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| *Adam and Eve | | *Adam and Eve |
| *Ate, goddess of Mystery | | *Ate, goddess of Mystery |
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| Vlad was born a bastard son of King Mutandis of Carpathia. A credulous lad, mocked for his parentage, his peers would frequently pick on him. Dragos, eldest son of the King's chief consul, one day tricked Vlad into giving up his favorite toy, a catapult handmade by the old village idiot, Gepetto. Dragos tormented Vlad with the catapult for months. A weakling, Vlad appealed to his father but the King would not help him get it back, instead chiding him for his feebleness and credulity. “Let this be a lesson into you.” A lesson it certainly was: that it is better to be a trickster than a the tricked. “no-one pities the fool.”
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| Vlad compensated for his diminutive status by learning to outsmart his rivals, and adopting disguises and personas when it suited him. Gepetto — not really the town dunce, but a powerful Wizard in in disguise (exiled from the northern wilds), trains him: “If being yourself won’t work, for heaven’s sake, be someone else.”
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| As he trained, Vlad learned about the magical, mythical northern city of [[Salomoné]], where a race of clever weaklings, the “[[lunch money|Lanchmani]]” are masters of every domain. Vlad dreams of seeking out this shining Citadel.
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| In the mean time, however much Vlad resented Dragos, he burned with the shame of disappointing his father. He vowed to one day prove himself to the King, a vainglorious fool, but still his dad, such that his father world stop doting on the obedient but mediocre Randolph, and recognise the value of his illegitimate son.
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| “Son, you are deluding yourself,” Gepetto sighed, he persuaded Vlad to shoot his worth by outwitting his father and brother.
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| One day his opportunity arrived. On the solstice, Vlad told the King — a superstitious man — that he had had a dream in which a cunning trickster would gain entry to the royal court, and trick the king into handing over his crown.
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| “How would he sneak in? My guards are the most vigilant and loyal in Eurasia” his father retorted.
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| “You, yourself, will unwittingly ''invite the thief into your midst, clutch him to your heart, treat him almost as your own blood. You will bear him across the threshold,” said Vlad. “In fact, you may already have done so. It may be too late.”
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| The King, a gullible man himself, was vexed. He ordered a root and branch clear out of his army. How should I keep my crown secure? Vlad said, “Leave it to me, sire. I will make a plan. But it may take some time, and while I am work your crown is not safe. You should give it to me to look after so, if this trickster should arrive, he cannot take it from you.”
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| The unsuspecting King gave the crown to Vlad. At once Vlad rushed off to show his friends, bragging about how clever he was, pulling wool over even the King’s eyes.
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| Once he started bragging, word of the trickery to found its way back to the King very quickly. When his father found out, far from being impressed with Vlad’s cunning he exploded with rage, casting out Vlad from the kingdom and bidding him never to return, on pain of death.
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| Vlad heads directly in search of the great lost city of Salomoné.
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| Irony: Vlad was gone not a month when his dream came true: a ''real'' trickster, whom the king ''had'' welcomed into his court and treated almost as if his own son, tricked the king out of his crown, and killing the King, Queen and older brother Randolph. The real trickster was Dragos, the same child who had tricked Vlad as a little boy.
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Mythologically, the trickster
- A shapeshifter
- A physical weakling
- Very good at talking - buzzwords
- He is a planner and a plotter
- Untrustworthy
- Corrupt or corruptible - no moral compass
- Quick thinker - can adapt his plans to the unfolding situation+
Banished/exiled from Romania and motivated not by the desire to return but to destroy.
Banishment
Characters who were banished:
- Flying Dutchman
- Lucifer
- Adam and Eve
- Ate, goddess of Mystery