Gallow the Underhanded

*“The lesson is this - the game is rigged. The cards are stacked. The dice are loaded. It's the same as it always was. Every cycle. People in power exert power. Little people cower in their homes, think what they're told to think, and buy whatever product will help them forget how horrible their lives are for another day. And that's why I don't ‘play’ their fucking game. I don't swallow their shit sandwich and politely ask for another. It's why I run the shadows. That's where real life is. Reality's living in the places no one wants you to see.”*

-Gallow the Underhanded

## History

He respects strength and honor, they say... but considers those traits beneath him. The man who would one day be known as Gallow the Underhanded was born Nos Whitwater, in a halfling community in the Southside Slums. Orphaned at a young age, Nos was part of a gang of orphans that ran amok in the Slums. They were tough, violent, and scrappy, and he was the toughest, most violent, and scrappiest of them. It was only natural that he would become their leader. Young Nos was fond of daring his young compatriots to engage in risky and illegal behavior, and because he was the most daring among them, he would make sure to outdo them at every step. This continued until one of his comrades, at Nos’ urging, stole jewels belonging to the wife of Voitto Neoptolemus, the current warlord of the Southside Slums. The boy was caught and hung for his audacity. Nos’ hold over the other orphans broke immediately, and the young halfling found himself at crossroads in his life. What lesson would he take? Nos threw away any hope of redemption when he concluded that the only thing he had done wrong was to risk his neck alongside his flunkies. After all, it could have been him dangling from the noose! Nos returned to the orphanage, thoroughly chastised, and a few years later, was scouted by a fight promoter, who noticed his nimbleness, viciousness, and restless energy. Nos made his debut in the fighting pits under his chosen name, Gallow. A middling fame, he never achieved any real notoriety until a controversial rematch against a local champion, in which Gallow won and was discovered to have clenched a roll of coins in each fist. Gallow was disqualified, but his rival later died of his injuries. From that day onwards, Gallow became known as Gallow the Underhanded. An indifferent fighter with ambition and a racing mind, Gallow quickly moved into the world of fight promotion. Gallow believed that there was an appetite for blood sport, and with some partners, opened an arena where fighters could use any weapons, and fight to the death. To promote the new venue - the Blood Den Arena - Gallow himself fought against any contestant who wished to challenge him, inevitably dismembering all comers with his new signature weapon, a gladius. Gallow was correct to bet on the bloodthirst of the Southside Slums, and the Blood Den Arena became a thriving underbelly for a combination of scum, opportunists, and thrill-seekers eager to see their fantasies brought to gory life. Gallow encouraged off-ring violence as well, and the Arena became known as a criminal hotspot where all manner of shady dealing took place. Gallow used the opportunity to make connections, make a profit, and invest his capital in an unusual resource - the fighters themselves. Gallow made sure that the best gladiators in his arena were lavishly rewarded, and often offered them well-paying work in his employ, cultivating a sense of loyalty from each and every one of them. Those who responded poorly to his overtures were noted as well, and often blacklisted from the profession. Before long, Gallow’s private army of gladiators and pit fighters were put to use with shocking impunity, allowing him to throw his weight around the threat of violence. He was easily the second-most powerful man in the Southside Slums, second only to the warlord, Voitto Neoptolemus, and a clash was inevitable. Power struggles in the Slums were inevitably violent, but no one was ready for the succession of increasingly cruel maneuvers that Gallow had in mind. It began when Gallow bought the loyalty of his eldest daughter and had her steal huge numbers of financial documents from his study demonstrating a pervasive network of fraud and corruption. Instead of releasing them, Gallow turned on her, using a private meeting to take her as a hostage and promising to harm her if her father did not step down from his position. Voitto Neoptolemus met once to negotiate with Gallow, who brought one of his daughter’s fingers to the meeting. They two had not ever met, and the aging warlord, seeing the anger, power-lust, and arrogance in Gallow’s eyes, was reminded of himself as a younger man, and came away a frightened and defeated man. Gallow had done all the preliminary work of plying Neoptolemus' chief lieutenants with bribes, promises, and threats, and sealed the deal by having the old warlord retire and declare Gallow his successor. But even that was not enough for Gallow, who that very night released his gladiators on the slums in an orgy of violence, directing them to kill every high-ranking follower of Neptolemus who had refused his overtures. In a final show of cruelty, he released the documents given to him by Neptolemus’ daughter, then erected a gallows in the city square and had both Neoptolemus and his daughter hung - the former for fraud, the second for betraying her father. Wealth, treachery, violence, cruelty, rewards for the loyal, punishment for the wavering - Gallow had it all. The elite of the Slums were left with no ambiguity about Gallow the Underhanded’s fitness to be warlord of the Southside Slums, while the lowly - who had been largely untouched by Gallow’s power play - simply shrugged and accepted that their lives were unlikely to change. Gallow inaugurated his tenure with a lavish gladiatorial contest, inviting people from across Dragonsmouth to attend - including warlords Raden and Roger of Redshire.

## Personality

In the modern day, Gallow the Underhanded has moderated his worst instincts, relying more and more on his reputation and on symbolic gestures. The gallows he used to hang Voito Neoptolemus and his daughter has been fortified and made permanent. Gallow jokingly nicknamed the edifice “the Handsome,” and to be hung upon it now referred to as “riding the handsome.” The punishment is reserved for betrayal, a reminder to the people of the Southside Slums of how he took power, and a challenge to anyone who seeks to take his place. He has turned “the Handsome” into a job board, with notices posted on the scaffolding, forcing every prospective employee to remind themselves who is in charge and on whose generosity their livelihoods depend. Gallow is chiefly concerned with exacting his cut of the profit from businesses and dispensing violence upon anyone who does not tow the line. He still manages the Blood Den Arena, though he is less hands on then he used to be, and has not fought there in years. He has tried to boost its reputation slightly, by focusing on themes of courage and martial honor, and trying to rebrand the Blood Den Arena as a place where penniless youth like himself can make a life for themselves. This is partly true, but the life that Gallow promises is at best a life of servitude to him and his criminal empire. Gallow knows deep in his heart that his rule, seemingly secure, is held together by fear, and that the day will come that he will face his counterpart just as Voito Neoptolemus did. And on that day, Gallow knows, he too will ride the handsome.

## Downfall

During the power struggle between Gallow the Underhanded and Jack the Winner, Onyx the Indestructible entered as a contestant in the Blood Den Arena and used her position to leap into Gallow's booth, knocking him unconscious, cutting off his right hand, and severing her company's contract with him. Having additionally lost the majority of his highest-ranking gladiators in battle with Jack and seeing his empire crumble around him, Gallow quietly took his own life. It was preferable to be seen as having been simply killed by Onyx.