Getting to Know: Ploui Jirs, Spu

Ploui Jirs, Spu is the sole leader of Central Tilth, and the head of the Shadow of the Wing, the cult that is not-so-secretly in charge of the city.

Out of all the children born to Queen Ellia before the twins that King Darian so desperately needed, Jirs is the most deeply affected by the loss of his royal status. (His siblings also suspect that he inherited whatever unwell mentality that drove their father, Darien.) Granted Guardianship along with his other non-ruling siblings, he has spent the last several thousand years being a persistent thorn in the side of many of them.

Most especially Shiv.

As tensions have been rising in Central Tilth and calls of violence toward the Shadow of the Wing are becoming more public, Jirs has begun lashing out. First, through a brutal new Edict of Principle as well as increasing the bounties offered to the Medache and Cused for information leading to the arrest of any suspected member of the The Underground Artisans Alliance.

Behind this wall there are major spoilers for my upcoming novel, The Haunting of Library Inn.
Reading this will give away a major plot point that could give away a mystery.

Jirs most trusted Cused, or inner-circle member, is a woman known only as Henua. This was the name that she assumed when she ascended from being a Medache, into the blood of the organization. What Jirs doesn't know is that she is also known as Sorsti Yufed.

Motives?

Like all people, Jirs is a product of both nature and nurture. It was in his nature, already, to be susceptible to mental illness, as demonstrated by not only Darian, but many other ancestors in Darian's line. (All histories and rumors of whom were hidden from Ellia until well into her second pregnancy!) This mentally dented nature was compounded by the tragedy of The Conflagration during his fragile adolescence. This compounded the denting into a mental break centered around his adolescent focus of everything he had been denied.

All of Jirs further instability has been brought on through his complete lack of introspection and the absolute denial that he could ever be in the wrong. Years and years of being in a literal echo chamber of his own false ideas has detached him from any sort of self-actualization. While he thoroughly understands that his actions have effect on other people, it is beyond him to see or understand how other peoples' actions can ultimately have an effect on him.

To make matters worse, since the worst thing that a Medache can do is disagree with the Ploui, the most dedicated and ruthless advisors he has only reinforce his bad ideas and, in fact, often compete with each other to make his ideas and plans even more ridiculously complicated and doomed to fail than they would have been without interference. The whole situation would be laughable if the lives and wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of people did not depend on the whims of his childish madness.

It might be easy to mistake Jirs as stupid, but he is not. He has a raw intelligence that is unmatched by most around him. This both helps him to think of creative new ways of expressing his self-loathing by bullying his people, as well as keeps his advisors from second-guessing him.

Questions from: The Ultimate RPG Campfire Card Deck