Hephryan of Tyros

Hephryan of Tyros served as Dog of Tyros from 88 to 63 BWR. Noted for keeping the city on a smooth and even keel via diplomacy with various other cities, Hephryan had a reputation in his day as an autodidactic polymath with a particular bent for the history of his own community. He is chiefly remembered today for his work Worthies of Tyros and for his grand and unfinished History of Tyros.

Biographical details

Hephryan was born in 133 BWR, the younger of two sons of a family of wealthy merchants; he also had two younger sisters, Ynglyas and Joseyan. The elder brother evidently joined the priesthood of Zargyod; his name, interestingly, is not known to have been recorded.
Hephryan's family were investors in the city's copper mines and had the wherewithal to educate him extensively. He was tutored at the temple of Ynglyas in Elpaloz between the ages of 17 and 18. A rumour he did nothing to dispel suggests he fathered an illegitimate daughter there, lost the mother in childbirth and giving the child to the local temple of Hayan to raise as a chorister. He then returned to Tyros and entered work in his parent's business, supervising shipments of copper bullion to around the Sea of Jars. He therefore developed professional relationships with the port authorities in various cities, particularly Pholyos, Chogyos and Ramoros. He returned to Tyros permanently in 102 BWR, possibly on the death of his father, and supervised the business from home.
Such was the skill with which Hephryan ran the business that he was able to move the family to a manse in the Berry Hills. He gradually broadened his purview from personal to public affairs, becoming increasingly involved in city government and running for Dog of Tyros in 91 BWR. He was defeated in this election by Raphon of Berry Hills, though Raphon's untimely retirement he ran to replace him and was awarded the position. He is widely regarded as a skilled and effective leader noted for his stern work ethic. It was during his long political career that he began writing, apparently fitting the work into evenings after meetings were concluded for the day.
Hephryan never married. He died peacefully in his sleep in 63 BWR, reputedly after staying up uncommonly late to answer several letters from citizens. He is buried in an opulent tomb in the Berry Hills which he paid for himself, explicitly stating in his will that he would not have public funds spent on his own vanity.  

Thaumatological significance

In his writings Hephryan repeatedly breaks off from his subject to discuss the virtues of hard work and focus, a contradiction that many readers have seen fit to make fun of. Having said this, his two major works are united by the theme of the value and rewards of hard work.
His major work, from the point of view of thaumatology, is Worthies of Tyros, a collection of biographies of seven major figures in Tyrosian history - some legendary, some unambiguously real, some intriguingly halfway between the two - united by the common theme that the subject's successes were the products of diligence and goal-focused thinking. The book is of magical significance as one of the major sources of pre-Wesmodian information about the wizard Morogyad's sojourn in Tyros, where he accomplished much of his work.
Hephryan also embarked, in the later years of his life, on a monumental, multi-volume History of Tyros in which he sought to explain the entire history of the city from its legendary origins to the present day. He had completed only the first two of a projected nine volumes when he died. These cover the foundation of the city and its early relations with Dyqamay but little else. Interested researchers regard it as a scholarly and readable discussion of these matters.