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Prexaspes was an Achaemenid official, and a high-ranking advisor to King Cambyses II during his Egyptian campaign in 525 BCE. Unfortunately for Prexaspes, his counsel often fell on the deaf ears of a total lunatic. While they were sweeping up the remaining rebels in those most ancient sands, Cambyses asked Prexaspes the unwinnable question: say Prexaspes, what do my people think of me? Prexaspes had enough smarts to tell the king "oh yeah man we love you, you're awesome dude", but he somehow lacked the wits to clamp his mouth before following it up with "but uh… you are kind of drunk all the time, boss." Cambyses looked Prexaspes in the eye, slurred something akin to "oh yeh? I'll show you am how much drink I do, nerd." Cambyses ordered an apple placed on the head of Prexaspes's son, took aim with an arrow, and promptly landed a shot directly into the boy's heart. Cambyses was quite pleased with himself, saying if he was as mad as they claim then how could he have landed such a sick 360 no scope like that? Checkmate, loser.

Prexaspes was, understandably, traumatized, but he was still too scared of the mad king to speak up to him. Indeed, it is Prexaspes that Cambyses forced to perform his dirtiest deed: killing the king's brother, Bardiya, in 522 BCE. The two princes had never gotten along, but after Cambyses supposedly received a vision that Bardiya would usurp him, he sent his advisor to off the little punk. Prexaspes did as he was told, lest he lose his head, and assassinated Bardiya, either by disguising it as a hunting accident or drowning him in a lake. Prexaspes was sworn to silence, while Cambyses replaced his brother with a doppelganger named Gaumata so no one would get suspicious. Of course, people did get suspicious, and everyone almost immediately pointed fingers at Prexaspes. The band of seven conspirators led by the future Darius the Great confronted Prexaspes, seeing him as an innocent pawn and wanting him to proclaim the truth to the people. They sat him up on a balcony, Prexaspes confessed to the murder and Cambyses' conspiracy, and then promptly hurled himself over the edge, ending his own life after so much stress and torment.

That's the way real history records him going out, but in my Drake Hero Universe, things went a little differently. In the D&D game I ran, my party actually took Prexaspes with them as a prisoner. All they knew at this point was that Prexaspes had attempted to murder Bardiya, not realizing the attempt really was successful and that the body double was leading them astray. One of the party was a Persian officer in Cambyses's army, and thought he could speak to the king and get Prexaspes a pardon. After all, they figured, they knew Prexaspes was being used as a pawn for the big bad evil guy, whatever his plan may be. Prexaspes was clearly wracked with paranoia and guilt, and though he tried to insist he didn't want to go to Egypt, he kind of accepted his fate at this point. The bad guys had dropped him like a rock and he was a loose end just waiting to be tied. The party reached Egypt, brought him before Cambyses, and Cambyses simply asked if the attempt on Bardiya's life was successful. Prexaspes furiously shook his head no, as he was instructed, and after a malicious nod, Cambyses thrust his dagger into his old advisor's throat to silence him forever. The party was shocked, Cambyses started twitching in a fit of mental instability, and it was the first major sign that the party might not be able to trust the people they thought they could. Cambyses was unwell, and prone to manipulation. It was only a matter of time before the party realized he was already being manipulated…

Design notes, the only depiction of Prexaspes I could find was a 1916 illustration. I wish I could tell you who by, but unfortunately all the stock image sites hosting this illustration only give the date and no other bibliography. I mean I guess it's better than what Pinterest ever provides, but it's still annoying. I didn't really alter much of anything, because the design was relatively accurate and I just liked the colors. The illustration only shows his back, though, so I had to extrapolate the design of whatever that torso plate thing is from how it looks on Cambyses in that image. In regards to how I scripted his death in my game, normally I like to adhere as close as possible to the historical accounts, planning for multiple different branching paths the party could take and thinking of how their actions could still lead to the same scenario on different terms. However, the visual was just too good to pass up, especially since they were keen on dragging him along on all their wacky adventures fighting gods and demons. So I did take a little creative liberty, and sure none of you would be any the wiser to it if I didn't mention it since it was a private campaign between me and some friends, but this blog is all about explaining my Drake Hero Universe, so I wanted to out my ass anyways. No stone unturned here at Avapithecus.

Description
Prexaspes was an Achaemenid official, and a high-ranking advisor to King Cambyses II during his Egyptian campaign in 525 BCE. Unfortunately for Prexaspes, his counsel often fell on the deaf ears of a total lunatic. While they were sweeping up the remaining rebels in those most ancient sands, Cambyses asked Prexaspes the unwinnable question: say Prexaspes, what do my people think of me? Prexaspes had enough smarts to tell the king "oh yeah man we love you, you're awesome dude", but he somehow lacked the wits to clamp his mouth before following it up with "but uh… you are kind of drunk all the time, boss." Cambyses looked Prexaspes in the eye, slurred something akin to "oh yeh? I'll show you am how much drink I do, nerd." Cambyses ordered an apple placed on the head of Prexaspes's son, took aim with an arrow, and promptly landed a shot directly into the boy's heart. Cambyses was quite pleased with himself, saying if he was as mad as they claim then how could he have landed such a sick 360 no scope like that? Checkmate, loser.

Prexaspes was, understandably, traumatized, but he was still too scared of the mad king to speak up to him. Indeed, it is Prexaspes that Cambyses forced to perform his dirtiest deed: killing the king's brother, Bardiya, in 522 BCE. The two princes had never gotten along, but after Cambyses supposedly received a vision that Bardiya would usurp him, he sent his advisor to off the little punk. Prexaspes did as he was told, lest he lose his head, and assassinated Bardiya, either by disguising it as a hunting accident or drowning him in a lake. Prexaspes was sworn to silence, while Cambyses replaced his brother with a doppelganger named Gaumata so no one would get suspicious. Of course, people did get suspicious, and everyone almost immediately pointed fingers at Prexaspes. The band of seven conspirators led by the future Darius the Great confronted Prexaspes, seeing him as an innocent pawn and wanting him to proclaim the truth to the people. They sat him up on a balcony, Prexaspes confessed to the murder and Cambyses' conspiracy, and then promptly hurled himself over the edge, ending his own life after so much stress and torment.

That's the way real history records him going out, but in my Drake Hero Universe, things went a little differently. In the D&D game I ran, my party actually took Prexaspes with them as a prisoner. All they knew at this point was that Prexaspes had attempted to murder Bardiya, not realizing the attempt really was successful and that the body double was leading them astray. One of the party was a Persian officer in Cambyses's army, and thought he could speak to the king and get Prexaspes a pardon. After all, they figured, they knew Prexaspes was being used as a pawn for the big bad evil guy, whatever his plan may be. Prexaspes was clearly wracked with paranoia and guilt, and though he tried to insist he didn't want to go to Egypt, he kind of accepted his fate at this point. The bad guys had dropped him like a rock and he was a loose end just waiting to be tied. The party reached Egypt, brought him before Cambyses, and Cambyses simply asked if the attempt on Bardiya's life was successful. Prexaspes furiously shook his head no, as he was instructed, and after a malicious nod, Cambyses thrust his dagger into his old advisor's throat to silence him forever. The party was shocked, Cambyses started twitching in a fit of mental instability, and it was the first major sign that the party might not be able to trust the people they thought they could. Cambyses was unwell, and prone to manipulation. It was only a matter of time before the party realized he was already being manipulated…

Design notes, the only depiction of Prexaspes I could find was a 1916 illustration. I wish I could tell you who by, but unfortunately all the stock image sites hosting this illustration only give the date and no other bibliography. I mean I guess it's better than what Pinterest ever provides, but it's still annoying. I didn't really alter much of anything, because the design was relatively accurate and I just liked the colors. The illustration only shows his back, though, so I had to extrapolate the design of whatever that torso plate thing is from how it looks on Cambyses in that image. In regards to how I scripted his death in my game, normally I like to adhere as close as possible to the historical accounts, planning for multiple different branching paths the party could take and thinking of how their actions could still lead to the same scenario on different terms. However, the visual was just too good to pass up, especially since they were keen on dragging him along on all their wacky adventures fighting gods and demons. So I did take a little creative liberty, and sure none of you would be any the wiser to it if I didn't mention it since it was a private campaign between me and some friends, but this blog is all about explaining my Drake Hero Universe, so I wanted to out my ass anyways. No stone unturned here at Avapithecus.