In the twenty-third year of the Thrune Ascendancy, Vrog was born a slave, one of a litter of seven. Seven was too many, of course, too many for his mother to bear and too many for their master to keep. Vrog was third, but he was the strongest-looking of the babies so he got to live alongside Dhahn, the eldest. Their father told them, later, of how he had smothered the other babies and fed the vital organs to his surviving sons. An orc who devours their littermates in the womb is destined for greatness, and their father thought he could make his own omens. Vrog's father was very wise.

In the fortieth year of the Thrune Ascendancy, Vrog fought in the Dies Irae tournaments. In the spring, he won his freedom and enough money to buy a magic sword, some good armor, and a wife. In the winter, Antonio (As he was now called, for as a free man he took the free man's name he knew he deserved) won a title and some peasants and a big house. Any other orc ex-slave would have been content, but that is because other orc slaves are unambitious and more than a little bit dim. A title would not make him human. A big house would not win him respect.

In the forty-ninth year of the Thrune Ascendancy, Baronet Antonio Ramirez slew the Red Terror of Fangspire and became Baron Ramirez of Fangspire, the last previous claimant having tragically been immolated in the fighting and the ashes mistakenly mixed with dragon bile and dropped in a ravine. With the barony and the deed came respect, enough to make good marriages for the best of his children. With the intervening years came wisdom, enough to stop there and stay in Fangspire far, far away from Egorian, defending civilization from the beasts of the mountains and the savages and horrors beyond the border.

In the seventy-third year of the Thrune Ascendancy, the Thrune Ascendancy ended. In what would have been the seventy-fourth year if the newcomers hadn't up and changed the calendar along with everything else, the call goes out for delegates to a constitutional convention. Baron Ramirez has no idea what a constitutional convention is, but there was a time that he had no idea what a barony was. He dispatches servants to Kintargo and then to Absalom in search of a book that might explain what the fuck, and eventually concludes that even though his title does not entitle him to a seat it's worth his time to win the election. If it's genuine, he'll be able to influence the course of the whole empire. If it's not - he dies a year or two early. He can risk a year or two of his life. He'll take Pedro-Lluís (His best grandchild) with him. It'll do the boy good and give him a chance to learn how the world works.

The baron wins the election easily, because everyone in the county knows the legend of the great dragon-slayer, and because he tells his peasants to vote for him and the two other men interested in the seat to drop out of the race, and people listen when he tells them what to do.