<div class="floatleft">(http://rpgs.chrisbradleywriter.com/images/d/d4/Octavian.jpg)</div><br/><strong>Name:</strong>Octavian Lucius John Augustus, Duke of Ynysia<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Castle<br/><strong>Tagged:</strong>Catherine, Anders, Evelyn open.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Octavian said to Hetshepsit, "Yes, there is an enemy force to the south.  Looks like bad news for southerners and those in the midlands.  It's very exciting.  You know, in the abstract.  It's probably less abstract for those in the army's path."<br/><br/>He certainly wasn't bothered by Hetshepsit's appearance or religion.  Not too long ago, he had been in a place where they stuffed hundreds of prisoners of war into wooden frames and set them on fire to appease their gods.  The funary prostitution angle was creepy, but it was his experience that people felt all religions that were not their own were strange and disturbing.  He had learned to deal with such feelings long ago.  Of all the things that troubled him, faith was never it.<br/><br/>He knew that the crown would have need of his forces if there was a war in the south.  This was doubly true because Ynysian, itself, didn't have a feudal government.  The Duke of Ynysia (once High King of Ynysia; they had been allowed to keep their manner of government, so the only thing that had really changed was the title) was confirmed by the Council of the Elder Chiefs of All the Isles, and once confirmed, he served as their military commander - though the Council of the Elder Chiefs could also vote to remove him from office, though such a vote generally ended in a civil war which, itself, generally sorted out if the duke was fit for military service.  But until such a vote, under initial advice from the Council, Octavian could simply order the clans of Ynysia to take the field until such a time as the war was ended.  And his galleys could move 120 miles a day in all by the worst weather - more than ten times as fast as troops on foot.<br/><br/>He saw Evelyn looking at him, so he looked back, direct and frankly.  He smiled at her right as she was turning away, as if to say,<i>Bring it on</i>.