General Leopold D'Argovishte

"The Hound of the Desert"

 - High King Draga

### **Introduction**

General Leopold D'Argovishte, also known as the "Hound of the Desert", is a General within the Dragan Military with a passion for the Northern landscape and culture. His expertise in these areas makes him famous in the South and one of the few members of them that has managed to head up North and come back alive.

He is a well known drug user, mainly for painkillers and has been labelled as 'eccentric' and 'crazy' yet his tactical brain still remains to be intact and is seen as a valued member of Queen Al'ara's court, despite his mental state.

It is also suspected that he has links to the Cult of Cha'na.

### **Early Life**

During his childhood, Leopold was a smart boy. He always liked to calculate things and was extremely careful in making sure that when he acted he had the highest chance to achieve what he wanted. As a result he wasn’t one to go ahead and take risks and therefore had a relatively boring yet successful childhood. Passing all his classes with the highest distinctions that only a few were able to achieve.

His family life was a bit more unfortunate, his father was a businessman while his mother was part of Dragan court and one of the concubines of both High King Draga and his son Chief Draga. They were both barely present in the house but their favour with the Dragan Royal Family meant they had access to great wealth which they bestowed upon Leopold to help entertain himself while they worked.

### **Career**

When he reached adulthood, he signed up for Dragan Military Service like pretty much every other boy and began his career as a loyal soldier of the Dragan Kingdom. He first served under High King Draga, the father of Chief Draga where he received his greatest successes. Climbing up the ranks quite quickly as he saw countless victories against roaming bandit hordes, Wittukans, Spirans and Noctisvardians. Everyone knew his name and his exploits were sung about from Cantina to Cantina until finally, under the rule of Chief Draga, he was given a special assignment.

He would leave for an expedition to the North, a place no Southerner had gone for hundreds of years in search of the infamous “Helmet of Hurad”. It was said to bestow the holder with the power to bend any man to their will if worn by a person of King Andronascus’s descent, beloved ruler of Meibos during the first cycle of the Endless War.

Feeling unstoppable Leopold took a force of some of the most elite soldiers in Draga and set out for the North. In the beginning frequent messages were transmitted of their progress but as the months continued the contact kept being less until eventually, it stopped completely.

It wasn’t until shortly before Harmonys arrival that he returned to the South, alone and wearing weird robes and barely recognizable. He seemed to have aged drastically and his physical appearance fared no better. When he was taken to Chief Draga, he recounted tales of strangely robed men with foreign symbols as well as the Cult of Cha’na. He also told stories of weird and strange creatures that roamed the Northern territories and that the end of days is coming and the current cycle is coming to an end and another Endless War is upon us.

Naturally he was labelled as delusional and sent back to his family's estate and put under heavy guard.

When Chief Draga was overthrown and Queen Al’ara took the throne, Leopold was brought back into active service as a military consultant to the Queen and one of her main generals. Many claimed the Queen was crazy to have the madman by her side but around her, he seemed quite normal, as if they understood each other. They were said to have been sharing a lot of conversations about the Endless War, the current cycle and the Cult of Cha’na as well as the North.

Given that Meibos was the closest it ever got to a total peace, especially in Draga, he was not needed as much militarily as so Al’ara frequently sent him on expeditions into the North and was one of the only few people that could do so and come back alive. Casualties were always high but he somehow was able to always return unscathed.

This brought upon more rumours that some claimed he was a Northern double agent but the most prevalent tale is that he was blessed by the Cult of Cha’na and the even more secret Northern Eye. It was believed that only their blessing would ever allow a person in the South to head into the North unscathed.

**Second North-South Conflict**

Sources:

Portrait by Aneta Lewko- Ślęzak - https://www.artstation.com/artwork/5XzmP