Stephan Fyrhawk

**Biography:** The middle child of Kyaine’s southernmost noble house, Stephan figured he’d grow up, be married off somewhere else in the country for political gain, and that would be his life. Perhaps as a result of that, he was often accused as a child of not taking his studies or lessons seriously, though in reality he did try hard. It was hard for him to stay motivated to be better than he was until his father and elder sister died abruptly in an accident, leaving him heir to his house and the inheritor of his father’s hard-won position as the queen’s military advisor. In over his head, Stephan allowed himself to be manipulated by people who claimed to have his best interests at heart, and staged a coup, becoming king of Kyaine for a few months before being deposed himself. Now on the run and in hiding, Stephan just wishes his life could go back to normal.

**Notes:**

* Many people have called Stephan slow, but his first tutor Gabor was insistent that he was very bright and just hard to motivate
* Stephan has always been very emotional and at the same time easily overwhelmed by his own emotions
* Stephan doesn’t believe he is stupid, but he does tend to assume that other people are smarter than him
* Stephan is unaware of how easily he is led by the confidence of others. He thinks he is good at recognizing good suggestions when they are given to him
* Stephan tends to be very dependant on the people around him and gets lonely easily
* Though not suited to a high-pressure job that requires a lot of leadership, Stephan has a lot of good ideas that would do a lot of good if implemented
* Stephan has always been made extremely anxious by uncertainty
* Stephan has long periods of wishing it had been him in the carriage accident instead of his sister or his father
* Stephan is afraid of the dark and of small spaces
* Stephan has always just wanted to do the right thing. He feels as though if he aims for that, eventually everything will work out

**Quotes:**

* “Don’t speak to me that way! I’m not a child. I’m an adult, I’m the lord of House Fyrhawk, I’m member of this council and I’m telling you that this is a mistake, and you can’t simply dismiss me as a misbehaving child because you don’t like what I have to say, you patronizing old fool!”
* “Ultimately, of course, I bow to the authority of the crown. Having registered my disagreement, I will carry out my queen’s command, regardless of my personal opinion.”
* “Kill them.”
* “We’ve got everything we need here. We’ve got this bed. We’ve got the castle, the country. We can do whatever we want here.”
* “You’re going to have to spend a lot of time with me, so you need to stop hating me someday.”
* “People don’t care what’s true. They care about what appears to be true.”
* “I want to do something that’s going to annoy my advisors.”
* “Nobody loves the king, Ulrich, they only obey him.”
* “I happen to know that if Hawk’s Roost is undefended, it’s not that hard to conquer.”
* “Why do you all think I can’t handle the truth? It’s lying that bothers me.”
* “Did you know? You did, didn’t you? I’m sorry.”
* “I always thought I’d be killed by someone I knew.”
* “I’ve never made a good decision in my life.”

**Trivia:**

* When he was little, Stephan never wanted a companion because he feared his parents would like the companion better than him
* At six, Stephan accidentally locked himself in a store cupboard for a full day and couldn’t get out until Danica rescued him
* Though he was slightly sad that his friend Mick couldn’t be his companion, Stephan was inseparable from Neville after a few days
* Most of Stephan’s sexual firsts were with Neville starting when he was eleven, though at twelve he did get his first blowjob from a serving girl, which he didn’t like much
* Stephan and Sophia never had a very close relationship, especially after their mother died
* When he was ten, Stephan had a brief friendship with a strange northern boy named Bob, who took Stephan on a series of adventures in the city to play a game about catching criminals, before disappearing without a trace one day. Nobody in Stephan’s family ever met Bob, including Neville, and they all believe he wasn’t real
* The first time Neville used a dildo on Stephan, they ended up having to stop early when Stephan’s father summoned him, and Stephan had the toy stuck inside him for the entire day as a result
* Stephan used to have a pet snake named Orpheon
* Stephan does not intuitively know the difference between right and left, or any of the cardinal directions
* Stephan was prone to lice as a child, even when nobody else around him had them. He had his head shaved four times between the ages of five and twelve to get rid of them.

**Modern AU:** Modern Stephan is the son of a wealthy family with more ambition than sense, which is probably how he ended up getting talked into mounting a mayoral campaign that he was in no way qualified for. The fact that he won surprised him as much as anyone, though he was forced to resign after not that long due to a series of political machinations that still doesn’t entirely understand. He feels he’s happier with that responsibility now, even if his supporters are angry at his perceived betrayal of their votes. When not failing at politics, Stephan enjoys needlepoint, rock concerts, walks in the park and donating money to environmental causes.