When the children of the Scarlet Dynasty hear tell of 'the Fallen Armiger', most have assumptions about what such an individual will be like. Usually, this is some red-handed butcher, having abandoned the famous Tepet honour in favour of madness and murder, wandering the Threshold as little better than a peasant bandit.

Rarely do they expect a softly-spoken agent of the Thousand Scales, dressed the flowing imperial robes of his station and fitting in near perfectly with the other scribes, ministers and bureaucrats. His bulk- across the shoulders, rather than at the waist- and his strange, reflective eyes would still let him blend in unnoticed under most circumstances; he is hardly the only Prince of the Earth amongst the Thousand Scales. Even the long robes billowing around him like he walked underwater isn't unusual. Rather, it is the delicately carved yet slightly disturbing jade half-mask that marks him apart. Shaped like the mouth of some serpentine dragon, complete with forked tongue, the mask is many shades of blue jade and sits over Nishthur's nose and mouth. Through it, his voice sound soft and hollow, little more than a whisper of a breeze.

Quiet, unassuming and efficient, Tepet Bahiskara Nishthur has risen rapidly in his ministry- something that has sometimes provoked the joke from others that it's easy to rise high in an empty house. But his respect within the Ministry of Prehistoric Recollection and Antiquities comes not just from his work ethic and apparent lack of dynastic arrogance. Occasionally, the ministers must go into the field, relying on mercenaries or loaned guards for safety. Many of these missions can be lost- to politics, bandits, dangerous wildlife or hostile spirits. Several such expeditions would have been lost, but for Nishthur's presence.

And those who witnessed him in the field understand why so many assume he would be a red-handed terror.