House Videssyn
Peridon Videssyn b. 4522 d. 4663
Olantor Videssyn b. 4659 d. ????
Conventional wisdom counted the Videssyns as landless nobles, but that was more an origin statement than a statement of fact. Long before Arvyl went east, the founder of House Videssyn, one Saldonquin Videssyn did buy his title from the God-Emperor but in the centuries since, the Videssyns climbed to the top rung of Sangrithar’s fortune ladder. By Hali’s time, Olantor, current head of House Videssyn was the wealthiest man in Sangrithar other than the God-Emperor. He held lands spread across the empire, owned a fleet of ships, lumber yards in the Harrowmeet and interests in the Hawkpeak mines.
Videssyn grew up even more spoiled and pampered than most of his station. His mother died in childbirth and his father, Peridon, a crusty old fart of one hundred and thirty seven when he sired Olantor, kicked the bucket when Olantor was only seven years old. You have to give the old man some credit for still having enough left in his tank at such a ripe age. Olantor was the first, and last, member of Peridon’s second family. The first (three sons, two daughters, a wife, and many grandchildren) all died when a sinkhole opened up on the grounds of the family villa and swallowed them whole. Peridon only survived by hanging onto the exposed root of an overturned elm tree long enough for help to arrive. The official story blamed the Devotees, but no one in their right mind believed that the Maiden’s followers would do such a thing, even if they were capable of causing it, which I don’t think they were. I asked Kandol about it when I spent time at Pel Aesylle and he agreed – the Maiden was capable of many miracles, but creating sinkholes wasn’t one of them, not after Spirit’s magik was lost in the Reckoning.
With both parents dead, Olantor was raised by his wet nurse, Elsa and her husband, Lew, Peridon’s butler, who was elevated to regent in Peridon’s will. Elsa and Lew were mere slaves, but with Peridon’s death, they came to a fork in the road of morality. They could have raised Olantor as a caring and decent person, someone who would share his vast wealth with those in need, but they couldn’t see past the loaded Videssyn treasury and nurtured Olantor’s baser side. All I can say is, those two got what they deserved. They had hoped that Olantor would take care of them when he came of age, but they did their job too well. As soon as Olantor came into his inheritance, he thanked Elsa and Lew by booting them to the curb with only the clothes on their back and papers naming them free. Elsa cried and Lew called him a heartless bastard, but to no avail. Olantor thought they should be grateful for setting them free.
At every turn, Olantor Videssyn lived to excess. He ate too much, he drank too much, and thought too highly of himself. He believed his vast wealth entitled him to take whatever he pleased, whether a pretty vase, a horse from Master Milvor’s stable or a slave girl catching his fancy, as Fafingard the gate guard found out to his detriment. Fafingard’s son, Haverlind, a Warden in the infantry, fell in love with a Gloryngael chambermaid named Dysara and bought her freedom. Dysara loved Haverlind back and never let him know that Videssyn repeatedly had his way with her. She thought Videssyn a pig, but couldn’t stop him. When Haverlind took her away from the palace, she thought herself rid of Videssyn forever, but she hadn’t know the lengths Videssyn would go to keep her under his thumb. As far as Videssyn was concerned, Dysara was his property and so he paid thugs to kidnap her and bring her to his villa.
When Haverlind discovered Videssyn’s treachery, he swore by the Councilor and Glorianna that he would win Dysara’s freedom. He trespassed into the villa, but Videssyn had laid an ambush. Neither Dysara nor Haverlind were ever seen alive again leaving Fafingard to raise little Lyddi, their five year old daughter. Some years later, when the Empress chose her to be a handmaiden, Lyddi ran afoul of Videssyn. She reminded Videssyn of her mother, Dysara, and had it not been for Padiera Linveldt, history would have repeated itself.
Videssyn became Count Vand Auberc’s right hand man. His leadership skills were so sorely lacking that he couldn’t get people to follow him out of a burning building, but with enough gold, almost any character flaw can be overlooked. Along with Barginali and Auberc, Videssyn was the third member of the noble triumvirate lording over Tintammil’s drove of sloths. Auberc attained this exalted status through his natural leadership and charisma, Barginali by guile – Raynard worked better from the shadows than the limelight – and poor Videssyn landed in the winner’s circle solely by virtue of his vast wealth and willing embrace of a hedonist lifestyle. Auberc craved power and the adoration of his followers, Barginali valued and protected his family’s name, but Videssyn lived only to gratify himself.
Outside of Auberc and Barginali, Baron Jalkari Malacor, a landless noble whose family made its money in the diamond trade, was Videssyn’s best friend among the nobles. Young Malacor fostered with Videssyn as a child and the two men formed a fast friendship, or more than that if the rumors were true. Based on Videssyn’s behavior in Tintammil, where he would find solace in the arms of any warm body, female or male, I’m leaning strongly towards yes on this one.
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