Tiberius Faendryl

Tiberius Faendryl Storyline Lost Palestra Gender Male Race Dark Elf Culture Faendryl Status Alive Hometown New Ta'Faendryl Relationship(s) Treodhal (boss) Alias/Title Envoy Affiliation(s) Basilica, Legantine Chancellery / Foreign Ministry

Tiberius Faendryl is an envoy in the Legantine Chancellery, the foreign ministry of House Faendryl. He works under Ambassador Tredohal Hashier Faendryl with the Faendryl embassy and resides mostly in Ta'Illistim. In early 5126 Modern Era he was sent to the Darkstone Bay region to act as a liaison between Tredohal and Ambassador Vespasius Koryth Faendryl, so that Tredohal will be aware of anything he needs to know sooner rather than later. He was not assigned to be an envoy to Wehnimer's Landing. Tiberius is decidedly "old money" and comes from the lower upper class, but is more snobbish than arrogant. He has a convivial demeanor.

Tiberius has internationalist views on foreign policy, with a "royal politics" orientation of power brokering among elites, which some would criticize as antiquated and a relic of the "age of appeasement." He holds the "classical restorationism" variant of traditionalist views on the House system, supporting a "concert" system of international order based on balances of power. This is a minority view in the present age, but was prominent among the ruling class before the Sea Elf War, and in the modern era is over-represented in the Rachis.

Tiberius is a Faendryl nationalist who doubts the value of restoring the Faendryl Empire, regarding it as a major impediment toward the more important concern of restoring House Faendryl among the Elven Nations. He is a "Yshrythian" who believes the Houses must be restored first, and only afterwards should the Elven Empire be considered. But he also questions whether it is really necessary, as the supposed point of the Empire was to raise those other races to civilization. He is open to mannish self-governance, but doubts their stability or longevity. Thus skeptical of their holding equal standing in a concert system, he would most likely support imperial intervention in other territories, for the sake of enforcing the international social order. This prioritizes the sovereignty of the Houses. Tiberius holds comparatively tolerant views of other cultures and races, and has little filter or resentment owing to his social class.

Appearance

Faendryl Envoy Tiberius.

He has an extravagant dark waistcoat, some tailored pants, and a pair of fine suede shoes.

Ambients

Tiberius pats around his waistcoast and remarks, "Now where did I put that gnomish contrivance?  Ah, right.  We have no need of them."

Tiberius says, "There is no need to wait around on my account.  I am not holding court."  He wryly adds, "I am not the Patriarch.  Yet."

Tiberius says, "Politics all too often suffers from sheer incoherence.  I was just asked, in all seriousness, 'Lord Tiberius, how could you not agree?'  To which I said, my dear fellow, you are not even wrong."

Tiberius says, "I was asked once by a Nalfein dignitary in Ta'Illistim, what would you even do if we let you return?  I told her we would be obliged to leave.  How could we stay with those, after all, who would have us as members?  Then I walked away."

Questions and Answers

ASHRIM: 
Tiberius says, "The Sea Elf War was a diplomatic failure more than anything, which I mean in a most general way.  It was the House system having broken down from its proper way of functioning with the exile of House Faendryl.  Without the checks on balances of power, the alliances made pursuing our restoration felt threatening, by various other factions harmed in their interests.  Then we had little recourse in that whole Chesylcha affair."

Tiberius goes on, "Certainly the annihilation of the Ashrim Isles was catastrophic.  But when the other Houses condemned us for it, what was left but a pure death struggle in total war?  They are loath to see it that way.  But, look.  Be reasonable.  The Ashrim were not innocent babes in the woods, they raided the coasts and tyrannized the seas.  Meachreasim himself concedes they were the most haughty of the Houses.  Which is truly saying something."

CHASTON:
Tiberius smirks, "What a cheeky question!  The Basilica, of course, deems all of that the lands of the Patriarch, so what was it but brigands chasing out squatters?  But do not forget that the Kingdom of Hendor was segregated, especially after that business in the fall of Gor'nustre.  It was sensible policy by Emperor Chaston Kestrel.  Certainly.  Now matters proceed afoot in the other direction.  Righting historical injustices, from a provincial view of things."

Tiberius says, "Of course, I cannot speak on behalf of authority, in matters of foreign policy.  But in spite of the rhetoric, imperialists like Vespasius are most pleased, with these liberalization reforms.  What is the Nalfein proverb?  Never correct your opponent when he is making unforced errors?  This will all accelerate the decline of Tamzyrr's hegemony and human supremacy in the West.  Meanwhile the thaw continues for ourselves in the East."

DARK ELF:
Tiberius chortles, "Dark Elves!  Hide your children!  Well, look.  There is a certain sense in grouping elves with ancestry in Rhoska-Tor, indeed, exiles of various kinds from the dim recesses of history.  There is a common 'Dark Elven' language, so you cannot terribly fault people for it.  But it is a geographic ancestry, rather than genealogical.  There are certain resemblances, owing to exposure to the wasteland.  Not so very long ago the other Houses did not consider us one of them."

Tiberius exclaims, "Depending on which language you are expressing 'Dark Elf', I suppose our complexions tend to be 'darker' as well.  There are certainly Faendryl with lighter skin than the typical Nalfein, but who would never 'pass' as Elves of the East.  But we're all Elves.  Sylvans, Faendryl, even Dhe'nar!"

EMPIRE:
Tiberius says, "That is really the rub, is it not?  Restoring the Patriarch to the council of monarchs is one thing.  Regaining our ancestral lands in the East.  Perhaps.  But why would the other Houses wish to return to a situation where House Faendryl lords over a vast empire?  You know, first among equals, and all that.  But it was always a lie.  The other Houses chaffed under it.  We need the House system with its balances, should there someday be a restored Elven Empire."

Tiberius continues, "But should there be, must there be?  The legacy of Yshryth was raising other races to civilization, so is it really such a thing, that we need an empire in this world?  Why not the humans lording over humans?  Is it not now vanity and entitlement, not relinquishing what is owed, rather than what is actually materially needed?  Is it not well enough to maintain economies of national self-sufficiency and trade in luxuries as in the East?"

ENVOY:
Tiberius says, "Yes, yes.  I am Tiberius.  Envoy of House Faendryl.  Pleased to make your acquaintance, or else know you now more than half as well as I had a moment ago.  I work in the Legantine chancellery.  I live mostly in Ta'Illistim, with the Faendryl embassy.  I am a liaison for Ambassador Tredohal.  Something of a go-between with Ambassador Vespasius and whatever it is he is up to out here in the West.  Best for Tredohal to know of any surprises sooner rather than later."

Tiberius jests, "Do not go getting me in trouble by calling me an Ambassador.  I most certainly am not!  Ambassadors hold the standing to represent the Basilica in embassies to the other Houses.  At the moment we have one in Ta'Illistim.  Did you forget?  There will be a test.  We grade with pain sticks."

GNOMES:
Tiberius laughs, "Gnomes!  Oh!  Our cousins act so pious about the valence creatures we indenture for menial labor, then they shamelessly exploit these poor, exceedingly generous little sycophants.  Gods, no.  There is a Patriarchal decree that bans the burghal gnomes from, well, I will not call it 'infesting' the city, that is needlessly harsh and hostile about it.  It is just not something that ever could have been allowed.  For many reasons."

Tiberius says, "It is a tremendous liability to our security.  Ta'Faendryl is much too close to the ruins of Maelshyve.  The Basilica keeps its most valuable knowledge and artifacts below ground.  Nor can we have unregulated labor wildly sabotaging the Emporion and Agrestis.  Make whatever class aspersions you wish.  Housekeepers might easily do well in profits, making more than the salary of a mundane Clerisy scholar."

HALF-ELVES:
Tiberius smirks, "Ah, yes.  Our famous intolerance of half-elves.  Slow down.  Might I remind you that we engage in the gems trade with the Erithians?  Many believe they are some kind of stable breeding variety of half-elves.  No one cares, with the Erithians.  So it is more nuanced than you likely wish to make it out."

Tiberius says, "You know, I spend a lot of time around other races and cultures, since Myasara made Ta'Illistim more open in the past few decades.  Half-elves are not that common, anywhere, but they are just people.  You could even think of them as improved humans.  But I do not begrudge them wishing to embrace Faendryl heritage.  In the Second Age there was that saying, after all, given all of the cross-marriages between Houses:  Faendryl blood makes the Faendryl, whether in whole or part."

KASENDRA ACCORDS:
Tiberius says, "There is no denying the Nalfein-Tamzyrr treaties are especially hostile to Faendryl imperial interests.  Only someone illiterate at reading maps could be blind to it.  But matters are more subtle than you might think.  They also sabotage Nalfein imperial interests if they hold.  It is actually a boon to people like Vespasius, as the popular backlash is enabling him, allowing more intervention in the West.  He has been most reined in since the so-called Third Elven War."

Tiberius says, "The Basilica is not lashing out, torching its embassy in Ta'Illistim, as the Nalfein might have hoped.  Meanwhile the Illistim liberalization plays into our hands, in the long run, as it gradually mollifies the animosities and normalizes our presence in the East.  Keep things in perspective.  Aelotoi and gnomes do not have the baggage we do with our cousins.  Our difficulties in the East are not racial.  They are political, cultural, historical, and ideological."

NALFEIN:
Tiberius says, "It is fair to say the bad blood is felt more intensely on our end, which has much to do with why Korvath's predecessors held a lengthy period of isolationism.  The Nalfein do not have grounds to complain.  It is the price of their own actions.  But House Nalfein is just another House, with its own interests, which are simply not in alignment with a Faendryl Empire.  There is all of that other antipathy involving demonic summoning.  But we will eventually win that argument through converts."

Tiberius says, "I am not spending my days skulking around, circling with my counterparts, daggers in hand and with poison in every drink.  House Faendryl still has a path to classical restoration, as was wished before the Sea Elf War.  If it does not antagonize the East with trying to reconstruct a Faendryl dominated land empire in the West.  Accuse me of 'appeasement' all you want.  That is how you play strategy in the long run, not through rattling sabers."

VALLEY OF GOLD:
Tiberius says, "It is too much to ask that House Faendryl actually support such a thing.  The Basilica is not going to recognize the sovereignty of the Sun Throne, and the Turamzzyrian Empire is not going to agree to be a vassal to the Patriarch.  But this is not as simple as you might think.  Yes.  Narrowly we would have preferred the Vaalorian sphere of influence in the northwest.  But that was never going to last.  It was merely ended much too early by Myasara undermining Qalinor.  That is, ultimately, at its root."

Tiberius says, "When you consider the antipathy she brought toward Illistim involvement in the Darkstone Bay region, followed by the actions so blatantly contrary to our own interests in the Kasendra Accords, this is all allowing Faendryl intervention in the northwest without diplomatic backlash.  So, you see.  We are not so very helpless against Nalfein games. We just need to not be ruled by our passions.  Which is what the Pentact prevents."

See Also

The following were other bolded NPCs in the same period that at times provided automated interaction:

• Vorenus Faendryl (praetorian guard)
• Titus Faendryl (praetorian guard)
• Severina Faendryl (praetorian guard)
• Quintus Faendryl (praetorian guard)
• Caius Faendryl (Agrestis mining surveyor)
• Faustina Faendryl (Emporion trader)
• Viselda Faendryl (Palestra Blade)
• Moravius Faendryl (Harrower of the Extrachthonic Cartographer's Guild)
• Thagoria Vespiria Faendryl (Basilican liaison to the sorcerer guilds)