Abnold Camponimous Thigny

Failing upward

How can we possibly expect our children to avoid a path of crime when they can open their history book and read all about the life of Thigny?
Yetkin Kuird, Toterian constable, 3712 AoG

A

bnold Camponimous Thigny (commonly referred to mononymously as just: Thigny) is a legendary figure in casterway history. He was the founder of the nation of Thigny, the spiritual leader of the Lumidari, and the first explorer credited with mapping out the Blakskul, Silent, and Howling jongles; the Greywold; and The Boneyard. In modern casterway lore, he is known as much for a host of exaggerated (and fabricated) myths as he is for his many verifiable accomplishments. He is also infamous for his bombastic personality, dubious ethics, and his repeated tendency to "fail upward".

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

H

is posthumous representations tend to portray Thigny as tall, chiseled, and handsome - heroic, even. Unsurprisingly, these representations are most common in Thigny and other Lumidari nations. But a careful reading of ancient accounts has convinced most (non-Lumidari) researchers that Thigny was, at best, a man of thoroughly average stature and attractiveness. Some are even convinced that he was downright ugly. His subsequent representations are usually informed by 1) his legendary reputation, and 2) his notoriety as an incredibly charming individual. But charm and legendary status do not necessarily equate to good looks, and more thorough approximations tend to portray him as surprisingly unattractive.

Identifying Characteristics

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ne of Thigny's most striking features was his tattoos. They spread across his head/face, his chest, and both arms. They were reported to be generic geometric shapes with no known meaning. Thigny himself couldn't say exactly why they were there or what they signified. (Such mysterious origins are common amongst those who have arrived via excilation, given that their memory has been wiped and they retain almost no knowledge from their life off Excilior). The only thing more striking than his tattoos, was the fact that nearly everyone who remained in his presence tended to forget that they were even there at all.

Tattoos

New acquaintances would, of course, see the tattoos as one of the first-and-most-obvious features of his appearance. But anyone who was in his presence for more than a few hours tended to look past them entirely. It was as if, for those who knew him even casually, the markings had simply disappeared. Some of this can be chalked up to basic cognitive processes when encountering new people (e.g., a scar stands out when first meeting someone - and then it slowly grabs less of your attention as you spend more time with that person), but Thigny's tattoos - and the "blindness" for them that some seem to have acquired, is borderline bizarre. For example, in 702 AoE, during a session of King Thigny's court, Lloranc Brachina (the man who spent nearly his entire life by Thigny's side) is recorded as having engaged in a heated argument with a petitioner. The petitioner made a passing reference to King Thigny's tattoos, and Lloranc immediately launched into a passionate debate with the petitioner. Lloranc - and several other court attendees who had also been in Thigny's presence for years - adamantly asserted that the king had no tattoos, and that the petitioner should be dismissed because he was obviously (by their estimation) delusional. Fortunately for the petitioner, Thigny returned to the royal chamber before this "debate" could escalate and many in the court - including Lloranc - were dumbfounded to see that, yes, he did in fact have tattoos over his entire face.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

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higny was not born on Excilior, having arrived via excilation in 649 AoE. When he washed up on the shores of Vilmi in his dropship, he's believed to have been at least 20 years of age, and he always took pride in the idea that he was not completely "of this world".

He rolls in with his smooth voice and his band of merry fraudsters, selling worthless junk and fairy tales. And we all line up to buy it anyway.
Marno Cabril, Catrian guard, 651 AoE

Salesman

The early details of his casterway life on Islemanoton are not clearly documented. But it's fairly certain that, within several years of his arrival, he established a nomadic routine crisscrossing the countryside as a traveling salesman. Like many small-time merchants of his day, he probably offered a wide array of wares. But he's most known for aggressively hawking a putative cure for the Plague of Men. Like every other Plague cure that has been marketed throughout history, Thigny's offering was utterly ineffective. And it's considered a given that Thigny knew it was ineffective.

Fake Cures

On its own, this did not make him unique in any way. Travelling merchants are notorious for their dubious concoctions. And villages across every continent offer no shortage of shamans and faith healers who claim to have some remedy for the Plague. But Thigny was exceptional for the sheer force of his magnetic salesmanship. Where other less-competent merchants would desperately try to peddle a bottle-or-two of their homebrewed (and useless) concoctions, Thigny possessed a supernatural ability to charm hopeful parents who desperately wanted to give birth to a girl. And simple math meant that thirty percent of all his customers, after actually being so lucky as to bear a female child, became wildly-enthusiastic evangelists of his psychosomatic medications. By the time that local cognoscenti could assess any putative effects of his remedies and advertise that his "cures" yielded a thirty-percent female birth rate (i.e., the same rate they could expect with no help from Thigny), he was long gone. By constantly flitting between all the Tallonai countries of Islemanoton, he soon established a recurring revenue stream that left his customers short on cash and even shorter on female children.

Banishment

Although there were some municipalities that advocated for his prosecution, the precedent of banishment, established originally by Cervia Polonosa herself, provided an easy remedy for most nations that had grown exasperated with the complaints of their own citizens regarding Thigny's scams. Ponia became the first nation to exile him, in 654 AoE. After narrowly escaping a threat of execution, he found himself banished by Catro in 656 AoE. From there, he spent a few years in the Hinterlands, eventually being run out by the authorities of Poglia, Tollia, and Varic by 658 AoE. Returning to the southern expanses of the Yernwold, it took him three more years to be banished by Cervia, Morvatia, and Vetri.

Escape From Tumia

Running out of friendly provinces, he spent the next three years hawking his wares across the quieter reaches of Tumia. Given some of his narrow escapes in other countries, he seemed to have learned a lesson and was much harder to track during his time in Tumia. He rarely stayed in one village for more than a day. And when he moved, he made a point of crisscrossing the country in a random pattern, making it more difficult for regional leaders to come after him. But alas, by 664 AoE, even the Tumian authorities were hot on his trail. In a daring escape from the coastal capital of Bagno, Thigny commandeered a ragtag fishing boat in the early hours of pre-dawn and fled for the lawless safe haven of Smugglers' Moot.

Air's some madman down at the docks. Says if I pay'im today, eel re-burse me if my ship sinks. At's the dummest gotdam idea ever erd in mah life.
Rykya Smeding, Smugglers' Moot privateer, 666 AoE

Insurance

Given that Smugglers' Moot is hardly considered to be a place conducive to child rearing, his preferred grift of selling faux Plague cures was no longer a lucrative endeavor. Besides, his reputation as a smooth-talking con man preceded him long before his arrival on the Moot. Thus, it was fortunate for him that he was a man of planning, saving, and some considerable means. When he arrived on the archipelago, he wasted little time establishing an entirely new line of business that had never before existed on Excilior: insurance.

New Industry

In Thigny's time, the lands of northern Isleprimoton were mostly uncharted. The ships were ill-suited for the tumultuous waters of the Sister Seia. But this did not stop enterprising (and desperate) explorers from launching westward from the Moot in search of riches, or shelter, or refuge from the law, or... whatever they could find. Unsurprisingly, many of those early skiffs were never seen again. The regular loss of capital (and life) was considered de rigueur for those early vagabonds. So they didn't quite know what to make of Thigny's promises at first. This bold, intriguing (and oddly charming) man offered them something they didn't think was possible - financial protection in return for a modest upfront fee.

Mustering Business

His sales were initially... slow. Few actually believed that he could back his promises. And "risk management" was not a phrase to be found anywhere within the early casterway vocabulary. Maritime insurance was also pointless for many of the merchants who sailed from Smugglers' Moot because they were self-funded, with no investors or financial backers. So if they perished at sea, there was often no one left to collect on a policy. Nevertheless, there were some well-heeled sponsors who financed voyages launched from the Moot. For that select class of individuals, there was at least some theoretical benefit in the product that Thigny was offering. But for those wealthy backers, adoption of Thigny's newfangled insurance product was stunted by the fact that they'd never seen him pay out on a claim. So it was almost a blessed occurrence (for Thigny) when a fabled ebny miner - the Khyron - disappeared on a routine scavenging run after the equatorial razer of 667 AoE.

The Khyron

The Khyron was one of the few vessels on Smugglers' Moot that was purely commercial, and backed by a cadre of generous investors. By 667 AoE, it had run successful (and highly profitable) ebny missions in the wake of every passing razer for nearly three decades. It boasted one of the most experienced crews on the planet, and its epic girth meant that it was well equipped to weather the treacherous waters of the equatorial Aequin Ocean. Since it was such a reliable cash cow, its investors were one of the first groups who ventured to purchase some of Thigny's revolutionary insurance. And when it became clear that the Khyron was never coming back, and the shock of its loss had subsided on the Moot, Thigny's nervous customers came calling to see if he would truly make good on his promises.

Making Claims

The Khyron's financiers could not have been more shocked. Some were skeptical that their experimental investment would yield any sort of return at all. Others assumed that Thigny would only make good on a semblance of his commitment before fleeing Smugglers' Moot altogether. Even his most optimistic supporters did not honestly believe he had the means to pay off on all of the lucrative claims tied to the loss of the Khyron. But pay, he did.

I really like that Thigny fellow. But I sure hope he hadn't gotten in wot over iz head. I just spied Keegan and iz investors eddin down to the docks to collect on those claims. And if they don't get paid, I'm afraid there won't be any more Thigny fellow.
Magan Morgan, Smugglers' Moot fish cleaner, 667 AoE

Generous Payouts

Thigny rewarded the claimants handsomely. He didn't just reimburse them for the depreciated value of the impressive (but aging) vessel. He gave them enough money to build a larger, more modern, and more-substantial version of the trawler. He also paid them for the value of all the ebny that presumably would have been in its hull had it returned safely to port. He financed a wide-ranging search for the recruitment of new saltfoots to commandeer the soon-to-be-built replacement. Finally, he paid a generous survivor's benefit to any remaining family of the lost Khyron's crew. Even for those who trusted in the veracity of Thigny's fledgling insurance business, the speed and professionalism with which he paid the claims was stunning.

Spreading Word

The news of Thigny's financial safety net spread far and it spread fast. At the time of the Khyron's loss, it's estimated that he only had a few other paying customers - and those other customers are presumed to have purchased tiny policies to insure against only modest losses incurred by diminutive skiffs. The Khyron's investors were his only serious customers, because no other customers had any real faith in his ability to pay out on claims in the event of loss. But once he proved the financial legitimacy of his product, other large-scale shipping magnates came calling and his coffers rapidly swelled.

Economic Boom

The boom was not confined to Thigny's personal fortunes. Prior to the Khyron, there were few large, commercial vessels harbored at Smugglers' Moot. It was known much more as a frothing cacophony of pirate ships, fishing boats, and unstable barges. But the idea that wealthy patrons could manage their risk, while still profiting from the untold riches of the western frontier, fostered an explosion in large katmarans anchored and operating from the Moot's queen port of Baletreremoy. And nearly all of those new katmarans were insured by Thigny.

Treachery

It wasn't until several centuries later, long after Thigny's passing, that Goddite cognoscenti researchers uncovered compelling evidence indicating that Thigny himself was actually responsible for the loss of the Khyron. Although many Lumidari scholars are adamant to dismiss such claims, the trail of clues that implicate Thigny in the loss of the Khyron are damning. It's now generally accepted (outside of Lumidari lands) that Thigny hired his own crew of pirates. He gave them an explicit mission: to sink the Khyron and kill her crew. Some weeks after she left port, Thigny's saltfoots hunted her down somewhere on the open Aequin. They slaughtered the entire crew and offloaded whatever ebny the Khyron had harvested onto their own vessel. They then scuttled the Khyron, sending it to the ocean floor, and sailed off to eastern Islegantuan to sell their ill-gotten booty.

Renegade Privateers

Although the Khyron's sinking was certainly done under Thigny's orders, cognoscenti are uncertain if his raiding crew was still working for him when they set course for Islegantuan, or whether their business with him was completed once they sailed to the east. What is known, is that the crew eventually docked in the Prielian capital of Dydon on Hermite Bay. After several days spent enjoying the city's amenities, the ship's captain managed to sell their entire hold of unprocessed ebny for a handsome fee. With the vessel now unladen, they pulled anchor and headed back westward, presumably bound for Smugglers' Moot. However, most of the crew would never see land again.

The popular narrative has always been that the sinking of the Khyron cost Thigny an arm and a leg. But the evidence recently uncovered makes it clear that it actually cost him his soul.
Chea Travary, Golian cognoscenti, 1733 AoE

Murdering the Murderers

In the thick of night, while still somewhere in Hermite Bay, Thigny's privateers suffered an unidentified, yet catastrophic breakdown. The ship sank somewhere in the deeper reaches of the bay, with all of the crew perishing - save one soul. That individual was Lloranc Brachina - a lifelong aide and compatriot of Thigny. In less than half a year, Lloranc is known to have been back by Thigny's side on Smugglers' Moot. And it would be many years thereafter before anyone would uncover evidence of Lloranc's clandestine mission, or the fact that it was directly orchestrated by Thigny.

Clamoring For Receipts

In an alternate timeline, this could have been the effective end of Thigny's story - and his legacy. It's easy to envision a chain of events whereby he would have lived the rest of his days on Smugglers' Moot as a wealthy merchant and the pioneer of an entire line of business that he himself created from whole cloth. But insurance is a tricky affair - especially when no one else on the planet had mapped out the potential pitfalls of the industry. Although cognoscenti have always acknowledged Thigny's financial acumen, and he had a well-earned reputation for paying out on all claims, today there is reason to believe that he managed his expanding business interests much like a Ponzi scheme.

Growing Reputation

His gambit to (surreptitiously) sink the Khyron was not a financial loss for him. It was an investment. Once saltfoots (and their backers) began to truly believe that he would honor his financial commitments, an increasing number of enterprising capitalists began purchasing his insurance policies, which led to steadily-rising revenues. Sure, he occasionally had to pay out on another claim, whenever the treacherous waters of the Sister Seia, or the lashing tail of a leviaton, destroyed another one of his clients' vessels. But Thigny understood that these payments were not really financial "losses" for him. They were more like, marketing expenses. Because for a time, it seemed that nearly every claim he had to pay out only furthered his business reputation and spawned a new wave of clients who were eager to expand their maritime endeavors, while still managing their financial risk. The growth of the shipping industry on Smugglers' Moot, coupled with his business's rising reputation, meant that his revenues were always comfortably ahead of his expenditures. At least, they were... for a time.

Galloping Razer

As is so common in casterway history, razers and Trials have a funny way of resetting the political and economic landscape, no matter the preparations of fragile humans. And so it came to pass that in 673 AoE, a modest razer swept across Smugglers' Moot, passing over the archipelago before moving on to the Sister Seia.
This particular razer was actually not of epic scale. The death toll on the Moot was modest, and it moved entirely past the islands with relative speed. But as someone whose fortunes were tied to the whims of natural disasters, Thigny had trained himself to be something of an amateur meteorologist. And while his neighbors - and clients - may not have been initially alarmed, he understood that this particular razer may in fact be an existential threat to his business. For the particular atmospheric conditions in place at the time made it a prime candidate to develop into a galloping razer. And gallop, it did.

Nautical Catastrophe

Whereas most razers take a decidedly southwestern course, sweeping across the sea, then the land, until they finally peter out, galloping razers become "trapped" over the Sister Seia, sometimes lasting for months, and ping-ponging back-and-forth between the western shores of Islemanoton and the eastern shores of Isleprimoton. When this happens, entire fleets on the Sister Seia can be lost. Modern cognoscenti have estimated that there may have been as many as 300 large commercial vessels traversing in-and-around the Sister Seia when this razer struck, with at least 100 of those ships calling Baletreremoy home. Furthermore, it's believed that nearly ninety percent of all commercial vessels based on Smugglers' Moot were insured - in part, or in whole - through Thigny. While there's little doubt that Thigny was doing everything he could to run a legitimate business, and he was well known for paying out on all of his claims, it's almost certain that he could not possibly have had the cash reserves on hand to pay out sizable claims on 90 (or more) lost ships at once.

Am I the only one disturbed by the fact that a razer just strafed the Moot, we have yet to receive word from our vessel, and the man who's promised to cover our losses on that vessel is spending money with the Madame like it's his last day on Excilior?
Horscht Mykelsohn, Smugglers' Moot trader, 673 AoE

Desperate Plan

Thigny's largest advantage was that it would be many days (or even, months) before all of his customers realized the true extent of their losses and came calling on him for reimbursement. His actions in the immediate aftermath of the razer would seem to confirm that A) he was incapable of paying all these claims at once, and B) he had no intention of hanging around to find out what his clients would do once they realized as much.

Gambling Spree

Once the razer had cleared Smugglers' Moot (but long before it had finished laying waste to numerous vessels across the Sister Seia), Thigny employed a couple of low-level stooges to staff his business offices in Baletreremoy. With his trusty compatriot Lloranc by his side, he packed up a small caravan of riches and travelled across Widow's East to the port city of Morquilleau. He established a temporary residence in the city's finest inn, which also happened to be walking distance from the docks. The inn was also a short stroll from Madame Victoraou's - the largest gambling establishment on Smugglers' Moot. Given the freewheeling and rather lawless nature of the Moot at the time, it's also believed that Victoraou's was the largest casino in the entire world. Over the course of the next seven days, Thigny commenced a gambling binge that has since become legendary.

Largesse

As perhaps the wealthiest man on the Moot, Thigny could scarcely walk down the street without being recognized. So he made no pretense to hide his presence or his intentions. For seven days, he established a beachhead in the Madame's casino. Every day, he launched into marathon sessions of his game of choice - Widow's Bones. But he didn't just gamble. He bought drinks for the entire house. He paid for everyone's meals. He hired prostitutes and entertainers for everyone's delight. He shed money like it was rain. And he was the toast of the town.

Ostentatious

Although he was not known as a gambling man, his extended presence in the casino was not, by itself, extraordinary. Afterall, a wealthy merchant choosing to flaunt his largesse in a gaming establishment is hardly cause for alarm. And the fact that he seemed to be paying - for everything - only served to bolster his legend and endear himself to all of the casino's patrons. But he wasn't hemorrhaging cash. Quite the contrary. He was raking it in - on an epic scale. Every honarium he lost at Widow's Bones seemed to come back to him - in duplicate, or even, triplicate - before he had ended his session. And while he showered every vice available upon all of the casino's patrons (and their staff), it seems clear that he left at the end of each day with a jaw-dropping profit.

Madame Victoraou

Madame Victoraou was a wily bird and she did not build her empire of vice by allowing gamblers to break the house. So while it's certain that she was initially pleased with her newfound high-roller, and was probably content to ride out his lucky streak, scattered accounts from the time make it clear that she was growing exasperated with his "luck" by the end of his fifth day. His sixth day in the casino was a decidedly different affair. Victoraou welcomed him back to the establishment, but she immediately shuttled him to a private gambling room. From there, he was allowed to continue his tear on Widow's Bones, but he was no longer in a position to buy the adoration of casual onlookers and he could only interact with a handful of the casino staff, who politely refused his lavish spending - and watched him like a foreign spy. Nevertheless, he emerged from the casino that day with his largest profit to-date.

Arrest

On the seventh day, he again made his way to the casino. And he was again escorted to his private gambling room. From there, he proceeded to rack up another round of mind-boggling wins. But this session ended in a decidedly different manner. When he stepped away from the table and announced his intention to buy dinner and libations for the entire casino, Madame Victoraou, flanked by a handful of Thigny's insurance customers who had caught wind of his incredible streak, promptly had him arrested.

I don't yet know how he's cheating. But I got a hunch I can find out once I've shoved a couple hot coals up his arsehole.
Madame Victoraou, Smugglers' Moot casino owner, 673 AoE

Escape

Given the farcical nature of the local "authorities" on Smugglers' Moot, most large, private businesses employed their own in-house systems of justice - and Madame Victoraou was no exception. She didn't just have her own legion of enforcers. She had her own dungeons - and many of the casino's would-be cheats met their agonizingly-slow demise in those dank pits. What she didn't account for was the fact that most of her thugs were already being paid far more by Thigny than they would ever earn directly from the Madame. On the eighth day, when she descended into her stockade to personally retrieve and interrogate Thigny, he was long gone.

Fleeing the Moot

Thigny didn't simply flee Madame Victoraou's wrath. He fled Smugglers' Moot altogether. And it was the last time that he would ever set foot on the territory. Although it's clear that he retained little-to-none of his winnings from that fateful final day of gambling, he certainly managed to escape with nearly all of his personal wealth intact, multiplied many times over by the bodacious bounty he had amassed in those first six days of jackpots. The Madame soon learned that a sizable katmaran - the Noble Crescent - had been purchased outright by Lloranc Brachina from a clueless saltfoot at the docks of Morquilleau. The saltfoot was more-than-happy to part with her because Lloranc paid an eye-popping, far-above-market-price premium for the aging vessel. Adding insult to injury, most of the Madame's security force was missing as well - never to be seen again. They were all paid handsomely to act as makeshift deckhands on the Noble Crescent's fugitive voyage - even though most of them had little experience in seafaring matters.

Assumed Cheat

Considering the millennia that have passed since this event, the exact nature of Thigny's machinations have never been definitively uncovered. But few (outside the Lumidari) doubt that Thigny absolutely deployed some form of cheat to amass his generous winnings at Madame Victoraou's. In some sympathetic Lumidari archives, it's suggested that he was simply lucky. And that, had he not been unjustly incarcerated, he had every intention of returning to Baletreremoy with his multiplied wealth and, eventually, making good on all of the insurance claims that were soon to follow as a result of the galloping razer. But a neutral reading of the facts makes such an interpretation extremely hard to swallow.

Empty Offices

When word spread of Thigny's flight, his customers stormed his business offices in Baletreremoy. There they found that anything of value had long-been removed from the premises. His bankers reported that his accounts had already been emptied. The hapless stooges he left to man the premises seemed to genuinely have no knowledge of his whereabouts. (This didn't stop the angry mobs from executing said stooges - even though nearly everyone involved in the fracass admitted that these poor souls were probably just pawns in Thigny's deception.) His residence was little more than an empty shell. He had taken great care to ensure that nothing of even minimal value was left behind.

Wilderness

Thigny knew that his name was still unwelcome across Islemanoton and he had to put a sizable distance between himself and Smugglers' Moot. So he sailed westward, toward the uncharted lands of northern Isleprimoton. Along with his repurposed katmaran and his makeshift crew, he landed at the future site of the Bouzian capital of Bavers, on Leviaton Sound, near the end of 673 AoE.

Explorer

The next chapter of his life is something of a mystery to later historians. There is no complete record of his travels through northern Isleprimoton, but it's clear that he became quite the explorer. For the next 17 years, he and his party traversed (multiple times) the wild jungles in the north, the central expanses of the Greywold, and the ebny-rich waters of The Boneyard. Although direct accounts of these travels are scarce, his extensive discoveries are proven out by the detailed maps crafted by his companion, Lloranc.

I always said that I'd follow Thigny to the end of the world. But if we march a few more kilometers westward, I'm pretty sure I'll have exceeded my commitment.
Lloranc Brachina, Thignian aide, 675 AoE

Shifting Party

There is some debate as to exactly who accompanied him on these journeys and what role they might have played. Some tales speak of only Thigny and Lloranc engaging with foreigners. While others describe a larger party of colleagues. Some of those accompanying him may have been holdovers from the original escape from Smugglers' Moot, but the sheer volume of conflicting accounts makes it more likely that his troupe was constantly-shifting and evolving, shrinking or growing depending upon his most recent fortunes. The only known constant through all of his travels was that he was rarely (if ever) seen without Lloranc somewhere in the vicinity.

Discoveries

Lumidari archives almost always crown Thigny as the "discoverer" of such regions as the Silent Jongle or the Twinight Range. And there is little debate that he is largely responsible for defining (and sometimes, naming) these regions in the broader casterway consciousness. But crediting him as the "discoverer" of these lands is, at best, ethnocentric, and, at worst, demonstrably false. Almost from the earliest days of Auld Cervia, there was a continual trickle of adventurers heading off for distant lands. Most of them were never heard from again. Undoubtedly, many perished soon after they fled civilization. But some did manage to establish tiny villages or lonely existences, even in the farthest reaches of the known world. Lloranc himself often wrote about the experience of encountering such distant outposts in their travels. But as far as most casterways were concerned at the time, northern Isleprimoton was a feral and shapeless wilderness. Therefore, in the public imagination, anyone returning with verifiable maps of reasonable accuracy would thereafter be thought of as the "discoverer" of those regions. And nearly all cognoscenti concede that Thigny did exactly that.

Nocterns

Of course, there was one bona fide civilization that had already established a firm foothold throughout northern Isleprimoton (and nearly everywhere else, for that matter): the Nocterns. But most oplander histories barely treat that race as a "real" people and they definitely do not give them credit for having discovered and/or explored any surface lands. In all fairness, Thigny (or any other wayward traveler) could easily have trekked far-and-wide through the jungles, forests, and mountains without ever actually seeing any evidence of the Nocterns - unless they knew exactly where to look. So the average oplander, traipsing through the uncharted wilderness, would have no immediate sense that a thriving culture of people underground had already established a firm foothold in these lands.

Detente

The preeminence of the Nocterns throughout all of Isleprimoton is not merely academic. It's well established that Thigny, on numerous occasions throughout his travels, made contact with the Nocterns and appears to have established some type of truce with them. Given the animosity that already existed between all Nocterns and oplanders, and given that Nocterns are generally thought to be too smart to trust any oplanders, it's a stretch to believe that Thigny (and his evolving troupe) were officially "allies" with the Nocterns. But Lloranc's writings, coupled with some of Thigny's decrees from later years, indicate that both sides enjoyed some degree of detente. It's even believed that Thigny was frequently allowed to use Ontorlands caves for travel, shelter, or storage without fear of conflict from the Nocterns.

Iron Dreams

Thigny did not assert himself again in the historical archives until 690 AoE. At some point in his journeys, he seems to have become fixated on the potential of northern Isleprimoton as a source of hyper-valuable metal ore. Such an objective is initially quizzical, because northern Isleprimoton, like so many other regions on Excilior, is an extremely poor reservoir of metal ore. But like so much else in Thigny's saga, he was not really interested in trying to extract metal ore from the sand, clay, and limestone substrata. He was intrigued by the possibility that he could sell other people on the idea.

The blood of our comrades painted the landscape. Some were more akin to meat than men. And I wondered: Was this all a mistake? Had we gone too far? And then I saw it... That blade. That glorious blade! And I knew, right then, that everything was worth it.
Abnold Thigny, 688 AoE

Raiders

In 688 AoE, Lloranc's journals indicate that they were traveling along the eastern edge of the Twinight Range, a few hundred kilometers north of the Hammerhorn Mountains, when they were attacked by a nomadic tribe. (These tribes would soon after come to be known as the Wansian raiders). The attack was apparently quite a disaster for Thigny's party. Lloranc recorded that they had at least two dozen men in their party - and most-or-all of them were slain in the attack. Thigny himself later admitted that he and Lloranc would have perished as well, if they weren't so lucky as to be fishing from a secluded cove, a few hundred meters from the camp.
When they heard the cries of their men and rushed back to their base, they found a decimated encampment. Their colleagues were slain. Everything of value was taken. And Lloranc implored them to head east, back toward Leviaton Sound, where they could reprovision and gather fresh forces. But Thigny had other ideas.

Curious Artifact

In the brutal attack, a single Wansian was slain - left amongst Thigny's own men to rot by the river. But when Thigny scavenged the fallen warrior for anything of value, he was struck by a lustrous item, the likes of which he had never seen before. The Wansia raider had yielded a short sword - made of steel.

Steel Society

Steel (and other precious alloys) were not unknown to casterways at that time. Tiny examples existed throughout many of the civilized outposts. But the necessary raw materials were extremely rare and the crafting process was almost a complete mystery. Steel, bronze, and others amalgamations were only likely to be found as small trinkets, or jewelry for the ultra-rich, or happy accidents of the smelting process. So Thigny was quite enthralled to find that a group of seemingly-primitive nomads had managed to source the necessary materials and craft them into such an exquisite weapon. He also guessed that, if the other attackers had been so careless as to leave this valuable item on a fallen comrade, it could only mean that they, too, had their own finely-crafted steel swords.

Bold Encounters

From what the cognoscenti can piece together from this period, the next two years saw Thigny (with Lloranc in-tow), conducting a series of dangerous and clandestine missions to venture further into the proto-Wansian territories in order to find the source of such riches and to learn the smithing process for himself. From a smattering of early Jontzu records, this also appears to be a period when Thigny was repeatedly within centimeters of death. The early Jontzu were an infamously insular culture and their view of nearly all foreigners was that they should be slain and stripped of their valuables. It's also believed that some of these ancient Jontzu raiders ate their captives.

If the Jontzu ever get smart enough to gag Thigny, we'll both be dead by morning.
Lloranc Brachina, Thignian aide, 689 AoE

Incredible Negotations

Thigny and Lloranc are known to have been captured on at least three separate occasions. On one such occasion, Jontzu folktales hint that the two somehow managed to escape. But on the other two occasions, Lloranc's journal implies that Thigny somehow managed to negotiate their release. Thigny is legendary for his ability to talk his way out of almost any bind, but modern researchers still find these accounts to be borderline fantastical. To put this in proper perspective, it's helpful to realize that Thigny is not ever known to have been fluent - or to have even been moderately conversational - in any of the early Jongshzen dialects. And the earliest inhabitants of Jontzu villages are believed to have had no interest in learning any smattering of Komon. The aggression of these tribes was already legendary and the ragtag settlers of the day commonly believed that approaching a Jontzu village was tantamount to a suicide mission.

Underwhelming Returns

Regardless of how Thigny managed to keep his head attached to his neck, cognoscenti know for certain that he and Lloranc did indeed manage to survive their dangerous explorations into Jontzu lands. And if Thigny's goal was to learn more about the process of extracting iron ore and, eventually, smithing high-grade tools and weapons from the precious material, he certainly emerged with a greater understanding of the challenges involved. But the knowledge he acquired was not nearly as lucrative as he had hoped.
Thigny dreamed of finding vast mines of ore, just waiting to be extracted from its rocky prison. He also imagined a mythical culture where advanced (and secret) tribes churned out mass quantities of steel and other priceless products. Instead, what he found was a painstaking process that these people had only-recently explored themselves. While they may have had more experience than other cultures at the crafting of metal tools and weapons (owing to the natural resources in their own backyard), their methods of harvesting the materials were every bit as primitive and haphazard as their other "technologies". Their cache of premade weapons was modest. Their process of refining the materials was laborious - with a single item having been honed (and re-honed) over many generations. While the early Jontzu may have had a head-start on other cultures with regard to this technology, they were only barely ahead of their neighbors. And any "advancements" they could offer were nowhere near the level that would be required for mass commercial exploitation.

A New Scheme

It would be tempting to characterize this phase of Thigny's exploration as a failure. (Although the simple fact that he wasn't simply murdered by the Jontzu must be seen as some type of "success".) But Thigny was never content to simply chalk something up as a loss. Instead, his experiences in-and-around the Hammerhorn Mountains served as the inspiration for his next grand enterprise - one that would ultimately define his legacy and secure his place in casterway history.

Smuggled Goods

Amazingly, Thigny and Lloranc returned to the shores of Leviaton Sound in 690 AoE towing a large cart laden with piles of raw iron ore and a modest (yet, for its time, eye-catching) cache of finely-crafted steel weapons. How he managed to finagle such a bounty from the insular and combative Jontzu is unknown. But it's well-established that he did in fact have some type of metallic bounty when he returned from the proto-Wansian lands.

Ghost Town

When he returned to the site of present-day Bavers, he set about creating something that casterways had never yet witnessed: a bona fide, large-scale (dis)information campaign. It's clear from his records at the time that he had managed to store away (hide) a great deal of the wealth he had captured during his time on Smugglers' Moot. And now, with a fresh mission in mind, he began spreading that money around to employ whatever stragglers he could find in the region. Some of these funds went toward establishing a primitive outpost at Bavers - a makeshift dock, a mostly-empty inn with a sparse tavern attached, etc. He also dispatched messengers spreading the news that Bavers was an open port where many goods could be sold by passing saltfoots. He didn't do this because he actually wanted any of their wares. He did this because he wanted to plant seeds in these seaward travelers - seeds that would slowly germinate across all the ports of the Sister Seia.

But, Lloranc. Old friend. After all this time, I thought you, of all people, understood? We're not selling iron ore. Or steel. Or weapons. Or land. We're selling hope.
Abnold Thigny, 694 AoE

Enticing Traders

As these perplexed merchants found their way to Thigny's nascent port, they found a mostly-empty village, populated with nearly-empty "businesses". They also found Thigny, anxious to buy some of their wares - but also to trade goods in-kind for his piles of iron ore. Whenever a larger, more-reputable saltfoot came sniffing around Thigny's ghost village, he was also keen to flash his eye-opening weapons, and to offer them in trade as well. For early casterways, this was equivalent to finding a delusional panhandler, sitting upon a pile of diamonds, lamenting the fact that he didn't know what he could possibly do with these stupid, worthless, dirty, little rocks.

Capitalizing on Greed

Of course, the wilier merchants were not simply content to buy Thigny's "rocks" (and his weapons). They were also keen to know from where he had acquired these rare items. Whenever this line of questioning arose, Thigny was quick to point out that he was hauling the material, in massive piles, from property he had claimed further inland. He also made a point to tell them that there was just too much of this dirty ore for him to possibly extract it all himself. And if they knew of any desperate settlers who might like to travel west, he'd be happy to sell them a plot of his otherwise-worthless land at an incredibly cheap price. Three months after he first set up shop in his new city of Bavers, Thigny sold his first plot of land. He called them charters. By 691 AoE, it's estimated that Thigny sold a new charter every 7-10 days. By 692 AoE, he's believed to have sold a new charter almost daily.

Selling Public Lands

The mere fact that he was selling land at all was a mark of hubris (and, some would say, genius). For there was no legal precedent implying that he had established any ownership of the land for himself. Therefore, it was borderline illogical that he would deign to sell his charters to anyone else. But Thigny realized that feral lands could indeed be sold if he simply claimed them as his own and then convinced others that his holdings were of value. In some respects, selling these northern lands was akin to the role of a salvager - someone who reclaims that which no one else seems to want, but then manages to find a paying customer for the goods. In theory, anyone could have tried to sell the lands of northern Isleprimoton. The primary obstacle was that there was no demand for the land - and thus, there were no buyers who would pay even discounted sums for it.

Seeds of a Nation

Cognoscenti now believe that Thigny's motivation, during all those years when he wandered across the landscape, was to find some driver of intrinsic value. He understood that he could plant his flag and "claim" all these lands as his own. But he had no interest in being another madman scratching an existence from the land and wildly claiming that he was the lord of a nation that he could neither define nor control. Instead, he desired subjects - real citizens who would lend legitimacy to his future nation. And he wanted to further grow his wealth, because establishing a country from whole cloth is an expensive proposition. To accomplish these goals, he needed to find scores of people who would move to his frontier - and pay him richly for the right to do so.

I ain't talked to that man for but ten minutes before I knew I had to get outta there - and fast. If I'd-ah stayed for another ten minutes, I'd-ah paid him for a patch of ocean, a stretch of sky, and the right to sail home on my own vessel.
Keytlyn Woirjs, Thignian settler, 696 AoE

Ironically, he never really found that magical driver of value. Sure, there were myriad natural resources in northern Isleprimoton, but none of them were significantly greater than those that currently existed in the already-civilized regions. The closest he ever came was his discovery of the iron ore deposits of the Hammerhorn Mountains. The promise of steel was something that other civilized regions simply could not offer. But the embryonic technologies of the day were not equipped to harvest and process the valuable metal. And the ancient techniques of extraction and transportation were incredibly inefficient. This is why steel (and other valuable alloys) were nothing more than a regional oddity upon which no great industry could be built. But Thigny was always, first, a salesman. After he assessed the impractical realities of steel production in his day, he quickly changed his course. Because he didn't need prospectors to be able to mine and process iron ore from his not-yet-established country. He simply needed those prospectors (and their backers) to believe that they could mine and process iron ore from his lands. And when he returned from the Hammerhorn Mountains, he hatched a plan to convince the rest of the world that those rich mineral deposits also existed in his undeveloped lands.

Seeding a Scam

From the time that they set up shop at Bavers, Thigny's aide, Lloranc, began a regular ritual of travelling, over land, westward to the Hammerhorn Mountains. When he returned, he always brought a cart laden with iron ore and, on the best trips, a couple of finely-crafted steel weapons. These materials were not simply offered for sale at the docks. Rather, they were used as a type of "bait" to entice potential prospectors. Whenever Thigny found another potential customer for his charters, Lloranc would scout a new, unoccupied location, typically somewhere deep in the Greywold. From there, he would do his best to "plant" the ore in a place that seemed natural. This was no small feat, because the limestone-and-clay substrata of northern Isleprimoton offered few (if any) "natural" places where one might expect to find iron ore. And it was entirely impractical to assume that Lloranc could recreate the mineral veins from which the ore was originally extracted. Luckily, the education of the typical pioneer in those days was... substandard, to say the least. So it required no grand illusion to convince many of the desperate settlers that these lands were rich with ore and waiting to yield their treasures with minimal mining. Lloranc simply buried the ore near the surface, or sprinkled it around a rock slide, or wedged it into a cliff face, or dropped it into a river bed. Thigny then escorted the potential miners to the site, showed them the riches waiting on-or-near the surface, and explained that much more could be harvested with some modest effort. All that remained was for them to sign a charter and get to work.

Legal Fealty

Thigny's charters were fairly-detailed legal documents. Although few of the prospectors bothered to read them carefully (indeed - many were incapable of reading them), they all made it clear that the owner was purchasing mineral rights in the Kingdom of Thigny. Of course, most prospectors at the time had never heard of a "Kingdom of Thigny" because no other government on the planet recognized such an entity. But Thigny was confident that, once enough people had purchased enough land in his proposed sovereignty, he would indeed have his own kingdom and the other fledgling powers of the world would have little choice but to formally acknowledge it. And in this matter, he was actually quite correct.

That Thigny'll smile at ya real bright. Slap ya on the ass. But question so much as a single word in his "charter", and his boys'll be out here in the middle of the night, lookin to set yer mind right.
Mouritz Hielsmann, Thignian miner, 698 AoE

Thigny's Regiments

Much of his original treasury went toward staffing and training his own standing army. In fact, it was one of the first full-time military regiments in casterway history. Most of the other young nations would conscript soldiers or drill part-time militias when the need came to take up arms. But Thigny funneled much of his charter money (and, presumably, a good deal of faux-Plague-cure funds, and some portion of unpaid insurance claims, and a sizable chunk of Madame Victoraou's fortune) into building one of the world's first, great, standing armies. But this force was unlike other military regiments. Thigny's army was not designed to protect against foreign invaders. Nor was it designed to invade foreign lands. Thigny's army primarily existed to ensure that only licensed charter-holders (meaning: paid charter holders) were settling on "his" land and were reaping the (non-existent) resources. His army could not hope to police the entire expanse of northern Isleprimoton, but they were keen to expel any prospectors who had managed to squat upon valuable and/or strategic land without purchasing a charter. Of course, Thigny also had a rhetorical ace up his sleeve: If someone didn't pay him for a charter, they were virtually guaranteed to find none of the iron ore they were seeking - because there is almost no iron ore to be found anywhere across Isleprimoton outside of the Hammerhorn Mountains.

Quelling Revolt

The army also served a second, valuable purpose. It provided needed muscle whenever the smarter prospectors realized that they'd been scammed. Thigny's sonorous voice was often all that was needed to calm desperate prospectors and convince them that riches were soon to be found if they would just keep digging. But some of the settlers grew wise to Thigny's methods and demanded refunds - or even threatened to foment an organized revolt. Thigny's soldiers - outfitted with impressive steel blades - ensured that most of those malcontents either quieted down... or disappeared. For those who grew disenchanted with their "charters" (and there were many), it soon became clear that the best future use of the land was to simply settle upon it, farm it as they may, and extract a life no different from casterways on any other continent or in any other region.

Land Grab

Despite the occasional unrest from his "subjects" (who would never extract any more iron ore than that which was originally seeded on their property by Lloranc), Thigny's putative empire continued to expand at a rapid rate. In 699 AoE, he formally announced, to anyone else in the world who would listen, that he was now the sole ruler of the Kingdom of Thigny. At the point of his proclamation, he had laid claim to nearly the entire northern half of Isleprimoton, and ancient maps do indeed imply that Thigny covered this entire expanse. This aggressive land-grab would not stand for long. Even before Thigny's death, a number of other kingdoms were founded inside the putative territory of his nation - far beyond the boundaries of what his sprawling army could control. Nevertheless, even after his kingdom was continually chipped away, the remaining boundaries, that stand to this day, still constitute the largest country on the planet - a country that currently boasts more than 9.4 million citizens.

I never saw Thigny so tired as when he explained to us that we weren't going to war with the Guilian rebels. He just shook his head, stared off into the distance, and told us that it wasn't worth it.
Auris Vorta, Thignian soldier, 737 AoE

A Wiser Side

The latter part of Thigny's life - the era defined by his rule - is one that has puzzled many researchers and challenged the popular notions of his character. For all of his questionable ethics and shady dealings, the written record of his government is one of solid, stable, and incredibly... wise management. Although his early endeavors gave no such indications, in hindsight it appears that the establishment of his own kingdom was always his long-term goal. And once he had attained that objective, he was surprisingly more level-headed than many other rulers in his day. He went to great lengths to avoid draining wars that would only whither his scant subjects away. Despite the fact that his entire kingdom was, essentially, founded upon a scam, he took decisive steps to steer his young economy toward more lucrative ventures. He established many reforms in education and public sanitation that were revolutionary for his time and gave citizens of the new nation one of the longest average lifespans on the planet. And while his military may have originally been founded to protect his own financial gains, its formidable might served as a stabilizing force in the region for many generations.

Long Life

Thigny also maintained tight control over his sprawling nation for an incredible period of time. Although his exact age was unknown (as is the case for many victims of excilation), it's commonly accepted that he was probably no more than 20-years-old when he arrived on Excilior. (Indeed, this is also the age he claimed for himself.) But if this is true, it means that he was 70 when he founded the Kingdom of Thigny. Even at this age, he would have been quite an "old soul" by casterway standards of the day. But he then went on to rule his nation for 60 more years, eventually dying on the throne (literally - he died on the throne) in 759 AoE. This would mean that he lived to be 130 years old - an achievement that most certainly made him the oldest person on the planet at the time, and would cement his place as one of the (verifiably) longest-lived souls in all casterway history. Some cognoscenti have tried to argue that he was younger when his dropship fell to the planet's surface, but the youngest known excilation subjects have been in their mid-to-late teens. So even if he was a little younger than 20 when he arrived, he couldn't have been that much younger. And given the well-documented nature of his very-public life, it's commonly accepted that he did, in fact, die in 759 AoE. So, regardless of his exact age, he apparently enjoyed an incredibly long life.

Accomplishments & Achievements

T

higny is generally acknowledged as a pioneer - credited with "firsts" in a number of areas. He is the undisputed progenitor of the entire insurance industry. After he fled Smugglers' Moot, no one else on the planet would offer a comparable product for centuries. Nevertheless, it was his example that laid the groundwork for future insurance businesses. He is also known as an intrepid explorer and he is frequently credited as the author of some of the best-and-earliest maps of many regions across northern Isleprimoton. (Yet it should also be noted that modern cognoscenti routinely believe that Thigny's aide, Lloranc, is in fact largely - or entirely - responsible for the creation of these maps.) Although the ebny trade was already well established in Thigny's time, he was the first to recognize the recurring potential for this material that could be harvested (and re-harvested) from The Boneyard. And of course, he is also responsible for the establishment of the Kingdom of Thigny - a nation that has seen many trials over the millennia, but still stands to this day.

In Thigny, you could scarcely find a more perfect embodiment of white culture. That single man exemplified everything that is ingenious, ambitious, underhanded, and rotten about the Lumidari people.
Sim Son-Yun, Gongian Witness, 3415 AoG

Lumidari

Although it may be a stretch to call it an "achievement", Thigny is also widely acknowledged as the forefather of the Lumidari people. His connection to this ethnic group is nuanced, but nonetheless tactile. The Lumidari are commonly referenced amongst casterways as the planet's sole "white" race. These "white" people - and all of their associated culture - call the broad stretches of northern Isleprimoton home. More specifically, they often treat the nation of Thigny as a motherland - the spiritual "core" of the Lumidari.

Tacit Connections

The connections between Excilior's white populations, the acknowledged Lumidari lands, and Thigny, often become transposed in the public consciousness. Indeed, there are many from foreign lands who have mistakenly come to believe that all Lumidari - or even, all "white" people - can ultimately trace their lineage back to Thigny. But such assertions are either misinformed or patently false.

"White" People

First of all, the idea of a "white person" is somewhat muddled in casterway societies. The palest human ethnic group is, by far, the Nocterns. Their diet typically renders them (at least partially) phosphorescent. But even without such extranormal lighting, their skin is known to be deathly pale. Nevertheless, most casterways (and most casterways are actually oplanders) wouldn't even include Nocterns in the discussion of who is-or-is-not a "white person" - because most casterways simply exclude Nocterns altogether from the discussion of "who is a person".

Inqoans

For those who live above ground (i.e., the oplanders), a reasonable argument could be made that Inqoans are, in fact, "white people". However, they don't refer to themselves as such. And most who frequent Inqoan lands (mainly, the Elladorans and the Diasporans) tend to refer to the Inqoans as greys. It's probably a matter of conjecture, but most Inqoans do seem to appear more grey than the skin tones that are typically associated with "white people" (i.e., ranging from pink to very-light brown).

Loose Identity

When Thigny came to Excilior in 649 AoE, white people (with all the vagueness that is implied by that term) existed, in some proportion, in nearly every corner of known civilization. They were, in every established culture, a clear minority - but they definitely existed. And there has always been a steady percentage of white excilation passengers who have arrived on Excilior via dropship. But prior to Thigny's ascendance, white skin was simply seen as a trait - like having... large ears, or hirsute chests. So no one ever associated a particular culture or ethnicity with "being white" any more than they would define all curly-haired people as sharing a single culture. But Thigny's arrival - and, specifically, the establishment of his nation - seemed to mark a seismic shift in the way that "white people" identified themselves across all casterway societies.
Prior to the establishment of Thigny, pockets of white populations in many different countries had experienced varying degrees of racial oppression. In some societies, white people were treated with no particular favor or prejudice. (Although some cultures have long tolerated, or even cultivated, a mythos that white skin is a genetic defect.) But in other societies, incidents of outright persecution were known to occur sporadically against white communities. This was especially true in the Tallonai and Elladoran nations of southern Islemanoton and western Islegantuan.

My manna came and woke me in the middle of the night. He said there was no time, and we had a long journey ahead of us - across the sea. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I asked him what we could possibly expect to find, so very far away? A tear welled up in his and he whispered in my ear, "Home."
Tausas Noura, Thignian cobbler, 804 AoE

Eventual Migration

Thigny is never known to have said much about race relations. He certainly never dictated that his kingdom was a white kingdom. Nor did he take any strides to actively exclude non-white citizens from living, and thriving, in his country. (Thigny only ever saw one color - the color of money.) But for whatever reason, many in his inner circle were white. And when word spread of this new nation - the first (and, at that time, only) nation ruled by a white person - many white folks from other established regions took this as a cue to immigrate to Thigny. This "exodus" was, for the most part, quite subtle. There were never any massive waves of immigrants washing up on Thigny's shores. And there has never been a single country in casterway history that experienced a wholesale relocation of its entire white population. Thigny was not, and has never been, comprised of a homogenous population of only-white people. Nevertheless, over an extended period of time, Thigny came to be thought of as a "white country" and the expansive regions of northern Isleprimoton were eventually seen as the homeland of this white race. As the people of this region began to develop their own customs and cultural ideals, they eventually came to be known as the Lumidari. So even though he wasn't necessarily trying to establish an entire ethnic group, and even though it's understood that most Lumidari do not trace their genetic lineage to him, Thigny is still thought of, colloquially, as the "father" of the Lumidari people - the man who established their first "home" and the first kingdom that was primarily comprised of white people.

Failures & Embarrassments

A

ny discussion of Thigny's putative failures or embarrassments is ultimately stained by the cultural bias of the person doing the talking. There is much about his life that has been characterized as a massive failure. But those so-called "failures" are rarely spoken of as such by anyone in Lumidari culture. In fact, the stories of Thigny's life, accomplishments, and yes, failures, reads like two entirely different epics depending upon whether the tale is recorded by Lumidari cognoscenti or scholars from non-Lumidari nations.

I don't really have time for all your credentials and your backstories and your personal philosophies. Just tell me what you think of Thigny.
Dimnah Morlette, Poglian thief, 1959 AoE

Villainous Tale

Thigny's sagas, recorded by non-Lumidari sources, tend to read something like this: Thigny was a reprobate con man who first made his mark in Tallonai lands by selling fake cures for the Plague of Men. Over a course of years, he was repeatedly reprimanded, incarcerated, nearly executed, and banished, until he had no choice but to flee to the outlaw archipelago of Smugglers' Moot. During this exile, he fashioned a new scam, promising to cover the losses of saltfoots and their investors in return for upfront fees. To bolster his business and foster the (false) impression that he could-and-would pay claims, he even went so far as to sabotage the Khyron and murder her crew. He then had his lackey, Lloranc Brachina, cover up the scheme by scuttling the attackers' vessel and leaving them all to die in Hermite Bay. When the galloping razer of 673 AoE decimated shipping across the entire Sister Seia, Thigny knew that his Ponzi scheme would crumble and his clients would come after him. Rather than face such justice, he executed one more scam upon Smugglers' Moot - by perpetrating an extended and sophisticated cheat against Madame Victoraou's gaming establishment. After nearly breaking the house, the Madame herself called for his incarceration - but he managed to escape justice once again when he fled the isles and took to exploring the vast wilderness of northern Isleprimoton. After an extended period in these uncharted lands, he established a pipeline whereby he could repeatedly smuggle raw iron ore, and processed steel weapons, from the early Jontzu people. He then used these ill-gotten wares to "seed" his lands, giving prospectors the false impression that profitable mining operations could be established in present-day Thigny. After extracting a fee from every prospector, he then used a portion of those funds to build a paramilitary organization of thugs who would silence the prospectors who had grown wise to his scam. Eventually, his riches, and his absconded land allowed him to establish an illegitimate country - which he promptly named after himself and ruled with an iron fist for many decades thereafter.

Heroic Tale

Thigny's sagas, recorded by Lumidari sources, tend to read something like this: Thigny first made a name for himself as a charming and massively-successful traveling merchant across all Tallonai lands. While it is true that some of his wares were almost-certainly ineffective, "medical science" was nonexistent in his day, and there is no reason to believe that Thigny's "medicines" were any more- or less-effective than the "medicines" peddled by any other shamans, faith healers, or village elders. But his magnetic personality, his preternatural gift for gab, and his exceptional commercial success inspired great envy in the local populations whose own healers could not come close to duplicating his achievements. Thus, after a period of years, he was eventually exiled by every single one of the Tallonai countries and was eventually forced to flee to Smugglers' Moot. From there, he became the progenitor of an entirely new industry, one that casterways had never even dreamed of before: insurance. His faithful ability to make good on his customers' claims didn't just expand his own wealth, but it also fostered an economic boom centered on the burgeoning port city of Baletreremoy - a commercial legacy that endures to this day. Despite his stellar business reputation and his best efforts to account for all possible disasters, he realized that the galloping razer of 673 AoE had surpassed his presumed liabilities and he became desperate to find any-means-possible to do right by his clients. Thus, before others realized the gravity of the situation, he made a daring decision to hunker down at Madame Victoraou's casino. From there, he launched into an epic streak of luck - probably, the most amazing turn any gambler has ever had at any casino. His knowledge of Widow's Bones, coupled with his otherworldly fortune, meant that he earned amazing profits at the casino and was well positioned to pay off all of his clients' claims. But before he could do so, he was wrongly imprisoned by the casino's proprietor. Fearing for his life, he had no choice but to flee Smugglers' Moot. He traveled west and singlehandedly mapped-and-explored nearly all of the forests, coasts, jungles, and plains that constitute northern Isleprimoton. After many years in the wilderness, he identified an amazing market opportunity - the potential to mine iron ore from the lands of current-day Thigny. While the technologies of his time meant that these mining operations were ultimately fruitless, they nonetheless served as a catalyst for the massive wave of immigration that would eventually comprise his new nation. Once the population of his new kingdom was established, he went on to rule, wisely and fairly, for many decades. And in so doing, he fostered a grand new culture on Excilior, the likes of which other casterways had never seen: the Lumidari.

Competing Narratives

While both of these narratives essentially describe the same set of events, it is a hallmark of Thigny's life that so many people are wont to tell his story in radically different ways. For some, his "failures" are further prove of his legendary status. For others, the greatest embarrassment of Thigny's life is the simple fact that he never had the self-awareness to actually feel embarrassed about any of the events that so many others see as failures - or as outright criminal.

Morality & Philosophy

Thigny's morals are like a poof in the wind.
Virenz Koraj, Cervan mercenary, 727 AoE

G

reat tomes have been dedicated to studying Thigny's morality (or lack thereof). It would be lazy to assume that he had no moral compass. In his later years, spent ruling his newborn kingdom, he demonstrated a surprising knack for reasoned thought and ethical decision making. But it's difficult for any neutral researcher to examine his life, and his endeavors, without concluding that at least some of his schemes were outright fraudulent. For every putative piece of evidence against him, there is usually some type of counterargument one could make to give him the benefit of the doubt. For example, it can never be proven that he could not, or would not, pay the insurance claims due after the galloping razer of 673 AoE. Some of his believers even make the argument that his gambling spree in Madame Victoraou's casino was actually intended to shore up his finances so that he could make good on his clients' claims. But circumstantial evidence (e.g., the fact that the had emptied his home of all valuables) makes such arguments hard to swallow. More damning (based on evidence that surfaced centuries after his death) is the assumption that he orchestrated the sinking of the Khyron - which also means that he orchestrated the deaths of the Khyron's crew. And just to add an exclamation point on that crime, he also had his lackey, Lloranc, scuttle the ship of those who had been paid to sink the Khyron, thus leading to more deaths (murders).

Personal Code

Despite the overflowing questions about his morality, he definitely operated by a well-defined, and fairly-consistent code. In Thigny's worldview, there was always "us" and "them". For anyone he deemed as "them", there were very few morals to be considered. By his thinking, there was no such thing as a crime against "them". Anything done to "them" was conscionable - especially if it was done for the benefit of "us" (whomever "us" may have been at the time). Like so many people ensconced in grift, Thigny also had a keen - yet sometimes contradictory - sense of loyalty. This was demonstrated time-and-again in his personal life - particularly, with his sidekick, Lloranc - but it also showed itself in the decisions he made as a ruler. For example, even though some felt scammed by his sale of "charters" for (supposed) mining lands that, in fact, had no real mining potential, he maintained a lifelong commitment to these people once they remained on the land and, eventually, became his citizens. This led him to institute some of the first state-sponsored health initiatives among any casterway society. He was also a proponent of widespread public education (although the particulars of "education" in his day provided for a very scant, and colloquial, curriculum).

Nonviolent

While it's probably a stretch to define him as a pacifist (see: Khyron, crew murdered), he was known to avoid almost all forms of violence in his personal life. Once he assumed the throne of his own kingdom, he went to great lengths to avoid any possibility of armed conflict with other states. He saw battles and wars as an incredibly efficient tool for killing his own subjects and ruining his own economy. And those were things that he absolutely wanted to avoid.

Commerce Rules

Much of Thigny's "morality" and "philosophies" can be better understood through a capitalist/commercial lens. In his mind, if he had something of putative value, and someone wanted to pay him for it, he was doing that person a service by selling it to them. It didn't matter whether the item had any intrinsic value. It didn't matter if the buyer might eventually come to regret the purchase. From Thigny's perspective, commerce was always a common good.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

From the moment I met him, I always just assumed that one day he would rule the universe.
Lloranc Brachina, Thignian aide, 719 AoE

F

or centuries, cognoscenti have debated whether Thigny always aimed to establish his own kingdom, or whether, like so much else in his life, he just managed to stumble into it. The fortunes he continually amassed, first in Islemanoton, and then in Smugglers' Moot, certainly played a role in cementing his new nation. Specifically, the wealth allowed him to build a makeshift legion of enforcers that would eventually ensure the safety of his sprawling settlers. (And yes, those same enforcers were also, at times, turned against those settlers, for the purpose of keeping the more rebellious types "in line".) But there is little-to-nothing in the historical record to indicate that he had a structured, long-term plan for these funds, or that he had been dreaming of political rule before he arrived on Isleprimoton.
His detractors would argue that his primary motivation was simply to separate as much money as he could from as many suckers as he could find. But while it's tempting to paint him, simply, as an incorrigible grifter, many of his actions - especially, later in life, after he had crowned himself as ruler of his nation - were decidedly wise (some would even say, magnanimous). It's also been noted that his continual propensity for sales doesn't seem to have been an act - because it wasn't something that he routinely turned "off" or "on". His contemporaries often noted that his magnetic personality was always on display, even when there was no potential merchandise to be pushed on naive customers.

Social

Family Ties

T

higny never married. Nor did he ever acknowledge any committed, long-term relationships. He fathered a dozen children, who were all openly acknowledged and feted as wards of the royal court. But he never felt the need to publicly align - or even identify - their mother (or mothers). From the perspective of the public record, these children had a tendency to simply "appear". One day... Thigny had three children. And the next day, according to official archives, he suddenly had four children. Cognoscenti have surmised, by teasing details from the historical record, that the mother (or mothers) of these children were not shunned - and, in fact, were well attended to by the state. But no one was ever publicly acknowledged as having birthed his descendants.

Lloranc Brachina

Almost from the time of his arrival on Islemanoton, Thigny had Lloranc Brachina by his side as a faithful and ever-present companion. There is nothing in the official record to prove (or even suggest) that the two were anything more than friends and business associates. But their lifelong bond, coupled with the fact that Lloranc never married (and is not known to have fathered any children) has led many modern scholars to speculate about the nature of their relationship. For those who interpret their friendship as being that of two near-equals, with Lloranc in fact providing much of the brainpower (and, in some cases, the brawn) behind Thigny's accomplishments, they tend to assume that the two men were intimate - either for a time, or, possibly, throughout their lives. But others have read their relationship as more akin to master-and-servant - with Lloranc merely carrying out Thigny's bidding. For those who hold this view, they tend to interpret the relationship as purely platonic.

Social Aptitude

Now listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. When you meet him, whatever you do, you absolutely cannot allow him to smile at you.
Antony MarcEvoy, Morvatian trader, 661 AoE

T

he public view of Thigny was that he was affable, gregarious, and an engaging public speaker. This played well in his early years as a salesman and was a continued asset throughout his life. However, once he assumed the formal title as king of his lands, there are many recorded instances of him being reserved and measured in his words. There was certainly a dichotomy between the public version of Thigny, versus the more contemplative side of his demeanor that became more prominent as he was forced to weigh the serious affairs of state. He was especially reserved during those (rare) times when he truly wasn't sure how to proceed. When he needed to gather more information or consult with trusted confidantes, he was known to be very attentive and to listen - sometimes for hours - to all potential sides of an issue.

Mannerisms

T

higny had a habit of never staying completely still. While others with such proclivities may be accused of being "fidgety", this was never the case with Thigny. He did not twitch or fuss. Rather, he was described as having a constant - and graceful - motion about him. To some observers, it almost seemed as though he was dancing, although his gentle swaying seems to have been far more subdued than anything that could be classified as a proper "dance". Coupled with his melodious voice, the sensory effect was reported to be strangely enthralling.

Speech

I

n the few surviving accounts from his day, Thigny's observers continually remark about the sheer musical quality of his voice. There are numerous folktales from the Tallonai countries of Islemanoton suggesting that crowds would show up just to hear him speak - even though his "speech" was not political or informative in nature. It was simply a sales pitch. In fact, the word sonorous comes up so frequently in his depictions that some of this biographers have openly questioned whether this was more than just a random aesthetic quality. Some cognoscenti have gone so far as to suggest that he may have mastered some early form of hypnotism. However, after combing through all available sources, there is simply no way to prove (or disprove) such an assertion. Regardless of the underlying mechanism (or lack thereof), nearly everyone who came in contact with him was in agreement about the near-magical effect of hearing his voice. This effect was so powerful, that some have surmised he became a salesman solely as a direct consequence of his otherworldly tones.

Wealth & Financial state

T

here is no definitive way to measure Thigny's personal wealth at any point in his long-and-storied life. There is no doubt that he made vast sums of money. There is also no doubt that he spent that money lavishly to achieve his goals (and, as cynics would say, to maintain his ongoing scams). Depending on the chosen method of accounting, if one ascribes appreciated value to the vast lands that he annexed, he may arguably have been the richest person on the planet - or even, the richest person who has ever lived.

It's misleading to call him a "salesman", for he only needs to open his hand and wait for the crowd to fill it with coin.
Elzie Vedeigne, Cervian midwife, 659 AoE

Money Management

Whatever Thigny's personal fortune, at any given point in time, the more impressive aspect of his wealth was not its size - but how he managed it. Even if we accept the adversarial interpretation that Thigny was, when all was said and done, little more than a garden-variety con artist, there is little doubt that he managed his fortune in a way that few con artists ever have. Every time he had to pull up stakes and relocate (flee) to a more-favorable situation, he always seemed to maintain an impressive legacy of the riches that he had accumulated in his previous endeavors. This alone sets him in a class entirely separate from most common criminals - because most grifters are notorious for blowing money and always living one-con-ahead of being bankrupt. But Thigny never fit this mold.

Maintaining Wealth

Although he was, eventually, exiled from every sovereign nation in Islemanoton, it's important to note that his supplies, his traveling presentation, and even his supporting entourage never seemed to suffer and/or shrink when he was forced to escape to a neighboring country. In fact, anecdotal stories from the day seem to indicate that his traveling road show did nothing but grow, and grow, and grow again. When he first started as an unknown peddler, he boasted naught but a cart and a few (ragged) goods. But over the years, even as the local authorities grew increasingly wary of his schtick, his road show continually expanded to the point that it was eventually considered an attraction in its own right. Given that he was selling very-questionable "medicines" to a population that was, overwhelmingly, impoverished, the continual escalation of his troupe could only have been accomplished through 1) impressive sales, and 2) careful money management.
Of course, Thigny eventually exhausted his welcome in all of the Tallonai nations and fled to Smugglers' Moot. But the business he chose to strike up there - a newfangled idea known as "insurance" - was one that required significant funds to even get off the ground. His detractors will point out that, several years later, when the galloping razer laid waste to the Sister Seia's myriad vessels, Thigny found himself in an untenable financial situation and couldn't possibly hope to pay out on all the claims that would soon be made against the policies he sold. But Thigny had built a well-earned reputation for paying out on many claims - to a great many clients - over a significant period of time. He could not possibly have built such a reputation if he did not have some significant wealth-management strategies under his sleeve. And for the non-Lumidari researchers who have all-but-proven Thigny's complicity in the plot to sink the Khyron (and murder her crew), the simple fact is that such a scheme would not have been possible if he had not already accumulated the funds to pay the privateers who ultimately committed the crime.

Funding a Nation

Even when he escaped (one final time) to the unincorporated wilderness of northern Isleprimoton, there is ample evidence that Thigny was adept at saving, and safeguarding, the apparent fortune that he acquired through his adventures on Islemanoton and Smugglers' Moot. He frequently incentivized rogues and adventurers to join his ongoing expedition by simply paying them outright, in an ongoing fashion, for their services. Whenever his cross-country adventures started running leaning, he would dispatch Lloranc, who would disappear for a number of weeks, but would then reappear having magically acquired whatever goods were desperately needed by the party. And by the time that Thigny finally set up shop in the new (and, at that time, empty) city of Bavers, he had an amazing ability to buy whatever he needed, from whatever random merchants happened to be sailing up-or-down the coast. All of this implies that, some way, some how, Thigny had managed to hold on to sizable chunks of his past fortunes and could release (spend) it as was necessary to fuel his ongoing ambitions.

Pronunciation

ABB-nuhld cam-PONN-ihh-muss THINN-yee

Species

Human

Ethnicity

Lumidari

Life

629 PE 759 PE 130 years old

Eyes

Pale blue and deep-set

Hair

Light, sandy-brown hair flowing to the middle of his back

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Caucasian, with his face, arms, and chest covered in geometric tattoos

Height

1.6m

Weight

84kg

Aligned Organization

Thigny

Known Languages

Komon