"Haven't you heard? The great Gottio doesn't do portraits any more. He is an artist, and artists are supposed to show truth in their work. The trouble is, people don’t want the truth. They don’t like it. That fool Lorenzo Lupo certainly didn't, when he commissioned the great Gottio to paint a portrait of his wife."
Lorenzo Lupo is the current ruling merchant prince of the city-state of Luccini and a self-proclaimed descendant of that city's ancient divine founders, Lucan and Luccina.[1a][2][6a]
History[]
Lorenzo Lupo is very proud of his line of descent from his city's divine founders: Lucan and Luccina. He is quite the antiquarian and collector of art and antique artefacts. His palazzo on the old acropolis of Luccini is decorated with frescoes in the antique style and the gardens and colonnades display old statues found in the acropolis.[1a]
His prized possessions are heirlooms of his house, said to have been owned by the city's founders. Lorenzo wears armour in the old-fashioned style of the Reman Empire and fights on foot in the manner of his ancestors. This is a strange eccentricity of his and would be considered quaint and maybe even ridiculous by his rivals if he wasn't so good a general and didn't beat them so regularly. Instead, his reputation for bravery and fighting hand-to-hand in the front rank of his troops has earned him the respect and awe of his enemies.[1a]
Prince of Luccini[]
To end once and for all the diatribe between the heirs of Lucan and those of Luccina, Lorenzo Lupo claimed descent from both and anyone who disagreed either came to a bad end or has since fled the city. Unfortunately for them, the priests of the temple of Lucan and Luccina supported the claim of Lorenzo's rival Leopold who claimed to be a direct descendant of Lucan. Under Leopold's command his Leopard Company held the acropolis for many days against Lorenzo's troops. The state of civil unrest persisted until the priests consulted the oracle of Luccina which came down in favour of Lorenzo, albeit a very cryptic augury.[1c]
The priests promptly cast the Leopard Company from their employment in an effort to placate the vengeful Lorenzo. The soldiers had grown used to extremely good pay in gold and always dressed immaculately and enjoyed the best that the city could provide in food, wine and entertainment. They were extremely angry. Consequently, the Leopard Company, forgetting their sacred duty, broke down the golden doors of the temples, took the pay owed to them and laid hands on the priests who were thrown off the acropolis into the sea. Then they defiantly held out against Lorenzo for a further two weeks of bloody siege.[1c]
Finally Lorenzo decided to offer Leopold a deal he could not refuse. He would allow Leopold and the Leopard Company to march out of the city in return for ending the siege and promising never to make war on him. Leopold reluctantly set aside his claim under pressure from his troops who wanted to get away with the gold from the temple rather than face death. Also, they were afraid they had offended the two gods of the city and were anxious to leave the acropolis before divine vengeance struck them, possibly in the form of a rampant two headed leopard! And so the regiment marched out of Tilea and took service with various other Tilean princes.[1a] Left without a rival, Lorenzo was proclaimed as the new prince of Luccini in 2505 IC.[1c]
Butcher Ship[]
As per the Tilean tradition, the prince of Luccini prefers to fight fire with fire and has not disdained the use of the pirate captain Luka Silvaro to shoot down the Butcher Ship, a scourge that in the past plagued the Tilean Sea. He promised the pirate a thousand gold crowns and an amnesty for his crimes, sending the youngest of his sons Giordano Paolo as guarantor of the expedition.[4a]
Ironically, his son preferred to pursue a life as a pirate by refusing to return to tedious palace life once the assignment was completed.[4a]
Arnulf Schwarz and the Prince of Luccini[]
This is an extract from the diary of Arnulf Schwarz an officier of Count Einhard of the Border Princes which was sent to Luccini to hire some mercenaries. Here Lorenzo Lupo took the chance to get rid of the Golgfag's Maneaters;[1a]
- Arnulf Schwarz had been summoned by the count. He climbed the stone steps and opened the great oak door into the keep, situated in the midst of the desolate domains of the Border Princes. Count Einhard was there with the other officers, poring over a parchment map as usual.
- "Ah Schwarz, ve haf been vaitink vor you. I haf a liddle task vor you to do," said the count in his aristocratic Reikland accent. Arnulf braced himself to receive whatever dire mission his lord had in mind for him. He was no longer in any doubt that the count was an utter nincompoop!
- At your command my lord," said Arnulf.
- "Ja, you know zat liddle Orc schtronghold on der vootbills? I vant to conquer it."
- "Good my lord, but... " said Arnulf.
- "But vot?" said the count.
- "But we do not have enough troops, my lord!" replied Arnulf standing rigidly to attention as was his habit. "We lost five hundred and seventytwo in the last attack... "
- "Ja, ja, very observant of you Schwarz! Das ist vy ve are sendink you into Tilea to hire mercenaries. Take zis Bolt und make contact viz Tilean agents in Luccini. It iz only a down payment you understand. Tell zem there ist more. Make sure you hire der best!" said the count.
- "Jawohl my lord!" said Arnulf, taking the weighty leather bag full of gold coins, rather proud to be entrusted with this important mission. On the other band, he was the only one of Einhard's officers who knew any smattering of Tilean, which be had picked up while serving alongside crossbowmen in the Empire.
- "Ja Arnulf, haf a gut time und don't spend ze money on drink und fraulines!" called the other officers as be went out to fetch a horse. They were buffoons to a man and Arnulf hated their guts.
- A week later Arnulf was following a rough track descending the western slopes of the Apuccini Mountains. Before him stretched the undulating green plain of Tilea, rather parched in the hot sun. A couple of days later having met nobody except shepherds (who ran away) and riding through endless vineyards and olive groves.
- Arnulf passed a tumbledown roadside tavern. He let his horse take a drink from the trough and asked the way to Luccini. The keeper pointed him in the right direction. A little way down the road, Arnulf was suddenly set upon from all sides by a dozen bandits with cudgels. In a few moments they were all scattered across the road, very dead. Arnulf wiped his sword and replaced it in his scabbard. Then, realising that the bag of gold tied to his saddle was probably attracting the wrong sort of attention, Arnulf stuffed it into the place be considered safest, his codpiece!
- Arnulf continued towards the distant towers of Luccini, several of which appeared to be leaning in different directions. He heard the sound of a bell tolling far away. That evening, Arnulf approached the gates of Luccini which were about to be closed for the night. The guards, who were armed with incredibly long spears, asked him his business in the city "I have come to hire mercenaries," replied Arnulf with the typical directness of an Ostlander. This seemed to do the trick, and the guards smiled and waved him through. They even bowed and bade him welcome to their fair city!
- Arnulf found himself riding along narrow allies flanked by tall houses with overhanging balconies jutting out at all angles. There were all kinds of strange people in the streets. A longhaired youth was playing the lute and singing in a high-pitched voice beneath one balcony. A very rotund lady appeared and threw a pail of something nasty over him, nearly drenching Arnulf as well. Then another rather noble looking youth scurried past in the typical tightly fitting laced up garb of the Tileans, pursued soon after by a rough looking bunch with daggers drawn, shouting "Vendetta! Vendetta!"
- Arnulf was now well and truly lost in the narrow winding streets of Luccini, and evening was drawing nigh. Some rather voluptuous ladies leant out of a window and called to him "Hey watta you got inna your coddapiece?" and "How you lika to come in fora some home cooking; notta much gold!" Arnold, not the most shrewd of men, replied "Nein, thank you very much, but I must keep all my gold for hiring mercenaries!" and rode on, rather perturbed that the bulging bag of gold was so conspicuous, from the third story of a tall building.
- No sooner had he turned down the next alley than Arnulf was attacked by masked and cloaked men leaping out of the shadows with daggers. A brisk scuffle left them all dead in various agonised postures in the gutter. Arnulf sheathed his sword and rode on. Similar incidents occurred several more times as Arnulf wandered around the city accosting individuals and demanding to know where he could hire mercenaries. He got few answers and was leaving rather too many embarrassing heaps of groaning and dying Tilean assassins. Suddenly everything went dark...
- When the sack was taken off Arnulf 's head he found himself in the magnificent palazzo of Luccini.
- "Hey, welcome to Luccini!" said his most stylishly dressed and obviously princely host. "I am Lorenzo Prince of Luccini. Maybe you heard of me already? Hey, why you been chopping up all my citizens?"
- Arnulf stood to attention and announced himself and his mission and apologised for slaying various citizens of Luccini. "Hey is no matter I didn't like them anyway! So you want to hire mercenaries? If you want mercenaries you talk to me!"
- Lorenzo entertained Arnulf lavishly with wine, good food and various courtly entertainments and then got down to business. "Hey Marco, bring me the latest roster," said Lorenzo to one of his elegant henchmen. Then be turned to Arnulf saying, "How much you want to spend?" Arnulf took the gold out of his codpiece and tipped it out over the table. "Hey, you joking with me! This will buy you three Halflings!" Arnulf replied that Count Einhard bad much more gold to pay for a whole company of mercenaries.
- "Now we are talking!" said Lorenzo. "What you want?" Arnulf bad his answer ready. "Those men of yours with the long spears. A company of those would do very nicely!" Lorenzo paused and glanced at Marco. Marco shrugged and shook his head. Then Lorenzo said "I cannot spare any pikamen, I have enemies on all sides, Remas, Verezzo, Trantio, Tobaro, Araby, Sartosa and the pesky Rattas." Arnulf looked disappointed.
- Then Lorenzo said "Hey I make you an offer you can't refuse. How you like Ogres?" "Ogres!" said Arnulf in disbelief "Can I trust them?" Lorenzo was quick to reassure Arnulf, "They are good boys, not so bad, they already here in Luccini. They just finished a job for me.
- "Why are you prepared to let them go when you have so many enemies?" asked Arnulf. Lorenzo was evasive. "They break up my city a bit, it makes the citizens angry, but they are good boys, they just like to fight! Look, I will make you a very good deal!"
- After considering some other mercenary bands on Lorenzo's roster Arnulf finally settled for the Ogres, mainly because all the other contingents would have to be sent for and this would take time, whereas the Ogres were already at hand.
- All the gold was apparently required to pay Lorenzo's fee for clinching the deal with the Ogre chief Lorenzo then took Marco to one side "This is a good deal! Now you go and get that scum out of my dungeons!"
- While this was going on Lorenzo entertained Arnulf by showing him the great frescoes which he had commissioned from the world-famous artist Tintorezzi. "On this wall we have The Triumph of Death. Arnulf was reminded of an Undead army be had once fought against. 'And on this wall we have The Triumph of Lorenzo! Arnulf marvelled at the serried ranks of pikemen trampling over enemy knights and made a mental note to tell the count that such troops could be hired, perhaps from another city if not Luccini. 'And this is The Triumph of Love - it is not yet finito..." Indeed, the master artist was hard at work painting scantily clad nymphs skipping daintily among ruined Elven pillars and cypress trees. What really delighted Arnulf though, were the dozens of live models posing for the great artist!
- Arnulf arrived back at the count's castle having endured the company of the Ogres for the twoweek trek across the Apuccini Mountains. A brief encounter with a rather large mob of Goblins and several Trolls had convinced Arnulf that the mercenaries would be well worth their pay. And if they proved to be treacherous, well, so what – he didn't much like Count Einhard anyway. Serving a Prince of Tilea seemed much more tempting!
Personality[]
Lorenzo is a very eccentric man in that he prefers to fight on foot in the style of his ancestors. He always takes his place at the front ranks of his pikemen or leads his soldiers on board his man-o-war. This is very inspiring to his troops, and they are eager to fight for and defend their prince.[1a][3a]
Lorenzo follows many of the ancient classical Tilean athletic pursuits that his ancestors of Luccini practiced, and as a result he is a very well-built, muscular man, similar in appearance to a bronze statue of Lucan. He regularly rows across the Tilean Sea, wrestles the mightiest opponents or runs from one end of his principality to the other.[1a]
Such is his passion for ancient Tilean culture, that often his mercenary armies are still called "legions".[5a]
Family[]
Lorenzo Lupo has a wife,[2] and at least six children, the youngest of them being his son Giordano Paolo.[4a]
The famed artist Giovanni Gottio's career suffered a serious setback when he was commissioned by the prince of Luccini to paint his wife. So annoyed was the prince with the portrait produced, which had captured not only her beauty but also her more dangerous true nature -- which the artist compared to a hungry mountain wolf -- that he had it burnt.[2]
Wargear[]
- Sword of Lucan - Lorenzo Lupo's sword, the Sword of Lucan, is believed to be the actual sword used by his remote ancestor, Lucan, one of the twin divine founders of Luccini. The sword's razor-sharp edge cuts through any armour with ease.[1a]
- Shield of Myrmidia - This old shield was found during the rebuilding of the temple of Myrmidia on Luccini's acropolis. It dates to the time of the founding of the city, or perhaps even earlier. The shield bears the sun symbol of the war goddess of the south and has the magical ability to dazzle the bearer's opponents.[1a]
- Ring of Luccina - Luccina, sister of Lucan, was said to be a wizard. Lorenzo wears a ring which bears a cameo gem depicting her, and which may even have been hers. The gem has the ability to restore soldiers' morale, returning their will to fight for their lord again.[1a]
Miniatures[]
Trivia[]
Lorenzo Lupo is probably a reference to Bonifacio Lupi, a real world Italian condottiero and politician of the Lupi family, who were marquises of Soragna, and who also held public positions in several of the communes of northern Italy in the fourteenth century.
The episode that describes the finding of the horse's head in Golgfag's bed, and the phrase "Hey I make you an offer you can't refuse. How you like Ogres?" are both clear references to the film The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola.