Meet the Rulers; Clauz IV of Framboise, "The Unfortunate"

     The fifth child and third son of Ferdinand III de Flamboise, Clauz was an unattractive baby and grew uglier with age. Oddly his personality is the exact inverse of his visage; he was quiet, thoughtful, industrious, polite, kind, intelligent, perceptive, strong-minded, ethical, honest, decent, energetic, obedient, tidy, generous, healthy, wise and overall a rather nice fellow. As a fifth child among eight he was sometimes overlooked by his mother and his nannies. Of Ferdinand's four sons he is the only clearly sane one (the youngest, Mikail XII, being but three it is too early to guess) and it has been whispered in hallways that the Emperor wished to have his two oldest sons declared unfit so that he could elevate Clauz to the Imperial Throne only to be dissuaded by his wife at the last moment before he went off to war.

      Aged but fourteen years Clauz is six feet four inches tall and weighs in at a slim sixteen stone, he is of unusually good health and has a delightfully mild temperament. At times he displays signs of melancholy (which is entirely understandable, given his situation) which he tries to banish with drink and dance, his favorite being masked balls (for obvious reasons). Clauz loves the Hunt and is deeply fascinated by all the technical aspects of modern weaponry and technology. He is an accomplished horseman and excels in other sports as well.

      Driven by an insatiable curiosity he often travels incognito into other countries to observe and understand other traditions and cultures. These efforts are often thwarted by his wretched looks and lanky frame, he is an easy character to spot and although most people play along with his pretense

of being a commoner they know exactly who they are dealing with. These travels have given his a superior view of the other nations of Epicurea, their strengths and weakness as well as those of the rulers of those lands.

       His precocious wisdom has given him an entirely different view of the Irredeemable Disagreement; instead of choosing between the two options he has decided to embrace both (perhaps only a young and growing boy could look upon such a Herculean diet with relish), eating three Proper Meals each day and filling in the odd moments with Small Plates. This benevolent attitude left him as the sole voice of reason in a land of fractious argument but many people secretly agreed that the Irredeemable Disagreement was threatening the fabric of society.

        At the time of his father death Clauz (one year shy of being allowed to accompany his father into battle) had decided to head north and try his hand at the legendary fishing of the rivers of Boozonia. While on this trip he met and fell in love with a pleasant serving wench who had been blessed with the gift of blindness. Not knowing who he was she reciprocated his affections and they disappeared one evening and Clauz could not be found to be advised of the dire news.