Emilio Kent

"“One of the hardest parts of being in our position is waiting. You and I, we are not fighters but schemers. We’ve sat and plotted and planned and now all we can do is wait. There are one thousand things that could go wrong. But we must trust our crew and our allies. It begs the question. Who has the real power here?”""-Lord Keel to J'Kar Burin on Sharus 14 AeP 446, moments before the battle with Iron Eye."Lord Keel was the alias of a cryptic noble who organized a research expedition to the Southern Isles to search for pre-war artifacts. While in the Isle he helped find the secret to human enchantment and organized Iron Eye's Final Battle. He had a detailed knowledge of the underworld of Mordehall and those who knew him were afraid of the social power he wielded. Lord Keel also was known to make everyone around him deeply uncomfortable. He was a spymaster working for the Count of Tasserich and the two were part of the Mordish Birding Society, the group trying to create a Mordish Republic. He also went by the name Emilio Kent. After Janie’s notes were stolen and recovered, Kent was in charge of cleaning up loose ends.

History
Little is known about Lord Keel before AeP 446. He worked for an unknown higher lord who many suspected was immensely powerful. In the spring of that year he organized a research expedition to the Southern Isles for his lord. He personally went to oversee this trip. For this he hired Captain Melar Peterson and his ship the Kirinda’s Jewel. Part of the organizing involved making a deal with the Roadani Military and trading them several unknown documents in exchange for their release of Jack into his custody. He had met with Jack in Ghuramus of that year on Cherak in Roadon. In exchange for Jack acting as the guide on the trip Lord Keel organized his release and promised to bring Jack anywhere he wanted to go in Var’Tareen after the trip was over. In the month before the trip he wrote a letter to the Count of Tasserich which was intercepted by J’Kar Burin who added a forgery to the reply. J’Kar pretended to be the bastard son of the noble who at that point he didn’t know. Keel figured out the forgery from the content of the letter but was impressed by J’Kar’s skill. By inquiring with the mail service he found J’Kar who had foolishly used the same name he gave to Keel. The lord decided to let J’Kar on the trip in order to test him and potentially recruit him later. Finally Lord Keel hired Daxian Byrne to act as protection in the Isles.

Lord Keel supervised the exchange of documents for Jack in Cape Red. At some point earlier he also bought an enchanted ballista to put on the Kirinda’s Jewel. Keel also organized meetings of the important members of the trip. Over the first few days of the trip Keel watched in silence thwarting J’Kar’s attempts to ingratiate himself with the crew. He also secretly conversed with Lord Professor Henrus Kline, and Professor Janie Kerias who were both parts of his order.

During the expedition to Karabour he stayed on the ship trusting Janie to deal with whatever was found. Aboard the ship he kept eyes on the man who had tried to break into J’Kar’s room. Keel fed him false information. On that expedition Genna was injured and she returned to the ship. Lord Keel fixed her arm. When the rest of the group returned they were injured after facing a siren. With Sylvie’s help he mended Jack and J’Kar. However in the second surgery he asked Sylvie to step outside. With J’Kar at his mercy on the operating table he revealed to the other man he knew of the deception. However he straightforwardly offered to let J’Kar join his group proming to explain more later. The two had several long discussions over the next few days about the Mordish Republic and their place in the world.

When the Kirinda’s Jewel was about to land in Crow’s Harbor, Keel discussed with J’Kar, Jack, Daxian, and Sylvie how they could dock. Jack told them they needed the approval of one of the pirate lords to dock. With his guidance they decided to give Nyshia Furrel the True Compass. When they pulled into the Harbor Keel went with that same group to the Star Queen to talk to Captain Furrel. Keel let the others take the lead only talking when he needed to.

That night Keel noticed Kline and Palo had not returned. He woke up several people and had them search for the missing crewmen. The next night he sent off all the academics along with Jack, Leucy, Daxian, and J’Kar to follow the map found on Karabour. While they were gone he convinced Nyshia Furrel and Commodore March to rally their fleets to take on Curek the Iron Eye. Just before the fight with Iron Eye Keel spoke separately with J’Kar and Janie. He told them both to recruit their friends. Janie was incharge of recruiting Sylvie and Genna while J’Kar was left to recruit Daxian. In the resulting battle Lord Keel kept a triage on the Kirinda’s Jewel healing as best he could all the injured crewmen. When Jack was critically wounded during the fight Melar Peterson pulled Jack to Keel. Keel pulled the crossbow bolts from Jack and patched the wound. Later when Curek boarded the Jewel, Keel passed Jack a deadly poison which the old sailor used to beat Iron Eye.

With Iron Eye dead Keel’s operatives on board had increased and had secured him the human enchantment rituals. For him the trip was a massive success. But one thing was left. He spoke with the injured Jack and Leucy a day after the Loadstar had killed Iron Eye. He told them he meant his promise and would take them anywhere but encouraged Jack to go home. The old sailor agreed. In Cape Red Keel spoke to all the new members of his group explaining the plan for a Republic and sent them North. After that he took the Jewel to Tel’Mar with Jack and Leucy.

A few months later Lord Keel traveled with Janie to Spring Dale to meet Cainar at the Hall of Witnesses. At this time he was using the name Emilio Kent. He used this time to speak with Janie and reassure her of his intent. This was also where he introduced Janie to the Count. After the trip, Janie and Kent met again. The Mordish Birding Society had just recovered her notes and Kent was in charge of tying up loose ends. They spoke about the future of the rebellion. Kent hypothesized that war in Mordehall would be atypical, focusing more on individuals and clandestine events than on battle and armies. He also promised to find Janie volunteers to be magically enchanted. He promised they would be true believers of the Republic.

Appearance
Keel was a man of average height and build. In AeP 446 he was probably almost forty but had natural grey hair which he cut short and neat. He had brown eyes, pale skin, a sharp nose, and wore stylish, well fit clothing of dark simple colors with no patterns. He wore a silver ring indicating his position as a minor noble. Besides that the only jewelry and symbol of allegiance he wore is a half moon religious necklace. He carried a rapier.

Relations
Henrus Kline, Janie Kerias, J’Kar, Sylvie, Genna, and Daxian were all members of the society to establish a Mordish Republic who worked for Emilio Kent. He was a mentor to J’Kar. Other members of the Mordish Birding Society worked directly for Keel. Some of these he called Ospreys. One such man helped recover some of Janie's stolen notes. However he was captured by the Woman in the Suit and gave her information. After this Emilio Kent cut him out of the Society.

Perhaps the only person on the Southern Isles trip Lord Keel was friendly with was Jack. Seeing how the old Sailor loved with his family struck a soft spot in Keel. The two weren’t friends but Keel kept tabs on the other man after the trip out of respect.

Kent worked for the Count of Tasserich. He was completely loyal to the other man but almost never spoke of him except to Janie. Even then she found Kent’s words to be cryptic.

After the Southern Isles expedition, Janie and Kent spent over a month together and established a working relationship. They travelled to Spring Dale together. Janie found him cold and distant for most of the trip. In the end she came to trust his integrity and devotion to the cause. She was surprised when he showed her emotional vulnerability. Janie remained nervous around Kent, even going so far as to warn Sylvie to feel the same way. Even so, Janie talked to Kent frequently out of necessity.

Powers
Lord Keel was incredibly adept at social interaction and manipulation. He had a deep knowledge of both the politics of Mordehall and the underworld of the kingdom. Keel worked out many deals and contracts which were very favorable to himself. Lord Keel was also very connected and had many resources backing his endeavours. Most who talked with him were made uncomfortable by the way he seemed to always get people to do what he wanted. Kent was also an expert surgeon. At multiple points on the trip to the Isles he fixed potentially deadly wounds of Jack, J’Kar, and Genna.