Elias Grimshaw

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Elias Grimshaw was the last leader of the Dark Order on planet Altronis: either ironically or appropriately, given his surname, which could mean either 'Sun-forest' or 'Trickster's Grove', depending on the language.

History

Elias Grimshaw was descended from a family which belonged to the Grey Temple. After the Necromanic Wars, his forebears adjourned to Altronis after their defeat by the Alliance. His parents, Justin and Paige, were contributors to the war-effort, in a Dual Continental War on that planet: meaning not two continents (it encompassed five), but two wars interrupted by years of peace. Justin was an artilleryman, and Paige was a factory-girl. At the end of the First Half of the War, Justin came home with a limp and a lot of bad memories, and married Paige; and their sons and daughters were born in the following years. Both of them, and some of their children, were killed in the subsequent bombardment of their city, in the Second Half of the War. This left the surviving son, Elias, a lifelong misanthropy and distaste for idealism. Therefore Elias, as a young man, was something of a libertine, and lived by cheating people.

The next turning-point in his life, was his emigration abroad, where he met and married a criminal mastermind named Elvira: a vintner, drug dealer, procuress, confidence-woman, pickpocket, murderess, and blackmailer. After their marriage, the Grimshaws “conned happily ever after”: they killed, they lied, they stole, they cheated, they schemed and swindled everyone they met; they sold non-existent stock and phony remedies; they embezzled, they robbed, they bribed, they blackmailed, they bullied; and as a result of all this vice, became very rich, set themselves up as financiers, and multiplied their wealth until nobody bothered to ask its origin.

In time, Grimshaw collected every descendant he could find of the Grey Temple, and trained them, under assumed names, in the art of Necromancy. These became his Dark Order.

Appearance and Personality

In the story, Elias Grimshaw is an aging man with a pale, haggard face and greying black hair. Like all Necromancers, he is short and slender. He is a typical Gothic villain: boastful, cruel, and fond of complicated plots against innocent people. On occasion he is known to abuse his followers, especially when their stratagems fail. Even so, he is genuinely attached to his wife, Elvira.

Powers and Abilities

Grimshaw is an accomplished master of Necromancy, and Magic generally; but neither soothsayer nor alchemist nor engineer, and so, relies on his subordinates for these tasks. He is, however, a mind-reader and confidence-man, a black-belt martial-artist, and a (not quite) self-made businessman and patron of the arts. He is also a fair pianist, flautist, drummer, and composer. As leader of the Dark Order he often serves as Arch Magus of tower spells. When berating his followers or tormenting a captive, he shows extraordinary strength.

Career

Very little is known, on Altronis or elsewhere, what crimes Grimshaw and his Dark Order committed; but they secretly influenced the local structures of power for almost 400 years, and were associated with the Altronis Corpocracy. It is likely that nearly half the crimes committed on Altronis were connected to them in some degree.