The House of the Lonesome Mage

Derelict, overgrown, this imposing building is the stuff of nightmares. Black slate clads its angular roof. Sharp flint surrounds shattered windows, snapped quarter lights rotting. Ivy strangles its facades, and great moss slabs choke its iron gutters. A spiked iron fence holds back tangles of brambles, bare black trees reach upward from their midst. Even though its front door hangs open, no soul dares cross its threshold.

This was once the residence of the Lonesome Mage, and in its hey day, it wasn't much livelier.

When a character only has need of one name, it is a sign of power. Ricklefess is one such wizard. He shunned much of Quintz: its politics; its magical disciplines and its rules and regulations. Instead, he spent much of his time pursuing his own studies. That's not to say you would never see him out and about. When Lismal Conflistadore was berating his students for their lack of artistic flair when conjuring a dimension door, Ricklefess might have been spotted in the back row. Or when Professor Zarden Corus was attempting to drive home the essential elements of a programmed illusion, it was entirely likely that you's find Ricklefess noting down its conditions.

Ricklefess studied all, observed all, and revealed nothing. His lack of cooperation led him to be shunned by all the wizarding houses and sects, and to the moniker The Lonesome Mage. When a young, raging warrior marched up the eastern causeway calling Ricklefess' name, it almost came as no surprise to the wizards. In fact, the only reason it was a surprise was because he was the first to breech Arthur14579's charm.

That day will long be remembered by all in Quintz, as it was the beginning of the end of their isolation, and therefore brought a whole new set of problems to ponder. Not least among them was their unwillingness to venture beyond the charm. Years of safe isolation had birthed horrific tales of monsters, demons and phantasms that lurked just beyond the causeway. Arthur's charm was as good as a prison's iron bars.

The bloodied soldier that appeared on the causeway was none other than the Butcher of Malingar Cross, a young officer, Knight of Tintagel, named Frank. Unbeknown to Ricklefess, Frank would turn the recluse's life upside down.

Ricklefess spent the next years tutoring Frank, but also expanding his horizons. He became the first and only wizard to leave Quintz, and to truly begin to piece together the actions of the Old Lords.