First appearance: Skypiercer Part 1
Plintos was head of House Plintos, leader of the Merchants Guild and one of the richest men in Cor’thun. His name was on buildings across the city and his statues stood in its streets. When Elusia and her companions finally came for him in Skypiercer, they learned that one of the richest men in the city had been a skeleton in his own bed for six years.
Story
Skypiercer Part 1
In Skypiercer Part 1, Plintos was only a name, and not a kind one. He was called a “charity” benefactor, though people said he had made his fortune off the workers of the southern district. Rumor had it that he held himself above the emperor, and that a mine cave-in outside the city had been caused by his cost-cutting. His influence reached into politics as well. The politician Glotun offered the party favors, then admitted what he really wanted: the emperor’s ear, so the southern aqueduct could be diverted for Plintos. The party turned him down.
Skypiercer Part 2
In Skypiercer Part 2, the aqueduct became the party’s last mission, and they decided to go straight for the “head of the snake.” The Plintos estate was everything the name promised. Gold was cast an inch deep over the marble, and a full-time crew re-gilded it. The house was Roman outside and Gothic within, and diamonds and rubies were left out for commoners to steal. Plintos’s many wives and their children each lived in a “mansion within the mansion” off the upstairs hall. Elusia pocketed a pouch of diamonds, Kaja warned that history can haunt objects, and Atalantos demanded “your finest diamond.”
Plintos’s own chambers were bare. Plans on the table showed the southern aqueduct diverted into a private oasis, a water park with slides and a tidal pool. In the bed lay Plintos’s skeleton, still in his sleepwear, with a golden dagger lodged in his ribs. Kaja raised the bones, and the dead man wrote two words: “My wife.”
An artisan told the party that the household’s orders came from Plintos’s eldest son, Throm. When they confronted the family, Kaja disguised herself as a half-decayed Plintos and stabbed the golden dagger into herself. The performance was flawless, and Throm blurted out the truth: his father had died six years ago. All the wives had known. Throm attacked and was pinned to the marble floor by Elusia’s arrow through his Achilles tendon. Then Throm’s mother, in vibrant blue robes, broke down. She had stabbed Plintos on her son’s orders, because Plintos had wanted to give his wealth away to the people. The whole family had hidden his death ever since.
Plintos’s legacy passed to Thea, a daughter of about sixteen or seventeen, who volunteered to lead the house. Elusia gave her House Plintos and charged her to bring its wealth to the people, as her father had wanted. Kaja killed Throm with his father’s golden dagger, and the servants cleaned up without asking any questions.
Personality and Abilities
Plintos is known almost entirely through his reputation and his house. The city saw a greedy tycoon who profited from the poor, played at charity and stood above the emperor. The truth uncovered at his estate was different. In the end he wanted to give his fortune away, and his family killed him for it, then kept running the empire under his name. His estate shows the scale of that fortune: gold over marble, jewels left out as bait, and a household of many wives and children.
Relationships
- Throm: his eldest son, who ordered his murder and ran the house in his name for six years.
- Throm’s mother: one of his wives, who stabbed him with a golden dagger on Throm’s orders.
- Thea: his teenage daughter, who inherited House Plintos with a charge to share its wealth.
- Glotun: a politician who tried to win the emperor’s ear to divert the southern aqueduct for Plintos.
- Kaja: raised his skeleton to name his killer, then impersonated his corpse to break the family’s secret.
- Elusia: uncovered his murder and handed his house to Thea.
Memorable Quotes
- Plintos (written by his skeleton): “My wife.” (Skypiercer Part 2)
- Throm: “You died six years ago.” (Skypiercer Part 2)
- Throm’s mother: “I was only doing what he said.” (Skypiercer Part 2)