Caius Faendryl

Caius Faendryl Storyline Lost Palestra Gender Male Race Dark Elf Culture Faendryl Status Alive Hometown New Ta'Faendryl Alias/Title Mining surveyor Affiliation(s) Agrestis

Caius Faendryl is a mining surveyor in the Agrestis of House Faendryl. He does "dowsing" work to map out irregularities in mana foci and the veil that are hidden below ground or inside mountains. This is ordinarily to identify hazards to mining operations in Rhoska-Tor, or possibly resource extraction in other valences. He was brought to the Darkstone Bay region in early 5126 Modern Era, along with other similar specialists, as part of an investigation task force into the shadowy Ithzir invasions and the lost Palestra Blade Aralyte Halanori Faendryl. He was primarily brought in to study Melgorehn's Reach, to make sure there would be no surprises for the Harrowers of the Extrachthonic Cartographer's Guild. He is fluent in Dark Elven but does not speak Faendryl well. He is a non-native speaker of Common, with a passable handle on it, which is part of why he was chosen for the expedition.

Caius was born into the rural lower class, but is now a tradesman in the mining sector, and a skilled technician of the lower middle class. He has solidly isolationist views regarding foreign policy, and a streak of populism, with a willingness to say things that are not politically correct in Faendryl society. But he is also parochial and accepting of Faendryl supremacy. He feels everyone should leave each other alone and live in their own places, even accepting things like elves not having rights in human lands as fair and balanced. Though he acknowledges others do not leave the Faendryl alone, he feels we can hit them back if they actually do something, but otherwise it's not worth it. It is neither important nor practical to get back with the other Houses.

Appearance

An Agrestis mining surveyor / Agrestis Surveyor Caius.

He has some worn banded coveralls and a pair of sturdy work boots.

Ambients

In March 2026:

Caius says, "You know what your big problem is, way up here in the north?  Not you, specifically.  Humans, I guess.  They got this Emperor.. who isn't really an emperor, he's just a king... but, anyway.. they got this Emperor.  What does he do?  He's got a bunch of nobles under him, and he lets them own the land they rule over.  They even live there, with their own men!  You really think all these people in far flung places are more obedient to him than who's right over them?  That's not how it works with us."

Caius says, "The Agrestis takes care of the Patriarch's land, the public land that isn't leased out for specific things.  It's kind of complicated.  We'll have some idiot who wants to answer for all the mining, but that moron doesn't get to say where mining happens.  That's over in the Rachis, with the Arch Chancellor, the aediles and all them."

Caius says, "The Harrowers told us to stay away from that moth kid in the cocoon.  It's feeding on the power, since it's an Ithzir.  Trying to become 'Pristine.'  Whatever that means.  In any case, they don't want to deal with it, right now.  So they told us to leave it alone and not think about it.  Sounded weirdly literal."

Questions and Answers

In January and February 2026:

Ashrim
Caius scratches his head and says, "Don't know why you'd be asking me about them.  They've been gone for thousands of years.  That's too bad, what happened with them.  I think old Rythwier was trying to be too clever by half, and the whole thing just blew up like nobody expected.  I doubt even the Nalfein would have done it, if they'd known how bad it would get, and how dangerous things would be between us because of it."

Caius continues, "Maybe it was all a big misunderstanding.  You're not supposed to say that, the Nalfein were 'practically and morally responsible' for it all.  Just seems really unlikely the Nalfein didn't have a secret thing going with the Ashrim that were against the whole thing.  But I guess that's the whole dispute."

Arkati
Caius says, "You all out here in the outlands are really weird with the religion.  You've got these family myths of how they're related, and you've got a bunch of myths of them coming out of Drake tears, then these 'spheres of influence' folks saying what we do or think changes and empowers them.  Meanwhile they let all these other cultures view them in totally different ways.  But, no.  You're the ones who know how it really is!  Why?  They told you so?"

Caius says, "Elves decided a long time ago the Arkati aren't being straight with us.  Folks in the Clerisy talk about them as 'spirit entities' and figure they spend much of their time in spirit planes.  Wouldn't surprise me at all if they're really extraplanar beings.  Granted, they have a special role in the order of the world, but if that's what makes a god you gotta worship a whole bunch of other nonsense like nymphs and elementals.  Nobody doubts they exist.  But why are you worshipping anything?"

Chaston
Caius says, "Chaston's Edict?  It's unnatural for men to rule over elves, I'll give the whingers that much.  But the serfs are descended from people who didn't have our backs after the Undead War, and those people get in bed so much with the Nalfein.  It's not like we let people who are not Faendryl own property."  He goes on, "The only thing wrong with it is that human empire dispossesses people who already own stuff as they expand.  Then enforce or not enforce the thing irregularly.  I mean, you're telling me the thing is revoked, but how can anyone believe it?  The next Emperor can just bring it back.  Way too soon to say anything's changed."

Clerics
Caius says, "We've got some of that, like in the Tresviri, and in the Armata.  You've got some folks trying to argue they're really doing magery manipulating their own mana or whatever.  But that isn't how that kind of magic works, they're obviously channeling from spirits.  We generally don't like being dependent on magic where you can get cut off from your power source, like with all the stuff we do in other valences.  I think you fortune hunter types have a warped view of things.  This 'resurrection' stuff isn't that useful in most situations.  You're just reviving people who are dying from some violence, which means you have to get to them within a few minutes."

Dowsing
Caius says, "That's what I do.  We've got important mining around Rhoska-Tor, but that's very dangerous, because of all the veil weaknesses and rifts and all the rest.  Plus, there's all those tainted mana focii, which are intensely corrupting.  It can be hard to keep track of where you are in that place, so surveyors like me are important to the Agrestis.  They brought me in here to check out all the hidden weird stuff in this mountain.  The Harrowers don't want to get surprised by anything."

Empire
Caius says, "Can't say I really care about what goes on out here in the outworld.  As long as our borders are secure, and nobody is trying to start stuff with us.  Which they do sometimes.  Not going to deny it.  But we're better off focusing on controlling other valences, where we get the resources we want, but don't have to be bothered with managing other races.  But I think wanting to do that is the whole point for people like Vespasius.  It's their flavor of power."

Half-Elves
Caius wipes his forehead with a rag, then looks at you strangely, "What was that, half-elves?  I'm not sure I've ever even seen one in Ta'Faendryl itself, pretty hard for them to happen in a closed city.  They'd be at a huge disadvantage in all kinds of ways, so they'd probably be trying hard to hide it."

Caius explains, "I don't have anything against them, personally.  That's a rough deal and they had no say in being deformed.  Obviously you don't want birth defected having kids with elves, but I don't see how it matters if they have kids with humans.  They'll outlive their kids.  It's a pretty selfish and irresponsible thing their mothers done to them by letting them be born.  Should have taken them out to the Wastes and exposed them.  Most of them probably get smothered."

Houses
Caius says, "It's to the narrow self-interest advantage of the other Houses to exclude us, so the deck is totally stacked against us ever getting back in with them.  That's without even considering the practical issues.  We're not giving up our territory in the south, just to take back our ancient territory, but then we'd have twice as much land as everyone else.  Then what about the borderlands along the mountains?  Why should we agree to be landlocked without leading an Empire?"

Mahkra
Caius says, "You mean those 'wandering Palestra' they just invented?  Weird thing to ask me about.  I have nothing to do with that stuff.  Obviously that is really unpopular with lots of people in Ta'Faendryl.  They spend decades in Palestra academies.  Many don't even get to do the trials.  Then you make this life experiences path, giving the same titles to fortune hunters, swinging a sword at the trials like it's all the same thing.  But you all just don't understand how the Basilica does things."

Caius explains, "Of course, deputizing a bunch of adventurers is going to cause headaches, making a bunch of folks mad!  That's the whole point!  It's going to justify expanding Palestra academies into the outlands later.  You hear people fret about, oh no, is the Patriarch making a mistake?  Has he not seen how one thing is going to be a problem for another thing?  It's all ridiculous.  Korvath knows exactly what he is doing, that is why he is the Patriarch."

Nalfein
Caius says, "Look.  I'm no foreign policy obsessed scion of the old money.  But I'll tell you how it is, from how I see it in the Agrestis.  The big thing with the Nalfein is that if we take back all our land, we'll end up way more powerful than them.  We are anyway, but it'll be conspicuous.  That's what they actually care about in the East.  How things look.  Which is what drives them to unite against us.  If we'd all just agree to leave each other alone, keep to our own stuff, there'd be no problem.  The humans and all them need to live somewhere, anyway, so what's the point of bothering with them?  They'll just complain about what we do for them."

In March 2026:

Bleaklands 
Caius complains, "Incredibly frustrating they had us out there in that wasteland, finding all them veil weaknesses and shadow intensities and vergences for them.  Without bringing in the Armata to keep the whole place suppressed."  He frowns, "Yeah, I know.  You're thinking I'm a big old hypocrite for saying it.  But if they got us out here, it shouldn't be half-measures!  I know it ain't nothing to the Harrowers.  They're insane with the dangerous hazards.  But there's really nasty things in those Bleaklands."

Common
Caius says, "Well, the reason I talk Common so good is because of how much I'm around the mines, especially in the wastelands.  They have me surveying for dangerous stuff.  You know who doesn't like doing the dangerous mining themselves?  The Agrestis.  The Armata has to suppress the wastes, anyway, so they run the mining prisons.  We got mining penal colonies up in the mountains and such, like a whole bunch of islands along the wasteland.  Whatever that's called."

Caius elaborates, "It isn't good for us, all that dark energy.  Twists you and messes with your head.  But hardened criminals and foreigners who don't matter?  Might as well make them useful, rather than just kill them.  Of course, criminals from the outlands all know Common, whatever else they speak.  That's the language of crime.  If you hear someone talking Common, you figure odds are they're some kind of criminal.  You gotta know it, for your own good.  Got to watch your back."

Harrowers
Caius warns, "I know you're all looking at them thinking they're 'scholars', bookworms like you're used to with the Hall of Mages.  Let me make this real clear for you.  Do not mess with the Harrowers.  They are the special forces for dangerous off-world stuff.  They recruit from Palestra and Armata, not ink blotters in the archives.  They probably eat snakes and spit venom.  There's not a one of them that isn't deadly.  They can toss you in a hole so deep, even the summoners won't be able to reach."

Helvetia Eryx
Caius says, "What about her?  Helvetia is the Patriarch's wife.  Not just any wife, mind you.  He's got four of them.  Helvetia is the Basilican Magistrate.  That makes her the boss of pretty much everything.  Except the Patriarch.  Well, I don't know.  Maybe.  She's his wife, after all."

Palestra
Caius exclaims, "Don't even get me started!  The last thing we need is a bunch of Palestra all over the place, being full of themselves and gumming up the works!  I was hoping with Vespasius getting control over this whole thing, we'd at least get away with not having to deal with them.  But now they're going to be crawling all up inside us like debt collectors raising our abandoned kid.  Acting like they wasn't the ones who made this mess in the first place!"

Reach
Caius says, "I don't know how something this reckless could have been allowed to happen.  Time and space are totally warped in that mountain.  There's hollows we can't even get into without draining the whole place of power.  There's something big hidden inside it.  They say you call it an Eonforge?  Whatever you call it, it was a bad idea."  He continues, "That unnatural moon cycle up there is self-perpetuating the storm, which is driving all kinds of interplanar collisions.  Rifts open to them Bleaklands during the storm surges.  It's just a chaotic mess trying to disentangle it all.  But near as I can figure it, this thing's been rigged to pull these places together."

Reclaiming
Caius says, "Reclaiming the ancestral lands?  You have any idea how much of a headache that'd be for everyone?  How do you even begin to decide who gets what?  That's half the reason things got so messed up with the Sea Elf War.  Imagine all these families, disputing each other over all kinds of ancient claims, without the records to back them up.  Even other branches of the same family!  That's a lot of why the Patriarch owns all the land.  But these old families will still bristle, if their estates get used for something else."

Caius adds, "But then what are you doing to do?  Move a bunch of people in, for no good reason, without anything around them?  Forget Old Ta'Faendryl itself.  You really think the Clerisy is just going to go along with all that preserved history getting demolished?  Just to make it look nice for people who want to act important?"

Recrimination
Caius says, "Crime is doing something illegal.  Whether it's worth enforcing is something else.  The law means they get to punish you, not that they have to do it.  But trying to say how much crime you got is pointless.  Want less crime?  Record less of it.  Want to get tough on crime?  Find excuses to arrest for stuff you wouldn't have bothered.  That's why magistrates aren't allowed to be witnesses in trials.  They'd pad each other's records by making stuff up.  Meanwhile they'd rather not arrest the big criminals.  Think about it.  Why would you burn your leverage by arresting them?  Especially the biggest.  When you got loyalty from dirt on each other, that's called government."

Tresviri
Caius says, "Lot of our stuff is done in threes.  Comes from ancient times.  Triunes, triumvirs, tristar.  Tresviri, I figure you're talking about the magistrates that manage all the folks who handle emergencies, and the jails for regular crimes.  So, the ones who go putting out fires, trying to rescue the dead and dying, or seizing scum and getting there first when there's a bunch of ruckus?  They're run by the Tresviri."  He clarifies, "I'm not talking about the 'magistrates' with a bunch of lictors and Palestra, who go after major crimes that they make spectacles of with trials.  Much of our law enforcing is just turning out lowlifes to the castigators.  When nothing's worth investigating."

Tristar
Caius says, "Tristar are kind of like what you would call bounty hunters.  They work on commission from the Basilica.  They hunt down and apprehend fugitives, or execute them, depending on whatever circumstances.  Typically you got a tracker, a sorcerer, and a Palestra."  He goes on, "You folks seem to split things clean as the state or not the state.  That isn't how things work for us.  They make greater spoils by being the ones who capture more prized targets.  But that doesn't mean they're mercenaries.  They aren't sellswords.  You can't go hiring them to hunt down that guy you caught with your wife.  Not the Tristar, anyway.  Not unless your name's Korvath."

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)
• 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)
• Tiberius Faendryl (Envoy liaison between Ambassadors Vespasius and Tredohal)