Character Profile: Pietas ap Lorectic

Who is Pietas ap Lorectic and what makes him a villain worth knowing?

In my story world, Pietas is known as the Bad Boy King of the Immortal Sempervians. He is a twin. His parents were Mahikos and Helia ap Lorectic, the last genetically created “Ultra Beings” (aka Ultras) created by humans. They were also the last Ultras to conceive by natural means. While in the womb, the twins were enhanced to protect them, because the tide was turning against Ultras, and it was feared the children would be killed. Pietas and his sister Dessy were born on 2/26/2620, and were immediately subjected to extensive and continued genetic enhancements by their father. Pietas and Dessy became both the most advanced creatures ever born, and as history later proved, the most dangerous.

The Ultras were virtually indestructible. Mankind attempted to purge their kind, along with telepaths, empaths, and any recognizable gen (a genetically enhanced being), no matter how servile the nature of the gen. The Ultras fought back with brutal ferocity. The desperate humans, with the aid of a few sympathetic Ultras, pretended to offer a peaceful surrender. The ruse of a meet on neutral ground helped them capture more than half a million warriors. Those not captured or imprisoned left the Terran Crescent or went underground and hid what they were.

Those captured were imprisoned in stasis pods, and transported across the galaxy to a world dubbed Sempervia, a Latin-based term meaning ever-living. The merciless humans released them from their prisons by remote control from a safe distance above the planet, and abandoned them. Exiled with nothing but a small supply of seeds and rudimentary farming implements, the Ultras starved until the first harvest. The ragged immortals had no choice but to survive. It took a generation, but Sempervia thrived.

The Ultras renamed themselves the Reborn (their word is Naro). Since they were sterile, no children were born, but no one died, either. They built a society, created technology, and regained the stars. A small group still harbored hatred for humanity, chief among them, Pietas. When his radical ways brought expulsion from his own people, he led a group of one hundred and one followers to the stars, seeking to avenge himself on mankind — and rule them. He eschewed the peaceful, placid society built by the Reborn, and called his followers Sempervians, after their world.

Pietas ap Lorectic harbored great resentment for humans in the Terran Crescent, his birthplace. They had exiled him to Sempervia. They had caused him untold suffering, and he vowed revenge. It shocked him to the core when he returned to Earth, and discovered his people were no longer even myths. Humanity had completely forgotten them. He set out to be remembered, and began a rampage of war across the galaxy.

Nothing less than extinction would suffice. To that end, he began experimenting with prions, viruses, and infectious diseases. Pietas destroyed a planet full of people for failing to worship him. His followers recognized their folly in supporting him, but by then it was far too late for retreat.

In the current story world, Pietas nibbles at humanity’s edges, driving them to war and destruction by manipulating their governments through various crises that he spends decades setting up.

I’m doing the origin story of Pietas as an illustrated book, with art by my son and me. Jamin Allen owns Nimajination Studio, and he did much of the artwork on my website. The book is titled after one of Pietas’s many names, which include Soul Ripper, Impaler, Slayer of Innocents, Destroyer of Worlds, and Hound of Hell. Bringer of Chaos, the Origin of Pietas is in progress now.

What does Pietas look like?

I’m a movie lover and like millions — I loved the Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies. I’m a major #Thranduil groupie. Lee Pace could be a perfect Pietas. Tall, lanky, white-haired, with piercing turquoise eyes, and a disdain of humans. The aloof “why have you disturbed me” look that Pace perfected for Thranduil is Pietas in spades. Luke Goss (Hellboy 2’s Prince Nuada) would also make an amazing Pietas.

My first book with Pietas came out in 2004. He’s been a regular character ever since. I wish you could see him sulking in the corner, saying “About time, human!” Believe me, I’m writing as fast as I can.

What my beta reader Jean says about Pietas

“I love the bad guys; all except for the Empress (I keep begging Kayelle to let her have it). Luc scared me when he first came on the scene, but as I got to know him, he’s very deep and holding a lot of secrets that are so out of character with how he portrays himself. He has a lot of compassion that he doesn’t want known. I also have this hidden obsession with Pietas, the ultimate villain’s villain. You have to really dig to find something good about him. I find these two extremely compelling and I want to get into their heads.”

What amazes me is how much of a following Pietas has garnered. He is the uber villain, but I admit, he does have a soft side, even if we rarely get to see it. I write three-dimensional characters, so I suppose I shouldn’t be a surprise that there are levels to him that make readers want to know more.

About Kayelle Allen

Kayelle Allen is a best-selling, multi-published, award-winning author. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary every day folk, role-playing immortal gamers, futuristic covert agents, and warriors who purr.

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