Character Note: Stefan Stauberg-Randolph

Illustration by Nini Kvaratskhelia via Pixabay

Stefan is one of the more controversial—and roundly hated—characters in the Triempery Revelations series. I see him as a foundational character whose family and interactions with other characters keep him center stage. He sees himself very differently from how others see him; though Stefan doesn’t have the page time of some other main characters, his point of view is an important one and his presence in the overarching story is deep.

This character note discusses events that occur on the page in Sordaneon and The Kheld King. It follows that reading this note will expose readers to SPOILERS. I've tried to avoid major ones but they're there.

Family Matters

Stefan’s maternal grandfather, Marc Frederick Stauberg-Randolph, was King of Essera. Before becoming King, Marc Frederick had wed a Kheld young woman and fathered a daughter, Emyli. Upon being widowed—and just before becoming King—Marc Frederick took another wife. He afterward fathered a son, Jonthan, who became his Heir. Emyli was, however, legitimate and still in line of succession.

Emyli was 14 years old and visiting her mother’s kin in Amallar when she met a good-looking Kheld lad named Erwan Cedrecson. The two young people fell in love. Emyli was already being proposed as a bride for the Sordaneon Heir, Deben, son of the captive Hierarch Labran, in a union designed to unite the two empires. Emyli refused this fate and ran off with Erwan instead.

Marc Frederick tracked the young lovers down, of course, but the wedding to Deben was no longer possible: Emyli had been with another man and, worse, a man of neither Staubaun nor royal birth. Indeed, a man so lowborn even coercion could not persuade Deben or his nobles to relent. Though Erwan was, in fact, high clan among Khelds hardly mattered. Rebellious Emyli could possibly be pregnant and was no longer fit to be a godborn prince’s bride. Marc Frederick dragged his daughter and her swain back to Essera and saw them formally and legally wed in a ceremony over which he, as King, presided.

Emyli was indeed pregnant. Stefan Erwanson was born at Gustan Manor in Essera on 2/1849/8/21, a rainy autumn day. Stefan’s early years were spent at Gustan Manor in his mother’s household there; Emyli was a typical Kheld mother and spent much of her time educating and preparing her son. Erwan, on the other hand, was often away. As husband to the King’s daughter, Erwan was given royal duties and spent most of his time at the King’s court, where he was educated to take an administrative position. Perhaps by the King’s design, Erwan saw little of his wife or son.

At the age of seven years, Stefan was sent to Amallar to be fostered by his paternal kin, the Thegnkeld. He dwelt in the household of Malber Aelfricsda, one of Erwan’s several sisters, where Stefan became fast friends with Cullen, a son of Erwan’s brother Brodhe. As Emyli had hoped, Khelds took her son into their circle and Stefan developed a love of Kheld culture and ways. By all accounts Stefan’s affinity with the Khelds was something Marc Frederick encouraged. The King hoped his grandson would become a unifying force between the Khelds and the broader culture of Essera.

With their son now being fostered and cared for by family and tutors, Emyli rejoined her husband, and both she and Erwan became fixtures at her father’s court and in Esseran politics, where they advocated for greater Kheld participation in Esseran politics and sharing of wealth.

Stefan was twelve and attending the Prince’s Academy for General Studies in Trulo, a school for noble students, when Erwan and Emyli took part in the seizure of the city of Gignastha, seat of the Principality of Gignastha. They did so during the wedding of the domain’s prince with the daughter of a neighboring domain’s ruler, an event they attended as guests in order to gain entry. Three Highborn princes—the Prince of Gignastha, his son and Heir (the bridegroom), and the Prince of Leseos (father of the bride)—were slain by Khelds, by most accounts cruelly. The Kheld rebels proclaimed Erwan to be Lord of Gignastha and Emyli to be his Lady. The murders of the Princes and subsequent Siege of Gignastha—including the destruction of the Vermillion Aqueduct and a slaughter when Leseos retook the city from the rebels—would later be known as the Bloodletting. It would remain a dark chapter in the enmity between Khelds and the rest of the Triempery.

Marc Frederick defeated the Lord of Leseos to reestablish control over Gignastha; he also reclaimed his daughter. Erwan had been killed by the Lord of Leseos but Emyli was pregnant again—by her husband, she said—and she later gave birth in Permephedon to Stefan’s only sibling, Handurin. Though twelve years older than Handurin, Stefan loved his brother and defended him from persistent rumors about being not Erwan’s child but instead a bastard produced by rape.

Physical Appearance

Stefan’s looks are unmistakably Kheld, even more so than his mother’s. He has black wavy hair, fair skin, dark brows and lashes, and blue eyes. As an adult Stefan has facial hair and is able to grow a full beard and moustache, a style he openly encourages among his Kheld followers. He inherited his mother’s longer-limbed build, one of his few visible traces of Staubaun blood, and his father’s broad shoulders. Though tall for a Kheld, by Staubaun standards Stefan is considered short. Staubaun women stand taller than he does, one of many reasons Stefan does not want to be seen standing beside them. The men are bad enough. He is happy that he stands taller than Cullen and other Kheld men.

Stefan’s looks are handsome, as were his father’s, and he inherited some of his mother’s beauty. His smile is considered winning, and he has good teeth and bone structure. People consider him easy to look upon.

Education and Adolescence

Stefan’s education was that of a royal prince. His mother and grandfather filled his early years with tutors of languages, arithmetic, arts, riding, and athletics such as swimming and weapons. At the age of ten Stefan attended the prestigious Prince’s Academy for General Studies at Trulo, where he boarded and studied with other noble sons and a handful of well-born Kheld youths. The friendships Stefan formed with fellow students Cullen Brodheson, Neddig Garonson, Bren Forbasson, and Reard Argllson remained strong all their lives. Stefan studied history, oration, philosophy, mathematics, and arts.

When Stefan was fourteen he was sent to Permephedon to attend the Community of Sages, or university. There Stefan would study alongside and with Highborn princes and other royal and noble youths. He was allowed to bring three friends with him and he chose Neddig, Reard, and Cullen. At Permephedon Stefan expanded his knowledge of political and cultural history, Creation (First and Second) science, economics, and ethics. Though he embraced metallurgy (an introductory part of Second Creation science) and basic economics, Stefan saw little need to become proficient at the other subjects.

Stefan’s languages were a weakness. Though he spoke common Stauba and Khelda fluently, he did not perfect High Stauba or Esta, and never acquired more than a rudimentary grasp of Aryata, the language in which the Triempery’s ancient and foundational texts were written. This would later put him at a disadvantage with his own aristocrats, who sought reasons to look down on him.

One explanation for Stefan’s weakness in advanced subjects is that he only attended Permephedon for one full year. His second year began with a disaster.

Dorilian Sordaneon

In the summer of Stefan’s second year at Permephedon he met a new student, Highborn prince Dorilian Sordaneon, grandson of Sordan’s captive Hierarch and a bitter—if still young—enemy of Stefan’s family. Dorilian was close to Stefan in age and had been brought to Essera by both Marc Frederick and the Highborn Malyrdeons (the King’s close allies) with hope of reducing the enmity between their empires. Marc Frederick further hoped Stefan and Dorilian might, by getting to know each other, also repair that breach.

The opposite happened.

Stefan found Dorilian insufferable. Dorilian earned Stefan’s ill-regard by being standoffish and dismissive; Dorilian also openly called out Stefan for being lowborn, stupid, a product of usurpers, and for obtaining privilege in exchange for sexual favors. In short, Dorilian was vile. In an adolescent pique, provoked to his limits, Stefan struck back. He enlisted his Kheld friends, caught Dorilian alone at weapon practice, and kicked in his face.

Striking back against a Highborn prince, no matter the reason, broke more than Dorilian’s nose and jaw. The penalty for attacking a Highborn prince and drawing blood was death.

Dorilian wasn’t about to pass up making Stefan and his friends pay that price. Stefan was rescued only in that he was the King’s grandson. The prospect of a public humiliation and having Stefan and three young Khelds put to death did not appeal to Marc Frederick. Fortunately, too, the Malyrdeons did not want that. There was one thing Dorilian wanted more than to see Stefan punished: he wanted to leave Permephedon and return to Sordan. The Malyrdeons arranged this in return for Stefan’s life and those of the other boys.

Dorilian returned to Sordan. Marc Frederick did punish Stefan—with a year of exile to the Isle of Maskos and hard labor harvesting giant sea slugs and pressing them into oil.

Dragoons and Minefields

Upon returning from Maskos Stefan did not return to Permephedon—he hated studies anyway—and entered military service as a cadet in the Royal Dragoons. Marc Frederick had suggested it; he had himself been in the Esseran military and earned respect as a warrior. He hoped Stefan might do the same. Stefan did not take well to military discipline, however, nor did he ever become proficient with weapons or strategy, though he did come to appreciate those skills in others. Upon completing a year of service, Stefan instead approached his grandfather to pursue development of Amallar’s most promising ore field, Orqho.  

Marc Frederick recognized that his attempts to shape his grandson were falling short and decided that, perhaps, the better approach would be to let Stefan shape himself. He agreed to fund Stefan’s initial mine, extractor, and camp, with Stefan vowing to procure buyers for the resulting ore. Stefan entered the mining business.

Ore mining in the World of the Second Creation relied primarily on ore fields, vast deposits of metals left behind when the First Creation was destroyed along with its mighty cities. Those cities had been built with metals not just from the World but the stars. Few of these deposits of melted and hardened metal were pure; they had to be mined, then distilled into component metals. Stefan had long found metallurgy and mining interesting, and he dove enthusiastically into building a Kheld mining industry.

The awakening of a new Rill node in Teremar and the subsequent rise of Sordaneon Rill participation in what had been for decades an Esseran near-monopoly awakened neither alarm nor excitement in Stefan. Amallar and the Khelds had no Rill mounts or commerce. Months later, however, the assassination of Sebbord Teremareon, Dorilian Sordaneon’s grandfather, drove home how much the world had changed. The assassination led Dorilian to rebel against Essera, and he began by striking at Orqho and Stefan.

Dorilian Again

Stefan was wounded in the attack on Orqho. The camp was decimated, and the distiller destroyed. The attack alarmed Marc Frederick, who stopped Dorilian’s rebellion by capturing him.

 Marc Frederick publicly framed Dorilian as being the King’s “guest” and brought the young Highborn rebel to Gustan Manor. Stefan had been recuperating there with his mother and young brother. That Marc Frederick would bring his enemy there enraged Stefan; he left without ever encountering Dorilian. Though they would meet again months later during the Solstice, their relationship remained icy and terse.

Stefan the Heir

Stefan became Marc Frederick’s Heir under tragic circumstances in which, unfortunately, Dorilian played a part for which many people never forgave him. Those people included Stefan. The pattern of Stefan blaming Dorilian for every wrong and insult had its origins in that year.

To become Marc Frederick’s Heir, Stefan was adopted by his grandfather; by this act, Stefan surrendered the name of Erwanson (except in Amallar, where the name persisted for his entire reign) and took in its place the Stauberg-Randolph surname. Stefan’s brother Hans was also adopted and took the new name. Stefan was now officially Heir to Essera and assumed the title of Prince of Dazunor along with extensive lands and other assets that were attached.

Marc Frederick undertook once more to shape Stefan, this time toward a political role as future monarch. The King personally sought to tutor Stefan in politics and policy making, soft military power, and alliance creation. Stefan rejected the idea of gaining Sordan as an ally, believing that such was impossible, and spent his political capital in trying to advance opportunities and economic policy to benefit the Kheld people to whom he still felt deep loyalty.

The Kheld King

Stefan became King of Essera as a result of the events of Sordaneon. The demise of Essera’s Highborn Princes and their Heirs left Stefan in an advantageous political position at home. He was the legitimate Heir. He had no opposition. Nonetheless, he envisioned opposition from Sordan. Dorilian too had survived, and he was legitimate Heir to the Sordaneon Hierarchate; furthermore, and dangerously so to Stefan’s mind, Dorilian held a legitimate legal claim to Essera’s throne.

Stefan attempted to seize control of the situation, and Dorilian. That is the story of The Kheld King.

Personality

Stefan as a character is a slippery slope. He starts out making youthful mistakes and often those mistakes are based on faulty information. Stefan listens to people he likes and trusts only people he does like; he also does not listen to information that contradicts what he already believes or wants to believe. Stefan deeply yearns for the world around him to be the way he believes it should be.

From childhood Stefan has been treated as lesser: less royal, less wellborn, less wealthy, less brilliant. Sadly for him, all these things were indeed facts. According to the Triempery’s noble class, Stefan's father was common; his parentage was largely Kheld, a race considered barbarians; neither of his parents owned Rill slots, vast lands, or other assets that bestowed great wealth; and Stefan himself never truly applied himself to higher studies. He spoke only two languages where most other noble youths spoke many—Dorilian, the rival royal, spoke seven. Stefan resented enormously that he was considered a lesser person than even his grandfather, who much of the Triempery regarded as a barbarian and whose reign the Sordaneons considered questionable.

Stefan did not want to be questioned.

One of Stefan’s core personality traits is that he hates being questioned. Being questioned raises his fear of being shown as less. Becoming Prince, then King, puts him in a favorable position where people become afraid to question him. He surrounds himself with people who support his opinions. This reduces the number of questions but also the trust. People trust Stefan less than he’d like. He sees himself as loyal and trustworthy.

But is he? Stefan is loyal to his friends and in every general sense to the Kheld people. Though he is King of Essera and has sworn to uphold Essera’s laws and guard its people, Stefan has a much looser relationship to those laws and people than did the kings who came before him. Stefan believes laws can and should be changed to better reflect and advance his vision of the kingdom. He believes those views to be modern and enlightened. He just wants other people to see this too.

Stefan’s other cardinal trait—one Dorilian sees clearly—is that Stefan is fearful. Fear drives most of Stefan’s decisions and blinds him to his real enemies. He’s afraid of failure, of losing, of being seen as weak or not in control. Stefan cannot embrace opportunity because he doesn’t always see it.

Stefan is completely loyal to family. His mother might make him angry when she stands up to him and tells him he’s wrong, but he can’t quite bring himself to punish her. Stefan wants only the best for his little brother, Hans. When Stefan chooses a Kheldish bride, he does so for political reasons and does so in a way that offends Kheld custom but tells himself that he will treat his wife (and eventual children) well. Stefan wants to be a family man but isn’t willing, ultimately, to do so in any way but on his own terms.

Stefan and the Highborn

That Dorilian and all events stemming from Stefan’s encounters with him put a bad taste in Stefan’s mouth about the Highborn as a whole is unfortunate. Essera’s Malyrdeon Highborn, the Wall Lords and Princes of some of Essera’s most revered domains, were Marc Frederick’s staunchest allies and the very reason Marc Frederick became King. They are also the reason Stefan is King: something the Wall saw in the future led the Malyrdeons to devote themselves to a Stauberg-Randolph kingship.

If only Stefan could believe that.

Stefan’s fear of the Highborn—and of Dorilian in particular—leads to some of his most egregious mistakes. Because he knows the Highborn are bound to the Entities and possess powerful gifts, Stefan sees them only as dangerous. And he never, ever, sees Dorilian as anything but an enemy, even though Dorilian is the key to everything needed to save Stefan's kingdom.

Stefan’s Legacy

Ultimately in the Triempery Revelations series, Stefan’s legacy of fear and mistakes drives the main plot and many character arcs. He’s as major a character in that way as Marc Frederick... with vastly different results.