Veldeo of Miraazid

Veldeo of Miraazid was a nobleman who served in the court of many former Raptor Kings and the court of the first Raptor Queen - Alena Avihegre. Although the public knew him for his cunning, conservative circles of nobles relied on him to be the puppet master for Raptor Kings to maintain their place in the status quo. When his attempts to turn the people of Avia against the Raptor Queen and Raven's Mark, they would combine forces to foil his plots to sabotage Avia from the inside and corner him in his manor.

## Appearance & Personality

Veldo kept a clean-shaven face and well-slicked, long dark brown hair. He work a nobleman's outfit of emerald and gold - with an ornate rapier at his side that depicted the Avian crest. Veldeo spoke with a calm demeanor that tries to relax any whom he speaks with. He made himself as difficult to read as possible while trying to read those he spoke with as if they were open books. Despite his calm exterior, Veldeo looked down on those he deemed the "unproven" masses. In his eyes, there were two types of people: those who he could manipulate and those he could exterminate.

## History

### The Coronation of the Raptor Queen

With the coronation of Alena Avihegre, nobles of Avia were concerned about two things: her outspoken demeanor and her desire to make the leadership of the crown transparent and for the people. Realizing their way of profiting off of nobility would be in danger, nobles rallied around Veldeo to get rid of her. Veldeo realized an assassination would spark riots so he needed to shatter the people's faith in Alena and Alena's faith in those closest to her. He began working on sabotaging her relations with fellow nobles and with Raven's Mark.

### The Smearing of Raven's Mark

After Corvus was attacked by Gryphord the Big Red Dragon, Marko offered Raven's Mark as a haven for those displaced by the attack and Alena promised aid from Raptora to help in the rebuilding efforts. Veldeo hired mercenaries to ambush Raptora's aid convoys while he would sabotage attempts by the Avia's soldiers to find or prevent these ambushes. He also pushed the press to publish conspiracy theories that tried to prove that Raven's Mark was behind Gryphord's attack in an attempt to siphon money from Avia's taxpayer money. Some even went as far as saying Raven's Mark was colluding with Vershnila to take over Avia from the inside. These theories gained traction when actions of other guild members came to light - such as hiring a child killing maniac when folks witnessed a member tear a teenage delinquent who joined a group of bandits apart and the time when a member got possessed by a demonic sword, sliced down a member of the cloth in broad daylight, then transformed into a flying terror with a barbed blade. People eventually began protesting Raven's Mark and assembling outside the hall to prevent customers from entering.

### Foiling Veldeo's Conspirators

Corinne - Alena's girlfriend (at least before she became her wife) and member of Raven's Mark - was advised by a noble to break up with Alena for her sake and the kingdom's. When Corinne refused, she had to eventually fend off an ambush. The guild started realizing that the best time to fight back against all this was three conspiracy theories ago. The second best time was right now. Members started investigating the thefts of aid packages and the rumors - eventually tracing them back to an orator for nobles named Grigori. Jo had come up with a plan with Salix, Alaunin, Dallon, Witch, and Seria to get Grigori. After tricking him into speaking aloud of his plans into a magic device that projects sound for miles, they captured and interrogated Grigori. Grigori admitted to being a member of Jend's guild, Magpie's Nest, and planned on working with Veldeo to take Raven's Mark down. Angry at his lies and vile treatment of Seria, they burned him anyway. Although annoyed at the lost testimony that could have been, the higher-ups understood and accepted why they did it. Other members captured a tabaxi by the name of Filching Paw - who was orchestrating the ambushes on aid caravans in order to spread blame on Raven's Mark. Dhivara, Srinshe, Jeezls and Ursa managed to capture a firbolg druid in Raptora Castle who was animating plants to attack Alena's close friends and trusted advisors. After interrogating him, the firbolg gave away Veldeo's involvement and hiding spot.

### Veldeo's Last Stand

After finding out that Veldeo was hiding in one of his manor's in the woods, Raven's Mark and the Griffon Guard mobilized to surround the home and prevent his escape. Routes were taken by land, air and sea to leave him with the option of standing and fighting to the end. The group to storm his manor for the final push consisted of Srinshe, Jeezls, Carric, Corinne, Witch and Seria. They had fought through countless traps, puzzles and even animated baked goods to located Veldeo in a basement bunker with a drow mercenary group known as the Ladies of Lolth. Despite attempts to talk his way out, both groups came to blows and attempts to mind control members of the party fell apart. Moreso, when the mage of the Ladies of Lolth was taken down and her debilitating Cloudkill spell ended. After taking them all down, the party walked out triumphantly with the prisoners and whatever they could loot. The imprisoned conspirators were sentenced to prison sentences. Veldeo's estate was divvied up as rebates to the people and his family in Avia exiled. Veldeo was set to serve a life sentence in an isolated cell away from all civilization with naught but clockwork guards to keep him company. Alena made it clear to him that her mercy was no weakness and that his power only comes from putting candied words in people's ears. She announced to those who watched his trial that Veldeo would regret that Alena didn't give him the mercy of a quick death.

## Powers and Abilities

### Master of Manipulation

Veldeo's primary method of getting things done were through his words and his plots. When Corvus was attacked by Gryphord the Big Red Dragon, Veldeo took advantage of Marko's offer to use Raven's Mark as a shelter for those displaced by the attack to spread conspiracies that Raven's Mark planned the attack in order to put themselves in a position for Alena to give away kingdom taxes to the guild. When a guild member attuned to a cursed sword and killed a clergywoman in broad daylight, Veldeo helped the media have a field day with the tale to the point where the people of Corvus began protesting Raven's Mark's existence. He even had co-conspirators be loyal to him to the point of death that members of Raven's Mark had to be meticulous in their capture and interrogation of them in order to even trace their plans back to Veldeo.

### Cunning Strategist

Along with using his words to convince people to work for him, he also coordinated elaborate ploys in ways that made it hard to come back to him. He managed to sabotage Avia's infrastructure and Raptora Castle's security to the point where even Queen Alena had to question who was loyal to her and who wasn't. Those who know of Veldeo's history in serving the crown also note that he had come out of unwinnable wars either victorious or in a stalemate that cost the enemy more than it cost Avia's forces.

### Wealth and Status

Having fought for/against and advised centuries worth of Raptor Kings, Veldeo paved his way to nobility and power. His years of experience is reflected in both his affluent appearance and lifestyle, his vast network of contacts to do the dirty deeds his plots require, and knowledge of Avia in order to plan perfect ambushes that seemed too well done for mercenaries to do them.

### Capable Duelist and Enchanter

Although Veldeo preferred to rely on hired hands and tactics, he was shown to hold his own with a rapier and capable of casting spells to beguile an opponent's mind. However, he relies on this magic as a last resort when negotiating does not work.