"There are great deeds that remain undone, enemies yet to conquer and raptures yet to rejoice in. So, as it is written, so shall it be done. I, Settra, have proclaimed it — let none dare oppose my will."
—Inscription on the Great Obelisk of Khemri thought to be the last works of King Settra the Imperishable, Warhammer Armies: Tomb Kings (6th Edition)
Just as board game players get to enjoy a feeling of strategic and tactical command, these characters utterly master both arts.
All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
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Warhammer franchise:
Warhammer: Fantasy Examples
- Khazrak One-Eye is the most brilliant champion of the Beastmen who ever lived. Taking over by defeating his mentor, but sparing him and keeping one of his horns for respect, Khazrak organized a series of raids on the Drakwald villages, luring out human forces and eventually losing an eye to Count Boris Todbringer. Khazrak proceeded to return the favor by defeating Boris and taking his eye in turn, but let him live because he loved matching wits with the man. Khazrak was responsible for the brilliant Battle of Grimminhagen where he lured in a huge force of the Empire and completely wiped them out, before resuming his brilliant raids and tactics. Uncommonly intelligent and even possessing a sense of honor not often seen to his race, Khazrak meets his death in the End Times at the hands of Boris, but not before he lures out Boris's forces to leave his city undefended and ripe to plunder by the armies of Archaon.
- Count Vlad von Carstein is a powerful vampire and the progenitor of the von Carstein bloodline. After freeing himself from the control of Nagash, Vlad resurfaces centuries later to seize control of Sylvania and uses brilliant tactics and intimidation to keep his hold, constantly coming out on top via his brilliant military tactics and political machinations. Despite his evil, Vlad deeply loves his wife Isabella, and is one of the few villains to drive the Empire to its knees. Even in the End Times, Vlad never loses his style or redeeming qualities and ultimately dies with Isabella in a Mercy Kill when she is corrupted by Nurgle.
- Settra the Imperishable sacrificed his own sons to become the Gods' chosen, and successfully led a campaign throughout Khemri, reuniting his land and preserving his nearly-dead people. Creating a golden age through his tyranny, Settra conquered not only Khemri, but progressively led a campaign, nearly conquering the entire world with his power and strategic mastery. Disappointed that he could not live long enough to conquer all of the Old World, Settra created the Mortuary Cult to revive him. When, thanks to the workings of the sorcerer Nagash, he Came Back Wrong as an undead Tomb King, Settra took his land back once more, and held it effortlessly, fending off and defeating even the most powerful of invaders, such as the Norscans who raided his treasury, with ease. Even when confronted by the Chaos Gods in the End Times, Settra never surrendered, choosing to be defiant in the face of the world's end.
- Kouran Darkhand is the right-hand of Malekith the Witch-King. Having earned his position by brilliant campaigns and ruthlessly eliminating those in his way, Kouran lives to see Malekith take his place as ruler of all elf-kind, killing and outwitting any inferior foolish enough to seek his position. A genius tactician, Kouran once sacrificed half an army to secure victory and is known and feared by all enemies to the "Druchii."
- Alith Anar saw the schism of the elves and Malekith's treachery annihilate his entire family and home of Nagarythe. Giving in to vengeance with his warriors, Alith became the Shadow King who harried, outplayed and destroyed countless Druchii forces, slaughtering any who surrendered or fled to sow fear through the Dark Elves' ranks. Even after the Sundering, Alith continued to lead his forces to kill as many Druchii as possible with brilliant strategies, once even infiltrating their court to dance with Queen Morathi and steal from her before tricking his pursuers into drinking poison. At the End Times, Alith places the fate of the elven kingdoms above personal revenge, killing Tyrion and wounding Malekith to make the latter king of the elves but with the reminder that the Shadow King would be waiting should he ever slip back to his dark habits.
- Gorbad Ironclaw is a brilliant Orc Warboss who stood out among his typically brutish people. First taking power by defeating his enemies in battle, he amassed a power base of countless Orcs, even using clever tactics such as assassination. Then, after handily defeating most of the Dwarfs, Gorbad used his power to wage war on the Empire. Combining his people's might with cunning and intelligence, Gorbad outplayed and defeated most Imperial forces that opposed him, even building a makeshift bridge from debris to sack the city of Nuln. Despite being permanently wounded by opposing general Count Adolphus as he destroyed the province of Solland, Gorbad defeated Adolphus and pressed on to the Imperial capital. Despite losing many troops due to initial overconfidence and the wound, Gorbad recovered and unleashed wyverns upon the city which slew the Emperor, and was stopped only inches from victory. Even when without most of his army and cornered by the vengeful Dwarfs on his way back to his clan, Gorbad fought valiantly and became a legend to the Greenskin people.
Examples
- Corvus Corax, Primarch of the Raven Guard, grew up on a moon dominated by a cruel elite, raised by miners to be their savior. Leading them to victory on guile, stealth and sabotage, Corax met his father, The Emperor of Mankind, agreeing to accompany him home if the Emperor would grant his world freedom, forcing Corax to kill thousands of innocents in a bombardment to spare millions. Imparting his skills and philosophies to his Legion, Corax led them in the Emperor's crusades to stealthily convert entire hostile worlds into loyal ones. Upon the Horus Heresy, Corax was forced to craft abominations he later euthanized before plunging into the Eye of Terror. Revealed to have survived, Corax is now a being of the Webway who stealthily hunts his treacherous former brothers, planning to destroy them and avenge his fallen sons and father.
- Eldrad Ulthran, Exiled High Farseer of Ulthwé, is perhaps the most powerful Psyker the Eldar have ever produced. Having once attempted to warn the Empire about Horus's treachery, he has spent his time ever since weaving complex plans to benefit the Eldar, and has perhaps even made the entire Imperium of Man his pawns. Eldrad was responsible for several Eldar raids that produced the eventual rise of Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka and the Armageddon Wars, solely so Eldrad could ensure 10,000 Eldar escaped death at the cost of millions of humans. Eldrad frequently conducts daring plots and schemes to benefit his race, even to ensure the eventual triumph of a new god of the Eldar to defeat Chaos and save his race's souls from Slaanesh.
- Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, the Beast of the Apocalypse, is the most successful Ork warboss in history. The self-proclaimed Prophet of the WAAAAGH!, Ghazghkull puts together daring crusade after daring crusade, bringing new advancements to the orks and being a tactical genius even by the standards of other races. Ghazghkull has become a blight on the Imperium, leaving whole worlds burning behind him and constantly outwitting all enemies save for only Comissar Sebastian Yarrick, the one human Ghazghkull truly respects. Ghazghkull frequently inspires other Orks with his sheer charisma and force of will, planning on bringing out a war so great that his deities Gork and Mork come to join the fun personally.
- Azhek Ahriman is the mortal champion of Tzeentch. A former member of the Thousand Sons Legion, Ahriman is driven to save his legion and correct all his past mistakes by overthrowing Tzeentch himself and becoming a new God. To his end, Ahriman is a brilliant schemer, crafting and "seeding" new cults on a myriad of worlds to find and approach new knowledge while manipulating entire new conflicts so he can swoop in, take all their work and bring himself closer to the Black Library and Tzeentch's true name. Time and again, Ahriman demonstrates why he is worthy of being the champion of the Changer of Ways.
- Trazyn the Infinite is an ingenious Necron, who is equal to any of the great Phaerons in wit and skill. A collector of rare, historical things and people, Trazyn frequently outwits others to steal things for his collection. Trazyn performs daring heists and uses his fellow Necron lords as body doubles for himself without informing them, manipulating events so he can benefit. When Abaddon launched his 13th Black Crusade on Cadia, Trazyn even joined in on the side of the Imperium, wanting to play the hero for fun, and also to steal Abaddon himself for his collection, though he decided to make due with the Lord Castellan of Cadia instead. Trazyn is even banned from the Necron throne worlds due to his habit of stealing their priceless artifacts, a ban he is well aware of and flaunts for fun whenever the mood takes him.
- Lady Aurelian Malys is a ruthless Dark Eldar and the Archon of the Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue. Once banished by her former lover Asdrubael Vect, Malys has returned to Comorragh where she proves herself Vect's equal in scheming, amassing an exceptional power base and working to undermine her former paramour to seize his position. Malys once initiated a war between humans and orks to steal an STC known as the Panacea, solely to keep it in her room and deny humanity the chance to cure any disease. Since returning to Comorragh, Malys has shown an uncanny ability to detect Vect's schemes and was one of the few Archons to survive his plotting, with it being whispered that if Vect ever falls, Malys is sure to be the one holding the knife.
- Duke Traevelliath Sliscus is a wicked Dark Eldar corsair known as "The Serpent". Bored with the decadent courts of Comorragh, Sliscus stole the ships of several Archons, fooled them into coming out to fight him and summarily destroyed their forces. A feared pirate lord, Sliscus's daring exploits have made him a legend to many of the Dark Eldar, and he frequently performs incredible, daring raids, notably being the only opponent to get the better of the infamous Lukas the Trickster by catching him, cutting out his heart and throwing him from his airlock. Well known for how he presents himself, Malys once described Sliscus as "amoral, despicable and impeccably dressed in the bargain".
- The mysterious Cypher is a former member of the Dark Angels who supposedly fell to Chaos. Since then, Cypher roams the galaxy, pursued by his former Chapter, where he resurfaces, lures the forces of Chaos and the Space Marines into conflicts and lets them fight it out. His methods are utterly brilliant, even if his plans are inscrutable. Cypher is just as likely to hinder Chaos as the Imperium, assassinating Inquisitors, tyrants, Chaos lords and others in bold, daring manuevers before alerting the Dark Angels to his presence. Cypher will event inspire revolutions against tyrants and whenever captured, he performs bold escapes. Whatever Cypher's true plan is, it is clear he is working to an end that he's had in mind for a long time and repeatedly shows himself as nearly untouchable.
- Lukas The Trickster, or Lukas Strifeson, is a infamous member of the Space Wolves chapter of the Space Marines. Well known for his wicked pranks, such as poisoning a superior with bloat toad venom, Lukas is known for his shocking effectiveness when deployed against the enemies of the imperium. Lukas has caused a civil war among orks with faked transmissions, lured a WAAAGH! to a planet that he then froze solid, tricked a group of Word Bearer traitor marines into landing on thin ice to drown the and has outwitted the Dark Eldar, even the infamous Aurelia Malys herself. Even after Duke Sliscus carved out one of his hearts, Lukas simply replaced it with a stasis bomb to insure whoever kills him will hear his laughter forever. Notably, Lukas has even managed to outwit Magnus the Red, Daemon Prince of Tzeentch himself, always ready with a laugh and a jest against the enemies of his Chapter.
- Cegorach the Laughing God is one of the few Eldar deities to survive the birth of Slaanesh. In the past, Cegorach even convince one C'tan god to devour others to weaken the pantheon in one of his finest schemes. Worshiped by the Eldar Harlequins, Cegorach is a mad genius with a habit of forming audacious schemes, especially in the pursuit of fighting Chaos. Defending his followers from Slaanesh's hunger, Cegorach organizes schemes to lure the forces of Chaos into doing his work for him. One of the best schemers in all the universe, Cegorach even manages to take a hold in the Dark Eldar to potentially manipulate them, willing to stop at little to ensure the fall of Slaanesh in the end.
Old World of Darkness
Vampire: The Masquerade Examples
- Vlad Tepes, later known as Dracula, is a Tzimisce "Voivoide" who became an independent ghoul by capturing and bleeding vampires. Hunting for a vampire to embrace him, Dracula lured an army of Sabbat and leaked their location to the Camarilla to come in, sweep up the remnants with his own forces and take two powerful Tzimisce hostage. Forcing one to embrace him, he diablerized the elder and released his sire with a warning to never meddle in his affairs again. Keeping a tight grip over the region, Dracula plays Sabbat and Camarilla against one another to increase his own power, all while flaunting the Masquerade by manipulating Bram Stoker into novelizing his life story.
- Archon Theo "Killa B" Bell was a former slave Embraced into the Brujah clan by the noble Don Cerro. Slaughtering his former master and losing himself to the Beast, Theo kept his master's name of Bell to remind himself of the power he wielded. Named Archon for his skill, Theo becomes a figure of renown and terror, performing operations with brutal and effective skill. Having been a member of the Underground Railroad as a mortal, Theo cultivates more relations with mortals than most and has battled against the Confederacy and Jim Crow from the shadows. As a member of the Camarilla, Theo is a key figure in the East Coast War who devastates many members of the Sabbat, luring treacherous Lasombra Marcus Vitel into a trap to destroy him. When the Camarilla begins to persecute Thin Bloods, Theo leads a defection to the Anarchs, ambushing and destroying the elder Ventrue Hardestadt the Younger in the process.
- Talley the Hound is perhaps the finest assassin of the Sabbat. In life, Talley was capable of hunting down and trapping even Lupines. As a vampire, Talley drifts from master to master, performing services with brilliant aplomb while obtaining anything he wants and keeping himself from power so as to not make himself a target. Able to match wits and power with even the deadly rogue Lasombra assassin Lucita, Talley is assigned to guard one of her targets during the East Coast War and soon deduces it to be the least important of the three potential targets. After Lucita assassinates Archbishop Borges, Talley briefly undergoes a crisis of faith and resolves it by testing Theo Bell to see if he will preserve the Masquerade or attempt to strike Talley down. Finally embracing what he deserves, Talley becomes a Bishop to the Sabbat while later helping to negotiate the Lasombra's entry to the Camarilla.
- Patricia of Bollingbroke began her fascination with rebellion upon her husband's murder by a tyrannical local baron. After the failure of Wat Tyler, her lover's rebellion, she was embraced by the infamous Brujah Robin Leeland. Delving further into revolution and later naming herself Tyler, she would become a key figure in the Anarch revolt, striking out at the elder vampires, including the diablerie of Camarilla elder Hardestadt the Elder. Tyler would continue her actions in revolution until coming to Chicago for a time, playing enemies against one another before moving on as a revered figure by many a young Anarch who aspire to her pedigree.
- Cardinal Francisco Domingo de Polonia is a powerful Lasombra and former Conquistador who makes a name for himself with the cutthroat politics of the Sabbat. Playing werewolves against rivals and other factions to make things easier for himself, Polonia would achieve the coveted rank of Archbishop of New York thanks to his skill in politics and war in equal measure. As a major player in the East Coast War between Sabbat and Camarilla, Polonia would organize much of the offensive that nearly saw the Camarilla smashed from the East Coast and at the final battle of New York, takes the front lines to cut down many powerful Kindred before being driven back.
- Madam Guil, born a peasant girl named Jeanne, was raped and Embraced by a monstrous Baron. Outwitting, staking and burning him alive, Guil then joined Kindred society. Effortlessly fitting in to the Kindred nobility, she later discovered her mortal love Luc alive and a vampire himself. Deciding to rid the world of the Damned, they became feared Diablerists until Luc received a Blood Hunt against him, prompting Guil to utilize the French Revolution to eliminate many rival vampires until at last she worked her way up to Justicar of the Camarilla, a position she uses to tear down and destroy vampires who think they are untouchable. Discovering Luc alive and a Templar of the Sabbat, Guil renews her love for him, with their bond transcending sect and even undeath no matter what.
- Lucita de Aragon is the signature character of the Lasombra clan. A princess embraced by her confessor, Lucita soon abandoned her clan for independence, forming a bond with the Malkavian prophet Anatole and the Gangrel scholar Beckett. Becoming a brilliant assassin who whittles her enemies down via skill and unrivaled strategic aptitude, able to even match the feared Talley of the Sabbat, Lucita is hired to assassinate Archbishop Borges of Miami and three other Sabbat warleaders, which she achieves with her usual effectiveness. Upon the death of her hated Sire, Cardinal Ambrose Luis de Moncada thanks to Lucita and her longtime lover Fatima al-Faqadi, Lucita soon loses Anatole and slips to join the Sabbat, only for her conscience to get the best of her as she sacrifices herself for her comrades during the Final Nights.
- Fatima al-Faqadi is a devout Assamite killer, recruited as the first woman ever Embraced into the clan for her talent at killing and assassinating Crusaders in life. One of the best in all the Assamite clan, Fatima has killed elder vampires, werewolves, mages and more in service to the Clan founder Haqim, balanced with her strict adherence to her Islamic faith. Fatima allies with her occasional lover Lucita, the only being to rouse any passion from her in a millennium, to finally destroy the monstrous Cardinal Moncada before being branded a renegade for her faith by Haqim's own Childer ur-Shulgi. Even assisting against the tides of Gehenna, Fatima only peacefully awaits Haqim's own judgement, stating she has lived true to her ideals to the very end.
- "Queen" Anne Bowesley is the Ventrue Prince of New York. A ruthless power broker when alive who helped to organize the overthrow of King James in favor of King William, Anne was Embraced by the Ventrue Valerius and became a valued member of the court of Prince Mithras. As brilliant and deadly in undeath, Anne overcame all enemies, outwitting entire clans in London while making herself so indispensable to Mithras she was even covertly allowed to diablerize several elders. Using this to raise her own powers, Anne finally claimed the vacant seat of Princedom in London during the 1940s, ruthlessly consolidating power so that none could hope to dislodge her.
- Ruth McGinley in life was a fiery tempered Irishwoman, seen as amusing by a Malkavian who turned her. Taking to the life of a gunslinger with its daring, Ruth lived by her wits until being knocked into torpor. Reawakening in the Texas oil boom, Ruth mastered business and politics, rising to become a major player in Dallas's underworld while combatting Sabbat incursions and taking the title of Malkavian Primogen.
- Marciana Giovanni is a member of the Giovanni Clan. A brilliant investigator who proved herself to the family by luring in a Toreador vampire to see him eliminated and earning her Embrace. As a vampire, Marciana handles investigations and claims she has divested herself for the Giovanni, crafting an information web in the Camarilla. Secretly still loyal to her Clan, Marciana uses it to constantly feed information back to her family.
- Brunhilde is an ancient Gangrel who led a resistance to Christian invaders in her native Scandinavia. Conducting a long and deadly campaign until entering torport, Brunhilde awakened in World War I and began to reassemble followers, crafting Valkyries to establish a free state in Scandinavia which she maintains by a web of assassination and manipulation.
- Lucifer himself, First of the Fallen, once led a rebellion against God via his charisma and magnetic leadership. After the Fallen were defeated and sealed in Hell, Lucifer began to manipulate all of human history, teaching mankind sorcery to save his former lieutenants. Upon realizing the monsters they had become, Lucifer propagated the spread of reason and science to weaken them. Upon the end times, Lucifer reveals himself to sway humanity, the Fallen and even the Earthbound how he wishes, defeating some of his old lieutenants with brilliant tactics to place things exactly how he desires and kick off the final battle for the fate of humankind.
Pathfinder
Examples
- Asmodeus, Lord of Hell and the God of Sin, was the first traitor in history. Born the twin brother of the god of Goodness, Ihys, the two different on Ihys's insistence on imbuing mortals with free will, causing a war among the gods. Asmodeus committed the first act of treachery and slew his brother, but honored him by letting free will remain. Asmodeus will work with the gods of good to outwit greater threats such as Rovagug, but remains a deceptive and brilliant archdevil who will manipulate everyone to his end goals, even acquiring entire kingdoms via clever dealing. Asmodeus is also believed to have authored the contract around all creation, perhaps even writing in an extra clause to ensure his victory in the long run, never being at a loss for a clever ploy, even if he refuses to ever tell a direct lie.
- Mephistopheles, the Archdevil of Contracts and Secrets, was originally the consciousness of hell itself given form by Asmodeus. Utterly loyal to the Lord of Hell and ruler of the 8th layer Caina, Mephistopheles makes countless deals with mortals while constructing them to carry out the letter while sometimes violating the spirit while their souls can be claimed by hell. Even able to deceive any other archdevil save Asmodeus, Mephistopheles also made a deal with the depraved Barzillai Thrune to make him the Genius Loci of the nation of Cheliax while secretly arranging events for Barzillai's downfall so Mephistopheles can study his depraved soul. After ensuring the heroes kill Barzillai, Mephistopheles cheerfully sends them on their way, unless one wishes to enter into a new infernal pact.
- Nocticula, the first of all succubi, was one of the most brilliant and dangerous demons in hell's hierarchy. Well known for seducing and murdering other demons for their power, even her brother Socothbenoth grew wary of her and attempted to betray her, only to be easily defeated. Growing weary of evil, Nocticula secretly plotted to become a goddess, using her cults and followers to assist her in this until she was able to ascend to full godhood as the Redeemer Queen, patron of outcasts and redemption.
- Queen Abrogail Thrune II, aka "Her Infernal Majestrix", rebuilt the nation of Cheliax as the head of the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune. Playing the part of a frivolous child to mask her calculating mind, Abrogail is fully capable of outplaying almost anyone at court, making yearly Human Sacrifices to Asmodeus to renew Thrune's devotion to hell. Whenever her domains are threatened Abrogail forms clever plans to deal with any threats while using those chances to dispatch any lingering enemies, even tricking a good-aligned church into peace before finding a loophole to accuse them of treason and destroy them.
- Queen Elvanna of Irrisen is the fourteenth daughter of Baba Yaga to reign from Whitethrone. Contacting her brother Rasputin, Elvanna forms a plot to usurp her mother after learning Baba Yaga consumes the life of her daughters, having placed her own family in strategic points to keep control of Irrisen. Overthrowing Baba Yaga, imprisoning her soul and giving the doll containing it to Rasputin to store in his own realm, Elvanna attempts to spread Irrisen's eternal winter across all Golarion to make it easier to conquer.
- Arazni was once the herald and best friend of the heroic god Aroden. Leading the battle against the depraved Whispering Tyrant Tar-Baphon, Arazni was defeated, tortured and murdered by the lich. Revived by the tyrant Geb who derogatorily named her the "Harlot Queen" as his consort, Arazni was left to rule a nation of backstabbing, ambitious undead. Proving herself more than adept at dismantling the plans of usurpers, Arazni manipulated the elimination of her guards at the hands of knights, finally able to flee Geb to provoke Tar-Baphon into using his Radiant Fire superweapon to destroy her form and free her from Geb's control at the cost of many innocent lives. With her fate finally her own again, Arazni ensures the survivals of the heroes whom she has grown fond of, leaving her to choose her own path after centuries.
- Seltyiel Bhrostra, the Iconic Magus, is one of the most brilliant criminals in Golarion. The bastard son of a noblewoman in Cheliax, Seltyiel grew cunning and vicious after a lifetime of abuse and abandonment. Killing his abusive adoptive father and swearing revenge on his biological father for abandoning him, Seltyiel takes up criminal work across the world and proves his sharpness. Eternally charming, Seltyiel manages to steal gems from a museum by orchestrating an entirely different heist as a distraction. While looting the Hollow Mountain lair, Seltyiel quickly negotiates a temporary alliance with Seoni's party to benefit them both. Seltyiel then proves his willpower and sly nature when he fools an incubus into believing it had seduced him before running it through, even leaving with a valuable artifact that he intends to sell to the highest bidder and that he outright states he has no intent to use. Throughout his deeds, Seltyiel proves time and again to be a complete pragmatist who will only do what benefits him, and will even cooperate with heroic parties if that works in his favor.
- Agents Of Edgewatch: Reginald Vancaskerkin, publically the beloved director of Absalom's most popular tabloid, is in truth the founding member of the Twilight Four, a Norgorber-worshipping group aiming to bring the great city under their control. Rising from humble origins and from slavery to a cruel kraken, Reginald was able to trick his master and feign submissiveness to him, only to later turn the tables on the mighty beast and take him prisoner, winning himself his own freedom. After founding the Twilight Four, Reginald lets his accomplice Olansa in charge in order to concentrate on his long-term projects and let her take the fall in case of emergency. Meanwhile, Reginald subtly undermines her and the other members of the cabal so that he will be in the perfect position to rule Absalom from the shadows. When the player characters have defeated two of his co-conspirators, Reginald skillfully frames them and Primarch Wynsal Starborn for crimes they didn't commit, even implanting Fake Memories in several key witnesses to make his accusations more solid. Even as the player characters manage to escape and confront him, Reginald is unafraid to face them directly, making use of his clockwork-enhanced body and Resurrective Immortality to give them one of the toughest fights in the story.
- Skull & Shackles: Admiral Druvalia Thrune is the Big Bad, The Woman Behind the Man to Captain Barnabas Harrigan, and the source, directly or indirectly, of all the misery experienced by the player characters. Determined to escape the accusation that her career has been advanced by nepotism alone, Druvalia uses her catspaw, Harrigan to undermine the Shackles' defenses, while her great-uncle's vast wealth enables her to finance a private armada, which her deal with the archdevil Geryon enables her to sail through the Eye of Abendego and strike at the Hurricane King's domains. With only the players even aware that her invasion is about to take place, and the support of one of the rulers of Hell, Druvalia seems to hold a winning hand, and if the PCs do not bring their best game, she is easily capable of running the table and reducing the Shackles to a Chelish colony.
- Ironfang Invasion: General Azaersi is a brilliant and overambitious hobgoblin general who dreams of building a new homeland for her people atop the bickering human nations of Nirmathas and Molthune. Recruiting dozens of Molthune's monstrous mercenary regiments to her service, securing the alliance of the dark naga Zanathura, the greater barghest Azlowe, and the legendary dragonslayer Kraelos, and rallying hobgoblins from across the continent and beyond, Azaersi builds her Ironfang Legion into one of the deadliest fighting forces in Avistan, and with the aid of a powerful magical artifact, is able to deploy them wherever she sees fit. Rendered all but invincible in the field, Azaersi overruns most of Nirmathas and a large part of Molthune, with the players the only ones who are able to even check her. Unable to best her army in the field, the PCs will likely have to resort to a decapitation strike to remove Azaersi from the head of the Legion—unless they can present her with evidence of treachery from her comrades, in which case, much to their surprise, they may find themselves negotiating a reasonable peace with the hobgoblin generalissimo.
Others
Examples
- Arkham Horror: The Card Game: The Red-gloved Man is the most mysterious member of the Scarlet Coterie, having evaded the Society for years. After being rescued from his kidnapping and supplantation by the Outsiders, he thanks the investigators before setting out on his own research. He later interrupts the investigator's trial, sneaking behind his impostor and shooting it in the head, proving that the Coterie had been infiltrated while its members were focused on the wrong priorities. After calling them out, he gets them to join forces against their doppelgangers, following them to the City of Remnants, their home dimension, to settle the score.
- BattleTech: Owing to the setting running on Grey-and-Gray Morality and the prevalence of chessmasters in the highest ranks of military and government, most anyone in the setting who is magnificent is also a bastard (at least, to the people they've demonstrated their magnificence against). Some of the standouts are:
- Sarah McEvedy served under Aleksander Kerensky in the Star League Defense Force before following his son Nicholas on the Second Exodus, proving her skills to become Khan of Clan Wolverine. She led her Wolverines exceptionally in both war and peacetime, though she had to bend several of Nicholas' ideals to do so. As the other Clans, threatened by Wolverine's success, arrayed against her, Sarah learned Nicholas would allow events to unfold, sacrificing her Clan to cement his new society. Sarah concocted a plan to evacuate the bulk of Clan Wolverine from Clan space, though she opted to leave behind many who were insufficiently loyal. After her presumed death, her saKhan followed her plan, jumping the Wolverine flotilla out of Clan space, but not directly back along the Exodus Road. Instead, they waited for Nicholas' pursuit force to launch, and traveled behind their pursuers in a mostly-successful attempt to evade them.
- Hanse Davion started the Fourth Succession War at his wedding reception by offering his bride the Capellan Confederation as a wedding present, and delivered on half that with a blitzkrieg attack and having moles as two of the top three men in the Maskirovka. Hanse bartered the life of Joshua Marik, son of Free Worlds League leader Thomas Marik, offering to have Joshua transported to the New Avalon Institute of Science to treat his leukemia in exchange for the League producing badly-needed upgrade kits for forces fighting the Clans. Hanse also made a non-aggression pact with Theodore Kurita, promising not to send his troops into Combine space while the Clans remained a threat, and when Luthien itself came under attack, sent the Kell Hounds and Wolf's Dragoons mercenary units not to attack Luthien, but to defend it. Because he promised he wouldn't send his troops.
- Ulric Kerensky is a staunch Warden, and takes every opportunity to sabotage the Crusader agenda, while being exceptionally good at making it not look like he's doing that. Forced to join the Clan invasion of the Inner Sphere, Ulric advances his Clan Wolf harder and faster than any other, forcing the Crusader Clans to lag behind or overextend themselves trying to keep up. He is promoted to ilKhan in a bid to both swing the leadership of Clan Wolf towards Crusader and nullify his ability to push his Warden agenda, and blunts both thrusts. First, he short-circuits his Crusader rival's attempt to become Khan of Clan Wolf, promoting fellow Warden Natasha Kerensky instead. Second, he "accidentally" lets slip to ComStar that the true goal of the invasion is Terra, resulting in the Battle and Truce of Tukayyid. After six more years, his Crusader rivals finally oust him as ilKhan, only for Ulric to turn the Trial of Refusal into the Refusal War, pitting the Crusaders of Clan Wolf against Clan Jade Falcon and mauling both so badly the Clans are forced to stall their invasion plans for a few more years.
- Sun-Tzu Liao paints himself an insane fool, both to survive his actually insane mother and encourage others to underestimate him. He drops the act upon ascending to the Celestial Throne of the Capellan Confederation, arranging a marriage to Thomas Marik's daughter Isis to apply political pressure to the Federated Commonwealth. He indirectly sparks the Chaos March debacle by thinking it would be a good idea to accuse Victor Steiner-Davion of having replaced Joshua Marik with a body double, only for the plot to reveal Victor had actually done it. Ruthlessly leveraging every advantage available to him, whether from his own plots or attempts by rivals to leverage him against their rivals, Sun-Tzu Liao goes down in history as one of the most famous and beloved Chancellors, restoring power and pride to a people Hanse Davion had all but broken.
- Deadlands: The younger Jasper Stone is a wily and deadly criminal living by the edge of society when he encounters the wicked Harrowed who is himself in the future. Allying with the elder Stone, the younger Stone proves himself a deadly and brilliant foe, setting up traps and luring the heroes to be destroyed before he realizes the truth of the elder Stone's motives. Disgusted at the prospect he might bring about Hell on Earth, he instead lures the elder Stone into a trap and even finds a way around the prophecy that only a gun fired by Stone's own hand can destroy him by severing his own, still holding the gun, and giving it to the heroes to shoot his elder self.
- Magic: The Gathering:
- Urza is the most infamous planeswalker in the history of Dominaria whose millennia long crusade against Yawgmoth and Phyrexia forever shaped the world's history. The greatest artificer who ever lived, Urza spent his mortal life building advanced machines to wage war on his brother Mishra to control the legendary Mightstone and Weakstone only to ignite his spark when their final battle leveled a continent and started an early ice age. Discovering his brother was corrupted by the mechanical abominations of Phyrexia, Urza masterminded the Legacy Weapon to destroy them. After accidentally causing time rifts at his Tolarian Academy, Urza used them to advance his project in record time by creating the silver golem Karn to travel through time to find Phyrexia's weaknesses, the legendary Skyship Weatherlight to travel between planes, and the Bloodline Project to use eugenics over generations to create the perfect human. Urza formed a great army as well by uniting all the nations of Dominaria and fathering a race of magically enhanced super soldiers. When Yawgmoth's invasion finally occurred, Urza united eight other planeswalkers to decimate Phyrexia and anticipated one's betrayal to use him as a battery for a superweapon that destroyed the entire plane. Ultimately, Urza sacrificed himself to ignite his Legacy Weapon, obliterate Yawgmoth, and avert the apocalypse to save all Dominaria.
- Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, is the most ancient planeswalker in the Multiverse who dedicates his existence to defend all against powerful threats like the Eldrazi and his twin Nicol Bolas. Ugin's youth was spent learning wisdom and patience while Bolas learned to manipulate and dominate humans, and ignited his spark when he discovered his brother never truly loved him and saw him as a pawn. Wandering the Multiverse, Ugin made the Meditation Realm his own and allowed Bolas to kill him there to become the Spirit Dragon. Later learning of the threat of the Eldrazi, Ugin allowed them to devour entire worlds to learn their weaknesses and finally enlisted the aid of fellow planeswalkers Nahiri and Sorin Markov to seal them away on Zendikar. Next planning his brother's defeat, Ugin is ambushed and killed by Bolas but ensures his own resurrection by guiding Sarkhan Vol to his corpse and presenting a piece of his soul. Spying on Bolas through the gem in his horns, Ugin guides other planeswalkers during Bolas' harvest on Ravnica to ensure his brother would lose his spark and his power. Spiriting a comatose Bolas to the Meditation Realm and fusing with it, Ugin explains that he has utterly defeated him by stripping him of all his power, leaving all his schemes in ruin, and Bolas himself trapped forever alone with his failure.
- Nahiri is a master earth elementalist and Kor planeswalker from Zendikar who worked alongside Ugin and Sorin Markov to stop the eldritch Eldrazi from ravaging the Multiverse. Nahiri herself personally spent decades to craft the hedron network that served as the border of the Eldrazi's prison and stayed behind to maintain the seal and protect her home. Going to sleep for a time, she awakens to find the prison nearly undone and confronts Sorin on why he didn't return to help. Their confrontation leading to violence, Sorin seals Nahiri in the Helvault for a thousand years where she stays sane by plotting her revenge. Eventually freed by luck, Nahiri finds Zendikar being ravaged by the Eldrazi and gets her vengeance on Sorin by luring the titan Emrakul to his home plane of Innistrad. Also corrupting Sorin's angelic creation Avacyn, Nahiri hurts Sorin by forcing him to put down his creation, in the process allowing Emrakul to fully manifest and ravage Innistrad. Her vengeance consumated, Nahiri ultimately returns to Zendikar to use an ancient artifact to restore the damage the Eldrazi caused, only to be stopped at the last minute when it's revealed Zendikar would die from the massive change to its ecology.
- Liliana Vess is the sultry yet vain planeswalker from Dominaria whose spark ignited when the enigmatic Raven Man tricked her into cursing her beloved brother Josu when she sought to cure him. Learning necromancy in her mortal life, Liliana gained godlike power which she lost in the Mending and brokered a contract with Nicol Bolas to serve four demons in exchange for her youth and lost power. After gaining the Chain Veil on the order of one demon and seeking her freedom, she used its power to kill him and later engineered the freedom of another from imprisonment in the Helvault to slay him as well. Seducing fellow planeswalker Jace and joining the Gatewatch, Liliana manipulated them into facing Bolas so that she could slay a demon serving him, and rebounded from their defeat at Bolas's hand to track down and slay the final demon and finally give her brother peace in the process. Now forced to serve Bolas as the contract holder, she helps to lead his harvest of all planeswalker sparks yet ultimately turns against him and helps to ensure his defeat. Ultimately seeking redemption, Liliana finally frees herself from the Chain Veil and the Raven Man to atone for her past.
- Lazav is a shapeshifting telepath and the current Dimir guildmaster. Rebuilding Duskmantle after Szadek's downfall, Lazav linked his mind to that of the whole guild, gaining direct access to the whole web of spies in Ravnica and awakening sleeper agents infiltrated in the other guilds. Kidnapping Jace, Lazav extracted information from the living Guildpact about the Implicit Maze and tried to turn the champions against each others, failing only because of Jace's timely intervention. After finding and eliminating spies sent by Nicol Bolas, Lazav was willing to endorse Isperia's plan of collaboration between guilds in the face of a bigger threat and, during the War of the Spark, proved his loyalty to Ravnica by helping the Gatewatch deactivate The Immortal Sun. He also tricked Dovin Baan by impersonating Chandra, eventually blinding the planeswalker, and collaborated to Niv-Mizzet's resurrection, taking advantage of Bolas's defeat to further his plans of infiltration. Preferring mind alteration to outright murder when he has the chance, Lazav stands out in the nuanced world of Ravnica for his intelligence and pragmatism.
- "Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Official Cinematic": The unnamed werewolf is a scarred and focused werewolf. Watching an orphanage from afar and waiting to make her move against its abusive owner, the werewolf makes her way into the orphanage in the guise of a doctor. As clever as she is horrific, the werewolf turns all the orphans into werewolves, setting them up to kill and eat the man who's tormented them.
- Mutants & Masterminds: August Tiberius Roman is the game’s Lex Luthor analogue, and the archenemy of the late Centurion, the setting's greatest and most powerful superhero. Starting out as Freedom City's most feared mafia don, Roman bought a pardon from the US government in 1943, and went onto frustrate the Centurion and the Freedom League for decades to come, first as the secret financial backer of the Crime League, and then as the city’s "Emperor of Crime." By the 1950s and 60s, Roman controlled almost every mafioso, gangster, and street criminal in Freedom City, and was receiving a cut of near every crime committed in town, with only truly depraved organizations like Alister Usher's falling outside his purview. This culminated in his outright buying Mayor Franklin Pierce in the 90s, and running the city in everything but name. When Pierce was brought down, he tried to take Roman with him, but the mafioso simply divested his underworld holdings and survived, broke, but free. Now retired, Roman has outlived all his allies and most of his enemies, including the Centurion, and supports himself in his old age by running the Circuit-Maximus, an illegal underground fight club featuring superhumans.
- Rogue Trader: Aspyce Chorda is a Rogue Trader who is feared and respected throughout the Koronus Expanse for being utterly relentless in her plots to gain ever more wealth and power. Becoming a Lord-Captain for the Imperium at a young age, Aspyce would willingly sacrifice her troops to win major victories while abusing her authority to demand protection money from merchants and revealing them to pirates if they refused. Returning home to find her noble family in dire straits, she becomes the heir to the Chorda Warrant of Trade by framing her siblings for heresy and blackmailing them into cryo-sleep and later ties up loose financial obligations by hiring mercenaries to eliminate all of her late father's mistresses and bastard children. Now a Rogue Trader, Aspyce becomes the largest Cold Trader in the expanse by smuggling alien artifacts and wages a brutal trade war against her main rival Calligos Winterscale.
