Browse wiki

House Tyde wielded enormous influence as the most powerful of House Thrax's vassals, but simply possessing the name by itself won family little. Lord Shreve Tyde was a very distant third cousin of the current Duke of Tydehall, and his impoverished very minor branch of the noble family tree raised him as an exceptionally hungry and bitter little man. While the exact sequence of events aren't well known outside of House Thrax, during the Tyde Rebellion which resulted in the complete destruction of House Tyde, Shreve may have lost his noble title from the family being attainted but he did not suffer the same fate that saw most of the ancient house flayed living and crucified by the sea. Shreve himself was in Arx and never went to his family's defense, and as a junior member of the inquisition even seized some Thraxian commoners that were sympathetic to House Tyde and put them to the question. While his loyalties are uncertain, he saw a steady rise through the inquisition to become the newest Master of Questions.

A gray-haired man facing the twilight of his life, the lines of his hard and once-handsome face present a grimly dignified countenance. Bland enough in appearance to be mistaken for some commoner's surly grandfather or cantankerous uncle, the slightly heavy set inquisitor would hardly be intimidating were it not for the extremely hard light in his dark eyes that suggest not a trace of mercy or concern for the welfare of others.

Shreve frequently hears the word 'cruel' to describe him, but that's not quite right. He doesn't have the sort of wanton sadism that can be found among some of the confessors and inquisitors that he oversees as Master of Questions. He simply is supremely indifferent to the sort of suffering he inflicts as a matter of course by his office and would mock (and probably dispose of) any idealist that attempts reform. It is all about power to him, no more and no less, and nothing else matters at all.