Tariel Basteron

Tariel Basteron is the greatest living judge of the Empire. Born into the disgraced Basteron line, Tariel sought to redeem himself by pursuing a career in justice. He is now a member of the Glass and Steel Brotherhood. He follows the philosophy of Total Justice.

Total Justice
Tariel's view on justice is thus: the good of the state needs to be considered over the good in the individual case. What use is it, he says, to prosecute a magistrate if the results of the magistrates punishment (chaos, instability, less credibility in the local government) is worse than the magistrate 'escaping' justice. Of course, sometimes the best way to maintain law and order is by viciously and publicly punishing those would defy it and offer no good to the Empire.

One Against One Hundred
In the course of his labors, Tariel learned that a guard tower along the coast had recently been infiltrated by members of a smugglers guild, Tariel quickly went to investigate. Entering as a servant of the Empire, Tariel made no efforts to disguise his intentions, he would root out the corruption and punish the guilty. What Tariel did not realize is that this exercise was a trap. The guard tower was not infiltrated by the smugglers agents, it consisted entirely of them. The report was faked, to bring out the notoriously brutal and uncompromising Tariel, who had caused no end of grief to the smugglers and kill him, to serve as an example to any Justiciar that would dare interfere with their business. Alone and outnumbered, with his opponents in a more strategic position, Tariel was offered the chance of a quick death if he surrendered, or a brutal one if he resisted. Tariel offered them the same. Incensed, the bandits attacked, Tariel quickly retreated to a narrow corridor and forced them to lose their numerical superiority. Unfaltering with his blade and vicious with his spellcraft, Tariel turned that corridor into a butchers shop, arteries pumped blood across the ceiling, and the wailing of the dying matched with Tariel's unceasing slaughter broke the remaining ruffians. Throwing down their weapons and begging clemency, Tariel marched the remaining lawbreakers to the cove the smugglers used and staked each one out at the edge of the water at low tide. Widely believed to be still haunted by the ghosts of the dead smugglers, that cove has never been used for crime since then.

Appearance and Description
Tariel is an elf of young middle-age, a few strands of grey are mixed in with his rich brown hair, and faint lines surround his cold green eyes. He is a creature so tightly wound it is impossible to describe his looks, his face is always in the persona of the Hunter, the Judge, the Soldier or the Administrator. Nobody knows what his hobbies are, what his personal interests are or what he likes or dislikes on a nonprofessional level. He is the consummate elf, arrogant, magically gifted, talented at bladecraft, a leader and an ally, but no man's friend. The cloak of office girdles him at all times, the badge of the Justiciar, scales made with crossed blades.