Border Courtier
The Border Courtier haunts the home of a Border Prince, hoping to survive long enough to take that position himself. Scheming, murder, and betrayal are his normal modes of operation. Paranoia is an occupational hazard, and hypocrisy is a qualification for the job.[1a]
Over the course of his thirty year imprisonment in the Border Principality of Matorea, the Tilean philosopher, Imaschiavelli Venedetto penned his infamous treatise "The Border Prince". Venedetto's manuscript functions as a kind of guidebook for young border courtiers to the proper application of power (and guile) over a Border Principality. Venedetto concisely laid out the steps for seizing a Border Principality, and then how a prince should go about maintaining that power once it is seized.[2a]