The Gryphon Clerks: Mike Reeves-McMillan

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  • Victory

    Born 512. Full name: Victory Over the Threateners of the Realm Highcliffs. Personal seal: a gryphon, hence the name of the Gryphon Clerks.

    Formerly Provincegold of Western (succeeding her grandfather; her father and uncle were killed fighting pirates), then Realmgold of Koskant, finally Co-Realmgold of Koslin.

    Gizmo mentions in HATCM that when he and Dignified Printer were released in her 81st-day amnesty, it was growing season, which means her accession date was sometime during Sowing.

    A visionary, highly intelligent woman who, at the age of 10, discovered an old Elvish spellbook that taught her powerful mindmagic. With immense discipline and concentration, she mastered it to the point of being able to project a continuous “glamour” that increases her charisma and helps her to influence others.

    Without the glamour, she is a small, undistinguished-looking woman. She habitually dresses in a pure-white Victory suit, and wears her hair up in braids piled on top of her head.

    Speaks very formally when in public, addressing her citizens, even one on one, as if they were a public meeting.

    She is not given to detailed planning, preferring to build up a richness of resources so that she can respond creatively to any possible situation. Fond of quoting the Red General.

    Her approach to staffing is to surround herself with competent, intelligent people, indoctrinate them so that they share her goals and philosophy, and let them get on with solving problems as they come up.

    Her personal Gryphon pilot’s name is Friendship.

  • Valve

    Stepfather to Wheel and Braise, oathmate of their mother Cruet, and father of Ladle and Bolt.
    An upright, conservative gnome, who believes in family, hard work, and gshnvk.
    As a young man, he rescued Cruet and her children after they’d been cast out of the hold, defying (and striking) a dwarf in order to do so. Gizmo arranged new identities for them all.

  • University of Illene

    An ancient university in the old elven local capital of Illene, now a quaint town north of Gulfport.

    Notable graduates include Realmgold Victory, Countygold Patience, Hope at Merrybourne, Briar Heathlake.

  • Unification War

    Official name for the civil war in Denning which was resolved by forces from Koskant after formal Unification.

  • Unification Party

    A pro-Victory/Determined political party, in favour of Unification. Bucket stands as a candidate.
    Colours: dark green (like Determined’s coat) and white (like Victory’s suit).
    Careful Fuller, one of the organisers, is a smarmy little man with too much hair oil and unusually white teeth.

  • Unification

    The official name for the combination of the realms of Koskant and Denning to form Koslin, at the oathbinding of Realmgolds Victory and Determined.

    The associated conflict is known as the Unification War.

  • Tussocklands

    A large area of wasteland across the Koslin River from Denning. They are unfarmable, with poor rainfall, no drinkable water, a thick covering of tough, brown tussock on which livestock do not thrive, and rocky, infertile soil. They are unclaimed territory, because nobody wants them.

    Determined and his fellow refugees from the Siege of Lakeside Koslin camped there for a short but unpleasant period.

    They are infested with brownish-black tussock flies, which feed off the mottled brown tussock birds, which feed off the dark brown tussock. Brown lizards living under the tussock eat the flies, but there aren’t nearly enough lizards.

  • Truculent Roper

    A leader of the Workers’ Cooperatives. He threatens Bucket not long after his candidacy is announced, trying to pressure him not to advance gnome interests at the expense of human workers. This backfires.
    Minions include Silent Rock and Talker Tree (rumbling voice, breathes heavily), two very large men. He is himself large (though not as large as them), with a paunch. Some grey at the sides of his hair, above the ears, and in his thick but neatly-shaped beard. Looks like he doesn’t smile much.
    Son Rock Roper.
    His real name is not Truculent; it’s a joke that’s become general, because of his aggressiveness and bad temper.

  • Tried and True Party

    The Tried and True Party are an anti-Victory group, consisting largely of Golds and wealthy Silvers who benefited from the policies and patronage of Realmgold Glorious. They oppose Victory’s reforms and changes and want to return to the “good old days” of Glorious.

    The leader of the Tried and Trues is Glorious’s son Magnanimous, Provincegold of Gulfhead, who has never got over a) being taken to task by the younger Victory at their mutual school for bullying and b) the fact that by tradition he could not succeed his father.

    Tried and Trues typically dress in the highly ornamented manner affected by Glorious, in contrast to the simpler style of Victory.

    With the advent of the Assembly, the Tried and Trues transition from a pressure group of discontented magnates to a true political party, though many of their leaders, as Golds who hold demesnes, are not qualified to stand for election. They use their influence through the newspapers – the Gulfport Herald, the Dawn Declarer and the Lantern of Koskant – to drum up support, mainly among the urban Coppers and the lower end of the Silver class. They make a certain amount of common cause with the Reversionist Party, a rump of the Denninger Realm Benefit Party which wants a return to the pre-Unification, pre-Gnome Day status.

  • Tree Stonecircle

    A centaur caravan guard for Pack of Sevenhills. Armed with a bow and a broadsword, and competent at using them. Ex-military. Gives clear reports and is quick-thinking and cool in a crisis (potentially saved Constance from a bombing attempt).

    Trained Pack’s mules to fight (by kicking) on command.

    Took some pains not to kill his human attackers.

    He has a powerful tenor voice. While working as a licensed caravan guard, he wears leather barding, but his “civilian” clothing is neat, a grey tunic long at the front and short at the back, and a light-blue outer garment that starts as a cloak and finishes as a horse-blanket.