Bartelby is a handsome man with sharp features and thick, dark hair. He remains athletic, but despite his wealth and good looks, he remains the last unwed Lotheed sibling, for reasons he’s never quite managed to justify

Bartelby is witty, incredibly well educated, and charming when he wants to be—all skills he studied as carefully as his spellcasting, because below it all lies an insecure boy trying to live up to an impossible legacy left by his overachieving father and an uncle with a savant-level mastery of wizardry. No matter what Bartelby accomplishes, his star will always be eclipsed by his ancestors, and so a part of him has given up before even trying, and he focuses on selfindulgence and ignores any task he is not confident he can excel at from the outset.

Bartelby is the eldest son of Count Mercater Lotheed and runs the county of Meratt like a personal kingdom, with little regard for broader politics beyond his borders. Like most Lotheeds, he commands considerable arcane gifts as well as considerable contempt for anyone who does not—including his half-sister Martella. Bartelby is clever and strong, a combination that makes him arrogant. He is sure of his imperviousness, and his family’s long association with arcane power has been bred into his bones along with overconfident self-importance.

• Can be hostile or supportive
• Enough Loyalty and he might be talked down