Damianos Thalasse

Official Damianos art by Bee.

Damianos "Damen" Thalasse is a Hobgoblin Paladin, an important NPC familiar with the Delphos party, and a champion gladiator in the city of Erran. He is played by R on Nyxrising's Life Of The Party: The Delphos Saga.

## **About Damianos**

#### **Appearance**

Damianos is a 6ft3 hobgoblin with dark red fur and thick dark brown curly hair. His defining feature is his heterochromatic eyes, one of which is green and the other honey-coloured. Damen's 'brand' as a gladiator is lion-themed, and this is ever-present through his outfit, which includes a golden breastplate and a brown leather pteruges skirt, lion head belt, and a half cape with a lion fur trim. His greaves are designed to look like an open maw and his helmed is a lion's head.

#### **Personality**

Damen is bold, charming, and a bit of a playboy around Erran’s many tavernas and bars, definitely not above using his fame to try his luck with men and women alike. A little bull-headed, he is deeply devoted to his oath and at heart, selfless, protective and very affectionate. It seems as though his playfulness is sometimes a cover for how he's actually feeling, and whilst he comes across as a little dense, he occasionally lets it slip how smart he really is.

#### **Religion**

Damen's paladin oath is made to Maglubiyet, God of conquest and war. He is a devout believer and his Spiritual Weapon manifests as Maglubiyet's symbol, a double-headed battleaxe dripping fresh blood.

#### **Equipment and** **Key Possessions**

Damen fights with a short sword and a whip, and has a hoplite shield. He plays the Kithara, and carries leatherworking tools.

## **Relationships**

#### **The Party**

Icarus Pelayo - What began as a somewhat strange relationship, with Icarus nearly hero-worshipping Damen for a time, has become an extremely close friendship. Icarus had a set of sabertooth tiger fangs enchanted with the Sending spell, stringing Damen's onto a cord of Fleecemane Lion fur as a gift. The two of them communicate regularly through the necklaces.

Pandora Di Rossi - Damen counts Pandora amongst his limited close friends and is very physically affectionate and supportive of her. When Pandora was cursed during an encounter, Damen did everything he could to see the curse undone before it became permanent, summoning a steed and riding himself and Pandora across the city to see it fixed.

Mayes Hasegawa - Mayes is another one of Damen's limited number of close friends, and he has a great deal of respect for them. When they went down during a fight he rushed to their aid, and when the floor collapsed and the two of them were buried, Damen was found cradling Mayes close to himself to protect them from the debris.

#### **Key Characters**

Lord Roman Pešek - Lord Pešek is Damianos' gladiatorial patron. As a patron, Pešek's responsibilities include clothing, feeding and paying for medical care for Damen, as well as marketing him as a public figure. In repayment, Pešek makes money off Damen, taking a cut of his earnings from the Maw. Whilst it may seem as though their relationship is unbalanced on the surface - Roman being exceptionally well-off and Damen living in the poorer end of Erran - Roman and Damen are near symbiotic in their friendship and care for one another. Damen owes Roman money for repayments Roman has made to his debts over the years, with Roman buying him out of trouble with Angelos Kondou in the past.

Panos - Panos is Damen's 8 year old son. He lives with his mother, and Damen does not have any form of custody over the boy. Despite this, the two of them are close and Panos really looks up to his father. He loves to watch him fight at The Maw but his mother disapproves. Where Damen doesn't have much to his name, Panos is seen dressed in fine clothing at all times - it is implied that a lot of Damen's money goes to his son. As Panos was born before Damen left the army, and Damen was imprisoned after this point, it's likely this was a contributing factor to his minimal contact with his son.

Damen is also close friends with the other gladiators, including Orion, Demaris, Ezra, Nikostratus, and Nikostratus' sister Helena, Taralya and Joey, and Adrian.

#### **Mentioned Characters**

Angelos Kondou & Medea Callali - At one point in his gladiatorial career, Damen fell into debt with Kondou and ended up working for him at his underground fighting ring. He is found in Kondou's records as having faced off against a Night-mare in the arena a few years prior. Whilst it isn't detailed how long he worked for the crime lord, Kondou's lackey Medea recognises him on sight and the two of them clearly have a strained relationship, implying Damen's presence was significant.

## **History**

#### **Background**

Damianos' patron Lord Roman Pešek explains to the party that Damen had a rough upbringing, joining the army age 14 as a water boy and climbing his way through the ranks. He could have been a General one day were it not for his problem with authority, which caused him to have a major falling out with one of his superiors, not only seeing him dishonourably discharged but also landing him in prison. He was thrown into the arena as punishment where the life expectancy of gladiators was very short. Using his military prowess and charisma, Damen unified the other gladiators and they began to win more fights than they lost. This transformed the Maw coliseum into the spectacle it is in 740 and caught Pešek's attention, who reached out and became his patron.

At some point, Damen fell into debt with Angelos Kondou's illegal fighting ring, and Roman had to pay his debts for him. He has gambling issues and isn't good with money, still owing Roman years later.

Damianos has a child, Panos, also a hobgoblin, with an unknown woman. He has no custody rights and says that Panos' mother does not like his career as a gladiator. Damen and Panos have a good relationship regardless.

## **Technical Information**

#### **Armor Class: 17**

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