impressed by the power of his shot, but I knew I could do better. On my turn, I loosed and my arrow flew over the ridge and beyond. I began to boast. Methokrates protested, and insisted that the wager was not won till we verified with our own eyes. We mounted our horses, and canny Lykotheron led us on our search.
First, Lykotheron found the crane transfixed by his arrow, tied with a green ribbon. A fine prize, he said, but it was not enough to win our contest. We rode some distance further over the ridge, and he found the second arrow, buried in the mud of the vinyards around the city. This one was bound with Methokrates’ silver ribbon, and I laughed because I was certain that my arrow had flown farther still. We pressed on, and Lykotheron began to grow pale. While he ranged ahead of us, we heard him cry out, and we rushed to his side.
My arrow had flown as far as the Royal Gardens themselves. There we found my youngest brother, Diodoros. He was but a child of six years. He had been playing at climbing a tree when he was struck in the breast. Now, there was no life was left in his small, still form. And sprouting from it, a feathered shaft decorated with my golden ribbon!
I scarcely remember what happened next. I flew into a great rage when the truth dawned upon me. In my grief and my anger, I took the Arc of Afaea in my hands. I wrenched it into splinters, and cast it down into the dust. In my madness, I made to tear out my own eyes and throat, but Lykotheron and Methokrates held me. And then just as quickly, I felt a great weakness swirling around me; the sickness of anguish. I had not the strength to take that tiny body in my arms. I could barely stand for trembling, and I thought I should die right there and then. But I knew that my life was not my own, and that it was the Golden Queen who must pass judgment.
I threw myself down before my mother. I begged her - as the Queen - to punish me, to take my life for this crime! The law was clear; one who spills royal blood deserved death. Methokrates pleaded my case. He said that while my crime was grave, the ancient Creed of Kings stated that one who takes the life of a kinsman is forever hated by the gods, and for her to execute me would violate that ancient oath.
Perhap she was unwilling to lose two sons in one day. Instead, for better or worse, she decreed that I must be banished from Thessios, and from her sight, forevermore. I thought it was far better than I deserved. With a heavy heart, I set sail that very day, with the aim to sail into the harsh bosom of the open ocean, hopefully to perish by the hand of Helicon, the god-stallion of the seas... or to sail off the edge of the world.
IN TIANXIA...
I didn’t perish, of course. I sailed long, and I grew hungry and shabby and haggard. I sailed until my ship broke apart. Even then, cruel Helicon did not release me from my misery. Instead, he bore me on his back to another shore, where strange coppery men spoke strange tongues. Once I was a prince, but in this land I was little more than a beast to be spat upon. They treated me as a dumb brute, and I embraced that. There, Taronymes of Thessios died, and the Laughing Mountain was born in his place.
Did you know that I once fought with Feng Yaoshi, the Divine-Faced Hero? I roamed the Huan Kingdom for some time and made quite a name for myself. I thought there was nobody in that land to challenge me. Then I met the Feng Yaoshi, and he defeated me without even drawing his sword!
It hurt my pride, but I was entranced by him. He had such power and control and beauty! I had to know his secrets, and I’m afraid I pestered him for quite some time. Finally, he told me that my inner power was great, but I didn’t know how to harness it. He told me that I must go to Mount Wujin and seek instruction from the old master there. That is how I became the student of Wujin Shaolang, and a member of the famous Five Outlander Disciples.
Did you know that I once fought with Feng Yaoshi, the Divine-Faced Hero? I roamed the Huan Kingdom for some time and made quite a name for myself. I thought there was nobody in that land to challenge me. Then I met the Feng Yaoshi, and he defeated me without even drawing his sword!
It hurt my pride, but I was entranced by him. He had such power and control and beauty! I had to know his secrets, and I’m afraid I pestered him for quite some time. Finally, he told me that my inner power was great, but I didn’t know how to harness it. He told me that I must go to Mount Wujin and seek instruction from the old master there. That is how I became the student of Wujin Shaolang, and a member of the famous Five Outlander Disciples.
THE FIVE DISCIPLES...
Ah, the Zhu Mountains! Only Mount Olympus could be a more magical place! I learned much in my time there, like the Iron-Dividing Fist and the Divine Mountain King Stance. I also trained with Master Wujin’s other disciples…
IRON FINGERS CHU was from Huan Kingdom. He was not one of the Five Outlanders, but he also trained with us. He used to brag that his Dragon Skin technique was better than mine. Ha! Nay, but he wished it were so!
There was also old IRON HAWK - he was a right bastard! One of the most vicious, power-hungry men I've ever met. Only the gods know why Master Wujin welcomed him into the order. We were sworn brothers, but I could tell he was just waiting for the day when he might need to kill one of us if we stood in his way.
And then there was poor DRY LEAF, a dark-skinned man from faraway Sankar. He was so frail, and spent all his time meditating -- perfecting his body and soul for enlightenment, he would say. His spiritual power was thought to be greater than all the rest of us. He was the most boring of all of us, if you ask me. All that chanting and contemplating and self-denial. He should have just been a monk!
There was also HEAVEN EYES, that strange, fair lad with his mild, clear gaze. He’d been at Mount Wujin since he was a child and he was always watching everyone, and everything. He seemed friendly and harmless, more scholar than fighter... but I swear, he knew your move before you made it, and always seemed to be just out of reach when he needed to be.
And of course, there was Giraud, or should I say, SILENT WATER. He was graceful and good with any weapon in his hand. He was as handsome and as well-formed as Phoebus, but he could be as mysterious as Hecate too! But that lad and I shared a spirit. They said he rarely spoke, but he spoke to me. He could recite the classics of poetry and philosophy. He knew wine and he knew song. Such times! Our days were spent together on tasks for the Three Blossoms... and then we'd talk and carouse long into the nights! He reminded me of who I was, in my heart. Laughing Mountain and Silent Water -- we were an unbeatable duo! Or so I always thought... but every summer passes, I suppose.
IRON FINGERS CHU was from Huan Kingdom. He was not one of the Five Outlanders, but he also trained with us. He used to brag that his Dragon Skin technique was better than mine. Ha! Nay, but he wished it were so!
There was also old IRON HAWK - he was a right bastard! One of the most vicious, power-hungry men I've ever met. Only the gods know why Master Wujin welcomed him into the order. We were sworn brothers, but I could tell he was just waiting for the day when he might need to kill one of us if we stood in his way.
And then there was poor DRY LEAF, a dark-skinned man from faraway Sankar. He was so frail, and spent all his time meditating -- perfecting his body and soul for enlightenment, he would say. His spiritual power was thought to be greater than all the rest of us. He was the most boring of all of us, if you ask me. All that chanting and contemplating and self-denial. He should have just been a monk!
There was also HEAVEN EYES, that strange, fair lad with his mild, clear gaze. He’d been at Mount Wujin since he was a child and he was always watching everyone, and everything. He seemed friendly and harmless, more scholar than fighter... but I swear, he knew your move before you made it, and always seemed to be just out of reach when he needed to be.
And of course, there was Giraud, or should I say, SILENT WATER. He was graceful and good with any weapon in his hand. He was as handsome and as well-formed as Phoebus, but he could be as mysterious as Hecate too! But that lad and I shared a spirit. They said he rarely spoke, but he spoke to me. He could recite the classics of poetry and philosophy. He knew wine and he knew song. Such times! Our days were spent together on tasks for the Three Blossoms... and then we'd talk and carouse long into the nights! He reminded me of who I was, in my heart. Laughing Mountain and Silent Water -- we were an unbeatable duo! Or so I always thought... but every summer passes, I suppose.
THE RETURN TO THESSIOS...
In the years that followed, I often found myself traveling abroad for Master Wujin. It was on one such occasion that I heard of how the great old Queen of Thessios had died. She had grown weak and sick over the years, and finally perished..
Truthfully, I had no intention of violating my mother’s decree, but when I heard that she had died, my heart was broken. Not only did I lose my mother, but Aesos had lost a queen of the Old Blood. I could never have guessed she would die so soon. A broken heart, some said... and no will to live after losing two sons.
Naturally, Methokrates succeeded her and became king. They said he was a good king, but that the land was under a curse - the gods were displeased, and so Thessios was plagued with calamities and horrors. Sickness wracked the people. Land and sea were thrashed by terrible storms. Crops were destroyed. Boats could not fish. Worst of all, the kingdom lived in fear of a monstrous beast - an immense boar with a pelt of shimmering gold that repelled weapons... a golden boar!
Many believed the beast was the wrath of the Goddess Agrotera made manifest. Some even said that it was my spirit, the lost prince - the first Golden Boar of Thessios - punishing the land for casting me out! I could not let such a thing stand!
I returned to Thessios in disguise, and saw the stories were true. Methokrates had tried to drive out the boar, and made sacrifices to the gods, but to no avail, and so the people suffered. I took it upon myself to hunt the boar and lift this curse. After all, could the gods punish me twice?
I harried it through the hills for seven days before I finally cornered it. Lightning cracked and rain pelted down as we fought. It truly was a mighty creature touched by the gods, with a hide of gleaming metal, but I had grown very strong in Tianxia... and I prevailed.
When I brought the carcass of the beast before the court of the king, my brother saw through my disguise. He paled and fell to his knees, and begged my forgiveness. Overcome with guilt and remorse, Methokrates revealed that I had never been responsible for Diodoros' death! It had all been a deception hatched in the moment by Lykotheron to cover the truth - that it was actually Methokrates' own arrow that claimed our brother's life!
Methokrates confessed that he had let me take the blame -- not just to protect himself, but because he was jealous of the love that both the people and my mother bore for me. Although he was the eldest, he feared I would be named king before him. He never wished to see me dead, and so instead pressed for my banishment. But when a Golden Boar was sent to torment Thessios, he knew that he'd been cursed by the gods for his crime.
This he revealed to me as the thunder rolled and the sea tossed. He said that while he deserved nothing less than to be struck dead, a kin-slayer is forever damned, and he could not force that fate upon me. Instead, he implored divine Helicon to be his judge and executioner, and hurled himself from the walls of the palace, into the depths of the enraged sea. Whether it was the rocks or the depths that took him, I'll never know...
This is how I came to be King of Thessios...
Truthfully, I had no intention of violating my mother’s decree, but when I heard that she had died, my heart was broken. Not only did I lose my mother, but Aesos had lost a queen of the Old Blood. I could never have guessed she would die so soon. A broken heart, some said... and no will to live after losing two sons.
Naturally, Methokrates succeeded her and became king. They said he was a good king, but that the land was under a curse - the gods were displeased, and so Thessios was plagued with calamities and horrors. Sickness wracked the people. Land and sea were thrashed by terrible storms. Crops were destroyed. Boats could not fish. Worst of all, the kingdom lived in fear of a monstrous beast - an immense boar with a pelt of shimmering gold that repelled weapons... a golden boar!
Many believed the beast was the wrath of the Goddess Agrotera made manifest. Some even said that it was my spirit, the lost prince - the first Golden Boar of Thessios - punishing the land for casting me out! I could not let such a thing stand!
I returned to Thessios in disguise, and saw the stories were true. Methokrates had tried to drive out the boar, and made sacrifices to the gods, but to no avail, and so the people suffered. I took it upon myself to hunt the boar and lift this curse. After all, could the gods punish me twice?
I harried it through the hills for seven days before I finally cornered it. Lightning cracked and rain pelted down as we fought. It truly was a mighty creature touched by the gods, with a hide of gleaming metal, but I had grown very strong in Tianxia... and I prevailed.
When I brought the carcass of the beast before the court of the king, my brother saw through my disguise. He paled and fell to his knees, and begged my forgiveness. Overcome with guilt and remorse, Methokrates revealed that I had never been responsible for Diodoros' death! It had all been a deception hatched in the moment by Lykotheron to cover the truth - that it was actually Methokrates' own arrow that claimed our brother's life!
Methokrates confessed that he had let me take the blame -- not just to protect himself, but because he was jealous of the love that both the people and my mother bore for me. Although he was the eldest, he feared I would be named king before him. He never wished to see me dead, and so instead pressed for my banishment. But when a Golden Boar was sent to torment Thessios, he knew that he'd been cursed by the gods for his crime.
This he revealed to me as the thunder rolled and the sea tossed. He said that while he deserved nothing less than to be struck dead, a kin-slayer is forever damned, and he could not force that fate upon me. Instead, he implored divine Helicon to be his judge and executioner, and hurled himself from the walls of the palace, into the depths of the enraged sea. Whether it was the rocks or the depths that took him, I'll never know...
This is how I came to be King of Thessios...
* * * *
