Kenneth Deshotel

Kenneth was a noble who hailed from Whiteport and was most famous for his short term as Prime Minister of the Court of Nobles. He was also a former rival and teacher of Mary the Mute.

Background
Kenneth was born to the owning family of Whiteport in 626 AU, whom had controlled the city since the days of the Treeblood War. His childhood was rather unremarkable, as was usual for nobles in the out reaches of Avalot with little to show in the major cities for his accomplishments. However, even at an early age, everyone in Whiteport could see the brilliance in Deshotel's business. By the age of fifteen, he successfully bought out the entire opposing family of the Keppels through clever trading making them servants of his own house. He ruled Whiteport and all trade with Berma for some time until the Masquerade Fiasco.

In 656 AU, Deshotel saw an opportunity to expand his family's influence by joining the Court of Nobles. Upon his arrival, together with the Keppel family head, David Keppel, Deshotel made some strong cases against the opposition in the election for Prime Minister. Deshotel had always been against the former King Alric's laws against trade in his city and was determined to make some changes to his own interests while maintaining traditions in order to keep the commoners in their place. He feared, with the rising popularity of Mary the Mute, that the peasants would get the wrong idea about where the power in the nation lay. He succeeded in appealing to the other nobles and was elected in the summer of 656 as the first Prime Minister of the Court.

History
By 658 AU, elections had come around again and this time his opponent, Mary, was eager to beat him. Like before, Deshotel had the entire noble's vote in Court, while Mary had managed to win the entire popular vote resulting in a stalemate that Deshotel was favored to win. With sudden appearance of an ambassador from Pokol, Deshotel's position was threatened and he made his way to the island nation to win the support of Baroness Anneliese Gross, the ruler of the isle. It was shortly revealed that the entire election had been a plot to lure both Deshotel and Mary away from Avalot to fracture the alliances of the Court. Discovering that the plot had been started by an organization called the Midnight Hands, Deshotel and Mary both barely escaped with their lives. Upon his return to Avo, Deshotel was forced to deal with an impending barbarian invasion, a plague, and a famine all plotted by the same assassin's guild. Realizing this threat was larger than he expected, he enlisted the aid of Mary, putting aside their rivalry, and trained her throughout the remainder of the summer in the ways of politics and diplomacy. While training Mary, Deshotel avoided assassination from the Midnight Hands and worked on a plan to reunite the shattered Court in the face of the Ninth Barbarian Invasion. Also during this period, he allowed commoners a seat in Court for the first time in history.

In the winter of 659 AU, the Westwardens, at last, reached the walls of Avo and laid siege to the city. Realizing that he was the only one who could hold the city together during the siege, Deshotel sent army away to reunite the Noble's Court and return with an army powerful enough to end the invasion. For a few weeks, he managed to keep the Court in charge of the city's defenses until he was betrayed by the Serell family. The head Serell, Jonathan Serell, had made a deal with the Midnight Hands and allowed their agents to infiltrate the courtroom. Deshotel was shortly killed by Lily Ernest after taunting her.

Legacy
His death had a profound impact on both Mary and his successor, Argus Verze. While Mary continued her campaign to win an alliance for Avalot, Verze honored him and made sure to give him a proper funeral in his home of Whiteport after the Ninth Barbarian Invasion finally ended. By the end of his career, other nobles had mixed opinions about him. Some saw him as a man willing to do anything to protect his country while others simply claimed he was an opportunist who was forced to compromise in order to save his own skin. Truthfully, he died a mystery with his younger brother, Falin, taking over the family and earning a seat of honor in the Court of Nobles.

Personality
To his enemies, Deshotel was a cruel and relentless attackers who always managed to be a thorn in their sides. But to his friends and servants, he was dutiful and loyal, pulling to risk his life to protect them. Deshotel always saw the big picture and truth, though he hated to lose. It was Deshotel's biggest fear that he would one day end up like Juilus Narvineous with his position of power, and went to great length to prove that he was nothing like the Emperor of Berma. At the end of his life, most of those in the Eastern Territories saw the good that he did and honored him.