Maxillar Pythareus is High Strategos of Taldor, making him the commander of all the armies of the empire. A native of Zimar, the fortress-city on the southern border, he has fought in many battles against the enemies of Taldor and earned his position. There are few who would challenge his suitability for his rank, as his martial prowess and strategic genius are well documented.
Pythareus comes from a long line of military commanders, whose service stretches back well over a thousand years. Proud in his bearing, typically Pythareus does not hide his scars, even those from the devastating axe blow he took to his face that destroyed his right eye. It was only the presence of a nearby cleric of Iomedae who healed him that he even survived the injury, much less return to the fight, routing the Qadiran forces and winning a major battle in the border skirmishes between the two nations.
Known for his extremely traditional mindset, he has long lobbied his monarch to build Taldor’s armies and retake the wayward colonies of Andor, Cheliax, and Galt. While Stavian paid little attention to his demands, he did encourage a union between his daughter Eutropia and Maxillar. Unsurprisingly, the Princess was not interested. Few known much about his brief courtship of Eutropia, only that it ended with the Princess headbutting the older general and storming out of the palace.
During the Exaltation Massacre, the strategos quickly left as the violence began. His bodyguards from the Taldan Phalanx escorted him from the Senate and he seems to have vanished. With his adoption by Stavian III, he is now the former Grand Prince’s eldest child, but the circumstances around his adoption are suspect.
He was only briefly seen by the party and has spent most of his time since the Massacre at his base of operations in Zimar. But he has not been idle, sending emissaries to cities such as Yanmass, and to the nobility of Taldor to bolster his support. One of these emissaries was Earl Yander Merkondus, whose mission to Yanmass was to win the support of its Mercantile Council.
Thanks to the extremely underhanded and distasteful methods employed by the earl, and his ignominious defeat at the hands of the party, his efforts were in vain in Yanmass. Plus, he was forced to publicly disavow Merkondus and declare him a traitor. Sadly, this has done little to erode his own support, as he has made a big show of remorse for being duped by the earl.
The party fought Pythareus’ supporters and by revealing his crimes, whittled down his support until they were able to storm Abadar’s Pillar. Using a little violence, and a lot of magic and bluffing, were able to take him without an actual fight. He has been arrested, but revealed a terrible secret. That the entire Stavian line is descended from a hated noble family, the Adellas.
With this knowledge, Eutropia’s claim to the throne looks incredibly weak. It also harmed his own, as most of his claim was based on his adoption by Stavian III. But with nothing to lose, upon learning of his defeat, his agents all throughout Taldor released this information, so widespread that nobody could have stopped it.
