Commander Covle Darkbit: Few men are hated as much as Covle Darkbit.  Rumored to be the bastard child of one of Masov’s noble houses, Covle Darkbit was granted a position in Duke Peter’s Guard after he proved his skills.  He served with distinction there, well enough that he was appointed as Lady Katarina’s personal armsman not long after her birth.

When Katarina grew older, however, he offended Duke Peter enough to garner banishment, on pain of death.  Rumor has it that  he attempted to blackmail the Duke into allowing him to marry his daughter, though few believe that the Duke would allow him to live if that were the case.

Regardless of the truth, Covle Darkbit spent the next several cycles in the Grand Duchy of Boir, the guest of the Earl of Trelhaven, Lord Admiral Hennings.  At some point, he returned to the Duchy of Masov under an alias, Captain Bitterthorn, where he went to work under Lord Hector.

It was Covle Darkbit who provided Hector with the knowledge necessary to slip into Ember Castle to kill Duke Peter.  In reward for this betrayal of his previous oaths, the victorious Duke Hector appointed Covle Darkbit as Commander of the South and gave him military authority over the southern highlands.

Covle Darkbit has used that position to benefit himself, augmenting his already high pay with goods stolen or extorted from merchants.  He’s hammered the southern nobility with higher taxes, and he’s used puppets like the Baron of Zielona Gora, to incite anger between the nobility and commoners, keeping them at odds with each other to lessen any chance of them working together to oppose Duke Hector.