Derghov Loeten

Master of Evocation at the Great School of Magic

AC 1014

"Why don't we settle this here and now, you with your paltry cantrips, and we with my devastating fire spells of evocation!"

Appearance

Derghov Loeten has the reddish-brown hair and coppery skin of the typical Flaem, but his features are very Boldavian, including his eyes, which are very black. For a time, he dyed his hair fiery red—in imitation of the natural Flaemish coloration—but was severely chided for this.

He always wears wizard robes of red and gold, with traditional Flaemish designs of fire and flames, in imitation of the Flaemish Fire Wizards of old. He also has a short sword strapped to his waist, despite the fact that he cannot use it properly.

Personality & Quirks

Derghov Loeten has styled himself as a Fire Elementalist and Glantrian military wizard. He is proud, self-important, and always trying to impress. Derghov has also adopted the racist attitudes of the Flaems, even if the Flaems are often the first to discriminate him for not being of pure Flaemish bloodlines. He plays up his rank of being the Master of Evocation at the Great School, despite the fact that very few at the Great School actually respect him for this.

In truth, Master Derghov is not even a good teacher. He only pays attention to students who seem really interested in fire elementalism or military magic, but even then, he sees them as future rivals and competitors.

Derghov is very competitive. In fact, his competitive edge comes out even when people are not trying to compete with him. He has challenged many, many Glantrians to magical duels, and though he has fought his share, his challenges are more often than not just posturing and swaggering. His inferiors call him a bully, while the rest say he has a chip on his shoulder.

All of this comes from Derghov's great need for affinity, to belong among the Flaems, the Fire Wizards, and the Glantrian military. He lives with the mistaken notion that all his bullying and bragging can impress people of import and make them want to associate with him. Instead, this has only turned them off all too often.

Background

Derghov Loeten hails from the small village of Regensberg, north of Fort Nordling, where the population has mixed Flaemish and Traladaran heritage. His father, Khregor Loeten, was of such mixed stock, while his mother, Anya Ronovic, was clearly Traladaran, resulting in the Traladaran upbringing that Derghov grew up in—and later despised. Both of his parents were reputable mages, and thus had good relations with the ruling Flaemish gentry of Regensberg.

Derghov had a difficult childhood, since he always identified himself with his Flaemish peers, but was not really accepted as one of them. As he grew older, and his magic grew stronger, the Flaemish gentry began to respect to him, but they never made considered him as one of their own.

In his attempt to gain more magical power—and hopefully respect from the Flaems—Derghov enrolled in the Great School of Magic, where he specialized in the formidable wizard school of evocation and invocation. At that time, Derghov also enlisted for the Glantrian army as a military wizard, but was severely rebuffed for lacking the physical requirements.

Derghov has also heard of a secret and elite circle of Fire Wizards, and has found clues of its existence in his stay at the Great School. Derghov has desperately wanted to join this group, but has found no way of getting in. He once had the audacity to approach Lady Sinaria Verlien, an instructress at the Great School and a high ranking Flaemish noblewoman, who bluntly rebuked him, saying she knew nothing about such a secret group of Fire Wizards, claiming she is just a Flaemish wizardess whose interest lay in sound magic.

When the past Master of Invocation (a Glantrian military wizard) died in the Wrath of the Immortals War, Derghov vied for the position, bullying other more qualified instructors and challenging the weaker ones to duels.

Web of Intrigue

Master Derghov is not that popular in the Great School of Magic. Young impressionable students, especially the apprentice invokers and fire elementalists, and aspiring military wizards, may be in awe of Derghov at first, but later, when they find other instructors who are better teachers, whose knowledge and expertise comes from experience rather than an aficionado's affectations and false bravado, the students lose any illusions about—and often respect for—the delusional Master Derghov.

Glantrian Military Wizards do not mind Derghov, but the Secret Craft of Fire Elementalism and the Followers of the Fire have kept heir eye on him, since he poses a danger of exposing their organizations. In truth, it is his high exposure which makes the Fire Elementalists reluctant of introducing him into the Secret Craft in the first place. Should Derghov learn too much, they might just take him into the Craft, if only to control him—or get rid of him discreetly.

Derghov dislikes Lady Sinaria Verlien, Countess of High Sonden, whom he believes out-and-out lied to him about the Fire Wizards. But since she is too powerful for him to confront (in a duel or otherwise), he cannot do anything about it—which makes him hate her oven more.

Still, Derghov has a misguided loyalty to Flaemish wizards and Flaemish supremacy. For this, he once got into a duel with Sir Lathan Aendyr, heir to the Alphatian Principality of Blackhill.

He maintains an imagined rivalry with other Masters of the other specialist schools at the Great School, especially with Marchesia Philipe, the Mistress of Conjuration, believing that since they belong to opposing schools, they must be opposed to each other. (Mistress Marchesia does not feel this way and is inclined to ignore Derghov's ranting.)

Prince Harald Haaskinz, Grand Master of the Great School of Magic, is thinking of having Derghov replaced, but is looking for an easy, painless way of doing it.

Style of Magic & Combat

Statistics: 9th-level human invoker. (Derghov is not a Glantrian Military Wizard, nor a Fire Elementalist, no matter what he believes himself to be!); Str 10, Dex 10, Con 15, Int 14, Wis 11, Cha 10; AL CE.

Languages: Traladaran (Boldavian dialect, which he refuses to speak), Flaemish, Thyatian (Glantrian dialect).

Weapon Proficiencies: dagger, staff. Derghov likes to use a short sword (like Military Wizards do), but he does so at a penalty.

Skills: intimidation, local history (Glantri), reading/writing, spellflash.

Derghov plays the stereotype of the invoker to the extreme. He believes divination and abjuration spells to be useless, illusions and charms to be only fit for cowards and weaklings, alteration magic to be too ineffective, and necromancy to be outright disgusting. He admires the power behind conjuration and summoning magic, but is not able to cast it, thus he hates that specialist school.

As an invoker, Derghov has access to many powerful and damaging spells of his specialist school. Among these, he prefers fire-based spells, hoping to someday impress the Flaemish Fire Wizards, with whom he wishes to belong. He also favors spells with applications in military combat situations.

All this makes Derghov a dangerous opponent in combat. The fact that he is always threatening to duel does not make it easier.

"He looks like a Flaem and talks like a Flaem, but seriously dear, do you think he is worthy of being a Flaem?"

(Lady Sinaria Verlien to her son Pieter)

Author: Kit Navarro