Steal this Fantasy villain: Lucius Corvinus Draco

Born to an army camp whore, he had few options in life other than to join the outpost garrison he found himself at as a young man. Scrawny and ill suited to military life, he did the bare minimum required to get by without too many punishment lashings, and quickly did everything in his power to make his life as easy as possible. With a quick wit, and a sliver tongue, he ended up in the Quartermaster’s employ, and made firm friends with the old and grizzled legionnaire. The old Bear could see no wrong in his young charge, ignoring the missing supplies – putting it down to book keeping errors and the innate trustworthiness of the the rest of the corp, rather than the pilfering of young Lucius.

This carried on for a few years, and by accident more than design, Lucius picked up the basics of soldiering, all the while stashing money for when he would one day leave. Although that day was always on the horizon, Draco had a comparatively easy life, and was raking in money at the expense of the army, while the Bear’s blindness became physical, rather than emotional, and allowed him even more opportunities for thievery and black market dealings. And of course, he pushed his luck…

Selling armour to the enemy was always going to be risky, but the rewards were just too good to pass up. When his officers saw a barbarian horde screaming towards them wearing armour of the XVI legion strapped inexpertly about their persons, questions were asked. It wasn’t just the loss of equipment though, lives had been lost as they struggled to defeat an enemy that on previous encounters had fallen easily. Draco was going to die for his crimes, and he knew it. The night before his execution, he was ready to repent his sins, and would of done if the Bear hadn’t saved him. With a small pouch of coins, and dressings for the wounds inflicted during his questioning, Lucius was smuggled out of the camp in the dead of night.

Sadly, the fact that had been saved, meant he never learnt the lessons he should have done about right and wrong, and as soon he found his way to a major city, he quickly made contact with the a shadow cartel, and started putting his talents to use. His quick tongue got him a crew of confidence tricksters in no time, and before long they were talking their way into the purses of the city’s most respected community leaders. No Robin Hood style robbing from the rich to give to the poor for Lucius and his crew; they took money from wherever they could get it, targeting the wealthy and naive who listened to various sob stories.

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He also found that even his basic training meant that he was the equal of most street toughs in the city. What they had on him in the way of size and strength, he more than made for in speed and precision, mixed in with a fairly healthy dose of dirty tricks. Through his years in the city, he has become strangely proud of his time in the army, and although he had his legion tattoo covered up fairly quickly, he still carries a legion approved short sword on his belt, and dresses in the style of his homeland. He even goes so far as to repeatedly correct people on the proper pronunciation of his name: Sounds more like Luke than Lucy, just so you know. Pretty big talk from a man who can barely read.

When not working hard to screw over his marks, he can be found in waterfront taverns within the territory his guild controls, and is always up for a drink and a laugh. Just be wary of trusting too much that he says, as he is so very rarely not planning his next move. Pretty much the only thing that curbs his relentless spirit is the understanding that it doesn’t pay to shit where you eat. If you live or run a business within his guild’s territories, then you’re pretty safe from his machinations. There are other people, in other jobs who come round to take “insurance payments” from the locals. This means that to those who live and drink nearby, Lucius and his crew are considered stand up fellows, and they will more often than not be happy to provide alibis when asked.

Using Lucius in your game.

There are two simple ways to bring him in as major player, and they both depend on where the player characters fall in the goody guy/bad guy spectrum.

• His confidence tricks are wide ranging and often long in their execution. this means that every once in a while, a mark might start to get suspicious, and ask for help. if the player characters are more hero than not, it would be easy for them to be hired to investigate whatever scam you have Lucius currently pulling.
• Of course if the players have a criminal past themselves, Lucius would happily hire them if needed. Since they’re not part of his crew though, he would have no problem double crossing them and leaving them to hang if things go wrong. Only his superiors within the cartel would really be able to convince him against such a course of action, so if the PCs are in with the cartel then they might just be safe.
• And if you don’t want him as a major player, he’s a great source of information about dockside rumours and criminal activities, and if offered a part in a job already on the cards, could be convinced to lend a hand. But see the above point about his inherent trustworthiness.

Image by inklou