Tybir

Captain **Lanchan Tybir** is a retired soldier and one of seven possible companions in *Torment: Tides of Numenera*. Naturally optimistic and self-assured, he is a Jack who uses his silver tongue to deceive and charm, and rarely finds himself on the right side of the law.

Tybir can be found near the execution grounds in Sagus Cliffs, desperately trying to prevent the execution of his friend Ris, convicted of trading state secrets. He joins the party if asked after accepting his quest.

In a fit of cosmic irony, the literal meaning of his name is *Honest*. Mother had great hopes for him.

## Background

Pacing the edges of the crowd is a paunchy old soldier with a swaggering stride. At the moment, however, his jauntiness seems overshadowed by worry, and he alternates between watching the execution and searching the crowd as if looking for a miracle. Tybir is a soldier of fortune who currently believes himself to be its plaything.

Tybir hails from a small farming village and has done a long list of jobs in his life - soldier, spy, bodyguard, ambassador, a hundred more - but whatever job he held, his true vocation was cheating people. His positions were merely the means to an end, that end being amassing money no matter what. It helped that his childhood was horrifyingly meaningless: A little farm in the Plowshares, about a day's walk from absolutely nothing. When he got away, Tybir never desired anything else, save perhaps punching his father in the face. He spent his life drifting from one job to another, terrible at everything save amassing cash: Terrible farmer, poor soldier, worse bodyguard.

It took him time to realize his gift for conning people. His first commission was with the cattle barons of the Plowshares, who were fighting the Sagus Protectorate over grazing land. Neither side was in the right and eventually he drifted on. From the cattle barons of the Plowshares, through the Ailu Rebels, to the White Company, he sold his sword to anybody who could pay. However, even he wasn't immune to the allure of ideas and signed on to a dead loser once or twice. Even got dragged into the Endless Battle once, on the strength of a pretty lie about easy shins. From that last one, he couldn't get back out fast enough. It was the strangest war I ever took part in, and Tybir once fought in a war where one side could read the other side's minds. The Endless Battle was more like an endless nightmare: Troops march out in the morning, with orders to take such and such a hill, and they take it, and then a ripple of time crosses the battle field and everyone's back to the same morning, heading for the same hill, only this time they fail. And then time resets and...

Tybir saw his friends die, and then live, and then die again an entirely different way. He died a few times himself, but then another folding of reality would bring him back to a moment before the battle, and this time he lived. The worst part was that he walked into it with eyes open. He heard that ancient artifacts were as thick as leaves on the ground on those battlefields, so he thought he'd go in, pick up a few and walk out again. Shins for nothing. Turned out it was a damned hard place to leave, what with all the shifting and folding. It took Tybir a dozen realities to make it out, and truth to tell he's still not sure he's back in the one he started in."

His latest problem was caused by an attempt to smuggle state secrets concealed in a bottle of black market brandy. What was a simple smuggling run turned into a crackdown by levies. Someone in the council knew about the operation and the liquid numenera used to hide the scroll. Tybir jumped ship in time and has been looking for a way to free Ris for a good long while now...

## Interactions

### Companion

* **Tybir** is a Jack, designed for melee combat and persuasion. He can be recruited either at Circus Minor – after accepting the quest to save his friend, Ris, from execution –, or from the Caravanserai – after refusing the quest and waiting for the execution to end.
* If asked to leave the party he can be found in the Caravanserai, near Master Rennio, hiding from Ris. If Tybir remains in your party when you depart for the Valley of Dead Heroes, you will be accosted by his former friend, who will try to kill Tybir. You can resolve this through  Might (Intimidation) or attack immediately.

### Quests

* Stay of Execution: Tybir pleads with you to save his friend.
* Broken Hearts: Once in the Bloom, Tybir's old love, Auvigne, makes a return.

## Inventory

* Body: Tybir's Sark
* Cloak: Tybir's Mantle
* Weapons: Broadsword/Shield