Editing Ledaal Anothis (section)

== Biography ==

Anothis is the child of Ledaal Myana, a noted but ill-liked sorceress, and Tepet Barudos, a mid-ranking general (himself the son of the author of a famous work on strategy). His parents do not get on and see little of one another and Anothis spent most of his childhood on a chilly, storm-wracked northern island owned by his father’s family, with a few elderly slaves and a vast military library for company. His principal form of diversion (which doubled as a makeshift primary education) consisted of going over accounts of long-ago battles, considering and analysing the decisions made by the generals, and considering what other options had been open to these generals. He developed a cold brilliance and precision in carrying out these mental exercises. Because of the circumstances of his upbringing, it came naturally to the boy to see others as mere game-pieces, extensions of his will, and to see the world itself in abstract terms, as a game or puzzle to be solved.

On one of her fleeting visits, his mother discovered this talent when her son destroyed her in a game of Gateway, a game at which she was skilled. Myana followed up their game by quizzing Anothis in number of different ways, offering him economic, military, and abstract problems to solve. She found that the closer to purely abstract the problems were, the more brilliantly incisive Anothis’ powers of deduction and reasoning were. He seemed much less comfortable in trying to account for the human factor and sometimes completely out of his depth. This led to some curious weaknesses. Anothis was actually far better playing against a skilful Gateway player, one whose play was rational and careful, than against a weak, easily bored one who might play recklessly. Anothis could predict the first kind of player but not the second.

Myana was pleased that her strange, sullen and silent son had finally revealed some kind of use. Soon afterwards, it was agreed that he should be sent to the House of Bells to train as a strategist.